Chan presents suffering as the pervasive unease that marks conditioned existence, not only as obvious pain but as a deep sense of dissatisfaction. At the heart of this unease lies ignorance: a fundamental misunderstanding of reality and, more specifically, of one’s own nature. This ignorance appears as the belief in a permanent, separate self and the failure to recognize an inherently enlightened, Buddha nature. From this basic confusion, beings seek fulfillment outside themselves, chasing experiences and identities that are, by nature, impermanent and unstable.

Out of ignorance arise attachment, aversion, and delusion, which Chan treats as the immediate engines of suffering. Clinging to pleasant experiences, fixed views, or a solid sense of “I” and “mine” inevitably leads to frustration, because what is grasped cannot be held forever. Aversion toward what is disliked and resistance to change compound this restlessness. Chan also highlights the role of dualistic and conceptual thinking: dividing reality into self and other, gain and loss, good and bad, and then elaborating endlessly on these distinctions. Such mental proliferation obscures direct experience and keeps the mind entangled in its own fabrications.

At the same time, Chan insists that suffering is not intrinsic to mind itself; it arises from confused perception and adventitious defilements, like dust temporarily covering a mirror. When the mind is clouded by greed, anger, and ignorance, the world appears oppressive and fragmented; when these obscurations settle, the same world is seen differently, no longer as a prison. Realizing the illusory nature of the separate self and directly recognizing Buddha nature or emptiness is described as a sudden awakening that cuts the root of suffering. In this perspective, liberation does not require constructing something new but uncovering what has always been present, allowing suffering to fall away as clarity and non-dual awareness emerge.