{"id":6594,"date":"2010-06-28T22:01:09","date_gmt":"2010-06-28T14:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/?p=6594"},"modified":"2010-06-29T00:23:55","modified_gmt":"2010-06-28T16:23:55","slug":"is-suffering-okay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2010\/06\/is-suffering-okay\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Suffering Okay?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Sometimes, suffering may not be a bad thing.<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> Suffering is ‘useful’ only if it spurs one to advance to enlightenment.<\/span> If not, suffering will return again and again – and one repeats suffering pointlessly – life after life.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/strong>I don’t think I am ‘suffering’ too much although I have some problems. I think I am fortunate in comparison to others who suffer more.<\/p>\n

A: <\/strong>We do not know what great negative karma might be in store for us – which is why it is important to advance towards enlightenment – or at least make sure we reach Pure Land, where enlightenment is guaranteed. If suffering is not a bad thing at all, the Buddha wouldn’t point it out as the First Noble Truth. In fact, suffering is the only problem we have. <\/span>When we have compassion for ourselves (coupled with wisdom), we can be liberated from our suffering. When we have compassion for others, we can help liberate others from their suffering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: Sometimes, suffering may not be a bad thing. A: Suffering is ‘useful’ only if it spurs one to advance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[49,82,150,139,41,106],"class_list":["post-6594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mix","tag-dukkha","tag-enlightenment","tag-four-noble-truths","tag-karma","tag-pure-land","tag-rebirth","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}