BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Buddhism Buddha's teachings about ignorance

"According to the Buddha, the very origin of life in this world is rooted in ignorance. Since life arose out of ignorance, ignorance is the first problem to be solved in order to find a permanent solution to the problem of suffering in our lives.

According to the early tenets of Buddhism, the root cause of ignorance must be first ascertained and dealt with, and this becomes possible only when we practice mindfulness and observe life closely to realize how we have become what we are in the first place and what we are becoming moment to moment through our thoughts and deeds. "

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It's a knotty problem, really, isn't it? The Buddha teaches Suffering, and the end of suffering.
Simple.

Ha ha ha.
Simple my foot.
Simple it may be, but "easy"...?

Don't bet on it!

That was one thing I struggled with and still do at times. It is all supposed to be so "simple". Nothing for me is ever simple LOL

A friend who is an acupunturist/Buddhist practitioner tells me that she equates ignorance with phlegm--very sticky and hard to release from the body. As ignorance is very difficult to conquer in the mind stream. Keep meditating, it gradually wears away at misconceptions, even the cherished ones!

Very little of any value is easy. What works for me is what Buddha said:

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."

My belief is anything but simple. I arrived here at this point in my spiritual growth from years of study and exploring to find what works for me.

I really like the phlegm mental image, that does seem quite appropriate! Ignorance is challenging to remove but oh so rewarding when it gets done