Bruce:
Buddhism sounds negative and depressing, because it deals with suffering. And I think a lot of people are turned off with anything dealing with the word suffering. Instead, I’m starting to say that Buddhism deals with happiness – the other side of the coin.
Sounds strange, but I’m serious.
My new 4 noble truths:
There is happiness
Happiness is caused by the lack of craving
When you get rid of craving, you reach nibbana.
To get to nibbana, follow the 8th fold path
My new Ti-lakkhana:
Everything is transient
without a permanent self
and subject to happiness
BC:
Bruce, I’m afraid I’m not with you on this, but I see what you are after.
Suppose you wake up with a severe pain in the lower right side of your belly, and it doesn’t go away. The rational thing to do would be to go see a doctor. However, they are all negative and depressing, and only want to talk about your suffering, where it comes from, and how to cure it. That is a big turn off, so you go to a party instead, where everything is about happiness. The next morning you wake up with a hangover, and your belly hurts even worse.
The Buddha is sometimes called the Great Physician. Buddhism starts with suffering, because that is where people are at, but happily the Buddha has diagnosed suffering, and told us how to cure it. That is hardly negative and depressing. People already know suffering; it is prominent in virtually everyone’s life, whereas happiness is generally no more than a vague promise that is rarely fulfilled.
Unfortunately we live in a culture that is in denial of suffering and in pursuit of happiness. This works neither to lessen the suffering that is there in any case, nor to improve or lead to happiness. Look at how we hide away sickness, crippling illness, aging and even death. Look at how consumer products are advertised with models clearly blissing out at a spiritual level for having found the perfect shampoo, snack or networking solution. There is a strong trend toward marketing Buddhism alongside other traditions in this way.
Nonetheless, there is much in Buddhist practice that is quite pleasurable, and advanced practitioners do bliss out as suffering recedes. But happiness is the quiet contentment of a meaningful life well-lived that supervenes on practice. It will be elusive as long as we are focused on pursuing it.
There is another dimension to this: It is not advisable to mess with the Buddha. The Buddha’s Dhamma is a complex integrated system in which each teaching has its place. The whole thing is a guide for practice, how we live our lives, much as a cookbook is a guide for cooking. If we choose to reform one teaching, it is not likely work properly with the other teachings, like substituting sugar for salt. Let’s take the four noble truths as an example:
(1) the truth of suffering,
(2) the truth of the origin of suffering,
(3) the truth of the cessation of suffering, and
(4) the truth of the way to the cessation of suffering.
It is often pointed out that this follows what a physician does:
(1) is the symptom,
(2) is the diagnosis,
(3) is the prognosis, and
(4) is the treatment.
Since Dhamma is a guide to practice, the Buddha also tells us how to practice with each of these four truths:
(1) is to be understood.
(2) is to be eliminated.
(3) is to be realized.
(4) is to be pursued.
Now, if we substitute happiness for suffering, the whole practice becomes something quite different. The extensive wisdom teachings of the Buddha help us understand suffering. The teaching of dependent coarising even provides an elaborate psychology of suffering for us to understand. The Buddha does not provide anything like an equivalent account for happiness. In short, there is very little left in the four noble truths in the way of guidance for practice if we substitute happiness for suffering.
Leave a Reply