Jiang 1 Wendy Jiang Prof. Frederick Downing World Religions 2020 21 June 2012 Buddhism: A Way of Life Buddhism is named as one of the world s oldest religions and also the fourth largest in the world. 1 It originated from India around the fifth century B.C. It then spread throughout Asia, influencing a majority of the cultures along the way. It is still being practiced today, and it all rose from the experience of one man. This man became known as Buddha after his enlightenment. 2 After finding his true nature, he had a way to end suffering for his people by showing them his knowledge of the world. He believed that people have two natures: one is an ordinary nature where greed, fear, anger, and jealousy reside. The other one is true nature, which is the part of us that is pure, wise, and perfect. In Buddhism, it is called the Buddha nature. According to that, the only difference between Buddha and everyone else is that they have not awakened to their true nature. 3 The basic teachings of Buddhism are the three universal truths, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Paths. If anyone should follow those teachings then they could reach enlightenment and also become a Buddha. Due to the fact that Buddha was a real person instead of a created deity, how his teachings are basically guidelines for self- 1 Buddhist-Temples. "Buddhism Facts." Interesting Facts on Buddhism. Buddhist-Temples. Web. 20 June 2012. <http://www.buddhist-temples.com/buddhism-facts/index.html>. 2 Molloy, Michael. "Buddhism." Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change. 3 Instilling Goodness School. "THE BASIC TEACHING OF BUDDHA." THE BASIC TEACHING OF BUDDHA. Instilling Goodness School. Web. 18 June 2012. <http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/buddhism/footsteps.htm>.
Jiang 2 harmony, and that anyone could become a Buddha, it is arguable that Buddhism is not a religion, but simply a way of living. Buddhism was created to guide people to find their innermost self and be at peace with who they are, while learning to overlook and deal with the suffering in life. The name of the man who founded this train of thought is Siddhartha Gautama. While most gods of major religions are mystical and otherworldly, He was a prince of India born to King Suddhodana and Queen Maya in the small kingdom of Kapolavastu in what is known today as Nepal. 4 Gods tend to have an unknown origin, but there is proof of the Buddha s origin. When Siddhartha was born, a wise man predicted that he would either grow up to become a great king like his father or a great spiritual leader if he was ever exposed to the sight of suffering. He grew up to become the latter, a spiritual leader of god-like proportions. Since his father wanted him to follow in his footstep and become a great king, he tried to make life in the palace so pleasant that Siddhartha would never want to leave. 5 Despite his great efforts, Siddhartha s curiosity got the better of him, and he disobeyed his father to gaze outside the palace walls. What he saw beyond the walls changed his views on life completely. On the four trips he eventually took, he saw sickness, old age, death, and on his last trip he meet a monk whom had given up everything to seek an end to all the sufferings of mankind. That was when Siddhartha decided to be more than himself and be a beacon lighting the way to peace, but not as any form of divine being. 6 Siddhartha escaped from his father s palace and decided to seek a teacher to answer his questions. Most gods, while at times having human like characteristics and decisions, are imbued 4 Molloy, Michael. "Buddhism." Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change. 5 Instilling Goodness School. "THE BASIC TEACHING OF BUDDHA." THE BASIC TEACHING OF BUDDHA. Instilling Goodness School. Web. 18 June 2012. <http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/buddhism/footsteps.htm>. 6 Instilling Goodness School. "THE BASIC TEACHING OF BUDDHA." THE BASIC TEACHING OF BUDDHA. Instilling Goodness School. Web. 18 June 2012. <http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/buddhism/footsteps.htm>.
