LaterComesQuickly

Happy Monday to all! Let us start off the work week with some thinking, doesn’t that sound fun?

In the last few months, I have been studying Buddhism off and on and as the majority of you know, I have been (and continue to be) a Christian since my adolescence. I am not studying Buddhism to convert to any new religion but instead I find that many of the concepts are helpful in my attempts to understand Christ’s teachings better.

Sidenote: Ghandi once said that “God is Truth”, but then later said that “Truth is God”. I believe that there are universal truths that are consistent in every pure religion, that these truths are laws as sure as gravity and physics. I believe that the teachings of Christ and Buddha can compliment each other to the benefit of those that practice either.

I don’t believe that Buddha was divine in the sense that he was worthy of worship or idolatry. However, there is much to the story of Buddha that requires a leap in faith just as the story of Jesus. In this I ask for tolerance as I deny the divinity of one mystical teacher of truth for the sake of another. Christ is the path that I am on for this life.

What is worth admitting though, is that it would be hard to accept one teacher’s lessons as truth and then deny the other as heresy, as there are many concepts universal to Christianity and Buddhism; such as the concept of a higher plane of existence than this one, the need for great love to be shown to others, self-denial…etc.

Going back to the title of this rant, in Christianity we find the driving force behind humanity’s negative condition to be sin. That being to err against God’s laws, to miss the mark, to do wrong…etc. Humanity is born with an innate ability to go against God’s creation.

However, in my low-level understanding of Buddhism (or at least the teachings of Buddha) imply that the cause of humanity’s negative condition is, in fact, suffering. They are called the Four Noble Truths:

Dukkha - The Nature of Suffering
Samudaya - The Origin of Suffering
Nirodha - The End of Suffering
Marga - The Way Leading to the End of Suffering

In the way leading to the end of suffering, we find the Noble Eightfold Path which cover 3 areas: Morality, Concentration and Wisdom in the following 8 concepts:

1. Right Speech
2. Right Actions
3. Right Livelihood
4. Right Effort
5. Right Mindfulness
6. Right Concentration
7. Right Understanding
8. Right Thoughts

If these are the paths that we eliminate suffering through, then it stands to logic that violating these concepts are the causes of suffering.

Now this, to me, is a much more abstract mindset than “Thou shalt not kill” but to further add to the thoughts are the 5 Precepts that the non-monk/nun populous should adhere to:

1. To refrain from taking life.
2. To refrain from taking that which is not given.
3. To refrain from sensual (sexual) misconduct.
4. To refrain from lying.
5. To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness

Yet these still feel a world away from the Old Testament concept of an angry God and His ten commandments. They feel more like a goal than a forbidden action. However if we were to violate any of these precepts, we would, no doubt, create some level of suffering, either in ourselves or in others, which then in turn takes us outside of the fourth noble truth’s goal of following a path that ends suffering.

So to bring this all back together (again), we have the concept that man will naturally (due to his fallen nature) act contrary to God’s plan and therefore sin. This separates us from God and requires redemption to right. Christ’s death removes the guilt of sin in God’s eyes and Christ’s teaching puts on the path of the Kingdom of God with teachings of loving all as self, forgiveness, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, charity, giving to the poor, freeing the oppressed…etc.

And the Buddha’s teachings seem to imply that suffering is the root to all the worlds woes, yet through correct actions we can halt our contribution to the suffering of ourselves and those around us. By practicing the Noble Eightfold Path (which in concept, shares many of the same characteristics as Christ’s teachings) we can achieve true peace, enlightenment and (in the case of Buddhist teachings) finally relieve ourselves of negative karma and cease the cycle of rebirth into suffering.

In many ways, it seems this is the chicken or the egg all over again. Is this plane of existence difficult because we sin (as is our fallen human nature) and therefore cause suffering, or is it difficult because we suffer and this causes us to sin (i.e. violate the Eightfold Path)

I do not know if there is a right answer to this question, nor am I sure it matters much since a right way of living in relation to self and others is essential to end both sin and suffering. But I would like to know your thoughts as we naval-gaze together. (Your belly button or mine?)

If you made it this far, I sincerely thank you for reading and I apologize for the potential headache you have acquired in your travels!