of enlightenment without putting its lessons into practice.
Practicing Buddhism as a means of enlightenment is a complex undertaking. Through meditation we can achieve enlightenment. Meditation typically begins with a practice known as Anapansati, which means recollection of the breathing (Buddhism 8). One of the highest goals of Anapansati is achieving Samatha, or calm. These are the core foundation of meditation and achieving them enables us to journey on other aspects of meditation. Moral perfection is not something we can ever totally achieve through Buddhism, rather it is something we can only aspire towards. Morality curbs the ego and helps us liberate our being. Five Buddhist Precepts (Pancha Sila) are designed to bring peace and happiness to the individual and all others he or she comes into contact with. These precepts are:
To refrain from taking the life of living beings,
To refrain from taking that which is not given,
To refrain from wrong conduct in sexual pleasures,
To refrain from ingesting substances that befuddles consciousness.
The concept of Ahimsa is very significant in Buddhism, one that means we should not bring harm to ourselves or others. Nirvana or the extinction of all desire is the goal of Buddhism. We can only achieve this goal by following the Eightfold Path of Righteousness. The eight steps of this path consist of: right understanding, right thoughts, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation. Such a path avoids the extremes of asceticism which can weaken the intellect, but it also avoids self-indulgence which limits spiritual growth and understanding. For example, the right thoughts are threefold in nature:
The thoughts of renunciation which are opposed to sense-pleasures,
Kind thoughts which are opposed to ill will; and,
Thoughts of harmlessness which are opposed to cruelty and tend to purify the mind.
Sam...