Intro to Buddhism

Kiaya Nickens

Mr. Sanchez

Christian in the World – p.8

February 10, 2013

 

Introduction to Buddhism:

*The Buddha Summary:

 

Buddhism the religion in its entirety began with the “Buddha”. Buddhist refer to the Buddha as the “one who is awake”.  The Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal around 2,500 years ago. Unlike most prophets, Siddhartha did not claim to be any type of “god” or “prophet”. Siddhartha was simply an individual that became enlightened in an intense way. Siddhartha was exposed to some of the world’s devastating sites. Siddhartha after being isolated or sheltered from the real world saw sickness, death, and old age. Siddhartha was born in a very privileged royal family which was the cause of him being sheltered. Siddhartha viewing old age, sickness and death aided in his desire to answer the question “What is Life?”. Siddhartha decided to leave his privileged life in his families palace to discover what life is.

Siddhartha searched long and hard during his period of wandering but never discovered the answer to what life really is. After his journey, Siddhartha decided to trust in his intuition and experience to answer his question. During his final 45 years of his life he taught to Northern India about what being enlightened entails. He shared how his personal experiences aided him in becoming an enlightened individual.

The important, or distinct difference of the Buddha opposed to other founders of other religions is that the Buddha (Siddhartha) never claimed he was of the divine nature. The Buddha never referred to himself as any type of god, he was simply an ordinary man who was fascinated with what the meaning of life entailed. And through a period of intensive searching, the Buddha became enlightened to what the meaning of life entails.

 

Major Teachings of Buddhism:

 

One main teaching of Buddhism occurred after Siddhartha’s enlightenment. The Buddha envisioned the entire human race as a bed of lotus flowers. All of the lotus flowers were in different forms, some of the flowers were still in mud, some were bloomed, and some were in the process of blooming. The bed of lotus flowers represents the abilities of the human race, some have reached their potential, some are in the process and some haven’t began to reach their potential.

The heart of teachings of Buddhism, is called the three jewels. The three jewels includes the Buddha (The Yellow Jewel),  Dharma (The Blue Jewel), and Sangha (The Red Jewel). The three jewels are also referred to as the Three Treasures as well. By implementing the Three Jewels within one’s life, that is how one becomes a Buddhist.

Threefold Way of ethics, meditation, and wisdom. This is a path that demonstrates progression. The ethics of the Threefold Way serves as a conscience which is the basis for meditation.  The ethical code within the Threefold way is referred to as the five precepts. The five precepts are principles of training. Meditation is the second stage of the threefold way. The aim of all Buddhist practices is The aim of all Buddhist practices.

The four noble truths are the following:

-          All existence is dukkha- which states that all human beings will experience suffering. And the problem with existence is that one will not find happiness through any experiences that has occurred in their life.

-          The cause of dukkha is craving-  we as humans have the tendency to blame our bad experiences on outside factors, but in actuality these band experiences are due to the mind itself

-          The cessation of dukkha comes with the cessation of craving- We are both the solution and cause of all of our difficulties

-          There is a path that leads from dukkha- everything is the responsibility of the individual but we do have the ability to change ourselves.

 

The Buddha’s ‘Noble Eightfold Path’ is an extension of the Buddha’s Threefold way. This is the most popular within the teachings of Buddha. The Noble Eightfold Path serves as a mutual relationship to one other and are each essential elements in an integrated approach to the Dharma:

1.Right Understanding or Perfect Vision

2.Right Resolve or Perfect Emotion

            3.Right Speech or Perfect Speech

            4.Right Action or Perfect Action

            5.Right Livelihood or Perfect Livelihood

            6.Right Effort or Perfect Effort

            7.Right Mindfulness or Perfect Awareness

8.​Right Meditation or Perfect Samadhi