Buddhism On Our Predicament And Its Solution Essay, Research Paper

Buddhism is a unique religion. The teacher of Buddhism is Siddahartha Gautama Buddha. Siddahartha was the son of the king of Nepal. Buddha?s father was warned that his son was going to become a monarch and that he would be murdered. So, Siddaharta?s father imprisoned him within the palace so that he would never see anyone suffer or grow old.

When Siddaharta grew older, he wanted to know what it was like on the other side of the palace walls; just like we all think the grass is greener on the other side. When Siddaharta escaped, he saw people suffering, people that were dying, and people that were sick. He couldn?t understand why this could happen, how could people suffer like this in a kingdom that was run by his father, who was such a loving and giving man? Upon this discovery, Siddaharta escaped from the palace and became a wanderer. In his wanderings, Buddha came to have many followers that wrote down his teachings. Buddha was not considered, and is still not considered, a God by the followers of his teachings. Buddha is merely a teacher, he taught his followers how to reach nirvana; which is a state of complete peace and love. According to Mahayana Buddhism, Buddha is a manifestation of the absolute reality and salvation. The Buddha?s followers wrote down his teachings in the scriptures of Buddhism which are called the Three Vascas and the Tripitaka; there are a few others, but these are the main ones.

Buddha taught his followers how to attain nirvana. The method used in this process is called The Four Noble Truths. These explain what our main problem in life is, and how to get past it and attain nirvana.

The first Noble Truth states our problem in life. Our problem is that of suffering. Everything we do, causes suffering for us. Being born is suffering, living is suffering, love is suffering, and setting goals for ourselves is suffering. This is believed because we are disappointed when we don?t achieve the goals we set for ourselves, or when our loved ones are sick or die, it causes suffering for us. Everything we do causes us to suffer. The one thing that all human beings have in common is that we all suffer. No matter what class someone is in, or how underprivileged a person is, we all suffer regardless. Suffering is a bond between all humans, it?s something that everyone understands and can comprehend.

Buddhism teaches that birth, rebirth, and death are all a continuing part of the process of change. When you die, your soul is separated from your body, and it craves life. The soul then seeks out a new existence. There are six different realms that one may be reborn into after death according to Buddhism. These realms are gods, demigods, human beings, animals, hungry ghosts, and the hells. These realms include three relatively happy states, and three relatively miserable states. The realms of the gods, demigods, and human beings are considered more happiness and less suffering; while the realms of animals, hungry ghosts, and the hells are considered relatively miserable because living beings there suffer. You are reborn into these different realms, according to how you lived your last life. If you performed a lot of good deeds in your last life, you?ll be reborn into one of the relatively happy states, but if you were unwholesome in your past life you?ll be born into one of the relatively miserable states. The Buddha pointed out that whatever one is reborn as is not permanent. The realm into which one is reborn and one?s conditions of rebirth are determined by one?s past and present actions. This is referred to as the law of karma (Spirit Online?). Due to the force of the karma, people are reborn in an endless process, from one realm to another. There is no permanent rest in this cycle of rebirth and death, declares Buddhism. Only when the eight-fold path is followed, can an individual reach nirvana, and then they are finally free from this eternal process.

The second Noble Truth states the cause of our suffering. This noble truth states that there is an origin for suffering and that the origin of suffering is attachment, desire and the illusion of selfhood. We become attached to things and people and we set goals for ourselves. When the people or things that we care for are harmed, we suffer and we suffer and are disappointed when we don?t attain the goals we set for ourselves. Even when we do attain these goals, it causes us to set higher goals which are harder to attain, and thus we set ourselves up for disappointment and suffering. Another way that we cause ourselves to suffer is by thinking that we are a self. This causes suffering for us as well. According to Buddha, you aren?t a self, we are just heaps of events causing other events to occur, and thus we are deluded into thinking that we are a self. This causes suffering because we then set goals for ourselves because we think we are a self, and when those goals are not attained, we suffer since we aren?t satisfied with what we have accomplished.

