A question that has been on my mind a lot lately has been with respect to two apparently conflicting approaches to life: renunciation and life-affirmation. Nietzsche didn't like Buddhism because he saw it as saying no to life. Previously, I shrugged off this criticism as being ill-informed: Clearly, Nietzsche just doesn't understand that Buddhism doesn't say no to life; rather, it just teaches you how to deal with it and engage it better. Or something.
As I've delved a bit more deeply more recently into the dharma, on both Zen and Theravada levels, I've come to an understanding that Buddhism is indeed negātive, highly renunciation-based, to a degree that perhaps justifies Nietzsche's statement that it is not life-affirming. Let's try to reduce this abstract dichotomy to the issue of women.
Women can be a challenge for men. There are risks, say, to relationships and marriage. A Buddhist approach to women for men, if we're honest with ourselves, is ultimately one of avoidance, in the vein of monasticism, Brahmacharya, and what not. A life-affirmation approach views women as a challenge: something difficult to understand, to be learnt, and ultimately understood so as to derive great value from in the form of a trusting and mutually beneficial relationship.
The latter position would regard the former, probably, thusly: You're giving up! You're disengaging from something because of the risks! The former would say of the latter: You're falling for something that is not satisfying even if you master it. The dharma will give you much greater, more reliable, long-lasting joy. At this juncture, I cannot say which is true. I usually have an opinion on topics, but this one I can say I am completely agnostic on.
So the tricky question can perhaps be expressed this simply: Is life to be renounced, or to be conquered and mastered. It would seem that traditional Buddhism would view the former imperative as wise, whereas a perhaps dominant part of me views the latter to be a more noble and courageous pursuit. Bit of confusion, though. Thoughts?
Submitted March 04, 2018 at 03:49PM by pohw http://ift.tt/2I4xAjB
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