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buddhism
September 2008 
The Meaning of Life, Suffering and Buddhism
Posted on Jul 9th, 2008
by 
Kristin
Kristin
I've been tonight to a talk at the local Buddhist Centre. I'm not a Buddhist, I go there mainly for the meditation. One of the monks (?) was talking about how life is all about suffering, due to our own negative minds, and that we should transcend the negativity to alleviate suffering.
The trouble is, I don't think life is all about suffering. To me life is inherently joyful ('behind all this, some great happiness is hiding), and yes, horrible things happen, and life can be awful and difficult at times, but to me there is a bedrock of joy, survival and belief that there is something good. I sometimes wonder why I am so convinced of this, but I am.
Is Buddhism mainly for pessimists? Perhaps I am in denial...
The trouble is, I don't think life is all about suffering. To me life is inherently joyful ('behind all this, some great happiness is hiding), and yes, horrible things happen, and life can be awful and difficult at times, but to me there is a bedrock of joy, survival and belief that there is something good. I sometimes wonder why I am so convinced of this, but I am.
Is Buddhism mainly for pessimists? Perhaps I am in denial...
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