In order to get a comprehensive understanding between the connection of the blues and Buddhism, we must first dive deep into the sophisticated complex we all know as suffering. The word passion comes from the Latin root pati-, meaning suffering, or enduring. Thus, compassion literally means to suffer-with; the compassionate are not immune to the other people's individual pain. And passion is, at its core, a form of pain or suffering we cannot escape. Passion is not for the faint of heart or those who lack patience, but passion is the ability to endure and suffer. Like the famous story of the "Parable of the Mustard Seed" we must come to the ultimate realization like Kilsa Gotami that no one is free from the clutches of suffering, "Suffering, she realized, was the fate of all." Like some of my colleagues have already mentioned in their responses suffering is much more then a concept or an emotion, but a tool which we can utilize to accept our physical reality for what it truly is without the need of pessimistic outlooks.
From a blues perspective life literally consisted of constant suffering. Weather it was on the cotton fields with the sun beating on your back all day, the cold sharp sting from the masters whip, or the vulgar appalling remarks that left the white man's mouth to convey their slaves. For the slaves of America there was no enlightenment or awakening that could be achieved through pilgrimages to sacred temples or deep mediation in the rivers of life. They had been stripped down naked of their culture, pride, history, birthrights as human beings, achievements, and families, but they held onto each other like family despite these facts. Slaves were often know to sing songs on the fields while they worked, stripped of all intrinsic possessions the slaves looked to music to express and relieve their suffering much like a monk meditates or sings mantras to