Free Essays on Buddhism

Buddhism Buddhism to me has always seemed to be something similar to that of a fairytale. Not knowing much about the religion, I couldn’t understand how you could live happily ever after by looking up to a fat guy and making weird chanting sounds to who knows who. Needless to say, for my exploration of culture, I chose Buddhism. To pursue my study, I attended a class at the Heruka Buddhist Center on October 17, and talked, afterwards, with a Western Buddhist nun, Gen Kelsang Losel, who came to Fort Collins from England for the center. The class was on contemplating the faults of attachments, a core belief among Buddhists. The session began with a half hour of meditation to relax the muscles of the body and release tension. Then for forty-five minutes she lectured. She talked about how all of our attachments and desires in our life lead us to pain and suffering. So in order to be happy, one must let go of our attachments. Following, was another session of meditation. Siddhartha Guatama, the founder of Buddhism, was born into a Hindu family where he was sheltered from pain and suffering. At age nineteen, he married his cousin and had had a son. At twenty-nine he left his wife and began a quest of inner illumination, recognizing that much of the world experiences suffering. Six years later he concluded that a life of self denial was futile. He sat under a tree and meditated for the first time, for this reason, Siddhartha was called Buddha which means enlightened one, and he realized that the cause of suffering was desire, attachment to material things. He spent the next forty years preaching the message of humility and compassion. He emphasized nirvana, which is what all Buddhists strive to achieve. It signifies the end of suffering and craving, the attainment of perfect peace. An Arahant is someone who has attained Nirvana. He said anyone can reach nirvana, by avoiding all extremes in accordance with the eightfold p... Free Essays on Buddhism Free Essays on Buddhism THE story of Gautama, the Buddha (the enlightened one), is well known. He expounded the four noble truths (Arya Satya) concerning suffering, its cause, its destruction and the way to the elimination of sorrow. He was against the extremes of both self-indulgence and self-mortification. A Middle Path was advocated consisting of right views, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right contemplation. He rejected the authority of the Vedas, condemned ritualistic practices, especially animal sacrifice, and denied the existence of gods. Buddhism flourished for more than a millennium and spread to foreign lands also. But a decline set in after the Golden Age of the Guptas (4th to 5th centuries AD). Foreign historians, with limited knowledge of Indian philosophical systems, have attributed the decline of Buddhism in the land of its birth to the advent of Adi Sankara. The 68th Sankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Math, Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, has effectively nailed this canard. According to him, Sankara was more concerned with setting right the errors in Saankhya and Meemaamsa philosophies of Hinduism which denied the importance of Isvara though basically subscribing to the Vedas. Even where he specifically dealt with Buddhism, he condemned only its denial of the existence of God. Then how did the religion decline? It was because of the vehement opposition to Buddhism on philosophical and religious grounds by Meemaamsakas and Taarkikas (logicians). The point is also that, even as people admired Buddha and turned to his religion, they did not give up their old beliefs and ritualistic practices. To give a contemporary example, many call themselves Gandhians but in their lives, official or personal, they follow a path just the opposite of what he showed! King Ashoka (2nd century BC) did much to propagate the religion within India and without. Still in his rock edicts ... Free Essays on Buddhism Buddhism was introduced from India into China in 6th Century AD. One of the Hen Emperors sent a mission to the west of China and brought back the scriptures, Indian monks and the images of Buddha. Since then Chinese translation was made available and the further exchange of scholars among China, India and other Asian countries brought about the rapid development of Buddhism in China. Buddhist monasteries and temples were built to promote the Buddhism and some of the Emperors were also the followers of Buddhism. Buddhism, just like Confucianism and Taoism, guides people to behave, to be honest and responsible. It promotes harmony and peaceful mind, sharing and compassion. Buddhists never force people into their belief. Buddhism emphasizes in "awakening of mind". Through learning, one will develop intellectual capacity to the fullest so as to understand, to love and be kind to other beings. Buddhism does not believe in God. It believes in People. In Buddhist teaching, there is no aggressive promotion of Buddhism or strong rejection of other religions. All these make Buddhism fall into the same scope of Confucianism and Taoist. Its ability to co-exist with any other religions makes it being developed into one of the largest religions in China. The basic Buddhist concepts base on Four Noble Truths: First Noble Truth - life is suffering mentally and physically in the forms of sickness, injuries, aging, death, tiredness, anger, loneliness, frustration, fear and anxiety, etc. Second Noble Truth - all these suffering are caused by craving. A self-centered person with continuous wanting from others will cause mental unhappiness. In turn, it will cause physical exhaust