Tuesday, December 25, 2012

The First Noble Truth

In a comfortable deer park on the outskirts of Varanasi, Shakyamuni Buddha's first teaching to the world was There is suffering.

Maybe it seemed like not that spectacular a revelation. Even to us it still seems pretty obvious, although we have managed to relegate much of the pain and ugliness to somewhere safely behind a TV-screen or to dedicated buildings that smell vaguely of gentle encouragement and disinfectants.

But maybe what the Buddha was saying was don't just think you're not suffering. Don't simply assume that you're okay.

Maybe we don't have to necessarily believe the little fat devil in our hearts that tells us we're doing just fine.

Because: are we?

Are we, sitting in that reasonably well-groomed deer park of our own, in any way done?

2 comments:

  1. http://www.blindeschildpad.nl/2012/06/get-cell-wall-painted-pretty-shade.html?showComment=1341138891870#c2347895639605469465

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    1. Ja, da's dan wel weer het goeie eraan. Aan de andere kant is de Boeddhistische visie klassiek verstoken van dergelijke intentionaliteit en is uiteindelijk zowel de eerste edele waarheid van het lijden en de de derde van de bevrijding niet meer dan een in wezen arbitraire samenloop van omstandigheden.

      Aan de andere kant: vanaf de top van Nebo telt het dát, niet het hóe of het wát. Laat staan het waaróm... שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד

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