Pain is different from suffering... but when the mind grasps on
it... suffering comes. Pain can only be get rid off by physical
means - healing, medicine, or anaesthetic, etc. Suffering due to
pain should be liberated through dharma practise.
Only a person with certain of cultivation can withstand very
extreme physical pain I guess... only when one completely fuse into
the pure sensation of the pain and no one 'feeling' the pain, just
the pure sensation as it is.. it is impermanent, ever changing, it
is not self, there is no self experiencing pain.. in short even
this pain is empty in nature.. but the sensation of pain is
present, just that no one is suffering the pain... the pain itself
'pains'. Of course I am far from such... so am only deducing from
knowledge and might be wrong.
My taiwanese teacher went for operation last time... doctors gave
him two dose of anaesthetic. Usually one dose is enough to make a
person completely unconscious... first dose doesnt work, he is
still completely awake. Second dose still the same... the nurse ask
whether should give another dose, the doctor say... nope, like that
will kill him. Then my teacher said... go ahead with the
procedures, no amount of anaesthetic can numb my senses/make me
unconscious.
He observed the entire medical procedure and operation, very
lucidly, very clearly, without any sound much less screaming and
shouting at all, just calming watching it... The doctors are
completely shocked and couldn't believe he could withstand
this.
Another person I know with rather similar experience.... is the
16th Karmapa.
http://www.simhas.org/karma16.html
...In 1981, the Karmapa began to manifest signs of cancer, and
his life was known to be near its end. His Holiness went through
various recurrences and remissions. He was soon brought to the
Clinic Hospital in Zion, Illinois.
His Holiness began contracting various harmful illnesses, all taken
upon by himself to rid the suffering of others, and he allowed the
doctors to experiment on him. They found that no matter how
much sedatives were given to the Karmapa, these medicines had
completely no affect on his mental clarity. One day an
illness was cured, and the next a new one would be found. The
doctors were baffled at how the machines would somehow be turned on
and off automatically.
Through all this, they were amazed at the serene atmosphere the
16th Gyalwa Karmapa created.
In the evening on November 5th, 1981, His Holiness passed away. For
three days, the heart region of the Karmapas body remained warm to
the amazement of the medical staff, and as the medical physician
put it, I have no medical explanation for this. His body was left
in the room for these days and remained in meditation position. The
Karmapa's disciples, such as Tai Situ Rinpoche, attended his body
after his death. Then, on November 9th, his remains were flown back
to Sikkim....
