The Four Noble Truths

[ellisonz]

6. I am in concurrance...

...with your explanatory model - it is all about expectations, although I would state that having "no expectations of any situation or outcome" is likewise not to be taken as a negative thing, but rather as humility. A presumption that one somehow knows the pedagogy with certainty and can represent with perfection for others is not consistent with the Dharma. Suffering is not a natural condition, it is an affliction from which to be liberated. The role of happiness in that is innate, but only finds its meaningful realization within the community. The question is within what context.

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Sanskrit: बोधिसत्त्व bodhisattva; Pali: बोधिसत्त bodhisatta) is either an enlightened (bodhi) existence (sattva) or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one (satva) for enlightenment (bodhi)." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being,"[1] although in modern publications, and especially in tantric works, this is more commonly reserved for the term jñānasattva ("awareness-being"; Tib. ཡེ་ཤེས་སེམས་དཔའ་་, Wyl. ye shes sems dpa’). Traditionally, a bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boddhisatva

This idea has lead to perhaps the "divide" between Theravada (lesser vehicle) and Mahayana (greater vehicle) thought on what the role of self is in moving beyond this preternatural stage of lay realization toward higher realization and its implications:

Arhat (Sanskrit: अर्हत arhat; Pali: arahant), in Buddhism, signifies a spiritual practitioner who has realized certain high stages of attainment. The implications of the term vary based on the respective schools and traditions.

----------

In Theravada Buddhism, it means anyone who has reached the total Awakening and attained Nirvana, including the Buddha. An arahant is a person who has destroyed greed, hatred, and delusion - the unwholesome roots which underlie all fetters - who upon decease will not be reborn in any world, having wholly cut off all fetters that bind a person to the samsara. In the Pali Canon, the word is sometimes used as a synonym for tathagata.[17]

----------

Mahāyāna Buddhists see the Buddha himself as the ideal towards which one should aim in one's spiritual aspirations. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a hierarchy of general attainments is envisioned, with the attainments of arhats and pratyekabuddha being clearly separate, and below that of fully enlightened buddhas (Skt. samyaksaṃbuddha), or tathāgatas, such as Gautama Buddha.[23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arhat

I would note that this divergence is of course not so much sectionalism but rather debate over interpretation, they are schools of thoughts. There is no debate over the fundamental basic problem of suffering and how to alleviate it in the world. Criticism and correction to any thing stated in this thread by myself, is also of course welcome and appreciated. The chance to have discussion such as this is always welcome. Mahalo.