In Buddhism, the primary purpose of life is to end suffering....isn't this morbid as the meaning of my life?

Question

Buddha taught that humans suffer because we continually strive after things that do not give lasting happiness. Focus on suffering & ending suffering sounds depressive to me. I find it hard to comprehend coz I was brought to put love, peace, honesty, respect & friendship as most vital for us. And how's does that apply to people with terminal illness? the The Four Noble Truths & The Noble Eightfold Path doesn't cover it. (ref: http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/beliefs/purpose.htm)

Answer 1

Buddhist's philosophy is great and it can only be understood by mentally evolved people..not by blindly following herds.

Buddhism believes that the sufferings are not actually for us.. there is a river of Karma with pains and pleasure flowing and we wrongly attach ourselves to this chaos and think we are suffering.

Buddha's nirvana is nothing but knowing our true self..and see this river of Karma flowing without harming us

Answer 2

I have never heard of The Four Noble Truths or the other Eightfold Path. SO I can not speak to that.
Buddhas point is that life hurts, anything more than that is a true blessing. Love, Peace, Honesty, Respect & Friendship are ways out of suffering. There isnt a conflict between Budhas teaching & the mulitiude of things you were brought up to invest in.
I dont understand what dosnt apply to people with terminal illness?

Answer 3

it sounds morbid to you because you have no idea what "to end suffering" is, neither do most people. How can you say a feeling is negative when you haven't experienced it? How do you know that it's not a much better feeling than love, peace, honesty, respect and friendship? How do you know that these things are more vital to us, that's just a thing you were brought up by society to think. You can't possibly know whether it's more or less important. If you want to criticize, you have to try it, but then again trying something like ending suffering and reaching nirvana takes quite a while (your whole life mostly), and you can't even really reach nirvana until you die. I personaly think it's a beautiful thought, trying to end suffering, but completely impossible in the western world of work and no time, unless you are, for example, terminally ill, and are trying to live out in some meaningful way. Life is full of choices, so choose.

Answer 4

As it has been explained to me, people suffer because of negative karma accumulated in past lives.

I don't know how much I believe this; however, having a significant other who is a wonderful man but has dealt with cancer, being left by his wife with a baby that wasn't actually his, and has recently been diagnosed with lupus...I went looking for answers, and Buddhism's was the best I got, so far as making sense.

All these values you name are a large part of ending suffering, because it's not only your own suffering that you're ending; it's the suffering of others as well. According to Buddhism, any being's suffering can only be truly ended by attaining enlightenment (incidentally, they believe that this can be reached through any path or religion). Enlightenment is the realization that all is one; your suffering is everyone else's suffering, and your joy is everyone else's joy.

The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are simply a basic explanation and a guide towards reaching enlightenment. It's certainly not all of Buddhism; that's tantamout to saying the Ten Commandments sum up Christianity.

Answer 5

The primary focus is to cease mental states that cause suffering. The Four Noble Truths and the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path are central to Buddhist teachings. If you're willing to delve further, I think you'll find that it's not morbid but that it gently points you to the realities of life without any masks nor veils. Yes, love, peace, honesty, respect and friendship are important, but are they being applied wisely? For example, there were a few instances when I visited a chat room and I saw people greet each other with "namaste" (which means "I honor the light/I bow to you [in respect of]) and then a few seconds later completely flame or disrespect others. Another example, is love only applied for the purpose of getting something out of people? An emotional need for the purpose of feeling good? (sounds more like an addiction doesn't it?)

The Four Noble Truths is central because it gives people a reason as to why the Buddha taught to begin with. Here's the Four Noble Truths again, but re-phrased:

1) There is this problem in the human condition---suffering.
2) The problem is caused by---conditioning/attachments.
3) The problem may be ceased/lessen---through wisdom
4) The way to cease or lessen the impact of suffering is through the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path.

