Transcript Suffering lesson - religious view card

Religious view Card-Buddhism
Buddhists believe that all life involves suffering, they call this suffering ‘Dukkha’. It is not
necessarily a physical suffering, like pain, but rather a dissatisfaction. They argue that when
you look back over life as a whole it is generally dissatisfying because we want the good times
to last and go on forever, but they always come to an end (think of that ‘last days of the
holidays’ feeling!) It is for this reason that Buddhists believe that everyone suffers during
their lifetime in one way or another.
For Buddhists, the reason that the good times do come to an end is because of ‘Anicca’. This
word stands for the fact that everything changes, because every one thing depends on other
things (the reason you were late for school was because you missed the bus, the reason you
missed the bus was because you overslept, you overslept because your alarm didn’t go off,
because you forgot to set it before you went to bed…).
To escape from the suffering in life, Buddhists believe that you need to be considerate
towards others in order to avoid causing suffering, and that you must come to accept
suffering, understanding that it is part of the nature of life. Many Buddhists meditate to
help them to consider this issue clearly. It is only when a Buddhist truly understands why
there is suffering and comes to be at peace with themself and the world, that they may
achieve ‘enlightenment’, escaping this world and suffering.