T.S. Eliot’s long poem The Waste Land is well known for containing influences from both the literary and religious world. This paper will examine elements of Buddhism found in the third section of the poem. This section is called “The Fire Sermon.” The title for “The Fire Sermon” is taken from Buddha’s first sermon as a newly enlightened individual. The characters in the section, of which Tiresias is the most significant, are living the extreme of sensual indulgence. This, according to Buddha’s sermon, was one of the extreme’s the will keep an individual from becoming enlightened. Tiresias, who appears for the first time in “The Fire Sermon,” witnesses a mechanical sex scene between an unnamed bored typist and a “carbuncular” clerk. Interpreting the text with the basic teachings of Buddhist philosophy in mind, we discover that the character Tiresias (and therefore the other characters as well) are going through the process of realizing the Four Holy Truths of the Buddhist teaching. Upon fully realizing those truths one can then begin on the path which leads towards enlightenment. Tiresias and the other characters though are not capable of realizing the fourth Holy Truth. Because of this they will never attain Buddhist enlightenment. This leads to a type of enlightenment at the end of the section, but only when faith is put into a power higher than themselves.