The Roots of Suffering

“The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is.” ~ Byron Katie

In our last blog, we talked about how suffering is the result of not getting what you want. How we all have an idea of how things should be and, when reality doesn’t meet our expectations, we become dissatisfied. The greater the gap between life as it is and life as we think it should be, the more we tend to suffer. But surely there is more to suffering than a chronic dissatisfaction with what is.

What exactly are the root causes of suffering?

In the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha taught that craving, thirst and compulsive wanting is the root of all suffering. The idea being that, by conquering desire, you can conquer suffering. The Yoga Sutra, on the other hand, teaches that suffering begins with avidya, which is generally translated as ignorance. This is not the backwards, unintelligent kind of ignorance. Avidya is more like a fundamental misunderstanding about your true nature.

Basically, Avidya is confusing the seer with what is being seen. It’s mistaking the changing parts of yourself- your body, thoughts and emotions- for your true self. In this case, your true self is the unchanging awareness that is the witness to your experience. The Yoga Sutra then explains how ignorance is the seed from which all the other causes of suffering grow.

When you forget that your deeper nature is pure awareness, you start looking outside yourself to form your identity. This leads to asmita, or ego-identification, where you create an idea of who you are based on things like your appearance, your personality, your core beliefs and how you think others see you.

From this identification come raga and dvesa- attachment and aversion. We cling to the people, experiences and sensations that bring us pleasure. We resist or push away whatever brings discomfort. Of course, there is nothing wrong with enjoying what feels good or avoiding unnecessary pain. Suffering begins when we insist that pleasurable experience must last indefinitely or that we must never experience discomfort.

The final cause of suffering, according to the Yoga Sutra, is abhinivesa or clinging to life. This relates to the primal fear that we all have when it comes to loss and death. Because we identify with our body, ego, and personality, the thought of them no longer existing is unnerving to say the least. This deep-rooted fear of no longer existing is the primary cause of stress in many situations.

Together, these five root causes of suffering form a chain: you fundamentally misunderstand who you are, so you construct an identity, chase after what brings you pleasure, resist what brings you discomfort and, ultimately, fear losing what you believe yourself to be.

In yoga, you learn to witness all the changing parts of experience without forgetting about the awareness in which it all appears. In the end, inner freedom does not rely on life unfolding according to your exact preferences. Freedom begins when you stop confusing what you experience with who you are.