just so ya know

One of the nice things about Buddhism is that you become very aware of how everything flows right on by.  You first notice this about the good stuff, but then you begin to realize that the same is true of the bad stuff (and then, when you get really smart you figure out that it's not so important to call stuff "good" and "bad").  I mention this by way of noting that I'm not as bummed out as yesterday's post might have made me seem.

Comments

[greg]

"when you get really smart you figure out that it's not so important to call stuff 'good' and 'bad'"

By Buddha, I think she's got it!
"It's all good"

I think that some of the 'downsides' you mentioned about Buddhism are actually addressed by different branches of Buddhism.
One (Mahayana?) might be more hospitable or responsive to the criticisms you offered. In any case, as one guy put it,

"The Buddha based his teachings on a frank assessment of our plight as humans: there is unsatisfactoriness and suffering in the world. No one can argue this fact. Dukkha lurks behind even the highest forms of worldly pleasure and joy, for, sooner or later, as surely as night follows day, that happiness must come to an end. Were the Buddha's teachings to stop there, we might indeed regard them as pessimistic and life as utterly hopeless. But, like a doctor who prescribes a remedy for an illness, the Buddha offers both a hope (the third Noble Truth) and a cure (the fourth). The Buddha's teachings thus give cause for unparalleled optimism and joy. The teachings offer as their reward the noblest, truest kind of happiness, and give profound value and meaning to an otherwise grim existence. One modern teacher summed it up well: 'Buddhism is the serious pursuit of happiness.' "

I hope that helps.
Coffee helps too.
And Wicked Wednesdays with the Single Mom', I hear...(!)

"It's all good"

[g]

"Embrace your suffering, and let it reveal to you the way to peace."

~~ Thich Nhat Hahn