How to run from suffering (Part 2)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Suffering is coming, so we must escape. Butt what is the escape? (Horns of a Dilemma)

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What are the Four Noble (Ennobling = "leading to enlightenment") Truths, in brief?

1. It is true that we are disappointed, experience pain, and suffer.

2. It is also true that this unhappiness is caused; it is not causeless. If we knew the causes,* we could do something about it.

• *Well, tell us already! What are the causes of pain, disappointment, and suffering (not getting what we want or getting what we don't want)? The ultimate cause is ignorance, which gives rise to craving and aversion and all kinds of problems. The cure and solution is enlightenment.

3. It is true that there is an end to all suffering (nirvana).

4. Moreover, there is a path to the end of all suffering. It is for this reason that the Buddha taught these four ennobling truths, these four things leading out of suffering and toward bliss and peace.
 

Run, Dummy, run! Run faster!!!

Maybe instead of stating the problem then the solution -- the disease then the cure -- the Awakened One should have talked about the state of being well (nirvana) then mentioned the susceptibility to illness (ignorant wandering through samsara).

Then people might like a teaching that was always talking about

• feeling good,
• being happy,
• experiencing unimaginable bliss,
• ecstasy,
• rapture, and
• freedom.

Nirvana is the highest bliss, the supreme realization and truth, the greatest happiness, the most profound freedom.

But this experience of nirvana has a cause; it is not causeless. And there's a path leading to it. It does not just happen for no reason. Maybe it would be good to know the cause(s) -- the path factors -- leading to its realization here and now.