Drifty's Rants

When people think of Buddhism, they automatically think of the religion. What some people don't realize, though, is that Buddha was an actual man who came up with his own ethical system. I will not bore you with the tale of Buddha's life and how he came to this ethical system. I will get straight to the point. Buddha believed in Four Truths:

Suffering (suffering exists)
Cause of Suffering (something always causing suffering)
End of Suffering (there is a way to end all suffering)
Special ways of ending suffering

There are five ways to end suffering:

Refrain from harming any living thing, physically and psychologically
Do not take anything that is not given to you
Do not mis-use any sensations (i.e. don't do drugs to change your sensations)
No more wrong speech (do not saying anything bad about others)
Do not take anything the will cloud the mind

There is one more part to Buddha's philosophy. That is the Transfer of Merit, which says to learn how to will that our actions help all of mankind. In other words, try to do things that will help your fellow man and not just yourself. It is very straight-forward, and if everyone followed these ideals this world would be much more peaceful.