I guess the question I had was, if Falun Gong's fatal flaw is its definition of life as suffering, or desire for self as suffering, does Buddhism share the same fault?
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I guess the question I had was, if Falun Gong's fatal flaw is its definition of life as suffering, or desire for self as suffering, does Buddhism share the same fault?
Anyone who judges that life is suffering and that desire is suffering or is a cause of suffering is going to be causing suffering.
I thought that the quote from buddha was that 'unenlightened life is suffering', not that 'life is suffering'.. However, the issue is how to achieve total enlightenment, to end suffering - my point is that total enlightenment cannot be achieved through denial of desire. Mechanically, this is the case since - for one - we contain will/emotions which themselves need to be accelerated into light/understanding - for us to be totally enlightened. Attempting to drop off the physical and emotional bodies is not total enlightenment, rather - it is death.
So if I understand right, Buddhism teaches that desire is suffering, but that we cannot simply eliminate suffering by denying desire. There is instead a path of right living that allows the ending of suffering.
In your assessment, the big difference between Buddhism is different from Falun Gong and others in as much as it doesn't deny desire, but it has some other set of paths.
(I don't understand Buddhism well enough to know if the eight paths do or do not deny desire.)
Thank you for taking the time to visit with me.