The Challenges of Samsara and the Buddhist Path

This is a response to a post I wrote at a discussion forum called Dharma Wheel.  Here is the particular post:  Safe Escape: User Friendly Dharma

Huseng wrote:  Is there a quick solution to this horrific situation we're in? Some would like to believe there is and it might give them a lot of comfort in cherishing such thoughts, but the conquest of samsara might prove far more difficult than what one initially expects or is told.

My response was as follows.  I'm sharing it because it reveals a lot of my general opinions about samsara, the bodhisattva path, and dharma practice.

So much of what you write jives with the teachings I've encountered in Vajrayana. And I understand entirely your comments on the seriousness of our situation. I think too many people may underestimate it or let it slip to lower levels of consciousness as we're absorbed in the grueling challenges of daily life in samsara.

That said, there is a solution. I make no bones about the fact that I don't believe it's a quick solution. I believe that we're just ordinary and the stages of the path are dauntingly challenging to accomplish.

But on the upside, we do have this precious human birth, at least for this moment. So as if our very hair was on fire we can work and work and work to plant seeds or move forward. And hopefully when this body breaks up and we we continue the cycle of birth, we'll be fortunate enough to carry on some traces of seeds we've planted in this life and others.

The solution will vary according to the person and his/her predispositions (I've never been so fond of the word "capacity.") But there most certainly is a solution and we live in such a fortunate age of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Many of us are fortunate enough to live in a place with access to information and dharma, and the means to put the teachings into action. In a way many of us are very privileged. Even those of us who really struggle just to make it in life every day.

So I have hope. I think it's excellent to be realistic, and to acknowledge that the task at hand is enormous, to say the least. And that we are just ordinary. But there is a a way, and it's at our finger tips.

Thank you for your kind reminders; for we are in a serious situation. At the same time that we acknowledge this disenchantment with samsara and the dangers of birthing in other realms, we can practice happiness and direct our minds to places of bodhicitta and joy.

Thanks for listening to my two cents. Or one 

Kind wishes,
Laura