Tag Archives: Suffering

So Many Shootings

Regulation, Words, , , ,

I could not believe it when I saw an online report that two journalists were killed while on live television.  Then it soon became clear that this was indeed a new high profile shooting.

.DSC07553  This shot from Anderson Cooper 360 shows people grieving from this loss, which occurred in such a very public way.  On the average, eighty lives are lost per day in this country due to this gun violence.   Andy Parker, father of the young reporter has gone on many shows since the death of his daughter yesterday morning, to appeal for better regulation of gun possession.

Don Lemon’s show tonight was excellent on this topic this evening.  He had Andy Parker on with a panel of others who have lost children in this way.

My heart went out to Andy Parker, because I know he does not yet know how much he is going to grieve and suffer.

Take this suffering, and multiply it by at least 100 for the suffering of those who knew his lovely daughter Alison, and by another 100 for the suffering of those who knew her less well, but are reminded  yet again, of their own past unnecessary losses, and by another 100 for all other people in the USA who also lost people they love on that same day.and the result is a deep suffering perhaps equal to 1,000,000  (if one can quantify suffering at all).  Add in all the days of the rest of Andy Parker’s life, because he will suffer for the rest of his life, and so on.

The  burden of  senseless suffering from gun violence in the USA is staggering.

I favor regulation of gun ownership for the sake of us all.

 

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

Philosophy, Religion, , ,

Buddha taught that there were four noble truths.

Buddha's appearance, AUG 17, 2014 220px-Gandhara_Buddha_(tnm) And they posted this exact same photograph, next to which was the additional information that it was from Afghanistan (100 -200 CE, which is the same as AD.

As they were so nicely summarized by BBC under their category of “Religions” on 2009-11-17, the four truths are, and I quote,:

  1. The truth of suffering
  2. The truth of the origin of suffering
  3. The truth of the cessation of suffering
  4. The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering

The BBC article goes on to say that the first two are concerned with the “diagnosis” of suffering.

By implication the last two are related to the treatment and cure of suffering.

And here fits the “Hippocratic Oath”,

  •  First of all, do no harm.

Surprisingly, this oath is nearly contemporary with Buddha’s teaching life.

I would love to wave a wand and remove all suffering of everybody and every creature.  As well aware of suffering as I am, there is lots of room for improvement on helpful skills to do so.