The realization that suffering is caused from within means that the end of suffering is something available to everybody, no matter what their social status, no matter what their power or lack of power within the world.

"The suffering that really matters is the suffering you add on to what’s happening outside. It’s all too easy to say, “I’m suffering because of so-and-so.” And there’s a lot of talk nowadays about how we should expand the Buddha’s teachings on the causes of suffering to include social issues outside, but he was very specific. The suffering he was going to cure was the suffering that starts at the real source, craving, because even if society is perfectly peaceful, people are still going to suffer, and the reason society is not peaceful is because of their craving. So either way, the source is inside. But the good news here is that if you can take care of the source inside, then no matter how bad things get outside, you don’t have to suffer.

Now, this is not just a matter of saving your own skin, because if you’re not suffering, you’re much less likely to thrash around and make other people suffer along with you. And think: What kind of world would we have to live in if we wanted to put an end to suffering, and yet suffering was totally caused by things outside? You’d have to be all-powerful. You’d need to change the world to be precisely the way you wanted it. That would be impossible. But the realization that suffering is caused from within means that the end of suffering is something available to everybody, no matter what their social status, no matter what their power or lack of power within the world.

In fact, as the Buddha said, the people who go out and try to gain power basically shut themselves off from the way, because they’re going to have to harm others and they’re not going to want to be open about the harm. They’re going to cover it up, and then they start covering other things up, too. They don’t want to look into what’s skillful and what’s not. They don’t want to hear the Dhamma. They don’t want to hear the Vinaya. In that way, the pursuit of power can actually close off the path.

So the Buddha’s basically saying you have power within you to put an end to suffering if you understand the workings of your own mind. This is why we meditate."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Protect Your Virtue & Right View"

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