Since I’m going to be living in Japan and starting (Christian) churches there I’m trying to get a better understanding of the people and culture. I recently read a book called “Beyond Buddhism” by J. Isamu Yamamoto. Having never really taken the time to study exactly what Buddhism is about, it was very enlightening (heh) to read up on it.
The Buddha’s life is surrounded by myth and legend, making it somewhat difficult to piece together an accurate biography. The earliest written accounts were written around 300 years after his death. It’s generally accepted that Sidhartha Gautamma (The Buddha) was born in the sixth century BC in India. For all you Sunday School students out there, this was roughly around the time of the Babylonian captivity. Siddhartha was born a prince, into a life of wealth and privilege.
Legend has it that it was foretold that if Siddhartha remained in his fathers house he would grow up to be a great ruler, but if he ventured out into the world he would instead become the Buddha, a remover of ignorance from the world. Desiring that his son follow in his footsteps, he ordered that Siddhartha never be permitted to see any suffering or evil, and prevented him from leaving the palace grounds. Despite this Siddhartha managed to sneak into the city and witness the suffering of the common people. He decided to leave his life of wealth behind and search for truth.
After many years of meditation, wandering and leading a life of asceticism, Siddhartha one day sat under a fig tree to meditate. There he was tempted by Mara, an evil spirit, to pursue worldly things. After resisting Mara’s temptation, Siddhartha discovered the Four Holy Truths, and attained enlightenment. From then on he was the Buddha. The Four Holy Truths are:
- All life is grievous, self is a temporal creation cursed with suffering until deliverance is achieved.
- Suffering is caused by false desires of the senses have been deceived into clinging to the impermanent world.
- Deliverance from suffering is achieved when ones desires are suppressed, abandoned or rejected.
- The Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding, right aspirations, right speach, right conduct, right livihood, right effort, right concentration and right mindfulness.
Buddhism is based upon three central concepts: Samsara, Nirvanna and Karma.
Samsara is the belief in a a perpetual cycle of reincarnation. Buddhism teaches that all life is suffering, and thus being forced to continually live life over and over again is the worst fate imaginable, because it is nothing but an endless cycle of suffering.
Nirvana is the end of the cycle. It is to cease to exist and be aware, to no longer be an individual but to be one with the universe. It is the only escape from suffering, and it is what all Buddhists hope to attain eventually.
Karma is the belief that ones choices in life whether to do good or bad, will be rewarded or punished in future lives. Thus if you do good in your current life in your next life your situation will be better. If anything bad happens to you in this life it is punishment for something you did in a previous life.
Some Buddhist sects teach that the only way to reach Nirvana is to live the life of a Buddhist monk, which most Buddhists are unwilling to do. However if Buddhist layperson gives financially to the monasteries, and lives a moral life in accordance with the Buddhist ethic, in their next life they may be born as a person who is willing to enter into the monastery and be free of their worldly desires, and one day reach Nirvana.
Buddhism is founded upon a very bleak outlook on life. However I believe it’s understanding of this life is not far from the truth. The Buddha understood that this world is a very broken place, and he saw no hope of it ever getting better, to him the only way to escape suffering was to rid yourself of all desires and eventually to cease to exist all together. Through the Bible we understand that this world is indeed a bleak and hopeless place, broken by the wickedness of man, and condemned to suffer for all eternity. However it also tells of a marvelous loving God who went through incredible lengths to rescue those who repent of their sins and believe in His Son. Buddhism offers an escape of suffering through the cessation of all desires. Christ offers not merely an escape from suffering, but from the deserved wrath of God, and ultimately the fulfillment of all desires through an eternal relationship with our creator. In Christ we have hope.