Jiang 3 with the answers to life, while humans struggle for answers. He went to many teachers to learn the techniques of mediation. They discussed philosophy, but none of them knew how to end suffering. The questions of suffering and death kept lingering in his head without answers, so he finally decided to search on his own. With five other seekers, he set out with them to find the answers he needed. One of the first things they tried was called great austerity. It involved living on a minimal amount food and drink, and hoping it would help him find new insight and even gain spiritual powers. 7 Again, Gods, such as the Greek deity Zeus who had the powers of lightning, are believed to automatically have powers. He eventually collapsed from weakness and after he regained his strength, he finally realized that his austerities had not strengthened him or brought him any closer to the answers he sought. He resolved to meditate under a Bodhi tree without moving until his questions were answered. There are many different versions to what really happened after, but most of them state that Siddhartha had met with the evil spirit, Mara, who had tried to use many temptations and fears to lure Siddhartha away. It was during one of those nights that Siddhartha entered into increasingly profound states of awareness. It was in those states that he saw his past lives, fathomed the laws of karma that govern everyone, and finally achieved insight into release from suffering and rebirth. Religious elements existed before the Buddha ever ascended into anything other than a prince. Buddha sat under the tree hoping receive a message or answer, which usually comes from a religion s god. For example, Muhammad and Jesus both received godly messages. If the information he received was about rebirth and pre-existing laws, then there was another force that created it. Any other religions gods could be the creator, but not Buddha. Even the presence of a spirit, enforces that Buddha was merely human. 7 Molloy, Michael. "Buddhism." Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change.
Jiang 4 Siddhartha reached a state of awakening, or enlightenment, and became known as the Buddha, The Awakened One. He had seen the suffering, aging, and death in a new way, recognizing them as an inevitable part of life, but also seen the possibility of release. He then spend the rest of his life traveling villages to villages teaching his insights and his way of life. Eventually, unlike most godly figures, he died. Even if it was speculated he ascended as a higher being, his dying advice warned against one of the primp constructs of organized religion, worship. At his deathbed at the age of 80, he gathered his disciples and gave them his final instruction: You must be your own lamps, be your own refuges. Take refuge in nothing outside yourselves. Hold firm to the truth as a lamp and a refuge, and do not look for refuge to anything besides yourselves. 8 In other words: Trusts your own insights, and use self-control to reach perfection and inner peace. Those words became the base of Buddhism; guiding people through their suffering in life of the inevitable and be at peace with themselves by looking inside themselves instead of the heavens. The basic teachings of the Buddha are the three universal truths, the four noble truths, and the noble eightfold paths 9. The three universal truths are three understandings of the reality that Buddha realized. Through those understandings, it can ultimately lead a person to inner peace and even joy. The truths are: Change, no permanent identity, and suffering. The first truth is change. Buddha said that people are often surprised by constant change, and sometimes pained by inconsistency. But the truth is that everything in this world never stays the same and is always changing. We might not notice this change instantly, but overtime we will. Like the extinction of animals, it is said to be slow, but happening. Like adults looking at children and remembering 8 Molloy, Michael. "Buddhism." Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change. 9 Buddhist-Temples. "Buddhism Facts." Interesting Facts on Buddhism. Buddhist-Temples. Web. 20 June 2012. <http://www.buddhist-temples.com/buddhism-facts/index.html>.
Jiang 5 how they were once the same and the deaths of loved ones. According to Buddha, the wise ones will learn to expect changes, accepts them, and even savor them. Even scientist and poets realize that change is a part of life, but this truth only tells about the physical word and nothing spiritual. The second truth was that there is no permanent identity. Buddha denied the existence of a permanent identity of anything, stating that Each person and each thing is not only changing, but is made up of parts that are also constantly changing, a concept referred to as no permanent identity. 10 The third truth is known as dukkha, or suffering. It refers to the fact that suffering in life is inevitable. Even when we are in the middle of pleasure, in the back of our mind, we know that it is not going to last forever. Buddha concluded that to live means it is inescapable to experience sorrow and dissatisfaction. 11 Those three views became the foundation for the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Paths. While these views can be observed in the world, they are just that, views. Another person with a differing perspective could argue a contrary point proving to be just as valid, because nothing really separates Buddha from anyone else with an opinion except that his ideas are more widespread. For example, Buddha concluded that life is inescapable sorrow, but for another individual with different experience and perspective, happiness might be constant and sorrow is an illusion. The Four Noble Truths are a linked chain of supposed truths about life: Suffering exists, it has a cause, it has an end, and there is a way to attain release from suffering. The first Noble Truth with its three aspects is There is suffering or dukkha. Dukkha should be understood. Dukkha has been understood. 12 Suffering is the common bond that we all share. Having a body 10 Molloy, Michael. "Buddhism." Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. 125-85. Print. 11 Molloy, Michael. "Buddhism." Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change. 12 Sumedho, Ajahn. "The First Noble Truth." The Four Noble Truths. England: Amaravati. 36-45. Print.
