What you direct the focus of your mind to will tend to gain prominence in your life.
By the buddhist focus upon suffering and upon suppression of natural emotional responses they are, IMO, suggesting deadening ourselves rather than addressing the issues, inner or otherwise... It's like the religious version of using anti-depressants to hide oneself from the realities of life. (FWIW, I have nothing against using anti-depressants at all, within reason.)
I mean, how depressing is that? To equate all life, all existence purely as suffering? Keep in mind that these ideas were formulated by a Princewho, pampered to the extreme his entire life, never seeing how the rest of the world lived, was shocked leaving his little garden of eden to find a slum outside. (Or that's how the story goes.)
Why should all the items listed above be about suffering?
No doubt buddhist masters gain some amount of practical results. I acknowledge that, I respect that. But I spent too much time with Christianity telling me all life is sinful to spend much in another religion that makes basically the same philosophical claim of the nature of existence
Well said!
Yes, we all suffer at times. Life is bittersweet and there are no guarantees that all will be sunshine and bliss. However, I still prefer living, feeling, and embracing this existence instead deadening myself to it and calling it all "suffering."