The Lotus Sutra and the Four Noble Truths —The Truth of Suffering: The Gap Between Our Wishes and Reality
Dr. Dominick Scarangello
International Advisor to Rissho Kosei-kai
This month, I’d like to begin an exploration of the Four Noble Truths with all of you. Discussions of Buddhism normally begin with the Four Noble Truths, but in order to understand them from the perspective of the Lotus Sutra, we have waited until now.
When Shakyamuni Buddha first turned the Wheel of the Dharma and began teaching, it is said that he introduced the Four Noble Truths. These four principles are often likened to a doctor’s diagnosis and prescription for healing a patient’s illness. The first of the Four Noble Truths is the diagnosis of humanity’s spiritual illness: suffering. The Buddha proposes that life, as we ordinarily live it, is full of suffering. But what is suffering?
The word “suffering” makes us think of extreme distress, sickness, and pain. The sutras often speak of the four sufferings: birth, aging, sickness, and death. If these alone defined suffering, many of us might think suffering is something that mainly affects us at the end of life and question the Buddha’s assertion that life is full of suffering.
However, “birth” and “aging, sickness, and death” also have other meanings in the context of our experience of ordinary life. Because we make arbitrary judgments about what is good and bad, or desirable and undesirable, “birth” occurs—the arising of suffering (Buddhism for Today, 156). We can think of “aging, sickness, and death” as our struggle with this suffering, or the distress or anxiety we often feel when any situation we cling to changes, deteriorates, and comes to an end. Seen from this perspective, I think most people can agree that the Buddha was right. We undergo this kind of cycle of experience every day of our lives. Life is indeed full of suffering!
This explanation also reveals the fundamental meaning of suffering, which is dukkha in Pali. As President Niwano describes it, suffering arises when things do not go as we wish. In other words, when the Buddha says life is full of suffering, he means that things often fail to conform to our wishes. The feelings we experience in the gap between our wishes and reality are suffering. This is why the Buddha also described suffering as separation from what we love, the inability to escape what we hate, and the failure to obtain what we want. These are familiar examples of things not going as we wish.
According to the Buddha, to live happier and more fulfilling lives, we must first recognize that life is full of suffering and then recognize suffering itself when it arises. This may sound strange, but we often fail to recognize our own suffering. The Buddha observed that we frequently mistake suffering for happiness. As a result, we continue patterns of thought and action that eventually bring us much hurt and sorrow. Thus, practicing the Truth of Suffering means recognizing existentially that life is replete with suffering and, in the world of everyday experience, learning to recognize suffering when it appears.
How can we better recognize suffering? One way is to pay attention to our feelings whenever things do not go as we wish. At such times, we are likely to experience inner distress and anxiety, though we may not immediately recognize them. Another signal is the appearance of the mindsets of the six realms, especially the “four evil paths”: hells, hungry spirits, beasts, and asuras.
Whenever anger and hatred, desire, ignorance, or jealousy arise, we are reacting to the gap between the way we wish things would be and how they actually are. We may feel anger or hatred when someone or something acts contrary to our wishes. Desire usually appears when we seek satisfaction but cannot attain it. Ignorance is the experience of our minds not being as keen and effective as we would like. Jealousy may take hold of us when others seem to obtain more of what they wish than we do. Ultimately, all these are forms of distress we may experience when things don’t go as we wish.
Often, we do not initially experience these states as suffering. For example, we may momentarily feel vindicated when we lash out in anger at someone who has not acted as we wished. This is often the way our unawakened minds initially misperceive suffering as pleasure.
Therefore, whenever these mindsets arise, even if we do not feel distressed, we should take them as signs that we are experiencing suffering—the gap between our wishes and reality.
Finally, our bodies can provide another clue. During our study of the Ten Suchnesses, we learned that “such an embodiment” refers to our entity, the totality of body and mind. Even when our conscious minds are unaware of suffering, it may manifest as physiological changes in our bodies.
Through mindfulness and “bodyfulness,” we can practice the Noble Truth of Suffering by recognizing when we are distressed by the gap between our wishes and reality.
Field Report from the Sangha
Rev. Keiichi Akagawa, Minister of the Sri Lanka Dharma Center and the Bangladesh Dharma Center
The Parent-Child Bond That Overcame Suffering
In this month’s installment of “Practicing the Dharma in the Here and Now,” we explore the first of the Four Noble Truths, the Truth of Suffering. The Buddha teaches that suffering arises when reality does not unfold as we wish. Whenever our hopes and reality are far apart, we experience deep anguish. An encounter with a couple who recently visited the Bangladesh Dharma Center profoundly reminded me of the essence of the Truth of Suffering and of the dignity and resilience of the human spirit that can rise above suffering.
The couple had a son, who worked for a bank. One day, they came to see me, looking deeply distressed. “Our son has suddenly stopped talking to us,” they said. “He seems to be avoiding us, and we don’t know what to do.” As I listened closely to their story, the harsh reality their son was facing gradually came to light. According to the parents, although he had achieved outstanding savings-acquisition results, his Muslim, female supervisor, who was jealous of his abilities, stole them all, reporting his achievements as her own. With the senior management around him consisting almost entirely of Muslims, no matter how strongly he complained about his boss’s misconduct, no one listened to him, and his boss was not held accountable. Faced with the harsh realities of living as a member of a minority group, he found himself on the brink of despair and was closing himself off emotionally.
The son was left wondering, Why is it that the person who does the right thing is the one who suffers? For him, this unjust reality, which was completely beyond his control, created unbearable suffering. His parents, too, were consumed by anxiety as they watched their son suffer, and a heavy shadow had settled over their family.
Instead of joining the parents in condemning the injustice and criticizing society, I quietly reflected on the emotional pain their son must be carrying. Then I said to the parents: “Your son must have been carrying this burden all by himself because he did not want to cause you any worry. He is truly a kind and caring son who loves his parents very deeply.”
The moment those words were spoken, large tears began streaming down the mother’s face. It was not a judgmental comment about society’s injustice that touched her heart, but a few compassionate words that acknowledged their son’s wounded heart. These simple words seemed to gently melt away the burden that had weighed so heavily on both parents.
Some time later, I received wonderful news. Having finally laid down the burden he had been carrying alone, their son was searching for a new job with renewed hope, supported by the encouragement of his relatives. Rather than remaining trapped in his feelings of anger and despair—the four evil states of existence: hells, hungry spirits, beasts, and asuras—he accepted the reality before him and found the courage to take his first step toward a new future. This transformation was made possible by something most powerful: the radiant bond between parent and child, woven together by the parents’ deep love for their son and the son’s love for his parents.
It is precisely when we face circumstances beyond our control that we can discover true kindness and strength. I sincerely hope to continue strongly supporting the parents, who are bound to their son by this precious bond, and to share the wisdom needed to overcome suffering together with everyone in our community.