Why Is All Feeling Suffering

Suffering is of three kinds: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of formations, and the suffering of decay; or it may be divided into eight sufferings: the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death; the suffering of not getting what one seeks; the suffering of association with the hateful; the suffering of separation from the beloved; and the suffering of the blazing of the five aggregates. The "formation" (saṃskāra) in the suffering of formations refers to running and changing: the five aggregates of body and mind undergo change and deterioration bit by bit, and simply cannot stay put or be held onto; therefore the five aggregates have the suffering of formations. The "decay" in the suffering of decay refers to destruction, dispersal, and alteration; the five aggregates likewise cannot be held onto, and therefore the five aggregates have the suffering of decay. That suffering itself is in every case a kind of suffering—this is the meaning of the suffering of suffering. Sentient beings do not merely have the three sufferings and the eight sufferings; when expanded and subdivided, there are immeasurably many sufferings. Yet ignorant sentient beings, though immersed in suffering, do not know suffering, so that the Buddha had to be troubled to come to the Sahā world to expound the Noble Truth of Suffering; and even after it was expounded, sentient beings still could not recognize suffering, nor could they eliminate suffering.

Feeling is divided into painful feeling, pleasant feeling, and neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, and whichever kind of feeling it is, it is all suffering. Even within pleasant feeling there is the suffering of formations, and after pleasant feeling comes the suffering of decay; at the very moment of pleasant feeling, there is still suffering in the mind—when there is pleasure, it is not pure pleasure. Moreover, sentient beings must pay a certain price for all kinds of pleasant feeling; therefore in the world of the five aggregates there is no truly painless pleasant feeling.

In the formless realm, the meditative concentration of the heaven of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is extremely blissful, but there is the suffering of formations there too: time passes extremely quickly, and the eighty thousand great kalpas in concentration pass in a flash, and once they have passed, all afflictions and distress manifest. When sentient beings are happy, they do not wish for the happiness to disappear, and this very wishing is itself suffering—the suffering of seeking something. When sentient beings pursue the Buddha's Dharma they must pay a toilsome price, and this itself is also suffering; yet within that suffering there is pleasant feeling, and afterward all suffering will gradually transform into pleasant feeling. Therefore we must diligently cultivate and study the Buddha's Dharma, fearing neither hardship nor difficulty; as we cultivate to the end, everything will turn into pleasant feeling and neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā). Whichever kind of feeling it is, it is all impermanent, and what is impermanent is suffering; hence it is said that all feeling is suffering.