Buddhism Essay

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What is Buddhism? What do we understand by Buddhism? It can be comprehended differently and can mean a variety of things to many people. For one it can be only an explanation of the life of the Buddha. To another, Buddhism means the massive doctrine recorded in the Buddhist literature, which is voluminous and comprise of several thousand pages recording the words of the Buddha. Moreover it is described as a very lofty, abstruse, complex and learned philosophy of life. However based on whatever the Buddha taught, there has grown a very rich culture, a culture which has extended to all parts of Asia for over 2500 years, and to which people from various walks of life with various backgrounds from all these countries have made a lasting contribution. Another definition of Buddhism is the kind of ritual that has grown around the doctrine of the Buddha, as a result of his teachings and the way of life preached by him. But to me Buddhism is the perfect combination of all these definitions. Buddhism has influenced my life by making me adopt the Eightfold Path known as the “Middle Path”, increased the practice of spirituality, comprehend law of impermanence and thus lead a righteous life. It’s mainly thought that Buddhism is a teaching for monks only, as it is sometimes wrongly conceived. But Buddhism is a philosophy that describes the true nature of life thus helps us comprehend the meaning of our life and lead a good life. And this why it is significantly crucial to a person’s life. “Middle path” also described as eightfold noble path is a righteous way of life which is a planned course of inward culture and progress and does not advocate the acceptance of verdicts given by someone outside oneself. Buddhism itself has encouraged me to... ... middle of paper ... ...e are not decent actions and they end up bringing suffering to other beings. “Though one should live a hundred years immorally and unrestrained, yet it would indeed be better to live one day virtuously and meditatively, It is better to die as a cultured and respected person than to live as a wicked person.”- The Buddha (Bhikshu, 2014) The quote above from Buddha means that it is better to live one day virtuously rather than living hundred years of life with immorality thus maintaining a life through wrong means is not in accordance with the Buddha's teaching. But in my opinion there certain aspects of Buddhism that are not practicable in an ordinary person’s life. For instance in our daily life it always it’s difficult to follow the middle path and avoid extremes. And also it’s difficult to stop from bonding to another person especially in the case of parents.

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