The teachings of Buddhism compose of the four noble truths that teach about the essence of life to the followers of Buddhism. The first truth teaches that life is about suffering, and prepares human beings to be ready to experience suffering as long as they are living in the world. The second truth teaches about the cause of the suffering. It teaches about the thirst that causes people to suffer. The third and fourth noble truths are connected on the need to end the suffering and the end of the suffering in a stage of enlightenment. In this sense, the third noble truth teaches followers on how to learn ad practice the teachings of Buddha in order to deal with the disease of suffering. The fourth noble truth is the result of learning and practicing, which is the stage in which one becomes enlightened. The greed, hatred and delusion fall under the second noble truth. They are aspects of the causation of suffering. This paper purposes to discuss how and why the unenlightened should strive to deal with these three poisons of humanity, as perceived in Buddhism.

Greed, hatred and delusion in Buddhism have commonly been referred to as the three poisons or the three fires. Other scholars of Buddhism have referred to them as the three unwholesome roots. The reason for their being referred to as such is because of their nature to cause human beings to have a desire to happiness through the wrong motive (Athukorala 2012 P79). A close look at these metaphorical references to these three aspects reveals that they can be very dangerous if not dealt with from a deterministic perspective. They can induce afflictive emotions and thoughts. Buddhism teaches that the three are a byproduct of ignorance. By referring to them as a byproduct of ignorance, he teachings of Buddha point to the fact that there is a way of combating them. This way will be by applying the teachings of Buddha and practicing them so that the person who harbored them can become intelligent, or realize the fourth noble truth. Going by the fact that these three aspects are a result of ignorance, it is reasonable that the person experiencing them follows the recommendations of Buddha’s teachings so that they can become knowledgeable. This is to mean that the essence of combating greed, hatred and delusion is to become intelligent. This will be advantageous to the persuerer because they will become intelligent, and will have cured the disease of suffering.

The Buddhist hypothesis behind greed, hatred and delusion is that they are a result of ignorance, and that anyone harboring them must be ignorant (Athukorala 2012 P 81). They originate from the mind, and they tend to poison the mind. When one harbors them, they tend to figure out and produce unskilled and nonvirtous thoughts. This is also accompanied by actions and speech that causes all the known forms of unhappiness and suffering for the victims. When present in a human being, they tend to affect their personalities as they are embedded deep in them. Their result is to taint behavior. Further, they cause misunderstandings, lust, and they drive human beings blindly through the path of life all the way to death. Buddha describes that they are the real cause of the actual karma. Going by these effects of greed, hatred and delusion, it is important that they be combatted. Combating them will lead to their antidotes. This will also lead to intelligence. Intelligence will enable one to deal with suffering in their lives.

For human beings to live a positive life and a life of understanding, they have to deal with the poisons of the mind. Buddha teachings encourage that; even though the learning of the three poisons f life appear negative and discouraging, people ought to learn them in order to promote a life of positivism and understanding. The teachings further postulate that; dealing with these poisons through understanding, will lead to empowerment in life (Athukorala 2012 P 82). When people attract intelligence and understanding in their lives, they are able to discern the factors that cause unhappiness, confusion and suffering. When human beings get this clarity, they are able to make a choice to eliminate these poisons when they try to come into their lives to ruin them.

The four noble truths explain clearly how these poisons of life can be dealt with. Human beings should embrace the zeal to gain intelligence. This will enable them to understand the root causes of dissatisfaction and suffering (French 2002 P 102). The knowledge and understanding enables the intelligent devise mechanisms to deal with the three poisons. The ac of extinguishing the three poisons of human life will lead to liberation of people’s lives.

Greed in Buddhism has been described as ‘tanha’, to mean craving lust, a burning desire or thirst that is unquenchable. It creates hunger inside a person, which lies to them that causes them to desire to achieve a goal that is not achievable. According to Sachs(2014 P 100), greed comes in the form of a lie to human beings. It makes them believe that when the goal they are angering for is fulfilled, they will get satisfied. However, this turns out to be wrong, because even when they get what they are lustfully craving for, they do not get satisfaction. It can never bring contentment to human beings. It has no compassion and generosity towards other people. Instead, it leads to negative effects to people and their surroundings. Greed is the root cause of international terrorism and warfare. Destruction of the environment too comes through greed. In view of this, it is important to learn the teachings of Buddha and be armed with the intelligence of dealing with greed. Through this way, promotion of international peace and co-existence will be easy.

Hatred, on the other hand, comes in the form of ill-will, anger, aversion and hostility. It has unpleasant feelings and a wish of causing harm to other people (Sachs 2014). Hatred causes conflict between people and can lead to a serious misunderstanding among groups. The essence of hatred is creation of enmity. Apart from that, it can cause personal conflicts within a human being. Due to these conflicts, people lead a life of suffering. When people learn the teachings of Buddha, they gain intelligence and are able to combat the poison of hatred, and are able to coexist well with others.

