It just states a fact: “suffering occurs when we want things to be different than they are.” It doesn’t say that you shouldn’t necessarily try to change things, just that *wanting* things to be different than they *really and currently are* will cause you to suffer. I don’t think that is even up for debate is it?

Here’s a very quick and concise “For instance”…Say your wife leaves you. If you were OK with it you wouldn’t be suffering would you? But if you focused on wishing that she wasn’t gone then you’d be suffering right? You’d be wanting things to be different than they are. That’s a simplistic example but you get the point right?

Probably for it to make more sense you need to know “the four noble truths” to put it in context.

1-”Life means suffering”
Just to be human means to suffer pain, injury, heartbreak, sickness, tiredness, etc.

2-”The origin of suffering is attachment”
More precisely the attachment of transient things. Craving and clinging to both physical things and ideas. Things like desire, jealousy, wanting fame, desiring money, and attachments to ideas and perceptions, the way things “should” be, etc. Since all of these things are transient their loss is inevitable and so suffering will naturally follow.

3-”The ending of suffering is attainable”
Simply put, ending the craving and attachments to these things that cause suffering can be done. The Buddhists call the ultimate freedom from worries, troubles, ideas, etc. “nirvana.”

4-”There is a path to ending suffering”
They call it the “middle way” or “the eightfold path.”

Mind you, I’m not a buddhist and I don’t buy all of their stories. Maybe he should have said “mental suffering” to be more precise. Obviously if you cut your finger that’s a different kind of suffering than we’re talking about.

I kind of look at it as “going with the flow.” The more you just accept “the way things are” the less suffering you’ll have. Sure there are things you’ll want to change which is not a bad thing, but maybe the point is knowing and choosing which battles to fight.

You could also probably state it as the serenity prayer “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

That’s another way to look at it if you so choose

In that case, let’s not worry about health care, or animal rights, or abortion, or global warming, or the fact that the next door neighbor physically and sexually abuses his children, or whatever the particular “evil” happens to be. These “things just are,” and my desiring to change them would just lead to more suffering.

Do you want your life to be easier? Do you want other people’s lives to be easier? Is suffering a bad thing? Evidently Buddha thought so, or he wouldn’t have made the statement, eh? Sounds like he WANTED an absence of suffering. But that implies at least two things: (1)Suffering is bad or “evil,” if you will and (2) he wanted things to be different.

Have a good one, homey:)