You can still eat, drink, breathe, and even be a wealthy Buddhist. The key is to elminate your attachment to such things. Attaining a state of non-attachment to this world is a quantum leap in the path towards liberation or nirvana (or moksha).
Dukka, or suffering, largely results from karma. Karma is what keeps you attached to this world. Your desire to learn this or that lesson that this world teaches is an attachment. In order to break free of samsara, the cycle of endless rebirths, it is necessary to remove karma. This is done by freeing yourself of attachments which enslaves you to this Illusion called Maya (or you can call it The Matrix because it's so fake). To be fully enlightened is to recognize this illusion for what it truly is.
Reality, by definition, does not change. What is real is Pure Consciousness and a spark of it contained in you as the True Self. Everything else is energy and energy always changes. Therefore, energy and its constructs are not real. Matter is merely energy vibrating at a lower frequency. The ultimate goal of all spirituality is to re-unite the True Self (Atman) with Pure Consciousness (Brahman).
The ego is a construct of energy which you believe to be you, but it's not real either.
We're here because of our attachments. And it is because of our ego that we have attachments.
Face it, you love the many pleasures the world has to offer the flesh. Nevermind the suffering, for you will continue to re-enter the Matrix time and again.
"Leave no one behind."
- The Bodhisattva's Vow
shr33m
