user5000: Suppose a father is abusing his 3 year old child. As a consequence, the child is suffering. Who is the cause of the child's suffering?

user151: Another way to answer this, is that there isn't really a child suffering in ultimate reality, and no father either...All there is is what we are truly experiencing in awareness, moment by moment. One really can't fit a child or father into moment by moment reality(ultimate reality). In ultimate reality no one is to blame, suffering is just suffering that is the effect of a previous cause. ...but that doesn't mean we throw conceptual reality out the window. All of the Pali Canon is conceptual after all. I doubt anyone could understand this without practicing continuous moment by moment mindfulness. That is why I stress that the answer to this question can be found eventually in the practice of mindfulness(along with virtue and concentration).

user-1: Another user has already mentioned the different realities so i will make it short.
In paramattha sacca, i.e. ultimate reality, there exists no conventions or concepts, meaning that there is no one who suffers, there is no creator of kamma or receiver of kammic results.
In sammuti sacca, i.e. conventional reality there exists concepts such as people, entities, animals, a father, a child etc.
Here the father is the cause of his own suffering. He is creating his own suffering by giving rise to unwholesome intentions based on Greed and Delusion.
The child is the creator of its own suffering by reacting to the phenomena, i.e. the fathers abuse. There might arise physical and mental pain, anger, sadness and the like. If the child reacts to these mental and physical phenomena the child is taking ownership of them and identifying with them. 
There is a difference between saying:
"Pain, anger or sadness has arisen" and "I am angry, sad or feeling pain".
First one is objective. There is observation and non-interaction with the object(s).
The second one is when one is having wrong view due to ignorance and thinking that there is a Self that is experiencing and the owner of these phenomena.

To sum up: The child is the cause for its own suffering. The father can only impinge on the child's senses. Its the identifying, taking ownership of and having aversion to the objects that creates the suffering.

user5000: 
"Phagguna, if anyone were to give you a blow with the hand, or hit you with a clod of earth, or with a stick, or with a sword, even then you should abandon those urges and thoughts which are worldly. There, Phagguna, you should train yourself thus: 'Neither shall my mind be affected by this, nor shall I give vent to evil words; but I shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and I shall not give in to hatred.' This is how, Phagguna, you should train yourself." http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.budd.html
"Monks, even if bandits were to savagely sever you, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw, even then, whoever of you harbors ill will at heart would not be upholding my Teaching. Monks, even in such a situation you should train yourselves thus: 'Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.' It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves." http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.budd.html
"165. By oneself is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself is one made pure. Purity and impurity depend on oneself; no one can purify another." http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.12.budd.html

Indeed, the father's abuse should be stopped if it can be stopped, but we should remain unaffected by his actions. Why?
If we are trained like it is said above, the actions of the father should not give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness, ill will and similar in our minds. Only a delusioned mind, permeated with ignorance, could be affected by the father's actions.
Indeed, the abuse of the father is wrong action done by the father. Why?
If the father would be trained like it is said above, his mind would never give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness and similar. Only a delusioned mind, permeated with ignorance, could be affected in such a way to give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness, ill will and similar. Thus, if the father knew this truth and practiced it, he would never abuse his child, his mind would be unaffected, ill will would never arise in him and the abuse stemming from ill will would never happen.
Indeed, the father should be helped if he can be helped. Why?
If we are trained like it is said above, we would feel an immense compassion towards all beings, especially towards the ones whose minds are permeated with ignorance who have not or cannot yet accept the truth like it is said above.
Thus, the abuse of the father is wrong action done by the father. The cause of abuse is in the father.
This is the truth of the cause of suffering of the father.
Indeed, the child's suffering should be stopped if it can be stopped, but we should remain unaffected if it can't be stopped. Why?
If we are trained like it is said above, the suffering of the child should not give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness, ill will and similar in our minds. Only a delusioned mind, permeated with ignorance, could be affected by the child's suffering.
The suffering of the child is wrong action done by the child. Why?
If the child would be trained like it is said above, his mind would never give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness and similar. Only a delusioned mind, permeated with ignorance, could be affected in such a way to give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness, ill will and similar. Thus, if the child knew this truth and practiced it, he would never suffer, his mind would be unaffected, sadness, anger and fear would never arise in him.
You could argue: "Yes, but a 3 year old child cannot be trained like it is said above. He is too young to grasp the truth and liberate his mind from ignorance! Thus, the child's suffering is not wrong action done by the child!"
It is wrong action. Just as a lion cannot grasp that killing is wrong action, in the same way a 3 year old child cannot grasp that suffering is wrong action. Just as an adult cannot grasp that suffering is wrong action, in the same way a 3 year old child cannot grasp that suffering is wrong action.
Indeed, the child should be helped if he can be helped. Why?
If we are trained like it is said above, we would feel an immense compassion towards all beings, especially towards the ones whose minds are permeated with ignorance who have not or cannot yet accept the truth like it is said above.
Thus, the suffering of the child is wrong action done by the child. The cause of suffering is in the child.
This is the truth of the cause of suffering of the child.

