Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register
Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.

Physical Pain

ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
edited April 2012 in Buddhism Basics
kay so we have all experienced physical pain from one extreme to the other. This is a pain that is pretty much inevitable, even if you live in a box your entire life you will soon die of old age and experience physical pain. What did the buddha actually say about this in the 4NTs? Of course anything written about his teachings were conducted at least 100 years after, so it is not exactly word from the donkeys mouth, but still..

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    The Blessed One said, "When touched with a feeling of pain, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical & mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, were to shoot him with another one, so that he would feel the pains of two arrows; in the same way, when touched with a feeling of pain, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical & mental.

    "As he is touched by that painful feeling, he is resistant. Any resistance-obsession with regard to that painful feeling obsesses him. Touched by that painful feeling, he delights in sensual pleasure. Why is that? Because the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person does not discern any escape from painful feeling aside from sensual pleasure. As he is delighting in sensual pleasure, any passion-obsession with regard to that feeling of pleasure obsesses him. He does not discern, as it actually is present, the origination, passing away, allure, drawback, or escape from that feeling. As he does not discern the origination, passing away, allure, drawback, or escape from that feeling, then any ignorance-obsession with regard to that feeling of neither-pleasure-nor-pain obsesses him.

    "Sensing a feeling of pleasure, he senses it as though joined with it. Sensing a feeling of pain, he senses it as though joined with it. Sensing a feeling of neither-pleasure-nor-pain, he senses it as though joined with it. This is called an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person joined with birth, aging, & death; with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs. He is joined, I tell you, with suffering & stress.

    "Now, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones, when touched with a feeling of pain, does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not beat his breast or become distraught. So he feels one pain: physical, but not mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, did not shoot him with another one, so that he would feel the pain of only one arrow. In the same way, when touched with a feeling of pain, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not beat his breast or become distraught. He feels one pain: physical, but not mental.

    "As he is touched by that painful feeling, he is not resistant. No resistance-obsession with regard to that painful feeling obsesses him. Touched by that painful feeling, he does not delight in sensual pleasure. Why is that? Because the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns an escape from painful feeling aside from sensual pleasure. As he is not delighting in sensual pleasure, no passion-obsession with regard to that feeling of pleasure obsesses him. He discerns, as it actually is present, the origination, passing away, allure, drawback, and escape from that feeling. As he discerns the origination, passing away, allure, drawback, and escape from that feeling, no ignorance-obsession with regard to that feeling of neither-pleasure-nor-pain obsesses him.

    "Sensing a feeling of pleasure, he senses it disjoined from it. Sensing a feeling of pain, he senses it disjoined from it. Sensing a feeling of neither-pleasure-nor-pain, he senses it disjoined from it. This is called a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones disjoined from birth, aging, & death; from sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs. He is disjoined, I tell you, from suffering & stress.
    http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.006.than.html
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    Thanks for the post and link, that does help me to understand it all abit more if I am honst, danket schon, thank you and kob khun na kab :)
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    :thumbsup:
  • Lady_AlisonLady_Alison Veteran
    I actually understood that for the first time!
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    I actually understood that for the first time!
    Alsion, what made sense??
  • Telly03Telly03 Veteran
    edited April 2012
    Thanks @Federica

    What I got from that was that you have control over your reaction to sensations, good or bad... you can cry and fret about pain, and let it steer your life, or recognize it for what it is to isolate it's role.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    or just see it as physical pain and think, 'well, yeah, that smarts'... but not attach a woe-is-me story to it..... it just smarts... doesn't it? Pain does that you know.....
  • ZaylZayl Veteran
    I just do my best to ignore my pain entirely. It goes away eventually. And if it doesn't? then I'll either deal with it or die. No sense getting so upset over it. Much better to keep a level head and due your best to get rid of the pain, and then pay it no heed while you wait. I think it's because of this that I've basically lost my fear of it. You're going to get hurt, and once you're hurt, that's it. And it will eventually heal up and go away, just wait it out.
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    I just got my wisdom teeth pulled out.