and fatigue in life. Third Noble Truth - all sufferings can be overcome and avoided. When one gives up endless wanting and endures problems that life evolves without fear, hatred and anger, happiness and freedom will then be obtained. Overcome the mentality of self-center a... Free Essays on Buddhism To summarise, once we are able to recognise what suffering really is, then we can start to remove its causes. To stop these activities that have no merits, we have to â€Å"dig out the root of defilement† (Cush, 1994). To eradicate personal defilement, one needs to remove their heart, which is this belief in a self. If one does that, then one will eventually come to realise the wisdom of non-self. Through understanding â€Å"the absence of a self, we should no longer create bad actions and bring an end to the whole process of ruining ourselves,† (Francesconni, 2001) and this is the cessation or end to suffering. We begin to see a prevailing optimism in Buddhism that the human spirit, with the right understanding of the self, can begin to make themselves pure of thought. The fourth noble truth is the path leading to the end of suffering. To achieve this, one must progressively go step by step, stage by stage in order to complete their journey. The Noble Eightfold Path is the set of actions and attitudes that can lead to the cessation of suffering. The eightfold path can be thought of as simply the Buddha’s handbook for attaining nirvana, â€Å"that mysterious state of pure consciousness in which suffering ceases because there is no Self to experience it.† (Sumedha, 2001). This state can be difficult for the western mind to describe and grasp, however, the idea behind it is pure and therefore should be seen as optimistic. High in the mountains of the Himalayas chants ring out from the Tibetan monastery. For most this is a dream-like vacation to a far away land. For some of the people who live in Tibet and India this is everyday life as a Buddhist. Buddhism revolves around a strict code of daily rituals and meditations. To an outsider they can seem mystical or even odd, but these are the paths to enlightenment and spiritual salvation. Throughout the centuries, Buddhism has evolved into a major religion in Asia and other parts of th... Free Essays on Buddhism Let’s begin with some text book terms of the eight fold path which include: 1. Right aspiration-which is to rid yourself of attachment and hate because the minds intentions are the key link. 2. Right speech is to not lie, or talk down about people because â€Å"bad speech† is instigation for wars or enemies. 3. Right action- is to do good deeds, not to go out and kill someone, steal, or commit â€Å"adultery† which is sexual misconduct. 4. Right livelihood- to avoid dishonesty and refrain from hurting all living things. 5. Right effort- to rid bad qualities, and do well, to develop compassion. 6. Right mindfulness- is to focus on what’s right, and to overcome ignorance/hate. 7. Right concentration- meditatecomplete focus of truly understanding the meaning of imperfection. 8. Right view- is to understand the four noble truths. The four noble truths that need to be understood are as followed: Life is suffering Suffering is due to attachment Attachment can be overcome There is a path for accomplishing this. I partially agree with the belief that â€Å"Life is suffering†. Yes, there are the rough points of life which you must suffer though. However, all that suffering eventfully leads to joy. You wouldn’t know what suffering was if you had never experienced happiness. Happiness is just an emotion, and emotions are not permanent. Therefore, the suffering or emotion you feel can not be permanent either because life will end at some point. Suffering may be do to attachment, but also you will receive happiness from whatever this attachment is. Attachment I feel can be over come to an extent. No matter how strong of a person you may be you’re still going to have a need or passion for something regardless. The eightfold path can not completely release all your need for attachment regardless how much you focus on doing good deeds or the â€Å"right actions†. Humans were created with a need for attachment or a commitmen... Free Essays on Buddhism The Bhagavad Gita is a very unique scripture. When I read it, it showed me in a very comprehensive way, the very soul of the ancient vedic religion of India. In its seven hundred verses, it holds a very important message for us and for all mankind to come. It contains a revelation of an age-old mystery of man (existence of universe and God). It gives us practical instructions on the processes for attaining God-experience. No wonder therefore, that all true seekers after divine experience praise the Gita as one of the most valuable treasures in the common wisdom-heritage of mankind in this world. For, it has a timeless message and its teachings are of eternal power. If studied in detail, Gita could make our daily life divine, and it would lift it up to a new physical and spiritual level. Gita explains that Lord, it seems, in His Infinite generosity, as though crazy in His maddening love for us, gave all of us an important gift at our birth. This very important treasure, freely offered to each one of us as 'His birthday present', has been, in our ignorance and innocence, often misused, sometimes abused, and almost never rightly applied. A 'hand-book of instructions' was needed to explain how best we can use our personality, and to give tips on how to get the best performance from our abilities. And that handbook, in Hinduism, is the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible or the Koran of the Hindus. I