What would a liberated Buddhist say is the cause of the child's suffering: the father, the child, both the father and the child or something (or someone) else?
I think the answer to the cause of suffering can only be one: the cause of suffering is always within the one who is suffering.
Consider a 3 year old child. His father is abusing him. As a consequence, the child is suffering. Remove the abuse and the child will stop to suffer. But, is the cause of suffering in the child really removed? No. Read the story about Mistress Vedehika http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.budd.html
When the abuse is removed from the child, the cause of suffering is still present within him, his mind is still ignorant. 
Even if the child had a perfect father and perfect living conditions for the rest of his life, in such a way, that no aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness, ill will and similar would arise in his mind until the moment of death, he would still not be liberated from suffering - he would still be reborn after death. Why? Because he still craves and clings, even though his life was perfect, without any suffering. He was clinging and craving. He was suffering.
Furthermore, if we take the view "the cause of suffering is sometimes within me and sometimes outside me", we would make the same mistake described in the story of mistress Vedehika. We would remove the cause outside us, but the true cause of suffering would still be within us. By taking such a wrong view "the cause of suffering is sometimes within me and sometimes outside me" is like putting your head in the sand. No liberation would come in taking such wrong view.
Indeed, if we had a chance to help the child or the father, we would not say to them: the cause of suffering is always within the one who is suffering. Why? Because they wouldn't understand it properly because of ignorance. The child would probably become even more hurt because the blame for his suffering would be put on him. The father's evil doing would probably continue because he would have one more excuse to cause suffering to others: "I'm not to blame, I'm not the cause of anybody's suffering". Thus, we would need to choose our words carefully and wisely. That was not the question. The question was, what's the cause of the child suffering, not what would be the best way to liberate the child from suffering.

UPDATE
Suppose we have this view regarding the child's cause of suffering: "The cause of the child's suffering is the father"
With such a view, liberation from suffering comes from the child's ability to have control of his surrounding environment. When he will develop perfect control of his surrounding environment, his suffering will cease. Now suppose 20 years later a bandit comes into his perfect environment and abuses him. As a consequence, he suffers. Has the child really attained liberation from suffering? No. Why? Because the child clings on his surrounding environment. 
Furthermore, is his environment permanent or impermanent? Impermanent. 
Can he have perfect control over his environment or can he not? He can not.
Is worldly existence satisfactory or unsatisfactory? Unsatisfactory.
How could this be the right path towards liberation? It can't and it isn't. Why? 
Because the child is searching for the cause of suffering outside, not within. The child had wrong view "the cause of my suffering is outside me, in my environment, in beings that surround me, in actions these beings perform on me, in actions my environment performs on me, in actions my body performs on me, in actions bacterias and viruses perform on me, in actions bandits perform on me, in actions my father performs on me, ..."
With such wrong view, clinging and craving cannot be removed. With such wrong view, the Second, Third and Fourth noble truths cannot come to fruition: 


Suffering, as a noble truth, is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; association with the loathed is suffering, dissociation from the loved is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering — in short, suffering is the five categories of clinging objects."
The origin of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is the craving that produces renewal of being accompanied by enjoyment and lust, and enjoying this and that; in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for non-being.
Cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is remainderless fading and ceasing, giving up, relinquishing, letting go and rejecting, of that same craving.
The way leading to cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is simply the noble eightfold path, that is to say, right view, right intention; right speech, right action, right livelihood; right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration."

