Suffering and Arising

Suffering: The word often translated as suffering has no English equivalent. The meaning of the phrase is not that "life is miserable," as the English translation might seem to indicate, but that some pain is inevitable in life. Birth is painful, sickness is painful, aging is painful, death is painful. It is painful to experience unhappiness and displeasure; it is painful to want something and not be able to have it; it is painful to have something and lose it; it is painful when a pleasurable experience ends.

What the Buddha had been seeking when he became enlightened was a way out of samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth. The Hindu texts, the Upanishads, which were written at around the same time, had argued that the way out of the endless cycle of death and rebirth was to realize that one's individual self or soul (atman) is a part of the world soul (Brahman).

Some scholars argue that the Buddha's solution to end this cycle was to realize that there is no self, no atman. If there is no self, there is nothing to reincarnate, nothing to endure this endless cycle. Others scholars argue that Buddha refused to answer questions about the self, and that to deny the existence of the self is just as much of an obstacle as is the self.

According to textual accounts of his first sermon, written long after his death, what the Buddha said was that the forms of suffering he listed (birth, sickness, aging, loss, etc.) are examples of "the five aggregates subject to clinging." These five aggregates, or skandhas, are what makes up the self: form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. Each of these constituents is constantly changing, constantly in flux; therefore the "self" is also constantly changing. Thus while there may be an experience of selfhood, there is no permanent, unchanging self.

If there is "evil" in Buddhism, it is the greed, anger, and delusion that give rise to samsara. Human nature is not evil,per se, but it can give rise to suffering. The goal of the Buddha's dharma is not to eliminate all suffering or to create a perfect life or world, but to learn how best to deal with the suffering that is a normal part of human life.

Arising: Humans tend to long for what they do not have, or to wish for their lives to be different than they are; they often fail to fully appreciate what they do have. This longing(craving, desire) gives rise to, or causes, a new cycle of life and death.


     

Dharma and the Three Signs of Being

 The Three Signs of Being

(1) Change (2) Suffering (3) no" I "

The first, Change, points out the basic fact that nothing in the world is fixed or permanent. We ourselves are not the same people, either physically, emotionally or mentally, that we were 10 years - or even 10 minutes ago! Living as we do, then, as shifting beings upon shifting sands, it is not possible for us to find lasting security.

As regards the second Sign, we have already seen how it was Suffering that sent the Buddha off on his great spiritual quest, though suffering is not a very good translation of the original word, dukkha. Dukkha implies the generally unsatisfactory and imperfect nature of life. Please do not think, though, that Buddhists believe that life is all suffering. They believe that there is joy in life, but know that life can't be all joy; even in the most fortunate of lives there must be suffering.

No-I, the third Sign, is a little more difficult.

Buddhists do not believe that there is anything everlasting or unchangeable in human beings, no soul or self in which a stable sense of 'I' might anchor itself. The whole idea of 'I' is in fact a basically false one that tries to set itself up in an unstable and temporary collection of elements.

Take the analogy of a cart. A cart may be broken down into its basic components -axle, wheels, shafts, sides, etc. Then the cart is no more; all we have is a pile of components. In the same way 'I' am made up of various elements or aggregates (skandhas): form (body), perception, conception, volition and consciousness (mind). Upon death these elements do not vanish from the face of the universe, they form new combinations elsewhere. Thus the whole universe is a great, ever-changing orchestration of interconnected movements without beginning or end.

 In General

'Not to do any evil; to cultivate good; to purify one's heart - this is the teaching of the Buddha.'

Although Buddhists value highly such virtues as loving kindness, humanity, patience and giving, perhaps they value compassion most of all. The idea of ahimsa or harmlessness is very closely connected with compassion. The compassionate desire to cause no harm to other beings (Buddhists would include animals, plants, inanimate objects and even the world in general in this) has caused many Buddhists to become pacifists or vegetarians, although they are not obliged to do so. In all things Buddhism places great stress on self-reliance and the Buddha himself told his followers not to believe a thing because he told it but to test it for themselves.

Buddhism is also a very practical religion and aims at helping people to live their lives; it is as much if not more concerned with giving people things to do as with giving them things to believe. Doing things like chanting a simple formula, visiting a temple to make an offering or to perform prostrations - such simple acts help to reduce a person's sense of 'I.'

Buddhists also try to practice the Buddhist virtues actively in their everyday lives. The final goal of all Buddhist practice is to bring about that same awakening that the Buddha himself achieved.