If life is suffering, as Buddha's first noble truth says, then why should we continue living?

Question

What would make life worth enduring all the suffering?
Would the nothingness of death be preferable to a life of suffering?

Answer 1

Life is not what has been predicted by Gautama Buddha. The present manifestation of 70 to 80 years as a human being by a pessimistic can be termed as a life of suffering. What of those who enjoy the life to its full... never looking back at the negativities of life. They think positive... they drink positive... they live positive. Life is supposed to be lived as an optimist. God Almighty was not a fool to have dumped his creation into a life of suffering. That was not to be!

Yes, sufferings are part of life and in absence of sufferings... how would one enjoy the fruits of achievements. To shape a metal... we first heat it... then beat it (with a hammer) and then put it in a bucket full of cold water (the feeling of happiness). Only then the metal shapes into a beautiful sword. In the journey of life devoid of sufferings... life would become meaningless.

Life is primarily governed by the doctrine of karma. If we desire minimum sufferings in life... we need to perform our karma accordingly. If we act sinful... hope of happiness would be meaningless. It cannot be! We have to suffer for the sins committed by us. There is no escape whatsoever. Life always goes full circle. We always need to follow the golden rule principle, "we should always do unto others what we expect them to do unto us".

In whole of Buddhism... life being treated as full of sufferings is the biggest lie in itself. It is full of ignorance. Gautama Buddha for almost 80 years of his life suffered in search of God. Ultimately he landed with the teaching, that life is full of sorrows! It was his personal interpretation. On the contrary Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism who came about 77 years before Gautama Buddha gained enlightenment at the age of 42. His perception of life was crystal clear. He was a coolheaded person. He never indulged in personal interpretations.

His message to the community was first become a Mahavira... than preach! Unlike the spiritual masters and the religious teachers of today... who completely devoid of wisdom try to impart rather impose personal interpretations on the ignorant masses! They accumulate lot of wealth but what of the next manifestation and the Day of Judgment. We must never indulged in activities that effects our next manifestation in a negative way. We must always try to improve upon our balance of karma so that the next manifestation our soul atman takes is a step higher than the present.

Optimists are never afraid of death. Once we realize that death is also a part of life... the fear of death vanishes forever. If we truly desire living healthy life... we need to remain optimistic throughout the life. There is so much in store for mankind to discover and unveil... the house of God is always full of treasures unknown. More on sufferings - http://www.vijaykumar.com/pain_and_suffering.html

Answer 2

The first noble truth is not that "life is suffering." The first noble truth is that there is such thing as suffering. You agree? The second noble truth is that there is a cause of suffering. The cause is craving for things that we can't have, or that aren't good for us. "You can't always get what you want." The third is that it is possible to find freedom from suffering. The fourth is that there is a path that leads to freedom from suffering.
"Sometimes, if you try, you get what you need. You get what you need...."

So, you learn to let go of trying to change things you can't change. You focus on changing your own behavior, your own actions, which is the only thing you really get to choose. And guess what happens? Since you're not frustrated by worrying about stuff you can't do anything about, and you find out how much you can accomplish by choosing to do things for yourself that help, instead of hurting yourself in the long run, life gets much better!

Answer 3

The First Noble Truth is often misinterpreted this way, this is because it is so often interpreted and shortened rather than examined in its entirety. As can be seen by the question's direction, the message loses its full strength and meaning. The First Noble Truth does Not say that Life is Suffering, this is an entirely wrong view. The word used in the Sutta is a Pali word...Dukkha. This word has far more meaning than simply "suffering", it also means unendurable and unsustainable.

The First Noble Truth points out that there are situations and events in Life which are interpreted by those involved as Dukkha, yet it also points out that this is a wrong view as well as pointing out that the reason for the wrong view is that we perceive Dukkha incorrectly.

The First Noble Truth is the First of Four Noble Truths. They are to be taken as a whole and examined in their entirety to allow for Right View (one of the eight steps along the Eightfold Noble Path).

Life is not suffering, this is a Wrong View. Our Perceptions and Attitudes, our Clinging to Self Serving Desires and Selfishness, our all embracing "Self" ideas, these are the cause of "Suffering".

Life is simply Life. To escape from the perceptions and delusions which cause Dukkha, release your "self", for Life is too precious. Once you release your "Self" then Life will take on a whole new perspective.

Learn about "Self", release its arising in your consciousness, there will be no suffering, no Dukkha, you will see that it is illusion. When "I" or "Me" arises, suffering follows.

edit: To Anger Eating Demon..well done my friend..nicely put, I'm often too wordy....

Peace from a Buddhist.....

Answer 4

Because there is a solution to the suffering. If there were no solution, it would not matter, but there is. And the solution is to dissolve the ego (and someone posted that Buddha had a huge ego, hahaaha). Through meditation you find peace in letting go. That is the point of meditation. You stop wanting and craving. The act of wanting creates a delta, or difference, between how you are now and how you think you should be. If instead you don't create that difference and think that you should be exactly as you are in the moment, you find contentment in the moment of now (and what is lasting happiness but a string of "nows" that are happy?). By reducing desire (what you want, how people should treat you, what you deserve, your ego) there is nothing to be disturbed by the waxing and waning of life. No matter what you are stable and internally content. And this is lasting contentment, not to mention the physical bliss of deep meditation, or jhanas, makes Ecstasy (MDMA) look like childrens chewible vitamins.

If you want answers, the only place you will find them is inside yourself as all of your understanding of the world and how you relate to it pass through the 'lens' that is yourself.

Good luck!

Answer 5

It is very obvious that you have misunderstood The Four Noble Truths.
The First Noble Truth is commonly and popularly understood as:Life is suffering.
The above is a very simplistic explanation of The First Noble Truth.A better explanation would be:There is suffering in life.
I will just stop here and hope you would reflect on what I wrote and find the answer yourself.
By the way;craving for non-existence(suicide,etc) is wrong view and causes dukkha.

Metta to all.

Answer 6

When I visited Sri Lanka in 1983, the Tamils where fighting the Sinhalese (has that changed?) Visiting Buddha temples, I found them and the religion irritatingly primitive and was reminded of Mickey Mouse. Something for the little ones.
The whole Asian Approach to Religion seemed close up very uninteresting and Harry Potter like, to take a today's example.
I wouldn't worry about any Religions talking points, they are fogging a brain to easily with Hokuspokus.

Answer 7

Actually it is not saying that it is ALL suffering or
That there is no joy & happiness but that ,
Everyone at some time does experience it .
OK , he wrote it a looooong time ago and translations to english are always a problem but ,
I do think the extended fasting tends to make one a tad bit obsessive . Additionally , he went from palace rich kid , to seeing how the regular people lived & that suffering overwhelmed him .
He was searching for a way to resolve / make peace / accept that portion of life .
So , yes , there is suffering, but also joy .
Celebrate the joy when it happens . . .
And help when you can , to minimize another's suffering .

Answer 8

Consider that this "life" is but an instant in our whole existence. If our soul endures forever, one lifetime is a short interlude. We come here to learn, to participate, to develop skillls that cannot be learned in the spirit world.
Be happy you are here and stop whining

Answer 9

This suffering makes us wise, and once it is endured to the point of enlightenment, you experience peace, which is worth anything.

Answer 10

Death will never end the suffering,it will put us once again in to this life cycle.Dying is not the solution.

We have to understand Nirvana to end all this suffering.

If you want more info try these links.

http://www.metta.lk/

http://www.bswa.org/

Good luck !!!!