Book by LiaoHuishan
The Eight Sufferings of the Buddha: A Psychological Diagnosis of Your Emotional Roots
A diagnostic map for naming recurring emotional pain and meeting it through Buddhist wisdom, psychological reflection, and practical exercises.
Read or buy the Kindle edition on Amazon →Book overview
Sometimes people collect tools without understanding the pattern that keeps producing their pain. This book uses the Buddha's Eight Sufferings as a map for examining anxiety, attachment, separation, unmet desire, identity, aging, illness, and death.
Each form of suffering is approached from two directions: the Buddhist question of how clinging creates distress, and the psychological question of what can be practiced now. The result is a structured companion for readers who want insight, self-assessment, and concrete exercises.
What you'll learn
- How the Eight Sufferings function as an emotional diagnostic map
- How attachment, resistance, and impermanence interact in everyday pain
- How to use an 80-question self-assessment to notice recurring patterns
- How eight case studies connect Buddhist ideas with contemporary emotional life
- How more than 40 exercises support awareness, boundaries, reflection, and change
Who this book is for
- People who feel recurring emotional pain but cannot yet name its pattern
- Readers facing anxiety, burnout, attachment, or emotional exhaustion
- Anyone exploring relationship loss, identity change, aging, illness, or existential fear
Core concepts
The Eight Sufferings name recurring dimensions of human vulnerability: birth, aging, illness, death, separation from what we love, contact with what we dislike, not getting what we want, and the instability of embodied identity.
Clinging and resistance explain why unavoidable change can become prolonged psychological distress. The book does not ask readers to suppress emotion; it asks them to see what the mind is trying to hold still.
Impermanence and practical reflection connect Buddhist insight with observable emotional habits, so a classical teaching becomes a usable map rather than an abstract doctrine.
About the author
LiaoHuishan (廖慧珊) writes where Buddhist wisdom and modern psychological reflection meet. Her books translate classical maps of suffering into clear questions and grounded practices for contemporary emotional life.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Eight Sufferings?
They are a Buddhist framework for understanding recurring forms of human pain, including aging, illness, death, separation, unwanted contact, unmet desire, and the instability of embodied identity.
Is this book also a workbook?
It contains an 80-question assessment, case studies, and more than 40 practical exercises for reflection and change.
Do I need to be Buddhist?
No. The framework is explained for general readers and placed in dialogue with modern psychological ideas and practices.
Read or buy
Name the pattern beneath the pain, then begin changing your relationship with it.
View The Eight Sufferings on Amazon →