The story of Devadatta raises a compelling argument in regards to his journey in overthrowing the Buddha. In traditional Buddhism, Devadatta is seen as a selfish, greedy, jealous, cousin to the Buddha, who attempts three different times to kill him, before growing ill. Whereas in the Lotus Sutra, Devadatta is commended for being a good friend to the Buddha in helping him become fully endowed with the six paramitas. These six paramitas consists of pity, compassion, joy, and indifference, which also included thirty-two features, eighty characteristics, the ten powers, four kinds of fearlessness, four methods of winning people, eighteen unshared properties, transcendental powers and the power of the way. Famous psychologist, Sigmund Freud, designed what he called “the structural model of psyche,” which consisted of an Id, ego, and super ego. The Id and ego pertain to this particular story the most, while ones Id is a set of uncoordinated instinctual trends and ones ego is the organized and realistic section of your conscious the mediates between the id and super ego. This story of Devadatta can be looked at from a metaphorical and psychological standpoint when relating Devadatta to ones Id and the Buddha to ones ego. It is inevitably the story of Good vs. Evil. Furthermore as you read this essay, you will see how the perception of Devadatta changes from the beginning with traditional Indian Buddhism to Chinese Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra.
Gotama “The Buddha”
First before delving into the story of Devadatta, I would like to briefly give the background of his cousin, “The Buddha.” The Buddha, also known by his government name Gotama, was born into both luxury and privilege. In being sheltered by his father, owning three palaces...
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...I had mentioned before with Sigmund Freud’s structural model of psyche, Devadatta can be seen from a metaphorical standpoint as ones id and the Buddha as ones ego. When transferring to the story of Devadatta told in the Lotus Sutra, we are given a completely different viewpoint of him. In Mahayana Buddhist tradition Devadatta is seen as an essential part of the Buddha’s life, in him attaining enlightenment, amongst many other things. The Buddha is always speaking of Devadatta with respect, even referring to him as a great friend. Devadatta was seen in the Lotus Sutra: Chapter 12, as the Buddha’s holy teacher who guided him on his path to Buddhahood. Although this chapter was written under the assumption that one already knows the Indian tradition, so the negative can be left out, the Buddha spoke of Devadatta as someone he could not have been successful with out.
In this paper, I will be explaining how Siddhartha had arrived at the Four Noble Truths. The first paragraph contains how Siddhartha’s life was full of suffering, pain, and sorrow. The second paragraph will be the cause of suffering is the desire for things that are really illusions in Siddhartha’s life. Following, in the third paragraph I will be explaining how the only way to cure suffering is to overcome desire. Finally, I will be explaining that the only way to overcome desire is to follow the Eightfold Path.
The mean of procrastination was 3.18 (2dp) and a low SD of 0.68 (2dp). The low SD indicates a little chance of spread within the dataset. The mean of Adaptive perfectionism was 3.26 (2dp) and the SD was 0.72 (2dp). Like earlier, The Low SD of Adaptive perfectionism statistics indicate a low chance of variability in the dataset. Both procrastination and perfectionism had a high average occurrence in the data set than maladaptive procrastination.
Michael Sandel is a distinguished political philosopher and a professor at Harvard University. Sandel is best known for his best known for his critique of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice. While he is an acclaimed professor if government, he has also delved deeply into the ethics of biotechnology. At Harvard, Sandel has taught a course called "Ethics, Biotechnology, and the Future of Human Nature" and from 2002 to 2005 he served on the President’s Council on Bioethics (Harvard University Department of Government, 2013). In 2007, Sandel published his book, The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering, in which he explains unethical implications biotechnology has and may have in the near future regarding genetic engineering.
In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, a classic novel about enlightenment, the main character, Siddhartha, goes on a lifelong journey of self-discovery. Along the way, Siddhartha encounters many who try to teach him enlightenment, undoubtedly the most important being the Buddha himself. Although Siddhartha rejects the Buddha's teachings, saying that wisdom cannot be taught, we can see, nevertheless, that along his journey for understanding Siddhartha encounters the Four Noble Truths that are a central theme in Buddhism: suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the middle path.
The novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is a timeless story about one man’s journey of finding peace in his way of life and thoughts. Siddharta is a young Brahmin’s son, who is dissatisfied with his worship and in turn sets out to find the lifestyle that is right for him. Siddhartha is faced with many external, physical conflicts, yet that is not the most prominent type of conflict in the story. Hesse builds excitement and suspense through Siddhartha’s internal journey to create an emotional response usually associated with external conflict.
