Nature of HB- Tanha
The Nature of Human Beings (NOHB) as a belief for Buddhists is comprised of three parts. One part of the belief is Tanha. Tanha literally means craving. Cravings are caused by being attached
to impermanent things as we are under the illusion that things are going to last forever.
Tanha is the basic cause of suffering and is the result of us expecting materialistic things to give us permanent happiness and when things do not last it leads to unhappiness and suffering. Tanha is the Second Noble Truth and it is explained that craving causes the disease of suffering and Buddhist’s belief the reason we suffer is due to humans wanting things to stay the same.
This then shows that the purpose of Tanha is trying to teach Buddhists that in order to stop
suffering you need to accept that everything is impermanent and stop attachments to impermanent things e.g., materialistic items.
I would then agree that the nature of human beings is a significant belief for Buddhists as they will avoid attachments to impermanent things as they realise, they are not important and do not matter e.g., materialistic things/relationships (1EV).
Nature of HB- Three root poisons.
Another part of the nature of human beings are the Three Root Poisons. The 3RPs are at the centre of the wheel of Samsara. The 3RPs fuel the wheel of Samsara and they can be described as a fire burning until they are extinguished (1KU). The 3RPs are Greed, Hatred and Ignorance and they are represented by a cockerel, a pig and a snake. It is ignorance that keeps us attached to the wheel of samsara, so if we don’t
accept the idea of impermanence we will be forever attached to the wheel (1KU).
The 3RPs are a source of evil and are the causes of any negative mindsets people may have which makes them the root from which all bad and unskilful actions stem from (1KU).
This then means that the purpose of the 3RPs is to teach Buddhists to think through their decisions before they act upon them. This means that you will be less likely to fuel these sources of evil and limit the number of unskilful actions in their lives (1A).
This then shows that if Buddhists extinguish these poisons, they will have a better rebirth and
potentially reach Nibbana as they have understood the impact of their actions and how it affects their
Kamma and other people too (1A).
I would then agree that the Nature of Human Beings is a significant belief for Buddhists as it could
make society a better place as people will be less greedy, hateful or ignorant towards others/themselves as they understand that their actions will affect their rebirth and amount of good kamma they can generate (1EV).
However, I would disagree that the Nature of Human Beings is a significant belief for Buddhists as it is too difficult for Lay Buddhists who live in a normal society as they are constantly surrounded by temptations so how can they control their actions all the time? (1EV).
Kamma is another belief in the Nature of Human Beings. Kamma literally means action. Kamma is an
unavoidable chain of cause and effect which means all of our actions have a consequence (1KU).
Kamma doesn’t always come back in the same form or in the same life but each of our actions have a ripple effect in our next life (1KU). It is the intention behind the action that counts towards Kamma, in the decision of whether the Kamma will be good or bad (1KU). Each action generates a different type of Kamma, skilful actions lead to good kamma and unskilful actions lead to bad Kamma (1KU).
A-This then shows that the purpose of the belief nature of human beings is to show Buddhists that if they have good skilful actions, they are likely to have a good rebirth and if they have unskilful actions then
they will have a worse rebirth. This means that they will be living a better life in a skilful way for example
treating people with kindness (A).
I would then agree that the nature of human beings is significant for Buddhists as Kamma gives
you awareness of your actions which helps you understand how they impact you and others (1EV). It
is also significant as Buddhists will be able to control their 3RPs and therefore you won’t be greedy,
hateful or ignorant which will give you a better rebirth (1EV).
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