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Buddhist Beliefs
What do Buddhists believe?
Buddhism focuses on a series of teachings (dharma) developed
by Siddhartha Gautama – the Buddha – in the 6th century
BCE. The goal of these teachings is to help the believer
achieve enlightenment and the cessation of suffering.
Buddhism’s central tenets – the Four Noble Truths and the
Noble Eightfold Path – put one on the path to enlightenment
(nirvana). Underlying these tenets is the philosophy of the
Middle Way, a path of moderation between excess and
austerity in which one provides the body with every-thing
necessary for its healthy functioning but nothing further, thus
allowing the believer to prevent both suffering from lack of
nourishment as well as distraction by sensual pleasures in
order to focus on attaining enlightenment.
The Four Noble Truths are the foundation of all Buddhist
beliefs, and they provide believers with a plan for dealing with
and overcoming the challenges of life. The First Noble Truth is
that life is suffering (dukkha), which is considered the
fundamental quality of unenlightened existence. The notion of
suffering is not intended to convey a negative worldview but is
rather a pragmatic perspective that deals with the world as it is
and attempts to rectify it. The concept of pleasure is not
denied, but acknowledged as fleeting. Pursuit of pleasure can
only continue what is ultimately an unquenchable thirst. The
same logic belies an understanding of happiness. In the end,
only aging, sickness, and death are certain and unavoidable.
The Second Noble Truth seeks to determine the cause of
suffering. In Buddhism, desire (tanha) lies at the root of
suffering. Buddhists view desire as cravings for pleasure,
material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that
can never be fully satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only
lead to suffering. These cravings distract people from seeing
the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental
concentration and insight, Buddhism explains, one’s mind is
left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things.
Vices, such as greed, envy, hatred, and anger, derive from this
ignorance.
The Third Noble Truth – the truth of the end of suffering – has
dual meanings, suggesting either the end of suffering in this
life or in the spiritual life through the attainment of nirvana.
When one has achieved nirvana, which is a transcendent state
free from suffering and the worldly cycle of birth and re-birth,
enlightenment has been reached.
The Buddha taught through the Fourth Noble Truth the path to
end suffering and attain enlightenment – the Noble Eightfold
Path. The steps of the Noble Eightfold Path include Right
Understanding, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action,
Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right
Concentration. Buddhist’s today typically divide the path into
three themes – good moral conduct (Understanding, Thought,
Speech), meditation and mental development (Action,
Livelihood, Effort), and wisdom or insight (Mindfulness and
Concentration). (For more in the Noble Eightfold Path, see the
lesson on “Buddhist Practices.”)
A central part of Buddhist cosmology is the belief in samsāra,
the Sanskrit word that de-notes the cycle of birth, death, and
rebirth to which sentient beings are subject. For a Buddhist, the
ultimate goal is not to attain an afterlife in a heavenly realm,
but to achieve complete liberation from samsāra altogether. In
this sense, it is similar to the concept of moksha in Hinduism.
Once a person attains enlightenment, they no longer remain
part of the wheel of rebirth and they attain nirvana. Nirvana is
not envisioned as a place, such as in the Abrahamic faiths of
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Instead, Buddhists conceive
of nirvana as a state of eternal, enlightened consciousness
beyond death and life, free from suffering.
The force that keeps people enmeshed in samsāra is karma –
the idea that all intentional actions will bear fruit either in this
life or a future life. Good actions – judged largely by the
person’s motivation – will result in good consequences for the
person, while bad actions will create bad consequences.
Rebirth, whether as a human or as a lesser being, is the karmic
consequence of one’s past actions. However, through right
living as laid out in the Noble Eightfold Path, one generates
liberating karma, which eventually leads to enlightenment.
Once one has reached nirvana, one ceases to generate karma,
thus removing oneself from the cycle of rebirth.
Buddhists agree that the highest realm of rebirth is to be a
human being. It is the highest realm because it offers the
opportunity to achieve enlightenment. Buddhists believe that
given the sheer number of living things, to be born a human
being is a precious chance at spiritual perfection, a rare
opportunity that a person should not forsake. Broadly
speaking, Buddhism affirms that the potential for awakening
and perfection is present in every human being and that
realizing this potential is a matter of personal effort.
