Buddha's Rebirth

Steve Jobs once said "No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.

Zong Mi, a leading Buddhist scholar defends Buddhism by praising it as it was established “according to the demands of the age and the needs of various beings” during a time of need. (Doc 5) Also, in Zong Mi’s defense of Buddhism he is careful not to criticize Confucianism or Daoism as to avoid angering Emperor Wu after his revival of the imperial structure, instead he calls the founder’s of these religions “perfect sages.” (Doc 5) On the other hand, the Buddha simply lays out the basic principles of how to achieve nirvana in the Buddhist tradition of “The Four Noble Truths.”

Buddhism is a religion born in India 563 B.C. with Siddhartha as there founder. the basic beliefs are the 4 noble truths (Dukkha, Samudaya, Nirodha, and Marga). Like document 6 says noble truth one (Dukkha) "birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering etc." In noble truth four (Marga) says "right intention, right action, right effort ect." Which means if you are suffering in some type of way you stop it by doing something right.

I imagine we get reincarnated whether we do wrong or rights. Even though I fancy in a God, I somewhat follow Buddha’s teachings in which they believe in finding enlightenment. This can also help serve with the moral I follow. With the teaching of Buddha, They are trying to reach enlightenment by doing the rights more than the wrongs. It sorta helps each other.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead also known as Bardo Thodol is a religious text explaining the “transitional period directly after death (Rubin Museum of Art, page two).” It expands on how one can reach enlightenment or continue the cycle of rebirth in this 49 day period. In this journey over 100 deities will appear. To achieve Nirvana or enlightenment you must come to the realization that these are illusions. Along with other artifacts and ritual cards the purpose of the Bardo Thodol is to “instill an awareness of the impermanence of life (Rubin Museum of Art, page one).”

Education without Buddhism taught how be a benevolent ruler. The Buddha teaches that eliminating human desire (the root of suffering) will result in a good afterlife, and Zhi Dun claims that in the afterlife, the spirit will be enlightened and achieve nirvana. The Buddha was an elite male, originating from India, with a pessimistic view on life and suffering. He wrote document #1 in 500 B.C.E, at the time of Buddhism’s rising, to teach Buddhist ways for everyone in society. With an instructing and sympathetic tone, document #1 explains the steps required to achieve nirvana.

These sets of laws were part of the first sermon preached by Buddha in the fifth century B.C.E. The first truth is sorrow, “Birth is sorrow, age is sorrow, disease is sorrow, death is sorrow, contact with the unpleasant is sorrow, separation from the pleasant is sorrow, every wish unfulfilled is sorrow”. The second truth is the arising of sorrow, “it arises from craving, which leads to rebirth, which brings delight and passion, and seeks pleasure- the craving for sensual pleasure, the craving for continued life, and the craving for power”. The third truth is the stopping of sorrow, “It is the complete stopping of that craving, so that no passion remains, leaving it, being emancipated from it, being released from it, giving no place to it”. The fourth truth is “the way that leads to the stopping of sorrow”.

Buddhism/Hinduism vs. Christianity: Afterlife The concept of afterlife is different for many. Some would say there is a heaven or hell, or some would believe in the concept of reincarnation. The answer varies from different peoples perspective in terms of their religion or personal opinion; yet despite these differences it is agreed that different concepts of afterlife in different religions can have a certain degree of similarity or comparison. Although Buddhism/Hinduism and Christianity are three different religions in terms of where the soul enters in afterlife; they do have many similarities such as a reward and punishment system and second chances to redeem oneself.

Death, and the afterlife is a discussion that many have debated, and one 's upbringing plays an intricate part in what we believe about death, and what comes after. The Jataka Tales and Ecclesiastes are contrasting in ways such as The Jataka tales teaches growth during multiple lifetimes using different stories to demonstrate how Buddha strives towards enlightenment. The teacher in Ecclesiastes goes into great detail describing how he gained knowledge, wisdom, and enjoyed every pleasure imaginable, yet he was still not satisfied (Ecclesiastes 4.9). Jataka and Ecclesiastes both teach that there is life after death, that greed, and worldly treasures are meaningless, and the simple act of kindness, and serving others can bring one the peace that escapes us when meditating on death and the afterlife.

Chapter 4 The Abrahamic religions view on the Afterlife. Picture 43380769 The 3 main Abrahamic religions are Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Why they are called the Abrahamic religions is because they all share the patriarch Abraham in their lineage, having said that his role differ in the 3 religions, but Christianity and Judaism are very similar, or if not the same..

This cycle of birth and rebirth continues until an individual breaks the cycle and achieve Nirvana, “…he attains to Nirvana in his own person; and he knows that rebirth is exhausted” (Anonymous 1896 pp.138). And “…Nirvana is identical with the original substance of the Buddha-mind, which is same as Buddha-nature.” (Chan 1963 pp.427). By Nirvana, one becomes enlightened. When one breaks the cycle of karma, they immediately achieve the state of Nirvana.

There are many details that are important from the creation myth among those are the idea of reincarnation and the will that drives us to be better than those before us. We see the idea and importance of reincarnation when the myth states “when a human dies, I will send them to be a dolphin until it is time for them to be born again. But when I find a creature who has striven, who has become more than the mud from which they were made, who has glorified this mean world by being apart of it, then I will open the door for them into your perfect world and they will no longer be creatures of time, for they will wear stars” (Pratchett 1-2). This quote shows how import the idea of reincarnation is to the rest of the story because the people of

Buddha’s actual observations of reality parallel many essential core principles in modern science. One of the most fundamental ideas to Buddhist thought is the characteristic that all things are impermanent. It comprises one of the three main parts of a Buddhist frame of reality. All objects, all people, and all conditions are subject to change as a consequence of either the passage of time or the influence of the interdependence between everything in existence (Buswell 2004, 23).

Once a Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The soul comes from without into the human body, as into a temporary abode, and it goes out of it anew it passes into other habitations… It is the secret of the world that all things subsist and do not die, but only retire a little from sight and afterwards return again. Nothing is dead;… and there they stand looking out of the window, sound and well, in some strange new disguise." As Whitman was influenced by Transcendentalism, he believed in reincarnation which idea is permanent existence. The individual “soul comes into incarnation (birth) and withdraws from incarnation (death), cyclically to gain experience and evolve in consciousness, each time as a new personality” (“Evolution in Consciousness: Karma and Reincarnation” para 6), therefore, through lines 1288-1297 Whitman keep on referring to death and how he is not afraid of death.

(11). We are a random occurrence, and everything will return where it starts. Death. We live knowing that death will come, but we do not know when, where and how. If having wealth, fame, family, love, happiness or enjoying doing my favourite things is the meaning of my life, today I’m trying my best to get those things, I cannot be sure that I can still be alive to get it or enjoy it tomorrow.