Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Have you suffered in life?
footiam
Veteran
Is it true that according to Buddhism, life is suffering? How have you suffered in life?
0
Comments
2. Emotionally.
But in the usual, emotional, sense of "suffering," I always liked a TV interview I once saw. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, widow of famed trans-Atlantic aviator Charles Lindbergh, was being interviewed. In March of 1932, the Lindbergh's 20-month-old son was kidnapped and held for ransom. The baby was later found dead. The event made headlines at the time and the television interviewer was stuck with asking the question that most viewers wanted to hear asked and yet cringed in the event: "How does it feel to have your child kidnapped?"
Mrs. Lindbergh allowed several, pregnant seconds to pass before she opened her mouth and said quietly, "I believe that everybody has suffered a tragedy." While the answer sidestepped the actual question, it also spoke to a wider truth, something everyone might keep in mind as they deal with others.
I must have had accumulated some bad-mirror Karma in past lives!
In the past I have suffered sometimes, because of my attitude towards different situations in my life. However, because of impermanence, things change !
Every attachment in life causes Dukkha, causes "suffering", stands in the way of the ultimate happiness, the ultimate wisdom. Is goes so far that attachment to being alive, being conscious, is also Dukkha.
So have I suffered? Yes, but luckily not that much. I was always quite good in overcoming my problems in life.
Have I experienced Dukkha? Yes, and I still do.
"To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime, we inevitably have to endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death; and we have to endure psychological suffering like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression. Although there are different degrees of suffering and there are also positive experiences in life that we perceive as the opposite of suffering, such as ease, comfort and happiness, life in its totality is imperfect and incomplete, because our world is subject to impermanence. This means we are never able to keep permanently what we strive for, and just as happy moments pass by, we ourselves and our loved ones will pass away one day, too."
http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/fourtruths.html
Sabre :vimp:
Suffering is only bad if you let it be! Yesterday, my best friend was truely suffering but a loving hug from her spock man a bit of me being silly and the suffering didn't seem so bad
For example, once I was fired from a job unfairly and my mind suffered. My mind suffered because it thought: "I did what was right, the boss did what was wrong, but I unjustly got fired. I loved that job, I did so much good, but I lost my job".
The suffering was due to attachment. Due to attaching with indignation to notions of "wrong", "right", "just", "unjust", "love", "goodness" and, most of all "my job".
When the mind decides to take possession or ownership of impermanent things or things given to it by others, it will inevitably suffer.
This is the suffering of attachment.
Best wishes
Sympathetic joy, altruistic joy, appreciative joy – it is the congratulatory attitude of a person.
Its chief characteristic is happy acquiescence in others’ prosperity and success.
Here, O, Monks, a disciple lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of unselfish joy, and so the second, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around, everywhere and equally, he continues to pervade with a heart of unselfish joy, abundant, grown great, measureless, without hostility or ill-will.
If life as a whole is suffering, it probably would make Buddhism a pessimistic religion.
Dear genkaku,
Not everyone suffers a great tragedy like having a baby kidnapped.
Dear Roger,
As we grow older, we probably get to be better in managing our life. Perhaps, not. Just don’t get sick thinking over the past. Just be amused.
Dear Dazzle,
Suffering is nothing if there is impermanence! Thanks!
Dear Sabre,
There is not a better word for Dukkha then. Life with suffering should be perfect. Suffering is a good teacher and in the world of the Devas, where I suppose there is ‘perfection’, they can’t attain enlightenment like human do – or did I read wrongly?
Dear Vincenzi,
I would believe that some unenlightened beings are just happy being unenlightened.
Dear Dakini,
It’s not just heartache, a headache makes me suffer.
Dear Mountains,
Do you suppose a boddhisatva suffer for wanting to help the people who suffer?
Dear Spock,
If suffering reveals to you a friend, it is not suffering at all.
Dear LeonBasin,
I suppose besides suffering, there is ‘non-suffering’.
Dear Dhamma Dhatu,
Thanks! Life is not suffering! Attachement is!
Dear hermitwin,
Life is mudita. Thanks!
The word 'dukkha' has deep roots in 'the wonky cartwheel'... so life has also been compared to a bumpy ride, or an unsatisfactory transition.
Has anyone had a bumpy ride?
It might be easier to ask - who hasn't?
Then the responses would not be so forthcoming.
I said life as a whole is NOT suffering.
I thought in most Buddhist literature, suffering is emphasized. There is nothing said about a bumpy right. And it has also been said that Buddhism is a pessimistic religion.
Dear NomaD Buddha,
It was me who said that IF – life as a whole is a suffering –
Dear Jason,
Thanks for this and this.
Buddhism points out that whatever it is that we cling to, or crave for, is not perfect.
Even the life of a Brahma-god is not perfect because - after a really long time - it will end.
When we stop clinging and craving however, we attain freedom, and freedom is perfect. We can take it everywhere we go.
When we attain freedom we are better off than a Brahma-god.
Our freedom will last where the life of a Brahma-god will end.
That’s why gods bow to the Buddha.
I wouldn’t call this a pessimistic religion!
The deep etymological root and origins of the word 'dukkha' come form the same word as that meaning "a wonky wheel" That's why I referred to Life being a 'bumpy ride'.