Denominational differences
The two major branches of Buddhism today – Mahayana
(Sanskrit for “the Great Way”) and Theravada (“the Teaching
of the Elders”) – possess differing beliefs regarding
humanity’s potential for enlightenment, the role of enlightened
beings, the nature of the Buddha himself (saint or savior), and
the way to escape the cycle of death and rebirth.
Mahayana Buddhism is comprised of a diverse group of
schools with a core of certain shared beliefs. Mahayana
Buddhists hold that an individual who achieves enlightenment
has not yet reached the pinnacle of his spiritual quest; those
who reach this state of perfect awakening are called to become
a bodhisattva – an awakened being who guides others on the
path to awakening until all of humanity has attained nirvana.
In-deed, Mahayana teaches that all beings are destined to
eventually gain enlightenment.
An outgrowth of the Mahayana emphasis on the guidance of
bodhisattvas is the belief – manifested in diverse ways
between different schools – in the supernatural powers of
supremely enlightened beings known as Buddhas. Mahayanists
often believe that Buddhas can assist one in the quest to
spiritual perfection long after the physical death of that
particular Buddha. This belief developed into Devotional
Buddhism, in which a person devotes oneself to a Buddha and
remains mindful of him and his teachings in order to be
granted salvation by the Buddha’s grace. As such, some
Mahayanists view Buddhas essentially as deities. Devotional
Buddhism minimized the mental rigors of meditation in favor
of the more accessible practice of personal devotion to a
Buddha. Because of the denomination’s historical willingness
to incorporate preexisting belief systems as it spread across
East Asia, some Mahayana schools believe in a variety of
supernatural beings and deities that play various, often minor
roles in their cosmologies.
Theravada Buddhism has kept its system of beliefs
considerably more contained. In Theravada, attaining
enlightenment is a personal quest that cannot effectively be
furthered by others, Buddhas or otherwise. Be-cause of this
belief, those who do achieve nirvana have no responsibility to
help others along the path to enlightenment; their journey is
complete. Another consequence of the view of enlightenment
as a personal matter is the absence of devotional worship in
Theravada Buddhism. Every individual is responsible for his
or her own salvation, which requires great personal effort.
Thus, enlightenment is not guaranteed or pre-ordained for
anyone.
“The Sermon at Benares”
by Siddhartha Gautama
Now, this, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning suffering:
Birth is attended with pain, decay is painful, disease is painful,
death is painful. Union with the unpleasant is painful, painful
is separation from the pleasant; and any craving that is
unsatisfied, that too is painful. In brief, bodily conditions,
which spring from attachment, are painful. This, then, O
bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning suffering.
Now this, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning the origin
of suffering: Verily, it is that craving which causes the renewal
of existence, accompanied by sensual delight, seeking
satisfaction now here, now there, the craving for the
gratification of the passions, the craving for a future life, and
the craving for happiness in this life. This, then, O bhikkhus, is
the noble truth concerning the origin of suffering.
Now this, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning the
destruction of suffering: Verily, it is the destruction, in which
no passion remains, of this very thirst; it is the laying aside of,
the being free from, the dwelling no longer upon this thirst.
This, then, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning the
destruction of suffering.
Now, this, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning the way
which leads to the destruction of sorrow. Verily, it is this noble
eightfold path; that is to say: Right views; right aspirations;
right speech; right behavior; right livelihood; right effort; right
thoughts; and right contemplation. This, then, O bhikkhus, is
the noble truth concerning the destruction of sorrow.
By the practice of loving-kindness, I have attained liberation of
heart, and thus I am assured that I shall never return in renewed
births. I have even now attained Nirvana.
Buddhist Beliefs
Directions: In the boxes, write some of the attributes associated
with each of these truths.
The Noble Truth
The First Noble Truth
Life is Suffering
The Second Noble Truth
Suffering is due to attachment
The Third Noble Truth
Attachment can be overcome
The Fourth Noble Truth
There is a path for
accomplishing this.
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