Sunday, August 26, 2012

BUDDHIST VIEW OF YEARNING

Buddhists do not yearn.  No grasping, clinging, clutching, trying to be this or to do that.  Buddhists avoid all attachment, because to be attached to something is to want something of a person or a thing, and when this want is not fulfilled, or happens in a way that is insufficient or not what one expected it to be, the result is frustration, suffering.  Buddhism is about eliminating suffering in one's life.

Yearning is suffering.  Yearning for God, what Vedantists do, is suffering on a grand scale, Buddhists say.  This is because God is elusive, now you see Him, now you don't, and elusiveness is a source of frustration, suffering.  This very elusiveness of God is, in fact, why Buddhists doubt, if  not deny completely, that God even exists.  Better to remain unattached, to steer clear of that whole issue.

But are Buddhists truly without attachment?  It could be argued that they are attached to Buddhism itself.  A case could be made that they are attached to avoiding suffering.  When their Buddhism is not what they anticipated, or when their efforts to nip suffering in the bud are thwarted, they end up suffering all the same. 

However, this they are willing to live with, it would seem.  They always have the option of switching to a different school of Buddhism if the one they're in is not to their liking, and if their attempts to eliminate suffering are not successful, they can always choose a different strategy within Buddhism.

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