especially enjoyed chapter number three. This Chapter details the error of placing oneself outside the totality of creation, which defeats the purpose of every form of effort. Man within and the world without, and the Supreme Divine Principle above, are to be taken in their togetherness, which is the principle of right understanding. The application in life of this right knowledge is Karma Yoga, or the Yoga of Action. Most of us only react to compulsions of basic (primal) hungers and desires, and so we do not recognize the beauty of a selfless, and therefo... Free Essays on Buddhism Buddhism Buddism is one of the world`s fastest spreading religions. At this time there are 313 million Buddist in Asia. And approximatley 500 thousand in North America. Buddism is not just a religion, but a way of life. It is a religion that helps the people that beleive in it to, search the deepest recuses of their souls to find what the true way to peace is. Buddhism was founded by a wealthy prince, Siddhartha Gautam, of the Sakya clan. After many years of practicing Hinduism. At the age of 29 Gautam left the old Hindu traditions. For seven years he meditated and reflected on the evils of the earth. One day while sitting under a fig tree he received Enlightnment. he gained the title of the Budda. And disscovered the four noble truths. The four noble truths, were principles that Budda beleived would lead to true happiness. The first noble truth was. That all things and people suffer. The second is, people suffer, because they desire. The third is, that suffering will end once people let go of there desires. And the fourth noble truth is, that the only way to end craving is by following the eight fold path to perfection. There are four main types of Buddism. Theravada, Mahayana, Tantic, and Zen. Theravada is the oldest form of Buddism. And is to this day practiced by many Buddist monks. Mahayana is a popular form of Buddism in the West. Tantic combines both Theravada Buddism and Mahayana Buddism with indian practices. The last form of Buddism is Zen Buddism. Zen buddist put a great emphasize on contemplation. And strive for satori (a glimpse into enlightenment). In all Buddism is a search for peace in ones self. Through contimplation, meditation, the four noble truths and the eight fold path. As a person goes from a selfcentered existance to a existance of enlightenment, commpassion and thought. And after years of searching. It may payoff with the arrival at Nirvana. Th... Free Essays on Buddhism Buddhism Buddhism was developed from the teachings of the ,Buddha, Gautama (or Gotama) who lived as early as the 6th century BC. Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of the Eastern world and during the 20th century has spread to the West. Buddhist worship consists mainly in reciting prayers and sacred texts and chanting hymns to the accompaniment of horns, trumpets, and drums. For this worship, which takes place three times a day, the clergy are summoned by the tolling of a small bell and are seated in rows according to their rank. The supreme position is occupied by two lamas- namely, the Grand, or Dalai Lama, and the Panchen, or Bogodo, Lama. Before the Chinese invasion of the area in 1950, both lamas theoretically had the same authority, but in actuality the Dalai Lama, possessing a greater temporal jurisdiction, was considerably more powerful. Next in rank are the Hutukhtus, or spiritual dignitaries. The third order is that of the Hobilghans, or bodhisattvas, those who have undertaken various ethical and spiritual disciplines with a view to achieving Buddha hood, or complete enlightenment. These three orders constitute the so-called higher clergy, the members of which are regarded as the incarnations of Bud dhist saints. A lower clergy is recruited on the basis of probity and theological proficiency. The lower clergy has four orders: the novice, the assistant priest, the religious mendicant, and the teacher or abbot. The members of each order must take a vow of celibacy. Most live in monasteries. The scriptures of Tibetan Buddhism are divided into two great collections: the canon, or sacred books, and the exegetical commentary. The canon, consisting of counsels and injunctions of the Buddha rendered from Indian and Chinese texts, contains more than 1000 works, which in some editions fill more than 100 vol... Free Essays on Buddhism Introduction In considering all of the world’s religions, I chose to do my research and paper on Buddhism. I chose this religion because it seems very interesting to me, and also because Buddhism is a completely different religion than my own. I visited the An Lac Temple on Sunday September 28, 2003 from 10-12. It is a Mahayana Buddhist temple. My boyfriend went along with me on this visit. When we first arrived, we were greeted and I explained to them who I was and that we would be visiting their temple for the day and they kindly took us to a sister who could speak English and was happy to answer my questions. Her name was Thanhtrang and she proceeded to give us lots of information about their temple and the Buddhist religion. Location and Affiliation: The An Lac temple is located at 5249 E 30th Street in Indianapolis. The neighborhood that surrounds the temple appears to be pretty run down. In the area there are a lot of trailer courts and tattered homes. The temple has been there for 10 years and it consists of 2 house-like buildings. One of them is the actual temple and the other is a building in which teachings for the children are held and the dinner after the service also takes place there. The meal after the service takes place to remind them where the food