The Buddha: The real Revolution is internal

Dhr. Seven, Ananda (D. B. Meditation), Amber Larson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

If the real revolution, the one within, is what matters, what is The Way to it? (giphy.com)

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What is the "ideal revolutionary"?

Happy May Day. There is no problem outside that has to concern us. Many do. But we choose.

There is no pain that has the power to force us to suffer. "Suffering" (the mental component) is optional because it is our response (karma) to what is happening. Some corporeal pain may be inevitable, but suffering is always optional.

There is no external oppression that has to be revolted again. In any case, the real revolution is within. Do not seek it without.

Everything can wait, but spiritual realization cannot wait. It's needed NOW.

So long as we neglect it, there will be suffering, there will be oppression, there will be enslavement. How much better would it be to win liberation?

The Revolution in Four Parts

Here are ten Female Revolutionaries you probably never heard of (filmsforaction.org)

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Solution? What's the problem first?

To be free, we must first know in what sense we are enslaved. (1) There is suffering of all kinds. That's the problem.

Is there a cause? (2) Yes, there is a cause. It is not uncaused. What is the cause? Ignorance that manifests as delusion, attraction, and aversion -- being confused, liking, and disliking/fearing. Ignorance is too big to tackle directly, but craving (liking, thirsting, grasping, pining, yearning, desiring, being attached, clinging) can be abandoned.

Is there a solution? (3) Yes, there is a solution! There can be freedom from all suffering. Let's call that "nirvana."

Is there way to get to this nirvana? There is! (4) There is a WAY to the solution, a "final solution," which Mr. G. appropriated for Mr. H. and ruined the metaphor for the Western world, so let's leave those warmakers aside and stick to the original meaning in the East: This is an eight-factored path to the final solution.

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(Amy-Carragher, deviantart.com)

This is the revolution, to conquer ourselves, our obsessions and cravings by directly knowing-and-seeing for ourselves. We would not crave objects of sensual desire and attachment if we could see them for what they really are, what they entail.

We would recoil. The heart and mind would pull back and let go like a feather that retracts when it meets with flame.

My tattoo reminds me (worldtattoogallery.com)

If we let go completely, even for a moment, we will see and touch the solution -- nirvana. That is the revolution, the turning of the bottom to the top, toppling the oppressor.

Forget incremental social and political change. Even if everything changes, nothing will change for us. We'll be the same old same old with the same old problem -- suffering due to pain.

What is the real problem we face right now? Think about it. Think deeply. Scan a lifetime of experience. The answer is... we want things to be other than the way they are right now. That's the problem. What if we could solve that one? All of the others would fall into place, be seen in perspective. There wouldn't be any other problems.

Che: So that's what "Buddhism" is about!

Wishing and wanting and hoping for things to be different than they actually are, when we overcome that obstacle there will be nothing we can't handle. How? See (4). What is The Way? What are These Four Things leading to freedom from ignorance and suffering? The Buddha laid it out long ago.