[Buddha-l] Core teachings

[Robert Morrison]

Richard Nance wrote:

> I have a feeling you're baiting us, Richard, but I'll bite.  I like
> your interpretation, but I don't know how to reconcile it with
> passages like "sabba.m bhikkhave dukkha.m" (SN IV, p. 28).

Joy Replies:

>
I have always been puzzled by that statement. The only way in which this 
can be true is when one is looking for something absolute in this world 
and in one's experience and when one feels dissatisfaction when not 
finding it. So what is the cause of experiencing everything as 
dissatisfactory? Perfectionism.
<

It's not much of a puzzle - at least as a statement - when looked at through
the medium of the three kinds of dukkha (at this point I shall attempt not
to be 'authoritive' and will not quote the sutta passage!), one of which is
sa"nkaara dukkhataa, which basically implies that the unawakened state is
dukkha from the perspective of the awakened state.  This is why dukkha in
this sense is among the four Aryan Truths (Aryan = not a wearer of black
uniforms with the initials 'SS' on the collar, but an Awakened being).
However, I can't resist quoting texts, but it's only old Vasubandhu, whom
Richard considers a mere bother of a fisherman!

Vasubandhu in the Abhidharmakosa:

'The Aryans make of existence in the most sublime heaven (bhavaagra) an idea
more painful than do fools make of existence in the most dreadful hell'.

Robert