A n old, sad woman talked to Mahna's Sheikh: "Teach me to pray for joy, for pity's sake - I've suffered so much that I cannot bear To think of future grief - give me some prayer To murmur every day." The sheikh replied: "How many years I wondered far and wide Until I found the fortress that you seek - It is the knee, bend it, accept, be meek; I found no other way - this remedy, And only this, will cure you of your misery."

quote 4525  |   Attar The Conference of the Birds, p123

O pposite of life is not death. The suffering is.

quote 4510  |   Adrian Predrag Kezele Life-Death-Life

I n God, there is no sorrow or suffering or affliction. If you want to be free of all affliction and suffering, hold fast to God, and turn wholly to Him, and to no one else. Indeed, all your suffering comes from this: that you do not turn toward God and no one else.

quote 3813  |   Meister Eckhart Treatise A. 1, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 211

B lessed is he who bears affliction with thankfulness.

quote 3341  |   Desert Fathers Abba Copres: The sayings of the Desert Fathers : the alphabetical collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984, 1975, p. 118, Copres 2

B rother, stand the pain. Escape the poison of your impulses. The sky will bow to your beauty, if you do.

quote 3313  |  Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi The Essential Rumi, p. 62, Trans. Coleman Barks with John Moyne. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995

T he source of my suffering and loneliness is deep in my heart. This is a disease no doctor can cure. Only Union with the Friend can cure it.

quote 3147  |   Rabia al-Adawiyya translation by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut - 'Perfume of the Desert'

T he deeper your involvement here, the harsher your pain and suffering.

quote 3130  |   Abu Sa'id

H is Majesty couldn't grant us a greater favor than to give us a life that would be an imitation of the life his beloved Son lived. Thus I hold for certain that these favors are meant to fortify our weakness, that we may be able to imitate him in his great sufferings.

quote 2843  |   Saint Teresa of Avila Saint Teresa of Avila, from The Interior Castle, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1979).

N one can come to the sublime heights of the divinity”, said the Eternal Wisdom, "or taste its ineffable sweetness, if first they have not experienced the bitterness and lowliness of my humanity. The higher they climb without passing by my humanity, the lower afterward shall be their fall. My humanity is the road which all must tread who would come to that which you seek: my sufferings are the door by which all must come in.

quote 2827  |   Heinrich Suso Heinrich Suso, adapted from the translation by Frank Tobin in Heinrich Suso: The Exemplar, with Two German Sermons (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1985).

T he Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and join theirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

quote 2789  |   Saint Paul St. Paul, Romans 8:16-23 (AV), taken from the 1611 King James Version of the Bible

O n Delusion (aviija) depend the (life-affirming) Activities (sankhara). On the Activities depends Consciousness (nana: here, rebirth-consciousness in the womb of the mother). On consciousness depends the Psycho-physical Combination (nama-rupa). On the psycho-physical combination depends the Sixfold Sense-activity (chal-ayatana). On the sixfold sense activity depends the Sensorial Impression (phassa). On the sensorial impression depends Feeling (vedana). On feeling depends Craving (tanha). On craving depends Clinging to Existence (upadana). On clinging to existence depends the Process of Becoming (bhava; here: kamma-bhava, or action process). On the process of becoming depends Rebirth (jati). On rebirth depends Decay and Death (jara-marana), sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. Thus arises this whole mass of suffering. This is called the noble truth of the origin of suffering. […] Thus, through the entire fading away and extinction of this Delusion, the (life-affirming) Activities are extinguished. Through the extinction of the activities Consciousness (rebirth) is extinguished. Through the extinction of consciousness, the Psycho-physical combination is extinguished. Through the extinction of the psycho-physical combination, the sixfold Sense activity is extinguished. Through the extinction of the sixfold scnse-activity, the Sensorial Impression is extinguished. Through the extinction of the sensorial impression, Feeling is extinguished. Through the extinction of feeling, Craving is extinguished. Through the extinction of craving, Clinging to Existence is extinguished. Through the extinction of clinging to existence, the Process of Becoming is extinguished. Through the extinction of the process of becoming, Rebirth is extinguished. Through the extinction of rebirth, decay and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are extinguished. Thus takes place the extinction of this whole mass of suffering This is called the noble truth of the extinction of suffering.

quote 2485  |   Buddha Sakyamuni Anguttara Nikaya, III, 61

H ence, the annihilation, cessation and overcoming of bodily form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness, this is the extinction of suffering, the end of disease, the overcoming of old age and death.

quote 2467  |   Buddha Sakyamuni Samyutta Nikaya, 12

T here will come a time, when the mighty ocean will dry up, vanish, and be no more. There will come a time, when the mighty earth will be devoured by fire, perish, and be no more. But yet there will be no end to the suffering of beings, who, obstructed by ignorance and ensnared by craving, are hurrying and hastening through this round of rebirths.

quote 2466  |   Buddha Sakyamuni Samyutta Nikaya, 21 (10)

T hus, whatever kind of Feeling one experiences,-pleasant, unpleasant or indifferent-one approves of and cherishes the feeling and clings to it; and while doing so, lust springs up; but lust for feelings means clinging to existence (upadana); and on clinging to existence depends the (action-) Process of Becoming (bhava, here kamma-bhava); on the process of becoming depends (future) Birth (jati); and dependent on birth are Decay and Death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. Thus arises this whole mass of suffering.

quote 2463  |   Buddha Sakyamuni Majjhima Nikaya, 38

W hat now is the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering? It is that craving which gives rise to fresh rebirth, and, bound up with pleasure and lust, now here, now there, finds ever-fresh delight. There is the Sensual Craving, the Craving for Eternal Existence, the Craving for Temporal Happiness. But where does this craving arise and take root? Wherever in the world there is the delightful and pleasurable, there this craving arises and takes root. Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are delightful and pleasurable; there this craving arises and takes root. Forms, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily touches and ideas are delightful and pleasurable: there this craving arises and takes root. Consciousness, sense contact, the feeling born of sense contact, perception, will, craving, thinking and reflecting are delightful and pleasurable: there this craving arises and takes root.

quote 2462  |   Buddha Sakyamuni Digha Nikaya, 22

W hoso delights in bodily form, or feeling, or perception, or mental formations, or consciousness, he delights in suffering; and whoso delights in suffering will not be freed from suffering. Thus I say.

quote 2461  |   Buddha Sakyamuni Samyutta Nikaya, 21

B irth is suffering; Decay is suffering; Death is suffering; Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief and Despair are suffering; no to get what one desires is suffering; in short: the Five Aggregates of Existence are suffering.

quote 2456  |   Buddha Sakyamuni Digha Nikaya, 22

A ll formations are `subject to suffering' (dukkha);

quote 2366  |   Buddha Sakyamuni Anguttara Nikaya, III. 134

A nd through the total fading away and extinction of Craving (tanhaa), Clinging (upaadaana) is extinguished; through the extinction of clinging, the Process of Becoming (bhava) is extinguished; through the extinction of the (karmic) process of becoming, Rebirth (jaati) is extinguished; and through the extinction of rebirth, Decay and Death, sorrow, lamentation, suffering, grief and despair are extinguished. Thus comes about the extinction of this whole mass of suffering.

quote 2119  |   Buddha Sakyamuni Samyutta Nikaya, XII. 43