Sorrow & Suffering

When suffering enters life, its resisted but sorrow is as much a part of life as is happiness. Accepting it can make life joyous! :)

Why is there Sorrow? Is suffering because one has sinned?

Some excerpts from the book "Beyond Sorrow" :

Suffering is not God's will. Suffering is not punishment for morally wrong actions. Suffering is caused by misunderstanding the nature of the world in which one lives.


The very nature of worldly existence - of the seasons, of evolution, of birth and death - is change. One's environment changes, one's body changes. The amount of suffering we experience is our individual, albeit unconscious, choice. To the extent we expect permanence from an impermanent creation, we suffer. To the extent we search for permanent joy, in permanent truth we discover joy.


The creation is by nature temporal. If one attaches oneself to something, sorrow will necessarily arise when that thing changes. 


Experiences of sorrow can be profound aids to a seeker of truth, for such experiences convince the seeker, as no intellectual discussion could, of the transience of the world. Suffering should not be denied or disparaged; it is the only mechanism nature provides to hint that true bliss cannot lie in an external world. Sorrow can be the greatest teacher, for it points the way inwards.


Thus, the root cause for suffering is ignorance of the unchanging reality, the source of bliss. In this ignorance one searches for happiness where happiness can never exist. Attachments develop and the disappointment that follows generates terrible sorrow. The solution rests, therefore, in gaining the knowledge of the real and permanent source of joy.