> > > > I still believe that it owes a lot to Buddhism... > > > > > > That's a stretch. Many translations of the First > > > Noble Truth have it as "Life is suffering," but > > > that's not related in any way to God, since they > > > don't believe in one. > > > > To say "life is suffering" implies there is something-- > > a condition or state--that is *not* suffering. > > > > If suffering is said to be a lack, there is something-- > > a condition or state--in which nothing is lacking. > > > > What is it? > > ++ State of mind?
In a way. If (as the Four Noble Truths state) the cause of suffering is attachment to desire/aversion, then living in a state of mind that is *not* attached to achieving the fruits of desire or avoiding the things one is averse to is a way beyond suffering. The "input" to life doesn't change, only one's ability to greet it with equanimity. Try to force the square peg of that input into the round hole of one's desires, and you get suffering. Treat it as a square peg and be neither attached nor averse, no suffering. Nothing to "achieve," no "obstacles" to remove from the "path" to non-suffering, nowhere to "go." Same old same old...just life dealt with as What Is, not What You'd Like Life To Be. Just for fun, compare and contrast this to MMY's latest U.N. rap, in which he once again presents his S-V theories and suggests that the problems of the world can't be solved unless one starts over with all-new buildings. In the Buddhist view, this approach to resolving suffering can never work because it is based upon trying to change the input of life to avoid suffering, rather than change the inner being's ability to deals with the input with- out attachment. In the Buddhist view, the richest, most successful person in the world, living in a perfectly-aligned S-V house but still attached to his desires, will be lost in suffering. Whereas the poor person who lives in a cardboard box, if he is not attached to his desires, is beyond suffering. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
