Three Types of Sufferiing

This contemplation from the Buddhist Tradition covers the three ways in which people suffer. The second and third type are not so obvious.

Transcript

Welcome to this meditation on three types of suffering with Peter Radcliffe.

Hello and welcome to this contemplation of the three types of suffering.

This meditation has a number of benefits.

It helps us develop compassion to the people around us that are suffering.

It gives us motivation to work on our own causes of suffering.

And it gives us an insight that suffering can be of different levels and not sometimes what we normally manifestly think of as suffering.

To understand suffering and to get over it is to look at the suffering so that you can discover its causes.

And in this meditation we're going to look at three types of suffering,

One each more subtle than the other.

Suffering of suffering,

Suffering of change,

And suffering of confusion,

What they call all-pervasive suffering.

So let's begin when you're ready by taking a seat in your meditation posture,

Relaxing and considering the first type of suffering.

That is what we manifestly know as suffering and it comes in two forms,

The suffering of the body and the suffering of the mind.

We all know what it feels like to have pain or nauseousness.

You might even be suffering right now from tiredness,

Lethargy,

Pains,

Illnesses of some type or another.

If not,

I'm sure you can recall a time recently when you've had to endure the pain and suffering of the body.

We have to realise that people all over the world are undergoing this type of suffering,

Hunger,

Cold,

Illnesses.

There are many sufferings of the body and the great majority of people around the world have to endure these things for quite a large proportion of their life.

Allow this to soften your heart and develop compassion for those around us.

The next type of suffering of suffering is that of the mind,

Depression,

Loneliness,

Stress,

Anxiety,

Fear.

There are so many different facets of mental suffering and again we all know because we all experience these mental burdens in some form or another a lot of the time.

Again consider that beings all around the world are having to endure these sufferings but mental sufferings are caused from thought.

It is the way you look at life which depends on whether you feel the sufferings of the mind or not and in fact at some level the great yogis say that even physical suffering is because of our aversion to not accepting pain in the body.

But irrespective at least make a determination that you're going to work on motivating yourself to cure the mind of these mental sufferings so that you can remain at peace and positive more often than not.

Now we're all familiar with the first type of suffering.

The second type is a little less obvious and that is the suffering of change because the suffering of change applies to all those things we feel are good about our life.

If we have a wonderful house,

Wonderful possessions and even wonderful friends then the suffering of change comes about because we have a fear that these things will eventually disappear as they must due to the impermanence of the universe.

So the suffering of change encompasses all of those things we cling to and wish were there permanently for us and yet in the back of the mind we know these will disappear.

Contemplate this suffering deeply and understand that unnecessary clinging to these objects that is desire in your mind is actually causing you mental disturbances and will not only disturb your meditation practice but also bring you suffering mentally in the long term.

Make a commitment to yourself that you will try to see all objects with more equanimity so that you don't get captured in the lure of desiring certain objects more than necessary.

This even applies to friendships for people come and go in your life just as anything else.

They are impermanent.

In fact one day we have to completely disappear from this earth and leave everything behind.

That is the suffering of change.

The third and most subtle suffering that is called all-pervasive suffering in Buddhism is much harder to comprehend.

We wander around our life eager to find happiness and not finding it we are confused as to why we don't find the happiness we're after.

We work hard at finding and achieving the goals that we set out and whilst they give us temporary happiness after a time we are back to feeling a kind of existential angst as Sigmund Freud would put it a long time ago.

This all-pervasive suffering pervades the mind and often comes up in the form of a confusion of not knowing where life is taking you,

Of not knowing why you feel on edge or agitated even sometimes at the best of times.

By understanding this type of suffering we look to those wise beings who have conquered even this most subtle type of suffering to try and find our own answers in spirituality and perhaps in your own meditation practice.

Spend some time contemplating in even this most deepest form of suffering.

In contemplating all of these types of suffering which apply not only to the bad things in life and the good things in life but also pervade life completely.

We develop a sense of renunciation as if we could find a level of equanimity in living in this life.

And this is the type of equanimity that we need for our meditation practice so that we can remain undisturbed by distractive thoughts.

And it's this lack of clinging not necessarily leaving life but be able to perform and help people without expectations,

Without judgments which will lead us eventually to a very calm,

Peaceful and happy state of mind.

So let this meditation be a motivating factor in you both renouncing some of the things that you normally strive for in life and taking up a practice of contemplative meditation to take yourself into a deeper and calmer state of being.

Reviews

So grateful for this explanation. I feel I can apply this knowledge to help make sense of my journey 🙏😊

Very helpful insights.

Thank you Peter.🕉☸

For all those undergoing the suffering of change...embrace it completely. Accept it wholeheartedly. Trust you will find peace, in time...❣️

Thank you I identified with the three.
Need to practice letting go..
Namasté🕉☮

Very helpful! ☺❤

Enjoyed the thoughts on impermanence.

Wise words to ponder. Helpful in trying to figure out what kind of suffering I am experiencing.

Wonderful. Thank you.

This is more a lecture then meditation. Important information none the less. Thank you.