Suffering and Buddhism
June 13, 2023
This is my second post about how and whether spiritual practice can help a terminal cancer patient deal with suffering. The first post was about Stoicism. This one’s about Buddhism.
One sentence answer: Buddhism can help because suffering is what Buddhism is about.
The Four Noble Truths were Buddha’s first teachings after his enlightenment. The first truth is that suffering is pervasive in existence, the second explains that we suffer because of our cravings, and the third is that suffering has a cure.
The Fourth Truth is that the cure is the practice of the Eightfold Path, a set of disciplines for cultivating understanding and virtue. Buddhism is a straightforward religion.
How does Buddhist practice cure suffering? Like the Stoics, the Buddhists believe that what matters is how you react to the many adverse experiences you will face. Buddhism has an immense philosophical literature, and like the Stoics, they hold that thinking clearly about what is happening to you will help you see that your suffering rests on illusions. However, their views are more interesting than the Stoics. For example, one reason you need not suffer is that the self that supposedly experiences harm is itself an illusion!
However, the Buddhists would say that philosophy alone won’t free you from suffering. That liberation requires practicing meditation and living a moral life grounded in compassion. Here is how that can help.
Developing concentration and deep attention: Meditation focuses the mind on a specific object, such as the breath or a mantra. This cultivates the capacity for deep attention and helps to stabilize the mind. With increased concentration and attention, individuals can develop a greater sense of mental clarity and tranquillity, reducing the impact of external and internal stressors contributing to suffering
Insight into the nature of suffering: Buddhist meditation techniques help practitioners investigate the nature of their experiences and the underlying causes of suffering. Through direct observation of their minds, practitioners come to understand the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and selflessness of all phenomena. This insight helps to loosen attachment to transient and conditioned aspects of existence, reducing suffering.
Cultivating mindfulness: Mindfulness is the ability to bring non-judgmental awareness to the present moment. You can observe your thoughts, emotions, and sensations through meditation without getting attached to them. This awareness allows practitioners to gain insight into the causes and nature of suffering and recognize the impermanent, ever-changing nature of experiences.
Developing compassion and loving-kindness: Alongside mindfulness and insight practices, Buddhism includes practices aimed at cultivating compassion and loving-kindness towards oneself and others. By cultivating these virtues, you can acquire a more profound sense of connection and empathy, alleviating your suffering and that of others.
There are uncountable Buddhist meditation practices. Zen is austere: you just sit in silence, often for hours, attempting to maintain an open awareness without a specific focus or object of meditation. It’s hard to convey how difficult this is. Tibetan Buddhism has a similar practice but also includes meditation techniques involving chanted prayers, elaborate visualization, and repeated prostrations. There are many other Buddhist schools. The religion is more than 2500 years old; they’ve explored this territory in close detail.
Occasionally, a practitioner can achieve a sudden, profound enlightenment, a direct apprehension of reality beyond dualistic distinctions and conceptual frameworks. The stories of the Buddhist sages describe this experience as a moment where one directly realizes the nature of one’s mind or the nature of existence itself. This experience is beyond words or concepts and is accompanied by a sense of liberation, joy, and a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of all things.
For most, however, personal change occurs gradually through years of patient, consistent, and continuous practice. There are, however, no guarantees. You can meditate for years and still be a neurotic mess. In Buddhism, guidance from qualified teachers is essential, and, like any other religion, Buddhism has its share of grifters and charlatans. Be careful.
I am a Buddhist. A friend gave me Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, a book of Dharma talks (sermons) the year after I graduated from college; I have reread it many times. Later, I was teaching at the University of Pittsburgh when my first marriage collapsed, and my life in the church felt dead, as if the music had stopped. I began meditating with a Zen community and joined them for several retreats.
When I taught at Ohio State, I ‘took refuge’ in a Tibetan Buddhist sangha (a parish). When you take refuge, you affirm that the Buddha is your teacher, that the Dharma–his teaching–is your path, and that you belong to the sangha, the Buddhist community. This ceremony makes you a Buddhist.
I took a vow that committed me to observe the Five Precepts (Buddhists love enumerated lists!), Buddhism’s ethical code.
Then I took the Bodhisattva vow. A Bodhisattva is a person who devotes their life–or, if you believe in reincarnation, all their lives–to the spiritual liberation of other beings.
Finally, I (with many others) received the Chenrezig empowerment from His Holiness, the XIVth Dalai Lama. Chenrezig is the Tibetan avatar of Avalokiteshvara, the greatest of Bodhisattvas. Through the empowerment, practitioners seek to establish a direct and personal connection with Chenrezig. This connection allows them to invoke and cultivate the compassion, wisdom, and loving-kindness associated with Chenrezig.
I have never renounced my Buddhist commitments, and I continue to follow a schedule whereby I recite the prayers associated with my vows. I (try to) conform my behaviour to the Five Precepts.
Nevertheless, my primary identity is Christian, not Buddhist. Why? I didn’t renounce Christianity when I took refuge. The Buddhists were tolerant: no one insisted I accept their complex metaphysics of karma or belief in reincarnation. No one objected if I discretely crossed myself when we began a group meditation session. Later, I remarried, and the music of Christianity came back to life. I returned to church because I wanted to practice religion with my wife.
So, will Buddhism help you cope with the suffering of cancer? Yes. Even a small amount of sincere practice will likely make you more compassionate and better able to cope with suffering. You are unlikely to eradicate suffering completely, but you will have a greater understanding and acceptance of your suffering.
I benefited from reading this respectful view of Buddhism by a practitioner who is also a Christian.
My father was raised by a Buddhist father and a Christian mother. He became a Catholic priest at the age of 72 after my mother died. Before being ordained, he was required to obtain a master's degree in theology. For his master's thesis, he wrote about the harmony between Buddhism and Christianity and quoted from Marcus Borg's "Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings."
What a fine and surprising piece, Bill. Have you found Pema Chodron's version of Buddhism relevant and helpful? I've found her very good for helping me weather the storms of family life.