aquascoot wrote on Mar 21
st, 2019 at 7:57am:
Valkie wrote on Mar 21
st, 2019 at 7:43am:
life is a S#$it and then you die.
the concept of "dhukkha"
Suffering is either self-imposed or imposed on others. Buddhism holds that all life is suffering; that this suffering is caused by selfish craving, aka, thirst, desire, longing, and greed, which I take to mean the craving of both oneself and others; and that selfish craving can be overcome through the Noble Eight-fold Path of:
Right view
Right resolve
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right concentration.
the buddha was advising people to get onto the "NARROW ROAD TO SUCCESS"
Very true, Aquascoot. You've got it.
Dukkha translates as not quite hitting the mark. This is the feeling we get when we've strived hard to accomplish something. Once you've got it, you think, is that all there is? Then you try to accomplish something else, rarely stopping to reflect on the lack of satisfaction.
You see this in people who've accomplished fame and fortune. They always find out that fame and fortune is not what it's cracked up to be. Many move onto drugs or toxic relationships to fill the gap they discover when they've gotten everything they want. The ones with insight say that the best time they had was in the early days, when they were on the way up.
Mr Trump experienced dukkha when he was erected president. He discovered the emptiness that comes with achieving your goal - in his case, a goal Mr Trump never expected to achieve. Hillary certainly did.
King Solomon describes Dukkha best, I think, in the Book of Ecclesiastes:
Quote:I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. 10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
The best song to describe dukkha, I think, is Devo's frenetic version of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. In every sense - vocals, harmony, beat - the song doesn't hit the mark. It leaves you wanting more.
So sure, in many cases, suffering means suffering. The world exists on death and rebirth. Our bodies only exist by eating other life forms. All beings are the same. Even plants require the nutrition of other dead plants chewed over by earthworms in the soil.
But the best case scenario - reaching the summit of the "narrow path to success" - is suffering too. Getting there is mostly luck. But when you do, you want more and more. It's this - the desire for more - that perpetuates life, death and rebirth.
And it all comes from dukkha.
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