Buddha was born in Sakyan, a region in what is now Nepal. His name is Siddhartha. For much of his adult life Siddhartha devoted himself to preaching a vision of ethical and spiritual contemplation, message that was attracting a growing number of converts. From a young age Siddhartha is concerned with three aspects of human life: Aging, disease and death. At the age of 29, he left his place of residence and becomes a wandering ascetic devoted to meditation. His major concern was finding and light the way to the reincarnation, which was reached through intense and prolonged meditation.
Buddhism was originally a fairly localized religion that was expanding with adherents and different schools in several regions of Asia. Today has become, thanks to the Dalai Lama, a religion with a global deployment. The Dalai Lama was originally the highest spiritual power in Tibet, completely Buddhist country in its religious tradition, isolated from the Western world. The forced exile of the Dalai Lama from Lhasa for political reasons in
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The 'Lord Buddha ' is not a divine figure. If so, he would be in total opposition to his message and ideals. Some branches of Buddhism consider the Buddha as a God, but this is not the norm, most well Buddhism is dedicated to the search for the path of salvation achieved following the four truths that are reached suffering, identifying the origins of suffering, its cessation, and the way to follow to obtain the spiritual status of karma. The ideal is to achieve a full State of karma. This means a rich inner life, with a sense of prosperity, beauty and wisdom. The next step is to reach the highest spiritual level of nirvana, which ensures a good reincarnation that allows to continue the cycle of life and death. In Buddhism, whose central element is the effort to achieve a high spiritual level - karma and finally nirvana-sexuality is an obstacle that interferes with this
These two major figures influenced the lifestyle of billions of people from all over the world. Throughout the book Hanh shows a deeper connection between Christianity and Buddhism by renewing the reader's understanding of the main importances of the two religions. Hanh also highlights the importance of being open minded about other religions and emphasizes that people need to be open to the commonalities and or similarities seen
Buddha intended and had his sermons toward large audiences, which would be towards laborers or people in lower classes so that his sermons would have mass appeal. In Document 2 there was political statements from Zhi Dun that stated that Buddhism’s only purpose was to deliver a sense of protection to the lower class people who were afraid. Zhi Dun was a Chinese scholar, which is a class held high in Chinese society, so his views toward Buddhism did not reflect the ideas of the masses of people who believed Buddhist
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.
Although Buddhism originated in the sixth century B.C.E, it quickly spread to China by the first century C.E. Buddhism was both accepted and adopted by many, but also opposed by just as many at the same time. Still some Chinese citizens chose to neither fully adopt or fully oppose the religion, but rather incorporated unique Chinese traditions into Buddhism and also created new traditions from it. Buddhism’s spread in China was met with many different responses. However, the mix of responses could be due to the fact that Buddhism’s arrival fell in the middle of a period of instability for China. Documents 2 and 3 are both in favor of Buddhism.
Han Yu, who was a Confucian scholar and official at the Tang imperial court highly disdained Buddhism, he states that Buddha was incapable of speaking the Chinese language and that the man belonged to the barbarians and he should not be worthy of worshiping. “Your servant begs to leave to say that Buddhism is no more than a cult of the barbarian people spread to China. It did not exist here in ancient times. ”(Doc. 4) in this quote from the document, one is able to observe that Han Yu did not accept Buddhism.
Prior to China’s invasion in 1950, Tibet maintained a unique culture, religion and language for centuries. The country was first inhabited by modern humans 15,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest settlements in the world and although much has changed in Tibet since then, their culture and national identity has remained inseparably linked to Tibetan Buddhism since the 8th Century. But all that took a turn for the worst in 1950 when China invaded Tibet, defeated the smaller Tibetan armies and forced the nation to give up its independence. Then, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama (Tibet’s most respected man and the nation’s political and spiritual leader) fled into exile in India, followed by thousands of Tibetans.
Lastly, the Buddhist consider all life to be very valuable because of the belief that their ancestors could be reincarnated into any living being. When Heinrich Harrer was building a movie theater for the Dalai Lama, the Dalai Lama and
Ashoka was the cofounder of buddhism and made a big religion After Ashoka destroyed Kalinga Ashoka felt a feeling and so he went seeking for a teacher. To help him and while serching he see a buddhist a monk to the monk told him to sit under the bodi tree and then Ashoka did and had enlightment and then became a buddha. When he returned he had changed Many things about himself he would go to poor and then give them riches and he rejected violence. And would go to other kingdoms and give them advice to their king on how to make it a better place.
Buddhism is a religion that has been under pressure for hundreds of years. Specifically in China, the acceptance of the religion was a hard, long battle that formed demise and refute amongst the society. Emperors, Scholars, and even anonymous Chinese writers voiced their opinions for and against Buddhism. Many controversial arguments are held today. Emperor Wu of the Tang Dynasty (845 C.E.), did not respect Buddhism as a religion.
In Stephen Batchelor’s book, Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening he goes into depth about the idea that Buddhism is not a religion or something to believe in, but rather a mindset that is a way of living with a course of action. Throughout the book he gives examples and tells stories to defend the idea that Buddhism is more than just something to believe in, but it is a way of living. Batchelor noted that when it comes to viewing Buddhism as a religion it is important to know the way Buddha viewed himself “Instead of presenting himself as a savior, he saw himself as a healer” (6). His ‘job’ was not to convert people to believe in his beliefs, rather, he wanted to show them through actions how fulfilling his way of living
Although he agrees that it is beneficial to learn from other traditions, but conversion from their birth culture and tradition will add confusion to their identity. To support this he tells the reader to ask this question to themselves, “Am I attracted to this new tradition because of the essential teachings; or, is it because I find the rituals more fascinating; or, is it because I imagine this new tradition will be less demanding?”(445). If the person still converts after thinking the question through then he thinks it is essential that he does not comment on his previous faith. Throughout the essay Dalai Lama has given the reasons why religion plays an important role to shape the person. Every religion has an essential part to share an enriched diversity.
Reading Summary – A Buddhism Experience For my Reading Summary assignment, I chose an article from our Week Six readings, “Buddhism; An Introduction,” featured on PBS Online. It is believed that the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, who ultimately created a kind and introspective religion, came from an unlikely family who enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle and whose father was an Indian warrior-king. Guatama lived from approximately 566 to 480 B.C. He sought to understand the true meaning of the world that he lived in only after becoming uninterested with the indulgences of his majestic existence. He set out on a journey, sans the accouterments of his imperial life, and through his experiences of “encountering an old man, an ill man,
- Buddha was an oral teacher; he left no written of thought, later his follower codified his beliefs and oral teachings (Chunhua, 2013). Buddhism is a very old religion that originated in India. This religion is started by Siddhartha, who came to be known as Gautam Buddha. All the Buddhists worship him.
The founder of the Buddhist, Siddhartha Gautama influences so many individuals with his doctrine. Many disciples came from all parts of the Ganges valley and became a community of monks who owned yellow robes and their begging bowls. Throughout northern India, the Buddha wanted to bring spiritual enlightenment to others as well as personal salvation. This meant an escape from the cycle of incarnation. “Early popularity of Buddhism was the organization of the Buddhist movement.
Even though Buddha didn’t think that his teachings would come this far and even become a religion, it has become a big part of the world. His therapeutic methods helped millions of people throughout the centuries according to Buddha Philosophy and Western