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Topic #5:

Tuesday/Thursday 10:30 AM

28 November 2023
Suffering Ends Within Oneself

Suffering is an experience that many of us endure, whether that be through war or

through the added-up troubles in our personal lives. Often, though, we tend to place the blame of

our self-inflicted suffering unto others. In this context, suffering is not caused by the actions of

others, but rather by the person who is suffering. Both Kamo Chomei in The Hojoki and

Ferdowsi in The Epic Kings of Feridoun argue that it is the individual who causes their own

suffering, and it is up to them to end it. First, Chomei makes it clear that selfishness is the source

of one’s suffering. He emphasizes that individuals who are concerned with impressing others

never end up satisfying themselves, resulting in emotional suffering. Second, Ferdowsi explains

how jealousy leads to one’s own suffering. He turns down the false notion that happiness lies

within materialistic items and explains true contentment is from self-appreciation. Lastly, both

Chomei and Ferdowsi provide a resolution to end suffering, and that is by living a humble

lifestyle. In this paper, I will argue that Chomei and Ferdowsi believe that an individual must

learn that suffering starts and ends within themselves in order to avoid it.

In The Hojoki, Chomei highlights how selfishness is the source of one’s suffering. Before

he fled the city to live a solitary life in the mountains, Chomei takes note of the destruction that

is caused by the people in the capital. He specifically describes what the people value, which is

high social status. According to Chomei, “People want power and authority, for if their family

has none, others look down on them” (Chomei 2019, 6). Essentially, the people in this society

are governed by desire for social approval, which causes destruction in the city they live in. For
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example, the buildings, that were established by those who sought for a higher social status, took

up space in the city that the streets were congested, allowing diseases to spread quickly amongst

the people that reside there. This, along with other disasters, was ignored since those of higher

power were concerned with themselves rather than the people of their city. However, as Chomei

detached himself from this chaotic life, he found contentment in governing himself. He describes

this experience by saying, “I had no obligations beyond myself, so was free to go into monastic

seclusion” (Chomei 2019, 6). By secluding himself from the corruption of the city, Chomei

realizes that he can avoid the pressure that society puts onto its people when he only has to

satisfy himself. He has no one to compete with for power and his detachment from desires

ultimately lead him to contentment. Therefore, when one lives life selflessly, they can avoid the

suffering that selfishness causes and acknowledge that contentment doesn’t come from the

approval others but from within themselves.

In The Epic Kings of Feridoun, Ferdowsi highlights how jealously leads to one’s own

suffering. Jealousy can be seen in the two older brothers, Silim and Tur, when they find out that

the youngest brother, Irij, was given more land than them. To resolve this issue, they demanded,

“Irij to step down from the throne of Iran, and hide him in some corner of the Earth, that he be

weak and forgotten like ourselves… if thou does not our bidding…[they] will utterly destroy Irij

and the land of Iran” (Ferdowsi 2009, 3). In turn, their father warns them that if they betray their

brother because of greed, they must reap what they sow (Ferdowsi 2009, 3). Driven by jealousy,

the two brothers’ only resolution to their problems was to resort to vengeance. What they don’t

realize is that by seeking revenge, they will have to suffer the consequences of their actions since

their intentions were malicious. They continued to ignore their father’s warning and killed Irij,

despite him trying to make a compromise with them by stepping down from the throne.
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However, like their father warned, they had to eventually face the consequences of their actions.

A descendant of Irij, Minuchihr, took it upon himself to kill Silim and Tur the same way they

killed Irij when he, “…cut his head from his trunk, and the body did he give unto the wild beasts,

but the head sent to Feridoun” (Ferdowsi 2009, 7). Silim and Tur gave into their jealousy and

allowed it to dictate how they would approach this situation, which inherently caused their own

suffering in the end. If they had valued what they had already owned, they could have avoided

the temptations of jealousy and prevented their own suffering. Therefore, when one learns that

contentment doesn’t reside in the possessions of others but rather in self-appreciation, they can

save themselves from their own suffering.

Lastly, in The Hojoki and The Epic Kings of Feridoun, both authors emphasize that living

a humble lifestyle ultimately avoids suffering. In the Hojoki, Chomei describes his life after

leaving the city and how he found peace in simplicity. He relies on his own self to carry out labor

when he says, “With one body, the work can be divided between two hands and two feet” and for

clothes, he states that, “Whatever I can make by hand is good to wear” (Chomei 2019, 9). Since

he lives a solitary life, he doesn’t have to worry about impressing others to feel good about

himself. When he chose to live with only the basic needs for survival, he escaped the suffering

that those in the capital were battling. Furthermore, he encourages people to follow this lifestyle:

“It may be important to people who have friends to have property, and a superficially

friendly person makes a lot of friends. It is not necessary for a person who has

friendships, or gentle character. If it was, you are better off with no friends. It is better to

have only music and the changing landscapes of the seasons as your friends” (Chomei

2019, 9).
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Essentially, he is saying that the people residing in the capital are concerned with flaunting off

their property for the sake of approval, which only causes them suffering as they struggle to find

more materialistic items to show off. However, when one converts to a humble lifestyle in which

they survive off basic needs, they will be able to find contentment since they are only performing

tasks that satisfy themselves. By abandoning greed and choosing to live humbly, one can save

themselves from their own suffering. Similarly, in The Epic Kings of Feridoun, Irij is the greatest

example of humility. He first describes one man who suffered the consequences of greed by

referring to Jemshid who’s, “…end was evil because that he was uplifted in his heart” (Ferdowsi

2009, 3). Irij refers to Jemshid because his brothers resemble the same characteristics of being

driven by materialism. He is aware that his brothers falsely assume that true happiness comes

from one’s possessions, however he knows that true happiness starts with humility. Irij

demonstrates humility when he tries to reason with his greedy brothers by saying, “O greedy

Kings of power, I say unto you, if ye desire happiness, strive after peace. I covet neither the royal

crown nor the hosts of Iran” (Ferdowsi 2009, 4). Again, both Silim and Tur are stern in their

belief that full contentment lies within the more materialistic items they can own, which

inherently leads to them creating their own suffering both in jealousy and their outcome of death.

However, Irij doesn’t face any self-inflicted suffering since he knows that his riches don’t bring

him happiness. Therefore, when one can learn to live in humility, they can avoid the

consequences of their own suffering.

It is important to for one to recognize that suffering starts and can end with themselves.

In The Hojoki, selfishness is the source of one’s suffering and in order to end it, they must

recognize that self-approval is the source of their contentment. In The Epic Kings of Feridoun,

jealousy is seen as the source of one’s suffering and when one learns to appreciate themselves,
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they can prevent their own suffering. Lastly, in both texts, the authors offer a solution to end all

sorts of self-inflicted suffering and that is through humility. When one can learn that true

contentment doesn’t lie within other people or materialistic items, they will come to know that

contentment comes from willingly living a humble life. Self-inflicted suffering is a result of

one’s unhappiness, and often times people can place the blame on others rather than looking at

the true source of their problems. Overall, when one can recognize that their suffering starts and

ends with themselves, they will learn how to achieve full contentment.
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Bibliography

Chomei, Kamo no. 2019. The Hojoki. Translated by Robert N. Lawson. Accessed August 15,

2019. https://washburn.edu/reference/bridge24/Hojoki.html

Ferdowsi. 2009. “Feridoun” in The Epic of Kings. Translated by Helen Zimmern. Accessed

August 5, 2021. http://classics.mit.edu/Ferdowsi/kings.html