On the inherent pessimism of parinibbana as mere cessation

Even in the time of the Buddha, this seems to have been an issue (an9.34):

There he addressed the mendicants: “Reverends, extinguishment is bliss! Extinguishment is bliss!”

When he said this, Venerable Udāyī said to him, “But Reverend Sāriputta, what’s blissful about it, since nothing is felt?”

“The fact that nothing is felt is precisely what’s blissful about it.

The main idea seems to be that, as one experiences more peaceful and still states of meditation, up to the cessation of perception and feeling, the states that contain more experience seem relatively like painful afflictions.

Like, if cessation literally feels better than existing, why not? It’s not your fault that cessation feels better than experience. They should have built a better existence if they wanted you to hang around forever :stuck_out_tongue:

Why believe the Buddha on dukkha but not on rebirth and kamma though?

Like, you could cherry-pick teachings of the Buddha to justify suicide, but you could do the same for many other spiritual teachings, or as an atheist materialist.

Logically, if you don’t know 100% for sure about rebirth, kamma and existence, you might as well live out your lifespan in case you are wrong?

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