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.nymo.html


Suppose we have this view regarding the child's cause of suffering: "The cause of the child's suffering is in his fathers's Karma"
With such a view, liberation from suffering comes from the child's ability to have control of his father's Karma.
Can we have full control over the Karma of others? No.
Can we have "some" control over the Karma of others? Yes. How? By having the ability to control the actions of others.
The ability to control the actions of others arises from the ability to have control of our surrounding environment. Again, liberation from suffering would come from our ability to have control of our surrounding environment.
Is the environment permanent or impermanent? Impermanent. 
Can we have perfect control over our environment or can we not? We can not.
Is worldly existence satisfactory or unsatisfactory? Unsatisfactory.
How could this be the right path towards liberation? It can't and it isn't. Why? 
Because we are searching for the cause of suffering outside, not within. Our view "The cause of the child's suffering is in his fathers's Karma" is wrong.
With such wrong view, clinging and craving cannot be removed. With such wrong view, the Second, Third and Fourth noble truths cannot come to fruition.

Suppose we have this view regarding the child's cause of suffering: "The cause of the child's suffering is in the child's Karma"
With such a view, liberation from suffering comes from the child's ability to have control of his Karma.
Can we have full control over our Karma? No.
Can we have "some" control over our Karma? Yes. How? By having the ability to control our actions.
The ability to control our actions arises from the ability to have control of our minds.
Can we have perfect control over our minds or can we not? Yes we can.
How could this be the right path towards liberation? It is. This is the right path to liberation. Why? 
Because we are searching for the cause of suffering within. Our view "The cause of the child's suffering is in his Karma" is right.
With such right view, clinging and craving can be removed. With such right view, the Second noble truth will come to fruition. When the Second noble truth comes to fruition, the Fourth noble truth will lead us to meditation - a search for the cause of suffering within, not outside. Once we find the cause within, the Third noble truth will come to fruition.

And what is the cause by which stress comes into play? Craving is the cause by which stress comes into play."
And what is the result of stress? There are some cases in which a person overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, grieves, mourns, laments, beats his breast, & becomes bewildered. Or one overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, comes to search outside, 'Who knows a way or two to stop this pain?' I tell you, monks, that stress results either in bewilderment or in search. This is called the result of stress."
And what is the cessation of stress? From the cessation of craving is the cessation of stress"
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an06/an06.063.than.html


Suppose we have this view regarding the child's cause of suffering: "The cause of the child's suffering is in the child's mind" or "The cause of the child's suffering is in the child" or "The cause of the child's suffering is within the child"
With such a view, liberation from suffering comes from the child's ability to have control of his mind.
With such a view, liberation from suffering comes as already described above.
Whenever we are searching for the cause of suffering within us, sooner or later the four noble truths will come to fruition. Whenever we are searching for the cause of suffering outside us, the four noble truths will never come fully to fruition.

Craving and clinging within the child is the cause of the child's stress. This is the only right view if we want to reach full liberation.
Conventional thinking about the cause of suffering goes like this:
When things are in order, I'm happy. When I'm happy, I will cling on things being in order.
When things are not in order, I'm not happy. When I'm not happy, I will crave for things coming into order.
Things are changing order, there is nothing I can do about it. Thus, sometimes I'll be happy, sometimes I'll be not happy.
Buddhist thinking about the cause of suffering goes like this:
Things are changing order, there is nothing I can do about it. When things are in order, I will not cling on things being in order.
When things are not in order, I will not crave for things coming into order.
Thus, I'll not be, which is beyond happiness or anything you've ever imagined.

user12068: I don't understand how we could ever be fully awake or conscious of past lives we have had. How can something we have no memory/awareness of and no way to gain memory/awareness of be the cause of karma in our lives now? That just seems so unfair. I'm not sure if I even believe in past lives, future lives - that's not the point of the Path, right? The Path is to live here and now, always. 
Also, I understand that suffering always comes from inside so the child suffering from an abusive father's actions is "the cause of his or her own suffering." Logically, without judgment, I understand that. But what choice does the child have in their situation? They do not have the choice to be aware. The choice to follow the Path and love themselves and everyone else in loving kindness. I wish to God I had had the awareness when my mother was yelling at me that I was a pig and selfish and criticizing my body and just everything about me - I wish as a child I had been able to somehow discover Buddhism. But ultimately, what choice do you have when you're brought into the world in a hypnotic mind-state where all you do is observe and soak in everything around you? You soak up all the suffering your parents are going through. It doesn't make it your "fault". Your brain is literally just new and growing. I don't understand putting responsibility for change and growth on a child. I just don't. I gues what I'm saying is why ask that question in the first place - who or what is the cause of the child's suffering? Does it help the child to determine logically that the child is the cause of its own suffering? No, because they don't really have the wherewithal to have a choice in their situation - or the resources and tools to change anything, really.

user2207: I don't know if you intentionally chose "Who", since "What" seems a better question.   I'll take some license and rephrase the question (I hope you don't mind).

