In the article Suffering in the Indian Consciousness written by Chitta Goswami, the author discusses the Indian perspective on death and suffering.

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Bryan Auer

TA - Morales

Section - M 7:10

Essay # 3

In the article "Suffering in the Indian Consciousness" written by Chitta Goswami, the author discusses the Indian perspective on death and suffering. By focusing on the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and other smaller religions, the author reflects on suffering and how it is addressed. Both the author and I would argue that suffering is seen very differently in Buddhism and Hinduism. The focus of this essay will explore the different perspectives that these two religions take regarding suffering and death.

In the religion of Buddhism, all of the teachings revolve around the four noble truths. Goswami points out that "the first of the four noble truths...is that life is suffering.1" This would suggest that Buddhism revolves around the idea of suffering, and that religion serves as a way of recognizing this. Surely by acknowledging that the first noble truth is that life is suffering is placing great emphasis on the subject. The author continues to point out that "there is the prospect, almost the promise, of release from suffering, and a discipline has been prescribed to achieve it." This would suggest that there is a defined probability of releasing this suffering if one is disciplined in their practice of Buddhism. This allows the followers to achieve this discipline and therefore release themselves from suffering.
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In regarding the religion of Hinduism, Goswami contends that the suffering and death felt in the world is due to problems of the material world. He would contend that suffering is simply a necessary struggle of life that one must overcome. Hinduism uses stages of life to explain the maturity of the soul and body, and suffering seems to be another stage in the game of life. Hinduism relies heavily on the idea of reincarnation, and the idea that one will be reborn into another body after one's own death. So in a way, there is not really ...

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