What is the human condition?
In Buddhism the human condition is pretty much just a bunch of pain and suffering. They believe that everything is constantly changing and a person is made up of different heaps. They don't believe in any afterlife and there is no God that they pray to. The only way they think they can help ease their suffering is to acheive liberation.
What is the solution to this condition?
In order to acheive liberation one must realize the four noble truths. The four noble truths basically say that suffering is going to happen and it's caused by desire. However, there is a cure to the suffering which is acheiving liberation by following the eight fold path.
How do we move from problem to solution?
Once a person accepts the four noble truths they begin to follow the eight fold path. This talks about a person applying all the following: right views, right intent, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. They believe that the eight fold path, along with meditations, leads a person into reaching nirvana. Nirvana is considered a reality beyond anything physical and is what Buddhists always try to acheive.
How best to live the solution in our own lives?
In order to try to live the solution, people must follow the eight fold path and practice meditations. A person must have the right views which can sometimes be tricky knowing what exactly the right views are and a person must have good intent. It's not enough to just go through the motions of being a good person who does good things, you have to really mean for the things you do and the things you say to be good and helpful to others. No killing, stealing, lying, unchastity, or drunkness. A person can't try to harm others. Plus, a person must be mindful and concentrate on things. It's a very demanding religion.
I personally liked Buddhism much better than Hinduism. It wasn't as broad of a religion which I liked. I found that their ideas of no God and no after life or reincarnation a nice change of pace because once a religion adds a God or something after you die it just leaves me with a million questions and no answers. However, the thing I didn't understand is if a person believes they only have this one life to live and nothing good or bad is coming after they die then why would they want to waste their life trying to acheive nirvana? Why not go out and do all the fun and crazy things you want while you have the chance instead of worrying about something that in the end won't really change much? I would rather go jump out of a plane or ride a roller coaster or something fun instead.
What you liked about Buddhism, many if not most of your classmates did not like. Why do people need the idea of God? Why do we need to believe in something greater than nature. There is a hint that without fear of punishment you would drop morality and do whatever you wished. Is that your meaning? Are we good only because we fear the consequence of being bad?
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