Not Distressed.

[sechan19]

"Even if [souls] are reborn in the heavenly realm or the realm of human beings, they undergo the pain of poverty and want, the pain of parting from loved ones, the pain of encountering those they detest--all these many different kinds of pain.  Yet living beings, drowned in the midst of all this, delight and amuse themselves, unaware, unknowing, without alarm or fear.  They feel no sense of loathing and make no attempt to escape.  In this burning house which is the threefold world, they race about to east and west, and though they encounter great pain, they are not distressed by it."
 

~ Chapter 3, The Lotus Sutra, trans. Burton Watson.

 

I guess this is the one thing about Buddhism that I just cannot get behind (leaving aside the fact that it is, like all religions, deeply misogynistic): that whole life-is-suffering thing.  The idea that life is suffering and that our goal ought to be an escape from said suffering just makes no sense to me.  No one likes to suffer, but I don't think it can be denied that suffering engenders character.  And besides that, suffering can be a mark of something very great in one's life.

Case in point:
Last night, I was watching a movie that got me thinking about my uncle.  Thinking about him caused me to suffer, and I cried.  I miss him so desperately because I loved him so much--and he's gone.  And yes, I wouldn't suffer now if I hadn't loved him so.

But where's the fun in that?

Those who're interested can undertake the (selfish?) path of evading all suffering.  For me, I'll gladly take the chaff with the wheat.

Comments

[lordameth.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

I do really like the imagery of the burning house metaphor. It comes into play in a number of Noh pieces, and, of course, in plenty of Buddhist paintings, emaki, etc.