Advantages And Disadvantages Of Buddhism

Buddhism is one of the twelve major and fastest growing religions of the world in today’s society. It is a spiritual development into the true nature of reality. In saying that though, Buddhism is more commonly known to be a way of life in comparison to just being a “religion.” A vast and ongoing amount of men and women today from diverse backgrounds and cultures all around the world are following in the footsteps of Buddha, or so to say they are following his teachings and way of life. The term Buddha means “The Awakened” or “Enlightened One.” His pursuit in life was to find the remedy to human suffering and wanted everyone to achieve true happiness and freedom in theirs. Meditation is one of the main ways a person can develop the qualities of kindness, wisdom and awareness, while also taking part

Along with these advantages though, come a few major disadvantages. Studies by qualified neurologist and Zen Buddhist, James Austin, tells us that yes meditation is capable of relieving stress, but when you think about it, one can get the same effect when just simply sitting still. What his studies also show is that meditation is capable also, of worsening ones state of depression, anxiety, and other negative emotions. Another disadvantage is that Buddhism claims that in perceiving yourself as in some sense unreal, will make you happier and more compassionate towards life. Susan Blackmore, phycologist and Zen Practitioner states that when one embraces their essential selflessness; guilt, shame, embarrassment, self-doubt etc. they are able to become a better person. But in an attempt to achieve this, it places a vast amount of stress on this person, by facing them with sensations of unreality, which can then be tempted further by fatigue, trauma, drugs, a mental illness and also by meditation. So in hearing this, rather than being just positive, there are negative factors