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The importance of the third noble truth in developing compassion
person
Don't believe everything you thinkThe liminal space Veteran
I've heard Mattieu Ricard making the analogy of the importance of gaining wisdom and insight in regards to developing compassion.
He compared it to as if you were flying in a plane above the ocean and saw someone swimming with no land in sight, you would feel bad for them but could see very little hope for them. If, on the other hand you could see an island just out of their sight your feeling of concern for them would increase because you could see some hope for them to escape their situation.
If you get the first and second noble truths alone, it can feel depressing because it basically says life's a bitch. And many non Buddhists have this impression of Buddhism. But add the notion of an escape and a depressing philosophy becomes very bright and positive.
He compared it to as if you were flying in a plane above the ocean and saw someone swimming with no land in sight, you would feel bad for them but could see very little hope for them. If, on the other hand you could see an island just out of their sight your feeling of concern for them would increase because you could see some hope for them to escape their situation.
If you get the first and second noble truths alone, it can feel depressing because it basically says life's a bitch. And many non Buddhists have this impression of Buddhism. But add the notion of an escape and a depressing philosophy becomes very bright and positive.
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Comments
Its like beginning to read a novel when the conflict appears and putting the book down not bothering to read the rest of the story!
I guess the important point might be that the island is out of the swimmers sight so they don't know about it, so you'd feel that if you could just let them know then they would be alright.
I think people don't always really think about what they read, so when they see something that says 'life is suffering' the automatic reaction becomes, 'No it isn't! Why the gloom and doom?!' Especially if they only see suffering as really Big Bad Stuff rather than the day to day stress, annoyance, frustration etc that everybody experiences.
buddhism.about.com/od/thefournobletruths/a/The-First-Noble-Truth.htm
But while living in Thailand I learned that -- because of Buddhism and karma -- many Thais have a very fatalistic view of life.
dukkha and samsara, endless suffering...
the way to nirvana is the opposite of the way
to worldly gains.
buddha ask us to think about death everyday.
what can be more pessimistic than that.
when you look at things from the lens of an
ordinary person, buddhism is extremely pessimistic.
but what is buddha's goal?
it is to show us the way to end our suffering,
all of it, nirvana. Nirvana/nibbana means to extinguish.
just like a flame that has been put out.
where is buddha today?
and the countless arahants that have died?
Interesting approach. Breaking 'free of freedom' is just another unsatisfying spell craft. In the vajrayana, as a daka (wizard/Practioner/tantrika), one can indeed replace unskilful sensory enchantment with a spell of dharma-craft . . .
However samsara is nirvana. Dukkha and enlightenment are one sense of Sense.
I guess we all knew that deep down . . .
There is this island of suffering, There is another island across the way...there is a raft to get across.
Once you are there let go of all 3.
Also, I think the initial reaction would be better received if it were not explained as suffering but rather unsatisfactoriness. When people think suffering, they immediately shy away and think of things like illness and deep suffering. They don't include every day stress and emotions and so on as suffering. They never get the chance to get that far because it's so offputting to hear "life is suffering."
Some are still lost at sea and some may have just spotted land.
“Sir,” he said, “there are people stuck midstream in the
terror and the fear of the rush of the river of being, and death
and decay overwhelm them. For their sakes, Sir, tell me where
to find an island, tell me where there is solid ground beyond
the reach of all this pain.”
“Kappa,” said the Master, “for the sake of those people
stuck in the middle of the river of being, overwhelmed by
death and decay, I will tell you where to find solid ground.
“There is an island, an island which you cannot go beyond.
It is a place of no-thingness, a place of non-possession and of
non-attachment. It is the total end of death and decay, and this
is why I call it Nibbana [the extinguished, the cool].
“There are people who, in mindfulness, have realized this
and are completely cooled here and now. They do not become
slaves working for Mara, for Death; they cannot fall into his
power.”
~ SuttaNipata 1092–5
Whatever our practice, that is the solid ground, the islands in the stream, that enable, empower and . . . of course . . . we abandon . . .
Whether we are an island, a raft, travelling in good company or standing on the far shore, ready to go back for straggling and struggling Bodhisatvas, we have a way. A proven way.
http://www.thubtenchodron.org/DailyLifeDharma/practicing_buddhism_in_daily_life.html
You don't have to call it Mother Theresa.