HOW CAN WE OVERCOME SADNESS & LONELINESS? - Dhamma Q&A

Welcome back to the Sutta Meditation Series Podcast.

A question received in relation to our examination of the Four Nutriments and Going the Four Wrong Ways:

“I am troubled a great deal by what I consider mental heaviness or pain. It was there before the pandemic – a general sense of melancholy and sadness – it’s present even when I’m busy, when things seem to be going ok, or not okay, and in the spaces in between. With the pandemic it feels like this mental heaviness is getting heavier. Part of it could be also loneliness despite living with people. Either way, no matter what I do to try to overcome it, I can’t seem to lift this feeling. What would the Buddha advise?”

To answer the question we examine:

• — Recognising the fruit of our actions (vipaka-kamma) is to experience sadness
• — Understanding why sadness and loneliness arises (samudaya), and how it passes away (atthangama)
• — Importance of not creating more sadness through trying to fix this dukkha
• — Reminder that all feelings result in dukkha and the meditation that helps to see that
• — Value of training ourselves to bear with conditions and the resultant feelings
• — Going over the link between the physical nutriment and contact as nutriment to try to fix dukkha and sadness
• — Highlighting and explaining different tools from our meditation toolkit to reduce sadness and not create more sadness (e.g. generosity, sense restraint, gratitude and more)
• — Gentle reminders to lift the mind, brighten it with the wholesome - to withstand difficulty and help others as well

Some of the suttas that are directly or indirectly referred to:

• — Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta (SN 56.11)
• — Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta (DN 22)
• — Saccavibhaṅga Sutta (MN 141)
• — Suttatthasamuccayabhūmi (Pe 6)
• — Suttavebhaṅgiya (Pe 9)
• — Ādittapariyāya Sutta (SN 35.28)
• — Āhāra Sutta (SN 12.11)
• — Samādhi-bhāvanā Sutta (SN 22.5)
• — Abhiṇhapaccavekkhitabbaṭhāna Sutta (AN 5.57)
• — Nibbuta Sutta (AN 3.55)
• — Sekha-pāṭipada Sutta (MN53)
• — Saṅgīti Sutta (DN 33)
• — Karaṇīyametta Sutta (Snp 1.8)
• — Pamādavihārī Sutta (SN 35.97)
• — Saṁvara Sutta (SN 35.98)
• — Kummopama Sutta (SN 35.240)
• — Vipallāsa Sutta (AN 4.49)
• — Akusalarāsi Sutta (AN 5.52)
• — Puttamaṁsa Sutta (SN 12.63)
• — Cunda Sutta (Ud 8.5)
• — Dutiyasamugghātasappāya Sutta (SN 35.32)
• — Sīlavanta Sutta (SN 22.122)

Bohoma pin to the person that asked this question.

A VIDEO of this DHAMMA Q&A with presentation slides has been published to the Sutta Meditation Series YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpA3TNhzy_w AND on Spotify as a video podcast

Blessings of the Triple Gem. Theruwan saranai.