Buddhism (The Buddha)

The Buddha sought to show us how to overcome ugly by attaining Nibbana. Buddhism is the fourth largest pietism in the world today. Its history that at present span some two and a half centuries began from the birth of its founder, Prince Siddhartha Gautama. nigh scholars agree that Siddharta who became existn as Buddha was an actual historical persona. He began the devotion and philosophy of Buddhism when he reached Enlightenment in 535 BCE while meditating under a Bodhi tree following his abandonment of the life of luxury (The Buddha).Beliefs and Ethics telephone exchange to Buddhism is the take careing of the nature of hu man creations and the causes of human pain or dukkha. The Buddhistics ch angstromion the viewpoint that human suffering lays in ignorance, concluding that it is a delimitate brought about by conflict and stress inherent in human existence and the interaction with the world (Buddhist Ethics 2005). There be discordant schools of Buddhism such that it has no one bible or sacred texts and instead, a vast collection of authoritative texts from different imposts.Theravada Buddhism has the Tipitaka or Pali ordinance Mahayana Buddhism has the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka, and the Tibetan branch has the Kangyur and Tengyur, among another(prenominal)s (Strong, 2008). In sum, the following name part of the basic beliefs in Buddhism A. The Four Noble Truths 1. Life is suffering or dukkha 2. The origin of suffering is attachment or craving 3. Attachments whoremonger be overcome, and this outcome of suffering is called nirvana 4. The way to accomplish the cessation of suffering is the Eightfold Path (Boerre).B. The Eightfold Path consists of eight elements that faeces be grouped into the three categories, as follows Wisdom or prajna proficient view and flop aspiration or intention Morals rights lecture right action and right livelihood Meditation or samadhi right effort right mindfulness, and right concentration (Strong, 2008). C. Karma all of human actions wear out consequences within a cycle of human craving and suffering, such that our lives are always conditioned by our past actions (Buddhist Teachings). D.Buddhist ethics or precepts termed as sila made up of the four conditions of chastity, calmness, quiet and extinguishment. According to the Karmic Law, keeping sila is meritable and serves as good cause to bring about happy or peaceful effects (Buddhism 2008). E. Rebirth consciousness continues beyond death, finding twist in another life or reincarnation in the early (Buddhist Teachings). F. Enlightenment through the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, one is emancipate from karma towards Enlightenment, the state of being that transcends suffering (Buddhist Teachings).Customs and Festivals Because there are m all schools of Buddhism that start out emerged throughout the centuries, the rituals and practices of Buddhists vary according to tradition in different split of the glob e. Significant Buddhist customs include the following A. Veneration of the Buddha refers to the reward of, and meditation, on the qualities of the Buddha. B. Pilgrimage the main purposes of the pilgrimage to the many Buddhist centers is the encourage of spiritual discip gunstock or the fulfillment of a vow.C. Ordination the eucharist of passage of anyone wishing to be a Buddhist monk involves the renouncing of layperson life and accepting life in the monastic sangha as a novice (Venerating). Buddhist festivals are consequential holy days renowned in various traditions, which include Dharma solar day, which marks the beginning of the teachings of Buddha Losar, the most important Tibetan holiday that marks the New Year (lunar) Parinirvana, a Mahayan Buddhist holiday marking Buddhas death Wesak festival, the most important festival in the Buddhist calendar, celebrates the birthday of Buddha on the full moon of the month of May. Sangha Day that celebrates the spiritual comm unity (Holy days). The divisions of Buddhism have sometimes been called sects or schools, exactly in this book I have used the word lineage, as it seems to accord better with Buddhist experience. A Buddhist is one who has taken refuge, and he or she has taken refuge in a specific tradition whose teachers stretch back, or are claimed to stretch back, in an unbroken line or lineage to Shakyamuni Buddha.There is one over-arching principle in the effective give of Buddhism skillful means. As Buddhism asks the individual, so it asks a nicety What is it, do you think, that leave aloneing bring you the most happiness? When it has heard the response, Buddhism says, under its breath, But that will only bring you samsaric happiness, and continues, out loud, That is good, the Dharma can help you. Then, starting from that samsaric desire, it seeks a way of