Q: What causes the child's suffering?
A: Many things.

For any event Y, X caused Y if removing X removes Y.  Note that Y can have many causes! For instance, some of the causes of the child's suffering include...

The abusive parent.
The child's reaction.
The child's nervous system.
The laws of physics.

And so on.  Remove any of them from the equation and the suffering ceases.
Thinking in terms of a single cause of suffering (or in terms of who suffers) reinforces the kind of "ownership" of action or "mental object" that serves as a focus for clinging, especially to self.
Now if you wish to relieve an abused child's suffering, then I recommend local law enforcement or a child protective agency. 

user5325: Lord Buddha has rejected the following

That everything happens automatically, for no specific reason or
force.
That everything happens according to a will of a God or similar
That everything happens because of Karma

It is the 3rd that you seem to question here.
The Father is definitely choosing to do the action. He is responsible for his own actions, he cannot leave the responsibility to Karma or anything else. Buddha had Vinaya Nikaya with set of consequences for those who miss-behave.
How past Karma applied here is anyone's guess (except for Lord Buddha, who could see directly). It's extremely difficult to say, and the subject of "Karma Pala" (Karma Result) was once classified as "Achinthya" meaning infinite, which would be just too much for a normal mind to grasp. Note it's the result of the Karma which is hard to grasp, the Karma itself is well taught of. This could be because we accumulate an infinite amount of Karma.

user8157: The Pali scriptures (SN 12.17) state, from the perspective of ultimate truth, that the cause of suffering is 'ignorance' (rather than 'one-self' or 'another'). 
However, in the conventional scenario presented in the question, the father is causing the suffering because a 3 year old child does not have the cognitive capacity to engage the Buddhist path. 
What is occurring to the child has no relationship to any (imaginary) past lives. I have never read this idea in the Pali suttas, where suffering (dukkha), let alone the suffering of helpless small children, is attributed to past lives. 
The suffering is due to the evil within the mind of the father because the child cannot overcome the in-born ignorance in their mind that is causing the suffering.
Dhammapada 137 clearly states there are "innocent" victims of crime & AN 3.61 states what a person feels in not related to past kamma. 

