Why Are All Feelings Suffering?

Suffering is of three kinds: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of volitional formations, and the suffering of decay; or it can 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 those one hates; the suffering of separation from those one loves; and the suffering of the blazing of the five aggregates. The "formation" (saṃskāra) in the suffering of volitional formations refers to movement and change: the body and mind of the five aggregates undergo change and deterioration bit by bit, and cannot stay still at all, nor can they be grasped or held onto; therefore the five aggregates possess the suffering of volitional 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 possess the suffering of decay. The very nature of all suffering is itself a kind of suffering—this is the meaning of the suffering of suffering. Sentient beings have not only the three sufferings and the eight sufferings; when expanded and subdivided, there are immeasurably many sufferings. Yet ignorant sentient beings, though dwelling amid suffering, do not know suffering, and it even took the trouble of the Buddha to come to the Sāhā world to expound the Noble Truth of Suffering. Even after it was expounded, sentient beings still could not recognize suffering, nor could they eradicate it.

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 volitional 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 the various pleasant feelings; therefore, in the world of the five aggregates there is no truly painless pleasant feeling.

In the formless realm, the meditative concentration (samādhi) state of the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception is extremely blissful, but even there there is the suffering of volitional formations: time passes extremely quickly, and the eighty thousand great kalpas within that 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 that happiness to disappear, and this very wishing is itself suffering—the suffering of having something one seeks. When sentient beings pursue the Buddha-dharma, they must pay the price of toil, 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 should diligently cultivate and study the Buddha-dharma, not fearing hardship and difficulty; in the end, cultivation will all 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.