And don't give me this crap about "if you need an afterlife to go on living then you already have problems." I'd like to hear that when you're past 70 years old and bored out of your mind, desperate to feel young again.
2007-03-04 10:34:58 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
so why are you alive, naturally if you don't believe in an afterlife, you'd want to live life to the fullest but you, you believe in life after death and yet you continue to pollute the earth with you presence.
2007-03-04 10:43:26 · answer #1 · answered by puzzlite 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Because only in a human life can you reach Enlightenment/Nirvana.
As long as you are alive, it is possible....otherwise you have to come back (rebirth). In Indian thought, coming back is not what you want to do. Reincarnation never motivates Buddhists or Hindus to go on living. It is motivation to find a way out. But they know suicide is pointless - you just come back and earn more negative karma.
Once you are Enlightened, however, life becomes pretty pleasant and peaceful/blissful...so you just live your life without attachment to it. Usually you realize there is something that needs to be done - like help other reach Nirvana. They keep coming back then to help others reach Enlightenment and those are called Bodhisattva.
~ Eric Putkonen
2007-03-04 10:56:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Altruism and becoming a bodhisattva is the crap that motivates me to go on living, over and over again, to help people out as much as I can. Once you've achieved a certain level of understanding of the nature of things you don't get "desperate to feel young again" because you understand that all things change and are impermanent and you, BY DEFAULT, stop fighting it. The fighting it is the crap that causes the suffering and misery, the UNDERSTANDING is the crap that causes contentment and happiness (and we define "happiness" NOT as running around grinning in glee all the time, but rather a level of contentment that isn't swayed by every little thing that comes down the pike).
Hope my crap makes sense. *w*
_()_
2007-03-04 11:43:42 · answer #3 · answered by vinslave 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Not picking on atheists today? I feel so left out.
I think what motivates a buddhist to continue living is the love of life. The same as everyone.
2007-03-04 10:39:09 · answer #4 · answered by Stormilutionist Chasealogist 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/
Buddhism is a tradition that focuses on personal spiritual development. Buddhists strive for a deep insight into the true nature of life and do not worship gods or deities.
2007-03-05 20:59:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What motivates you to go on living? Doesn't the belief in an afterlife motivate you to die?
2007-03-04 10:40:04 · answer #6 · answered by Wisdom in Faith 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Enlightenment ends the cycle
2007-03-04 10:44:42 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
It's natural to be motivated to live... what motivates you to eat? what motivates you to get off? A bug will try to survive, do they have any motivation to live?
2007-03-04 10:38:53 · answer #8 · answered by meee 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
enlightenment.
2007-03-04 10:38:06 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