Recent breakthroughs in the field of genetics and biotechnology have brought attention to the ethical issues surrounding human enhancement. While these breakthroughs have many positive aspects, such as the treatment and prevention of many debilitating diseases and extending human life expectancy well beyond its current limits, there are profound moral implications associated with the ability to manipulate our own nature. Michael Sandel’s “The Case Against Perfection” examines the ethical and moral issues associated with human enhancement while Nick Bostrom’s paper, “In Defense of Posthuman Dignity” compares the positions that transhumanists and bioconservatists take on the topic of human enhancement. The author’s opinions on the issue of human genetic enhancement stand in contrast to one another even though those opinions are based on very similar topics. The author’s views on human enhancement, the effect enhancement has on human nature, and the importance of dignity are the main issues discussed by Sandel and Bostrom and are the focus of this essay.
Perfection is much like the lottery; many people will strive for it with the hopes of attaining their ultimate goal, only to realize that reaching it is nearly impossible. However, unlike the lottery, there is not even the slightest chance of winning the final prize. To be completely perfect is an impossible feat, and the more attempts made to reach a status of “perfection”, the more let down a person will be. The quality of complete perfection is unobtainable and unreasonable, yet many cultures and certain groups of people take pride in being known as perfectionists. This reach for the impossible can be seen in the strict code followed by all knights during the feudal time period. Sir Gawain in the late
"You know, my friend, that even as a young man, when we lived with the ascetics in the forest, I came to distrust doctrines and teachers and to turn my back to them. I am still of the same turn of mind, although I have, since that time, had many teachers. A beautiful courtesan was my teacher for a long time, and a rich merchant and a dice player. On one occasion, one of the Buddha’s wandering monks was my teacher. He halted in his pilgrimage to sit beside me when I fell asleep in the forest. I also learned something from him and I am grateful to him, very grateful. But most of all, I have learned from this river and from my predecessor, Vasudeva. He was a simple man; he was not a thinker, but he realized the essential as well as Gotama, he was a holy man, a saint" (141).
Born into Hindu India, the Buddha was surrounded by wealth, power, and luxury. After leaving his kingdom, the Buddha realized life was incomplete and filled with suffering. Instead of aiming to reform Hinduism much like his Augustinian counterpart, the Buddha focused on personal development and Nirvanic experience to obtain salvation. Nevertheless, Buddha was able to recognize the importance of capturing his ideas, sayings, dialogue, and realizations. According to “The Legend of the Buddha Shakyamuni” Buddha’s teachings were recorded and spread through his teachings or Dharma (The Legend, 49). Buddha took this Hindu idea of Dharma meaning personal duty (Hinduism III, 6) and changed it to describe his teachings. Therefore, the Buddha believed his duty was to spread his doctrine to as many loyal followers as possible. One example of this was the collection of sayings by Ananda and the five-hundred followers. Ananda lead the doctrinal movement in early Buddhism to collect the sayings and teachings of the Buddha after his death. Ananda was chosen to spearhead this literary endeavor because he spent more time with Buddha than any other devotee. Even from the beginnings of Buddhism, it was of utmost importance to record exactly what the Buddha said, without error. This example of doctrine
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...
Mother Teresa was chosen to be the personality figure in this paper because as a person she may be defined on many levels through human suffering. As suffering served as the Buddha's main motivation I found their relation to be direct; both gave great consideration to the essence of suffering and worked towards it alleviation. Furthermore, she exemplified many of Buddha's teachings in her life.
Another piece of data that sometime being used to argue that the Buddha is not omniscience due to having admitted Devadatta into the Sangha. How is this episode relate to the Buddha’s omniscience? This is because if the Buddha is all-knowing he would have foreseen that accepting Devadatta into the Bhikkhu community will created schism; Devadatta would stir the Sangha, create disputes and division among the peaceful community. Further, the result of that Devadatta would suffer in hell for eons due to his wicked act.
"The Dhammapada: Socrates & Buddha Vs. Desire — The League of Ordinary Gentlemen." The League of Ordinary Gentlemen. Web. 05 July 2011. .
is hotter or colder, but never actually tell what the absolutes are. This is a
Buddhism as a religion began in India between the 5th and 6th centuries (Dehejia, 2007). A young prince by the name of Siddhartha Gotama, born in Lumbini, which is the modern day Nepal, came to the conclusion that worldly positions and monetary riches would not ultimately bring him true happiness. Siddhartha spent the next six years meditating and studying different philosophies in search of enlightenment. In his studies, Siddhartha came to what he called “the middle path”( Lowenstein and Bently,2006). According to, Lowenstein and Bently, after his enlightenment Siddhartha was then known as the Buddha, which is derived from the word budhi that means to awaken. The Buddha then spent the rest of his life, until his death at age 80, teaching his principles. He called these principles the Dhamma, or Truth. Even though today it is known as Buddhism, it’s founder referred to it as Dhamma-Vinaya, which means “the doctrine and discipline”.