Everyone agrees that it is important to be happy in life and so did Karl Marx and Siddharta Gautama ("Buddha"). However, Marxism and Buddhism do not necessarily agree on what really matters in life in order to achieve happiness as the ultimate end. According to Karl Marx, the reality fundamentally revolves around the material, and especially economic, conditions. On the other hand, Buddhism supposes that life is about understanding the true nature of reality, which is not what it usually seems to be. While Karl Marx advances materialism, Buddhism advocates idealism and thus the differences between the two philosophers’ lies in their different schools of thought.
At the outset, Karl Marx advanced a school of thought that differed with that associated with Buddhism and that is materialism. According to Materialism , the world is physical and concrete ( Thomas, 2008 ). The word cannot be perceived in a spiritual or intellectual approach rather, everything in the universe is matter and lacks spiritual or intellectual existence. Beyond explaining the existence of things, materialism is also a doctrine that argues that material success, as well as material progress, are the true values in life. Accordingly, Karl Marx argued that human is productive and sociable beings who find fulfillment and meaning in their lives through their productive and social activities ("Note for Class 22: The Meaning of Life and Marxism", n.d). That is, humans find ways to survive physically without which the question about the meaning does not make sense. As such, Karl Marx argued that the meaning of life only makes sense when viewed and explained only in materialistic terms. The philosopher went further to explain that all aspects of human existence, be it politics, social values, philosophy or even religion among others, economic structure reigns supreme. Therefore, Karl Marx made the conclusion that the reality is fundamentally materialistic in nature and there is no such a thing as ideal.
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In contrast, Buddhism argues that life itself is a mental dysfunction or suffering and that such suffering, which arises from cravings, can nevertheless be eliminated through an Eightfold Path. What is important in Buddhism is finding the peace of mind — Equanimity ( Thomas, 2008 ). The path to finding the peace of mind, which abstracts the physical world, is by seeking spiritual enlightenment. As humans seek the truth about life, which is not to be found in the physical or material world, they get detached from the cycle of cravings. In so doing, an individual is freed from passion, delusion, and suffering and one attains the ideal state of mind full of bliss and well-being ( Thomas, 2008 ). Therefore, Buddhism advocates for an inquest into the reality of human existence and the meaning of life through the mind. This is because Buddha believed that human suffering begins in the mind and that only means that getting away from suffering would require that a person seeks tranquility and insight as mental qualities that bring relief. In short, Buddhism in its pursuit of idealism emphasizes the significance of mental qualities as the way to find meaning in life and to achieve happiness as the ultimate end.
In summary, it is apparent that Karl Marx and Buddha differ in their understanding of what they deem important in life. For Karl Max, life is about being able to attain happiness by getting purging material conditions that satisfy human desires and wants. On the other, Buddha advocated for spiritual enlightenment as the way to understand the truth about reality, detach from physical life that is full of suffering and active mental qualities of tranquility and insight that result in happiness. The two philosophies, Marxism and Buddhism, are guided by different philosophical underpinnings of materialism and idealism respectively.
References
Note for Class 22: The Meaning of Life and Marxism. Tamu.edu . Retrieved 5 Jul 2018, from http://people.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/Notes/96class22.html
Thomas I. White (2008). Discovering Philosophy, Portfolio Edition 2nd Edition, New Jersey: Prentice Hall
