Hi people,
Are we all born (into suffering) just so that we have a chance to be liberated from suffering? Is that what life is all about? If that is the case, nature is cruel indeed and life seems like nothing but a sick joke.
Enlighten me please.
Buddha didn't depict a nice and rosy picture of life.
He said very clearly: ignorance is the cause of karmic formation, which results in the arising consciousness that led to birth, suffering, aging, sickness, sorrow, lamentation, and death.
In other words, you are born here into suffering due to ignorance, clinging, attachments, craving.
There is only one exception: if you are born here due to Bodhisattva vows. In that case you are already awakened in a previous life but continue to practice in this life and future lives in order to attain Buddhahood out of great compassion for all sentient beings. You are here to cultivate and help others attain liberation.
Our life should be lived for the cultivation of virtue, for happiness (not just temporary enjoyments which lead us nowhere, but happiness from virtue, clarity, and meditative attainments and insights), for liberation from suffering and afflictions, and for helping others attain liberation.
The greatest purpose of living is to live with the aspiration for the attainment of Buddhahood.
Of course you can also have mundane, short-term purpose of life, like you want to make the world a better place, you want to practice philantropy and help poor people (part of cultivating virtue) and so on which are all good and commendable - but nothing mundane can compare to supramundane attainments, and helping others attain them.
As an analogy, with money you can only help poor people get maybe a day or a month's food, but with liberation, you can help people end their beginningless cycle of suffering and rebirth (and prevent suffering from arising without an end in sight) - imagine, aeons of suffering and rebirth can be ended in this life.
This does not mean we should stop mundane purposes and aims, just that apart from our mundane aims that we pursue (as long as they are beneficial and healthy), we should also seek to attain the supramundane.
Life should be lived for the path:
I have heard that at one time the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi at Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery.
There he addressed the monks, saying, "Monks."
"Yes, lord," the monks responded to him.
The Blessed One said, "I will teach & analyze for you the Noble Eightfold Path. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."
"As you say, lord," the monks responded to him.
The Blessed One said, "Now what, monks, is the Noble Eightfold Path? Right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.
"And what, monks, is right view? Knowledge with regard to stress, knowledge with regard to the origination of stress, knowledge with regard to the stopping of stress, knowledge with regard to the way of practice leading to the stopping of stress: This, monks, is called right view.
"And what is right resolve? Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness: This is called right resolve.
"And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, abstaining from divisive speech, abstaining from abusive speech, abstaining from idle chatter: This, monks, is called right speech.
"And what, monks, is right action? Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity: This, monks, is called right action.
"And what, monks, is right livelihood? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, having abandoned dishonest livelihood, keeps his life going with right livelihood: This, monks, is called right livelihood.
"And what, monks, is right effort? (i) There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen. (ii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen. (iii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen. (iv) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, & culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen: This, monks, is called right effort.
"And what, monks, is right mindfulness? (i) There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world. (ii) He remains focused on feelings in & of themselves — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world. (iii) He remains focused on the mind in & of itself — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world. (iv) He remains focused on mental qualities in & of themselves — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world. This, monks, is called right mindfulness.
"And what, monks, is right concentration? (i) There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful (mental) qualities — enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. (ii) With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters & remains in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance. (iii) With the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, 'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.' (iv) With the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — he enters & remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. This, monks, is called right concentration."
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted at his words.
---Amitabha Sutra
actually what we see of Saha Land is in the time of Five Turbidities which is not very pleasant to encounter, but it is not always in such a way. like Shakyamuni Buddha vowed to come in such a bad time, while Maitreya vowed to come when the time is most well.
http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol8no3a.htm
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1) turbidity of kalpa, 2) turbidity of views, 3) turbidity of afflictions, 4) turbidity of beings, 5) turbidity of lifespan.
"What are the Five Turbidities? The first is the turbidity of the kalpa. Kalpa is a Sanskrit word that is interpreted as a 'division of time.' How does the kalpa become turbid? At the time of the five evil realms, the evil karma of living beings makes the kalpa turbid.
"The second turbidity is views. In the past, people saw everything as clean. But when the turbid kalpa arrives, people see things as unclean. The turbidity of views is composed of the Five Quick Servants: A view of the body, prejudiced views, views of prohibitions, views of views, and deviant views.
"The view of a body: all living beings are attached to having bodies. They love their bodies. 'I certainly have to take care of myself. I can't let anything happen to me.' They look upon their own bodies as extremely important. They want to wear good clothes, eat good food, live in a good place. They always look upon their bodies as priceless gems. Right, your body is a priceless gem, but if you misuse it, your priceless gem turns into something not even as good as excrement. Why? Because you tend only to its superficial aspects, and don't discover the true gem of you self-nature. All you know is that your body is yours, and you can't put it down. From morning to night you are busy on behalf of your body. That's the view of a body.
"Prejudiced views for one side or the other. If you don't favor emptiness, then you favor existence. In general, it means not being in accord with the Middle Way.
"The third 'quick servant' is the view of prohibitions. Precepts an turn into something bad when they are based on mistaking for a cause something that is not a cause. Such a mistake leads to the cultivation of unbeneficial ascetic practices. I explained earlier how some people imitate the habits of cows or dogs, or sleep on beds of nails, or undertake other unbeneficial ascetic practices. People who do this have a view of prohibitions. 'See me,' they think, 'I hold precepts.l None of you can do what I do; you can't compare to me.' They always have this arrogance in their minds.
"The fourth is the 'view of views', or 'grasping at views'. This is to mistake for an effect something that is not an effect. People with this problem think that they have obtained effects which they have not obtained.
"The fifth is deviant views. People with deviant knowledge and views are always thinking about things in an improper way. These are the Five Quick Servants, which comprise the turbidity of views.
"The third turbidity is the turbidity of the afflictions, which is composed of the Five Slow Servants: greed, hatred, stupidity, arrogance, and doubt. 'Greed' refers to an insatiable greed for pleasant experiences. You are greedy for the things you like. 'Hatred' is the dislike of unpleasant situations. 'Stupidity' means stupid false thoughts. 'Arrogance' refers to pride and self-satisfaction--the feeling that 'I am the greatest' and 'no one is equal to me'. Arrogant people have no courtesy towards others.
"'Doubt' refers to doubt of the genuine Dharma and preference for improper dharmas instead. Such people doubt the true and rely on the false. They doubt the proper Dharma and believe deviant dharmas.
"These are the Five Slow Servants, which comprise the third turbidity, that of afflictions. The existence of these five dull servants creates a lot of affliction.
"The fourth turbidity is that of living beings--let's not even try to express it. Why? Living beings are just too filthy, too unclean, too impure. You shouldn't think of yourself as being so terrific. Living beings are murky and turbid; there's nothing so good about them. But living beings think of themselves as something really special, despite the fact that hey comprise the fourth kind of turbidity.
"The fifth turbidity is the turbidity of a lifespan. Our mundane lives, our destinies, are impure." (SS III 205-207)
1) Ch. wu jwo , wu jwo e shr , 2) Skt. panca-kasaya, 3) Pali panca-kasaya, 4) Alternate Translations: five turbid realms, evil world of the five turbidities, five periods of turbidity, impurity or chaos of decay.
See also: time, Five Skandhas.
BTTS References: DFS III 425; SPV 32-3; SS III 205-207; SS IV 144-151, 256-257; AS 149-150.
http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/BuddhistDict/BDF.html
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