iscussed the topic of Buddhism and Jainism. In tune with this topic, we talked about selfishness (and ego- interesting that those two words are connected in our minds) and its role in the world as well as in our personal lives. One question arose: Can you live a life without selfish cravings? Overall, I think we all agreed "nahhhh" but if you all have something more to add, feel free!Also, Dr. Oliver came by our group as we were mentioning "life is suffering" and enlightenment. Collectively, we proposed an interesting question: If life is suffering, quite frankly, what's the point? I think there are many answers to this question that can be brought from multiple sources.
Factual Question:
Which of the following is not one of the Four Noble Truths?
1. life is suffering
2. suffering arises from selfish craving
3. selfish craving can be eliminated
4. one can gain selfish craving by following the Right Way
(Answer: 4)
Discussion Question:
Do you agree more so with the Southern Buddhist way (enlightenment is for few and you should be isolated to truly achieve it) or the Northern Buddhist way (everyone must be freed from suffering and spiritual ignorance by sharing insights)? Why? What are other beliefs more similar to?
My own personal reaction to this mismatched. I feel that if everyone is enlightened then it takes away the specialty of it. Also, if it continues to be spread, then I feel as if the notion is diluted and basically everyone ends up reiterating information and beliefs rather than truly being enlightened. However, I wouldn't want to be the one unenlightened so I probably would want the Northern Buddhist way rather than the Southern...
I think I'd side with the Southern Buddhist way in the Northern vs. Southern Buddhism argument. If everyone were "enlightened," it would be impractical. No one would be considered enlightened if that were the norm, and this would create the continued search for more meaning. It makes more sense for it to be a special thing to become enlightened, as it is in the Southern Buddhist way. In this approach, an idol is created who has reached enlightenment, that everyone is to look to for help.
ReplyDeleteI found our discussion about Buddhism and Jainism to be most interesting.
ReplyDeleteAs Amanda has stated, we all came to the decision that it is not fully possible to rid oneself of selfish cravings. In my opinion, it is against human nature. One can strive for a completely unselfish life, but by constantly focusing on not being selfish, that would make that person selfish. In our discussion we spoke about if the idea of it was even conceivable and some group members argued that being hungry and feeling of that nature would be selfish. I'm sort of confused about if I agree with that. On one hand, I agree...feeling and relieving hunger for only yourself is selfish. On the other hand, it is just a necessity in life, which does not make it selfish at all. I realize that this is a seemingly unimportant thing to focus on.
According to the Four Noble Truths, life is suffering and suffering is derived from selfish craving. As human beings, it is nearly impossible to rid ourselves of selfish cravings.... it is against our nature. Therefore, it would be extremely difficult for life to not be suffering.
This goes along with my view on the discussion question. When first asked, I though "oh yeah, everyone should be enlightened! Right on!" After our discussion and concluding that to be completely unselfish would be such a difficult achievement, I would say that I agree more with the Northern Buddhist Way. It would sort of lose some of its value if everyone was able to attain it so easily. The Way is a lifestyle, which takes a lifetime to achieve enlightenment. The journey and the struggle to becoming enlightened is what makes it so desirable. To make it so disposable would be sort of disrespectful, thus, I think that enlightenment is possible only by few and not by everyone. That said, I think everyone should strive in some ways to follow the Way... perhaps trying to reduce selfish cravings (though in this world it is nearly impossible).