Buddhism And Buddhism : The Life Of Buddhism

Buddhism was brought to light about 500 BC by Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhism has not been described as a religion as such but rather as philosophy. The story of Siddhartha Gautama and how he brought Buddhism to limelight is quite moving. In this essay the thoughts of Siddhartha Gautama are explained and how the society reacted to his arguments. Generally this essay will briefly describe the achievements of Siddhartha Gautama in his quest to attain enlightenment and how that impacted the society of his time and to some extent the current society.

Siddhartha Gautama, who was the son of a very wealthy regional king of the Sakyas, founded Buddhism about 2500 years ago. In order to help him to reach his prophesized goal of being a “Chakravartin” or Universal King of India, his father kept him “shielded from contact with sickness, decrepitude, and death,” (Smith, 84). He later became disillusioned as is told in the “Legend of the Four Passing Sights”, in which he encountered a decrepit old man who showed him old age, a person with disease, a corpse that showed him death, and finally a monk from which “he learned of the life of withdrawal from the world,” (Smith, 84). It was this chain of events that led him to leave his lavish world and family behind to pursue other interests when he turned 29. This event came to be known later as his “Great Going Forth”.

One of the most famous religion icon of all time the Buddhism. Many people became followers of this very wise man we know as the Buddha. Buddhism is based on the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama, Buddha, who was born in the Ganges River Valley, the foot of the Himalayas. The Buddha led people in meditation and enlightenment to the next level. Philosophers such as Santideva and Thich Nhat Hanh, have led the life to follow the Buddhism ways and live their day to day life off of it. Buddhism gave them the enlightenment to leave behind their homes to better themselves and others by studying the suffering of human beings. In their view, the social and political context must be taken in account if we are to understand the specific causes of suffering and the ways to eradicate them. Which leads us to the Four Noble Truths. These Four Noble Truths are what Buddhism is based around if a follower cannot attain these four truths then he should try for a different religion.

Though Buddhism is commonly labeled as a religion, it fits the definition of a philosophy rather than a religion.

Buddhism stands as a philosophy and a religion founding itself on the theory of a possible eternal soul. Until awakening is achieved, this eternal soul is locked in the vicious cycle of rebirth (Samsara). According to the Four Noble Truths preached by the Buddha, life is a perpetual suffering caused by desire and attachment, and freedom from suffering is only possible by practicing the Eightfold Path. The World is suffering in a succession of temptations and negative experiences from birth to death. Therefore Buddhism advises on searching to go beyond suffering, and only aspire to rest, nothingness, and liberation, into a final state called Nirvana. Happiness or Nirvana can eventually be achieved in a hereafter, another life, if man abandons any desire or perspective of action within his present life, in order to go past suffering.

Buddhism is an ancient, non-theistic belief system based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. The belief system’s invaluable ability to adapt its beliefs and practices to the changing culture of society has enabled Buddhism to withstand 2,500 years of change. Although Buddhism has undergone necessary alterations to adapt to the increase of globalisation, the changing authority of gender roles and the increasing use of technology, the core teachings of the Dharma, the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path and the precepts have all considerably resisted change.

In summary Buddhism is a distinct unique religion,beliefs, rituals and practices because of various concepts that can be found in buddhism. To illustrate my point there is the general fact that the Buddhist universe is different from other religions, another bit of information is that Buddhism has a “No saviour” & a ‘No holy war” concept to coincide with this information it is also known that Buddhism isn't a religion in concept and teaches within buddhsim can still be in exsitance even without a spirtuial figure such as Dharma, in an additional analysis of buddhism the concept of hell in Buddhism is different amongst other religions the final analysis of buddhism rains upon the fact tradition and pratice

One of the largest beliefs of Buddhism is the traditions and spiritual practices maintained on a day to day basis, these teachings revolve around the symbol of Buddha. The religion originated from India and then spread the many parts of Asia and even Eastern Europe. Buddhism contains around 300 million people worldwide and come from the word 'budhi', 'to awaken'. It has its origins about 2,500 years ago when Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, was himself awakened (enlightened) at the age of 35. 1 Buddhism occupies a large amount of people’s lives and is to some a “way of life”, the beliefs of the Buddhist people is to lead a moral life, to be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions and to develop wisdom and understanding.

