nah, greatest lesson is the realization that life is suffering...suffering is caused from desire/attachment (basic 4 noble truths). Buddhists tend to promote the elimination of desire to ease suffering but as I get older I tend to disagree with this as being the appropriate path. I think it better to embrace our suffering as part of the human experience. Shoulder as much responsibility as Possible and strive to ease the suffering of those around you.
I don't agree with this. Buddhism does not say suffering is stemming from desire/attachment. Suffering is from obsession. There is nothing wrong with healthy desire or being fond of something. But excessive obsession such as not letting something or someone go is what causes suffering. In my personal observation, Buddhism is the teaching about letting go, "being empty". Only when you are void of obsessions and frivolous thoughts, then you are ready to see the reality for what they really are and accept the truth to ultimately reach enlightment.
I'm a Buddhist and I couldn't agree with you more. By no means am I a therapist or psychologist, although with the amount of therapy I've been through I should be, LOL, but I have learned that attempting to avoid "pain and suffering" is actually not a healthy thing. The healthy thing is to go head to head with that pain and suffering and to rise above it. In doing so you overcome the pain and suffering. I assure you, if a violent criminal entered a temple to cause harm, no amount of meditation or smiles will stop the pain and suffering that person wants to inflict. But kicking the violent persons butt and stopping them would bring a large amount of peace and smiles to those that survive. ;-)
Bhuddism - It is the impermanence that result in suffering due to attachment. Luke 10:4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. Money, materialism and position ain't going to last.
yea, its only one of the 4 pillars of Buddhism... samudaya (origin, arising) of this dukkha, which arises or "comes together" with taṇhā ("craving, desire or attachment")
That's too literal of interpretation imo. It shouldn't be just simply craving, desire or attachment. It should be interpreted as obsession, excessive craving, desire or attachment. Monks have family and friends too. Dalai Lama eats too which stems from the craving for food, baths too which stems from his desire to be clean and is fond of his family and friends and his fellow Tibetans, which stems from his attachment to those he cares about. So do those all make him suffer? I do not believe so. And it's not just simply the excessive, obsessive and relentless craving, desiring or attaching to something that leads to suffering, it's the excessive, obsessive and relentless craving, desiring or attaching to something but not getting satisfied that leads to suffering. If all the excessive, obsessive and relentless craving, desiring or attaching to something all get satisfied at the end, then there is no suffering. If every single time Bill Clinton (who has sex addiction) obsesses over the sexual desire and gets that sexual desire satisfied, then there is no suffering for him. It's when he doesn't get what wants, that's when he suffers.