Narratives of Hardship

    It’s interesting to compare the kinds of explanations for hardship that are found in A Little Princess and Tales of the Greek Heroes. Whereas the predominant trope of the Greek myths is that of punishing humans for disobedience to the gods (and testing the virtue of humans such as Philemon and Baucis), A Little Princess traces the root of human suffering as downfall due to human excesses which have to correct themselves naturally. In this second case, it isn’t that Sara needs to respect the gods to expiate the “sins” of her father, who dies after investing in a diamond mine network. Rather, Sara has to go through the hardship of being poor as a way of testing her resolve to practice goodness to others and hospitality, in spite of her diminished material wealth. Instead of gods, we find that wealth itself becomes the measure of punishment and reward. Material wealth is “awarded” to those who attain a virtuous attitude and don’t squander wealth, while material wealth is “withheld” to test the strength of the character in the face of deprivation. It’s not long before readers begin to think of wealth and fortune as similar to the gods in the Greek myths. Wealth and sudden changes of fortune are signs that either a person has something more to learn or someone has achieved a certain amount of learning. It’s the story of a person who does well in life by maintaining a virtuous character, in spite of suffering or hardships, or deprivations.

   How might a Buddhist see this sort of story? Do Buddhists also see the value in developing strength in character as a result of suffering? First of all, I am aware that all of these narratives are just ways of telling ourselves how to deal with hardship. It’s hard to say, beyond this, whether a person’s character is “strengthened” through hardship, and I am more inclined to think that a person’s belief in the redeeming powers of hardship is actually what motivates them to keep practicing virtuous or productive things in the midst of suffering. If I continue to believe I am entitled to things because of my position, class, birth, upbringing and so on, I cause suffering to myself by carrying resentment. If on the other hand, I am aware that all of these “ups and downs” are only temporary, then I allow myself to focus only on what is in this moment. I don’t try to trace back, through some kind of constructed narrative, the “wherefore” or the “why”, since this kind of inquiry is not so productive: it can lead to all number of debates about when suffering began or what started my “downfall” when, in fact, sometimes one is only feeling some temporary vexation in the moment that is not connected causally with anything. In other words, Buddhists are more interested in the human tendency to make stories out of simple sensations and then attach to some identity embedded there.