Diversity and the Dharma

Shoshin1

When it comes to Buddhism...the Dharma is the Dharma, it does not discriminate... and from what I gather (in a nutshell that is,) it is designed, to tame and then train the mind in the ways of ending the self inflicted suffering that the self continually falls prey to....

No doubt many of us come to the Dharma for (on the surface) many different reasons, which I guess in reality all boil down to the one thing "Dukkha" AKA Unsatisfactoriness, not quite satisfied with how things are flowing when it comes to our daily lives...This dissatisfaction may be subtle, gross or somewhere in between...but it's there all the same...

Also we come from diverse backgrounds, religious, cultural, traditional, political, ideological, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, (straight, gay and in bi-tween ), along with different social economic backgrounds, materially wealthy or materially poor or somewhere in between...And it would seem these different backgrounds are part and parcel of our conditioning and this conditioning along with other things is where our preconceived ideas, biases etc etc can be found...

However, Dukkha seems to be what brings us all together in the Dharma....warts and all... and helps us (some more than others ) work through our misconceptions and preconceived ideas which more often than not feed our suffering ( the self is a glutton for punishment )...

And after awhile we come to find that we are not so different after all...We all want happiness and to be free of suffering...and there's an abundance of happiness...free to an open mind and kind heart...

Well through trial and error this is what I'm gradually beginning to discovering...How about you ?

Jeroen

I think the dharma very much speaks of universal human conditions, things that every human being encounters, and maybe are more obvious to people from minorities and fringe sexual orientations because they feel excluded more and have to struggle more. But in the end they are the same things we come back to, dukkha, the klesha’s, maya, illusion and ignorance.

If we can acknowledge that, that the themes of the dharma unify us more than divide us, that we are all in the same boat trying to cope with unsatisfactoriness, then there is hope for looking past our differences, whether they are ideological or lifestyle incidentals.

lobster

How about you?

Fine. Thanks 4 askin' …
As a 😵‍💫☯️ Not knowing if I am coming, going or bidding on gone, I know a thing or twenty seven about minority rites and wrongs. Everyone is a bubble, snowflake, karmic meme, individual buddha etc.

Be the space you want to occupy

Jason

Ven. Sariputta said: "Friends, just as the footprints of all legged animals are encompassed by the footprint of the elephant, and the elephant's footprint is reckoned the foremost among them in terms of size; in the same way, all skillful qualities are gathered under the four noble truths. Under which four? Under the noble truth of stress, under the noble truth of the origination of stress, under the noble truth of the cessation of stress, and under the noble truth of the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress. (MN 28)

FleaMarket

It's all the same. It's always all the same.. Same answer, different expressions it seems.

How are you all doin'?
There's a lot going on out there and I keep forgetting this isn't an intellectual pursuit.

Jeroen

@FleaMarket said:
It's all the same. It's always all the same..

How are you all doin'?
There's a lot going on out there and I keep forgetting this isn't an intellectual pursuit.

I dream of going off to war in Africa… put it down to reading about the war in Ukraine… for the rest I am doing fine.