Essay on Buddhism

A. Attention Getter: “God said, let there be light: and there was light.” For Christians, Jesus is their only God. However, as the founder of another famous religion, the Buddha was not a God and never claimed to be. He said everyone can become a Buddha and he was just here to show people the path to get Nirvana, which means heaven. Christianity is so popular in the U.S, almost everyone knows Jesus

It goes without saying that I learned so much in Religious Studies 101. I was introduced to multiple world religions that were foreign to me prior to taking the class. I never felt the need to explore any other religion besides Christianity because I was content with my faith. However, after learning about different religions and interacting with people that are not Christian, and grew up with different beliefs and values, I now find myself questioning reconsidering my beliefs. By being exposed to the rituals and ideas of cultures and religions across the globe, I find myself wondering what it would be like to follow some of these principles or to try some of these practices for myself. I find myself trying to follow the moral guidelines and principles of the traditions I learn about all the time. It has helped me ask even more questions and broadened my horizons. It 's helping me shape my beliefs and find out who I want to become. I was especially fascinated with Buddhism and have grown a huge admiration for it. In my learning portfolio I will examine what I learned about Buddhism and what about it is so appealing to me. I will also briefly summarize that I learned that Buddhism – just like any other religions, is not flawless and cannot provide a perfect view of life that would be influential enough for me to devote my faith to it. However, there are certain

“Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are, it solely relies on what you think”, The Buddha. Buddhism is a message of deep enlightenment for the spiritual mind set of breaking the chain of reincarnation to achieve nirvana. Buddhism was founded by a man named Siddhartha Gautama who lived five hundred years ago. He spawned a spiritual enlightenment for the mind which we call Buddhism and eventually it came to the United States. Buddha, spreading his teachings of the four noble truths throughout Asia and many parts of the world that would someday enlighten the minds of the American culture and help lead people to a higher state of enlightenment. Over many hundreds of years Buddhism has transformed into many sects throughout history and is becoming one of the many fastest growing religion in America. (Pew, 31-33).

As a college student that has lived and grown up in western New York, I do not have too much experience with the other religions of the world. I have grown up a Christian Protestant my whole life, and I am a firm believer in my religion. Soon after reading the chapter on Buddhism in Huston Smith’s book The World’s Religions, I came to understand and respect the Buddhist religion. I came to learn who the Buddha as a man really was, and the steps he took in becoming a religious icon. I know understand that Buddhism is not all meditation and relaxing. There is a strict code of the four noble truths and the prescription of getting through them called the eightfold path. Much like Christianity Buddhism also has many different views

Buddhism is a religion that focuses more on the individual and the actions of that individual, which was prevalent to me when I made my way into Portland and set foot in a Buddhist temple. The man I met within the walls of this temple was far from my stereotypical thoughts of Buddhist monks. The man I met looked like your plain old, average Joe, American man. Before I delve into the depths of my visit to this inspiring place, I need to sum up the Buddhist religion and why I chose to study this particular group of people.

Religion has been used for centuries as a way for people to find answers to some of life’s biggest questions. The ideas of desires, suffering, and death are difficult concepts to wrap your head around without the sense of a greater purpose guiding their existence. The world’s fourth largest religion, Buddhism serves as the grounding for millions to find reason in the world around them. Buddhism highlights the perils of human desire and attempts to give a way out of the cyclical suffering that we experience. It is based on the story of Siddhartha, the once privileged prince.

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 unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.”# Many great minds like Albert Einstein have converted or become Buddhists. Many people from the west are turning their attention towards Buddhism because of the Buddha’s simple way to life and the lack of worship or prayer to a divine being.

The focus of this study is Buddhism, one of the major religious traditions, as a living religious system.

“Buddhism, it can’t be a religion.” one might say. Before getting to understand Buddhism I saw people just meditating calmly sitting in peace, all I thought in my head was, what a boring life they have. I wasn’t open-minded of why they were doing these things. This last year though, I have been told to try meditating to calm my nervous and mind down, since I was having so many problems with stress. After meditating a few times a week I saw results of my anxiety. After the third section of meditation, I looked forward to it, since I always felt at ease after wish a following of wonderful sleep. With experiencing what I did I grew an interest in wanting to understand what Buddhism was. I had known idea what they worshipped but from the point of view of wanting to learn I saw them more know was at peace with themselves. Before I started an interview to find out about Buddhism I looked up and read some things about it. First thing that shocked me over all was that there is no God or gods. I question for a second in my head if I was reading it correctly, but I was. It is a very psychological religion, very mind based.

The philosophy of Buddhism has proven to be very attractive to modern Westerners for multiple reasons. The faith has been found to assist people to follow a simple and peaceful lifestyle due to the fact that they are not forced specifically worship a particular deity. Furthermore, Buddhism’s attractiveness also comes from its promotion of peace and the fact that it encourages ideals such as Samsara, through which one can continually be reborn until they reach nirvana

It is a common misconception in our Western society that Buddhism is more so of a philosophy than a religion, and that its founder Siddhartha Gautama was simply a person and not supernatural. If my mother were to take this stance on Buddhism and express this to me I would retort her argument with various points as learned in Relistud 2K03. I will seek to justify my stance that Buddhism is, in fact, a religion and that ( from the traditional account of the Buddha Biography) its founder is divine. In this paper, I will look at the ceremonies, practices, and beliefs within Buddhism that make it fall under the general definition of a religion and will analyze the life of the Buddha to gain insights into his supernatural qualities.

Religion can unite various people from different cultural backgrounds but, it can also cause the contrary. Buddhism shares and explains many different teachings and philosophies including the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path which strongly relate to sunyata, or emptiness. I was intrigued by these concepts because of the manner in which they influence the daily life of Buddhist.

Since doing the research on Buddhism, I have found some of the teachings of Buddhism have been very helpful to me in my life. I have begun doing yoga (Yes believe it Mrs. Schneiderman, I actually do yoga.) Some of his teachings half helped me find my inner peace, especially during some hectic classes or very stressful homework

As a girl, I was raised in a Christian household that believed strongly in the belief of God and the truth of the Bible. I have never really had experiences with other religions of the world since I have always been a firm believer in Christianity. Prior to reading the chapter on Buddhism in my book “The World’s Religions” the only information that I knew about the Buddhist religion was that there was meditation and a lot of relaxation involved, but I came to understand and respect the Buddhist religion. I was able to gain insight on the different types of Buddhism but also how one achieves complete insight and serenity.

In the universe there 's a galaxy, and in this galaxy there 's the solar system, and in this solar system there is a planet earth, and in this planet earth lives 7 billion people. We are all the same but divided by key things; oceans and mountains, culture and society, but most important religions and beliefs. Out of the hundreds of practices and beliefs that make part of planet earth one of the most interesting form of religious practice is Buddhism.