Reply to the following 2 peer posts
1)
I have chosen dukkha, the idea that life inevitably involves suffering, is imperfect and unsatisfactory. From my understanding, dukkha is the teaching that happiness and identity has an impermanence and is fleeting. It is understood that life involves a lot of suffering and is not perfect in any way. This teaching, in my opinion, leads to greater happiness and better coping mechanisms for the pitfalls in life. You learn to cherish what you have and to not get lost in the ebbs and flow of the day, essentially living in the moment if you will. I would have to say, the most important example in my life that illustrates this teaching is the death of a close relative or friend. Applying this teaching to a heavy situation like death can shift your perspective and illustrate that this suffering is okay, the happiness you had was real and now it is passed on. This teaching can help followers face grief, appreciate that the moments of happiness happened and that the suffering you experience now is normal and a part of life. This teaching can apply to all things, not just severe cases. A favorite coffee mug broken or a job loss are just a couple examples that fall under this teaching.
Out of all the teachings, I feel dukkha has the most impactful lesson. It can be applied to daily life to improve your outlook and expectations. It can increase the happiness you do experience if applied correctly and it can help face your suffering instead of ignoring it. Dukkha, seems to me, to be the most useful teaching from the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.
2)
For this weeks discussion, I’m going to talk about the Four Noble Truths; more specifically “right meditation.” My understanding of this teaching would be that it allows Buddhists to be more in tune with with thoughts and not have many rushing in so aimlessly. In Buddhism, they often achieve right meditation by meditating, but with these come the different types of meditation that would allow Buddhists to focus on a specific practice. Often times these practices include practicing controlled breathing.
While I’ve never practicing Buddhist meditation practices, I always try to focus on my breathing if I’m feeling overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions. It allows me to get my thoughts straight and focus on how I’m feeling. This usually helps me in the longer run so I don’t think as rash when something starts to overwhelm me.
I believe that the nature of this practice is true since something as simple and controlling your breath and focusing on getting your thoughts straight.
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