WHY SUFFERING? – PHILOSOPHICAL & CHRISTIAN REFLECTIONS Version 1.0 Dated: 1^st May 2003

“Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much are the three pillars of learning” Benjamin Disraeli

HOW BUDDHISM SEE SUFFERING “Friends, there is suffering.” These words represent the beginning of the Buddha’s first teaching after his enlightenment. Why did the Buddha start his 35-years teaching career and setting in motion a 2,500-years tradition with the solemn declaration that there is suffering? Suffering is the first of the Four Holy Truths of ‘dukkha’. The Sanskrit word dukkha originally meant the friction caused by turning a wheel on its axle. And so it is that there is a basic friction underlying all the activities of our lives. “Come with me and let us reason together.” (Isaiah 1:18) [Isaiah is the 23^rd Book of the Old Testament of the Bible]