A path to spiritual discovery

Buddhism is based on the teachings of an Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama who lived around 500 B.C. Buddhist tradition says that one day the prince looked beyond the walls of his palace and saw the suffering of his people and wanted to make a change. Siddhartha left his wife and 2 kids and began the path to become Buddha (enlightened one) and after years of practice, he spent the remains 45 years of his life teaching “dharma”(the path to liberation from suffering) and established Sangha (a community of monks).

Buddhism is a major global religion with a complex history and system of beliefs. The founder of Buddhism is said to be Siddhartha Gautama, the son of an Indian warrior-king. Gautama led an extravagant life through early adulthood, reveling in the privileges of his social class. Gautama became bored with the indulgences of royal life so he wandered into the world searching for understanding. After encountering an old man, ill man, a corpse, and an ascetic, he was convinced that suffering lay at the end of all existence. He then became a monk, depriving himself of worldly possessions in the hope of comprehending the truth of the world around him. The culmination of his search came while meditating beneath a tree, where he finally understood how to be free from suffering, and ultimately, to achieve salvation. Gautama became known as the Buddha, meaning the “Enlightened One.” He spent the remainder of his life

A fundamental practice in Buddhism and Hinduism is to find enlightenment, or complete peace. Though Hinduism does not believe you can accomplish this in one lifetime, it is the same concept. Siddhartha looks to find this by blazing his own path and independently practice Buddhism to achieve this goal. In the quote, “It has come to you in the course of your own search, on your own path, through thoughts, through meditation, through realizations, through enlightenment.”, it is shown that Siddhartha believes in order to achieve this ultimate state, you have to do it on your own, which is why he does not follow the Buddha as Gotama did (Hesse #). In Hinduism, there is something called, “The 14 Guṇasthānas”, which are the 14 phases the soul goes through in order to reach the final destination of moksha. The three main stages of this philosophy are: Belief, minor vows, and right conduct,

Every Religion believes in either a God(s), a leader, or supernatural forces. Unlike Christians who believe in Jesus Christ, is the divine savior of God, who died upon the cross to save others from their sins, Buddhists believe in an enlightened man referred to as Buddha. Buddha is believed to have lived between circa 563 to 483 BCE and believed to have taught in northeastern India. Buddha’s teachings are based upon his life, and provide guidance and support to his followers.

The topic of spirituality and religion is filled with much confusion. In most all religions, there is a greater purpose in which believers attempt to reach a better state of living, usually in death. The question then arises, how does one go about obtaining this better living? In the book Four Spiritualities, Richardson defines four main spiritual pathways: the journey of unity which pertains to jnana yoga, the journey of devotion which pertains to bhakti yoga, the journey of works which pertains to karma yoga, and the journey of harmony which pertains to raja yoga. Furthermore, he correlates four main Myer-Briggs personality types. With these four pathways and personality types, one can

Spiritual disciplines will prepare us for our journey in Christ. I feel if understanding correctly, the classical Christian Pilgrimage remind us that we all have issues requiring regular examination. In chapter eight, the classical Christian Pilgrimage tells us we are at different stages on the path of wholeness in Christ. However, in my thoughts some areas of our Christian journey we may be doing well, but in other areas we have not touched at all. Not to mention, these are the place we are not ready or capable of handling yet, however, as we mature in God and He knows what we can handle, then we are awakened. God awakens us to our true selves which have not been completely revealed. In reality, once we reach maturity to God, he reveals all that is hidden deep inside of us (the real us/you). By the same token, he let us see the inner behaviors, attitudes, desires, in fact how we measure up in them being Christ-like. I feel the awakening stage deals with the comfort of being set free of these issues that are holding us back also causing detours on our path to wholeness in Christ. Equally, the threat is being afraid to see who we really are; also how far from Christ-like we really are. We must first be awakened from our separation also alienation from God (Mulholland 79-82).

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. It is the oldest and fourth largest religion in the world with around 500 million followers. Buddhism focuses on teaching people how to come to terms with and end the suffering of themselves and others by cutting out greed, hatred, and ignorance from their lives. Unlike most major world religions, Buddhism does not revolve around worshiping a god or divine creator, instead the focus of Buddhism is living one 's best life and transforming the lives of others. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to reach Enlightenment and upon death achieve Nirvana, the liberation of pain and suffering. For Buddhists, it is the individual’s responsibility to find his or her own path to enlightenment; the principles of Buddhism are seen more as guidelines than rules.

Buddhism is a spiritual tradition that focuses on person spiritual development and the attainment of a deep insight into the nature of life. Buddhism believe that nothing is fixed or permanent and that change is always possible. The four noble truths are suffering, cause of suffering, cassation of suffering, and path to the cessation of suffering. Path to the cessation of suffering goes into noble eightfold path that goes into three trainings wisdom, ethical conduct, and mental development.

