Essay on Jesus and Buddha

As with the Brahmins, Siddhartha’s experience with the Samanas is not a fulfilling one. Hesse writes, “he slipped out of his Self in a thousand different forms. He was animal, carcass, stone, wood, water, and each time he reawakened” (Pg-15). Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas, yet he was still unable to reach enlightenment. During his time with the Samanas, Siddhartha never saw or heard of a single person achieving enlightenment. Feeling disillusioned with the teachings of others, Siddhartha decided to leave the Samanas, and seek out the venerable Buddha. Siddhartha seeks out the Buddha and hears his sermon, but he ultimately decides to seek his own path to enlightenment. In leaving the Buddha, Siddhartha begins to follow a Buddhist path. Siddhartha says, “But there is one thing that this clear, worthy instruction does not contain; it does not contain the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced he alone among hundreds of thousands" (Pg-34). In this part of his journey, Siddhartha realizes that no one can teach him how to achieve enlightenment. As Gautama did before him, Siddhartha heads out to find his own path to enlightenment.

The myth «Birht of the Buddha» is from the earliest stage of the life of Buddha. This essay will take a closer look on this myth and critically examine what parts might be linked to actual events considering the Buddha.

After three years, Siddhartha realizes that he is not progressing toward his goal. He had learned all the Samanas could teach, and "he lost himself a thousand times and for days on end he dwelt in non-being. But although the paths took him away from Self, in the end they always led back to it" (15-16). Siddhartha discovers this was not the path he sought; escaping from one's Self did not bring one to salvation. His wisdom grew when he accepted there was another path and this short escape from Self is experienced by others in a quite different way such as people who drink numbing their senses like he did with the Samanas. He sees that in truth, there is no learning and that his questioning and thirst for knowledge could not be satisfied by teaching. Seeking another path, Siddhartha hears of a Buddha named Gotama, and with Govinda, who also chooses to leave, ventures to see him.

Having achieved enlightenment, the Buddha began spreading his knowledge to help others achieve ?Nirvana?, which means to be released from the reincarnation cycle. He preached that there were 4 Noble Truths: (1) all life is suffering; (2) the source of suffering is desire; (3) to end desiring is to end suffering; (4) there is an eight-fold path to end suffering; to have the right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. This idea of being released from suffering attracted many people, and Buddhism soon spread rapidly through Northern India, and then through Southern India.

After encountering the fourth sight of the holy man, Guatama believed this holy way of life could provide adequate insight on how to overcome such agony and anguish. He wanted to come up with a preventative resolution from the immense amount of suffering, that ended in misery and death. When Siddhartha saw the monk and the peacefulness that was upon him, it impacted his way of perceiving the world. There was a unique sense of lightheartedness and tranquility, amongst the monk, even though deep suffering was all around him. The symbols of wisdom, peace and happiness, despite such misery or evil was incredibly impressing and inspirational. This encouraged Siddhartha to seek religion and proved to be the motivational driving force that would cause him to pursue a path to enlightenment and ultimate bliss. For months he gave a considerable amount of thought to whether he should become a monk or not. Nevertheless, “he hoped that he might come to a realization of how to find permanence in this world of constant change, where suffering was the inevitable outcome” (Corduan, 2012, p.316). One night, Siddhartha decided to kiss his wife and son goodbye and begin his journey in search of answers and a path to understanding. Beyond the only life that he had ever known, he cut off his hair and “embarked upon a quest for enlightenment” and began “meditative

In the beginning, Siddhartha went into meditation and pondered about the evil in the world. He thought if only people could see the consequences of their selfishness and wrong behaviors they would run from them. People put themselves through hell. The world is full of lust and pleasures which only ends in misery. Siddhartha began to understand the Dharma, Buddhism’s sacred law, and became enlightened.

