【Removing Suffering and Bestowing Happiness: Not Eliminating Suffering, but Cultivating a Mind Not Ruled by It】

I once wrote an article titled Life is Like Climbing a Mountain.

Life is not always a flat path.

There are days when you climb and climb, yet see no end in sight, and you want to stop.

At such times, Buddhism offers a way of thinking that quietly supports our hearts.

That is the term Bakku Yoraku (Removing Suffering and Bestowing Happiness).

Read literally, it means

• to remove suffering

• and to bestow peace

.

When I first encountered this term, I thought it was a teaching for helping others.

However, as I deepened my learning, I realized it was more than that.

The person I truly needed to face first was my own suffering.

At the heart of the teachings preached by the Buddha lies suffering.

In life, things do not always go as we wish.

There is aging, illness, parting, and attachment.

That is why suffering is born.

However, the Buddha did not view suffering with pessimism.

He taught that suffering has a cause, and if you understand that cause, you can live a life not swayed by suffering.

This is the teaching known as the Four Noble Truths.

When I learned this, I felt that what is important is not to eliminate suffering, but to change how we relate to suffering.

Even if you try to force yourself to forget your suffering, your mind will return to the same place again and again.

Filling it with pleasure only provides temporary relief.

However, when you become able to quietly observe your own suffering, your mind will strangely begin to settle little by little.

Even if the suffering has not disappeared, you will no longer be controlled by it.

I believe this is the true meaning of happiness.

The happiness referred to in Buddhism is not about fun or pleasure.

It is a mind that does not waver greatly, no matter what happens.

It is a mind that can breathe with peace of mind.

It is that very stillness.

Also, in Buddhism, there is the term compassion.

Compassion (ji) is the heart that wishes for the happiness of others.

Mercy (hi) is the heart that stands by the suffering of others.

These two cannot exist with only one or the other.

It is precisely because there is a heart that understands suffering that the heart that wishes for happiness becomes genuine.

That is why I believe that removing suffering and giving happiness is not something only special people can do.

Listening to your family until they finish speaking.

Not blaming someone who is feeling down.

Greeting others with a smile.

Such small actions may also be a step toward lightening someone's suffering and bringing them peace.

And the starting point for that is to cultivate your own mind.

When you are consumed by suffering, it is not easy to provide peace to others.

That is why you must first look within your own heart.

Do not deny your suffering; accept it quietly.

I believe that this accumulation of practice eventually leads to kindness toward those around you.

I feel this every time I study Buddhism.

It is difficult to eliminate suffering from life.

However, anyone can learn a way of living that is not swayed by suffering.

Is 'removing suffering and bestowing happiness' not a practice for that very purpose, and a way of life itself that gradually brings peace to the hearts of both oneself and those around us?

【Part 2】【Creator Articles】

From this point on, the articles will be introduced in no particular order.
Thank you all so much, as always.

　Photo & philosophy　donchan