Analysis of Buddhism and Buddha
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This paper will be a discussion and analysis of Buddhism, Buddha, their history and their philosophy. The founding principles and teachings of Buddhism, the concept of nirvana and Buddhism' impact on other cultures will be addressed. Buddha is the name given to Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 B.C.). He is the founder of Buddhism. The Buddha in Sanskrit means "the enlightened one" (Durant, 1963, p. 424). Born into a family of nobility living in the Himalayan foothills, Buddha left his family to become a wandering ascetic at the age of 29. After six years of meditation and fasting, he claimed to have obtained enlightenment. While discovering enlightenment he was supposedly seated under the holy tree Bodh Gaya. For the rest of his life he traveled throughout Northern India advocating his messages for mankind found within Buddhism. This paper will explore these principles of Buddhism, and how Buddha affected the spread of Buddhism throughout India and the rest of the world. The teachings of Gautama Buddha were aimed at only one goal--the elimination of suffering for individuals who must exist in this realm. He saw people everywhere making themselves miserable through deluded belief in the reality of their own egos. Rejecting any type of miraculous divination or metaphysical powers, Buddha strongly cautioned his followers not to rely on the comfort of understanding from others. He did not want any mystical imagery blocking their path to understanding that was outside o
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as filled with compassion for all those still in darkness. The Buddhist believes that suffering is a universal fact of existence because of man's fundamental ignorance about himself and the world. Whatever a man may take himself to be is an obstacle to enlightenment, which forms in the shape of statements like: "This is mine, This Am I, and This is my ego," which makes man at the @enter of an imaginary drama of gain and loss, of pleasure and pain (Loti, 1974, p. 121).
The Wheel of Life is a very important concept within Buddhism. It is the great Buddhist symbol of Samsara, the endless round of birth and death cycle in which all beings are trapped who have not yet found enlightenment. To find enlightenment the illusions of the ego must be pierced and desire stilled. The Wheel of Life (or of Existence) consists of twelve spokes, each constituting a link in the repetitive cycle of birth and death. The wheel turns as long as man's ignorance lasts about his own self-importance. The noble eightfold path offers the Buddhist the only way to the blissful state of Nirvana, which is the release from the endless cycle of rebirth (Loti, 1974, p. 130). The way to Nirvana is by following the eight steps of the noble eightfold path. Fo
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1833
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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