Re: Buddhism has its benefits and its limits

From: Sehkenenra (Sehkenenra@netzero.net)
Date: Fri Jul 19 2002 - 12:46:55 MDT


>The fundamental core of Buddhism is to end suffering, and this, on is
>taught, is achieved by basically ending desire. If you desire nothing, you
>suffer not to live without it. Buddhism has many strong qualities, and
this
>is one I agree with *to an extent* I will not suffer by not having a
sports
>car if I do not desire one.

True enough.

>Buddhists achieve nirvana by not only not desiring things that are often
>seen as moral weakness, but by not desiring *anything* which includes such
>simple things as desiring to eat and desiring to even be alive. This is
>also why Siddharta Guatama taught that Nirvana can not be permamently
>achieved (you must eat) unless you are dead, which is why people confuse
>nirvana with an afterlife. In reality, nirvana is the absence of desire,
and
>thus the absence of suffering. To me this is like a goal of being a
>non-sentient being or not existing at all.

Which shows the inherent self-contradictions in early Buddhism. It wasn't
until Nagarjuna and the birth of the Mahayana that Buddhism found a way out
of this contradiction- the concept of Sunyata, or the nondual void (which is
another term that is frequently misunderstood).

Another matter is that of desire. As I understand it, the Bodhisattva does
not act without desire (the Bodhisattva "desires" that all beings be saved),
but without attachment.

-Nicq MacDonald



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