When you think of Buddha, Buddhism, you often think of a big obese bald man with a big smile on his face. Buddha has many faces throughout different religions. The face that you visualize is that of the Laughing Budai which is the Chinese interpretation of Buddha. It is a common misconception of Americans to associate that face to the face of Buddhism, but the father of Buddhism is Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhism has been able to morph with religions in Asia, as you can see with the Chinese; this helped keep the religion a live throughout centuries. After watching the video, “Buddhism; The Great Wheel of Being,” I learned the roots of Buddhism.
The video describes Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, as a man living in the lap a luxury, never wanting anything. One day Buddha stepped out of his royal palace and visualized all the suffering in the world. After viewing such suffering, death and disease, Buddha felt sorrow and guilt for the way he was living. He knew that this was not going to be the way to his salvation. Buddha then struck out for his redemption. Buddha went the extreme opposite of extreme luxury, too that of nothing. He took part in penance or self mortification, a voluntary self punishment for his salvation. Buddha found that this too was not the path to his salvation. Buddha, himself practiced Hinduism. Buddha morphed the religion of Hinduism, he took some beliefs of Hinduism, and left out the living in either extreme indulgence or self mortification as a way to salvation, and developed a middle path to salvation. This is how Buddhism came to be a religion.
It is hard to believe that Buddha could be so wise after his time of living in complete luxury. I guess that is why the name Buddha means the “awakened one” (Estella Films. 1995). Buddha thought of a way to heal the world and the individual. In today’s society not many people practice Buddhism, which if we did we probably would not have the wars we have today. Buddhism is the practice of peacefulness.
As the awakened one, Buddha developed the doctrine of the four noble truths to lead to salvation. It could be considered a four step program. The first truth is the truth of suffering. This could be a man dying from a disease. The second truth is the origin of suffering. In this case it would be the disease causing the man’s death, or the anxiety related to the fact of dying.
A man and a woman led us to a small room. The man wore jeans and a regular t-shirt and the women wore a colorful dress reaching her knees. The man later told us that he typically didn’t wear jeans, instead he is generally in a more relaxed and comfortable attire. In the small room, there were four quilts laid out on the floor with cushions to sit on. All of the small quilts faced one wall, which contained three statues and a couple of pictures. On the left side of the wall was a statue of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. As stated in an article in World-Faiths, Buddhism was established upon Siddhartha’s teachings. He was an Indian prince who began his spiritual journey when he was 29 years old. After six years, he rea...
“Buddhism is the oldest worldwide religion. It is known to be a religion, a philosophy and a way of life.” The main idea, foundation and fundamentals of Buddhism were born 2,500 years ago in the foothills of India. Siddhartha Gautama was born into a royal family and raised as a prince in the Gupta period. He was always confined to the palace and was sheltered from the real world. As time went on, Siddhartha wanted to find out the meaning of life and his experiences through his journey created the practice of Buddhism. His first teaching as a Buddha was based on the doctrine of the four noble truths and along with the principle of the middle way, the eight fold path. Through oral tra...
Buddhism in India was born and would eventually rank as the world’s fourth major religion. The Buddha preached his first sermon in Deer Park, still a definitive text for all Buddhists. He proposed a path to enlightenment very different from the elaborate ceremonies and colorful myths attached to the Hindu deities of his youth. The Four Noble Truths: Recognizing and understanding suffering, letting go of self-centered cravings, realizing liberation, and cultivating the path. (Gach) Pain is inseparable part of mankind’s everyday life, our cravings of all kinds are the cause of this pain, and the way off this treadmill is to free oneself of these cravings. This can be achieved by following the Eightfold Path of: Right view, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration. The goal is to break the cycle of reincarnation based on your Karma and to reach Nirvana, the final goal of Buddhism. (Gach) The Buddha said that desire is the cause of suffering, and any kind of over indulgence may lead to addiction. Addicts and alcoholics are experts on desire; addiction is desire run rampant. (Griffin) In his book, Buddhism and the Twelve Steps, Kevin Griffin relates the steps with the practices of
The founder of Buddhism was a man named Siddharta Gautama. He was born as a prince of a small kingdom located near today’s Nepal, around 500 B.C.E. (Gurinder 1). According to the legends, Siddharta was raised in the lap of luxury. He was given the finest clothes, riches, and a mansion for every season (Fisher 136). Despite having anything his imagination could conjure, he was unconvinced of their value (136). As the story continues, he was presented with the four sights that were being kept from him (136). These sights included death, sickness, old age, and a monk seeking lasting happiness rather than material possessions (136). After these sights, Sidhharta began his long path to enlightenment. After six years of searching, he had reached his goal of an ultimate consciousness called Nirvana, or enlightenment that is above ordinary human states of mind (Gurinder, Numrich, Williams 1-2). After his discovery of the ultimate consciousness, he was given the title of Buhhda, which means “Enlighten One” (2).
