Bhagavad Gita Clarifies Buddhist Philosophy

(written on January 31, 2020)

(References: BG 2.71)

In Buddhism, there are 4 main principles and these are known as the Four Truths of Buddha. These are outlined below:

• All life in this material world is suffering.

• People suffer from having desires.

• All desires must be given up to get rid of suffering.

• One must follow the eight-fold path to become desireless.

Buddha is an incarnation of the Lord, and hence whatever he says is correct, however there are ways in which we can clarify his statements (the first three statements) and make them more specific so that people do not understand them in a wrong way.

In BG 2.71, it is clarified in the purport by Srila Prabhupada that, “To become desireless means not to desire anything for sense gratification. In other words, desire for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious is actually desirelessness.” So using this statement we can clarify Buddha’s truths as explained below:

• TRUTH #1: All life in this material world is suffering. This statement is true. In BG 8.16, it is explicitly stated in the translation, “From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.” Krishna is basically proving that Buddha’s first truth is correct, that all life in the material world is hence suffering.

• TRUTH #2: People suffer from having desires. This statement is true, but needs to be clarified. Going back to BG 2.71, Srila Prabhupada said in a lecture on BG 13.3, “So why people are suffering? The people are suffering because he has been..., one has been given all the facilities as he desires, but because that is his own program, it is not satisfied.” Prabhupada is explaining how people suffer because of having selfish, materially motivated desires. So, we can clarify Buddha’s statement by saying that: People suffer from having materially motivated desires.

• TRUTH #3: All desires must be given up to get rid of suffering. This statement must also be clarified. Here is where the really important point comes in. Srila Prabhupada said in the purport of BG 2.71 that, “Real desirelessness is desire for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, not an artificial attempt to abolish desires. The living entity cannot be desireless or senseless, but he does have to change the quality of the desires.” Again it is repeated by Srila Prabhupada in SB 1.9.32, “It is the nature of the living entity to desire, it cannot stop desiring anything.” The way to really become desireless is by channelling your desires to the service and the satisfaction of the Lord. It is extremely important to note that people must not give up desires completely. That then becomes a mayavadi philosophy.

• TRUTH #4: One must follow the eight-fold path to become desireless. The eight-fold path explained in the fourth Truth is listed below:

  • Right views

  • Right intentions

  • Right speech

  • Right actions

  • Right livelihood

  • Right efforts

  • Right mindfulness

  • Right concentration

The eight-fold path is similar to the Art of Work which is explained in the Bhagavad Gita. The entire point is to dovetail all actions, thoughts, intentions, and basically your entire lifestyle to Krishna in order to become desireless. As stated before, desirelessness is equivalent to dovetailing your desires to the satisfaction of Krishna. The difference between these two concepts is that the eight-fold path does not clarify what “right” actions are. “Right” actually means acting or doing in the service of Krishna. So, to clarify the fourth Truth of Buddha, it could say: one must follow the eight-fold path dovetailed with Krishna consciousness in order to become desireless.