Afterlife: Buddhism
Dave House shared with the students the basics of Buddhism, and what the Buddhists believe about life after death.
Buddhism is a sect of Hinduism, and began in India about 500 years before the birth of Christ. Buddha, or "enlightened one", was named Siddhartha Guatama, and taught the following principles, called the four noble truths, to his followers:
1) Suffering is universal.
2) The cause of suffering is self-desire.
3) The cure for suffering is to overcome ignorance and eliminate cravings.
4) Suppress craving by following the eightfold path: having the right viewpoint, speech, occupation, mindfulness, aspirations, behavior, effort, and meditation.
Buddha's mission was not for his followers to find heaven, but to show man the way to escape the suffering of life -not to describe what they would find when they would get there. Buddha did not believe in the existence of God, but rather in an "enlightened consciousness". The Buddhists believe they must work through the four noble truths and the eightfold path to escape their suffering, and their view of the afterlife is sketchy. Here are some examples of ideas of heaven in the eyes of the Buddhist: Heaven changes for everyone, and it doesn't last; there are 33 heavens and 33 hells; when a person dies, they could be reborn or reincarnated as another human, animal, ghost, demon, or even a Hindu god.
Dave contrasted this with Christianity, where through the death and resurrection of Christ we are not required to do any work to get to Heaven.
Ephesians 2:8, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God."
2 Timothy 1:9, " ...who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace."
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