Siddhartha joined the Samanas and assumed the life of an ascetic hoping to attain Nirvana. He believed that by denying his body, his soul would flourish. To become empty of all things- thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure, and sorrow- was the only way to become empty and let the Self die. “He ate only once a day and never cooked food. He fasted for fourteen days. He fasted for twenty-eight days. The flesh disappeared from his legs and cheeks. Strange dreams were reflected in his enlarged eyes. The nails grew long on his thin fingers and a dry, bristly beard appeared on his chin. His glance became icy when he encountered women; his lips curled with

Siddhartha explained to the Buddha, “I am resuming my wandering---not to seek a different, a better teaching…but to leave all teachings and all teachers” (Hesse 33). He realized that there is no better teacher than experiencing things for himself. This first awakening happened in a harsh difficult path described as, “all he now wore was the loincloth and the unstitched, earth-colored cloak. He ate only once a day, and no cooked food. He fasted for four weeks. The flesh vanished from his thighs and cheeks” (Hesse 13). Along with the Samanas, he learns to endure all pain and desire along this path. Siddhartha experiences suffering and self-denial from something that he hadn’t After this awakening, Siddhartha felt that he could think, see, discover for himself than doing these things because they were part of the teachings instructed by a teacher. This realization set out a different path which made the quest to Nirvana be his own experience and

Siddhartha grew to be an intelligent boy, fluently speaking 64 different languages and excelling at mathematics as well as archery. He lived a sheltered life in the king’s palace, marrying his cousin, Yashodhara at 16 years old. It wasn’t until his late twenties that Siddhartha was finally allowed to venture from the palace. He witnessed sick people, old people, poor people and even a corpse. These slowly chiselled away in his mind, leaving him with a significant compassion for the suffering people. This made him develop a strong desire to free every being from their endless distress. At age 29, the very day off his son, Rāhula, was born, Siddhartha ventured off to lead an ascetic life, with his hair cut off with rich clothes replaced with religious robes, to find out a way to relieve universal

Buddhism began with a man, his name was Siddhartha Gautama. They say that Siddhartha was barely man, he was not a god or supernatural being, but as they say he was an exceptional man who underwent an extraordinary experience. In a nut shell he opened his eyes or “woke up” and saw human life in it full condition, and to the meaning of transcending it. From here on forward he got the name “Buddha”.

He had already achieved a great deal, but for everything he gave up, he still was not where he wanted to be yet. Siddhartha learned to "think, wait, and fast," but after he still did not attain enlightenment, he meditated and fasted at the base of a fig tree for 49 days until he achieved enlightenment and became “Buddha” ("Historical Context: Siddhartha"). Siddhartha traveled along a long, bumpy path to reach enlightenment, but the outcome was worth it. He was patient and able to fulfill his destiny of becoming a great saint who spread his new religion, Buddhism, throughout the

At first glance the traditions of Christianity and Buddhism appear very different from each other. One centers around a God that was at one time physically manifest on earth in the human form of his "son" Jesus Christ, the other primarily worships a historical figure that gained divine status through enlightenment. This assessment is broad at best, especially in the case of Buddhism where the Theravada and Mahayana traditions differ significantly. Christianity also has division within itself, the most prominent being between the Roman Catholic and Protestant systems. There are however, despite obvious differences, some very interesting similarities between Buddhism and

It is said that history is shaped by the lives of great men.  Great men are leaders.  They bring about change; they improve the lives of others; they introduce new ideas, models, and theories to society.  Most of the world's religions were founded, developed, or discovered by great men.  Two particular religions - Christianity and Buddhism - developed in different parts of the world, under different circumstances, and in different social atmospheres.  But each religion is based upon the teachings of a great man.  When one compares the life of Buddha with the life of Jesus, one finds that the two share many things in common.  This essay aims to compare and contrast the lives of Buddha1 and Jesus in two key areas:  conception and birth.

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.

Although initially hesitant to share his insight on the grounds that humanity might not be ready for such a teaching, the Buddha decided to communicate his discovery to those willing to listen. His first converts were the five ascetics with whom he had lived when he himself followed the lifestyle of the ascetic. To these he preached his first sermon in the Deer Park at Benares, outlining to them the Four Noble Truths. Out of this small group the community of monks (or sangha) grew to about sixty in size and included Buddha's cousin, Ananda, and his son, Rahula. Later the Buddha was persuaded by his step-mother and cousin to accept women into the sangha.