Apr 25, 2012 -- 11:01AM, dio wrote:

And Dhamma is?

Theravada Buddhism

Dhamma is a Pali word for which there  is no simple translation into English.

S.N. Goenka is a lineage holder of the Theravada [Doctrine of the Elders]. According to Goenka:

www.dhamma.org/en/goenka.shtml

Mr. S. N. Goenka

The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal

The Buddha taught that:

www.dhammaweb.net/buddha.html  ...  
   
Buddha

The Buddha once said: "One who sees the Dhamma sees me. One who sees me sees the Dhamma."

In the Cakkavatti Sutta he taught:

Be your own firm support [lit., island]. Bhikkhus, be your own refuge; do not take any other refuge. Let the Dhamma be your firm support, let the Dhamma be your refuge; do not take any other refuge.

Page 347

Cakkavatti Sutta Digha Nikaya Burma Pitaka Association Rangoon Burma [Myanmar]

Becoming one's own refuge does not mean that anyone can become one's own refuge, merely because the Buddha has said this to the Bhikkhus. It means practise with diligence, destroy the Ten Fetters which bind a person to Rebirth and become an Arahant, Deathless.

Dhamma is The Way to Liberation and Deathlessness is its nature.

A student deos not have to be Deathless to understand this. It is sufficient for the student to know that Arahantship is the Goal of the practice.

www.thisismyanmar.com/nibbana/webu02.htm

www.thisismyanmar.com/nibbana/rdhamma4.h...

When a worldly person ordains as a Bhikkhu, he renounces the worldy life, along with his name. During the Ordination, he is given a Dhamma name.

Apr 26, 2012 -- 12:00PM, dio wrote:

I believe there is a way to end my suffering. There are two kinds, that which you can't avoid and that which we create ourselves. We can end our subjective suffering. For example poverty old age illness and dying are unavoidable. Stressing about these things is the suffering we can control. I am thinking Buddha taught there is a way to end not the objective universal suffering but to end the subjective suffering we create through stressing fretting planning schemeing and worrying about poverty illness and death.

Dio,

Thank you for your response.

Whilst I note your comments, I also note that they do not reflect what is being taught in Theravada Buddhism. They do not reflect Dhamma.

The Buddha taught how to end all suffering permanently.

However, each person has to accept both the responsibility and the duty to act.

Contrary to what others may believe about Theravada Buddhism, it offers a Complete Path to Enlightenment.

Dukkha is Universal Suffering. From the time of the Buddha to the present day, 2500 years, the Dhamma has always been taught by Deathless Arahants. Teaching Dhamma has never been entrusted to worldly human beings, subject to birth, aging, sickness, and death.

The Enlightened Sangha have been both the Guardians and the Teachers of the Dhamma. Millions of Asian peope have realised Nibbana according to this Teaching.

To export it to the West does  not require vast football stadiums where conspicuous rituals are performed. It only requires the infrastructure for Four Bhikkhus to live and practice according to the Vinaya, the Code of Discipline.

Quite what the rest of the world is doing, I am not so sure. But, in my locale, that infrastructure is in place and the requisite number of ordained Bhikkhus are now living and practising Dhamma. From these humble beginnings, the Dhamma may now take root in the West.

Dio, why do you call getting old and dying "suffering"?

Apr 27, 2012 -- 12:32PM, dio wrote:

I thought this was what changed the young prince Sidddhartha when he left the palace, he saw poverty, disease, old age and death, and from this he formed his doctrine of suffering.

Again, WHY do you view poverty, old age, and death as suffering? Why do you feel people facing poverty, old age, and death suffer? Do you think that everyone who is poor, who is old, or who is dying is suffering?