Life Sux

[Tree]

"Life Sux". Is this a modern and accurate description of the first noble truth?

We are told these days to be Positive. To me that is confirmation that Life Does Suck. But the soluton given is to actively create a state of denial and shift the mind's focus to 'joy/please/thrills'. "BE MORE POSITIVE!"

But I believe that Buddha would say: "But guys! Life still sux!". Your delusion/denial is only a bandaid at best.

He is saying that we need to work hard to escape the Life (that Sux) permanently. No mor eendless Kalpas of Re-Births.

So does Life Suck?

[Ben]

No

[Pannapetar]

I doubt this in an accurate interpretation. "Life sucks," sounds more like the assessment of a depressed teenager or a French existentialist who had too much Pernod instead of the word of the Buddha. It would lead to nihilism.

Cheers, Thomas

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

I agree with Ben and Thomas.



Metta,
Retro.

[Goofaholix]

The Buddha didn't teach that life sux, however that we create suffering for ourselves and others through our attitude.

So you could say perhaps that there is suffering because our attitude sux, the Buddha's teaching is mostly about changing our attitude.

[Anicca]

So does Life Suck?

The Big B's Four Realities ala 2010:
1) Sucking exists.
2) Sucking has a start.
3) Sucking has an end.
4) There is a path to the ending of sucking.

So - It doesn't have to - depends on your kamma and how you live it.

[Goofaholix]

4) There is a path to the ending of sucking.

A new set of false teeth!

[Anicca]

4) There is a path to the ending of sucking.

A new set of false teeth!

[Dan74]

4) There is a path to the ending of sucking.

A new set of false teeth!

[Wind]

The Buddha didn't teach that life sux, however that we create suffering for ourselves and others through our attitude.

Actually it's through our craving. And since birth is dukkha, life sux is not that off in my opinion.

[cooran]

Hello Tree, all,

The Buddha never taught that "Life is suffering".

He taught that "There is suffering".

with metta
Chris

[Ben]

Thank you Chris for pointing out that very important distinction.
metta

Ben

[Shonin]

Also 'unsatisfactoriness' or 'unreliability' may be a better translation than 'suffering'.

[Sanghamitta]

Also 'unsatisfactoriness' or 'unreliability' may be a better translation than 'suffering'.

Or maybe not.
Better to internalise the meaning of Dukkha, as it appears in the context of the Suttas imo.
Just as we all have with "Kamma" or " Metta".

[Shonin]

Also 'unsatisfactoriness' or 'unreliability' may be a better translation than 'suffering'.

Or maybe not.
Better to internalise the meaning of Dukkha, as it appears in the context of the Suttas imo.
Just as we all have with "Kamma" or " Metta".

It was from studying suttas and commentaries on suttas that I arrived at this provisional understanding. Dukkha seems to have a range of meanings which don't always correspond exactly to our concept of 'suffering'.

[Sanghamitta]

" Dukkha" " Kamma" "Metta " along with a number of key Pali terms have no equivilant one word translation in any modern language. Hence the need in my view to internalise them.

[Shonin]

I'm with you. Agreed.

[Sanghamitta]

[altar]

The Buddha didn't just teach that birth was suffering. He taught that "the all" was suffering, "the world" was, the five khandas subjected to clinging. It's clear, I think, that "life is not without suffering," except for one well gone, who's just left with physical pain as the occasions arise.
Not all life is the same, so some might have more suckiness than others. But does it all suck at the bottom of it? Wherever there is clinging, there is suffing. So if there is clinging to life, there is suffing.
I think it's said that no existence, no state of being, is truly desireable. Even a happy life might be undesireable. Certainly preferable to an unhappy life (all other things being equal).
By the way, retro, a picture of a monk smiling, while maybe a nice photo, isn't really a serious kind of argument. We could contemplate that those very teeth may one day be in a garbage bin somewhere, who knows, to say nothing of the skin and internal organs.

[Mafi]

Life is life; everything that happens in life and whether we think it sucks or is great is just a perception isn't it? What others think sucks others may enjoy, which once again goes back to mental conditioning.

Shine on,
-Mafi