Comparing Buddhism And The 8 Fold Path

Intro Paragraph Hinduism and Buddhism both have around over one billion followers combined and are very popular in Asia. Hinduism was brought into India by the Aryans and Buddhism was created by a Hindu prince named Siddhartha Gautama.

Buddhism 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 was an incredibly intriguing religion to me due to the emphasis placed on the reality that surrounds us, it’s a rational religion based on peace, self-understanding and the ultimate goal of nirvana. Buddhist followers live their life with three main goals; morality, meditation and enlightenment. Ultimately the core teachings of Buddhism are The Noble Eightfold Path and The Four Noble Truths. It is their lives journey to understand, live kindly and find their inner-peace. In a world so full of hate, misunderstanding, war, segregation and close mindedness; it is unimaginable to not find such a peaceful and understanding religion not attractive in one way or another. However with that, how is it possible that in this same world we find ourselves, those Buddhist followers are able to find such inner peace and understanding when the world around them conducts themselves with such insanity?

In recent days I had the opportunity to go back to North Carolina for a few short days. There, with a heavy heart from a loss in the family, I had nothing else to look towards. I’ve always heard of individuals finding peace, faith, blessings, and love of Christ from attending church. I’ve never been a person who put their faith into a higher power. As I was growing up my parents never wanted to force me into any religion without me knowing everything about it and choosing which route to take on my own. As the years treaded on, I never bothered myself to learn about the many different religions and what each stands for. So I used this opportunity as mine to attend church for the very first time. I attended the Roman Catholic services held

The Eight Fold Path- Buddha’s Way to Religion Throughout the world there are many religions that rely on a higher power. The main three religions are Christianity, Judaism and Islam. These religions are the largest and most known out of an estimate of twenty-one other religions in the world. With

The path to spiritual enlightenment may be easier than it sounds. According to Buddhist beliefs, it can be achieved through fairly rudimentary practices and methods. Buddhists believe that following various practices and taking the proper path in life by following the Eightfold Path will bring further insight into the follower’s life and “undo” their ignorance. These teachings can even be accepted into someone’s life whether they’re religious or not. They could also easily be integrated into one’s daily routine and benefit anyone who follows them.

These moral improvements cause adolescents to think, feel and do what they feel is morally right, and also behave in a more caring and less selfish manner. Although natural maturity is one reason people experience such a significant growth in morality in their adolescent years, the main cause of this moral growth is the various education programs in schools that focus on the importance of moral action by teaching young students self discipline, empathy for others, and delayed gratitude. The result of this moral education is adolescents gaining a stronger sense of desire to serve others and maintain moral attitudes (Myers, 2011). One common lesson that almost all religions teach is that being good is the key to peace, salvation and enlightenment. I believe the moral action taught in schools is highly responsible for spiking the interest of many young minds around the world who wish to apply what they have learned about morals into their everyday life, and live for a purpose that will ultimately lead to the reward of everlasting happiness. This is the second reason I believe many so individuals decide to convert to religion in their adolescent

There are many teachings within Buddhism that make it a unique practice and religion; however, in my opinion the core of Buddhism is that to be released from all desire, and therefore from all suffering is attainable by following the ‘Noble Eightfold Path’. Desires lead one to all the suffering in this world. Constantly seeking something – be that physical, mental, or emotional – will cause one to consistently be disappointed, leading to nothing but pain. Not attaining one’s desires, forces people to experience disappointment and sorrow. Ultimately, it leads to pain and suffering. Consequently, letting go of ones’ desires will ultimately allow a being to detach themselves from the inevitable suffering that everyone else will experience.

If we can regulate our physical being and our mental being by aiding our fellow beings, rather than doing wrong, as well as producing knowledge of our own, we defeat our personal evil. In the text titled, ‘The Word’, Buddha has created the standard for the eightfold path. The first standard that Buddha has created is correct thought, this is interpreted as not wishing bad to happen to those with different views than yourself. This seems overall to be a value found in most religions as well as cultures.

Life as Research: Seeing Religion Differently When I was a child, I was told “You go to church, you pray, you follow the rules and the Bible, and you do what God would want you to do,” which had given me this conception that going to church would make me a good person. I never questioned (verbally out loud, anyway) the practices of the church because “you just don’t question religion.” Anyone who is catholic and a part of the church is a “morally right person.”

Therefore the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are two main keys in Buddhism. Without these two things, Buddhism would not be what it is today because it has had a great impact on the Indian and Asian history. The Four Truths also say how to identify the cause,

According to dictionary.com, Buddhism is defined as a religion, originated in India by Buddha (Gautama) and later spreading to China, Burma, Japan, Tibet, and parts of southeast Asia, holding that life is full of suffering caused by desire and that the way to end this suffering is through enlightenment that

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)

I haven’t read very many books in my life, so the selection to choose from to find one that changed my life is very slim. Among those books is the Bible and none of the others have had anywhere near the impact this one has had on me. By reading

Buddhism is a broad religion and many other religions branch out from it. Something that interest me is that Buddhism identify the view that human have no eternal souls, the problem as the suffering characteristics of all existence, the cause as craving, the view of reality as impermanence, the goal as nirvana, the means as the “Eightfold Path,” and the view of the sacred as a type of “spiritual atheism.” Surprisingly, Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the “Buddha” can allow himself to the path of self-indulgence and self denial. Personally, I think it is very hard to achieve and it is simply impossible.