The third Noble Truth tells Buddha?s followers the cure to all their sufferings. The cure to end suffering is to become free from all desire. One must extinguish them and realize that they are not a self. Buddhism says that in order to end all suffering, one must give up all that they care about because caring causes suffering. The fourth Noble Truth is about the therapy, the way. ?The way? refers to The Eightfold Path, which discusses the means to salvation and nirvana. Nirvana is a state of supreme bliss. It is a ?liberation from suffering?and to one?s bondage to the repeating cycle of death and rebirth, which is brought about by desire. Nirvana is attainable in life through moral discipline and the practice of yoga, leading to the extinction of all attachment and ignorance? (?nirvana?).

The Eightfold Path has eight elements that work to support you like legs. It?s a working together. It is a process of bringing the Eightfold Path into your mind and using it as a reflective teaching so you can consider what it really means.

The Eightfold Path is grouped into three different sections, with the eight elements separated under the three sections. The first section is titled wisdom and it contains right understanding and right aspiration. The second section is called morality and it contains right speech, right action, and right livelihood. The third and final section is entitled concentration; it contains the last three of the Eightfold Path, which are right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. These events don?t occur in a linear fashion or in a sequence, they occur together. The Eightfold Path simply teaches us to reflect on the importance of taking responsibility for what we say and do in our lives. This enables one to attain nirvana because ?it avoids the extreme of self-torture that weakens ones intellect and the extreme of self-indulgence that retards ones spiritual progress? (Dharma & Nirvana).

Augustine looked at our predicament in a different light. He stated that our chief plight in life was sin. Sin was the root of all evil in Augustine?s eyes. Sin was the absence of good, and we will evil and sin to come into our lives. We are responsible for our evilness. Sin for Augustine is the failure to realize the powers that God has given to us and the misuse of those powers as well. Due to the fact that we sin, we suffer according to Augustine. Suffering is inevitable when you are a sinner, because you won?t be satisfied. No matter how much you get, you?re still going to want more, to be richer or more successful, to have more of something, or for something to be better. Augustine says that you can?t get meaning or purpose from material things, so no matter how much you have you?ll never be satisfied.

According to Augustine, attachment isn?t evil. We are created creatures of intellect and will, and therefore we should love and desire certain things. There is nothing wrong with caring in the eyes of Augustine; it is good to care and to have attachments. The problem with attachment comes into play when you desire or are attached to something that isn?t good, something that is wrong; that is when attachment becomes evil. Augustine thinks of desire in the same manner as he thinks of attachment. Desire is only evil when you desire something that is wrong or evil. It is also evil when we desire something for the wrong reasons.

Augustine believes that the self is good. You become a self as you grow and learn. To desire to be a self is good, but we, as a people, have become ?twisted? selves. We abuse our God given powers and desire that which is evil or wrong.

In my opinion, Buddhism is a little far fetched. I believe that to care about someone or something is a beautiful thing. Caring is an essential part of my way of life. If you don?t care about anything but attaining nirvana, it seems like it is a very selfish way of life. Buddhism basically states that you should only care you and how you can get into nirvana and escape the endless cycle of reincarnation. In my opinion nirvana is not our ultimate good, our ultimate good includes helping and caring for other people. In Buddhism, nirvana is just attaining ultimate happiness for you, and not caring for other people in the process, so I don?t believe it is like our ultimate good.

Buddhism and Augustine view things in different manners. Buddhism states that the root of all evil and our main problem in life is suffering. Augustine on the other hand says that our main problem in life is sin, which is the misuse or the failure to realize our God given powers. Buddhism states that the root of our suffering comes from us being attached to others and from us being disillusioned into thinking that we are a self.

1. Dharma & Nirvana. August 1996. 15 Nov. 1999. .

2. ?Nirvana.? The Concise Electronic Encyclopedia, Third Edition. 1994. Columbia University Press. 15 Nov. 1999. .

3. Spirit Online: Community, Education & Information. May 1998. Spirit Online. 15 Nov. 1999. .

4. Venerable Pannyavaro. Buddhist Information Network. May 1995. Buddha Dharma Education Association, Inc. 28 Oct. 1999.