“Both formerly and now, what I teach is suffering and the cessation of suffering.”
The Buddha · Buddhism
meaningethicsmind
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Step 3 of 6 · About 2 minutes
Suffering and hatred
The Buddha's card on suffering is deliberately small. He says that what he teaches, formerly and now, is suffering and the cessation of suffering. The hatred card is equally small: hatred is not appeased by hatred. These are not a full doctrine, and they are not a claim that pain is noble. They are a focus. You can ask an evaluative question on top of them, about whether a life is good, but that question is not the same as the description of suffering.
“Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is an eternal law.”
The Buddha · Buddhism
ethicslovemind
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When you feel like answering harshness with harshness, pause and name the hostility without adding to it.