The entire cosmology, all the myths, all the stories, default to this harsh reality.
When you die, you don't go to heaven. Your bones are ground to dust in the river of death. You may end up tormented there, as a shade, forever. There is no happy ending.
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So what do you do? You don't overcome or surpass suffering. You simply get on with the day.
You persevere, but not out of some mystical attainment - simply because that's the only option in the face of such a hopeless state of affairs.
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And so suffering is a fact of life, yes. It's ugly, yes.
But it's not worth obsessing over. You just do you, and do it as well as you can.
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Okay - inserting some basic self-awareness - that's pretty close to how I live my own life, actually.
It's also extremely perverse to inflict on others. My life has arguably been made much worse for it.
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Continuing my tipsiness-fuelled confession, I'm the sort of guy who can't let it go when I see someone else suffer. I get obsessive about that shit.
That's a demonstrably terrible way to live life. I've not only harmed myself doing that, but often also the people I tried to help
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Not just in Buddhism, but everywhere in life, the people who do the most harm to others are often the self-professed healers - those who believe they can "fix" others.
Distancing myself from that identity is a work in progress. It's difficult, but probably worthwhile.
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I find the whole idea hilarious. How many people have they actually enlightened? And did that actually help others?
I wouldn't be so cynical about it if they didn't keep demonstrating how fatuous and narcissistic it can get.
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Out of curiousty - what do you think about it? Does the idea hold merit to you? If so, how?`
Genuinely curious to hear a different perspective that isn't just laced in Mahayana mythology.
(Excuse the typos - daddy life has rendered my alcohol tolerance very close to nil, I'm afraid.)
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I think "hopefully that will make me a better person" is about as much as any of us can hope for. In some sense it's even laudatory.
Mystics don't have a very impressive track record when it comes to improving the human condition.