137. He who inflicts violence on those who are unarmed and offends those who are inoffensive, will soon come upon one of these ten
  states:
138-140 Sharp pain, or disaster, bodily injury, serious illness, or derangement of mind, trouble from the government, or grave charges,
  loss of relatives, or loss of wealth, or houses destroyed by ravaging
  fire; upon dissolution of the body that ignorant man is born in
  hell.

~~~

When one falls back on what was done in the past as being essential, monks, there is no desire, no effort [at the thought], 'This should be
  done. This shouldn't be done.' When one can't pin down as a truth or
  reality what should & shouldn't be done, one dwells bewildered &
  unprotected. One cannot righteously refer to oneself as a
  contemplative. This was my first righteous refutation of those
  brahmans & contemplatives who hold to such teachings, such views.


5000: <p>Suppose a father is abusing his 3 year old child. As a consequence, the child is suffering. Who is the cause of the child's suffering?</p>
 151: <p>Another way to answer this, is that there isn't really a child suffering in ultimate reality, and no father either...All there is is what we are truly experiencing in awareness, moment by moment. One really can't fit a child or father into moment by moment reality(ultimate reality). In ultimate reality no one is to blame, suffering is just suffering that is the effect of a previous cause. ...but that doesn't mean we throw conceptual reality out the window. All of the Pali Canon is conceptual after all. I doubt anyone could understand this without practicing continuous moment by moment mindfulness. That is why I stress that the answer to this question can be found eventually in the practice of mindfulness(along with virtue and concentration).</p>
 -1: <p>Another user has already mentioned the different realities so i will make it short.</p>

<p>In paramattha sacca, i.e. ultimate reality, there exists no conventions or concepts, meaning that there is no one who suffers, there is no creator of kamma or receiver of kammic results.</p>

<p>In sammuti sacca, i.e. conventional reality there exists concepts such as people, entities, animals, a father, a child etc.</p>

<p>Here the father is the cause of his own suffering. He is creating his own suffering by giving rise to unwholesome intentions based on <em>Greed</em> and <em>Delusion</em>.</p>

<p>The child is the creator of its own suffering by reacting to the phenomena, i.e. the fathers abuse. There might arise <em>physical and mental pain, anger, sadness and the like</em>. If the child reacts to these mental and physical phenomena the child is taking ownership of them and identifying with them. </p>

<p>There is a difference between saying:</p>

<p>"Pain, anger or sadness has arisen" <strong>and</strong> "I am angry, sad or feeling pain".</p>

<p>First one is objective. There is observation and non-interaction with the object(s).</p>

<p>The second one is when one is having <em>wrong view</em> due to <em>ignorance</em> and thinking that there is a Self that is experiencing and the owner of these phenomena.</p>

<hr>

<p>To sum up: The child is the cause for its own suffering. The father can only impinge on the child's senses. Its the identifying, taking ownership of and having aversion to the objects that creates the suffering.</p>
 5000: <blockquote>
  <p>"Phagguna, if anyone were to give you a blow with the hand, or hit you with a clod of earth, or with a stick, or with a sword, even then you should abandon those urges and thoughts which are worldly. There, Phagguna, you should train yourself thus: 'Neither shall my mind be affected by this, nor shall I give vent to evil words; but I shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and I shall not give in to hatred.' This is how, Phagguna, you should train yourself." <a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.budd.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.budd.html</a></p>
  
  <p>"Monks, even if bandits were to savagely sever you, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw, even then, whoever of you harbors ill will at heart would not be upholding my Teaching. Monks, even in such a situation you should train yourselves thus: 'Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.' It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves." <a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.budd.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.budd.html</a></p>
  
  <p>"165. By oneself is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself is one made pure. Purity and impurity depend on oneself; no one can purify another." <a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.12.budd.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.12.budd.html</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Indeed, the father's abuse should be stopped if it can be stopped, but we should remain unaffected by his actions. Why?</p>

<p>If we are trained like it is said above, the actions of the father should not give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness, ill will and similar in our minds. Only a delusioned mind, permeated with ignorance, could be affected by the father's actions.</p>

<p>Indeed, the abuse of the father is wrong action done by the father. Why?</p>

<p>If the father would be trained like it is said above, his mind would never give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness and similar. Only a delusioned mind, permeated with ignorance, could be affected in such a way to give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness, ill will and similar. Thus, if the father knew this truth and practiced it, he would never abuse his child, his mind would be unaffected, ill will would never arise in him and the abuse stemming from ill will would never happen.</p>

<p>Indeed, the father should be helped if he can be helped. Why?</p>

<p>If we are trained like it is said above, we would feel an immense compassion towards all beings, especially towards the ones whose minds are permeated with ignorance who have not or cannot yet accept the truth like it is said above.</p>

