Buddha lived in India between 563BC and 483BC. Originally name Siddhartha, he was born to an extremely wealthy family. His father wanted to shield Siddhartha from any knowledge of human suffering. So it wasn’t until he was 29, when he ventured out and met a man who was old, that he learned people grow old and die. After this, he went on a quest to find out the nature of suffering and how to escape it. Eventually, he discovered the Four Noble Truths and achieved enlightenment (and was then called Buddha, meaning “the Enlightened One”). The Four Noble Truths say (essentially) 1) there is suffering, 2) suffering is caused by desire 3) there is an end to suffering (by not having desire) and 4) there is a path out of suffering (which is called the Noble Eight fold path).
The Secret website quotes Buddha as saying “We are shaped by our thoughts. We become what we think.” He is also quoted there as saying “The secret of health of both body and mind is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” This might appear to support the “Secret”, but in fact Buddhism promotes the opposite of the “Law of Attraction”. The Secret suggests that the key to happiness is to ask for the things you desire. The Four Noble Truths say that if you want to end your own suffering (and achieve happiness), you should seek less, essentially you should do less desiring and asking.
Instead, Buddhism suggests you should do the eight things on the Noble Eightfold path, which are 1) right view, 2) right intention, 3) right speech, 4) right action, 5) right livelihood, 6) right effort, 7) right mindfulness and 8 ) right concentration. None of these are suggested in the Secret.
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