Rising Above Suffering and Joy: A Secret Few Would Guess

Have you ever wondered why you keep chasing pleasure and avoiding pain, yet in the end still feel that life is unsettled? Have you ever felt weary from constantly choosing between fleeting enjoyments and some distant happiness that seems impossible to grasp? If so, the story below may open a new direction for you.

Two instincts that govern our lives

Venerable Thích Chân Quang opens his dharma talk with a profound observation: every human being has two main instincts. The first is the survival instinct, always clinging to life and fearing death, which makes us worry about food and drink. The second is the instinct for enjoyment, always liking what is pleasant and fearing what is painful, which makes us chase after worldly pleasures.

"Our whole lives, we humans go round and round avoiding suffering and seeking joy. But what is suffering, and what is joy?"

These two instincts have carried us through so many ups and downs. Yet if we live only by instinct, we are no different from animals, rushing toward whatever feels good and fleeing whatever hurts. So what makes a human being truly valuable? It is the capacity to recognize and rise above these instincts.

Suffering and joy are merely feelings, guided by karma

The Venerable makes it clear: feelings of suffering and joy do not arise on their own. They come from the power of each person's karma. Those with blessings from merit encounter joyful things; those who have committed wrongdoings encounter painful things. But because of delusion, we only see the suffering and joy before our eyes, without seeing the deep causes rooted in the past.

"The merit we have created becomes a feeling of joy. The wrongs we did in past lives now become the feeling of pain in our mind/heart."

So when we encounter something sad or joyful, do not rush to rejoice or worry. Look deeply within to see that everything has its own conditions (dependent origination). When we understand this, our suffering diminishes greatly.

Is selfishness really happiness?

The Venerable recounts a scientific experiment: researchers divided students into three groups, each given three dollars. The first group was asked to do good deeds, the second kept the money for themselves, and the third spent it freely. The result: the group that kept the money felt the happiest.

At first hearing, it seems that selfishness is happiness. But the Venerable emphasizes:

"Selfishness brings pleasure, but it is also what leads to the misery of birth and death, to suffering."

Why? Because the joy that comes from selfishness is only momentary, and it depletes our blessings from merit. When our merit runs dry, we seek to replenish it through actions that disregard wrongdoing, creating bad karma and then bearing its consequences. That is the endless cycle of samsara (cycle of rebirth).

A slave to pleasure, the road to suffering

The Venerable offers a sobering warning: people often become slaves to trivial pleasures. Out of craving for enjoyment, people will resort to any means: stealing, deceiving, even killing. Stories of game addicts killing their own family members, or those who lose their conscience to alcohol, are no longer unfamiliar.

"For the sake of enjoying these pleasures, people disregard wrongdoing. And so it is not wrong to say that a human being has become a slave to pleasure."

Only one who can restrain and refuse such pleasures is worthy of being called human. Whoever sinks into them will find their character gradually degraded, like an animal that lives only by instinct.

Rising above suffering and joy, the path of the wise

So where is the way out? The Buddha taught that there is a higher joy, one that transcends all worldly suffering and happiness. It is the joy of tranquility, of liberation, of true peace. But not everyone has the conditions (dependent origination) to recognize it.

"It is precisely because I awakened to this understanding that I followed the Buddha. If I had not come to see this, I would never have come to the temple."

A person of wisdom sees through the fleeting nature of pleasure, is not swept along by it, and knows how to turn toward a life of mindfulness and self-mastery. This is the path of rising above suffering and joy that the Venerable wishes to share.

Try looking back at your own life for a moment: What pleasures are you chasing? Do they truly bring lasting happiness? Practice pausing, observing your mind/heart, and begin the journey toward genuine peace and joy, a place no longer ruled by suffering and pleasure. That is the moment you find serenity amid the turbulent currents of life.