Pain can exist without desire not to experience it
Yes, I agree. There's suffering caused by holding onto certain ideas beyond the point they are useful or practically applicable and then there's physical pain.
My read of Buddhism is more about going with the energy flows around us rather than attempting to divert those flows.
Energy flows? Could you please be more literal? If it's a metaphor for something.
Not necessarily as a means to be free from suffering but rather in acknowledgement and reification of ones place within the universe.
Reification of ones place within the universe? Do you mean the acceptance of one's place in socio-economic hierarchies rather than rebelling against them?
I feel like the bigger picture is lost
What is the bigger picture? Socio-economic factors determining social structures?
a paradox of desiring to be free of desire.
Just view it as a simple pragmatic tool, as a crutch till you can walk, as a means to an end. If desiring to be free from desire leads to the reduction of desire then the contradiction doesn't really matter. Perhaps the next step from there is to get rid of the desire to be free from desire itself but even if it's not, it's still a net gain in peace and clarity of mind.
If instead the focus is on the flows around us and how we effect them
Again I am not exactly sure what you mean by "flows around us" but if you mean having an affect on the material world there's a limit to how much we as individuals can affect the world. For instance we can't stop ageing and death.
Little wonder that Buddhism took off in places with ridged caste systems
It's funny you say that, cause I hear that a lot on a certain imageboard too. Look, if you want to you can interpret Buddhism as anti-caste system, so I think it's a matter of people's intention in reading a text, especially religious and complex ideological texts which can be highly ambiguous.
it's now taking root in the west where a new caste system is currently crystalizing.
I am not sure about America but in Europe I see more of a turn towards European Paganism than Buddhism... Then again Buddhism in places like Japan has been an upper class thing, so there's a remote possibility that the ruling caste picks it up and then forces it on the masses. It's just that when I look demographic projections, I don't really see a massive spike in the percentage of Buddhists.
Yes, I agree. There's suffering caused by holding onto certain ideas beyond the point they are useful or practically applicable and then there's physical pain.
Energy flows? Could you please be more literal? If it's a metaphor for something.
Reification of ones place within the universe? Do you mean the acceptance of one's place in socio-economic hierarchies rather than rebelling against them?
What is the bigger picture? Socio-economic factors determining social structures?
Just view it as a simple pragmatic tool, as a crutch till you can walk, as a means to an end. If desiring to be free from desire leads to the reduction of desire then the contradiction doesn't really matter. Perhaps the next step from there is to get rid of the desire to be free from desire itself but even if it's not, it's still a net gain in peace and clarity of mind.
Again I am not exactly sure what you mean by "flows around us" but if you mean having an affect on the material world there's a limit to how much we as individuals can affect the world. For instance we can't stop ageing and death.
It's funny you say that, cause I hear that a lot on a certain imageboard too. Look, if you want to you can interpret Buddhism as anti-caste system, so I think it's a matter of people's intention in reading a text, especially religious and complex ideological texts which can be highly ambiguous.
I am not sure about America but in Europe I see more of a turn towards European Paganism than Buddhism... Then again Buddhism in places like Japan has been an upper class thing, so there's a remote possibility that the ruling caste picks it up and then forces it on the masses. It's just that when I look demographic projections, I don't really see a massive spike in the percentage of Buddhists.