Buddha's Opinion on How One Should Live

If Buddha Were Alive Today, How Would He Answer The Question: "How Should One

Live"?

What is right? Who is to say what is right? How do we know what we are doing is right? These are all questions that allude to how should one live?

Different people have different opinions on this area. Buddha's theory is one way to answer the question.

Buddha has four noble truths. These four noble truths are suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering. If you go through all four of these truths, you will live a "right" life.

Suffering, according to Buddha, is anything that doesn't cause pleasure.

Anytime you do not get what you want, it is suffering. Being born is suffering.

In Buddha's theory, isn't practically everthing we do then suffering? Buddha defines suffering with the five aggregates of grasping. They are the aggreagates of grasping that is form, feeling, perception, mental formaitons, and consciousness. I don't agree with Buddha in any of this. I don't think suffering is caused by any of this. This is all life. I don't think that we are suffering all of this time. My definition of suffering would be anything that causes any pain, not anything that doesn't cause pleasure. There is a huge difference between the two. With Buddha, you are either suffering or in pleasure. I think that there is a middle ground. There are many times when people are not suffering and also not feeling pleasure.

The origin of suffering, according to Buddha, is craving. Craving comes from anything that is agreeable and pleasurable. Sights, sounds, mental pictures, etc. are all agreeable and pleasurable therefore they all cause craving.

Whenever we think of any of this, cravings arise. This is where suffering comes from. This is true to a point. Craving is what causes suffering. Craving comes from pleasurable things. That means that pleasurable things cause suffering.

People want what they don't have. These we think are pleasurable things. We suffer from not getting what we want. When a baby wants a cookie and doesn't get it, he is suffering. It was not getting the cookie that caused the suffering. It was the craving for the cookie that caused his suffering. Buddha was...

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...tally off on that one, but that's what I think Right Mindfulness is. Lastly, we have Right Concentration. Right

Concentration occers after man has detached himself from craving and unwholesome mental states, he can concentrate on the first jhana. Once he has inner tranquility, he has reached the second jhana. When he gives up delight and is mindful and clearly aware, he is in the third jhana. He gives up pleasure and suffering. He gives up gladness and sadness. He is now in the fourth jhana. This is Right Concentration. With all these, man puts a stop to suffering.

Back to the question at hand. If Buddha were alive right now, how would he say one should live? I think that if he were alive, he'd take our whole society into consideration when answering the question. I think he'd say that people should be kind to one another and not cause harm. We should live by establised "good" morals. We should be happy with what we have. Maybe not stop every bad thing we say or think about or do, but try to limit ourselves. I think that these are all things that Buddha might say. Most important, I think he'd say "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."