--- Villiviv Livillvi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I agree that life is not an occasional mild > frustration, but isn't "suffering" a bit easily > taken out of context? Maybe another way to say it > could be "life is resistance" or "life is work." > It's true that the resistance between a vehicle's > tires and the road demands constant burning of your > gas (and by extension, your money), but it is only > by that same resistance that the vehicle can grip > the road, direct its momentum, slow down/speed up, > etc. Life is work or resistance or suffering, but > it doesn't have to be a full-time bummer, anyone > with me on that?! Maybe I appreciate the > opportunity to do some work. Or does "life is > suffering" strictly mean suffering, hell? I'm > pretty sure that the first noble truth wasn't > originally conceived in english. VL
Like I've already told you, I've spent a number of years studying Sanskrit. That enabled me to read the Buddha's words as they have trickled downs through the generations, in original. So, I'm not necessarily blindsided by the English translations. The most important point of all is that the Buddha's teaching is strictly utilitarian. Its only reason d'etre, its only purpose is to cure the disease. It does not purport nor proclaim absolute truth. Pay close attention -- these truths are called Four *Noble* Truths for a very specific reason. They are not called Four *Absolute* Truths, simply because they are not absolute (as a matter of fact, these four truths contradict each other). Suffering is the main motive. Its role is ethical. Grasping the fact that life is suffering, we are left with no recourse but to embrace the Buddhist practice. That is the only role that the truth 'life is suffering' plays. The absolute truth is not that 'life is suffering'. The absolute truth is indeterminable, not expressible in concepts. But, such absolute truth is useless for people who have not realized it yet. We need the relative, conventional truth (that 'life is suffering') in order to reach the absolute truth. This is the meaning of the Buddha's teaching. Until such time, rest assured that anything less than 'life is suffering' is going to bring you watered-down practice that will result in watered-down fruits of practice. In other words, a waste of time. Alex ===== No karma was produced during the composition of this letter __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UwRTUD/UOnJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> 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/