The Buddhist religion originated from a man named Siddhartha Gautama who founded the religion in the late 6th century B.C. The Buddhist religion is very different from Western religions which believe in an actual religious figure. The religious beliefs of Buddhists are based on the actual teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Commonly known as The Buddha, he emphasized self-awareness. Much like Hinduism, both of these religions seek enlightenment and attempt to reach nirvana by breaking the “samsara” cycle of life. As in many Indian re1igions, both believe in concepts such as karma, reincarnation and raja yoga (deep meditation). The most significant difference between the two religions is that the Buddhists believe in the Middle Path to enlightenment. The Middle Path is considered the medium between the extreme practices of the Hindus and the common village practices. Siddhartha decided to seek enlightenment after viewing four disturbing sights.
Buddhism is one of the oldest religions in the world, which began in India. The origin of Buddhism is traced back to the experience of single man, Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha. Born around 563 B.C.E., legend follows that Siddhartha was the son of a prince in a kingdom near the border of what is now India and Nepal. As such, he was sheltered from the world and lived a life of luxury and comfort. (Molloy 124) However, at age 29 Siddhartha left the royal grounds and witnessed the suffering of ordinary life for the first time. What he saw deeply affected him and caused him to question everything in his materialistic life. Siddhartha made the decision to give up his possessions and embark on a search for enlightenment, an event known as the Great Going Forth. (Molloy 125)
The first of these is the Noble Truth of Suffering. These sufferings included natural situations of life, including birth, decay, death, presence of objects we hate not to obtain what we want, and finally, mere existence (76). There is a pattern that is developed in this order. Birth is the beginning of reality that has its good as well as bad times. The Buddha appears to focus on the hardships of reality that Prince Guatama knew of in this world. As life would carry onward, the hardships woul...
The Buddha lived around 2,500 years ago. The story of his life is one in which all of mankind can relate to, the search for truth behind the human condition. His quest for a solution to life’s suffering and freedom from the continuous cycle of rebirth, would be the motivation behind him leaving his life of luxury to devoting himself to the practices of extreme self discipline. It was in his realization of the ‘middle path’ that would lead him to enlightenment, and what would become the foundation of the Buddha’s teachings.
Buddha believed that by following the Eightfold Path, one could fulfill and find legitimacy in the Four Noble Truths, and reach Nirvana; the release from selfishness and pain. Like the Hindu, Buddha believed in reincarnation, a major factor in achieving Nirvana, as...
Siddhartha Gautama is famously known as Gautama Buddha and was the founder of the idea of Buddhism. The Buddha was known to possess supernatural powers and abilities. He was born in the holy land of Nepal and his journey began in India when he decided to travel and teach himself about life. In the midst of his journey, he discovered Buddhism after he experienced a profound realization of the nature of life, death and existence. Buddhism became a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama and since then Buddhism has been popular throughout many civilizations. Buddhism is now one of the most ancient religions in the world, where people follow Buddha, which stand for “awakened one,” and Buddhism which has gained popularity because of the teachings of the Buddha.
Buddha was able to define and practice a set of beliefs that could truly be applied to how society works, by focusing on your inner self and following the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path you can only help improve your religious state of mind and being.
The study of Buddhism over the past century or so has resembled the encounter of the blind men and the elephant in many ways. Students of Buddhism have tended to fasten onto a small part of the tradition and assume their conclusions held true about the whole. Often the parts they have seized on have been a little like the elephant's tusks a striking, but unrepresentative, part of the whole animal. As a result, many erroneous and sweeping generalizations about Buddhism have been made, such as that it is 'negative', 'world-denying', 'pessimistic', and so forth.
In addition, Buddhism places emphasis on the Four Noble Truths, which is the teaching of Buddha, a guide to enlightenment. These are a set of guidance that basically teaches the followers of Buddha the essence of...
The name Buddhism comes from the word "budhi" which means "to wake up." This philosophy originated from the life of a man named Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha. “At his naming ceremony, priests foretold that his life could go in one of two directions”( Molloy 125). He would either follow his father's footsteps and become a world ruler or he would become a spiritual leader, if he got exposed to the sight of suffering. As Siddhartha grew, his father kept him away from all the suffering of the outside world. He got educated and trained inside a luxurious palace, preparing to eventually become the ruler his father wanted him to be. All was going as planned until Siddhartha decide to visit a town close to his palace without...
Much of what we know of Buddha was passed down for generations though word of mouth and teachings, which were probably not written until long after his death (Fisher). Buddha like many other religious figures was born without human intercourse and was born into a very wealthy family and lived a life of luxury. He went on to marry and have a son, Buddha’s life changed however when he saw “the four sights” a sick man, an old man, a dead man, and finally a man seeking lasting happiness. The later inspired Buddha to leave his luxurious life behind and seek total liberation also known as nirvana. After traveling for many years and depriving himself from all wants and many needs including food for long periods of time, Buddha had what is known as the awakening. While meditating under a tree he saw all of his past lives and how good and bad deeds can effective future lives (Fisher). The awakening also showed how to end suffering and Buddha was radiant with light afterward (Fisher). From that point on he traveled around Asia teaching everyone he met what he now knew. Many that he taugh...