Should 'life is suffering' be reworded? | Page 1 | Loving Kindness: A Buddhism Guild | Guild Forums

ashibaka

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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 6:06 am

The First Noble Truth, "life is suffering", is probably the thing that scares away most people who are interested in Buddhism in the Western world. It's a very harsh truth to accept, when the material society around you promises happiness with all number of items. Usually, Buddhist primers acknowledge this and explain why dukkha is not pessimistic. I think this would be better accomplished with rewording the First Noble Truth in the first place: for example,

"Happiness is temporary; at its core, life is suffering."

This would then prompt people to reexamine happy times in their life, and see that happiness always melts away in the end. Even if they don't see this, the question will be taken as similar to zebra-stripes (is it black with white stripes, or white with black stripes?) and then they can move on to the Second Noble Truth which is very easy to grasp.

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:28 pm

I think the problem lies in misinterpreting the First Noble Truth. "Life is suffering" is an over-simplication of the truth which acknowledges that suffering exists in samsara - that suffering is part of samsara. For a simple summary of the First Noble Truth, in English, I think "life is difficult" or "life is not easy" would be more accurate than to say that "life = suffering" which is terribly pessimistic.

Tenzin Chodron
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WayfarerStrife

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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:03 pm

Well, maybe it could be phrased into "There is suffering in life ..." sweatdrop

Or you could see my 4 lesser known truths here ...

Wayfarerstrife

1st Lesser Known Truth : Life is stupidity. (aka There is stupidity in life ...) gonk

2nd Lesser Known Truth : Stupidity causes suffering ... sad

3rd Lesser Know Truth : Stupidity can be overcome ... eek

4th Lesser Known Truth : For stupidity to be defeated, stop uttering nonsense and use your brain ... ( intelligence only comes to those who doesn't claim that the earth is flat, science is evil, peacefulness is the art of killing stuff around you, carbon has magical powers, etc ... )

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 7:45 pm

*is amused*

Tenzin Chodron
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ScratchPocket

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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2005 1:26 pm

I think it's fine how it is. I'm not intent on recruiting people to my way of life, and won't shy away when teaching something that may seem 'unpleasant'. They can go believe something else and be fine. heart

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:35 pm

[ Jizo Bosatsu ]

*is amused*

-Is amused as well-

Mizu Otaku Monkey

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ashibaka

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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:12 pm

[ Jizo Bosatsu ]

I think the problem lies in misinterpreting the First Noble Truth. "Life is suffering" is an over-simplication of the truth which acknowledges that suffering exists in samsara - that suffering is part of samsara. For a simple summary of the First Noble Truth, in English, I think "life is difficult" or "life is not easy" would be more accurate than to say that "life = suffering" which is terribly pessimistic.

I saw another translation that reads "Life is stress".

I like this as well. smile

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