"Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." (Rate this quote)

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Suffering is only optional if death is also an option.
 
Law Talkin’ Guy said:
Meaningless semantics without meaning. The words are practically synonymous.
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Not in medicine, behavior, or psychology they don’t. For example in this article published by the a National Library of Medicine:

“Pain is a physical sensation or signal indicating an event within the body. Suffering is the interpretation of that event and involves thoughts, beliefs, or judgments,4,5 and reflects the human experience of pain.

Pain can cause suffering when it is uncontrolled or persists.”
 
BFoe said:
Not in medicine, behavior, or psychology they don’t. For example in this article published by the a National Library of Medicine:

“Pain is a physical sensation or signal indicating an event within the body. Suffering is the interpretation of that event and involves thoughts, beliefs, or judgments,4,5 and reflects the human experience of pain.

Pain can cause suffering when it is uncontrolled or persists.”
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Exactly - pain is an unpleasant physical sensation, suffering is your mental response to it.

When we experience physical pain, we construct a whole story around it that makes it much worse, in addition to clinging to the past sensations and being averse to future expected sensations. This clinging and aversion in addition to the mental story is what causes suffering. An example Sam Harris often uses to demonstrate this are the body sensations one gets during and after a workout. The pain of a workout and post workout soreness can actually be quite pleasant because you have a positive mental story around it, these sensations are good because they mean I'm healthy, improving my body etc. The exact same physical sensations being caused by a sickness result in intense suffering, again because of the negative mental story around it.
 
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dirtypablo said:
Exactly - pain is an unpleasant physical sensation, suffering is your mental response to it.

When we experience physical pain, we construct a whole story around it that makes it much worse, in addition to clinging to the past sensations and being averse to future expected sensations. This clinging and aversion in addition to the mental story is what causes suffering. An example Sam Harris often uses to demonstrate this are the body sensations one gets during and after a workout. The pain of a workout and post workout soreness can actually be quite pleasant because you have a positive mental story around it, these sensations are good because they mean I'm healthy, improving my body etc. The exact same physical sensations being caused by a sickness result in intense suffering, again because of the negative mental story around it.
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I'm not buddahist but from my interpretation this is correct. They view suffering as the response to the pain (anger, fear, anxiety, depression, despair, grief) which they believe can be controlled. Basically, live in the moment and part of the moment (pain and loss) is an aspect of life that you need to accept just as much as the good. Here's a quote below that digs into it.

"A Buddhist reminds himself to have no desire/attachment, i.e. see reality as it is instead of wanting reality to be what he wishes to see. When unfortunate event happens, he accept it as it is, without mourning of the past nor anxiety about the future. He tries to concentrate his attention in the present. He knows that no amount of regret can change the past, and no amount of anxiety can guarantee a desirable future. He just does whatever he can do best here and now."

"Right Thought is basically the thought of non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion. Greed leads to clinging/attachment, which is the origin of the whole mass of suffering. Hatred or aversion is the result of clinging/attachment; for example, one hates dirty places because he has clinging/attachment to clean places. Delusion is trying to defy reality such as doing something which is impossible or non beneficial. When one experiences suffering, it is the result of his greed, hatred or delusion. A Buddhist learns from the experience and tries to abandon greed, hatred and delusion to avoid future suffering."
 
when the going gets tough the tough gets going - Buddha

We didn't start the fire, it was always burnin since the world's been turnin' - Jesus

btw Buddha is a concept not a person. There were different Buddhas.

Laughing Buddha and Siddhartha are not the same guy
 
PBAC said:
when the going gets tough the tough gets going - Buddha

We didn't start the fire, it was always burnin since the world's been turnin' - Jesus

btw Buddha is a concept not a person. There were different Buddhas.

Laughing Buddha and Siddhartha are not the same guy
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Buddha isn't a concept, its a title, but 'the Buddha' generally always refers to Siddhartha Gautama.
 
There is often confusion or misunderstanding about 'suffering' in Buddhism, as the first noble truth is usually incorrectly translated as the truth of suffering, when it is really the truth of dukkha, or unsatisfactoriness, which is a broader term. Yes you will get sick, experience pain and die, lose the ones you love and so on, but that's not the suffering the Buddha came to understand when he had his awakening. He was pointing to a much more subtle and broader form of suffering, the moment to moment unsatisfactoriness of ordinary life.

