what is the buddhist understanding of the human condition ? how does
Buddhism understand the way humanity should be and the way it actually
is? how does it account for the differences between them? what ways
does it offer to bridge the gap?
-- i need this asap bc i need to start on a paper around tehse questions

Hello jen61598-ga,

From the Buddhist perspective, the human condition is suffering. 
Buddhism understands that humanity is actually suffering, but should
be able to cease its suffering.  The cause of suffering is craving or
attachment to desire.  To bridge the gap between the human condition
as it is and it should be, humanity should follow the Eightfold Path,
also known as the Middle Path.  Buddhism's Four Noble Truths are all
about the issues in your question: suffering, the cause of suffering,
the cessation of suffering, and the path to cessation of suffering.

There are many web pages on these issues -- Buddhism is a popular
topic.  Here are several pages to get you started:

"The Four Noble Truths"
BuddhaNet
http://www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm

"Introduction to Buddhism", by Mike Butler
BuddhaNet
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/intro_bud.htm

"Basic Buddhism - A Modern Introduction to the Buddha's Teaching", by
Dr Victor A. Gunasekara
Buddhism Today
"Chapter 3 - The Basic Teaching of the Buddha"
http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/buddha/Teachings/basicteaching3.htm
"Chapter 4 - The Buddhist Path"
http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/buddha/Teachings/basicteaching4.htm

"Buddhism > Beliefs > The Four Noble Truths"
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/fournobletruths.shtml

"The Four Noble Truths"
About.com: Buddhism
http://buddhism.about.com/library/bldukkha.htm

I hope that this information is helpful.

- justaskscott-ga


Search terms used, alone and in combinations, on Google:

buddhism
"human condition"
"four noble truths"
"eightfold path"

---

Request for Answer Clarification by jen61598-ga on 05 May 2003 17:17 PDT

but how does it account for the differences btw them---i dont feel
this question was clearly answered?

the human condition is actually of craving and being obssessed with
the pursuit of pleasant feelings or unpleasant feelings so then how do
buddhist account for the diffeences between the way humanity is and
should be?

---

Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 05 May 2003 18:26 PDT

As a new user, you are perhaps not familiar with the process that
other customers have used to get the best results from Researchers. 
As the Google Answers FAQ explains:

"Please remember that you cannot revise your rating.  Therefore, you
should only rate an answer after you have completed the 'Answer
Clarification' process and are satisfied with the researcher's work."

"Google Answers: Frequently Asked Questions - How do I rate an
answer?"
Google Answers
http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html#ratequestion

If you put yourself in the Researcher's position, you'll see that a
Researcher has less incentive to find information once a low rating
has been given.  At this point, there is no way for the Researcher to
improve the rating or earn a tip.

Of course, it is understandable that you didn't realize that, since
this is your first question.  I will be happy, therefore, to provide
clarification.

It appears that the best way to sum up the difference between
suffering and non-suffering is to say that it is the difference
between grasping and letting go.  Our normal condition is to grasp;
but we have the ability to let go.  That is the perspective taken in
the first link I cited, in the sections "Grasping is Suffering" and
"Letting Go".  You will probably want to peruse the rest of this link,
as well as the other links, to get further perspectives on this issue.

Please let me know if you need additional clarification on this issue.
 Hopefully, the links will explain anything else you need to know.

but how does it account for the differences btw them---i dont feel
this question was clearly answered?

The researcher has provided excellent info. about Buddhism, most of
which I was unfamiliar with until now.

From what I understand, the Buddha taught that all sentient beings
able to reason suffer from three major flaws vexing their existence:
impermanence (anicca), nonsoulness (anatta or anatman), and suffering
(dukkha). According to him, what we call the soul is actually a
combination of five psychophysical aggregates (skandhas): the body,
perception, feelings, samkharas ('innate tendencies' or
'predispositions' generated by past habits in this and previous
incarnations), and ideation or reasoning. The union of the aggregates
constitute the empirical self and keep it bound to the endless cycle
of birth, death, and rebirth. By following the Eightfold Path, the
bonds that tie the empirical self to the endless cycle are eventually
broken and Nirvana (lit. "blowing out." The final Goal; extinction of
all selfhood and separateness) is achieved.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but it seems to me that the Buddha wasn't too
interested in any idealistic notion of how life should be, for he felt
it was painful to experience continuance in a stream of consciousness
made up primarily of states of incompletion. Hence, Buddhism has
always struck me as being a type of transcendental pragmatism in the
sense that its ultimate goal is to effect the cessation of desire and
thus the deliverance of the empirical self from the wheel of perpetual
and painful becoming via Nirvana. (Wasn't there a popular rock band
called "Nirvana"?)