How Easily We Create Suffering

K. Ken Fujimoto

This month, I am writing this article much earlier than usual because of the annual BCA National Council and Ministers Association meetings at the end of February. I really have no idea what I should write about, which is a problem, in itself, but it really feels strange to be writing this now. This is a very explicit example of what the Sakyamuni Buddha referred to as dukha or suffering.

Whenever, something is different from our usual routine or from the expected, we get thrown off balance. This being thrown off balance, though there may be a difference in degree, cause us to suffer. Most of the time, the differences that we encounter are so minor that we make the necessary adjustments without much difficulty, so they are only minor irritations. However, there are times when our routine is greatly altered or our expectations are shattered. The more we cling to those expectations or to our routine, the more difficult the adjustment becomes.

Some people can alter their routine or adjust their expectations without too much trouble and they will not be faced with as much self-created suffering as others. Other people create a great deal of suffering for themselves because of their inability or unwillingness to adapt. If that unwillingness is due to a commitment or belief, it is understandable, but it is a deliberate decision made understanding the complications that may arise. However, when we do not or can not make the necessary adjustments or adaptations in our lives due to an inability to see the options in front of us, it can become a source of great suffering. This is a simple concept that is easy to see and understand in the intellectual sense, but it is difficult to do in life. It is something that is obvious to us on one level, but something we always seem to ignore on another.

General Buddhism focuses on this inability to see and adjust and takes us along a path to become able to see and adjust. Jodo Shinshu Buddhism affirms this inability to see and adjust as being the reason for Amida’s compassionate-wisdom being directed towards us. One way of looking at this is that we try to polish and improve ourselves to adapt; the other is to have our eyes opened to the reality of so much energy being directed to us because we cannot see. In one, you try to make yourself better. In the other, you come to see the efforts of so many beings and conditions working to make things better for us. Both are good, but there are so many pitfalls in the former because we tend to be so good at deceiving ourselves into thinking what we want is what we need that very few of us can actually polish and improve.

This insight into the reality of the human condition for the majority of people is where the difference between Sakyamuni Buddha and Shinran Shonin becomes manifest. For people who can prepare themselves for the changes in life and see things clearly so that they can quickly make the necessary adjustments, Sakyamuni’s basic teaching can lead to enlightenment. For those who are so filled with passion and attachments and easily deceive themselves, Sakyamuni’s teaching is very distant. Shinran saw himself this way. He pointed out that he was so filled with ego, passion and attachments that he had no hope of enlightenment on his own. He saw how easily he could deceive himself and make a seemingly logical compromise that was really very distant from the ideal that he was seeking. This is why he championed the teaching of Amida’s compassion, constantly working in its infinite manifestations and through so many people and events to free him and all those like him from these self-created bonds.

To ponder the simplicity of Sakyamuni’s teaching and the depth of Shinran’s is a major reason for our Ohigan services. To honestly look at ourselves and see which type we really are is another opportunity given to us at this time. Please make an effort to use this time of change as an opportunity to encounter the Buddha-dharma.