You can see this form of suffering yourself directly, sit down and try to do absolutely nothing for 5 minutes. Don't use a meditation technique like focusing on the breath or bodily sensations, and do not move. Simply sit completely still and be. You will notice almost immediately, you have an instinctual response or desire to do something, even if that something is just getting lost in thought, or making some small adjustment to your bodily positioning. This is the suffering of the first noble truth, and it underscores every other type of suffering one can experience in life - wanting things to be different than they currently are. This desire for things to be different than they are is the cause of suffering, but that desire is itself caused by ignorance - seeing things as they actually are and directly understanding the three characteristics of all conditioned phenomenon causes desire to drop away, which then frees one from suffering.
 
Pain is natures way to let you know you are still alive.
 
560ti said:
I'm not buddahist but from my interpretation this is correct. They view suffering as the response to the pain (anger, fear, anxiety, depression, despair, grief) which they believe can be controlled. Basically, live in the moment and part of the moment (pain and loss) is an aspect of life that you need to accept just as much as the good. Here's a quote below that digs into it.

"A Buddhist reminds himself to have no desire/attachment, i.e. see reality as it is instead of wanting reality to be what he wishes to see. When unfortunate event happens, he accept it as it is, without mourning of the past nor anxiety about the future. He tries to concentrate his attention in the present. He knows that no amount of regret can change the past, and no amount of anxiety can guarantee a desirable future. He just does whatever he can do best here and now."

"Right Thought is basically the thought of non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion. Greed leads to clinging/attachment, which is the origin of the whole mass of suffering. Hatred or aversion is the result of clinging/attachment; for example, one hates dirty places because he has clinging/attachment to clean places. Delusion is trying to defy reality such as doing something which is impossible or non beneficial. When one experiences suffering, it is the result of his greed, hatred or delusion. A Buddhist learns from the experience and tries to abandon greed, hatred and delusion to avoid future suffering."
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Research does show that the after effects of traumatic events (ptsd, anxiety, depression are less prevalent in people that don't dwell in them. I think it is more to do with some people being more aware of boundaries/right/wrong and some people who care less about these concepts being willing to move on and forget it. The more respect you have for ethical concepts the harder you are likely to take it. The more you know about society the more likely you will start questioning its safety. If you know nothing about society you have nothing to question.
 
Reminds me of those No Fear T-shirt’s as a kid grew up with in mid 90s.
no-fear-t-shirts-of-the-90s-v0-fxm9tl6fd1la1.jpg


images


I don’t think sounds very Siddartha like.
 
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A solid 6.
The pain is itself suffering to an extent. I get that the meaning is to have a positive attitude, or look on the bright side in the face of adversity, but that comes across as a bit callous in the instance that, say, your whole family is killed or something.
 
dirtypablo said:
Buddha isn't a concept, its a title, but 'the Buddha' generally always refers to Siddhartha Gautama.
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Before I learned anything about Buddhism I always associated Buddhism with fat Buddha. I think most Western people do. Maybe it's because a statue of a bony starving man wouldn't fit well in a Chinese restaurant so happy big Buddha is more presentable.

I recall it was something like the Buddha is a title for people who have achieved close understanding with the universe ergo the Buddha is the greater concept and the earthly Buddha are humans representatives of those concepts. So by a person reaching enlighten they have reached a transcended state with the universe. So as I understood it Buddha is a superior concept and earthly Buddha are not separate but manifest the Dharmic teachings on earth.

This is also a reason why the Buddha is often compared to the Christ concept. God and Jesus are not separate but they are the same being manifest on Earth, so God sent himself manifest his own Son, birth to human woman, and then sacrificed himself to make all other forms of sacrifice irrelevant. Without a similar tie in then those comparisons don't make sense e.g early /Christian roots are often traced back to Buddhism, but its a seperate debatable issue.
 
Takes_Two_To_Tango said:
The thing about this quote is that there could be a time when you are complete numb by pain, so in a sense you don't suffer anymore. Like say if you a whipped a 1000 times, I don't think the pain is as significant by that point.

That's what it means I guess, it's all in the mind. The nerves sending the messages to your brain, you can literally cut it off in sense. I know it's not easy, but it is plausible to a degree.
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Doesn't really work that way. It gets worse actually.
 
NoSmilez said:
Damn I thought it was a quote from DMX.
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"Pain is inevitable. Suffering? That's optional
Try to bring 'em to my doorstep, free trip to the hospital
I know these words are hard for you to swallow
Cause words ain't my 40 cal points, they ain't hollow
Rrrr arf arf!"
 
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