Torture Vs. Less Torture

As a Buddhist, do you feel like you're just deciding to live a life involving less torture rather than more torture, with no plus side i.e. hedonism?

 

I don't know if Buddhism says you can 'decide' to life a less torturous life. You may aim at that, but in practical terms it may not really be quite that simple. But I'm not a Buddhist and so that's only an outsiders opinion.

Gautama himself is said to have been no stranger to things designed to make life even more torturous, as shown in this picture of him as an ascetic before he attained nirvana.

 

Even more torturous? I thought the entire point of Buddhism was "the end of suffering."

 

We have very little control over what happens, and life has a tendency to throw fruit at you no matter what path you choose to take. Buddhism is a complex philosophy with many different facets, but the general aim is to be okay with whatever comes up. You're not trying to ignore the shit, evading it is a logical move but if it happens it happens.

Water under a bridge.




"Suffering" is just a word, and your relation to that word depends on the connotations you've drawn around it. When Gautama's mother died, he was suffering.. enlightened or not. Whether he accepted it as a part of the majesty of life, and accepted the movement of emotions evoked by her passing, is another thing. Judging by his reputation we'd hope he did.

You can't go wrong. Life is good, but she's a bitch.

 

Before his enlightenment Buddha became an ascetic, and voluntarily underwent privations like starving himself etc. So for him, the 'end of suffering' came only after embracing a path which included self-inflicted suffering. Similar to medieval Christian monks who used to whip themselves and things like that. In India today there are many ascetics who torture their bodies in various ways.
Not saying that many Buddhists nowadays are ascetics, although monks and nuns are supposed to renounce sex, personal possessions and the rest.

Anyway - the end of suffering as proposed by Buddhism is only really to escape from existence which is believed to be an illusion. Or that's how it appears to me.

 

That was an amazing comment and was very helpful to me in life. I will treasure it. Thanks.

 

I think yes, Buddhism IS about less torture vs. torture rather than a plus side of pleasure.

But like Schopenhauer said, it's better to reduce pain than to seek pleasure.

Pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin, duality.

The Dalai Lama said there's happiness that can be caused by being neutral, neither suffering nor being excited.

We suffer because we crave excitement and stimulation, at least when it comes to mental suffering ex. negative, intrusive thoughts.

We should shoot for boring, at least once we're done with our 20s.

P.E.A.C.E.

Positive Energy Activates Constant Elevation

 

I would say it's less about getting less pain and/or more pleasure and more about understanding why we find ourselves in situations which we call painful or pleasurable. It's understanding that those descriptions are conditions of our minds and our attachments to ephemeral phenomena. A big question is, can you be happy before anything happens?

 

I thought the idea was that Buddhists should shoot for enlightenment. I've read and heard different descriptions of it, and nobody said it was 'rather boring'.

Becoming like a piece of wood isn't the answer. The lukewarm go to the place of the lukewarm.

 

I don't understand the sense in which you ask. For there to be a 'you' that enjoys happiness or suffers distress a great many things have to happen first.

Do you mean just being happy to be?

 

there is only one thing we can do to reduce the probability of our own suffering, and that is to reduce everyone's suffering by not contributing to it. i sort of consider that awareness the motivation for the creation of all religious beliefs. of course i don't call myself a buddhist, nor any one religious thing. i do not consider happiness an unworthy thing. only if one disregards the happiness of others in pursuit of it.

 

Yeah, less torture as there is no cravings or aversions , which ultimately results in suffering and misery as all objective pleasures are bound to be.

However there is a peace and joy that comes with transcending suffering and excitement ,as the Dalai Lama put it. This is a positive that is not mentioned much, which creates the perception that Buddhism is life-negative, which is not so.

A real Buddhist, because he is in touch with reality through mindfulness , will also be able to enjoy nature and life better than the others whose senses have been dulled by over-stimulation.