Namaste Brian,
thank you for the post.
I said:
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Is it not a Buddhist precept that our lives are meaningless illusion, and that death is nothing more than a rebirth into yet another karmic cycle?
ah.. i think i see where you're going with this... and, therefore, i think i see where the misunderstanding lies. we'll see if that's the case or not
of course, i'll try to answer generally unless something pretty specific needs to be communicated.
whilst its true enough that death is simply rebirth based on karmic energy, remember, that in the full teachings of Buddhism, this concept of "death" is done away with. no death, no birth, no arising, no passing away, no 4 Noble Truths, no ignorance or ending of ignorance.
even the very conceptions that we use to express ourselves inhibit our ability to directly perceive reality. this is a very difficult thing to let go of.
now... talking about the illusions... it's not so much that life is an illusion, rather, that the way we view reality is deluded by our ignorance. for all intents and purposes, we can say that life, as we view it, is an illusion.. i.e. i mirage that does not represent Suchness. Suchness is reality as it is, devoid of conception.
Please excuse my ignorance, but I was almost under the impression that Buddhists perceived individual life of little meaning - that monks dedicate themselves to Buddha not because they care for the wider community, but simply because they are so abjectively against living as a normal everyday human being that they trap themselves behind vows intent solely on escaping a prison of karmic cycles.
almost completely the opposite, in fact! being reborn as a human is a very rare and precious rebirth for only the human realm has the right combination of causes and conditions to allow a being to practice the Dharma. i cannot speak, of course, for the intention of every monastic
nor would i care to try. there are, of course, some differences between the monastics that adhere to the Hinyana Vehicle and monastics that adhere to the Mahayana Vehicle. the real difference is which path they are walking... Svaraka, Pretyabuddha or Bodhisattva. we xan expound on this aspect a bit later, if you'd like.
the monastic vows are, like many monastic organizations, quite strict and are designed to emphasize ethics and morality and really are designed for the minority of adherents. we could probably make a decent argument that, during the First Turning of The Wheel, Buddha was teaching a group that was inclined to the monastic path, however, it should be noted that Buddhism has always had the two traditions of monastic and forest yogi.
In other words, my impression was that Buddhism promote the idea that all life is suffering, and those who live with continue to suffer until they get off their bottoms and do a runner from life.
the actual term is Dhukka and means something more akin to "dissatisfaction" rather than suffering. suffering is a good English word to describe the physical sensations of Dhukka, however, it neglects the other connotations that this word has. literally, Dhukka means "thirst" or "craving".. and intense desire to have. so when we say that life is Dhukka, what we are meaning to indicate is that the process of life is characterized by dissatisfaction and craving to have what we cannot, to hold what we have and to keep what we have from changing.
the path of liberation is the Buddhas teaching.
Where is the flaw in that perception, and why do Buddhists actually care about life: individual or collective?
hopefully, you've seen the flaw in that perception now... as such, i shall not address this yet. if you don't and another poster doesn't come by and fill it out, i'm happy to address it
Buddhists care about life... all live... individual and collective... not just humans though.. all sentient beings. the reason for this is found in several places... as you know, i'm not into quoting scripture and so forth, so i won't here... i can, however, if it would be of value.
to get to the heart of the matter... the desire to be of benefit to all sentient beings is, in the Vajrayana view, required to complete the Buddhist path. without this altrustic desire, which is called Bodhichitta, one can become Arhat, a Foe Destroyer however one cannot become a Buddha.
i'm off to an accupuncture appt so i will try to check back either this evening or tomorrow.