"Etymology
Sargeant, et. al. (2009: p.303) provides the etymology of the Sanskrit words sukha and duḥkha:
"It is perhaps amusing to note the etymology of the words sukha (pleasure, comfort, bliss) and duḥkha (misery, unhappiness, pain). The ancient Aryans who brought the Sanskrit language to India were a nomadic, horse- and cattle-breeding people who travelled in horse- or ox-drawn vehicles. Su and dus are prefixes indicating good or bad. The word kha, in later Sanskrit meaning "sky," "ether," or "space," was originally the word for "hole," particularly an axle hole of one of the Aryan's vehicles. Thus sukha … meant, originally, "having a good axle hole," while duhkha meant "having a poor axle hole," leading to discomfort." Sargeant, Winthrop (author, translator) Smith, Huston (author) & Chapple, Christopher Key (Editor) (2009). The Bhagavad Gita. Excelsior Editions, Suny Series in Cultural Perspectives: SUNY Press. Edition: annotated. ISBN 1438428413, 9781438428413 Source: 1 (accessed: Tuesday February 23, 2010), p.303"
from:
here
Me? Life is not suffering right now. I'm fine. That can change in an instant like when I use a crosswalk in the city.
Uh Oh! Now I'm suffering just _thinking_ about that!
Uh Uh Oh! Now I'm _visualizing_ it! AWWWGGGHHH! OUUUUCCCHHH! :eek:
(plus I was channel hopping an ended up watching britney spears new damn video on every music channel - that was enough to make me :banghead: over and over again!!) sufferring is everywhere. Now Dukkha is something else!
I have not experienced the Cessation of Suffering so if I am suffering I have nothing to compare it to. However, I have Faith that the Buddha knew what he was talking about because I have experienced, to a degree, a lessening of some flavours of suffering as a result of keeping precepts, meditating and trying to develop Wisdom.
But complete Cessation of Suffering? I cannot honestly say that I know there is such a thing, but if there is then it seems logical to imply that anything less than that is still suffering (however refined it may be).
May all beings be happy and free from suffering!
Metta,
Guy
Metta,
Guy
If we think pessimistically, we could call the religion pessimistic. Thanks!
Dear lightlotus,
As it is, suffering should be viewed positively as it is a learning experience – I think.
And London shouldn’t be back. We over here, have to pay a lot of money just to be there.
Dear federica.
I have checked out the link and have learned of mudita.
And pardon my spelling error. No ticking off?
And thanks too for the short lesson on Sanskrit. It goes to say that we can’t just translate something into English and take that as the correct or complete translation.
Dear Iron Rabbit,
I can’t think of any other better metaphor.
Dear Cloud,
Good idea, this word, unsatisfactoriness. All the old books should be recalled!
Dear rachMiel,
Old could be gold.
Thany you you too, Dear Roger,
I c u r amused.
Dear Supertramp,
You have brought joy too, so rejoice!
Dear GuyC,
I think Buddha said not to rely on faith.
And thanks for the saying about the enlightened ones.. I like it.
Buddhism is not about a static view but it is about seeing views are impermanent and dependently arisen. So we don't have to be driven by our conceptions and instead have freedom to have a space of ending and beginning. A space of nothingness and pregnancy.
Metta,
Guy
It has a rather different meaning from a christian who has faith in his god.
Palzang
I like that idea of not having a static view but I don’t know what Prajna means.
Dear GuyC,
I really don’t know what this “Five Spiritual Faculties" refers to. In any case, hermitwin does give an idea about the faith you meant and the faith I meant. But do explain to me the “Five Spiritual Faculties”, won’t you?
Dear hermitwin,
There are different types of faith then and aren’t all of them blind?
Dear Palzang,
Did Buddha teach sufferings other than birth, old age, sickness, and death There ought to be other form of sufferings.
Dear fivebells,
I wish I know Pali! Now, it seems most of the time, we emphasize Dukkha and forget about life. Yes, what is the Pali word for life?
Dear Supertramp,
May you be well and happy! Always!
Dear Jason,
Life is full of misunderstanding and I do misunderstand Buddhism most of the time. I have checked out your link and left a comment there.
I'm not a teacher so I could be screwing it all up..
If you have a lot of questions into the dharma and ideas you have prajna. But without faith (sradda) you are not taking them to heart.
They are: Saddha (Faith in the Triple Gem), Viriya (Energy/Vigor/Effort), Sati (Mindfulness), Samadhi (One-pointedness of mind) and Panna (Wisdom).
The faculties are supposed to be developed if we wish to be free from suffering. There is a kind of feedback loop which can occur when we develop these: Faith gives rise to Energy which in turn gives rise to Mindfulness -> Samadhi -> Wisdom. Unless wisdom is perfected, then our "partial wisdom" (for lack of a better phrase) can give rise to an increase of Faith in the Triple Gem.
The Five Spiritual Faculties are not meant as an alternative to the Noble Eightfold Path, they are meant to describe the mental qualities necessary for practicing the Noble Eightfold Path.
This is how I understand it, I may be wrong.
Metta,
Guy
Thanks for the explanation. This message is not the same type of message that some prophets receive from God, is it?
Dear GuyC,
Thanks for the explanation. With so many foreign terms, learning Buddhism is becoming a form of suffering itself! And the faith that you talk of that give rise to energy – it could be negative energy for all we know.
Palzang
Didn't Buddha say that birth, ageing and death were also forms of suffering?
P