came from and the hardships it took to get the food. They always know what they are eating and will eat the food even if they do not like it because it helps them practice not to discriminate, even with something as little as food. The purpose of the temple is to offer a place where people are able to come and learn about the Buddhist beliefs, and also to learn and to keep cultures from the country where they originated. The temple hopes that with their teachings, when their children grow up they will know virtues and not bring bad habits into the world. In schools, they never learn how to take care of his or her soul. In the working world, all people care about ... Free Essays on Buddhism Buddhism Buddhism to me has always seemed to be something similar to that of a fairytale. Not knowing much about the religion, I couldn’t understand how you could live happily ever after by looking up to a fat guy and making weird chanting sounds to who knows who. Needless to say, for my exploration of culture, I chose Buddhism. To pursue my study, I attended a class at the Heruka Buddhist Center on October 17, and talked, afterwards, with a Western Buddhist nun, Gen Kelsang Losel, who came to Fort Collins from England for the center. The class was on contemplating the faults of attachments, a core belief among Buddhists. The session began with a half hour of meditation to relax the muscles of the body and release tension. Then for forty-five minutes she lectured. She talked about how all of our attachments and desires in our life lead us to pain and suffering. So in order to be happy, one must let go of our attachments. Following, was another session of meditation. Siddhartha Guatama, the founder of Buddhism, was born into a Hindu family where he was sheltered from pain and suffering. At age nineteen, he married his cousin and had had a son. At twenty-nine he left his wife and began a quest of inner illumination, recognizing that much of the world experiences suffering. Six years later he concluded that a life of self denial was futile. He sat under a tree and meditated for the first time, for this reason, Siddhartha was called Buddha which means enlightened one, and he realized that the cause of suffering was desire, attachment to material things. He spent the next forty years preaching the message of humility and compassion. He emphasized nirvana, which is what all Buddhists strive to achieve. It signifies the end of suffering and craving, the attainment of perfect peace. An Arahant is someone who has attained Nirvana. He said anyone can reach nirvana, by avoiding all extremes in accordance with the eightfold p... Free Essays on Buddhism Primitive man found himself in a dangerous and hostile world, the fear of wild animals, of not being able to find enough food, of injury or disease, and of natural phenomena like thunder, lightning and volcanoes was constantly with him. Finding no security, he created the idea of gods in order to give him comfort in good times, courage in times of danger and consolation when things went wrong. To this day, you will notice that people become more religious at times of crises, you will hear them say that the belief in a god or gods gives them the strength they need to deal with life. You will hear them explain that they believe in a particular god because they prayed in time of need and their prayer was answered. All this seems to support the Buddha’s teaching that the god-idea is a response to fear and frustration. The Buddha taught us to try to understand our fears, to lessen our desires and to calmly and courageously accept the things we cannot change. He replaced fear, not w ith irrational belief but with rational understanding. The second reason the Buddha did not believe in a god is because there does not seem to be any evidence to support this idea. There are numerous religions, all claiming that they alone have god’s words preserved in their holy book, that they alone understand god’s nature, that their god exists and that the gods of other religions do not. Some claim that god is masculine, some that she is feminine and others that it is neuter. They are all satisfied that there is ample evidence to prove the existence of their god but they laugh in disbelief at the evidence other religions use to prove the existence of another god. It is not surprising that with so many different religions spending so many centuries trying to prove the existence of their gods that still no real, concrete, substantial or irrefutable evidence has been found. Buddhists suspend judgement until such evidence is forthcoming. The third reason t... Free Essays on Buddhism Buddha taught that in order to live a life that is free from pain and suffering people must eliminate any attachments to worldly goods. Only then will they gain a kind of peace and happiness. They must rid themselves of greed, hatred, and ignorance. They strive to cultivate four attitudes, loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. The basic moral code prohibits killing, stealing, harmful language, sexual misbehavior, and the use of intoxicants. Morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration form the cornerstone of Buddhist faith. By observing these, lust, hatred, and delusion may be overcome. This is known as Nirvana. It is a realistic goal only for members of the monastic community. The most devoted followers of the Buddha were organized into the monastic sangha. They were identified by their shaved heads and robes made of unsewn orange cloth. Many early monks wandered from place to place, settling down only during the rainy season when traveling was difficult. The Buddhist have