by Temujin

Recently I started (again) looking over some of the main points of Buddhism. Whilst I very much doubt I'll convert, it seems to me to be much more understandable and useful than most other religions. Because of this, and because I doubt many users here know much about it either, I'm going to write a few essays about certain aspects of it. Obviously I'm no expert, and my sources are online so there may be minor inaccuracies.

Essay 1 - The Four Noble Truths

These are the central teaching of the Buddha. The Four Noble Truths are:

• The Truth of Suffering
• The Truth of the Cause of Suffering
• The Truth of the End of Suffering and
• The Truth of the Path leading to the End of Suffering

The Buddha did speak of happiness, but added that happiness is impermanent and when it leaves, suffering occurs. The temporary distraction of impermanent pleasure is why many are unaware of the inevitability of suffering.

The Cause of Suffering is twofold. The first cause is Craving, the second is Ignorance. Because of the limitlessness of our desires, we are never satisfied. Consider this, if I offer you a million pounds or a billion pounds, almost everyone would want a billion. But youc an live happily for your whole life with a million, so why the desire for even more? What could you possibly spend it on? When desires become too strong, people become liars, cheats and greed-driven. They may also become addicted to various intoxicants (drifter!). When desires are denied, an individual may become angry, which can also have negative consequences.

So, where does craving come from? Buddhism teaches that it grows out of Ignorance and feeds from it. People lack the ability to see the truth, and crave things. However, by developing the mind through meditation and acquiring wisdom through study, the truth of suffering and the impermanence of life can be seen. By overcoming Craving and Ignorance, Enlightenment can be achieved.

So, how to end suffering? Firstly, you must have confidence in the teaching of the Buddha. If you visit a doctor and get medicine, you won't recover from your illness if you refuse to take it. Removing desire and ignorance will cause anger to cease also, and will remove suffering. The more you overcome Craving and Ignorance, the happier you will become. When Enlightenment is achieved, great compassion and perfect wisdom will be attained, allowing the enlightened to help countless others. However, Nirvana cannot be adequately described without experience, it is ineffable.

The method to ending suffering is the Middle Way. In his early life, the Buddha was a prince who lived in luxury. Later, he became a wandering ascetic (think hair shirts, crappy food and no shampoo). He later realised that Enlightenment came only from the path between these two extremes of indulgence and torture. The Buddha created a cure for suffering, and it contains both mental and physical aspects. This is the Noble Eightfold Path, which I'll write about next time.

Well, that was a bit heavy, so thanks for reading it all (or skimming to the end, for those of you who are Craven:p). I'll be honest, I've essentially paraphrased all that from a pretty good site I found. I'll post the link after the last essay.