The Philosophy Of Buddhism And The Buddhist Ethics Course

Critically discuss the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, explaining the reasons or arguments given by Buddhism to support these Truths and discussing at least one objection that could be raised against the first Noble Truth and one objection that could be raised against thesecond Noble Truth.

The predominant view of human nature in Vietnam is deeply rooted in Buddhist thought. Buddhism teaches that humans are born to suffer

The religion I decided to further my knowledge about was, Jainism. In my research, I learned that Jainism is a religion that values the individual as well as the impact each individual has on people and the world around them. Their belief system relies on no presence of gods or spirits to intervene with the souls withing plants, animals, and human alike stating that each being should be treated with level of compassion exceeding their own self value. Subsequently, their beliefs regarding death and the afterlife are reliant on how they treated others and living beings; the use of karma in this religion is used as a personal code of conduct in order to obtain liberation leading to the achievement of reincarnation. Interestingly, as stated within

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

Buddhist considers all life to be sacred and/or spiritual in nature. They believe in reincarnation and a person’s spiritual future is based solely on one’s good or bad actions in this lifetime, also known as Karma.

Bioethics is a very diverse and subjective issue in Buddhism that bases its self around fundamental Buddhist laws such as the five precepts, the four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold path. Each Buddhist variant approaches bioethics differently based on the variants primary goal, ideals or practices. However all Buddhists views of bioethics are somewhat influenced by the universal goal of Buddhism to become liberated from the constant cycle of reincarnation or samsara. In conjecture with Buddhism, the occurrence of samsara allows for one to attain a new view on everything including bioethics allowing for the chance to discover or come to an ultimate realisation which in turn allows for the ultimate realisation of issues relating to

Buddhism has been around for over two thousand years, and continues to do so in many countries around the world. This religion originates in Asia and has a very unique adversity, much of its structure arose from the end of World War II, predominantly Asian nations needed to restructure society (RoAT 167). The word ‘Buddha’ means one who has awakened and will no longer be reborn. Thereafter, one who will enter nirvana, the state of being free from suffering.

According to Amy Scott Hassenpflug, Aaron D. Traphagem and Jamaica Johnson Conner, authors of Breaking Ground: Keys For Successful Online Learning, “Because your worldview is all-encompassing, it affects your thinking on every aspect of life, from what you view as right and wrong to how you spend your money and your time to what you think politically; it even impacts how you treat others” (p. 82). While Buddhism worldviews focus a lot on karma and rebirth, Christian worldviews tends to turn to God as their higher power. In this paper, I will discuss the similarities and differences between Buddhism and Christian worldviews.

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

Siddharta Gautama was twenty-nine years old when he abandoned his family to search for a means to bring to an end his and other’s suffering after studying meditation for many years. At age thirty-five, Siddharta Gautama sat down under the shade of a fig tree to meditate and he determined to meditate until he reached enlightenment. After seven weeks he received the Great Enlightenment which he referred to as the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path. Henceforth he became known as the Buddha.

In Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, the four Noble Truths of Buddhism are revealed throughout the journey of Siddhartha. The Four Noble Truths include: Life means suffering, the origin of suffering is attachment, the cessation of suffering is attainable, and the path to the cessation of suffering. Siddhartha discovers that in order to reach enlightenment, one must have experiences and struggle through these Noble Truths firsthand.

In the western world, a dominant belief is that after life, a person’s soul is sent to a place of eternal bliss, heaven, or a place of eternal damnation, hell. To Buddhists, this concept is not the norm. Buddhists believe that a person is reincarnated into another life form, either human or animal. What life form a person is reincarnated as is determined by the person’s karma. The concept of karma not only affects reincarnation, but also what path a person’s life takes. While much of the concept of karma is believable and comprehensible by a person of any denomination, some aspects are dependant upon a belief in reincarnation and that a person will eventually be punished for his sins or rewarded

I had no previous knowledge about this religion other than it existed. The most important concept I feel that I learned from Buddhism is part of the three marks of reality. These are made up of, change, no permanent identity and suffering. In no permanent identity each person and each thing is changing and made up of parts that are also constantly changing. It means that people have no permanent soul or no self. (Molloy133). In suffering it is the fact of life that when life is lived conventionally it can never be fully satisfying because of change. (Molloy pg 134) The mark of reality I found the most interesting is change. The concept of change in Buddhism has us look at life as it really is. Things change gradually and we notice the changes over time. We don’t expect change but nothing ever remains the same. (Molloy132) When I learned this I looked over my life and have to admit, that much has changed over time. No matter how we try and keep things the same it is impossible. Children grow up, our body ages, our relationships change. Even things in the world things are constantly changing, landscapes change naturally from things like the tide or erosion, and seasons come and go. In Buddhism the belief is that we are responsible for accepting this and not trying to change the outside world but we need to change ourselves and the way we experience the world. (Molloy 134)

The Buddhist doctrine of karma ("deeds", "actions"), and the closely related doctrine of rebirth, are perhaps the best known, and often the least understood, of Buddhist doctrines. The matter is complicated by the fact that the other Indian religious traditions of Hinduism and Jainism have their own theories of Karma and Reincarnation. It is in fact the Hindu versions that are better known in the West. The Buddhist theory of karma and rebirth are quite distinct from their other Indian counterparts.

One of the reason I took this class is to learn more about religions and their origins but I was specifically interested in Buddhism so I was excited that it was a religion that the class was going to cover. I had little prior knowledge of Buddhism but I didn’t know the origin, important figures and important teachings but I learned that what I thought was inaccurate. This class deepened my interest of Buddhism more because I learned what it really is about and their teaching while also correcting the ideas I had of Buddhism that were wrong.