Buddhism v. The Gods must Be Crazy

This is one of the few papers I completely bullshitted, but somehow got A-.

The Noble Truth of The Gods Must Be Crazy

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism are the basis for all the teachings of Buddha.  The noble truths are: life is suffering, the cause of suffering is desire and attachment, cessation of suffering, and dedication to the path to enlightenment. The most widely known and continually discussed of the four are the first two: life is suffering, and the cause of suffering is desire.  These two truths have many appealing aspects to them, which make a lot of sense to me as a layperson. They also have aspects that I do not agree with, but understand what they are meant to say and do.  All of these “Noble Truths” are just like directions to follow and live by to help get one in Samsara closer to enlightenment and Nirvana.

The first Noble Truth is that life is suffering (Dukkha). Humans are inherently imperfect, as is the world we live in. During the lifetime of a human, we endure many types of suffering on a daily basis. “This is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, ageing is suffering, sickness is suffering, dying is suffering, sorrow, grief, pain, unhappiness, and unease are suffering…in short, the five aggregates of grasping are suffering”(Gethin, 59).

 Gethin describes three types of personal suffering: suffering as pain, suffering as change, and suffering as conditions.  We endure physical suffering in the form of pain, for exampe sicknesses and injuries.  Mental suffering, such as  losing a loved one, or stress from work is also suffering as pain. An example of suffering as change can be fun experience, because at some point that fun will end.  Suffering as conditions can be looked at from the perspective of Samsara, the condition of your karma may cause suffering, if you have negative karma you may suffering because of it..  There is also societal suffering.  Society suffering is collective suffering of a group of people, and can have negative and positive effects on personal suffering.

This Noble Truth is somewhat hard to for me to agree with, but I can understand the idea behind it.  Suffering is definitely a part of life, and can be a big part of people’s lives.  Possessions can bring on suffering, as can desire for other things. But there is more to life than just suffering; much of life can be fun and happy.  I believe that it is possible to balance the positive, or happy, parts of life with the negative suffering aspects of life.  It is how you deal with the suffering in life that defines whether or not you’re suffering.  If all of life is suffering, wouldn’t everybody be miserable? It is possible to experience forms suffering in a way that does not cause you to suffer.  Take, for instance, a family member passes away: you can remember all the good times and great achievements of that person instead of being sad and suffering from the death.  Suffering all depends on the person; I do not believe it is uniform for all people. I don’t believe that all people need to worry about desire bringing on suffering.

The second Noble Truth is the Origin of Suffering. Suffering can come in many forms. Suffering has been defined as greed and desire, ignorance or delusion, and hatred and destructive urges.  Humans are subject to all forms of desire and cravings.  Even when one gains what they crave, the satisfaction is only temporary, thus causing another form of suffering.  Suffering from sickness and physical pain is only temporary. But even when we do not desire anything or are not in physical pain, the time of non-suffering will always come to an end due to the conditional nature of life. This Buddhist tradition has been looked at as pessimistic, but I believe it makes sense and is realistic. The origins of suffering can be similar for many religions and cultures. A person does not need to be Buddhist to agree that desire can cause suffering.

Although I do not practice Buddhism, I understand how desire can be the cause of suffering.  I feel like a good example of this idea (respectfully, I do not wish to offend anyone with this comparison) would be the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy.  This movie takes pace in Africa and involves a native tribe that does not have access to the media, advertisements, and material possessions.  This tribe lived in peace and thrived with minimal outside influence.  One day a plane overhead dropped a glass coke bottle, and a man of the tribe found it and brought it back to the tribe.  It became a great tool for the entire tribe, and soon the members of the tribe began to fight over the bottle. My point being, this tribe was ignorant to the fact that this bottle existed, yet once it became a possession that they craved or desired to use, members of the tribe begin fighting and suffering.  The suffering cause by the bottle being thrown into the society would never have been known of if that pilot hadn’t decide to throw the bottle out of the window.  And after the bottle is “taken to the end of the earth” by its discoverer, he returns to a happy village. 

The Four Noble Truths are a great basis for Buddhism and can teach a lot about life.  If you look at the first two truths in more positive manor, they are actually very realistic and make a lot of sense.  Whether or not one chooses to follow the path of Buddha and to enlightenment is up to them, but everyone can learn a little bit from the Four Noble Truths.