A group of brave Christians, intent on following the example of ancient Brahmins and interviewing the Buddha, found him walking in a forest near the small town of Jaredville, Indiana, and asked him:

"If there is no personal God, and if one can attain nirvana only as a result of the destruction of thirst (tanha) / desire, therefore the destruction of attachment, therefore the destruction of existence--from whence, do you suppose, did personality (or even the sense of personality) ever come? Exactly what is it, and where does it go when one ceases to exist?"


The World-Honored One smiled and responded:

"Christian friend, "Nirvana" is not the name given by me to something lacking, nor to something attained; Nor do I teach of the "end of existence", nor of its beginning. Those things only lead to ceaseless speculation, and to inevitable suffering. I suggest that your question has been misframed. There is suffering, and there is a way to the end of suffering, and this is all the Buddha teaches. What you call "personality" arises when the conditions necessary for the formation of "personality" are present, and it vanishes when those conditions are no longer present. To ask "where the personality goes" is also a mis-framed question; where does a fire go, when its fuel is exhausted? You have twice stated that I teach of the "destruction of existence" or the idea of "ceasing to exist", but I teach none of those things. I teach only of the arising of unsatisfactory states, and of the ceasing of unsatisfactory states."



* * *


Intent on outsmarting the Buddha, those Christians found him again at a Bus stop out on Route 8. They asked him:

"Without a personal God, on what basis can there ever exist any human moral standard or ethic--and therefore, in what sense do you mean for us to understand the terms noble and truth, i.e. The Four Noble Truths, or the term right in the eight-fold path of right views, resolve, speech, conduct, occupation, efforts, awareness, and meditation?"


The World-Honored One said:

"Christian friend, I have opened my eyes and seen numberless sentient beings in existence, and I know that all of these beings have one thing in common: all suffer from pains of body and mind; all suffer from the heat of thirsts and passions; all suffer from physical sickness or injury, and they all quake with fear in the face of the great lord of death.

All beings suffer in this way, and all beings wish to be free of suffering. Without knowing it, driven by negative karma, they mindlessly create the causes for their own sufferings and the sufferings of others. Still, in their hearts, all desire to be loved, accepted, and free of suffering and the causes of suffering. All fear pain, injury, isolation, and death.

Realizing this, compassion for all other beings can arise. It is this compassion, and the mindfulness that arises from it with respect to the needs of others, that the Buddha says is the basis for moral and ethical standards. The words "noble" and "truth" found in my teaching of the Four Noble Truths are meant to be understood as describing the noble call to examine the truths of our condition, so that we will be motivated to seek a life that leads us to be free from suffering.

The term "right" used to describe the various parts of the Eightfold Path is meant by me to be understood as being synonymous with "mindful" and "compassionate".



* * *


In an incredible show of "pot calling the kettle black" logic, those Christians found Buddha on the side of the road outside of Chicago, and actually demanded to know the answer to this question:

"If your teaching, which came on the scene in the sixth century B.C., alone represents truth and liberation--what provision was there for the millions who lived previous to the advent of your enlightenment and teaching? Why do you suppose that you, of all humankind, were the one to come on this insight when you did?"


The World-Honored One answered:

"Christian friend, You have misunderstood what I have taught, or perhaps you are led astray by the things others have said about me. I came to no insight, and attained not a single thing that would lift me above all of humankind. The Buddha's way does not promise a special "insight" that stands in opposition to a condition lacking insight. Such a view is a poisonous view, a tangled view, a dualistic view that will inevitably lead to more suffering.

The Buddha's way directs each person to be satisfied with simplicity, and to cultivate an attitude of mindfulness. My way leads to the development of right views that reveal the root of suffering in each person, and the way to the end of that suffering. There is no "insight" to be won as most people think of this word; there is only suffering that exists, and which can cease.

All sentient beings live, suffer, and die, and are driven by karma to rebirth. All sentient beings exist in this manner, from age to age, until they find the path that leads to freedom, and thereafter they are free. The teachings of the perfect Dharma arise in every age of the world from the enlightened speech and action of the Buddhas of those ages, and those teachings are the "provisions" of which you ask. So long as the Dharma persists, so will beings find the way to the end of suffering. The liberating power of its wisdom reaches every grain of sand."



Go to the Next Christian Questions and Buddha's Answers