lasted because they have the ability to adapt to changing conditions and to a variety of cultures. Monks are expected to live a life of poverty, meditation, and study. They must avoid all sexual activity. They devote themselves to work, study, and prayer. They all dress in special robes. Monks play an important part in preserving and spreading Buddhism.... Free Essays on Buddhism Buddha taught that in order to live a life that is free from pain and suffering people must eliminate any attachments to worldly goods. Only then will they gain a kind of peace and happiness. They must rid themselves of greed, hatred, and ignorance. They strive to cultivate four attitudes, loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. The basic moral code prohibits killing, stealing, harmful language, sexual misbehavior, and the use of intoxicants. Morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration form the cornerstone of Buddhist faith. By observing these, lust, hatred, and delusion may be overcome. This is known as Nirvana. It is a realistic goal only for members of the monastic community. The most devoted followers of the Buddha were organized into the monastic sangha. They were identified by their shaved heads and robes made of unsewn orange cloth. Many early monks wandered from place to place, settling down only during the rainy season when traveling was difficult. The Buddhist have lasted because they have the ability to adapt to changing conditions and to a variety of cultures. Monks are expected to live a life of poverty, meditation, and study. They must avoid all sexual activity. They devote themselves to work, study, and prayer. They all dress in special robes. Monks play an important part in preserving and spreading Buddhism.... Free Essays on Buddhism â€Å"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religions for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology, it covers both the natural and spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.† (Albert Einstein) Known as one of the world’s great religions, it is professed by over 3500,000,000 people, most of whom live in the Far East. Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddharta Gautama, who is more commonly known as Buddha, the â€Å"Enlightened One†. It was developed during the fifth and sixth centuries BCE around 535 BCE, which was the date Siddharta Gautama reached enlightenment and became the Buddha. The Buddhist doctrine of tolerance, pacifism, and the spiritual equality of all men has been a great civilizing influence in the far East. It has adapted itself to the impact of the West, and its insights have in turn in fluenced many Western thinkers. Buddhism is based on a rational analysis of man’s condition, and it attempts to show the way to salvation. Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later be known as Buddha, was born in Lumbini, Nepal around the year 563 BC. He was the son of two important great people. Siddhartha’s father’s name was Shuddhodana, the King of the Sakyas. His mother, Queen Maya, was a lady â€Å"of perfect form and bee-black tresses, fearless in heart and full of grace and virtue.† Siddhartha got his name from one of his mother’s dreams. Her dream was that an elephant with 6 tusks, carrying a lotus flower in its trunk, touched the right side of Queen Maya’s body. That was when Siddhartha was miraculously conceived. When she told her husband about her dream, he called Brahmins, or learned men to interpret it. They predicted that the child one-day would be the greatest king in the world or the greatest ascetic in the world. So that’s why they called him Siddhartha,... Free Essays on Buddhism Buddhism is one of the biggest religion founded in India in the 6th and 5th cent. B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. One of the great Asian religions, it teaches the practice of and the observance of moral precepts. The basic doctrines include the four noble truths taught by the Buddha. Since it was first introduced into China from India, Buddhism has had a history which has been characterized by periods of sometimes awkward and irregular development. This has mainly been the result of the clash of two cultures, each with a long history of tradition. Most of the difficulties have arisen due to the transplanting of an Indian religious/philosophical system onto a culture strongly dominated by indigenous secular, philosophical and religious systems. In spite of these difficulties, Chinese Buddhism has come to have an important influence on the growth and development of Buddhism in general and this has occurred largely because of its own innovatory contributions.(Eliade, M. p .16-29) The spread of Buddhism into China began in Central Asia and was facilitated by the efforts of the Indo-Scythian king Kanishka (Encyclopedia Britt. 273-274) of the Kushan dynasty which ruled in northern India, Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia in the 1st and 2nd centuries (Encyclopedia Britt. 274). He is said to have undergone an Ashoka-like conversion upon seeing the slaughter caused by his campaigns. Around the beginning of the common era, Buddhism started to filter into China from Central Asia via the Silk Road, brought by monks, merchants and other travelers. It also entered later via trade routes around and through Southeast Asia. It was nurtured in the expatriate community of Loyang and other northern cities. (The Encyclopedia of Religion p58-62) Siddhartha (Buddha) was born around 563 B.C.E. in the town of Kapilavastu, located in today's Nepal. Siddhartha's parents were King Shuddhodana and Queen Maya, who ruled the Sakyas. His history is...