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No. 24325
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>>24323
What I am trying to say is that like all religions, Buddhists hinge its philosophy on a number of yet proven supernatural beliefs, in this case reincarnation. Without this beliefs the whole philosophical structure will fall apart. The point of Buddhism is that our current mundane existence is suffering. Unlike other beliefs, Buddhists reject the idea that true happiness and liberation from suffering is possible in this world. Their solution is to get rid of all of your attachments, that way you will cease to reincarnate upon your death. While the Sutras is very obscure on the topic of what this enlightened existence or non-existence is like, we can at least infer that at the core of Buddhists belief is the denial of an unenlightened life in the world, the Samsara, which might as well be the life all of us know until death. What I am trying to say in my post is that, if you were to hypothetically take out the belief of reincarnation and afterlife from Buddhist philosophy, the logical conclusion would be suicide. After all, you have rejected that happiness and liberation is possible in this life, so there is only two way to resolve this problem, to achieve complete non-attachment in this life or to kill yourself. In the first method, not only will you have to painstakingly train and continue to suffer in this world for many years, it is not guaranteed that you will reach any major spiritual advancements and beside you will die and meet oblivion eventually. In the second choice however, not only will you meet the inevitable so nothing will change in the long term, you will also be free from suffering in a much faster time.
Of course if you assume the oblivion of death every religion become pointless, but especially in a life-denying religion like Buddhism would the philosophical remnants so readily point to suicide. At least how I see it, Buddhism isn't an ideology of finding meaning or happiness in life, but of coping with suffering. There is still lines in the bible that praises life and god's creation. The Taoists teaches of value in being one with the universe. But in the Sutra, from what little I have read, it has always been "Practice! Practice to sever your attachment. So that you may cease to be born in this world! So that you upon your death, you shall be free!". But what if there is no cycle of rebirth, no karmic fetters binding us to existence? All that's left is to kill ourselves. I think of Buddhism as one of the greatest religion in the world, for it uses logic in its teachings. Logic on how suffering comes from attachments and freedom comes from eliminating attachments. But if one can eliminate desire and following it suffering by killing oneselves, what uses is the hours of meditation and Sutra reading?
I don't think that life after death exists. It seems to me that the only reason to continue living is either because there is something worthwhile in life or cowardice. I don't have the former and I don't think Buddhism can help me find it. The second is the actual reason why I am still alive, and Buddhist practice can help me cope with the suffering. But at the end of the training, when I have managed to sever my attachment to cowardice, I too will have no reason to continue practicing Buddhism instead of dying. Though after all this rationalization, it is more likely that my gripe with Buddhism is that it did not solve my problem instantly and I simply lack the discipline to practice it. I do think that Buddhism has more worth than other religions out there, it's just that it's a very despairing view on existence. I don't even know what I am on about.
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