Pleasure & Pain

"Abandoning the eight worldly concerns, you made your freedom & endowment meaningful"

~Heart Jewel Sadhana of Je Tsongkhapa

This is the first of four posts I'll be writing on the eight worldly concerns. In "Joyful Path of Good Fortune," Geshe Kelsang Gyatso writes:

"To renounce attachment to the comforts of this life means to be free from eight worldly attitudes:

(1) Being pleased when receiving resources and respect
(2) Being displeased when not receiving resources and respect
(3) Being pleased when experiencing pleasure
(4) Being displeased when not experiencing pleasure
(5) Being pleased when enjoying a good reputation
(6) Being displeased when not enjoying a good reputation
(7) Being pleased when receiving praise
(8) Being displeased when not receiving praise

While we remain attached to resources and respect, pleasure, a good reputation, and praise, our mind is unbalanced and we are inclined to become overexcited when we possess them and dejected when we lose them."

In other traditions, I've heard the eight worldly concerns simplified into "pleasure & pain", "loss & gain", "praise & blame", & "fame & disgrace." While shorter and easier to remember, this list, in my opinion, loses some of the meaning of the eight worldly concerns.

Take "Pleasure & Pain," for example.

Just about everyone I know seeks pleasure and wants to avoid pain. But what Geshe Kelsang's definition also shows is that simply being displeased at the absence of pleasure is also a worldly concern.

This truth hits home for me in a big way, and, I think, has many implications for modern civilization.

We live in a world of entertainment and wanting to be entertained. We expect things to be fun, and when we are not having fun, we are likely to feel we are being cheated. We want to play at our work, and work at our play. We think our relationships should always bring us pleasure, and so should our lives. Then, when life and people don't deliver, when we are stuck in a state that is not pain but is the mere absence of pleasure, we are dissatisfied. In many cases, we get dejected, in which case the lack of pleasure becomes pain.

As a young child, I had a lot of fun. School was fun. My family went camping a lot. I didn't have a lot of homework or chores, and got to play a lot. I had fun friends, and a fun mom.

Little did I know I was due for a rude awakening about the age of nine -- one that would go on for the rest of my life.

Not everything is fun. This seems to be a self-evident truth when we look at the world around us, and yet for some reason, in our own lives, many of us expect to feel some degree of pleasure all the time. When we are doing something that does not give us pleasure, we see it as drudgery, and these activities can easily go from neutral to painful if we don't simply accept them as a part of life.

For the Buddhist practitioner, this constant chasing after pleasure can be a serious obstacle to practice. It is the essence of attachment -- it is almost addiction. We don't like that "funny feeling" that comes up when we don't have a pleasurable way to occupy our minds.

But that "funny feeling" is our state of existence itself: suffering, or samsara. It is the nature of the reality in which we live, and it is what we constantly try to cover over with pleasure.

To make progress along the path of Dharma, we must become acquainted with our suffering -- the first Noble Truth is that life is in the nature of suffering, true suffering. We can't get anywhere if we don't let ourselves be open to the way we suffer. Being open to our own suffering both creates the grounds for renunciation of samsara and forges the foundation of compassion for others' suffering. If we refuse to feel it, we will be seriously handicapped as Buddhists.

I have been stuck in this way for years, like a tortoise withdrawn into its shell to protect itself from the world. Now, I'm starting to peek out now and then, starting to see the world as it is and allow it to touch me. Then, I go back into my shell. I suspect it will be this way for some time.

Abandoning the eight worldly concerns isn't something that happens overnight. At least, I don't think it is. I think it happens gradually. As we grow in our Dharma study and practice, the need for constant pleasure diminishes, and we are stronger and better able to face the world without it.

On the other hand, I realize there may be people reading this who have not had the problems I have had with the worldly concern of pleasure. If so, I rejoice with you. You are that much farther ahead on the path to freedom.