BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Buddhism tThe purpose of Buddhism

The Buddha tells us that the purpose of studying understanding and accepting Buddhism is to know the origin of suffering and the cessation of Suffering.

The Three Poisons are the primary hindrances to this cessation:
They are Desire, Hatred and Ignorance (symbolically represented by The Rooster, the Snake and the Pig, respecively). Very often, the three animals are depicted as clutching each others' tails, thereby denoting their connection. They are inextricably linked, and need to be conquered en masse...

The antidote to these hindrances is to Practise the Four Sublime states.
These are:
Love or Loving-kindness (metta)
Compassion (karuna)
Sympathetic Joy (mudita)
Equanimity (upekkha)

The secret of effectively practising them is through Wisdom and Discernment.

In what ways are you conscious of the first three impinging on your lives?

How would you implement and practice the second Four to counter-act the first three?

It's really hard to know about ignorance since often we don't even know what we don't know I am always trying to learn, but there is always so much out there that I don't know about.

Hatred at least is a fairly obvious one, we tend to know when we dislike something.

Desire is the grey one to me, it is more obvious than ignorance, but less obvious than hatred, probably because it usually seems like a "good" thing to want something. If I hate a person, it's obvious to me and I can work on it. If I desire to help Kiva get more loan money, that doesn't stand out in my mind, it is something I am working on. So it's far less clear when that turns into a "not good thing".

I think the suffering with desire lies in the attachment part of it. If we can desire without being attached to the outcome, we will not suffer for it.

Lisa, it's not a question of Ignorance in the sense of not knowing.
It's ignorance in the sense of not giving a damn....

Desire is also known as Craving and Clinging to something. Desire is what keeps us stuck in suffering, more than anything else.....
Jilly's hit the nail on the head, with regard to Desire without attachment....

But as I have said, the four antidotes to the three poisons are above.
Implementing these is our saving grace.....

YES! This is exactly what i am trying to do in my life:

"The antidote to these hindrances is to Practise the Four Sublime states.
These are:
Love or Loving-kindness (metta)
Compassion (karuna)
Sympathetic Joy (mudita)
Equanimity (upekkha)"

Thank you Alexandra - this is very helpful.

Baby steps, baby steps, and gentle mindfulness when i mess up.

It is important to reach a mindset that is perceptive and discriminating, in the sense that we are able to discern the kind of Compassion we use, and how we implement it.

Foremost, and underpinning our intentions and thoughts, words and Actions towards others, is Compassion for them, and a desire that they be Happy and free from Suffering.
Regardless of who they are, regardless of what they are saying and doing.
However, this should not manifest as Idiot Compassion.

In other words we must also provide ourselves with protection, lest through our misguided Compassion, we end up behaving like a doormat.
Universal compassion does not mean being a walk-over.
it means holding the essential essence of a sentient being within our hearts, whilst still being able to demonstrate discernment and judgement in a manner underpinned by Wisdom.

If a man breaks into your house, and steals your property and vandalises your home, but you catch him doing it, you call the cops. You have the guy arrested, and make a statement, and bring about a prosecution and a vedict and a sentence.
but you do all of this, always aware of and recognising the need for this sentient being to escape their cycle of samsaric suffering.

Compassion underpins the essence of all our thoughts, words and actions. It is the bye-word by which we function.

And it begins with ourselves, of course.

I have never been the doormat type. I have been the type who accidentally realizes she is walking over someone else who is lying helpfully on the floor. So it's the opposite issue I am working on.

Take your shoes off....

(Well!! IT's a start - !! )

Shoes off!

I have to say, immediately, that I hope my comments are not being construed or taken as criticism.
Please take it very much, rather, as lessons learned and experienced first-hand, and behaviour patterns I have recognised in myself.
Everything I am offering here is merely given in the wish to discuss the Dhamma, not as a hard-lined judicial commentary....

From the point of view you describe, Jilly, the antidote to 'walking over someone else who is lying helpfully on the floor' is to Practice Equanimity.
Realise that when you exert a desire to behave in this way, it's an aspect of the three poisons working together.

Hatred, Greed and Desire co-exist because they are intertwined. Sometimes they are indistinguishable....

A practice I found useful (and that I later discovered is actually a form of Meditation teaching) was to visualise the person coming of worse through my actions, as dying.
Would I still be so insistent on feeding my three Poisons, and permitting my Desire to arise...?
I know this sounds harsh - like a kick in the stomach.... But it was like a bucket of cold water over me....
Then I began to realise that this other person was just as much dwelling in Samsara as I was. They too, were 'suffering' from the Three Poisons. But perhaps, they were completely unaware of this.
All the more reason then for me, to practise self-control, and evoke the 4 sublime states....
Any kind of personal reminder that brings us into ourselves, is worthwhile. Whether it be visual or a mental trigger, is immaterial. But whatever makes us realise that this other being merits Loving Kindness, Compassion, Equanimity and Sympathetic Joy, just as much as we would like to have them, will help us shed and eliminate Desire, Greed and Hatred, and rid ourselves of the shackles of suffering.
We begin to transcend it.......