Is life a bad thing in Buddhism?

[edwhys211]

We have to learn lessons through numerous lives before reaching nirvana, and life is suffering, according to Buddha. Does that mean life is a bad thing that we must deal with and complete in hopes to escape it, or what? I understand there is much suffering in life, but there is also a lot of good.

[manas]

We have to learn lessons through numerous lives before reaching nirvana, and life is suffering, according to Buddha. Does that mean life is a bad thing that we must deal with and complete in hopes to escape it, or what? I understand there is much suffering in life, but there is also a lot of good.

Hi edwhys,

we need to be very careful when making statements about what the Buddha said or actually intended. 'Life is suffering' sounds like it springs from an immature grasp of the Dhamma, imho. As I understand it, the Buddha taught that:

There is this phenomenon of dukkha (ie it is experienced by us, it exists for us at this time)

The root cause of dukkha is craving ('thirst', desire) for sense-pleasures, for becoming and for not-becoming

If this craving is extinguished, there is complete freedom from dukkha - Nibbana

There is a Path to the ending of this craving, the Noble Eightfold Path.

Now, that's not the same as saying 'Life is suffering' in the often gloomy way that alot of people new to Buddhism seem to perceive it. (Don't worry, it's a common misapprehension, which I have also made myself).

A life lived in accordance with the Dhamma is good. A life lived in ignorance is not so good. I would rather put it that way.

metta

[Digity]

I would put aside judging life. Just ask yourself do you suffer? If so, do you want to free yourself from this suffering. If so, here's a path leading out of suffering. Whether we tell you life is good or bad doesn't change the fact that suffering is a part of life...even with all of its good aspects.

[DAWN]

It not so bad, en real.
It's just rise, and disapear.

[cooran]

We have to learn lessons through numerous lives before reaching nirvana, and life is suffering, according to Buddha. Does that mean life is a bad thing that we must deal with and complete in hopes to escape it, or what? I understand there is much suffering in life, but there is also a lot of good.

“Life is suffering.”
This is one of the Big Lies of Buddhism—a claim assumed to be true simply because it is repeated so often—both in popular books and academic books. The phrase “Life is suffering” is supposed to be a summary of the Buddha’s first noble truth, but the first noble truth simply lists the things in life that constitute suffering: “Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful.” (Quotation from Samyutta Nikaya, The Grouped Discourses of the Buddha, 56.11)
Life, you’ll notice, isn’t on the list.
The other noble truths go on to show that there’s more to life than just suffering: There’s the origination of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of suffering as well.
http://shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=22527" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

with metta
Chris

[Bhikkhu_Jayasara]

I think we need to be careful at all times when we use the word " bad" in regards to Buddhist practice. When we think " oh this is bad, or the buddha said thats bad" , we often have a western connotation of the word, and various translations using western concepts like " bad" and "evil" don't help.

as Dig said, we want to put aside such judging. If you feel dissatisfaction and dispassion and wish to renounce, even then you don't do that because the world is " bad" or lay life is "bad".

we create and are enthralled with dukkha because of our cravings, some wish to be rid of that, others do not, there is no inherent "badness" to either choice. We want to judge less and see reality for what it is more.

[Kusala]

We have to learn lessons through numerous lives before reaching nirvana, and life is suffering, according to Buddha. Does that mean life is a bad thing that we must deal with and complete in hopes to escape it, or what? I understand there is much suffering in life, but there is also a lot of good.

Hi edwhys,

we need to be very careful when making statements about what the Buddha said or actually intended. 'Life is suffering' sounds like it springs from an immature grasp of the Dhamma, imho. As I understand it, the Buddha taught that:

There is this phenomenon of dukkha (ie it is experienced by us, it exists for us at this time)

The root cause of dukkha is craving ('thirst', desire) for sense-pleasures, for becoming and for not-becoming

If this craving is extinguished, there is complete freedom from dukkha - Nibbana

There is a Path to the ending of this craving, the Noble Eightfold Path.

Now, that's not the same as saying 'Life is suffering' in the often gloomy way that alot of people new to Buddhism seem to perceive it. (Don't worry, it's a common misapprehension, which I have also made myself).

A life lived in accordance with the Dhamma is good. A life lived in ignorance is not so good. I would rather put it that way.

metta

Well said, manas!

[drifting cloud]

No, not at all. Buddhism teaches us to respect all life and in particular to value our human life:

Staying at Savatthi. Then the Blessed One, picking up a little bit of dust with the tip of his fingernail, said to the monks, "What do you think, monks? Which is greater: the little bit of dust I have picked up with the tip of my fingernail, or the great earth?"

"The great earth is far greater, lord. The little bit of dust the Blessed One has picked up with the tip of his fingernail is next to nothing. It doesn't even count. It's no comparison. It's not even a fraction, this little bit of dust the Blessed One has picked up with the tip of his fingernail, when compared with the great earth.

"In the same way, monks, few are the beings reborn among human beings. Far more are those reborn elsewhere. Thus you should train yourselves: 'We will live heedfully.' That's how you should train yourselves."

Nakhasikha Sutta

For more on this topic, you may find this article helpful:

"Life Isn't Just Suffering" - Thanissaro Bhikku