One of the keys to understanding the four noble truths and the Buddhist doctrine of suffering is their view of the individual. An individual is nothing more than the aggregate of conscious responses, which are the aggregate of willful choices and mental constructs, which are the aggregate of perceptions, which are the aggregate of feelings and sensations, which are the aggregate of matter (i.e., eyes, nose, taste buds, ears, hands, etc.)
This sounds more complex than it is, so a simple illustration will help. I walk into a local warehouse club store and see (eyes - matter) someone giving samples of vegetable soup. I realize it is well past noon, I haven't had any lunch, and I'm hungry (feelings and sensations). I think (perception) the soup will be a quick way to grab some lunch and curb my hunger pains. I decide to walk over to the stand to get one of the samples (choice). I take the sample and eat it (conscious response).
To Buddhists, no one is anything more than the aggregate of the five aggregates. This proposition underlies two other seminal Buddhist teachings: (1) there is no soul; and (2) there is no "I", since all the aggregates that make up an individual are constantly changing. (Think about it: our bodies are constantly changing. And since our bodies in the aggregate (matter) influence the remaining aggregates all the way to that of our conscious responses, "we" are also constantly changing.
The reality of this constant change means only suffering is possible for any person. After all, any satisfaction of any desire a person may have is only fleeting and subject to change. In other words, the satisfaction does not last; therefore, even this temporary and fleeting satisfaction of desire is a form of suffering.
If you are thinking all of this must lead to a considerable amount of emptiness and despair among Buddhists, you are exactly right. Buddhists can have a profound sense that "something is missing". In Japan, in particular, more than 30,000 people commit suicide each year. A similar number commit suicide each year in the US, though we have almost three times the population of Japan.
All of this suggests the importance of engaging Buddhists on the truth about God as our Creator. It's true God created us with physical, material parts that are constantly changing. Therefore, it is also true that there are many other things about us that are also constantly changing. However, there is much more to us than our material components. Genesis 2:7 teaches us that God when God created us, He instilled life (nephesh) into us with His breath.
Nephesh refers to conscious life. Conscious life refers, among other things, to self-awareness and to things associated with personality. Elsewhere in the Bible, nephesh is also used in reference to emotion and will, and to passionate desire. In Psalm 42:1, for example, the psalmist said: "My soul (nephesh) pants for you, O God."
According to the teaching of Bible passages such as Psalm 139, the conscious life God has breathed into us as our Creator gives each of us a unique, eternal identity. It also holds out the hope of an eternal and personal relationship with Him, something that definitely combats the despair of philosophies and religions like Buddhism and fills our lives with meaning.
In the next entry, I will explain the ethics of Buddhism.
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