Buddhism and struggle

[vaneramos]

I arrived downtown Guelph with an hour to spare before catching the 9:20 bus to Toronto last night. I had been struggling irritably for several hours over getting the chapbook ready to print when I arrive home on Monday.

The December National Geographic contains an article on Buddhism, which offers answers to the problem of struggle. Some principles I disagree with, for instance the notion that birth and death do not exist, only transformation. Really, we all die. Religions generally find some way of denying it. I also doubt we can end suffering by removing desire. It’s a natural function we must accept and express constructively, rather than suppress.

But practices of clearing the mind, dispelling worry over past and present by living consciously in the present, I admire.

On the bus platform, I concentrated on the senses.

Passengers waited under streetlights. One leafed through a porn magazine. His cologne stank. Another man farted once with restraint, then again with resignation. Stepping across the platform, he banged one gloved fist into the other, apparently frustrated at the bus’s delay. A transformer buzzed. A car passed with raucous laughter. People sniffed at the cold. Stray snowflakes drifted among pools of light.

Comments

[ghostsandrobots.livejournal.com]

Didn't forget about your punctuation!.;

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Okay,—! if yuo have furhter comments. that wuld be graet;

[missprune.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about the elements of reality-denial in Buddhism.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I suppose "dispelling worry" is a mode of denial, too. Sooner or later we have to face the harsher facts of any situation, something I would rather not do. We pick and choose the things we like/dislike about a system of thought. I guess there's no harm, if the system gives us a structure for doing what we need to do, without blinding us to what's necessary.

[missprune.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how many of us are able to pick and choose. That old Cognitive Dissonance thing makes us desire to embrace the whole enchilada of any system that promises us a niche of security. Sorry about the mixed metaphors.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember how hard I worked, after converting to Biblical Christianity, to convince myself evolution was a lie.