[Buddha-l] Beyond Hope

[jkirk]

Poetic and profound, Joanna. It reminds me of Albert Camus, who
considered Sysiphus a wise and happy person, because he had completely
given up hope. But Camus distinguished hope with a big H (espérance)
from practical hope (espoir). The last one is OK, it makes sense to say
'I hope to see you soon' or 'I hope to finish this piece before six
o'clock'. But the hope for a heaven with 72 virgins or a promised land
has made more vicitims then any natural disaster so far. That's whu I
gave up the hope for sukhavati.

-- 

Erik
====================
I began thinking of worst cases: people stuck in prisons-----is hope any 
consolation there? I guess there is realistic hope and then unrealistic 
hope. Realistic would include for ex. legal groups dedicated to saving 
condemned prisoners from execution via DNA research....or pro bono lawyers 
getting sentences shortened, and such like. This sort of hope made some 
prisoners learn law while serving sentences.
For some like terrorist Moussaoui, he has the rest of his life to pray, in 
hopes of getting 72 virgins in heaven. He'd hoped to become a martyr with a 
death sentence, but that hope was erased by a life sentence. There once was 
a prisoner, a murderer, in the USA famed for becoming a Buddhist, who was 
said to have achieved big insight after years of meditation practice as is 
lawyers fought against his death sentence. Anti-death penalty organizations 
tried to save him, but did not succeed. Perhaps he died with a peaceful 
mind, only achievable perhaps if one takes up meditation and achieves 
insight.  But some say that condemned prisoners who get religion (other 
kinds of) also die in peace.
The death penalty seems to me to continue the bellicosity and belief in the 
value of aggression of those who, and the societies that, impose it. But I 
have "given up hope" that in this country it will be ended. Even working 
against it seems to get nowhere, much less working for peace.
Joanna