“The triple world is not peaceful.
It is like the burning house.
It is full of sufferings.
It is dreadful.
There are always the sufferings
Of birth, old age, disease and death.
They are like flames
Raging endlessly.”
Lotus Sutra, Chapter III
Traditionally there are four things given as sufferings of life. The four are variously given as birth, old age, disease or sickness, and finally death. Today, and for the following three Tuesdays, I will write about these four sufferings.
Recently on an email group list the question came up about whether or not birth was such a bad thing, and didn’t we need to be born in order to carry out our Bodhisattva practice to save all beings. A distinction I would like to make here is concerning the idea of birth being either good or bad, and separating it from an understanding of it being directly related to suffering.
I think if you ask most people birth is a good thing, especially for the parents of a newborn child. On the other hand a birth might be an unwelcome event, depending upon circumstances. This value of good and bad is too subjective, and potentially misleading when we are talking about causes for suffering.
Suffering in itself is merely suffering, and is a fact of life. The First Nobel Truth speaks to this very subject. I believe that what Buddhism helps us to understand is for every action that occurs there is a potential for suffering. When we understand this we can actually begin to free ourselves from much of the effect of suffering and when it occurs we are less likely to respond to that suffering in ways that will increase the suffering.
I sometimes will talk about it in terms of a contract, a contract where there is a clause, which says ‘something may go wrong and things may not work out or last forever’. This is not a part of the reality of life we are comfortable looking at or even acknowledging. Yet it is always there. It is there when we get in our car in the morning and go to work, it is there when we fall in love, it is there when a new life it brought into the world. We choose to ignore it for a variety of reasons not the least of which is it is a terribly pessimistic way to live and just the reality can create fear and consequently more suffering.
Let’s look at birth today. I am guessing that most people when they think of birth in this context they think about a newborn baby, so let us start there. I know a chaplain who talks about the terror or trauma of birth for the baby. Here is this baby who is living in this perfect climate controlled, water-cushioned environment where food is automatically supplied, there is a waste management system included. Life in this environment is just about perfect for the infant. Finally on birth day the baby is ejected from this perfect environment into a cold room full of bright lights and people, perhaps lots of people.
The baby soon realizes that its water cushioned ride no longer exists and it also realizes that if it wants nourishment it will need to do something to have its needs met. Things just got extremely complex for this helpless life form. The trauma of birth sets into motion a life that until death is one of trying to manipulate life in such a way that will allow it to survive, joy and happiness are potential by products of this experience but certainly not priorities. Survival is the single most important thing for life. Yes different life forms have the ability to exhibit compassion and self-sacrifice but those only come later and under select circumstances.
Birth in itself is an event that begins with trauma, but that trauma does not reflect whether or not there is suffering. In fact I suspect that the concept or experience of suffering distinct from pain doesn’t develop until much later in life. I’m not an expert in child development but this is what I suspect to be the case.
Now let us consider birth in other ways. Every day we are born again to a new day of new experiences. Yes, they are new, even if they are like other experiences in previous days. Every day begins again, and every moment begins again. In way our entire life is defined by birth, unceasing, unrelenting. Because we have done it so many times in our lives we don’t give it much thought, but it is there none the less. Every moment we begin again. All of the security of having survived to this moment is gone and the struggle for survival begins again, since nothing is guaranteed in life and nothing lasts forever, even if the odds are that nothing will change, they could.
We also give birth to new ideas and new projects for our lives. This birthing of ideas can be exciting or it can be scary, it depends upon the individual. Frequently though the birthing of ideas is a cause for hope and excitement, though certainly not always. As new ideas are born within us they are also safe, because the do not need to meet any expectations of performance or success. Once they have been born and launched into the world though it can be very challenging to keep them alive.
There are, as you can see many ways in which to consider birth. As to whether or not birth is a good or bad thing is a value we attribute to the event, and purely individually subjective. But birth is indeed a cause of suffering simply because along with that birth, any birth, there is that clause in the contract which states ‘it may not last, it may not succeed, it will not remain unchanged’. Also keep in mind that suffering is not necessarily a bad thing or something to be avoided.
Suffering, when we understand the nature and cause can become a fertile place to grow and nurture our enlightened life. It is when we become stuck in the suffering or when we proceed in unskillful ways that suffering is less than desirable. Becoming a victim to our suffering leads to more suffering, as does acting in unskillful ways. Suffering is not something to be avoided, since it really can’t be avoided any way.
Birth as a potential source of suffering is a fact. It isn’t a bad thing, nor good, it simply is, it is neutral. What we do with the effect, which has been caused, is the key to becoming happy and enlightened.
Next week I’ll post about ‘old age’ and it may not be what you are thinking about.
I welcome your comments. Now it’s your turn.
