Effort Makes One Enlightened

    So now we look at another Eastern system.Since we in the United States are slowly forgetting our Christian  roots  we are allowing strange systems to creep in to fill the void.
   Man is a religious creature. He is made up of three parts. He is a body. He is a Spirit. He is a soul. The body eats and is satisfied. The Spirit comunicates with the unknown. The soul is what gives him the urge to seek something out there.
   Not all adherents to the Eastern mind set are Hindu. More to the mindset is the teaching of  the Buddha. Unlike the Hindu the followers of the enlightened one or Buddha hold to the theory of a 'middle way'. that is a path between the complicated religion of the Hindu and the world of sensuality. They have a clear firm rule for the followers.
   There are the Noble Truths:

• Suffering is universal. The very act of living is suffering But in each reincarnation (there it is again.) there is suffering. You will be looking for the Nirvana or release from the endless cycle of suffering.
• The cause of suffering is craving. The endless cycle occurs because we are attached to the world.
• The cure for suffering is to eliminate craving. Simple. No craving. No suffering
• Eliminate craving by following the Middle Way--the Noble Eightfold Path.By isolating the cause of the inability to escape the cage of birth, suffering, rebirth-- something called tanha --you can work out the solution.

        The system they came up with has a eightfold path.

1. Right viewpoint
2. Right aspiration
3. Right speech
4. Right behavior
5. Right occupation
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right meditation

     In the twentieth century and now into the twenty first we can see Buddhism in a variety of forms.
     In Tibet it appears as Demon Worship. In Japan it shows up as the new militant, nationalist  cult of Soka Gokkai.
     But the two main forms we should be aware of are Hinayana that holds that only a fortunate few make it to Nirvana, and Mayanana which is that all will make it, salvation is for all. There is a savior god. Hinayana  said that man must save himself. But Mayanana sees Buddha as the savior
       The problem is that its gods are beyond man's ability to reach.
        On the other hand, Christianity gives us Jesus who will give us the strengh to live a righteous life. God can be reached because God first reached down to us.