What Do Buddhists Believe?

In Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation of the Buddha’s first sermon, the Buddha tells the monks that birth, aging, and death are stressful, that craving is the origin of that stress, that the fading of craving is its cessation, and that the way is the Noble Eightfold Path. Christians confess that God made the world and that Jesus is the way to the Father.

Key points

• SN 56.11 (Thanissaro Bhikkhu) says, “Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful.”
• The same sermon says the origin is “the craving that makes for further becoming.”
• It says the cessation is “the remainderless fading and cessation” of that craving.
• It names the way: “right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.”
• The sermon ends the speaker’s own account with “This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.”
• Do Buddhists believe in God? asks what this sermon does not say. Christians confess the Trinity. Jesus is God.

What the sutta says

Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation of SN 56.11, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, says:

Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation of SN 56.11

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of stress: the craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion and delight, relishing now here and now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation of SN 56.11

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of stress: the remainderless fading and cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, and letting go of that very craving.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation of SN 56.11

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: precisely this Noble Eightfold Path — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation of SN 56.11

The speaker then says knowledge arose: “This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.”

Thanissaro renders the Pali word often translated “suffering” as “stress.” The ampersands in his online text are printed here as “and,” and a bracketed note number after the first colon is omitted. The quotation is his translation, linked above, under CC BY-NC 4.0. A different translator’s edition of the long discourse on Brahma was not used, because its license does not allow this reprint.

The Christian claim

Acts 17:24God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;Acts 17:24 · King James Version (King James Version) says:

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

Acts 17:24 · King James Version

John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1:1 · King James Version says the Word was God. John 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.John 14:6 · King James Version records Jesus: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.John 3:16 · King James Version says God gave his Son so that whoever believes should not perish but have everlasting life. The sermon quoted above seeks the end of further becoming. The Gospel seeks resurrection life from the God who made the world. That confession is the deity of Christ and the resurrection.

Frequently asked questions

Is this what every Buddhist believes?

It is the first sermon as this translation gives it. Buddhist schools differ on later questions. This page does not invent a sentence from a school it has not quoted.

What are the four truths in this translation?

Stress, the craving that originates it, the cessation of that craving, and the Noble Eightfold Path. The sentences are quoted above from SN 56.11.

Do Christians confess the eightfold path as the way to the Father?

John 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.John 14:6 · King James Version says Jesus is the way. Acts 17:24God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;Acts 17:24 · King James Version says God made the world. Do Buddhists believe in God? stays on that question.