Is it true that good people suffer, and the evil keep enjoying?

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question: Acharya Ji, why do good people always suffer the most in their lives and evil people enjoy the most in their lives?

Acharya Prashant (AP): The questioner is saying, “Why do good people suffer and why do bad people enjoy?” If you are suffering, that itself is proof enough that you are quite bad!

It has been clearly realized, that suffering is sin.

The only sin is to suffer.

Let’s understand why it is being said. What is it that gets hurt and suffers?

Listeners (L): The mind

AP: What in the mind gets hurt and suffers? There is a beautiful Zen saying, it says, ‘You cannot drive a nail into empty space.’ To drive a nail, what do you need?

L: A wall.

AP: When you drive a nail into the wall, the wall will get hurt. It is impossible to drive a nail into it, without hurting it. Similarly, if you are empty of conditioning, nobody can drive a nail into you.

You get hurt, you suffer, because you have a rigid wall of beliefs.

When those beliefs are shaken, then you suffer.

That wall is a wall of beliefs.

That’s why the really good man never suffers.

He does not have the capacity to suffer.

He can have pain but he won’t suffer.

You know, once a man like that, met with an accident; he was asked,

‘How are you?’

He said, “Wounded, but not hurt. Wounds are alright; situations can give me wounds but nothing can hurt me; because to be hurt, you require a particular wall, I don’t have that wall. So nothing can hurt me; I never suffer. Even in the deepest pain, I don’t suffer. I experience the pain, there is no doubt about it. If you cut my leg-off, then I will experience pain, but even that pain will not touch my innermost point, I will not suffer.”

So, please get rid of this notion that good people suffer, only bad people suffer because suffering goes only to bad people.