While we were hurting as a result of our loss because of the financial scam we fell prey to, we also began to realize how a great many others were equally suffering due to scams in one form or another – and many, many were hurting far more than us.
And then, we realized more deeply, the incredible suffering that is on-going in so many places on the earth apart from financial woes and misery – the suffering due to natural calamities (fires, floods, earthquakes, etc.), man-made disasters (wars, climate change, etc.), famines, illness and disease.
Indeed, this world is an ocean of suffering.
The following reflections were also helpful in putting our scam into perspective:
Even the human condition, itself, is suffering because it is plagued by the sufferings of sickness, aging, and death.
There is no question of avoiding them. It is certain that at some point or another we will be hit by old age or disease – and then finally, death.
When old age comes, the whole process of degradation sets in so that even if we were very strong before, we become weak. Even if we were very intelligent, our intelligence dwindles. It is a whole process of change that is painful and depressing.
If we are struck by disease, our body becomes nothing but pain and we wish to do away with it, but we can’t – we have to suffer the pain.
Besides this, when we are aging or sick, there is an added misery: the thought of death. We have this fear that after all, we are going to die; the unbearable will actually happen. Then in the end, we have to die. This is very painful because once we are dead, we don’t know what’s going to happen or where we’re going to go.
This is not written to frighten people. It is taught so people can also begin to realize there’s a state that is beyond all these various types of sufferings. There is a possibility to be rid of all this suffering and there’s a possibility of finding true happiness. An authentic spiritual path can go from one happiness to another – because if one creates the cause of happiness – one reaps its fruit until one eventually achieves complete happiness.
(Source: Based on Rinpoche, Khenchen Thrangu. Four Foundations of Buddhist Practice. Namo Buddha Publications. Kindle Edition.)