Rethinking Buddhism

In his book “Rethinking Buddhism”, Eviatar Shulman discusses the issue of desire or craving as the root of all the evil or wrongs that exist in society. In his discussions, he explains how getting rid of desire or craving would eventually eliminate all types of suffering as demonstrated in the four noble truths (Shulman 125). In his book, Shulman criticizes the dogma that all human suffering is caused by the craving or desire that people have. The author points out that although cravings and desire play a role in contributing to the existence of suffering, there are other factors that come in and lead to human suffering. He further argues that desire is what leads to an individual being reborn but if one does not believe in rebirth, then the issue of craving or suffering has little, if any impact on the suffering that exists.

            I believe that Shulman not only acknowledged the effect that cravings and desire has but also discredited the notion that it is the cause of all suffering. In doing so, he, in a way, discredited the four noble truths since their main focus was to do away with human desire (Shulman 125). Like Shulman, I think desire and craving has the capability of achieving both good and bad and that the effect is determined by the individual who has the desire or craves something. Something like love, in a Buddhist paradigm is seen as a craving. However, love for one’s family and friends are the reasons behind the good things the individual will do for them. It is because of love that a person has for family and friends that sets them on a path that will cause them as little suffering as possible. However, love may also be the cause that one causes others to suffer so as to ensure continued happiness for his loved ones.

            Shulman also discussed the topic on the four noble truths which dictate that life is full of suffering caused by desire and that it can only be stopped through nirvana which can only be achieved if an individual finds his way to the eightfold noble path (Shulman 188). According to Shulman, the four noble truths came about as observations that were cultivated through meditation. He further points out that the observations made during meditation brought about selflessness and dependent origination (Shulman 116). He however disagrees with the notion that Buddhist teachings reflect the universal theme of human existence. According to Buddhism teachings, meditation helps the mind to become still so as to overcome things that one might find troubling. When the mind is settled and free of any hindrances, the individual can then fully grasp the concept of Buddhism and therefore understand the four noble truths.

            Although meditation does help the mind and body to relax, I think stating it as the journey to understanding the four noble truths is somewhat misinformed. People around the world, not necessarily Buddhists, have picked up the practice of meditation. When performed correctly, meditation does indeed help an individual calm the mind and be more at ease (Shulman 16). If meditation was truly the path that one has to take to reach Buddhism enlightenment, then such people can be said to have achieved the four noble truths. This however is not the case because Buddhism teaches us that more is involved for one to reach the point where he is in line with the way of the Buddha. To add on, the four noble truths are like the final stage of fulfillment and one does not go back. However, people often have to meditate because the calmness they get from it slowly fades away with time. Although meditating does change the way mind and the body functions, the effect is temporary and one has to keep meditating.

            Shulman also discusses the topic of life by pointing out that reality is actually subjective and that nobody starts life on a clean slate. On the issue of natural symbols, Shulman shows how the parent’s beliefs affect the beliefs that children have resulting to them following the religion of their parents (Shulman 108). As children grow up, they not only adopt their parents’ language and behaviors but also emulate their parents’ way of expressing themselves both physically and emotionally. I believe that the way children learn to experience life and understand reality by observing what goes on around them is similar to how Buddhists learn to appreciate their religion in accordance to how Buddhist traditions dictate (Shulman 108).

I believe that Buddhism was intended to explain the philosophy of the world around us into a perceptual nature that one can understand. Philosophy is thus converted into an active way of understanding and seeing things by helping the mind to be open to the existence of other possibilities other than the ones we already believe in. Even though Buddhism has its truths and is followed by people devout in their faith, some elements, as explained by Shulman, may have been misinterpreted or taken out of context. In his book ‘Rethinking buddhism’, I think Shulman did a good job in highlighting some of the misconceptions that people may have on the religious practices and beliefs of the Buddhist religion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work cited

Shulman E, “Rethinking the Buddha: Early Buddhist philosophy as meditative perception”          Cambridge University Press, 2014