Suffering Is Optional: Three Keys to Freedom and Joy

by Cheri Huber, June Shiver (Illustrator)

Suffering Is Three Keys to Freedom and Joy centers around three basic aspects of Zen pay attention, believe nothing, and don’t take anything personally. As ending suffering requires that one sees how suffering happens, the book urges readers to be willing to be quiet and pay attention to the process of suffering in effort to see each moment as an opportunity to step beyond illusion into freedom. It also argues that examining beliefs, abandoning them, and returning attention to the present is essential to ending suffering, as is living in the awareness that nothing in the universe is personal.

Genres: Buddhism, Self Help, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Psychology, Health

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

About the author

Cheri Huber, author of 20 books, has been a student and teacher of Zen for over 35 years. In 1983, Cheri founded the Mountain View Zen Center, and in 1987 she founded the Zen Monastery Peace Center near Murphys, California. She and the monks at the Monastery conduct workshops and retreats at these centers, other places around the U.S., and internationally.

In 1997, Cheri founded Living Compassion, a nonprofit organization dedicated to peace and service. Living Compassion’s primary work is the Africa Vulnerable Children Project, based in Zambia, where for over a decade they have been working with the people of Kantolomba, beginning the process of turning a slum of 11,000 people into a self-sustaining community.

Cheri also has a weekly Internet based radio show.

Reviews

[Max Smirnoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a profound book. It is virtual participation in training. So don't rush reading it. Let it sink. However, it will be hard to understand some points if it is your first book by Cheri Huber.
It is better to read some of her other books first. For example, There Is Nothing Wrong With You or I Don't Want To, I Don't Feel Like It.
My biggest takeaway:
--Pain and suffering are not the same. You may experience pain, but you may not suffer because of it
--Try not to take anything personally. It is just games of conditioning
--You don't have to fight or tolerate anything just notice how it happens, be a silent witness
--Meditation is embracing ourselves in a loving, compassionate, accepting awareness.
Good luck to all of you on your journey
Namaste

[Andy Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book presents concisely 3 KEYS as a starting point into a meditative practice: "Pay attention to everything, believe nothing and don't take anything personally". Ms Huber and the students who shared themselves create here a wonderful tool for self-examination. It was written in a sincere and clear way even I could understand!

It was a wonderful format hearing the questions and comments of people as they try to recognize "who they are". They presented good mirrors for my own life. Thanks.

[james · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this but found the dialogue format disengaging. Kind of the opposite of what other reviewers got from it. Egocentric karmic conditioning is bad and vanquished by conscious compassionate awareness. We become aware of our conditioning by paying attention to the 'process' of our experiences. Instead of just seeing, we apply layers of assumptions, beliefs, and I's (this is happening to me) to our experiences. The teacher/ student dialogues help the students see how they perpetuate their suffering through this egocentric conditioning. She has a good definition of suffering: "if this is different, than I will be happy." We see ourselves as separate from the circumstances of our lives instead of accepting what is. This is the endless cycle of craving and clinging. I never got the sense the students understood what they were being asked, or told. At least it didn't feel like they did.

[Sarah High]

okay THE TITLE IS AWFUL and let me explain. First, this was the only book by her available at the library. Second, she was recommended to me by my partner’s sister who I love and trust. Third, she defines suffering as egocentricity. The book itself was just okay but did remind me to breathe deeper, meditate, not take things personally, and not trust sweeping assertions. ;)

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Huber’s Fear Book is one of the best books I read. This is less a book and more of an exercise manual. The exercises bring you into the moment and for that they are good and maybe great for someone who does them. As a read, it’s tough.

[Liz Michaels · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Cheri Huber's books for the goo advise and the artwork.

[David Geschke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn’t finish this book, had to move on to something else. I love Cheri Huber but the format of this book (basically Q&A from an online class she ran) didn’t resonate with me at all.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers a good taste of Buddhist teachings for the secular folk. It's filled with "activities" and people's responses to them that I skimmed through quickly, but there are some insights I gained that I imagine could help in a wide variety of challenging scenarios.

Here are Huber's central insights:

"We have no control over what we get in life, but we can learn to have every choice about how we respond. Choice is available to us when we let go of the illusion of control" (44).

"We 'believe' as a way of not facing the very uncomfortable (to egocentricity) fact that we don't know. Life never repeats itself. Each split second everything in the universe is different. Each moment is brand new; it could be anything. Not having a guarantee about what is coming next, we imagine what will happen (we project the past into the future) and cling to a belief that our imaginings are true....The 'truth' and 'knowing' are so important to us because they perpetuate the belief that it is possible to control life. If I know enough, then I can be safe. If I have enough accurate information, I can do the right thing and get the result I want" (85-86).

"...the definition of suffering is 'wanting something to be other than the way it is.' Pain exists. All sorts of things that we have the ability to see as bad and wrong exist in life. When we believe ourselves to be separate from life, when we hold an idea of how life should be and in comparing life as it is to our idea of how life should be, find life as it is lacking, we suffer. We suffer when we believe that life, as it is, is wrong. We suffer when we distance ourselves from life and judge that what is should not be" (202).

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The format of this book is questions asked by the author and the responses are from her students. Some of the answers you can think "yes that is exactly how I feel!" and other answers make you think "what..? Where or how did they think that?!" So it's good at giving you different perspectives on the way in which people think about questions and interpret the world around them. Quick and easy read, and can be read in short increments when you have the time.

[Kara Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profound & life changing. This is one of those books I keep turning to for some sane perspective when I beat myself up for life not turning out exactly as I expect. Written from a Buddhist perspective but I honestly think anyone could benefit from its simple yet radical advice on giving yourself a break :)

[Cleo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book seven years ago, and reading it again now, it is just as inspiring. Because this book is based on an email class, it's written in a sort of question-and-answer format, and it's very easy to relate to what the students are saying. That's why I think this is one of the best Cheri Huber books for a beginner to read. It changed my life.

[Arielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have loved to do this as a progressive exercise over email (as the book was based on), but trying to keep up with this in book form was overwhelming. Plus, I definitely maxed out on my become-more-zen reading for the year. I would in theory pick this back up again in the future, but..I probably won't.

[J Crossley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The format of the book was an online class that author held. It gives an introduction to Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. She helps you to sort out the 'conditioned' mind we are programmed with at a young age. Those internalized voices are what make us miserable because we feel a tug-of-war between what "they" say we should do and what we really want to do.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

still inthe process. this is one of those that I pick up from time to time and see what it has to say to me

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was great to read different people's perspectives on trying to meditate and find peace.

[FurtherWithin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cheri Huber has a down-to-Earth way of explaining inner conflict and strife. Wish I could afford one of her zen 'classes'...I want her in my head, foreva...:-)