Well...I'll take a stab, but you get what you paid
for. <G>
Certainly not all existence is suffering.
There is suffering in life, yes, and Buddhism as I
understand it attempts to deal with that based on
understanding and practice.
Not so sure about rebirth; never have put much stock
in reincarnation. There's more than one way to view
rebirth, anyway.
--Michael
--- jittoku0 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dear Members,
> I am new to this group and the reason I joined is
> that I am having a
> dharma problem I'd like to discuss.
> I am aware of the fact that this may not really be a
> Zen problem
> because Zen masters do not like theory. I would
> therefore accept my
> question to be rejected.
>
> I told my wife about the Buddha's teachings and
> about his basic doctrine that all existence is
suffering.
>
> She did not agree with this: "Why is all existence
> suffering? This is
> a negative assumption. You may as well say that the
> circle of samsara
> is a circle of joy and happiness in which the
> individual can become
> better and better. From this point of view, the
> samsara is a chance
> and any wish to end it is absurd."
>
> Well, actually, I do not know about any text that
> discusses this
> approach. Does anybody know? On the other hand, this
> objection must
> have come up in the history of Buddhism because at
> least in Mahayana,
> as far as I know, several schools say "This very
> world, this is Nirvana".
>
> Of course, the historic Buddha has developed his
> dharma because he
> started out with this negative view of the world,
> otherwise he would
> not have become the Buddha but would have stayed a
> prince. According
> to the legend, the reason for the negative judgement
> on the world were
> his three excursions and the experience of the orgy
> at the palace.
> Moreover, I have learned that the perception of a
> negative circle of
> rebirthings had been part of Indian culture for
> centuries, and Buddha
> was not the first to seek a way out of it.
>
> Gasshoo, Kai
>
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