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**scemHeish** · 06-20-2011, 11:43 PM

Thanks for taking the time to provide your guidance. I've had my share of mental anguish...for instance I was abandoned by my mother at a young age without so much as a goodbye, so she could go and start a family somewhere else. I was suicidal by age 9, and it took me almost a decade and a half to get over it.

But surely this cannot be the extent of suffering. I see many people suffering worse than I. Surely to truly appreciate freedom from suffering, one must be aware of the full extent of it's misery. Not many American's have experienced true suffering (from what I've gathered from my experiences in 3rd world countries).

Again, there seems to be a confusion between the ideas of "hardship" and of "suffering". There is no end to the sort of hardships that the world has to offer, and seeking to experience the "full extent" of them is really not necessary. Putting an end to "suffering" is simply changing the way we view or react to experience, however it presents. There is no need to choose to place oneself in a position of starving, or to, say, undergo physical torture (which is certainly within the bounds of "the full extent of its misery") in order to appreciate and to be able to work on how we react to experience. The Buddha would probably compare this quest to "explore the full extent of suffering" to the sort of extreme of self-mortification that he declared to be a wrong turn.

Being suicidal (or having been suicidal) is very definitely and unequivocably suffering, and suffering enough to work with.

I'm going to continue with my plans to start back at school (it's been a while). Thanks to all for the advice. Excellent!

06-20-2011, 11:43 PM	#14
scemHeish Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 442 Senior Member	Thanks for taking the time to provide your guidance. I've had my share of mental anguish...for instance I was abandoned by my mother at a young age without so much as a goodbye, so she could go and start a family somewhere else. I was suicidal by age 9, and it took me almost a decade and a half to get over it. But surely this cannot be the extent of suffering. I see many people suffering worse than I. Surely to truly appreciate freedom from suffering, one must be aware of the full extent of it's misery. Not many American's have experienced true suffering (from what I've gathered from my experiences in 3rd world countries). Again, there seems to be a confusion between the ideas of "hardship" and of "suffering". There is no end to the sort of hardships that the world has to offer, and seeking to experience the "full extent" of them is really not necessary. Putting an end to "suffering" is simply changing the way we view or react to experience, however it presents. There is no need to choose to place oneself in a position of starving, or to, say, undergo physical torture (which is certainly within the bounds of "the full extent of its misery") in order to appreciate and to be able to work on how we react to experience. The Buddha would probably compare this quest to "explore the full extent of suffering" to the sort of extreme of self-mortification that he declared to be a wrong turn. Being suicidal (or having been suicidal) is very definitely and unequivocably suffering, and suffering enough to work with. I'm going to continue with my plans to start back at school (it's been a while). Thanks to all for the advice. Excellent!
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