The Fifth Noble Truth: Suffering is only bad if its your own

To mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, this weekend pro-life supporters gathered to protest abortion. In Boise this number was around 400. The day after these protesters gathered, their opponents rallied to to show their support of Roe v. Wade. One of these was a neighbor from my childhood.

I remember her as a wild, slightly obnoxious but affectionate girl that I called a friend. We had nothing in common except proximity and perhaps age (she is a year or so younger). Since I was raised by Christians and she was influenced by a combination of Eastern mysticism and paganism, we fought over politics and religion.

We rarely saw each other after high school, and the encounters were disheartening. She lived an aimless, wild life, and not a particularly happy one. Our email correspondence was painful. A few years ago we reconnected and she told me that she had become a Buddhist. There is no denying its positive effect on her life. She met a man she loves, they got married, they have a dog. (His name is Buddha.) She is calmer. She is sober. She is studying for an advanced degree.

She is an intellectual.

I prefer the loud-mouthed adolescent to the condescending adult.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, at Sunday's gathering, my misguided friend said, ''When American women are barred from accessing health services at the whim of a politician's religious beliefs, we are not in a democracy at all."

Was she at the wrong rally?

It is easy to defend abortion within the framework of a reckless life. Abortion is a safety net for the lazy and imprudent. Within this context, abortion makes sense: I am foolish and I acted foolishly. I will cover my actions by having an abortion. Abortion is a right I should defend at all costs.

It is difficult to defend abortion when you are a Buddhist. The prudent lifestyle does not support abortion in any context. It is superfluous. Not only is it a threat to a virtuous and prudent society, it inflicts suffering on someone weaker--a fundamental harm that Buddhism (and Feminism and Liberalism, one might argue) aims to correct.

What is Buddhism's First Noble Truth? "The Truth of Suffering. The Buddha's discovery of the solution to the problem of suffering began with the recognition that life is suffering...If people examine their own experiences or look at the world around them, they will see that life is full of suffering."

It might be sufficient to say that abortion is a part of mankind's suffering and ought to be borne. The problem with that logic is "the end of suffering is the final goal of the Buddha's Teaching..." Common sense tells us that Buddhists would be inclined to be pro-life, working to end the "ill will, greed and desire" that would compel a woman fully capable of either raising a child or giving it up for adoption to abort it.

Where was the pursuit of the noble goal of ending suffering wherever it's found, however discomfiting the discovery, in my friend's statement? Where is it in the larger Buddhist communities?

I must conclude that to the average Feminist Buddhist suffering is only tragic when it's your own.