Abstract
Suffering and its opposite, happiness, are the basic push and pull of every human action,
thus their centrality in human existence. In the 6th century B.C, Gotama Siddhatta, who later
became the Buddha, was struck by the reality of human suffering. For this, he abandoned all
in his youth in the search for a solution to this problem. Following his enlightenment, he
came to the conclusion that: firstly, life is simply suffering; secondly, the cause of human
suffering is desire or craving; thirdly, the solution to the problem of human suffering is the
destruction of desire; and finally, that the means to eliminate suffering can be found in the
‘eightfold path’ or ‘the middle way’. The purpose of this research is therefore to verify:
firstly if life is simply suffering; secondly if desire is the actual cause of human suffering;
thirdly, if desire is the cause of human suffering, can it be eliminated? And finally, to find
out if the Buddha’s solution to human suffering can be relevant today both locally and
globally. The research showed that; life is not only suffering but both happiness and
suffering; desire is not the real cause of suffering and if it were; it cannot be eliminated in
life; however, his ideas of the Middle Way and the Eightfold Path can still be relevant today
in the areas of ontology, knowledge production, social relations, environment and peace
resolution.
EZE, E (2021). Evaluation Of The Buddha’s Solution To Human Suffering. Afribary. Retrieved from https://track.afribary.com/works/evaluation-of-the-buddha-s-solution-to-human-suffering
EZE, EBI "Evaluation Of The Buddha’s Solution To Human Suffering" Afribary. Afribary, 14 May. 2021, https://track.afribary.com/works/evaluation-of-the-buddha-s-solution-to-human-suffering. Accessed 27 Nov. 2024.
EZE, EBI . "Evaluation Of The Buddha’s Solution To Human Suffering". Afribary, Afribary, 14 May. 2021. Web. 27 Nov. 2024. < https://track.afribary.com/works/evaluation-of-the-buddha-s-solution-to-human-suffering >.
EZE, EBI . "Evaluation Of The Buddha’s Solution To Human Suffering" Afribary (2021). Accessed November 27, 2024. https://track.afribary.com/works/evaluation-of-the-buddha-s-solution-to-human-suffering