Buddhism

Personally, I like Buddhism. I believe the Eastern religions are full of wisdom, and great sources of practical spirituality. However, I do have a bone to pick with some of its principles.

For instance, a basic tenet of Buddhism is, "To live is to suffer."

In my view, reality, life and all that exists is inherently meaningless (and meaningful at the same time, I will explain.) Life cannot be inherently full of suffering, for life is different for everyone. Everyone has a unique life situation, coupled with unique experiences, memories, beliefs, situations and so on and so forth. Some people suffer a lot, while others, very little. How they, can we logically conclude that living is synonymous with suffering, when that evidently is not the case?

The truth is, life has the meaning which YOU give it. Life can be pleasurable, or full of suffering. What exactly constitutes 'suffering' anyway? Why place such a negative on a given experience? Any event filtered through lens built on a positive conceptual framework will elicit a positive response, and vice versa. So it is definitely NOT true, that living is synonymous with suffering. Although, beliefs are powerful and such a worldview may lead to a more negative experience.

Although, I will have to agree with the other noble truth that states: Desire causes suffering. When one becomes "enlightened", one stops craving desires, and thus, suffering is also eliminated.
This is TRUE, to an extent...
Desires may not cause suffering, or they might. What determines the degree of discomfort the cause is NOT the desire itself, rather, the underlying emotion behind the desire. A desire inspired and motivated from the lack of something is negative, and therefore may cause suffering. However desires can also be positive and serve as strong driving, motivational forces in the world as well.

Ironically, the desire to be free of desire is also a desire and is bound to cause suffering. Interesting...

Ultimately, it is important to approach life from a positive point-of-view. Desire is not necessarily bad, but I agree in that it can cause suffering. This is because the desire for something is the want for something you do not already have. However desires may be positive as well.