Not sure if this world has to be suffering, but it does often seem to be. I'm not sure I buy the idea that suffering is the result of desire. Pain can exist without desire not to experience it, but I suppose pain needn't be "suffering" in that case, eh. My read of Buddhism is more about going with the energy flows around us rather than attempting to divert those flows. Not necessarily as a means to be free from suffering but rather in acknowledgement and reification of ones place within the universe. Desire is of course a big part of that: ego wanting to be different or to have different things. But with focus on desire as answer to suffering, I feel like the bigger picture is lost, and more it creates a paradox of desiring to be free of desire. If instead the focus is on the flows around us and how we effect them, the paradox never need arise. Little wonder that Buddhism took off in places with ridged caste systems, and that it's now taking root in the west where a new caste system is currently crystalizing.
My read of Buddhism is more about going with the energy flows around us rather than attempting to divert those flows. Not necessarily as a means to be free from suffering but rather in acknowledgement and reification of ones place within the universe. Desire is of course a big part of that: ego wanting to be different or to have different things. But with focus on desire as answer to suffering, I feel like the bigger picture is lost, and more it creates a paradox of desiring to be free of desire. If instead the focus is on the flows around us and how we effect them, the paradox never need arise.
Little wonder that Buddhism took off in places with ridged caste systems, and that it's now taking root in the west where a new caste system is currently crystalizing.