<p><strong>Thus, the abuse of the father is wrong action done by the father. The cause of abuse is in the father.</strong></p>

<p>This is the truth of the cause of suffering of the father.</p>

<p>Indeed, the child's suffering should be stopped if it can be stopped, but we should remain unaffected if it can't be stopped. Why?</p>

<p>If we are trained like it is said above, the suffering of the child should not give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness, ill will and similar in our minds. Only a delusioned mind, permeated with ignorance, could be affected by the child's suffering.</p>

<p>The suffering of the child is wrong action done by the child. Why?</p>

<p>If the child would be trained like it is said above, his mind would never give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness and similar. Only a delusioned mind, permeated with ignorance, could be affected in such a way to give raise to aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness, ill will and similar. Thus, if the child knew this truth and practiced it, he would never suffer, his mind would be unaffected, sadness, anger and fear would never arise in him.</p>

<p>You could argue: "Yes, but a 3 year old child cannot be trained like it is said above. He is too young to grasp the truth and liberate his mind from ignorance! Thus, the child's suffering is not wrong action done by the child!"</p>

<p>It is wrong action. Just as a lion cannot grasp that killing is wrong action, in the same way a 3 year old child cannot grasp that suffering is wrong action. Just as an adult cannot grasp that suffering is wrong action, in the same way a 3 year old child cannot grasp that suffering is wrong action.</p>

<p>Indeed, the child should be helped if he can be helped. Why?</p>

<p>If we are trained like it is said above, we would feel an immense compassion towards all beings, especially towards the ones whose minds are permeated with ignorance who have not or cannot yet accept the truth like it is said above.</p>

<p><strong>Thus, the suffering of the child is wrong action done by the child. The cause of suffering is in the child.</strong></p>

<p>This is the truth of the cause of suffering of the child.</p>

<hr>

<p><em>What would a liberated Buddhist say is the cause of the child's suffering: the father, the child, both the father and the child or something (or someone) else?</em></p>

<p>I think the answer to the cause of suffering can only be one: the cause of suffering is always within the one who is suffering.</p>

<p>Consider a 3 year old child. His father is abusing him. As a consequence, the child is suffering. Remove the abuse and the child will stop to suffer. But, is the cause of suffering in the child really removed? No. Read the story about Mistress Vedehika <a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.budd.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.budd.html</a></p>

<p>When the abuse is removed from the child, the cause of suffering is still present within him, his mind is still ignorant. </p>

<p>Even if the child had a perfect father and perfect living conditions for the rest of his life, in such a way, that no aversion, hatred, evil words, hostility, anger, sadness, ill will and similar would arise in his mind until the moment of death, he would still not be liberated from suffering - he would still be reborn after death. Why? Because he still craves and clings, even though his life was perfect, without any suffering. He was clinging and craving. He was suffering.</p>

<p>Furthermore, if we take the view "the cause of suffering is sometimes within me and sometimes outside me", we would make the same mistake described in the story of mistress Vedehika. We would remove the cause outside us, but the true cause of suffering would still be within us. By taking such a wrong view "the cause of suffering is sometimes within me and sometimes outside me" is like putting your head in the sand. No liberation would come in taking such wrong view.</p>

<p>Indeed, if we had a chance to help the child or the father, we would not say to them: the cause of suffering is always within the one who is suffering. Why? Because they wouldn't understand it properly because of ignorance. The child would probably become even more hurt because the blame for his suffering would be put on him. The father's evil doing would probably continue because he would have one more excuse to cause suffering to others: "I'm not to blame, I'm not the cause of anybody's suffering". Thus, we would need to choose our words carefully and wisely. That was not the question. The question was, what's the cause of the child suffering, not what would be the best way to liberate the child from suffering.</p>

<hr>

<p><strong>UPDATE</strong></p>

<p><strong><em>Suppose we have this view regarding the child's cause of suffering: "The cause of the child's suffering is the father"</em></strong></p>

<p>With such a view, liberation from suffering comes from the child's ability to have control of his surrounding environment. When he will develop perfect control of his surrounding environment, his suffering will cease. Now suppose 20 years later a bandit comes into his perfect environment and abuses him. As a consequence, he suffers. Has the child really attained liberation from suffering? No. Why? Because the child clings on his surrounding environment. </p>

<p>Furthermore, is his environment permanent or impermanent? Impermanent. 
Can he have perfect control over his environment or can he not? He can not.
Is worldly existence satisfactory or unsatisfactory? Unsatisfactory.</p>

<p>How could this be the right path towards liberation? It can't and it isn't. Why? </p>

<p>Because the child is searching for the cause of suffering outside, not within. The child had wrong view "the cause of my suffering is outside me, in my environment, in beings that surround me, in actions these beings perform on me, in actions my environment performs on me, in actions my body performs on me, in actions bacterias and viruses perform on me, in actions bandits perform on me, in actions my father performs on me, ..."</p>

<p>With such wrong view, clinging and craving cannot be removed. With such wrong view, the Second, Third and Fourth noble truths cannot come to fruition: </p>

