Buddism and suffering!

[MarkusSweden]

I remember when I was in school, my teachers always told us that life according to Buddhism is equal to suffering.

The goal was to never be born again in order to reach nirvana, then you end the circle of life (and suffering). 

I was attracted to buddhism because I find it so tolerant and liberal, it also embrace compassion which I love. 

But I couldn't understand this depressing view of life as a suffering event. And to be honest I can't understand that today either. 

Here we talk much about unconditional love, bliss, infinite awareness, the beauty of the absolute and so forth.

This spiritual journey of mine and this forum has teach me how precious and beautiful life is. That's quite the opposite to what Buddhism teaches. 

This is hard for me to wrap my mind around, since Buddhism to me is true in every other aspect. Just this view about life as something to suffer I can't understand. 

Life is great, of course it has downs as well, but who doesn't want to live. Just go out and breath fresh air and you feel how wonderful and magic life is. 

So, how was this depressing view developed in Buddhism? 

Please elaborate.

Thank you

Namaste.     

[Saumaya]

Generally people are ego fuelled  to some extent, especially in time of buddha, that creates suffering.The false self has to be continuously maintained so suffering is inevitable. Less ego, more joy.

[Shin]

Everyone else is the problem !

 

[MarkusSweden]

1 minute ago, Saumaya said:

Generally people are ego fuelled  to some extent, especially in time of buddha, that creates suffering.The false self has to be continuously maintained so suffering is inevitable. Less ego, more joy.

[MarkusSweden]

2 minutes ago, Shin said:

Everyone else is the problem !

 

What do you mean Shin? 

[Shin]

1 minute ago, MarkusSweden said:

What do you mean Shin? 

Why does Buddhism makes you feel depressed  ?

[MarkusSweden]

11 minutes ago, Shin said:

Why does Buddhism makes you feel depressed  ?

hehe, I was never depressed.  

The view of life in buddhism was depressing, I couldn't figure out why. 

Specially since the more truth you find the more joyful life becomes. 

It's like a paradox almost. 

[Shanmugam]

@MarkusSweden Actually, Buddha talks about how people are prone to suffering. You can google the term 'destructive normality' which is a term used in acceptance and commitment therapy. This 'destructive normality'  is pretty much the same as what Buddha means when he says 'life is suffering'... The first chapter of my book talks about the four noble truths in Buddhism in detail. You will find that very convincing.  

[MarkusSweden]

4 minutes ago, Shanmugam said:

@MarkusSweden Actually, Buddha talks about how people are prone to suffering. You can google the term 'destructive normality' which is a term used in acceptance and commitment therapy. This 'destructive normality'  is pretty much the same as what Buddha means when he says 'life is suffering'... The first chapter of my book talks about the four noble truths in Buddhism in detail. You will find that very convincing.  

Interesting! "Destructive normality" I can relate to that, if it means what I think it means. Here in the west, normal life is indeed a wasted life, my opinion. All qualities of life, like love and wisdom are absent due to a demand of a rationalized lifestyle. To live in your head and not in your heart is the conventional way of living here. 

If you prioritize love and wisdom, to live from your heart that is, you become more or less a misfit. But at least you become happy, and that's what it's all about.

But maybe "destructive normality" refers to something else?  

 

[Ether]

@Shanmugam

@MarkusSweden Well, nothing is wasted because everything has good and bad in it (just imaginary doe).

I will challenge you. Can you find good and bad in any circumstance you think of?

 

[Monkey-man]

I know what u mean, and i agree, buddhism's goal is escaping life, me too don't understand that, i can only guess its because:

1. nirvana can help to cease suffering of psychological nature, but not of physical like sickness. and buddha was more concerned about ageing, sickness and death as the main problems of life. that was his motivations to pursue enlightenment i think, not modern depression or low self-esteem. When he said life is suffering he meant that all life is suffering not just psychological but all coz he emphasized physical suffering. and of course he was disappointed that things in life are not eternal but very short-term.