Jiang 6 means that we can be tired and sick. We can suffer from pain both emotionally and physically. To live means to experience anxiety, lose, and sometimes even anguish. This truth urges us to be realistic, also hopeful in the sense that if we recognize why suffering comes about, then we can lessen it. While this may or may not be a truth, it gives no reason for suffering or origin. The second Noble Truth states that suffering comes from desire. Buddha saw that most suffering comes from wanting what we cannot have and never being satisfied with what we do have. We all have desires, and due to life being ever changing, no matter how much we acquire, we cannot be permanently satisfied. This truth gives an origin, but it is still an assumption about human nature. The Third Noble Truth states that in order to end suffering, we have to end desire. It is a recommendation to everyone that they should accept peacefully whatever occurs, aiming less for happiness and more for inner peace. Acceptance is a step to inner peace and what people should realize that what they have right now is actually enough. As nice as inner peace sounds, this truth is just another egocentric explanation. The Fourth and last Noble truth states that release from suffering is possible. 13 Nirvana is the untimely goal of Buddhism. It means the end of suffering, found inner peace, and liberation from the limitation of the world. This truth delves into a semispiritual view in regard to the limitations of the world, but does not give followers a sense of real purpose, origin, or explanation as to what is outside of the world. There is nothing to prove the truths like most religions, but they mean little without a context other than personal peace. According to Buddhism, after living by truths and attaining nirvana, an individual will have self-control and is no longer driven from inside by raging emotional forces or from outside by unpredictable evens of life. In order to reach nirvana, we will have to follow the Eightfold Paths. The Eightfold Paths are steps that will lead us toward liberation from the impermanence 13 Molloy, Michael. "Buddhism." Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change.
Jiang 7 and suffering f reality. The Eightfold Paths are right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right work, right effort, right meditation and right contemplation. 14 With all those right mindsets, one should reach nirvana and be free of all suffering and be at peace with inner self. While religions like Christianity express that there are ways to appeal to a god or gods, Buddhism allows the follower to become an enlightened one. When humans are the source of their own happiness, religion becomes non-essential. Religion is needed to explain the world and give purpose to life. Buddhism offers neither. It is simply a set of guidelines to improve quality of life. No one is really sure if Buddha had intended that his teachings become a religion. None the less, its popularity has allowed an evolution where most consider it as one. It has helped many people with their fear, pain, and suffering from life. Since it was all through personal experiences, Buddha had the first hand experiences with all the sufferings and also gave up on his lavished life style as a prince to experience it all and find a way to end it all the suffering he saw. The story is relatable for people. Through his teachings and rules of the three rules of reality, the Four Noble Truth, and the Eightfold Paths, people learned to deal with change, suffering, and be at peace with their inner self and who they really are. Regardless, since Buddha was a real person instead of a created deity, his teachings are basically guidelines for self-harmony, and anyone can become a Buddha, Buddhism is not a religion, but simply a way of living. 14 Buddhist-Temples. "Buddhism Facts." Interesting Facts on Buddhism. Buddhist-Temples. Web. 20 June 2012. <http://www.buddhist-temples.com/buddhism-facts/index.html>.
Jiang 8 Works Cited Buddhist-Temples. "Buddhism Facts." Interesting Facts on Buddhism. Buddhist-Temples. Web. 20 June 2012. <http://www.buddhist-temples.com/buddhism-facts/index.html>. Instilling Goodness School. "THE BASIC TEACHING OF BUDDHA." THE BASIC TEACHING OF BUDDHA. Instilling Goodness School. Web. 18 June 2012. <http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/buddhism/footsteps.htm>. Molloy, Michael. "Buddhism." Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change. Sumedho, Ajahn. "The First Noble Truth." The Four Noble Truths. England: Amaravati. 36-45. Print.