<blockquote>
  <ol>
  <li><p>Suffering, as a noble truth, is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; association with the loathed is suffering, dissociation from the loved is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering — in short, suffering is the five categories of clinging objects."</p></li>
  <li><p>The origin of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is the craving that produces renewal of being accompanied by enjoyment and lust, and enjoying this and that; in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for non-being.</p></li>
  <li><p>Cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is remainderless fading and ceasing, giving up, relinquishing, letting go and rejecting, of that same craving.</p></li>
  <li><p>The way leading to cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is simply the noble eightfold path, that is to say, right view, right intention; right speech, right action, right livelihood; right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration."</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.nymo.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.nymo.html</a></p>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<p><strong><em>Suppose we have this view regarding the child's cause of suffering: "The cause of the child's suffering is in his fathers's Karma"</em></strong></p>

<p>With such a view, liberation from suffering comes from the child's ability to have control of his father's Karma.</p>

<p>Can we have full control over the Karma of others? No.
Can we have "some" control over the Karma of others? Yes. How? By having the ability to control the actions of others.</p>

<p>The ability to control the actions of others arises from the ability to have control of our surrounding environment. Again, liberation from suffering would come from our ability to have control of our surrounding environment.</p>

<p>Is the environment permanent or impermanent? Impermanent. 
Can we have perfect control over our environment or can we not? We can not.
Is worldly existence satisfactory or unsatisfactory? Unsatisfactory.</p>

<p>How could this be the right path towards liberation? It can't and it isn't. Why? </p>

<p>Because we are searching for the cause of suffering outside, not within. Our view "The cause of the child's suffering is in his fathers's Karma" is wrong.</p>

<p>With such wrong view, clinging and craving cannot be removed. With such wrong view, the Second, Third and Fourth noble truths cannot come to fruition.</p>

<hr>

<p><strong><em>Suppose we have this view regarding the child's cause of suffering: "The cause of the child's suffering is in the child's Karma"</em></strong></p>

<p>With such a view, liberation from suffering comes from the child's ability to have control of his Karma.</p>

<p>Can we have full control over our Karma? No.
Can we have "some" control over our Karma? Yes. How? By having the ability to control our actions.</p>

<p>The ability to control our actions arises from the ability to have control of our minds.</p>

<p>Can we have perfect control over our minds or can we not? Yes we can.</p>

<p>How could this be the right path towards liberation? It is. This is the right path to liberation. Why? </p>

<p>Because we are searching for the cause of suffering within. Our view "The cause of the child's suffering is in his Karma" is right.</p>

<p>With such right view, clinging and craving can be removed. With such right view, the Second noble truth will come to fruition. When the Second noble truth comes to fruition, the Fourth noble truth will lead us to meditation - a search for the cause of suffering within, not outside. Once we find the cause within, the Third noble truth will come to fruition.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>And what is the cause by which stress comes into play? Craving is the cause by which stress comes into play."</p>
  
  <p>And what is the result of stress? There are some cases in which a person overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, grieves, mourns, laments, beats his breast, &amp; becomes bewildered. Or one overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, <strong>comes to search outside</strong>, 'Who knows a way or two to stop this pain?' I tell you, monks, that stress results either in bewilderment or in search. This is called the result of stress."</p>
  
  <p>And what is the cessation of stress? From the cessation of craving is the cessation of stress"</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an06/an06.063.than.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an06/an06.063.than.html</a></p>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<p><strong><em>Suppose we have this view regarding the child's cause of suffering: "The cause of the child's suffering is in the child's mind" or "The cause of the child's suffering is in the child" or "The cause of the child's suffering is within the child"</em></strong></p>

<p>With such a view, liberation from suffering comes from the child's ability to have control of his mind.</p>

<p>With such a view, liberation from suffering comes as already described above.</p>

<p>Whenever we are searching for the cause of suffering within us, sooner or later the four noble truths will come to fruition. Whenever we are searching for the cause of suffering outside us, the four noble truths will never come fully to fruition.</p>

<hr>

<p>Craving and clinging within the child is the cause of the child's stress. This is the only right view if we want to reach full liberation.</p>

<p>Conventional thinking about the cause of suffering goes like this:</p>

<p>When things are in order, I'm happy. When I'm happy, I will cling on things being in order.
When things are not in order, I'm not happy. When I'm not happy, I will crave for things coming into order.
Things are changing order, there is nothing I can do about it. Thus, sometimes I'll be happy, sometimes I'll be not happy.</p>

<p>Buddhist thinking about the cause of suffering goes like this:</p>

<p>Things are changing order, there is nothing I can do about it. When things are in order, I will not cling on things being in order.
