Purusarthas
zenguitar
Bad BuddhistNew England Veteran
Purusarthas
I was reading about Hinduism the other day, and I saw something that seemed very sensible to me. According to this article, Hindus believe that there are four goals or aims of life, called purusarthas. They are:
- Dharma - “righteousness”
- Artha - “prosperity”
- Kama - “desire”
- Moksha - “spiritual liberation”
Proper living (in the Hindu view) means pursuing all 4 of these goals, not just 1 or 2. (Not all at the same time, of course, but at different stages of life.) But Buddhism, on the other hand, basically seems to ignore # 2 above while frowning upon # 3 as a source of suffering.
After reading this, I was thinking that the Hindu view actually seems much more like a moderate “middle way” than Buddhism, at least for a layperson such as myself. Whereas Buddhism seems more appropriate for someone who wants to live a monkish existence focused on #'s 1 and 4 above.
What do you think? I await your comments, jokes, flames, etc.
Comments
Do you have a link for this article? I'm curious about the contexts around #2 and 3 as well. Of course I can google it myself :P .
Oh ,it's just wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puruṣārtha
oh!
As a layperson you should also read up on what the 'middle way' means in Buddhism, bc it's not what you're assuming it means.
Yes you could say the 'aim' in Hinduism is to join the ratrace but to know that it's a ratrace, so you can easily distance yourself from it if you choose a life of austerity. But most hindus (like myself) don't know they have a choice and live a life dictated by social doctrine and religious ritual. I'd say they're more blinded by 'maya' because they are supposed to take up a role in society, accumulate material wealth, get married,indulge in sense pleasures and then supposed to leave it all behind and join a life of complete austerity ... so far for taking a 'middle way'.