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TL;DR: Buddhists believe that ceasing existence is the only way to cease suffering
Theravada Buddhists believe that suffering is the nature of existence and that it is cyclical. To free yourself from suffering, you must free yourself from existence. This process is explained in the Buddha’s teachings of The Four Noble Truths:
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Dukkha Everyone suffers. Suffering is part of living in this world. Because Buddhists believe in reincarnation, they believe that suffering is cyclical – you can come up with short term solutions to reduce suffering, but suffering will always return. They name this endless cycle of existence samsara and the greatest spiritual goal in Buddhism is to escape it.
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Samudaya All suffering has a causation. You need to understand where suffering stems from in order to end it. The Buddha taught that most suffering stems from desire (tanha), which is inexhaustible and fuels dissatisfaction, jealousy, and greed.
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Nirodha Suffering can end. By ending suffering, you can escape samsara and reach enlightenment in life. After death, this becomes a final liberation from existence, referred to as Nirvana.
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Magga You can end suffering. In order to end suffering, you need to rid yourself of all desires. This is possible by following the Buddha’s teachings, such as the Middle Way, and through meditation.
I really hope those of us who sometimes feel that way are just doing it wrong...
For as long as I can remember I've held the opinion that existence is suffering yet I couldn't agree more with your comment.
I hope I'm wrong. I want to be wrong, I want life to be worth living for the majority of people. But I can't believe that it is for anyone.
Sending thoughts your way. I hope you're able to find some light.
Just to share: things which have helped me include therapy, exercise (I know, I know... not much of a patch, but still), and a slight recalibration of expectation. I found this notion helpful: that a psychologically rich life is a worthy goal in itself - beyond the frenzied pursuit of happiness, or ambition.
This isn't even pessimism, either.
Try eating without hunger.
Sleeping without fatigue.
Loving without having ever been lonely.
To live is to suffer. Suffering and death are the only two absolutes in life. I'm also of the opinion that the pains of life (grief, heartache, physical pain, illnesses etc...) far outweigh any joys of life however even to those whom may think differently, the joys of life don't negate the pain. If a person is born to the ritchest family on Earth, has all his/her needs met, doesn't want for anything and is the happiest person on Earth and the only pain he/she ever feels in life is a sprained ankle then the experience of spraining their ankle is still valid. They can't just stop the pain by exchanging it with some of their happiness and that is a pain that could've been avoided if their parents didn't bring them into this world. Furthermore, were they not born, they wouldn't be missing out on any of the joys of life because they wouldn't be sentient to know what they're missing out on. The atoms floating around us don't care that they were never able to become human. If a person has children then they are selfishly exposing that child to a life of pain.
Perhaps you could elaborate further on your last point? About having children? Seemed a bit out of the blue compared to the rest of what you said but interesting.
Sorry for the delayed reply, I kept meaning to respond but kept putting it off, ADHD is a b*tch.
I don't believe my last point was out of the blue at all. The understanding that existence is pain has directly lead to the antinatalist mindset, antinatalism being the belief that procreation is an inheritley negative act. I am myself an antinatalist as I believe that bringing life into this world, life that will inevitably suffer in one way or another, is amoungst the cruelest things people can do.
Ultimately, the absence of suffering is positive whereas the absence of joy is neutral. Therefore its better to not experience either than to experience both.
If we assume that most people (the vast near-total majority of humankind) would say they were happy to have been born, is there an argument that not having children (who therefore are also overwhelmingly likely to be grateful for their birth) is depriving them of the experience of life? Even if it does involve some suffering?
All life involves some suffering at some point. We suffer from the grief of a lost loved one. We suffer from maladies. We may suffer from a job loss. A car accident. And, so forth. Some suffering is immeasurably worse than others (slavery, addiction, pain). Suffering is a part of life.
Make the case or invite a friend to comment!