Posted: Apr 25, 2014 2:39 pm
Frank Merton wrote:Okay I will try to provide a little summary of what it is about and then try to respond to questions and remarks. I am not here to "convert" anyone and don't expect to as I'm not that devout myself.
I will start with a rewording in my own sense of what is called the "Four Noble Truths."
1. We suffer. Suffering is of course not the only thing we do, but we do do a lot of it if you include all the little aches and pains and itches and inabilities to sleep and irritating relatives and so on.
I tend to feel that Buddhism's form of suffering is meant to be existential, rather than annoyances.
Frank Merton wrote:2. If we pay attention we can figure out why we suffer, first in individual cases and eventually in general.
3. Once we have done that it is possible to stop suffering. Even unremitting pain can be had without the accompanying suffering (that's the theory).
It's problematic because it relies on the external world complying with your internal world. You might be able to block the pain of someone beating you with a baseball bat, but it doesn't remove your suffering.
Frank Merton wrote:4. One way is the path known as the Eightfold Noble Path which if followed is said to bring about an end of suffering.
It seems such a strange concept to me; end suffering. Suffering is part of life. We grow from it, we learn from it, we adapt and achieve new things at least partly in our pursuit of alleviating suffering.
Were I to wave a magic wand and make suffering disappear, would that be desirable?