Buddhism’s founder was a man named Siddhartha Gautama, meaning “one who realized his goal.” Buddhists believe that when Siddhartha’s mother, Maha, was conceived she had a dream involving a white elephant carrying a lotus flower. She interpreted the dream to mean that her son would grow up to become a great spiritual leader. Just a week after Siddhartha was born, his mother died. Upon her death, he lived with his wealthy aunt and his father on a large estate. As Siddhartha grew up, his father kept him away from all suffering and anguish of the world. Unlike many of his peers, he was well educated and free from the world’s sorrows.

Buddhism stands as a philosophy and a religion founding itself on the theory of a possible eternal soul. Until awakening is achieved, this eternal soul is locked in the vicious cycle of rebirth (Samsara). According to the Four Noble Truths preached by the Buddha, life is a perpetual suffering caused by desire and attachment, and freedom from suffering is only possible by practicing the Eightfold Path. The World is suffering in a succession of temptations and negative experiences from birth to death. Therefore Buddhism advises on searching to go beyond suffering, and only aspire to rest, nothingness, and liberation, into a final state called Nirvana. Happiness or Nirvana can eventually be achieved in a hereafter, another life, if man abandons any desire or perspective of action within his present life, in order to go past suffering.

It is a great feeling going to a place where it’s a huge matter in one’s life. “Revisiting Sacred Ground” N. Scott Momaday had made a pilgrimage which his Kiowa ancestors. Momaday has said,” There are certain villages, and towns mountains and plains that, having seen them, walked in them, lived in them, even for a day, we keep forever in the mind’s eye.” Just like how Momaday relived his ancestor’s trails, I had a chance as well. I was lucky enough to be able to go on such a sacred journey that people would pay in thousands of dollars. The pilgrimage I would like to talk about is the one I took to a sacred city in India called Badrinath. I

Bodhicitta is a way of gaining enlightenment by developing trust in our heart, or in other words, compassion. The three abilities of Bodhicitta are: soft and gentle, clear and sharp (prajna), and emptiness (shunyata) (Chödrön pg. 11). The idea of Bodhicitta relates to the slogan of “Always abide by the three basic principles” (Chödrön pg. 104). The slogan contains themes of discipline with prajna, compassion, and patience with its soft and gentleness of Bodhicitta, within interactions with others in the world. In Bodhicitta, when we are to be motivated by our love to help others and to grow away from the attachment that we are the only thing in the world that we need to care about, we can understand our

Buddhism is religion that is based off of peace and spirituality taught by the teachings of Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gotama. Many who follow its teachings believe Buddhism to be more of a way of life or lifestyle choice rather a religion. Buddha is not a god, but one man that taught his followers a path of enlightenment from his experiences and values. Buddha’s main teachings were the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths were teachings about suffering, pain, disease, happiness, loneliness, and aging. It explained why we as humans can overcome certain obstacles in our lives by looking at the more spiritual side of things such as “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own

One of the ideas I was wrong about Buddhism is that I thought that they worshipped a deity which was Buddha and that Buddhists pray to him just like Catholics pray to God. In the lectures, I learned that Buddhism didn’t have a god which was weird for me to learn because all the religions that we’ve learned before had a type of God. I found it interesting that Buddha was seen as a teacher and was never turned into a God like in Christianity, he was seen as a revered teacher and great influence to look up to for Buddhists. The lectures also taught me that Buddha himself didn’t believe in a higher power but believed that a person could reach nirvana for themselves and not because a higher power was telling them too because that’s why he did it. He did it for himself when he meditated under the tree so that he could learn about himself and how the world works and its secrets. Learning that Buddhism had no God to obey, I felt like

My spiritual journey began as a child who was enrolled in St. Cyril’s Catholic kindergarten in Danville, Pennsylvania. Most prominently, I remember going to the Chapel and praying as a class. One of our assignments was to think about someone who needed a prayer. I would listen to the other children who were praying for their parents, grandparents, and pets. I remember talking to my mom one evening about who I should pray for. At the time, she talked to me about my cousin who was a soldier in the United States Army, and explained to me that he was deployed to Iraq. She told me that I could pray for him to return safely. When it was my turn to share who I was praying for, I told the class I prayed for him. I don’t remember how many times we went to the chapel during the week, but I remember praying for him for a few weeks. I also recall our teacher taking us around to each stained glass in the chapel and telling us a story about each window. I do not remember too much of the story she was telling, as I was just interested in looking at the sunshine projecting through the glass.