Re: Is life suffering? -- Adilbrand Noblesword's Hall of Warriors

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Date Posted: 16:30:06 02/13/02 Wed
Author: Adilbrand
Subject: Re: Is life suffering?
In reply to: mvd 's message, "Is life suffering?" on 11:09:06 02/12/02 Tue

Maybe I am just picking nits here, but if life is suffering, then the only way to avoid or end suffering is to not live.

If life is suffering, then why would there be a goal of non-suffering? Then, by reaching the goal, you would, by definition of the basic assumption, no longer be living.

Personally, life is what you make of it. If you think life is about suffering, then it will be. If you think it is about combating some notion of sin, then it will be. Personally, I have had a rather easy life with relatively little actual suffering. Usually, if I decide to suffer, then I have a bad day. If I decide things are good, I generally have a pretty good day.

To me, life is tied to one's beliefs and/or attitudes. Life is what one believes it to be. And life, like beliefs and attitudes, can change on a daily basis. Life is mostly about attitude. I have always found that if I just change my attitude, my life changes.

In other words, I don't think the Lama is right nor wrong. If he believes life to be suffering, then, for him, it is. Is life suffering for me? Not unless I feel like suffering at that particular moment.

I believe life should be embraced, not battled. So if I held the belief that life is suffering, then I would hope that I would embrace my suffering, not try to eliminate it.

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Replies:

Close enough -- mvd, 10:32:34 02/14/02 Thu