Compassion 04 Transform Suffering into Wisdom

Suffering has a cause. When we perceive the cause, we can then apply the remedy. How do we know that suffering can be cured? Because of this simple law of nature:

“A superior law overpowers an inferior law.”

To cure suffering, we start by studying it. Classically, there are three basic forms of suffering:

1. Suffering of suffering: pain, birth, illness, growing old, and dying
2. Suffering of change: the anxiety or stress of trying to hold on to things that are constantly changing
3. Suffering of conditioned existence: unsatisfactoriness, caused by mistaken perception of “self”

Then, we go deeper: to see the specific qualities of that suffering and its roots. In Western religions, those roots are organized as seven vices:

1. Avarice
2. Laziness
3. Lust
4. Anger
5. Pride
6. Envy
7. Gluttony

Curing the vices has three steps:

1. Discovery: observation of facts
2. Judgment: meditation to perceive the defect in the subconsciousness
3. Execution: use of divine power to destroy the defect

The purpose of meditation is to acquire information inaccessible to the senses or the intellect. Only by acquiring that knowledge can the roots of suffering be seend and understood, and only then can they be destroyed. You cannot destroy what you cannot see.

When a vice is destroyed, its corresponding virtue is liberated:

1. Generosity
2. Diligence
3. Chastity
4. Love
5. Humility
6. Happiness for Others
7. Temperance

To understand the suffering of others, we must first understand our own. That is why all genuine spiritual pursuits begin with knowledge of oneself. 

“All the joy the world contains has come through wishing happiness for others. All the misery the world contains has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.” —Bodhisattvacharyavatara