Elimination of Suffering

[dude]

how do you take on the suffering of others?

I put myself in their shoes. I use all the energy I can muster to think about what to do about it just as though it were happening to me. If they're willing to try it, I teach them the practice and practice right along with them.

[xabir]

Even if we were to search the entire globe, still it is hard to find one that can be completely detached. Try as we may, ‘attachment’ continues to arise. The reason being detachment is not a matter of ‘will’, it is a matter of prajna wisdom and only in Buddhism this is pointed out and for this I am grateful to Buddha.

Makes sense. Though the "only in Buddhism" claim seems wrong to me. I'm guessing Buddha wasn't the only human who ever understood that awakening can't be forced/willed, rather must come from wisdom.

There are many traditions that do teach that certain realization is necessary for liberation.

But in the eyes of Buddha and Buddhism they all fall short of "prajna wisdom". Prajna wisdom includes the realization of no-self and emptiness. These other teachings do not go as far as to eliminate all traces of self/Self delusions and clinging.

This has been my experience, and also what Buddha himself said:

"in Cula-sihanada Sutta (MN 11) -- The Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar {M i 63} [Ñanamoli Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans.] - http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .ntbb.html , the Buddha declares that only through practicing in accord with the Dhamma can Awakening be realized. His teaching is distinguished from those of other religions and philosophies through its unique rejection of all doctrines of self. [BB]"

[avisitor]

Everyone here seems to know what suffering is.
Please, can someone define it so as to make it clear??

If suffering is pain and old age then we will all suffer as long as we live.
If suffering is the attachment or clinging to other moments (not here, not now) then the end of suffering is becoming unattached and not clinging.
Does that make sense??

[Martin007]

But is there anyone here who can honestly say that your personal suffering has been *totally* eliminated?

I still have plenty of suffering, the difference is I don't take it so personally now....

...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

[dude]

Everyone here seems to know what suffering is.
Please, can someone define it so as to make it clear??

If suffering is pain and old age then we will all suffer as long as we live.
If suffering is the attachment or clinging to other moments (not here, not now) then the end of suffering is becoming unattached and not clinging.
Does that make sense??

Suffering is :
Birth
Old age
Sickness
Death
Not getting what you want
Getting what you don't want
Being apart from people you love
Being around people youstand n

Attachment in itself does not cause suffering, unskillful behavior arising from attachment does, although the stronger the attachment the greater the suffering when the desire is not fulfilled.
Cutting off all attachments is a practice for saints and sages.
Cultivating restraint and the wisdom to avoid bad causes and make good ones is a practice for common mortals.

[shaunc]

My personal suffering has lessened considerably but has not been eliminated, however I don't follow the 8 fold path perfectly but I do my best & like to think that overtime I have got a bit better at it in a lot of ways.

[Punya]

Everyone here seems to know what suffering is.
Please, can someone define it so as to make it clear??

If suffering is pain and old age then we will all suffer as long as we live.
If suffering is the attachment or clinging to other moments (not here, not now) then the end of suffering is becoming unattached and not clinging.
Does that make sense??

Suffering is a translation of dukkha. Dukkha is explained as:

The obvious physical and mental suffering associated with birth, growing old, illness and dying.
The anxiety or stress of trying to hold onto things that are constantly changing.
A basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms of existence, due to the fact that all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance.

My understanding is that it was really the third one the Buddha was talking about and that the cause is our fundamental ignorance of the way things really are.

[Martin007]

Suffering is a translation of dukkha. Dukkha is explained as:

The obvious physical and mental suffering associated with birth, growing old, illness and dying.
The anxiety or stress of trying to hold onto things that are constantly changing.
A basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms of existence, due to the fact that all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance.

My understanding is that it was really the third one the Buddha was talking about and that the cause is our fundamental ignorance of the way things really are.

Though these are all types of dukkha, so I'm not sure what you're basing this understanding on?

[undefineable]

Attachment in itself does not cause suffering, unskillful behavior arising from attachment does, although the stronger the attachment the greater the suffering when the desire is not fulfilled.

So the unskilful behaviour is to cling to the contentment experienced through attachment? Or are you simply focusing on the practical/'householder' level of "attachment" rather than the emotional level?

Cutting off all attachments is a practice for saints and sages.
Cultivating restraint and the wisdom to avoid bad causes and make good ones is a practice for common mortals.

Saints and sages start off as common mortals too - not , lol!

[dude]

Yeah, I was talking about the householder level, like the attachment to the momentary pleasure of, say, drinking, causes suffering to self and others. Saving the money instead to buy toys for the kids arises from attachment too, but it doesn't cause suffering.

[muni]

This lousy world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buTrsK_ZkvA

[Son of Buddha]

Established in it he reflects all things that matter, all feelings, all perceptive things, all intentions, all conscious signs are impermanent, unpleasant, an illness, an abscess, an arrow, a misfortune, an ailment, foreign, destined for destruction, is void, and devoid of a self. Then he turns the mind to the deathless element:

This is a list of all the attributes of suffering