Sunday, February 17, 2019

FAULTY FOUNDATIONS #1: BUDDHISM - DUKKHA



 
The foundation of a building is everything. If the foundation is faulty and flawed the house will not surely hold up.  Jesus said that whoever would build their life on his teachings would be a like a man who built his house upon a rock. When floodwaters come that man’s home will remain standing.  Whoever does not build their life on his teachings would be like a man who built his house upon a sand bed. When floodwaters come that foundation will wash away and leave the integrity of the house compromised and that house will come down hard.
 
In this series of posts, I only intend to tackle the foundational or first premise in various philosophies in order to show how they are counter to our Lord’s teachings. Of course, many other things may be discussed in a particular philosophy but I really want to show that the foundation is bad, therefore, the rest of whatever philosophy is being discussed is sure to tumble with it. 
 
So let’s look at the first premise of Buddism called Dukkha.  Dukka is the first of what is called The Four Noble Truths.  The First Noble Truth is foundational to Buddism and the rest of The Four Noble Truths are built off of the preceeding Noble Truths.  In other words, they link together much like Doctrines of Grace commonly referred to as TULIP. If Total Depravity is faulty, then the foundation has collapsed and the rest of the doctrines do not hold up.  Each depends on the preceding doctrine.  And I believe that Dukka is flawed and therefore, the rest of Buddism is flawed from the get go.
 
Now to understand what Dukka is, it is best to listen to the words of the Buddha himself.
 
"Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful."
 
This is the starting point for Buddha’s philosophical teaching. Everything in life is tainted with suffering.  In other words, suffering and stress are inherent to the existence of humanity. According to Buddhism the five areas or five clinging-aggregates that are affected by stress and suffering are: our bodies, senses, thoughts, predilections, and consciousness.
 
Now, for a moment, you might think that this sound very close to the doctrine of Total Depravity but it is nowhere close to the same thing. The doctrine of Total Depravity states that every part of us is tainted by sin—our bodies, our thoughts, our desires, our logic, our motives, our emotions, etc.  That is very different that saying that every part of us suffers or is affected by stress. 
 
For Buddhists the whole goal of life is to rid yourself of these stresses and sufferings by coming to an understanding that your desires are what cause stress and suffering. If you don’t get something your way, it stresses you out.  Understanding where stress comes from is the Second Noble Truth—Samudaya.  The Third Noble Truth is that you can be freed from suffering caused by your desires—Nirhodha.  And the Fourth Noble Truth is the 8-fold pathway that removes your suffering by removing your desires—Magga. 

So rightly understood, Buddhism is primarily a philosophy of life, but in my estimation, it attempts to deal with core issues that are spiritual in nature which makes it religious in nature, even if there is no inherent deity in Buddhism. 
 
Looking at the First Noble Truth, it’s easy to see where Buddha starts off on the wrong foot. Indeed, there is suffering in life.  Suffering abounds everything and touches all facets of life.  I don’t think that particular observation is wrong.  But because that is a starting point and not some earlier point of understanding humanity, I think it starts him in the wrong direction from the start and therefore, he comes to a wrong conclusion.
 
Scripture is drastically different and doesn’t start the story of humanity with suffering or death.  It starts with God, not man.  And it starts with God creating the cosmos and mankind is part of His very good creation.  Buddhism doesn’t start with God or the goodness of all of God’s creation. It starts with man’s suffering and stress. It assumes that suffering and stress are inherent to man’s life and that our primary problem is the pain we experience from not getting our desires fulfilled. According to Buddhism, the cure to man’s deepest problem is ridding yourself of desires.  
 
The account from Jesus’ perspective is very different.  Sadness and suffering and stress are not inherent to this world.  They are invaders in this planet brought about by the judgment of God because of Adam’s disobedience.  In Buddhism, suffering is inherent.  In Scripture, a broken world is not the way it was and it’s not the way it will end. Evil, sin, suffering and pain are all invaders in this world.
 
In Buddhism our biggest problem is suffering. In Christianity, our biggest problem is God who punishes the wicked because of their wicked desires. 
 
Buddhism solves the problem differently by attempting to rid ourselves of desire which is no real solution to the problem. In Christianity, the solution to our problem is to believe that Christ died to pay the penalty for our wicked deeds and wicked desires so that God's judgment of hell is removed from us.  In Christianity, the solution to being rescued from this sin-filled world is to confidently trust in Jesus who’ll once day fix both our wicked desires and this world of suffering and bring us to God.  In Buddhism, you attempt to fix the problem.  In Christianity, we depend on God to fix the problem.
 
Believe it or not, but there are hints of Buddhism in our thoughts.  Have you ever hoped to get a job or hoped to have your favorite sports teams win the championship but you told yourself, “I’m going to expect nothing and then if something great happens I’ll be excited, but if I expect nothing then I won’t be sad or upset if things turn out bad.”  That philosophy has flavors of Buddhism in it.  You’re attempting to rid yourself of desire in order to relieve suffering.  That’s a very different notion that recognizing the Sovereignty of God in all things and being at peace with whatever God does with His creation. 
 
What Jesus said is true. We are sure to be on solid ground with what the God-man says. Dukkha is the wrong place to start with our understanding of ourselves. The teachings of Buddha are nothing but faulty foundations. That’s what happens when you look within and attempt to solve man’s problems apart from the wisdom of God, who made us! Friends, we need the Maker of all things to tell us what's He's like, why our world is what it is right now and He's going to fix it all.  That's what His Word does.  Do yourself a favor and read His Word today.

No comments: