Suffering Leads to Wisdom
Two well known tenets of Buddhism are "life is suffering" and "desire is suffering". Once people realize and accept these truths, then they would be one step closer to enlightenment.
This leads me to this other tenet of Buddhism that does not get as much attention.
With these three truths, it could be reasoned that there is much more than just the acknowledgement and acceptance of suffering. Specifically, this last truth may imply that it is better to embrace and/or recognize suffering to attain wisdom, and this wisdom is perhaps an additional step closer to achieving enlightenment.
Or alternatively, this could mean that the only true method to enlightenment is to end suffering. And the only way to end suffering is to become aware of the root causes for that suffering and using that awareness to help eliminate those root causes. And only with elimination of all suffering can someone truly attain enlightenment.
by Phil for Humanity
on 07/01/2013