Is Buddhism Too Negative For You?

I remember clearly that when we were first introduced Buddhism in my textbook of world history, Buddhism was portrayed as a very negative religion. It said that according to Buddhism, life is suffering. I don’t remember any positive points mentioned about Buddhism, and the word ‘suffering’ has since been deeply planted in my innocent young heart. While I achieved high marks on history, only until recent years did I realise that my communist education about this religion was severely misconstrued. (of course, the only positive ‘religion’ we were ever taught, is Communism.)

In my previous job, I had five colleagues who are Thai. Luckily I get on extremely well with all of them. Perhaps I should be more accurate: they got on extremely well with everyone in the company (note there were 140 staff). I noticed that whenever the Thai girls were around, the whole atmosphere changed and people started to joke and laugh together. The Thai girls were like ambassadors and angels. It had been an tacit rule that in that department, they only recruit Thai girls and it’s done by word of mouth.

I visited Thailand two years ago. While I do not claim that I am a well travelled person, but I must admit that in all the places I’ve been (including the very civilised and wealthy nations), I have never, ever seen so many happy faces on the street, in the restaurants, and everywhere else. I’ve heard that 97% of population are Buddhists in Thailand. I thought about my textbook about Buddhism and pondered: if Buddhism is such a negative religion, how come people in this country all seem so genuinely happy? Why are they not suffering?

Last year, I started a meditation course. The teacher was a European monk. It was the first time I got to learn some ABCs about Buddhism from a Buddhist. A few months later, not only did I adopt a more positive life attitude, I became a happier person as I learnt how to attain peace in life.

From my limited encounters about Buddhists, I have come to the conclusion that: not only it’s not a negative religion; it is very enlightening!

Then, why, does it tell people that life is suffering? Why doesn’t it sing that life is happy, happy and happy?

I believe that all of us have experienced pain, losses and sadness since a very early age. Pain and suffering are universal phenomena. It is something we cannot avoid in this life time. By accepting that suffering is a natural fact of human existence, Buddhism teaches how we can discover the cure for it. Without acknowledging the existence of our problem, our problems certainly will not go away. Say if you go to see a doctor when you feel unwell, how can your doctor treat you without pointing out to you what exactly the problem is? Would you blame your doctor for being negative by telling you that you are ill?

Once we can accept that life is suffering, we can start to deal with it head on. Buddhism teaches that if there is suffering, then we must find the cause for suffering; if there is a cause for suffering, then there is a pathway for us to choose to eliminate our suffering and ultimately, to end our suffering. The pathway, as taught as the four noble truth, is where the richness, wealth of wisdom and knowledge lie. When our suffering ends, naturally we work ourselves towards freedom, peace and happiness. This path, when you take it as a whole, is far from pessimistic. In fact, they're a practical, problem-solving approach.

I now realise that, the way my textbook portrait Buddhism was as if suffering is the beginning, suffering is the end, and there is nothing we can do in between. When it is construed that way, of course Buddhism is a very negative religion.

I wonder if my history textbook has since been changed.