When things are not in order, I will not crave for things coming into order.
Thus, I'll not be, which is beyond happiness or anything you've ever imagined.</p>
 12068: <p>I don't understand how we could ever be fully awake or conscious of past lives we have had. How can something we have no memory/awareness of and no way to gain memory/awareness of be the cause of karma in our lives now? That just seems so unfair. I'm not sure if I even believe in past lives, future lives - that's not the point of the Path, right? The Path is to live here and now, always. </p>

<p>Also, I understand that suffering always comes from inside so the child suffering from an abusive father's actions is "the cause of his or her own suffering." Logically, without judgment, I understand that. But what choice does the child have in their situation? They do not have the choice to be aware. The choice to follow the Path and love themselves and everyone else in loving kindness. I wish to God I had had the awareness when my mother was yelling at me that I was a pig and selfish and criticizing my body and just everything about me - I wish as a child I had been able to somehow discover Buddhism. But ultimately, what choice do you have when you're brought into the world in a hypnotic mind-state where all you do is observe and soak in everything around you? You soak up all the suffering your parents are going through. It doesn't make it your "fault". Your brain is literally just new and growing. I don't understand putting responsibility for change and growth on a child. I just don't. I gues what I'm saying is why ask that question in the first place - who or what is the cause of the child's suffering? Does it help the child to determine logically that the child is the cause of its own suffering? No, because they don't really have the wherewithal to have a choice in their situation - or the resources and tools to change <em>anything</em>, really.</p>
 2207: <p>I don't know if you intentionally chose "Who", since "What" seems a better question.   I'll take some license and rephrase the question (I hope you don't mind).</p>

<ul>
<li><strong><em>Q</strong>: What causes the child's suffering?</em></li>
<li><strong><em>A</strong>: Many things.</em></li>
</ul>

<p>For any event Y, X caused Y if removing X removes Y.  Note that Y can have many causes! For instance, some of the causes of the child's suffering include...</p>

<ol>
<li>The abusive parent.</li>
<li>The child's reaction.</li>
<li>The child's nervous system.</li>
<li>The laws of physics.</li>
</ol>

<p>And so on.  Remove any of them from the equation and the suffering ceases.</p>

<p>Thinking in terms of a single cause of suffering (or in terms of who suffers) reinforces the kind of "ownership" of action or "mental object" that serves as a focus for clinging, especially to self.</p>

<p>Now if you wish to relieve an abused child's suffering, then I recommend local law enforcement or a child protective agency. </p>
 5325: <p>Lord Buddha has rejected the following</p>

<ol>
<li>That everything happens automatically, for no specific reason or
force.</li>
<li>That everything happens according to a will of a God or similar</li>
<li>That everything happens because of Karma</li>
</ol>

<p>It is the 3rd that you seem to question here.
The Father is definitely choosing to do the action. He is responsible for his own actions, he cannot leave the responsibility to Karma or anything else. Buddha had Vinaya Nikaya with set of consequences for those who miss-behave.</p>

<p>How past Karma applied here is anyone's guess (except for Lord Buddha, who could see directly). It's extremely difficult to say, and the subject of "Karma Pala" (Karma Result) was once classified as "Achinthya" meaning infinite, which would be just too much for a normal mind to grasp. Note it's the result of the Karma which is hard to grasp, the Karma itself is well taught of. This could be because we accumulate an infinite amount of Karma.</p>
 8157: <p>The Pali scriptures (<a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.017.than.html" rel="noreferrer">SN 12.17</a>) state, from the perspective of ultimate truth, that the cause of suffering is 'ignorance' (rather than 'one-self' or 'another'). </p>

<p>However, in the conventional scenario presented in the question, the father is causing the suffering because a 3 year old child does not have the cognitive capacity to engage the Buddhist path. </p>

<p>What is occurring to the child has no relationship to any (imaginary) past lives. I have never read this idea in the Pali suttas, where suffering (<em>dukkha</em>), let alone the suffering of helpless small children, is attributed to past lives. </p>

<p>The suffering is due to the evil within the mind of the father because the child cannot overcome the in-born ignorance in their mind that is causing the suffering.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.10.budd.html" rel="noreferrer">Dhammapada 137</a> clearly states there are "innocent" victims of crime &amp; <a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.061.than.html" rel="noreferrer">AN 3.61</a> states what a person feels in not related to past kamma. </p>

<blockquote>
  <p><em>137. He who inflicts violence on those who are unarmed and offends those who are inoffensive, will soon come upon one of these ten
  states:</em></p>
  
  <p><em>138-140 Sharp pain, or disaster, bodily injury, serious illness, or derangement of mind, trouble from the government, or grave charges,
  loss of relatives, or loss of wealth, or houses destroyed by ravaging
  fire; upon dissolution of the body that ignorant man is born in
  hell.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>~~~</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><em>When one falls back on what was done in the past as being essential, monks, there is no desire, no effort [at the thought], 'This should be
  done. This shouldn't be done.' When one can't pin down as a truth or
  reality what should &amp; shouldn't be done, one dwells bewildered &amp;
  unprotected. One cannot righteously refer to oneself as a
  contemplative. This was my first righteous refutation of those
  brahmans &amp; contemplatives who hold to such teachings, such views.</em></p>
</blockquote>
