Post by enigma on Apr 29, 2013 10:12:47 GMT -8
In the same way and for the same reason that happiness cannot be permanent, neither can suffering. This might imply that life lived at all must include suffering, which would put us in agreement with the Buddha.
However, joy and suffering are not opposites on the same coin. The other side of joy is sorrow and sorrow is not suffering. Sad movies are not suffering. Scary bears amusement park rides are not suffering. No basic feeling is suffering.
We could say suffering is what happens when mind kicks feeling into high gear and starts grasping for one and pushing away the other. It's what mind does with feeling, in an attempt to hold onto the good stuff through grasping and craving, and escape the bad stuff through judgment and resistance, that leads to suffering. It's the futile attempt to unbalance that which is inherently balanced by it's self defining nature.
It doesn't mean that life then has to be lived with less intensity, but it does mean that feeling, as we normally experience it, must be left alone to be precisely what it is. No more, no less.
Life approached this way takes on a different dimension of feeling, which some describe as a vertical depth, and others call the Peace that passes all understanding. The vertical depth is a more heart centered way of pointing to the awesome wonder and beauty to be found deeply inside this very moment, and the Grace of Love as it moves around and through this life being lived.
The Peace that passes all understanding is a way of pointing away from dualistic joy and sorrow as the most fundamental nature of life as it is. That which can be known, which includes conditional feelings, is fantasy and imagination made real. It is the horizontal movement of life over the peaks and troughs of the ocean waves and not the still, powerful depths of the ocean itself. There is wondrous life in the depths of that ocean that cannot be talked about without first killing it and letting it float to the surface. One must allow oneself to drown.
However, joy and suffering are not opposites on the same coin. The other side of joy is sorrow and sorrow is not suffering. Sad movies are not suffering. Scary bears amusement park rides are not suffering. No basic feeling is suffering.
We could say suffering is what happens when mind kicks feeling into high gear and starts grasping for one and pushing away the other. It's what mind does with feeling, in an attempt to hold onto the good stuff through grasping and craving, and escape the bad stuff through judgment and resistance, that leads to suffering. It's the futile attempt to unbalance that which is inherently balanced by it's self defining nature.
It doesn't mean that life then has to be lived with less intensity, but it does mean that feeling, as we normally experience it, must be left alone to be precisely what it is. No more, no less.
Life approached this way takes on a different dimension of feeling, which some describe as a vertical depth, and others call the Peace that passes all understanding. The vertical depth is a more heart centered way of pointing to the awesome wonder and beauty to be found deeply inside this very moment, and the Grace of Love as it moves around and through this life being lived.
The Peace that passes all understanding is a way of pointing away from dualistic joy and sorrow as the most fundamental nature of life as it is. That which can be known, which includes conditional feelings, is fantasy and imagination made real. It is the horizontal movement of life over the peaks and troughs of the ocean waves and not the still, powerful depths of the ocean itself. There is wondrous life in the depths of that ocean that cannot be talked about without first killing it and letting it float to the surface. One must allow oneself to drown.
