The Incoherence of Basic Buddhism

The clash between early Buddhist naturalism and morality

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Is basic Buddhism coherent?

By “basic Buddhism,” I mean the Four Noble Truths: Dukkha, Samudaya, Nirodha, and Magga. These principles are that life consists of suffering in the form of a cycle of disappointments; this suffering is caused by craving due to ignorance, especially about the nature of the self and everything’s interdependence; this suffering can end because the ignorance can be cured with enlightenment; and the path to enlightenment begins with the Eightfold Path.

That path disciplines the mind by right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Thus, Buddhism isn’t supposed to be merely academic, dealing with idle abstractions that don’t affect the initiate’s life. Instead, this philosophy is pragmatic and therapeutic, the point being to end suffering by transforming your character and mindset, reorienting your life based on a clearer understanding of what we are in the world.

Buddhism pictures the benighted egotist as being transformed eventually into an enlightened saint.

Thus, the Pali canon says, “Monks, there is one person who arises in the world for the welfare of the multitude, for the happiness of the multitude, out of…