The Idea of Death in Buddhism - Essay Example

Buddha’s teaching on death can be greatly grasped through the story of Kisogatami who went to him with her dead baby in tow in the hopes that Buddha will be able to help her with her agony. Buddha then offered to heal her child only if she can bring a mustard seed given by a family who has not experienced death. Kisogatami searched and was able to find families willing to provide her with the mustard seed but to her dismay each one had experienced death at one point. In the end, Kisogatami understood that death comes to all and she finally accepted the fact of her baby’s death (Matthews, p.115).   The idea of death in Buddhism, much like in every other religion, is an acceptable and inevitable part of human life. But where death is usually the end of a life’s cycle in others, the concept of rebirth is a reoccurring process until one reaches Nirvana which is essentially “the state of being free of egocentrism and the suffering that it causes. Positively, it is joy and peace” (ibid). Karmic destiny is understood to be an invisible force to which certain events and something that even moral justice is not included as opined by some since some Buddhists regard this as the causation of suffering brought about not by their doing and beyond any person’s control.  Weber (as cited by Keyes and Daniel, p.15) cannot “be a logical solution to theodicy, since it points to an ultimate force that cannot be comprehended in logical terms.” Cause and effect best describe the notion of karma and how it affects the life of an individual. Fundamentally, man seeks to find an explanation to the suffering which one endures and religion can provide for a comprehensive elucidation to this predicament by offering various and largely acceptable enlightenments. Western philosophers are among the supporters of how the notion of karma and rebirth provides for a substantial explication of suffering and the problem of evil.  Extensively compared to the Christian rationalization of evil, Max Weber and Arthur Henman together with Michael Stoeber point to the apparent logic of this Buddhist doctrine as a more reasonable justification than the notion of purgatory (Kaufman, pp.15-16). Buddhism has greatly advanced its presence worldwide and the logical appreciation of karma brings it forth as a simple yet compelling belief that can be attributed to its acceptability.   In the strict erudite of theodicy, the conviction of God as an all-loving and all-knowing Supreme Being gives rise to the basic question of why evil exists. This main concern of theodicy makes karma an inconsistent answer since as pointed out earlier, karma does not extensively discuss nor expound on the same because man’s suffering is by his own doing based on previous acts or wrongdoings. Nevertheless, Kaufman maintains that a modern understanding of the concept would elucidate on karma and reincarnation as it provides an easy response to why suffering exists. He then accedes to the five recognizable flaws in consideration of karma. The first is that one does not remember anything in what is supposed to be one’s own past life and is thus inimical to justice since he would never know for what he is being punished. Second is the fact that there must be a correlation to the amount of suffering in consideration of what was previously done and in this case, similar to the previous one, there would be clear difficulty in ascertaining what offense was previously committed. The third is what he refers to as infinite regress which points to questioning the beginning of the process and in this sense, it ignores the question by the implication that there is no origin of evil. Next is the difficulty in defining death as in itself a form of suffering or in the same way that it may not be a form of reward when the same can also be logically attributed to life. Finally, is the elusive pragmatic question of free will where karma is either mechanical or may pertain to gratuitous suffering (Kaufman, pp.19-25).   The popularity of karma and reincarnation has presented itself as a viable idea of religious persuasion for its sheer simplicity. It is very much ostensible that the study of these Buddhist concepts about theodicy has produced the most stimulating debate that divulges in extensive accounts the peculiar self-contradictory notions in this ancient Asian tradition. But in all of these scholarly discourses, the concept of Nirvana as an end does not deviate nor does it mitigate to the same strong feelings toward the perspective of heaven in the Christian tradition. What are immediately tangible are the intensity and the extensive process for which one attains this state. Read More