What could be more trustworthy than a teacher that says "don't take my word for it, but here it is, I show it to you, now disover it for yourself"
When you know for yourselves that these qualities ... lead to welfare & to happiness — then you should enter and remain in them.
Quote via:: Buddhism | Paul Copplestone
Might be a streak of [[my antiauthoritarianism]]…
It is not so that Buddhism says all life is suffering, that suffering is unavoidable, that we will suffer, that suffering is… It is not so focussed on suffering. The Pali word Dukkha ([[Duhkha]] in Sanskrit) has more depth; like stress and dissatisfaction.
Looking at life from the standpoint of evolution this is certainly true. Every living organism seeks to live, survive. This induces stress. Either to gather nutrients or to avoid becoming nutrition oneself. .
Why we have to experience this as a negative emotion is another question.
I am not sure this means that what previously had caused suffering will cease to do so, or disappear in it's entirety. I'll give a banale example:
In our old house, where I lived from I was 8 until I was 19 I smashed my toe aganst the stair railings. Had done it a hundred times before, but this time, instead of trying to not feel the pain, instead of distracting my self with profane exclamations, shaking of limbs etcetera I tried to focus on the pain and the pain alone.
Turns out the pain was lonely and appreciated my company, so it let me off the hook a bit. The feeling was there, the physical feeling, the somewhat metallic throbbing in my toe. I twas intens, just as intense, if not more, but it did not hurt.
I did not go all the way to neutral, but the feeling was almost neutral. A lot easier to handle, I was a lot calmer, there was less shouting, less flailing of limbs, less… suffering.