Day 4

Four Noble Truths and Eight-fold Path

The Buddha taught Four Noble Truths that basically focused on suffering (dukkha) and how to eliminate it. He says that
first, suffering is inevitable. All humans experience both suffering and pleasure here on earth. Second, craving causes
suffering. That is, greedy desires or wanting lead to dissatisfaction, and this inevitably leads to suffering. Thirdly, we can
extinguish suffering and dissatisfaction when we let go of craving. This is fully attained through the fourth truth which is
the Eight-fold Path. This basically entails “using body, speech and mind skillfully” in order to lead to future happiness,
filling one’s mind with wisdom and endeavoring to live a good life. Though the Buddha advocated for the extinguishing
of desires, there are actually certain cravings that are encouraged. These include a life of peace, and the desire to
meditate and discover who we are. These desires are necessary to attain happiness and spiritual growth.

Listening to the basic explanation about Buddhism, I couldn’t help but realize that it is a man-centered and works-based
worldview. I agree that there is a longing or a craving in every person which we aim to fill. However, Buddhism claims
that there is no way to fulfill this aside from essentially extinguishing the desires and being contented in life. The famous
quote of Blaise Pascal actual came to my mind while watching the video. He said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the
heart of every man that cannot be filled by any created thing but only by the Creator made known through Jesus Christ.”
The Bible acknowledges the longings in people’s hearts but it offers a lasting answer—a genuine relationship to the
Living God through Jesus. Buddhism essentially gives us trying to solve the “problem” of desire because it cannot find
anything on earth that can satisfy. As such, people end up experiencing suffering. For one, the Buddha is correct that
noting in this world can satisfy. However, the proposed solution of simply extinguishing desire doesn’t seem to be the
right course of action. For one, desire in itself is not evil as the video admits. In fact, it states that there are things we
need to desire in order to gain spiritual growth. From here alone, we already see that problem is not with the desire but
with the focus of one’s desire. If only we seek God to fill our deepest longings, we will find that He satisfies. This is what
the Psalmist declares in Psalm 107:9, “For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.”
And I guess the crucial difference again lies with grace. Buddhism seems to put high premium on humanity’s ability to
work for personal change. Unlike the Bible’s diagnosis, Buddhism teaches that that we can change ourselves using our
own strength. But we know from Scripture that because of sin, our heart’s desires are now biased towards what’s evil
and unrighteousness. Thus, we really need a supernatural transformation from God to overcome this nature. This is
where grace comes in. I think the greatest challenge is our humble admission that we really cannot change ourselves, we
need the help of God.

Interestingly, the video gave me an idea where best to connect with Buddhists when sharing the Gospel. Because they
acknowledge suffering as a universal problem, perhaps we can begin our discussions there. Or we can also deal with the
issue of desire and how to satisfy it. Perhaps this is an open opportunity to testify about my relationship with Christ and
how it fills my emptiness and heart’s longings. Essentially this video is a good primer that broadens my understanding of
Buddhism so that I can be more gracious and sensitive when interacting with them. At the same time, the information
shared basically shows that there are lights of truth present in Buddhism which can serve as bridges for Gospel
presentation.