Question: How come all the books on Buddhism speak a lot about suffering? It seems like Buddhism is made to make us not be happy, and to just put up with it!
Response: The Buddha spoke about suffering because he wanted us to understand our problem. Before we can fix a problem, we need to know what it is.
Think of the Buddha as a doctor who you see because you know something is wrong, but you’re not sure what it is. The doctor says your illness is suffering and that he has a way to end it. But he knows that if you don’t accept the diagnosis, you won’t take the prescription so he tries very hard to help you understand the cause of your illness.
The Buddha diagnosed our problem as suffering and then proceeded to say what caused it. He then recommended how to end our suffering. When we do this, we will find lasting happiness. Unfortunately, we don’t yet understand what genuine, lasting happiness is. We think it’s having a lot of money or being famous.
After we practice for some time and learn about the teachings, we will begin to find some of this real happiness as we begin to let go of the desires for wealth, fame, sleep, food, etc. So no, we don’t “put up with” our suffering, we work very hard to end it. For ourselves and for others.