Delusion refers inability to perceive reality as it is. It points to a state of not being able to perceive the nature of things. When people are experiencing such a phenomenon, they are not in harmony with themselves. It is clear then that when people are not in harmony with themselves, they are not living in accordance with the principles of Dharma (Athukorala 2012 P 120). It is also clear that delusion comes from the ignorance of the true nature, where the victim is not able to understand that nature is impermanent. Going by this, the only way to assist the victim is by imparting knowledge into them through the teachings of Buddha.

On combatting the three poisons human life, Athukorala (2012 P 111) advises that it cannot be done quickly. It has to happen step by step, with a lot of patience. Transformation and purification has to be carried out in a slow and sure process. The principle teachings of Buddha also encourage deep compassion and humility for the process of transformation to be effective. A close examination of the teachings of Buddha about greed, hatred and delusion, shows that he showed that they can be overcome through purification (French 2002 P. 122). According to Buddha, the source of true nature is enlightenment, which initiates a life of shinning with a true sense of purity of the heart and mind. Going by this, spiritual practice is essential. The main objective of spiritual practice is to attract enlightenment, which will give clarity to understanding nature. This will help do away with the suffering brought about by the poisons of life.

Buddha encouraged people and gave them the hope of breaking the negative karma of life and live a happy life. To combat these poisons of life so that life can be fulfilled, people must understand the origin of the negative influences. Therefore, the starting point is the mind (Sachs 2014P 87). They must deal with the conditioned personality or ego. The Buddha teachings advise calming the mind, and thinking deeply about self. For this process to be effective, people must appreciate the reality of the three poisons of greed, hatred and delusion. This is because, when people operate with a calm mind, they will be able to examine the deep-seatedness of the poisons of life within them, and thus will devise mechanisms to deal with them.

Meditation is a crucial principle of combating greed, hatred and delusion. When people adopt a culture of meditation, they become accustomed to a positive culture, which will enable them to completely deal with the habit that is characterized with the elements of the poisons of life. According to Sachs (2014 P 122), meditation will involve digesting the teachings of Buddha. They are supposed to be at the fingertips. The teachings are supposed to give knowledge to human beings. When one is pampered with the teachings of Buddha, they have to design a way of remembering the so that they can put them into a good use. Only by internalizing the teachings will one be in a position to apply them in real life. Application of these principles in real life leads to fathoming how to combat the ills brought about by the three poisons of life.

Antidotes taught by Buddha can also be used to combat the poisons of greed. This enables overcoming greed. They are used to supplement meditation in the practice of Buddhism. According to (French 2002 P 82), antidotes to the three poisons of life are used to completely subdue the personality of ill-will, which is instilled by the poisons of life. They enable one to replace the personality of non-virtuous, unwholesome mental formations or attitudes, and replace them with the desirable mental attitudes. Application of antidotes teaches that people learn to cultivate a culture of values and morals. The values of generosity, detachment, contentment and understanding are emphasized. These values promote understanding among people and enable them to co-exist. With these moral qualities, people are able to contemplate the demerits of the things they desired, and also their impermanence. The result is that their lives are made happy.

To overcome hatred through antidote is the learning of compassion, loving-kindness, forgiveness and patience. This is beneficial, not only to the outer world of a person, but also to their inner world. This is because it enables people to make peace with others, and as well, to make peace with themselves, in their minds. On the other hand, delusion can be combated with an antidote of wisdom (Sachs 2014 p 111). This is also accompanied by right understanding and insight. The wisdom will be in the form of enlightenment, which will enable a person to leave in harmony with the ever-changing nature. The result of it will be peace and joy in life.

In conclusion, the three poisons of greed, hated and delusion are unhealthy in the life of a human being. They cause untold suffering, both the external and the internal world of a human being. There is the need to overcome them, in order to be enlightened, and overcome suffering in life. According to the teachings of Dharma, the process of overcoming them requires determination and patience. It requires reading the teachings of dharma and applying them I daily actions. Antidotes to the three poisons are also very beneficial. When one is enlightened, they are able to deal with the problem of suffering, and lead a peaceful life.

RFERENCES

Athukorala, G.D. 2012. Buddha’s principle of relativity: Mind body stress. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Publishing.

French, R.R. 2002. The golden yoke: The legal cosmology of Buddhist Tibet. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications.

Sachs, R. 2014. The wisdom of the Buddhist masters: Common and uncommon sense. London, UK: Duncan Baird Publishers.

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