WORLD RELIGION:
BUDDHISM
• The Human Condition
a) What is the human condition?
b) What is the cause of the human condition?
• The Goals
a) What are the goals during life?
b) What is the final aim of existence?
• The Means
a) How are the goals achieved?
b) Which practices help to achieving the goals?
Higher RMPS: Buddhism
The Human
Condition
What is the human condition?
A Buddhist Response
We don’t understand
reality and so we
are trapped.
What is the human condition?
A Buddhist Response
We live, get older and
die only to be reborn
again and again
(forever).
What is the human condition?
A Buddhist Response
Throughout this time
we suffer. Not only
this, everyone suffers.
What is the human condition?
A Buddhist Response
However… there is
a way to escape
this curse.
What is the human condition?.
Our
1.
st
1
Focus
No belief in God; emphasis on action rather
than metaphysical belief
2. The 3 Marks of Existence — Dukkha, Anicca
and Anatta; the five skhandas; rebirth as a
flow of ever changing consciousness
3. Samsara — the endless round of conditioned
existence; only humans are capable of making
conscious ethical choices
What is the human condition?
Unenlightened human beings are caught in
a cycle of suffering but there is a way out.
No belief in God
• Western/Eastern/Buddhist
concept of God differs. No
supreme being in control from
which everything began.
• No God(s) making decision
about right and wrong… no
moral absolutes or heaven/hell
punishments.
What is the human condition?
No belief in God
Everything we experience is as
a result of our human actionsindividual freedom exists.
Human beings can and must
attain enlightenment without a
God. Buddha was human. His
teachings and example are
followed but he is not seen as
divine.
What is the human condition?
Emphasis on action rather than
metaphysical belief
“Believe nothing, question everything.”
Buddha
If it doesn’t work for you, change it! Choice
of interpretation of the Dhamma (teachings
/ truth / way).
Not about answering metaphysical
questions, it’s about actions.
What is the human condition?
Emphasis on action rather than
metaphysical belief
• Belief alone will not attain the Buddhist
goal of enlightenment… a practical, not
intellectual activity. If you just sit about
thinking about things you won’t progress.
• It is not enough to know the path, you
must walk the path.
What is the human condition?
Emphasis on action rather than
metaphysical belief
• A famous Buddhist
teaching goes something
like this: I do no go to the
Buddha to hear his
teachings, I go to see
him tie his shoelaces.
What is the human condition?
Emphasis on action rather than
metaphysical belief
THE
POISONED
ARROW
STORY
What is the human condition?
THE POISONED ARROW STORY
• Questioned one day about the problem of the
infinity of the world, the Buddha said, "Whether
the world is finite or infinite, limited or unlimited,
the problem of your liberation remains the same.“
Another time he said, "Suppose a man is struck by a poisoned
arrow and the doctor wishes to take out the arrow immediately.
Suppose the man does not want the arrow removed until he
knows
• Who shot it,
• His age,
• His parents,
• Why he shot it.
What would happen?
If he were to wait until all these questions have been answered,
the man might die first."
Life is so short. It must not be spent in endless metaphysical
speculation that does not bring us any closer to the truth.