Analysis: Buddha's Enlightenment And The Meaning Of Suffering In Buddhism

Buddhism: Who Are You?

I. Buddha 's Enlightenment and the Meaning of Suffering in Buddhism

In this story of Buddhism, Siddhartha was a man that sought to find enlightenment by studying under different gurus and spiritual maters. After finding little spiritual development through the teachings of others, he sat under the Buddha Tree and meditated on his own life experiences and the pursuit of truth: “It begins with a man who woke up” (Smith, 2009, p.82). During this mediation, Siddhartha became the Buddha because he had become enlightened through a self-awareness of his own spiritual identity. In this manner, Siddhartha had become “awakened” from the slumber of ignorance in the world: “While the rest of the world was wrapped in the womb of sleep...one of their number roused himself” (p.82). This was how the Buddha came to be enlightened after meditating under the Bodhi Tree. The meaning of suffering in Buddhism is based on the Four Noble Truths. In Buddhism, the problem of desire (lust, greed, wanting, etc.) is what causes suffering for all humankind. This form of suffering is defined in Buddhist ideology that seeks to improve the practitioner’s life by reducing the desires: “A supreme optimism prevails everywhere” (Smith, 2009, p.99)In this manner, the Buddha presented the Four Noble

The koan is usually a riddle or absurd problem that is written out for the Zen practitioner to solve. A koan is an attempt at reducing the practitioner’s overly rational/logical mind to seek a deeper, and more profound meaning: “To upset the mind, unbalance it” (Smith , 2009, p.134). In this form of problem-solving practice, the Zen practitioner struggles to rationalize the koan “until it sees that thinking is never more than thinking about” (Smith, 2009, p.134). This the primary meaning of the koan in Zen