Life Suck?

The central philosophy of Buddhism is that life is full of suffering. Our goal in life, in the view of Buddhism is to ease this suffering through compassion and knowledge. Is this an accurate description of life? And, how does this compare to the Christian view?

Genesis 3: 16-19: "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, ...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

The two religions basically agree on the main premise that life is a pain. That's not a surprise to most of us. It doesn't take a guru or a holy book to enlighten us of that. Where we need the help most is easing this suffering. How to deal with this suffering is what differentiates these two religions in both their views of man and god, and views on the purpose of life itself. The following is what little I know about these two religion.

Buddhism

Attachment is the greatest evil. Whether it's love for someone or love for something, the attachment binds us in a circle of torment. To free ourselves from this wheel of suffering, we must release our love of these things. When we unshackle ourselves from these attachments, we free ourselves from the circle of torment. To Buddhists, we are in this circle (through several reincarnation) until we purge ourselves of these desires, and to eventually attain perfection and to reach heaven. Does this precludes dependency on god? Some Buddhist holy books teach that there are deities and holy men (i.e. Buddha) who guide the living and the dead in their quest toward heaven. Ignorance of the underlying principles of life is the source of much of the suffering.

Christianity

Disobedient to Gods commendments is the greatest evil. To Christians, man is incapable to attain perfection and to reach heaven without Gods help. Only the submission to God will lead us to heaven. There's no other way. Does this precludes us from working toward perfection? On the contrary, the Christian holy books clearly advocate improving our situations, as much as it's possible. The freedom to choose impowers us to move towards God or away from Him. We're bathe in ignorance in our present nature, and it's ignorance that is the source of much of our suffering.

Commonality

These two religions agree on principle - people suffer because of stupidity.

Until next time...