Emptiness In Buddhism

In the practice of Buddhism meditation is the primary means of purifying ones soul and letting go of all worldly desires. Elimination of the desire to cling to works of the world such as judgments, possessions or pleasure by gaining wisdom serves to free the mind and gives one sense of peace. It is the clinging that limits the ability to be at peace. Buddhist who has obtained enlightenment are free from the endless cycle of birth and rebirth and have transcended. It is thru the process of this intense meditation that the ultimate goal of Buddhism can be reach, the achievement of Nirvana.

Following in the Ways of Zen Buddhism I fell in love with the first Buddhist I ever met. That is to say I fell in love with a man who is a Buddhist. I, however, am not a Buddhist.

1a. Theravada Buddhism has been the pre dominant religion/school in the continental south-east Asia, it is mainly found in sir Lanka, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Taiwan and Lous. Today Theravada Buddhist is a group which has well over 100,000,000 member’s world-wide. Theravada is considered to be the soul-survivor of the traditional and original Buddhism. It implies rather traditional and the strictest moral field of teaching. Theravada concentrates on monks and nuns, those who give full devotion to god. They live their lives only by the traditional teachings of the Buddha.

The four noble truths of Buddhism are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path to the end of suffering. These four truths are the basics of Buddha's teaching, and is the most frequently shared belief amongst Buddhists. The first noble truth is suffering, meaning life is Dukkha. This noble truth interpretation is that suffering appears in many shapes. And it is believe that anything short-term is Dukkha, even pleasure. The second truth is the cause of suffering, also known as samudaya. In this truth, Buddhism claims the cause for suffering are cupidity, wants, illiteracy, loathing and devastating desires. The second truth does not mean a person should give up what they love to be happy. But the problem lies within an individual connection to their passion that puts them in trouble. The third truth is the end of suffering, also known as Nirodha. This truth believes that there is a possibility of freedom. The fourth truth is the path to the end of suffering, also known as magga. In the fourth truth, it is believed that in order to end suffering, one must follow the eightfold strategy.

Question: What prevents us from reaching nirvana? Answer: According to the Sutra of the Ten Stages, the mind is inherently pure, that is to say that within each sentient being there exists an intrinsic Buddha-nature. Hongren, in his Treatise on the Essentials of Cultivating the Mind, depicts this Buddha-nature with a

Tashi Buddha: The Buddha, nonetheless, taught that there wasn’t a steady soul, however an accumulation of emotions, observations, detects, and different intangibles that made up every living being. The idea of the absence of a consistent soul is known as anatta. Subsequently, for Buddhists, a definitive objective is something more unique: completion enduring by getting away from the cycle of resurrections, and going into a condition of Nirvana. It is a typical

Throughout this paper, the term Judeo-Christian tradition will be used to reference the Judaism and Christianity religions as no distinction can be made between the two with the sources provided. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism, and Christianity are four of the foremost religious ideologies of classical antiquity. Each of these three

Albert Einstein once said, “the religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal god, avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all natural and spiritual and a meaningful

At all times, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has lived his faith and has been an example for all Buddhist followers to emulate. His steps of the five peace plan outline the transformation for Tibetan Buddhism for a whole for followers in Transformation of the whole of Tibet into a zone of peace, Respect for the Tibetan people’s fundamental human rights and democratic freedom, and commencement of earnest negotiations on the future status of Tibet and of relations between the Tibetan and Chinese peoples. To such he also emphasised that “Nirvāṇa is the cessation (nirodha) of duḥkha because, being a state in which the origins of duḥkha have been abandoned, it ensures that duḥkha will no longer be produced. ”This is further emphasised as “Nirvana can only be reached, not produced, by the Path”..” it transcends the intrinsic nature of matter” - Buddhaghosa, 5th century India in reinstating what the Dalai Lama said. To this the Dalai Lama continually renews the faith in terms of development and extends its

Theravadan means “Doctrine of the Elders” and Mahayana means Journey. Mahayana Buddhism believes that everyone should reach nirvana and should not be personal. Mahayana Buddhists believed that no one could reach nirvana since everyone is “one”. If one reaches enlightenment in Mahayana Buddhism then they take the “Vow of the Bodhisattva.” A Bodhisattva is one who reaches enlightenment but stays in existence to help others. An example of a Bodhisattva is Yama. He reached enlightenment after meditating in a cave and now he protects other Buddhists. They also believe in Trikaya, which is three bodies or three meanings of Buddha. One of the bodies relates to Sunyata (emptiness). Mahayana Buddhism also has many sections and sub-sections that spread all over the place. One of those places is Tibet. Vajrayana I believe is a school that is only found in Tibet since it follows Tibetan Buddhism. A famous leader of Tibetan Buddhism is Dalai Lama. Theravadan Buddhism focuses on the teachings of the Buddha’s sutra. They are more conservative with their teachings and focus on interpreting Buddha’s teachings or “Dharma”. Since his teachings were passed on for many years, they tried to follow the Buddha’s teachings closely. Both men and women can follow the teachings of the Buddha. The community of monks and nuns is known as “Sangha.” Monks in both Mahayana and

In The Heart of Understanding, Thich Nhat Hanh’s uses simple but powerful words and real world examples to illustrate the profound Buddhist philosophy from the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, an important representative of Mahayana Buddhist literature. The Mahayana school of Buddhist teachings emphasizes the doctrine of Sunyata- emptiness. The doctrine of emptiness, one of the most important Mahayana innovations, focuses on the relational aspect of existence. Thich Nhat Hanh coins and introduces a new word- interbeing to explain the state of emptiness. This idea of interbeing not only illustrates emptiness well but also provides understanding of other fundamental Buddhist ideas such as No-Self, impermanence and non-duality.

Meditation is very difficult to describe and can only truly be explained once experienced. It is the practice of mental concentration leading ultimately through a sequence of stages to the final goal of spiritual freedom, nirvana. The purpose of Buddhist meditation is to free ourselves from the delusion and thereby put an end to both ignorance and craving. The Buddhists describe the culminating trance-like state as transient; final Nirvana requires the insight of wisdom. The exercises that are meant to develop wisdom involve meditation on the true nature of reality or the conditioned and unconditioned elements that make up all phenomena. The goal of meditation is to develop a concept in the mind.

Anatman is the idea of “no permanent soul” 3. A common misconception is that Anatman means people have no soul. In reality it describes the constant change of the soul during its time on earth. Buddhism holds that while there is no soul, the five elements that make up an individual orient themselves to form a new individual. With each cycle of rebirth, these aggregates, which include mind, consciousness, body, impulse, and feeling, will combine differently to form distinct individuals 4. While Buddhists believe in karma, a summation of positive and negative actions, they

The literature by Lopez explaining the origins and foundations of the Buddhist Universe claims that the Buddhist world as a whole does not belong to one person or one entity. The literature challenges the thought that there is only one caste, group, world, or universe in which Buddhism thrives. Buddhism is actually seen as a world belonging to a collective universe and that the audience of the teachings of Buddha were not solely humans. The purpose behind Lopez explaining the Buddhist Universe is to provide insight to the origin of the Universe since discussing this subject matter was very discouraged. This subject is trivial because even though the Buddhist Universe has no beginning or final end time, individuals are able to put an end to their

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.