what does the buddist 1st truth mean to you "life is suffering"?

Question

to me it means life is not easy or painless but if we can embrace the pain and struggle instead of fighting it we will be free

Answer 1

Life as an egoistical self is suffering. Our attachments create our sufferings. One of those more crucial, more basic attachments is the attachment to the idea of self, the belief that somehow, fulfilling our desires will make us happy. But pursuing egoistical desires will only get us deeper into Mara (The world of illusion) and away from a liberated, unattached self.
Your interpretation appears to actually go the opposite way of the teachings of the Buddha and is more Nietzschean than Buddhist.

Answer 2

I don't think you can examine any of the Noble Truths on their own without acknowledging all four. From a more traditional standpoint, I'd suggest that embracing the suffering is the opposite of what you should seek if you do hold the Truths to be true. Instead, I'd say you do need to embrace the fact that life, even in its best times, is filled with suffering, and as per the other truths, that desiring after the seemingly good parts of life just perpetuates the suffering. Instead one should LET GO of the pain and suffering by letting go of the desires.

Answer 3

No, not really. It asks a real question, but not necessarily one that can be answered in the way it is asked. It seems to imply a single meaning that trumps all others, and I'm not certain we could agree on that. Still, it is at least asking for your opinion, or perhaps your response to whether there is a meaning that is the same for everyone. We could answer it several ways. One would be to give a dictionary or biology class definition of life. Another would be to offer an opinion on what meaning all life has in common. Or perhaps what all human life has in common. Possibly what general goal you believe is valid for all humans, such as a moral standard of some sort. Or you could answer it much the way most people do, that each person has to find that meaning for themselves.

Answer 4

you are partly right. on the first bit. but why should we embrace pain and struggle? why not eliminate it? like jane fonda's character said in the movie "georgia rule": life ain't a dress rehearsal. this is it. you gotta make yourself happy because you don't get a second chance. I know you can't get rid of all pain and struggle, but you can sure try to get over most of it instead of embracing it. that is more of a taoist way of thinking than buddhist. then again I am a "glass half full" kind of person!

Answer 5

This first noble truth is a succinct way of saying that all our mundane experiences in life will eventually lead to suffering. This should be read together with the other noble truths... where we all have desires. Desires leads to more desires... the satiation of one will give rise to more desires. It is an infinite process. When desires are not fulfilled, your expectations are dashed. This is suffering in abstract manner.

Answer 6

In essence it is not life that is suffering but the perception that it is suffering.Life is simply experiencing the passage of events through the delusion of time ( which is a creation of man ).
How we percieve this passage is what denotes "pain". There is another truth which states"Pain doesn't hurt.", what causes the unease of sensation is the focus.

Answer 7

It is the expression for one side of life. The Will is positive, the Judgment is negative.

'"Thus the life of God and divine cognition may well be spoken of as a disporting of Love with itself; but this idea sinks into mere edification, and even insipidity, if it lacks the seriousness, the suffering, the patience, and the labor of the negative." G.W.F. Hegel''

http://www.gwfhegel.org/

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/li_terms.htm

Answer 8

Life is suffering because we are discontent, thus we suffer. If you can see the Buddha Nature in all experiences, that is, positive and respectable attributes, and are contented with it, then you no longer suffer. My 2 cents anyway :)

Answer 9

Life is pain. You are born into it taken from the warmth of your mothers womb and thrust into this cold world.

You live in pain as every lesson in life is painful

You die in pain not wanting to let go of what you have gathered in life.

Its what you do with that pain that makes you who you are.

Who are you?

Answer 10

Well Buddhism also teaches that it is your job to alleviate the pain of others. Another view is not necessarily to take the pain or to fight the pain, for instance we all will have problems(pain) in life. Consider then that it is not our problems that define us, but how we handle them.