2. poverty on that time was big. no optimism about life in everyday survive-or-die conditions, probs buddha saw that ppl don't wanna live like that

3. not much fun things to do were invented like we have today. On the example of India we can see that Moksha was common thing to talk about and everyone knew and pursue it. But, as far as i'm informed, from around 70s till today, as people became richer and capitalism prospered, people saw new things world has to offer, so idea of escape is not a main agenda anymore. Sri Aurobindo has greatly noticed that neither India's spiritualism escape nor Western materialism is a right way to go. Actually, both are egoic. Both needs to be developed into spiritual life on earth.

4. buddha was rational guy, i think, hence tanatos or desire to die was higher than eros or desire to live. as i recall he was capricorn and they are quite rational

5. he met all kinds of pleasures of life as he was prince, so he probs thought that there's nothing more to life than that

6. clearly the biggest point is that buddha wasn't a prophet. He didn't receive any message from higher planes of consciousness on what-to-do-with-our-lives and where-humanity-goes to share, he had great knowledge from beyond but not message to humanity from beyond. his teachings are based on his own discoveries and his own rationalization and interpretation of implications of absolute truth for life of human-being. Another person might have another outlook and another teachings on the same truth. Buddha is criticized for being anti-evolutionary, while prophets like Jesus are pro-evolutionary (pro-life). It means that he didn't see how body can be evolved through energy of spirit and conscious effort (across humanity and throughout times to come) so physical suffering, ageing and eventually death problem can be overcome, while Jesus talked about that a lot but of course he received that message and Buddha didn't have any message.

Anyway we might be all wrong about Buddha, who knows, and Buddhism can be used in various ways, look at Dalai Lama - he says purpose of life is happiness and spending time usefully, and he is engaged in learning about reality in deeper ways, how nice  

[Shanmugam]

@MarkusSweden Destructive normality pretty much means that our own psychological processes which we consider as normal are actually destructive...

[Saumaya]

Just now, Shanmugam said:

@MarkusSweden Destructive normality pretty much means that our own psychological processes which we consider as normal are actually destructive...

So basically identifying with thoughts, emotions and beliefs causes neurosis? 

[Shanmugam]

Just now, Saumaya said:

So basically identifying with thoughts, emotions and beliefs causes neurosis? 

Yes... Non-dual teachings and acceptance and commitment therapy(ACT) are not really that different. In ACT, they call the witness as the observer self and the rest as the conceptual self. ACT is a very powerful therapy. There is another one which is mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy, I think.. But ACT is closer to non-dual teachings.. 

[Saumaya]

2 minutes ago, Shanmugam said:

Yes... Non-dual teachings and acceptance and commitment therapy(ACT) are not really that different. In ACT, they call the witness as the observer self and the rest as the conceptual self. ACT is a very powerful therapy. There is another one which is mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy, I think.. But ACT is closer to non-dual teachings.. 

Where did you read about this? I am gonna be studying psychology in college so its better if I know stuff like this

[Shin]

2 minutes ago, Saumaya said:

Where did you read about this? I am gonna be studying psychology in college so its better if I know stuff like this

Wtf is this, are we all going to study psychology next year or what ?

[Ether]

Just now, Shin said:

Wtf is this, are we all going to study psychology next year or what ?

Im already studying lol. Its pretty much all theory, no facts.

[Saumaya]

1 minute ago, Shin said:

Wtf is this, are we all going to study psychology next year or what ?

You too?

[Shin]

1 minute ago, Ether said:

Im already studying lol. Its pretty much all theory, no facts.

Still beats working at the factory I guess.

@saufiansaufian

@Saumaya Yes.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Shin

[Shanmugam]

Just now, Saumaya said:

Where did you read about this? I am gonna be studying psychology in college so its better if I know stuff like this

I studied psychology as a hobby two years before.. But ACT was not mentioned there.. Since I had a background in basic psychology, I was researching online about many things regarding psychology and how it is connected to non-duality. Learning psychology certainly helps to understand the workings of mind even better. Only after studying psychology, I got the idea that science and spirituality can be bridged. That is also the main theme of my book.  I have made sure that the book is culturally neutral and appeals to anyone who is scientifically inclined.. I have also written about a few psychological concepts in my book like how beliefs work, cognitive biases, defense mechanisms etc..