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Suffering

DaveGDaveG
edited June 2005 in Buddhism Basics
I'd like to ask for your comments on the following. Nothing special, just where your thoughts take you.

In The Bible ( revised version, I believe) in Romans it says: "We rejoice in our sufferings. Suffering builds endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us".

Dave

Comments

  • comicallyinsanecomicallyinsane Veteran
    edited June 2005
    Suffering does do all those things. But after we have done all those things do we still suffer? Is the pain still there? Then we have to ask why.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited June 2005
    "Hope springs Eternal in the Human Breast."
    Was this not the last quality remaining in Pandora's box? People have clung to Hope through the centuries, and have used it as their sustaining enduring aim.... yet elsewhere in the Bible you will be told that of 'Faith, Hope and Love, the greatest of these, is Love.'

    I would therefore suggest that we should certainly live in Hope. We should have it to support us, keep us going and make sure it is ever present in our desire for a better world. have Hope.
    But BE love.
  • wolfscalissiwolfscalissi
    edited June 2005
    "Nothing special, just where your thoughts take you." The first part of the quotation I would agree with. Ordinary everyday mind, it has been said, is the way. Where the thoughts take you seems a dangerous proposition. My mind leads me into all sorts of false expectations, and inevitably suffering. At this point in my path I find myself just dropping the thoughts as they arise not placing conditions upon them, not coloring them with ego. This is the practice anyway. As for suffering building endurance? To me we could build endurance to such things but would that not be akin to saying" if I only drink a little of this poison every day soon I will be able to drink the whole bottle" Why not just stop drinking the poison? On the positive side of suffering if it weren't for samsara (the realm of suffering) how would we recognize nibbana? (The end of suffering) Suffering is what caused us to seek and to ask the questions in the first place. It can be a great lever to move our torpid minds and bodies into action. Lastly "hope does not disappoint us" To this I must take exception. I suppose pure and unbound hope may be useful but I find hope to be my ego hoping to win the lottery hoping to pass a test, hoping to get ahead in my job; or worse hoping to attain enlightenment. This is why I am drawn to the teachings of the Buddha. Neither faith nor hope is needed to find the way. There is a direct pointing to the way urging you to see for your self. Nice to hear from you again DaveG

    On a related topic I heard once that the word faith comes from the Sanskrit fateh (sp?) (faateh) which means, "to open". Much different than the western analogy of "faith is hope well practiced"

    ^gassho^
  • JasonJason God Emperor Arrakis Moderator
    edited June 2005
    Ah suffering. The deliciously bitter fruit of life. Suffering can teach us endurance, patience, and wisdom. Suffering is the motivation for enlightenment. Without pain in its many forms we would not seek that which transcends it. Without hope for something better life would lead to despair. The Bible is full of wisdom that anyone can appreciate, even if you are not Christian.
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited June 2005
    Humans are born to trouble, as sparks fly upwards (Job)

    Ain't that just a wonderful formulation of the First Noble Truth?
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