05/25/2026
But let's not look too far out there, let's bring the attention back to our daily live. How many of us are free from stress and anxiety? We compete with time to meet the deadline of our project, we don't feel secure in our jobs, we worry about our future, and our children's future, we are afraid we don't live up to our parent's expectations, we measure our success with outcome and results, we compare our achievement with our peer group, we see our limits as flaws, we take our failure as shame. All these things trap us in the confinement of distress and unhappiness. We have little or no control over our lives. This is what the Buddha meant by suffering.
Suffering, if uncured, can be like cancer spreading and infecting the whole body, and our life will undergo a continuing process of pain, conflict and torment.
The magnitude of suffering varies. It can be accumulated over a period of time. This is typical of emotional suffering. If one keeps feeding and nourishing sadness, for example, it will grow and transform into depression.
Human life is attacked by spiritual, physical, economic, and other forms of suffering. Is there anyone who is not caught up in life's affliction?
The Buddha described two kinds of suffering; internal sufferings and external sufferings. Internal sufferings include physical pain, anxiety, fear, jealousy, suspicion, anger and so forth. External sufferings are things that come from outside. These include wind, rain, cold, heat, natural disaster such as draught, flood, wars and so on.
Suffering can be classified into various categories, the Buddha classified eight sufferings that human beings experience regardless of their status, whether they are rich, poor, average, or gifted.
1. Birth. Birth can be a painful experience. This starts from the moment we were born, the forceful discharge from our mother's womb. The painful sensation of a newborn's tender skin, which has come in contact with the external environment aftermany months nestled inside the womb.
2. The agony of growing old. Vitality, vigour and freshness of youth gives way to fear of getting old, fear of being unloved and unwanted, fear of loneliness and dependence, financial insecurity as well as the physical feebleness.
3. The attack of sickness.
4. The phobia of death. For many people, death is a passage unknown into the future. Whether we like it or not, we have to embark on this journey one day.
5. Losing those we love. We all have or will experience the loss of someone we love some time in our live.
6. The suffering that comes when one has to work with people we dislike and despise, talk to them or even live under the same roof that we try so hard to avoid associating with them.
7. Not getting what one desires. People chase after material wealth, power, fame, or position etc, very often these things are out of bound for many of us. To desire something and not being able to get it is painful.
8. The seven types of suffering come from the Five Skandas. The Five Skandas are life components, which are made up of the elements of forms, sensation, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness. They make up our body and mind. These Five Skandas are like armed robbers invading and robbing our peace of mind. Giving rise to the various kinds of suffering and afflictions.
We know these various kinds of suffering, but what causes them? The Buddha said, if you look deeply into the nature of suffering you will know how it has come to you.
