hindu
...d the remedy) for this undesirable state of affairs? "There is this noble truth of the origin of suffering: It is craving, which produces renewal of being, is accompanied by relish and lust, relishing this and that; in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for nonbeing." - Shakyamuni Buddha{4} While dukkha has a variety of direct causes, Buddhist doctrine teaches that at the heart of all suffering is a basal craving or thirst called tanhâ. Tanha is defined in the original texts as “... this thirst which produces re-existence and re-becoming, and which is bound up with passionate greed, and which finds fresh delight now here and now there ....”{5} There are three sub-divisions of tanha: kama-tanhâ (desire for sensual pleasures), bhava-tanhâ (desire for existence), and vibhava-tanhâ (desire for non-existence). These three types of desire have a common effect - they result in the continuation of suffering and the instantiation of the dukkha. The causal relationship between the tanha and dukkha is delineated by the related concepts of karma and karma-phala. Karma is the Sanskrit word for ‘action' or ‘doing' and it refers to the actions of a person as a result of his or her mental volition. The result of a person's karma is called karma-phala, commonly colloquialized as the fruits of karma. The basic belief in Buddhism about the mechanics of karma is that when a person has a craving (tanha) of any sort, they will try to attain the thing for which they have the craving (karma), and in doing so will cause the existence of dukkha in their life. This belief is another way of viewing the old axiom that “what goes around, comes around,” a simple observation about the nature of cause and effect in relation to human actions. "There is this noble truth of the cessation of suffering: It is the remainderless fading and ceasing, the giving up, relinquishing, letting go, and rejecting of that same craving." - Shakyamuni Buddha{6} The goal of a Buddhist is to eliminate all traces of dukkha from his or her life, thus becoming Enlightened. A person who has attained Enlightenment, according to the Buddha, is in a state of Nirvana. Nirvana is commonly defined as Tanhakkhaya, or the extinction of thirst. It is the end of all earthly suffering and freedom from attachment to the Five Aggregates.{7} While commonly misconstrued as final annihilation, nirvana is simply the final liberation from the earthly existence, or as the Buddha put it, “... [it is] the extinction of desire, the extinction of hatred, the extinction of illusion. This, O bhikkhus, is called the Absolute [Nirvana].”{8} One who is enlightened is able to realize the absolute truth of any situation without the illusion of earthly existence interfering. "There is this noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: It is this Noble Eightfold Path, that is to say: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration." - Shakyamuni Buddha{9} With the goal of Nirvana thus elucidated, the obvious question is “How does one set about reaching Nirvana?” As with the rest of his philosophy, the Buddha answered this question through careful empirical observations. In the early days of his life, Siddhartha lived a life of luxury in which all of the sensual pleasures were given to him. Finding this an unsatisfactory state of affairs, the Buddha attempted to find happiness in a life at the opposite...