Time to reflect on the causes of our suffering

The annual celebration of Vesak Day this weekend should serve as an occasion for us to consider the causes of suffering, especially in our increasingly interconnected society.

Amid growing insecurity for millions of people in the modern world, Vesak Day comes as a reminder of the importance of harmony and the human ability to co-exist peacefully.

Vesak Day commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Lord Buddha. This cycle is in itself a reflection of the causes of human suffering. Everything has a cause and an end result. The challenge for each of us is how to deal with suffering and its consequences with wise and open minds.

Unfortunately, while we continue to witness greater scientific and technological achievements – making it far easier for people to communicate with one another – we are also seeing greater insecurity as a result of the closer integration of people of different races and beliefs.

In Norway last year a self-described right-wing extremist – who wrote against people of different races and different beliefs – went on a murderous rampage at a political summer camp, killing scores of young people.

Also last year, a gunman went on a shooting spree in Arizona, killing and injuring innocent victims including US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, proving that the attacker did not have the ability to deal with political discourse except to vent his rage at people who held views different from his own

Closer to home, the insurgent violence in the three southernmost provinces shows, to tragic effect, the human inability to deal with conflicts in a peaceful manner. Wednesday’s showdown in Parliament is another unfortunate example of how violence can too easily erupt. The incident only serves to show how even those with such high political status fail to resolve their differences in a civilised and decent manner.

According to Buddhist teaching, if we can train our minds to accept and understand the truth of nature, we will better understand the causes of our dissatisfaction with the world around us. This dissatisfaction comes mostly from our inability to control things around us, but the way to counter this is to be mindful of our actions and their consequences.  

Unhappy people tend to be obsessed with the notion of “I”, “me” and “my”. Such a self-centred attitude prevents them from living happily, and the extreme end result is that they may desperately try to show their discontent by hurting others. Those who don’t have insight into themselves tend to be insecure. Thus we see people venting their anger at modern society, the new economic environment, or immigrants, even though these things are part of the natural process of change.

A strong mind can help individuals overcome these challenges. This is in line with the Western concept of an internal locus of control, in which individuals who believe their behaviour is guided by personal decisions and effort tend to deal with issues more successfully than those who believe their destiny is guided by external factors, such as other people or fate. Thus, people will not succumb to adverse circumstances if they have a strong will.  

In this rapidly changing world, especially amid widespread economic uncertainty, many people fear losing their jobs, but are quick to blame others without questioning whether they themselves have worked hard enough. Thailand is no different from anywhere else, and our current suffering is caused by our failure to tolerate others with different beliefs and backgrounds. We label people of a different political colour and condemn others as “the elite” or “social victims”. But social mobility can always be achieved if we put in the effort, and the reconciliation of political differences can be achieved if we deal with such issues wisely, with the ability to forgive.

When Aung San Suu Kyi, the iconic Myanmar opposition leader, was released from decades of house arrest, she posed for photographers with a sign written on her raised palm in reference to the Buddhist “Abhaya Mudra”. Westerners interpreted the sign as a symbol of fearlessness. But the word abhaya is translated into Thai as “forgiveness”.