An end to suffering...

As a psychologist, as Buddhist, a musician, a philosopher, and as a human being, one has chosen the path to the end of suffering, stress, existential anxiety, emotional dysphoria, mental illness on the road to happiness.

The first step along this path is as follows:

I. Samma ditthi .... Right view

dukkhe ñana .... understanding suffering

dukkhasamudaye ñana .... understanding its origin

dukkhanirodhe ñana .... understanding its cessation

dukkhanirodhagaminipatipadaya ñana .... understanding the way leading to its cessation

In other words the end of suffering starts and ends with seeing things as they really are.

At first this 'right view' is a conceptual one. Over time it is a matter of direct experience. Try it, you'll like it.

So is life suffering? Indeed much of it is. Although, our culture is based on denial. But, we all age, get sick and die. While there is much joy in between, love affairs end, cars rust, the bills are due, the stock market collapses. But with it all, the insideous thing is that we often feel a sense of discontent. As the song says, "Is that all there is?



Is there no higher meaning? Is my purpose a true one?

The root cause of this discontent is desire, craving and clinging. Losing what we've got. Not getting what we want.

What is the end of discontent? First realizing that everything is impermanent and subject to change. (e.g., "We've grown apart, my love.) This impermanence denys us a sense of security. (What if I lose my job?) Finally, there is the sense of existential groundlessness to find that all is without an eternal essence. Phanthoms, ghosts, evanescent mirage.

OK, so what leads to the end of this discontent? That is the subject of this series of posts. We've seem step one. Only seven more to go..


Comments? Let's make this a dialogue.

Here's some temporary release from stress & discontent:

Buddhism and Politics

Here is a timely quote from bhikkhu bodhi's The Nobel Eightfold Path:
The most basic defilements are the triad of greed, aversion, and delusion. Greed (lobha) is self-centered desire: the desire for pleasure and possessions, the drive for survival, the urge to bolster the sense of ego with power, status, and prestige. Aversion (dosa) signifies the response of negation, expressed as rejection, irritation, condemnation, hatred, enmity, anger, and violence. Delusion (moha) means mental darkness: the thick coat of insensitivity which blocks out clear understanding.
Capitalism could be about providing jobs, raising the general standard of living, reducing poverty, and making a buck doing it. But the oil companies, wall street, the auto makers, the housing industry, became possessed by greed and here we are.
The right co-opted "Christianity" ignored the gospels, focused on "revelations" (added to the bible to bring Christianity in line with the "peace through war" ideals of the roman empire), and turned "Christianity" into a hate group. Obviously, these observations don't apply to all. Delusion & ignorance? Need go no further than the bush white house. Even Obama has hired a homophobe hater to pray at his inauguration.