Short answer: it’s suffering that’s bad, intrinsically (though suffering can be instrumentally good)
Long answer: There are several different reasons suffering may be voluntary. To list a few:
1) suffering for some greater good (eg delayed pleasure, suffering for something that will make more people happy, etc)
2) false belief that your suffering is for a greater good (eg you think suffering will give you karma points that will make you happier in next life)
3) suffering that is “meaningful” (such as mourning)
4) an experience that includes some suffering and some pleasure that is one the whole-enhanced by the suffering
For 1, the good that the suffering leads to is intrinsically good, the suffering is instrumentally good but intrinsically bad. If you could get the greater good without the suffering, that would be better.
2, 3, and 4 are really just special cases of 1. For all, the suffering component of the experience is intrinsically bad. For 2, you falsely believe the suffering is still instrumentally good. For 3, the “meaningfulness” of the experience is the greater good, and the suffering is instrumental in that. It would be better if you could get the same amount of meaningfulness without suffering. Similarly for 4 - the pleasurable part of the experience is the greater good.
My view:
Short answer: it’s suffering that’s bad, intrinsically (though suffering can be instrumentally good)
Long answer: There are several different reasons suffering may be voluntary. To list a few:
1) suffering for some greater good (eg delayed pleasure, suffering for something that will make more people happy, etc)
2) false belief that your suffering is for a greater good (eg you think suffering will give you karma points that will make you happier in next life)
3) suffering that is “meaningful” (such as mourning)
4) an experience that includes some suffering and some pleasure that is one the whole-enhanced by the suffering
For 1, the good that the suffering leads to is intrinsically good, the suffering is instrumentally good but intrinsically bad. If you could get the greater good without the suffering, that would be better.
2, 3, and 4 are really just special cases of 1. For all, the suffering component of the experience is intrinsically bad. For 2, you falsely believe the suffering is still instrumentally good. For 3, the “meaningfulness” of the experience is the greater good, and the suffering is instrumental in that. It would be better if you could get the same amount of meaningfulness without suffering. Similarly for 4 - the pleasurable part of the experience is the greater good.
This might be a specific instance of