Now if someone says: "I do not see suffering as a problem at all," then that person should not have any complaints whatsoever, but do you find that to be true? I certainly find myself complaining, how many times have we complained about the weather? When it's hot, we complain about the heat, when it's cold, we complain about the cold. Now if we are mindful, aware or in-tuned with ourselves and our surroundings, we will realized that we have been conditioned or attached to certain feelings/sensations. When these feelings or sensations are not met, we complain, we get agitated, get angry, act-up, lash out and for some people, they reach a point when they're even willing to lie, cheat, steal and kill---which in turn, will not only cause others suffering, but place themselves deeper suffering to a point that they feel trapped, nihilistic.

It is normal to feel depressed. In Buddhism, a term is used to describe the feeling that comes with the realization of noble truth #1, called "samvega:"

""the oppressive sense of shock, dismay, and alienation that come with realizing the futility and meaninglessness of life as it's normally lived; a chastening sense of our own complacency and foolishness in having let ourselves live so blindly; and an anxious sense of urgency in trying to find a way out of the meaningless cycle. This is a cluster of feelings that we've all experienced at one time or another in the process of growing up, but I don't know of a single English term that adequately covers all three. It would be useful to have such a term, and maybe that's reason enough for simply adopting the word samvega into our language."

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Q: "how's does that apply to people with terminal illness?"

The Buddha points out three charactristics of existence. I'll only mention one: "impermanence" or "dependent, compounded things are impermanent." Life is constantly changing, inter-dependent, moving around, that is why it is impermanent. Terminal illness occurs depending on conditions that occur with change, for example, it may be caused due to: genes, environment, through an inadvertent act (like if you were given transfusion with blood that was contaminated), etc. Unless we have found a medical cure or someone was alert enough that you're being given tainted blood in the transfusion process and stops the process---these things will occur. So the question is, what can we do in this process? What can we do in this lifetime? The Buddha pointed to paying attention in the present moment. To cultivate a mind possessing those things you mentioned: love, peace, honesty, respect & friendship.

'tis a long answer---yah? but how can we truly live in peace, honesty, etc. if we cannot first understand the true nature of the opposites of these states: war, lying, etc.

my answer is not definitive of course, there are many other factors---best way to really understand is through direct experience, maybe some of the links can provide further answers.

Answer 6

Love, peace, honesty, respect & friendship - have meaning only in the face of hatred, dsihonesty, disrespect & enmity. You see the things in the world are a 2-sided coin.

If one is chasing after happiness, one has inadvertently set its opposite in motion - sadness. Suffering as explained by Buddha is in the context of man desiring always to chose one over the other.

You as a human being are able to appreciate happiness only in the context of your body. Perhaps a possession of a certain object you fancy makes you happy - when you dont get that possession it makes you sad.

Desire is at the root of happiness or suffering. Desire arises out of false identification. We do not really know who we are. If I were to ask you - who are you, how would you respond.

I am so and so, aged so much, living in such and such a place. The sad fact is all these so called statements have relevance only in the context of your body.

Reality as the Buddha explained is something that is changeless for eternity. The body certainly is not eternal. Death is the most certain thing for any being alive. Hence, by identifying with one's body, man is deluded.

The journey to nirvana is a process of self-discovery by a process of negation. And the starting point to this is I am not the body. The next logical conclusion is I am not the mind. If you are not the body and you are not the mind, then what are you. Most people can only identify themselves either in the context of their body or in the contenxt of their mind ie, their thoughts, opinions, idealogies.

A simple example: We say my pen, my car, my body, my mind. You are certainly different from your pen and your car. You are not the pen nor the car. In the same vein, one can conclude that you are not the body and you are not mind.

Then who is this that is making all these claims. Can this being who is making these claims be your true identity? If so, is this being changeless. Can this being be destroyed. For that matter was it ever created. Or is it that this being was never cretaed, will never be destrotyed, was always existing, is existing now and will continue to exist for ever.

The journey of discovering this being is the process of Self-Discovery and ends with Self-realization aka Nirvana.

Answer 7

The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path most certainly apply to terminal illness and the Buddhist teachings most certainly cover death and dying, be it from illness or old age.

The first noble truth teaches about suffering. Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.

