Experiencing physical pain What advice (or techniques e.g. of meditation) does Buddhism (of any tradition) have for people who experience physical pain (caused by an illness and treated by a doctor)? Or for the people (friends, family, even nurses) of such people?

That (physical pain) is what the word "suffering" implies or means to most people.

Is "see the doctor, get better analgesics" the best or only real answer? What if analgesics have an effect on the mind -- e.g. opioids -- is that 'bad'? What if analgesics don't work, e.g. neuropathic pain, or if the medicines are not available?

Sorry for asking. This isn't a "real problem" for me at the moment, so it may be an example of unnecessary worry -- but I'm able to ask now, and in case this problem happens to me or someone else in the future, I want to have prepared/studied some appropriate advice in advance.

And/or what advice do you have for people now, before they experience pain, to prepare.



I agree that 'pain' is meant to send some kind of warning message, so temporary/new pain and a trip to the doctor might be the first thing.

For the sake of this question, please assume that the underlying problem has already been medically diagnosed: that it is chronic pain, from an illness like diabetic neuropathy or terminal cancer, or something like that.
According to my teacher, the enlightened attitude is to see pain is information. (For comparison, the non-enlightened attitude is to block/avoid/suppress pain by all means.) Because pain is information, we should evaluate it, see what message it carries and what it means for us, and then act.

Some physical pain is a symptom of a deeper-lying problem, and instead of suppressing the symptom a wiser approach would be to take care of the causes (often, bad lifestyle habits).

Some physical pain accompanies exercises that help one get stronger physically and emotionally. The right attitude to such pain is to accept the physical component and by accepting it eliminate the emotional component that comes from resistance and self-pity (so called "pain of pain").

Obviously, some physical pain is a sign of damage being done to the body right now, like the pain that accompanies tearing of ligaments. There is also residual pain that accompanies recovery process etc. -- these fall in the realm of regular medicine.

So the rule of thumb is to not worry about the pain itself, but the message behind it.

However, if pain is so overwhelmingly strong that it obscures the mind, I would imagine the Buddhist approach would not disagree with using anesthetics temporarily.