Buddhism 's Philosophy And Religion

Buddhism teaches people to live honorably and follow the Eightfold Path to reach release from the state of infinite re-incarnation and reach nirvana, which means the end of the life cycle by living a life full of dignity and refuse from all other attachments causing their desires and strifes McKay et al., 2008)

In chapter four of “Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction”, Damien Keown, discusses the "Four Noble Truths'" and explores focal principles of the Buddha's teachings. "The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to put an end to suffering and rebirth." (Keown, 43) to attain nirvana. This is mostly through driving a moral life, and somewhat through the wisdom picked up by studying the Four Noble Truths. In this paper, I will be stating why is suffering an inevitable part of life according to Buddhism. As well as, how can we overcome suffering. All in which will prove that Buddhism, life is suffering and it is an unavoidable part of life.

Buddhism began in the fourth and fifth centuries before Christ by Siddhartha Gautama. The teachings of Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, are the major beliefs of Buddhism. Buddhism is a belief and religion based on an assortment of customs, principles, and practices. The name Buddha means the awakened one. Buddha’s teachings were of the termination of suffering, attaining nirvana, and absconding from the cycle of suffering and rebirth. Buddhism has spread all across Asia and throughout the world, now with between two hundred thirty million and five hundred million followers. Buddhism is largely based around the belief of Karma. Karma is the “action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation” (Dictionary.com) or “the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person’s deeds in the previous incarnation.” (Dictionary.com) In simpler words, how you live your life now determines how you will come back when your current soul expires. Buddhists live their lives in hopes of achieving to be placed in the highest state known as Heaven. The after-life stems from Karma and leads into Rebirth. Rebirth is a course of action where humans proceed within multiple lifetimes in one or more of the six states of after-life. Each lifetime begins with birth and ends with death. Buddhists believe that we should not fear death because

The life of Siddhartha Gautama has captivated millions of people around the world. Millions of humans practice and try to live a life free of possessions and free of distractions from the materialistic plane of existence we call society. In essence, a popular belief about life becomes mainstream and therefore a new religion is created. I would argue that Buddhism is merely a way of approaching life from an uncharacteristic perspective. Therefore, I am suggesting that the Buddha created a philosophy and deserves a place among the great fathers of human thought such as Aristotle, Plato, and many others. Where Buddhism differentiates from the three major religions of the world, is the amazing techniques that Buddhists pursue every day to optimize their inner thinking within. The philosophies of Buddhism and new research in the scientific community surrounding techniques done by its followers, has created a growing interest in the way of life, especially in western culture. Going along, we will explore what makes this so.

Buddhism is a religion to about 300 million people around the world. The word comes from 'budhi' meaning to awaken. It originated about 2,500 years ago when Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, was himself awakened or enlightened at the age of thirty five. In about the sixth century B.C. Siddhartha Gautama was born into a royal family. When he was young his experiences with the outside world drove him to seek out a greater understanding of life and spiritual fulfilment. Through seeking guidance and meditation, Siddhartha achieved enlightenment. From that point, he was known as the Buddha. For the rest of his life, the Buddha travelled great distances teaching people about one path to salvation. After the Buddha's death, his followers continued

Hindus do not eat meat, animals, therefore they are vegan or vegetarian. As a part of their culture, they do not believe in death instead they believe in rebirth, also known as reincarnation. Depending on how the follower lives their current life will determine of the cycle of rebirth continues or breaks the cycle. Hindus believe that one God that exist in everything. As a result, the followers strive to live in a productive manner. Everyday worship becomes a tradition at home or the Prana Pratishtha Mahotsava. Prayer is performed twice a day using Hindu scriptures, called Vedas. As believers admire the qualities represented by Gods and Goddesses, they strive to live a pure life in the shadow of the ancient creator. Gods can be separated from

There are two different schools of thought in Buddhism, Theravada and Mahayana, which have varying goals of life. They do, however, have a similar path to get to their ultimate goal in life. Most of their path to get to a state of Nirvana, as the Theravada believes, comes through discipline. Discipline comes from the Four Noble Truths, which also contains the eightfold path. The Four Noble Truths are that there is suffering in the world, suffering in the world comes from desire, desire and worldly attachments need to end for suffering to end, and there is a path to end suffering. The eightfold path is actually the fourth noble truth. The eight practices include: right view or understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, full effort, right mindfulness, and meditation. This path is done to try to obtain wisdom and discipline on the way to spiritual enlightenment. The enlightenment stage brings forth the next universal tenet, which is the afterlife. The Buddhist school of Theravada believes in an afterlife called Nirvana, which literally means blowing out or becoming extinguished. Nirvana is the liberation from the never ending cycle of rebirth known as the samsara cycle where the believer becomes one with the Supreme Being. Nirvana is similar to the afterlife in other religions in that once the believer reaches this final destination, it is said to be a euphoric ending to the rebirth cycle. The third tenet that