    Pain is just sensation.

    Mindfully resting on pain you just see it for what it is. Impermanent sensations.

    Still hurts though.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    I think the worse pain I ever had was when I had this really bad tooth, it was sheer agony. The dentist was closed as it was the middle of the night and it would pulse and jab and send pain all over my face and head. I ended up on the floor screaming and crying at the same time with blood drippling from my mouth. So, I went to get some plyers in desperation. I could not even pull the thing out. My flatmate at the time had this opiate called subotox or something, I am not good with opiates at all, they make me vomit and vomit and vomit. But I chose that over the pain. Sure enough it worked, but I was sick for about 14 hours pretty much constantly.
  • raineraine
    I really needed this post in my life right now as I have sprained my back, tearing the ligament from the muscle, wallowing in my own misery so that I don't have to wallow in a haze of Percocet.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    Yes percocet will stop the pain, but you will be one sorry mess of a person lol. I hope you get well soon raine. Sometimes it is wise to use medicine for pain, if there are medicines availabe, why continue with the pain? I remember watching a video about a base jumper who jumped off of a cliff and got swept into a waterfall, he was smashed over all of the rocks behind it and then was left in the pool below paralyzed. Then these crabs started to eat him but he could not move. When rescue came 2 hours later, they needed to drag him out which would take a long time and would be painful, however he said he did not want any drugs so endured the trip lol... KeRaZy
  • Telly03Telly03 Veteran
    @ThailandTom You should be a Pharmacist :)
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    @ThailandTom You should be a Pharmacist :)
    lol what makes you say that? My knowledge of drugs I assume. I would not mind that job to be honest, I guess it pays not too badly also. BUT, can I trust myself :hair:
  • Telly03Telly03 Veteran
    @ThailandTom You should be a Pharmacist :)
    lol what makes you say that? My knowledge of drugs I assume. I would not mind that job to be honest, I guess it pays not too badly also. BUT, can I trust myself :hair:
    Yes, I was referring to your knowledge, but you make a good point about trusting yourself :)
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    Yes I think it is something I would need to take into account. If I did ever happen to be in a position where I had such a top title, I think I would respect that and not be so stupid as to put it in danger.
  • raineraine
    Thank-you @ThailandTom :)
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    Thank-you @ThailandTom :)
    For what exactly lol... confused! :crazy:
  • Lady_AlisonLady_Alison Veteran
    Yes I think it is something I would need to take into account. If I did ever happen to be in a position where I had such a top title, I think I would respect that and not be so stupid as to put it in danger.
    I have pharmacist friends...major hospitals do not just hire anyone...all drugs are catogarized, audit or scanned with a ups label...it's hard to steal drugs unless you don't care about your 150000$ job. Also, with the mass calculations you have to do an managing you don't have time for BS...you fuck up, someone dies.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    I was not being so serious Alison lol. It was more of a banter comment to be honest. I would be a good pharmacist promise :nyah:
  • Lady_AlisonLady_Alison Veteran
    I actually understood that for the first time!
    Alsion, what made sense??
    Basically, you can seperate physical pain from emotional pain in a situation so as to deal with one or the other. But not both...
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    edited April 2012
    Thanks for the that, all in good time :) I am going to get a shower and then take a trip on my motorbike somewhere randomly. So good night all and good morning to those in western europe.

    Double post in fact, you mjust be drunk again and seeing triple, double whatever I don't know. Stop drinking!
  • Lady_AlisonLady_Alison Veteran
    Lol...no more Bourbon for me! Good night/morning!
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    Alison we all know you are a ragin alcohlic who will end up as a cat or bag lady, either way I will be filming it hehehehe :lol:
  • raineraine
    @thailandTom I said thanks because you said that you hope I feel better soon, and so... Thanks!
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    @thailandTom I said thanks because you said that you hope I feel better soon, and so... Thanks!
    No probs Raine, sorry yesterday I was like a blue assed fly as we say in the UK, I was here there and everywhere. Take care and smillllle, or in thai, 'yim' :D
Sign In or Register to comment.