The second noble truth teaches about the origin of suffering. It is the craving of delights, existence and pleasure that cause the suffering.

The third Nobel truth teaches that we can end suffering while the fourth noble truth teaches us that the way to end surfing is found in the Noble Eightfold Path.

The essence of Buddhism, the Nobel truth and the Eightfold Path are all about truth. The truth is that all life, and thus death, is suffering. One just needs to learn how to approach suffering so as not be he scathed by it. To do this, you must learn to live in the moment, the now.

If we live in the now, then what happened yesterday is left to yesterday and what will happen tomorrow is left to tomorrow. The 'suffering' caused by the diagnosis of a terminal condition, is not a now thought.

The truth is that life is a terminal condition. If you live, you WILL die. My best friend died when he we were 13 years old in an accident. When I was in the Marine Corps, a boy in my platoon died of a aneurism at 18 years old. No one knew he had it until it burst, he died right in front of my eyes. My mother had an aneurism burst in her mid 40's and survived.

The fact is that I could die this evening on my drive home from work or when I take a shower or from some previously unknown illness...Or I could live to be 133 years old. If I spend my time worrying about how or when I am going to die, I'll miss a lot of living. I'll miss out on the many truths of life because I am focused on only one truth...we all die.

But Buddhism teaches that life goes on. Life is what it is...life. It is this moment. Not what happened half a second ago or what will happen a half second from now, but this very moment now. When our bodies die, life goes on. The life we live here is like a dream and when it's over we awaken into a new life and life goes on. IF we wake up before this life is over, then when this body dies, we will find ourselves in Nirvana. If not, then we will be in another life searching again for the truth in order to awaken us.

Life goes on moment to moment, day to day and life to life. Worrying about the ending of this moment in time is just as futile and detrimental as worrying about the ending of today. In the same way, worrying about when you will become tired, fall asleep and end today is the same as worrying about when you will die and awaken into a new life.

Every moment ends. Every day ends. Every life ends. IF you worry about the end, you will miss the now and the opportunities to open your mind to the truths of enlightenment.

I hope this helps.

Answer 8

Mayhaps it is, but it's realistic. Basically Buddha was saying that humans are greedy things. And that our greed is what leads to our woes. Think about it, it's true. Many people do believe that love, peace, honesty, respect & friendship are the most important thing in life, but think about it, for many, the motivation to be honest, peaceful, etc, are driven by pure reptilian greed.

You stop yourself from lying because you know if you get caught your reputation is damaged. It's all about you, most of the time. If you show love, most of the time, you expect to get something in return. Hence the reason most people don't fall in love with rocks. When someone you love dies who do you cry more for them, or yourself because you miss them? You cry for yourself, there is no need to cry for them, their suffering is over.

I get Buddha's line of thinking, I don't practice His religion, but I understand where He was comming from. And I have a healthy respect for the fact that. morbid or not, His religion is the most peaceful that I know of. A shining example amongst religions, actually.

(Decided to capitalize "his" in reference to Buddha, just to annoy all the people who email me pissed that I didn't capitalize "his" in reference to Jesus.)

Answer 9

Why is it depressing? You learn to be willing to let go of things that you can't possibly hold onto forever in this life (try everything except Jesus) and not spend your life feeling down about the things you want but don't have. You learn to enjoy what you have now and just enjoy it now. As for people who are dying it is a great idea, since at that point you have no choice but to accept that you are going to have stop hoping to hold on to what is most precious to all of us -- our lives.

Answer 10

great question what i get by is that samsara the cycle of suffering is caused by desire. my eliminating desire and choosing to be in the moment at peace and harmony with what ever is going on gives us total oneness and there for we do not suffer we cant! i understand the confusion though , see if you are in the moment and not thinking about what you want for lunch or hoping you get that promotion your mind is free free free to see the beauty around you to be grateful for drawing breath for the loving beings around you. they say if you are a butasafa spelling questionable
you will be happy even in prison . this is my humble interpretation and am welcome to any redirection from any one who has more accurate interpretations than my self . keep seeking that's beautiful!