The Orthodox View Of The Pali Canon

In document 5, Zong Mi, Buddhist scholar, talks about the similarities of the 3 traditions of Confucius, Laozi, and Buddha. He stresses the importance of all philosophies as being that of creating an orderly society with respect. It is interesting that a Buddhist scholar is favored by the Tang imperial household in the early ninth century since after 845 CE Buddhism was denounced in the empire. However, Buddhist scholars were very common at this time as many credited the survival of the area to the religion. The scholar, being favored by the royalty, probably tried to greatly influence them to accept and encourage Buddhism. Moreover, Zong Mi finds the commonalities of doing good deeds, punishing the wrong, and rewarding the right to further highlight that the essence of all the teachings is the same. As shown in document one Buddhism provides a clear path to attaining peace in the world and within

the contradictory sutras to make sense of the new branch’s teachings as they translated them

Buddhism and Christianity are closely related in many unique ways. While their founders exhibit significant differences in when they began their existence in the world, their teachings hugely resemble each other. Gautama Buddha was reported to have lived about 600 or 500 before Christ was born. Buddha was born in Nepal, India while Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which is currently located in Palestine. Both Jesus and Buddha espoused altruism and always insisted in service of others. They emphasized the need for giving than receiving and both believed in love as the only tool of defeating hatred. Both teachings contained the need not to judge others. A key difference between the two was how Buddha taught followers to lose one’s self to receive Nirvana while Jesus encouraged his people to lose one’s self in order to receive an everlasting life (Talim, Jeffrey & Anant, 67). This assignment attempts to highlight the similarity between Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount and Gautama Buddha’s Jataka Tales.

6, it states in the first sentence that Buddha was never spoken of before the Han

After I came across David Knitter, a former ordained Christian priest and the author of “Without Buddha I could not be a Christian”, I began to realize that I had taken a western approach to Buddhism and had misconstrued some of Buddhism’s core teachings in my mind according to what I thought it should be. Knitter argued that the meaning behind religious teachings can become distorted upon translation and interpretation (92). This is why he had personal issues with his own religion before he turned to Buddhism to look for answers. He stated that, “the bond between language and the truth is so tight, when we change the language, the truth can and feel very, very different” (94). He also argued that how we use language to interpret the teachings of religious texts changes over time because we become culturally conditioned (93).

The Mahayana and Theravada schools, while both following the Buddhist belief, have different understanding of the religion and the idea of Buddha The Buddha is the founder and leader of this religious tradition whose teachings make up the key Buddhist beliefs. The stimulus piece would be interpreted in a different manner for each Buddhist school, while also holding some similarities. While both Buddhist schools agree upon the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, interpretation and how they are applied differ in certain areas of Gautama 's teachings (Dickson, 2004). Traditional Theravada is described as ‘classical’ Buddhism as it is more ancient and

During the centuries of disunity in China, the Chinese supported and defended Buddhist influence from India. An anonymous Chinese scholar (like many other Buddhist scholars) created a “guide” for Chinese Buddhists to defend against the false suspicions of Chinese critics (Doc 3); however, since the author is anonymous, it is unknown whether he is as credible as other Chinese scholars such as Zhi Dun. Zhi

The Jataka is the most important Buddhist literature which was written in the 4th century BCE, and there are 547 stories. These stories are about the early lives of the Buddha before he was enlightened. The Buddha was born and reincarnated in rituals of humans, animals, and god. Buddhism is the religion of compassion that teach moral values and provides lessons. The objective of Buddhism is to enlighten about dharma and karma that might help individuals to escape the karmic cycle and reach nirvana. Dharma is expressed as the system of ethical behavior of life, distributing good life energy through the universe. Karma is mean as the network of cause/effect from the human action that can determine future reincarnation as a higher or lower creature.

For years, the dispute about what is fact and what is opinion has been present in the church. This debate is seen, in modern day, through the different denominations that are under the Christianity banner. Under the banner of Christianity there are Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Apostolic, Methodist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Church of God in Christ (C.O.G.I.C), and Lutheran.

Buddhism originated in the early Fifth century BCE, from the teachings of Siddhartha Buddha (Fisher, 2005). Plagued by the desire to help end human suffering, Buddha reached a state of pure enlightenment showing him the way to end earthly suffering. Through meditation, people can control the desires of their human nature. By gaining control of our desires we can end our suffering. He taught his wisdom to all that wanted to learn. After his death, three main forms of Buddhism emerged; there was the Theravada’s, the Mahayana’s, and the Zen Buddhists (Fisher, 2005). For the sake of this report, the local Buddhist

The book of Buddha’s teachings is called the Tripitaka, meaning “three baskets.” These “baskets” contain a collection of texts that are categorized by the purpose. The first is for monks/nuns and their duties, rules, and how they attain that service. The second is the talks Buddha gave when he was alive and teaching. The last contains are varied due to the passing down of traditions.

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.

D.W. Reads is a retelling of the parable taught by the Buddha in chapter 3 of the Lotus Sutra as translated by Burton Watson.The Mahayana authors of this influential Sutra believed that the Buddha taught using expedient means (in the form of similes, parables and other expressions) to present his teachings to different people at different times based on their capacities. I have chosen to focus on chapter three of the Lotus Sutra, which provides an explanation and an example of expedient means, as well as a rationale of why the Buddha resorts to these expedient devices. In this paper, I will provide an analysis of the reasonings behind my various creative decisions including why I chose to create a children’s book to explain the role of expedient means, a discussion of the target audience and the categorization of my retelling according to the Ramanujan framework.

This document or speech was written in China around circa 500 C.E. by an anonymous Chinese scholar. The writings are directed at Buddhist followers and whether they are Indian or Chinese is unknown. The scholar’s purpose for writing this is to ask questions to the followers about major concepts of the Buddhist religion. This person asks simple questions about Buddhism and how it’s the most efficient religion. He/she also examines points of this religion that are flawed or difficult to understand like one not having an heir to their life line. Another question they ask is that if Buddhism is so great how come the great sages of the past never practiced it. The answers for both questions are used to clarify the reasoning behind why Buddhist followers

There are actually two “Fourth” Buddhist Councils. The first was held in the first century BCE in Sri Lanka; the second was held in Kashmir in the first century CE.