I apologize for the formatting issues, my daughter
is house sitting and took my computer…so
I’m forced to use the IPad and it’s not going well.
Anyway one of the questions the Buddha faces is
this question of , what are the permanent aspects
of life? As I have stated before, everything is
transitory, impermanent, temporary. This transitory
nature of everything is front and center in Buddhism.
As it was for the Greeks, trying to find or
discover what is the permanent in the universe.
As everything we see is transitory, the rocks, trees,
the very earth and even the universe itself is temporary, transitory.
The next issue the Buddha faces is rebirth or
reincarnation. The question for the Buddha is
how does one escape the constant reincarnation
which is simply suffering over and over again.
This is an assumption, that we are ever being
reborn. But his entire argument is based upon this
notion of reincarnation, rebirth. But his starting
point of escaping suffering is valid, I just can’t accept
this idea of reincarnation because there is nothing
to prove it. But his starting point of suffering is one
of the basic questions of both western religions and
philosophy. For example, both the stoics and cynics
made suffering a key point in their philosophies. The
Stoics taught themselves to endure their pain, suffering without showing their feelings or complaining. Much of ancient philosophy tries to
address the problem of suffering. The cynics tried to
avoid suffering by living virtuous, in agreement
with nature. For the cynics, they rejected all
conventional desires for wealth, power, sex and
fame…and that is something the Buddha preached.
For both the Buddha and the cynics, they argued for
people to live simple, virtuous lives, free from all
possessions. For the Buddha preached that people
should refrained from having any desires at all. And
this is done to avoid suffering as desire creates
suffering. There is a similar refrain in the west,
both in the religious and philosophical writings of
various people.
We can connect this ancient problem of avoiding
suffering to various regions and philosophies, but
is part of the problem. The only answers we have are
ancient religions and philosophies that are thousands
of years old. Can the Buddha speak to us today?
Only if we believe the questions he asked, are
relevant today? One question that has been asked is,
How do we find meaning in a valueless world?
Which is exactly the question Nietzsche asked.
How are spiritual questions possible in a modern
world that prays to Mammon with the heart of Moloch. So how do we escape our own self created
suffering?
And that is what I wrote a couple of days ago.
The question still remains.
Kropotkin