Buddhism: Questions About Suffering

We have been studying Buddhism.

Buddhism is sometimes called a "philosophy" rather than a religion, since many Buddhists choose not to focus on the question of whether god (or another higher power) exists. In this class, though, we are going to classify Buddhism as a religion.

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The Buddha was very interested in the topic of suffering. He asked a number of deep questions: Why do people and other creatures suffer? Is it possible to escape from suffering? How can humans lessen the amount of suffering in the world?

To think about these questions, I posed some "thought questions" to the students. They came up with fantastic responses:

What would you think if you saw a bird eat a worm? How would you feel?

Davis W.: I would feel fine ... if nothing ate worms there would be hundreds of millions of worms all around you!

Charlotte: I would feel sorry for the worm, but also happy for the bird. That worm could have been the first worm that bird has eaten in weeks!

Ella Grace [with a perspective similar to Charlotte's]: I would feel sad for the worm because his life must have ended painfully. But I would feel happy for the bird, because it found food to eat.

Grace E.: I would feel a little disgusted, first of all, because I don't think birds chew their food. So I would just watch the bird swallow the slimy worm whole, yuck! I would also be a little shocked because it was kind of sudden. Maybe even a little sad because I just saw a cool looking worm -- and then it was gone.

Sebastian L.: It's like the sun drained out. You are watching death unfold, and you can't do anything about it. This worm, minding its own business, is gone. But not lost. The worm is now food for the bird. The bird needs the food and will now grow up ... the worm is feeding life into this bird. It is sad, but you realize life is sad ... this worm is feeding the world.

Durland: I would probably start to feel very sad. I know that the bird needs to eat, but at the same time I feel bad for the worm. He did nothing wrong.

Pete [thinking about the big picture]: Seeing animals kill or consume other forms of life can be a great or a terrifying experience. On the good side, when your pet kills a rat lurking in your home. On the bad side, if your cat kills a fish that you also own.

Carter M. [thinking about the situation from the worm's perspective]: I would think about whether the worm knew that he would get eaten by the bird ... What was it like to be the worm? Was the worm thinking "Yay I'm flying" or was the worm thinking "No, a bird has got me and I will die."

Juliet: I would think about trying to scare the bird away so it wouldn’t eat any more worms … I would feel bad for the worm because it was just living its life and then all of a sudden it got eaten. The poor worm didn’t see it coming.

Grace W.: Think about it this way: the bird eats the worm, the snake eats the bird, the honeybadger eats the snake, the lion eats the honeybadger … and the lion eventually dies and then decomposes into soil, which a new worm uses as its home. All animals depend on each other to survive.

Emily: I would not do anything because I know the worm will go up to heaven and see god, and god wants that to happen. If god tells me to help the worm, I will, because that is god’s plan.

Casner: Sometimes I find worms on the sidewalk. I pick them up, and I dig a big hole so I can bury them and they can stay alive.

What would you think if you saw a 5th grader being mean to a 3rd grader? How would you feel?

Oscar: I would feel bad for the 3rd grader because he really can't do anything because most of the time the 5th grader is bigger. I would probably walk over and try to understand what happened, then I would tell the 5th grader to stop. If he didn't stop, I would walk him somewhere else.

Cort: I would tell the 5th grader to go away and never bother anyone again.

Chapin: I would go up to the 3rd grader, and I would talk to them and take them with me. I would stay with them or find one of their friends to stay with them.

Landon: My emotions would probably be both sad and mad. While I was sad, I probably would be a bystander. But when I started to get mad, I would stop being a bystander and I would say something to the bully.

Would you feel more sorry for the 3rd grader, or more sorry for the worm?

Sam: The situation with the mean 5th grader is different from a bird eating a worm. The bird needs the worm to live; but the 5th grader doesn't need to be mean to live.

Emily: I would feel the same sympathy for each, because I feel bad for the 3rd grader getting bullied but I also feel bad for the worm.

Dante: I would feel more sorry for the 3rd grader, because the worm being eaten is a natural part of the cycle of life and necessary for the bird to survive, while being mean to younger people is completely unnecessary.