Catholic Religion
The practices of Roman Catholics and those of Buddhists share striking similarities, despite the fact that the motivations for each group of practitioners are wholly different and, in many cases, decisively opposed to one another. In this paper, I will examine the instances of overlap in which Catholic and Buddhist practice are superficially the same. Additionally, I will discuss the contrasting beliefs of the Catholic and Buddhist traditions which produce the noteworthy similarities in practice. It is my hope that this discussion will strengthen the belief and practice of both Buddhist and Catholic readers since both will here be confronted by the fact that practitioners of another religion agree with them about how humans should behave and
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The first Noble Truth is that existence is suffering. Expounded, this tenet holds that nothing in our existence is ultimately satisfying and so we will always be searching for something to assuage our suffering. The second Noble Truth is that suffering is caused by craving or “grasping” as it is often translated from the original texts. This belief states that humans inherently tend to try to hold on to things (sensations, thoughts, actions, etc.) which provide us pleasure while, at the same time, humans also inherently tend to chase away things which cause us pain. The third Noble Truth is that humans can bring about the cessation of suffering by bringing about the cessation of craving. By following a certain set of prescribed beliefs and behaviors, some mental and some physical or verbal, one can force oneself to stop craving things and thus to stop suffering as a result of craving. The fourth and final Noble Truth is that the Eightfold Path is a general summary of the method by which a human can stop craving and thus stop suffering. It is not necessary to expound upon that exact method in this essay, although knowing that Buddhists believe that the Eightfold Path was set forth by the Buddha will be helpful. The Buddhist tradition holds that the Buddha came to these realizations of the nature of existence and of the method by which we can
The first Noble Truth is that existence is suffering. Expounded, this tenet holds that nothing in our existence is ultimately satisfying and so we will always be searching for something to assuage our suffering. The second Noble Truth is that suffering is caused by craving or “grasping” as it is often translated from the original texts. This belief states that humans inherently tend to try to hold on to things (sensations, thoughts, actions, etc.) which provide us pleasure while, at the same time, humans also inherently tend to chase away things which cause us pain. The third Noble Truth is that humans can bring about the cessation of suffering by bringing about the cessation of craving. By following a certain set of prescribed beliefs and behaviors, some mental and some physical or verbal, one can force oneself to stop craving things and thus to stop suffering as a result of craving. The fourth and final Noble Truth is that the Eightfold Path is a general summary of the method by which a human can stop craving and thus stop suffering. It is not necessary to expound upon that exact method in this essay, although knowing that Buddhists believe that the Eightfold Path was set forth by the Buddha will be helpful. The Buddhist tradition holds that the Buddha came to these realizations of the nature of existence and of the method by which we can