In many religions they are similar principles and philosophy that we live by. The philosophy of the religion of Buddhism, is to live is to suffer. Often people ask "what is the meaning of life?" and different religions find a way to interpret the answer to this question in their own way. For example, the Christianity religion often answers this questions by saying that we are here on earth to help those in need and to do Gods will. Others questions may be "how can I live my life, so that I would be free of suffering?" and this is where the Buddhism religion comes in. As part of this religion, the Buddhas find a way to stop or lessen the suffering of one, by following very simple laws, principles, or simply by following suggestions. However, it is not mandatory to follow these alternatives, therefore if you wish to not follow them, then you don 't have too although its would be in your benefit too. To live is to suffer in a Buddhist point of view is the idea of the inevitable suffering, that no matter who you are, in your life you will experience suffering. Suffering is depicted in the religion itself by the origins of their founder Siddhartha Gautama, through their principles, and lastly through any other general aspects of the religion of Buddhism.

Although Buddhism schools vary on the exact way to enlightenment, each one fits the same explanation as using a path of practice that leads to insight into the true nature of reality and the achievement of enlightenment. According to Vasubandhu’s Twenty Verses on Consciousness Only (n.d.), we have to distinguish between the reality that we construct by our ordinary consciousness, such as our imagination and reality as it is in itself, in its "suchness". Buddhism wants us to see things as they really. Anyone who is enlightened sees the nature of reality clearly, just as it is and not as it is in our consciousness. The Buddhist teachings also state that reality includes two different conditions, impermanence, and no-self. What we see during our everyday existence, our human reality of things is not permanent. Rather, it is always dependent upon something else in order to realize its existence. If one factor of something is gone, then it will no longer exist. There needs to be a realization that emptiness is the true reality and the everyday human constructs of reality that come from our human mind are not. As a result, there is an evident connection between the concept of reality and emptiness in Buddhism.

“Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves (Siddhartha Guatama, n.d).” Siddhartha Guatama is recognized as the leader and the founder of the Buddhist religion. He was a prince in 5th century B.C.E that opted to give up all possessions and begin a life in the forest, seeking enlightenment. While living and meditating in the forest, underneath a large tree, he discovered the way to eliminate suffering. Through this change to his life, he acquired important wisdom that shaped the formation of Buddhism. His teachings are the foundation of the religion, but even more than that, they are what I believe to be very important in shaping yourself as a human being.

Siddartha became Buddha when he was awoken by recognizing that all of the creation from distraught ants to dying human beans is unified by suffering ( class notes ) . Buddha got his name from being awakened, wise, and he also learned. These words are an important role in his life because he was wise with what he had made in his life. He knew if he let go of desire he wouldn 't suffer anymore, and from there he learned all the important steps that needed to be take such as following: four noble truths, eightfold path, and have the energy for yoga by putting your full attention into it. For him, following the four noble truths, eightfold path, yoga, and letting go of desire, he became the awakened one. In order to for him to progress in life he had to live alone, so he had to leave his family behind so that he could accomplish more, and be completely focused (Hayes, 2006). Buddhism developed and spread because of enlightenment as many people followed the Buddha and desired to find his inner peace .

Regardless of who we are or where we come from, we are unfortunate enough to be subject to a world consisting of change, pre-established social elements, opinions and beliefs, which, though we may be unaware of them while they work their magic on us, ultimately serve to wrap us in a prison of thought. At the same time, there exist modifiers which may serve to free us. Depending on the right conditions, the time, we can be fortunate enough to see through the covering pulled over our head at birth, to the true explanation of why we’re here, the truth of our existence. Because of this, I have chosen to do my research paper on Buddha, Buddhism and the Buddhist philosophy.

In the United States there are over four million buddhists, one thousand temples, study groups, or Buddhists associations (Monroe 108). This number has come from just one man searching to find happiness and eventually enlightenment. Buddha’s story is how buddhism became a religion all over the world. It teaches a peaceful manner, reveals the key to happiness for the mind, and eliminates the desire in life. Not just the history of buddhism is important, but how it has spread through the world and what it looks like today.

Do a quick search on WolframAlpha with "I as a word", we will found that "I", is the 15th most common written word, and the 2nd most common spoken word. This seems to suggest that the majority (if not all) of mankind (at least in English speaking countries) seems to be believing that there exist something in us, that is unchanging throughout our life (and maybe afterlife), and can be used to distinguished ourselves from other. However, Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, the founder of Buddhism in our world, challenge our common sense with his idea of no-self (Anatta).