I just posted this in Question on Buddhism
Check out Wanderer's reply too (in that topic). When Buddhist say
enlightened ones overcome suffering, it has to do with overcoming
the illusion of duality.
There are three kinds of sufferings:
First, there is the form of suffering that the Buddha is most
famous for talking about, ordinary suffering, the standard list
including such things as birth, sickness, old age, death,
lamentation, pain, grief and despair. These are ordinary forms of
suffering that we can try to mitigate as best we can by ordinary
methods, i.e. by working within the scope of the first training,
i.e. the conventional world. I am a big fan of trying to find
worldly happiness so long as we do not neglect the importance of
the other two trainings. There is also the form of suffering
relating to the scope of the second training that comes from being
limited to our ordinary state of consciousness, with our only way
out coming from sleep or the use of chemical substances. We yearn
for bliss that is not so bound up in things like whether or not we
get a good job, for experiences like those found in the
concentration states. Our minds have this potential, and the
failure to be able to access these states at times when doing so
would be helpful and healthy is a source of bondage. I am a big fan
of being able to attain these wonderful states so long as we do not
neglect the other two trainings.
There is also the kind of suffering that comes from making
artificial dualities out of non-dual sensations, and all of the
unnecessary reactivity, misperceptions, distortions of perspective
and proportion, and basic blindfulness that accompanies that
process. This kind of suffering, relating to the scope of training
in wisdom, is not touched by the first two trainings, and thus
forms a background level of suffering in our life and also
increases the potential for further suffering in the other two
scopes. This form of suffering is gradually relieved by the stages
of enlightenment, as fewer and fewer aspects of reality have the
capacity to trick the mind in this way. I am a big fan of awakening
and thus eliminating this pervasive form of suffering, just as long
as we do not also neglect the other two trainings.
The suffering of the ordinary world can be extremely unpredictable,
and working to relieve it is a very complex business, the work of a
lifetime and perhaps an eternity. The suffering related to being
unable to access refined altered states of consciousness is
mitigated by simply taking the time to learn the skills necessary
and then refining them until they are accessable to us when we
wish. There are limits to these states, and so the basic states
attainable by training in concentration can be very thoroughly
mastered within a lifetime and even within a few years or perhaps
months for those with talent and diligence. The stages of
enlightenment are permanent, and once they are attained, that
aspect of our suffering is forever eliminated and never arises
again. This can be accomplished by those who take the time
to learn the skills necessary to see individual sensations clearly
and are willing to work on that level.
These basic facts can be used to help us plan our quest for
happiness and the elimination of the various forms of suffering in
our life. We can direct our studies, our training, and work on
specific skills that lead to specific effects and abilities in the
order we choose, within the limits of our life circumstances and
the resources available to us. For instance, it might make sense to
learn concentration skills early in our life, as they cultivate so
many of the skills necessary for the other two trainings and can
provide increased sense of ease and wellbeing. For example, rather
than popping a cold beer at the end of a hard day, we could bathe
our body and mind in as much bliss and peace as we can stand for as
long as we wish. If we master concentration practices, we have the
option to make such choices.
It might also make sense to work on insight practices early rather
than later so as to reduce the amount of time during our life that
we live with the fundamental suffering caused by the illusion of
duality. There is only so much we can do to prevent ordinary
suffering for ourselves and others, though it is always good to do
what we can. Thus, it is also good to realize that we can also
reduce and eliminate the other forms of suffering through learning
the two basic styles of meditation more easily than we can
eliminate much of our conventional suffering.
We might conceive of this as compassion having gotten caught in
a loop, the loop of the illusion of duality. This is sort of like a
dogs tail chasing itself. Pain and pleasure, suffering and
satisfaction always seem to be over there. Thus, when pleasant
sensations arise, there is a constant, compassionate, deluded
attempt to get over there to the other side of the imagined split.
This is fundamental attraction. You would think that we would just
stop imagining there is a split, but somehow that is not what
happens. We keep perpetuating the sense of a split even as we try
to bridge it, and so we suffer. When unpleasant sensations arise,
there is an attempt to get away from over there, to widen the
imagined split. This will never work, because it doesnt actually
exist, but the way we hold our minds as we try to get away from
that side is painful. When boring or unpleasant sensations arise,
there is the attempt to tune out all together and forget the whole
thing, to try to pretend that the sensations on the other side of
the split are not there. This is fundamental ignorance and it
perpetuates the process, as it is by ignoring aspects of our
sensate reality that the illusion of a split is created in the
first place.
- Dharma Dan
