Table of Contents
Life is Suffering
Truth 1: Life is suffering. OK, but must we suffer it?
At birth, a baby screams, and I am happy. I scream, too, when I experience
a new aspect of existence. I have never been so high as when in fever I
see the world with my prevailing set put by for a time.
Aging is often accompanied by pain: arthritis, rheumatism, senility, or
dystrophy. So long as fools of doctors don't take such things as weakness
and play on the sufferer's ego or ignor it, the sufferer may accept and
laugh away the condition. Those portions of life which we are served can
be lived in glory rather than suffered. But, so often, their are fools (I
shant call them evil, eh?) who turn ills to suffering by pooh-poohing.
Most important in this life is death; the Buddha would have us pursue the
attitude of no longer desiring life. Off the mark! One must desire life in
its utmost; then we will realize that one day death will come leaving no
regrets in our souls. God will know us and we will be in Him. The greater
the strength of our desire to be what the world would allow, the more
nearly we are with Him.
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The cause of suffering is Desire, due to Ignorance
Truth 2: The cause of suffering is desire, due to ignorance.
Of all the harmful concepts which I have striven to overcome, this is the
cherry. as I intimated in the last paragraph, elimination of bonds with
the world, ie. desires, separates you from the ideal for which we strive,
to be one with God, the binder.
Elimination of bonds will increase awareness of suffering, ie. belief that
a physical condition should be experienced as degradation or suffering.
Not all of us are able to accept life in all its wonders. We have blocks
put in our paths by those whose words we respect; those very ones whom we
love and listen to; they who pooh-pooh our acceptance of life as God has
given it, the pains of living at which we wonder rather than suffering.
If we were to eliminate our bonds, desires, we would lose both the
individuals we love, and God, within whose concept we live. By accepting
life, we know that life goes on when the heart stops. We live love and are
one with God forever, if we don't recede from life and knowledge into a
personal satisfaction.
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Cure for suffering is the Elimination of Desire
Truth 3: Cure for suffering is the elimination of desire.
My previous comments have clearly presented my attitude toward the case
for eliminating desire. Further, the basic fact which we may know about
our faith is that God does not direct our actions. But He does expect us
to honor the covenant we make on the model of Christ's life. The 'born
again' concept forces a too narrow conception of the personal bond.
We must sup at communion, ie. reaffirm our covenant, as often as it is
offered; as often as we feel the bond, we must act upon it. For me it is
often indeed, but not stemming from a decision any more than the rain
stems from a decision of the earth.
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The treatment is the Eightfold Way, the path to Nirvana
Truth 4: The treatment is the Eightfold Way, the path to Nirvana:-
Right Knowledge - Right aspiration - Right speach - Right Livelyhood -
Right action - Right Effort - Right Mindfulness - Right Concentration
One cannot argue with the thesis that following always these Right paths
through the aspects of our life will bring us to our life's goal. The
argument heats up over what 'right' means in each instance.
Under Right Concentration some would have it that concentration on an
object or concept will bring an uplifting of the self. I would have it
that concentration on a physical science will lead to a strengthening of
the bond I have with God, from whom all blessings flow.
Under Right action we find the Five Precepts: Compassion for life,
restraint from taking more than your share, restraint in sexual relations,
restraint of speach, abstinance. One could follow the precepts to the
letter, yet be most evil. Is the monk who watches a village die rather
than killing locust taking Right action? Is the genius for capital
management who lives in a hovel taking Right action? Is the surviving
brother who takes the surviving wife not taking Right action? Is the
friend of a dishonest politician taking Right action by not speaking out?
Is a man who refuses to celebrate a newborn over a jug of whiskey takning
Right action? I know a few who would say yes to all these questions, would
I say no? The difference is not between the Christian and Buddhist, but
between the mystic and the lover.
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