Life is Suffering! Is Buddhism Depressing? Finding Peace in Nothing.
I am not a Buddhist monk or teacher, but I found Buddhism very interesting. It goes quite deep and is more like a study of the mind rather than religion which is based on something divine and supernatural. It took me some time to realize what Buddhism is about; I hope I get it now a little bit (I thought so many times before, then realized that I was wrong...). Important notice: I am totally brainwashed by Ajahn Brahm and his fellow monks. This sect is dangerous, listen to them and you're done for. You slowly start to lose yourself until there is nothing left. And, that's what Buddhism is about I guess.
Buddha defined so called four noble truths. The first truth sounds scary. Life is suffering! Buddha has realized that basically everything in life is a kind of agitation of the mind. We get sick sometimes, we don't get what we wish for, we lose our loved ones. All these things are suffering right? But there are also nice things in life, love, food, success... But is it really that good? When we get something we really wanted, we are often disappointed a bit, feeling hollow. And then another wish appears in our minds wanting something else which will surely make everything great. Then another one, another one...
Then Buddha said that craving causes the suffering and when the craving ceases, the suffering does too. And how to get rid of it? Just do the right things, follow the spiritual path. Buddha taught his monks meditation, deep relaxation of the body and stilling of the mind. This meditation helps people to understand how their mind works. Another important thing in meditation is to reach such peace of the body and the mind that one can feel the joy similar to the final goal of Buddhism, enlightenment. Such states are called jhanas and Buddha described them in detail. The are like a trailer for the ultimate joy and peace, coming soon (if you meditate enough).
So Is Buddhism Just About Suffering?
It is but not in the negative way. This is what I love about Buddhism, it does not promote any god or any commandments from the heavens. It's only goal is to make people happy. Ease the suffering. Enlightenment is a cessation. Cessation of life, of rebirth. Not a suicide, despite the talks about suffering and ending of things, the main motivation is joy. According to the teachings, people just get reborn continuing with their karma. Karma is not really a list of good and bad deeds we did in our previous lives. It is more like a tendency or mental momentum. Our mind state just goes on until we stop it completely reaching enlightenment. Imagine millions of lives, isn't that enough?
Realizing that everything that once began once ends, that everything is impermanent in life is one of the most important things Buddha taught. Again, this sounds quite sad, who wants to think about death or ends of pleasant things? But there is actually a great portion of peace in this. We often have a lot of fears and anxieties in our lives. Why? Because we take everything too seriously. I have noticed many times how I fear things that other people just don't really care about and vice versa, that I am content with things that other people are scared of. Same with anger, hatred, greed, we all are conditioned to react in a specific way, to regard some things as important. But realizing that this all will end once, that this all is just our own projection, isn't that a little bit calming? What's up? Why do I want so much? Why do I fear so much? It's going to end, I'm going to die, people will forget, what all this good for?
Don't get me wrong, this is not about giving up and resigning, just dying alive. Actually, when we realize that our own ego, our self that consists of these ideas about our own existence, is void, we start to see the beautiful freedom. I feel this often in my daily life. When I get angry, scared, greedy, I often feel this ME inside that wants or doesn't want, likes or dislikes, etc. When stilling this inner voice, these reasons that lead to stress and negativity just disappear. There is no fuel to be burning. When I don't know what to do, how to react in some situations, I always remember Ajahn Brahm and his slogan Make peace, be kind, be gentle! Contemplating too much the ego, non-self, impermanence, etc. gives me sometimes headaches. Helping myself and others to feel a little bit better in this world, that's what matters most. Happiness, as simple as it is. It doesn't matter what happens in life, we can always be kind to anything around us. And also inside us! Being kind even to thing and thoughts we don't like. Ajahn calls it kindfullness. Being kind and mindful of our thoughts. Whenever I remember this, I always feel this nice warm feeling inside me. It's almost physical, like a softness in the body. To me, this feeling always leads to the best meditations and is to me like a key to spiritual growth. Even that will one day end though.
When meditating, I sometimes feel so still that any thought, even thoughts about wonderful things in my life, feel annoying. The peace and silence, it's hard for us to enjoy it at first. We feel like missing out, like not being productive, just slacking, not really doing anything worth the time. But when the meditation gets deep enough, it's more like This is it! This is all I need, nothing else can make me more content now. Really nothing! We often work to get money to be able to relax more, to have free time but when we have it we again spend it working on something else. Why not stop? Enjoy the moment as it is. Nothing! Total relaxation. After writing all this, I feel dumb actually. I should have just...be quiet...
Keywords: religion, spirituality, meditation
#Buddhism #meditation #religion
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