Where Buddhism may differ from western religions (for example, Christianity), is its focus on a different kind of salvation: salvation from life itself. Though Buddhists believe in reincarnation, they see rebirth as an undesirable cycle. Their main goal is to reach enlightenment and enter “Nirvana,” which is the “detachment from the cycle of death and rebirth” [1]. Buddhism’s central ideas revolve around Four Noble Truths: living is suffering, desire causes this suffering, there is a way out of suffering, and the way out is by following the Noble Eight-fold Path which is described as “eight specific ways in which one can work toward achieving that same

The religious Buddha was originally a prince, Siddhartha Gautama, born in 623 B.C. into a regular, royal life. For years, his father “protected” him and Siddhartha was shielded from the truth and harshness of the world. When he was older, he married Yasodhara and finally went out to the real world. When he did, Siddhartha found something that disturbed him: suffering. He found war, disease, and death. Finding this suffering, he desperately wanted to stop it. Siddhartha wanted to find a way to cure the suffering he saw, because how he saw it, there was no point in life if there was so much suffering. At age 29, Siddhartha set out into the world to find enlightenment. After a 6 year journey, after meditation, starvation, and torture, Siddhartha finally received his enlightenment. He was meditating under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya, India, and said he would not move until he gained perfect enlightenment. Devaputra Mara, demon of all demons brought an army of his kind to disturb Siddhartha during his meditation. When that did not work, he brought his three daughters to try and distract him. Siddhartha concentrated even harder that he already was, and successfully ignored the demons and girls. From this, Siddhartha had gotten so deep into his concentration, that he was able to receive the enlightenment he was looking for. The enlightenment was there is a state of suffering that had to be lived by everyone, until their death and ultimate release from the

Buddhism’s beliefs on life after death are said to have derived from Hinduism, adopting things such as reincarnation. Reincarnation is the process the soul takes to be reborn into another body. Although there are some key differences in the afterlife beliefs of Hindu’s and Buddhists. Buddhism supplies that individuals do not possess eternal souls, but instead have a collections of habits, memories, desires, sensations, etc., which in order contradicts the idea of a lasting self. Buddhism, much like Hinduism sees the body as a source of suffering and their primary goal is release from such and to be free of desire- this liberation is known as Nirvana (nibbana).

Many wars have been fought based on religion. Countless Disputes, debates, and lives. But, there is one religion that doesn 't concern wars, or even violence. Buddhism. The question buddhism, is it a religion a philosophy has been raised so many times before, Indeed, Buddhism can be seen within an open secret of the past two decades, in which it 's played no small part: namely, more and more people are finding personal connection to the sacred, lifted up out of and beyond the Sunday pews, made real for themselves in daily life. Sometimes this is called “spirituality” as distinct from “religion.” Yet is there a free-floating spirituality without some kind of container? Somehow the matrix of the Buddha’s teachings have remained intact for two and half millennia, to which we can thank the vehicle known as religion.

In the Buddhist religion there are many concepts that make it interesting to the world. Throughout the many practices that Buddhism contains are strings of knowledge that can only expand the world’s view on it. Some of the notions that Buddhism stresses are merit, rebirth, social status, and power. Each of these notions connects crucial points in one another as well as ritual practices that Buddhists abide by in order to be on the path to enlightenment. Such practices include the Kathina Ceremony that focuses on merit and the story of Prince Vessantara that focuses on generosity in relation to rebirth and merit. Also the consecration ceremony of the Buddha’s image which focuses on power, and social status which is explained by Burmese Buddhist

Buddhism is known as the stress free, no strings attached religion with few to no rules. Although the journey to become enlightened and reach Nirvana can deem to be a difficult path, Buddhism provides sacred texts and stories to help provide examples in assisting those wanting reach this goal. However to help guide those who choose to become buddhist will be assisted with this journey through sacred texts and storied. Rules and example paths that they can follow the story of Siddhartha Gautama assist with reaching the enlightened state.

Many people are curious as to whether buddhism is considered a religion or a philosophy but I believe that it is both. According to (https://www.google.com/#q=buddhismBuddhism) is a non-theistic religion or philosophy that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism inhabits several traits that consider it a religion and a philosophy. There is not a clear distinction that defines buddhism as one or the other. Some practices of Buddhism display faith and belief which are qualities of religion and other practices display reality, existence and knowledge which are qualities of philosophy. Trying to separate religion from philosophy does not work well in the case of Buddhism.

Buddhism is a philosophically-religious study, that concentrates on people’s life, their bodies, and minds, and promotes harmony between them all. It is crucially different from all other world religions in the way that it puts people in the center of everything and offers to achieve the better reality, Nirvana, through meditation and acceptance of four noble truths. Vipassana meditation, as one of the branches of Buddhism, can be understood as secular, not religion. To understand Vipassana, better, we should go back to exploring what Buddhism is, how it connects body and mind, and the ways to achieve Nirvana.