When you reach enlightenment, there will not be a self to experience the pain and suffering and rebirth ceases. But striving to end suffering itself may prevent one from reaching enlightenment. Is it realistic?
Mr2005
Don't shoot the messenger, give me the gun
- Sep 25, 2018
- 3,622
GoodPersonEffed
Brevity is my middle name, but my name was TL
- Jan 11, 2020
- 6,727
If you still have a nervous system, you still have a life. It's your perspective that changes. You recognize there is no self, but as long as you have a brain, there will still be perceptions of a self, a personality. Trying to escape samsara/suffering is likened to trying to escape a burning building, and was the main point of the Buddha's quest for enlightenment, to end suffering. Achieving enlightenment will lead to less suffering while still embodied, but the body will still feel the pain of injury and aging.
I highly recommend Bikkhu Bodhi's book, In the Buddha's Words.
There's a Zen saying:
Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.
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