assisting the individual or culture to break out into extra-samsaric joy.Most countries into which Buddhism public exposure were what we might call low cultures, that is, they had rich local traditions but smallish sense of nationhood or broad cultural identity, and did not have a national religion or philosophy. Buddhism was able to supply this lack. It provided a dandy Tradition perspective, encouraging local customs to coalesce into national polities and incorporating them in a supra-national worldview. The price was the downgrading of the local customs.Indigenous deities were said either to have converted to Buddhism, becoming Dharma Protectors (dharma-pala), or foolishly to have rejected it, thus being demoted to demons. The only country in which this did not happen smoothly was China. It had already developed, in Confucianism and Taoism, sophisticated national systems, and so was not the pushover that, for example, Tibet was. Buddhism had to be more humble as it approached the Chinese, and it has often smelled, to good upstanding Confucians, of foreigners and their criminal plots.Even so, the cultural bl ending was such that Buddhism came to be counted as the third religion of China, and the eirenic phrase The three religions are a harmonious unity was coined. No other foreign system, other than Communism, has been able to penetrate Chinese culture so completely. Buddhism says that it can be said that since the human problem is fundamentally one of ignorance, and since this is a phenomenon that exists in varying degrees of intensity, it is always worth examining any claims to law.This is especially the case when the Absolute Truth at tried by Buddhism is beyond perfect verbalization, for another religious or philosophical tradition, despite evident conflict of ideas, whitethorn actually be trying with different ground to express the same ultimate perception which is enshrined in Buddhism itself. Rival truth claims are, then, not necessarily hostile and the Buddhist should feel it possible to lead in interested discussion with advocates of other ideologies. Further, it is always possible that other religions may be able to suggest useful techniques for the attainment or apprehension of Absolute Truth.Yet the Buddhist knows that the propositions which attempt to approximate Truth essential be submitted to the light of the ultimate Buddhist experience, and if they cannot be seen to lead toward this, they are in genuine and decisive conflict with Buddhism. Each religion, then, is open to dialogue, but each presents a touchstone by which authority is to be tested the experience which suggests the U+016nyatA concept for Buddhism, and for Christianity the experience of God as he expresses himself in Christ.Interestingly enough, this emphasis on a decisive experience or intuition of Truth means that ardent adherents of both recognize the conditional relation of Kierkegaards dictum about subjectivity being truth and know that there are important respects in which a man committed to another religious experience may yet understand mine far better than a purely obj ective beholder can ever hope to do. To study and record the observable information of a religious tradition is utterly useless for the purpose of understand what the religious man considers important about it.Thus the dialogue between Christians and Buddhists may well be more productive of sympathetic understanding (even with powerfully affirmed disagreement) than that between either Christians or Buddhists with disinterested social scientists. Resources Strong, John. survive of Buddhism. Retrieved 07 Apr. 2008 from Shippensburg University Site http//webspace. ship. edu/cgboer/buddhawise. html. Buddhism. (2008, April 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2038, April 10, 2008, from http//en.wikipedia. org/w/index. php? title= Buddhism&oldid=169957239. Buddhist Ethics and Social Criticism. (Updated 21 June 2005). Retrieved 07 Apr. 2008 from Image India Site http//india_resource. tripod. com/buddhism. htm. Buddhist Teachings. Retrieved 07 Apr. 2008 from bbc. co. uk Site http//www. bbc. co. uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/buddhateachings. shtml. Holy Days. Retrieved 07 Apr. 2008 from bbc. co. uk Site http//www. bbc. co. uk/religion/religions/buddhism/holydays/.Religious text. (2008, October 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 1444, April 9, 2008, from http//en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php? title= Religious_text&oldid=166613250. The Buddha. Retrieved 07 Apr. 2008 from bbc. co. uk Site http//www. bbc. co. uk/ religion/religions/buddhism/history/history. shtml. Venerating the Buddha, Pilgrimage and Ordination. Retrieved 07 Apr. 2008 from bbc. co. uk Site http//www. bbc. co. uk/religion/religions/buddhism/ customs/customs. shtml.