Comparing Mother Teresa and Siddharta Guartma
Mother Teresa and Siddharta Guartma are centuries apart in time and leagues apart in religious declination. Despite this religious and time divide, the life of Mother Teresa, its positive and negative events, can be critiqued through and attributed to the principals and tenets of, Siddharta Guartma, the Buddha.
Mother Teresa was chosen to be the personality figure in this paper because as a person she may be defined on many levels through human suffering. As suffering served as the Buddha's main motivation I found their relation to be direct; both gave great consideration to the essence of suffering and worked towards it alleviation. Furthermore, she exemplified many of Buddha's teachings in her life.
History/ Background:
Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a Roman Catholic nun and founder of the Missionaries of Charity, to care for the most destite of Indian society. In 1952 Mother Teresa opened the Nirmal Hriday (Pure Heart) Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta. She and her fellow nuns took in dying Indians off the streets of Calcutta and brought them to this home to care for them during the days before they died, so that they might be able to die in peace and with dignity. In addition she worked with and cared for lepers. Mother Teresa expanded her work by creating a network of 569 missions in 120 nations. Today over 5000 sisters, brothers, and volunteers run approximately 500 centers worldwide, feeding 500,000 families and helping 90,000 lepers every year. For her work she was awarded many honors. For example she was awarded the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971, and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
Mother Teresa who was known to the world as "The Saint of Gutters" and...
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...tobiog.html
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3: http://www.catholic.net/RCC/People/MotherTeresa
Bibliography:
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1: Balado, J. and Playfoot J. (1985). My Life for the Poor. London: Ballentine Books.
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3: http://www.catholic.net/RCC/People/MotherTeresa
In this paper, I will be explaining how Siddhartha had arrived at the Four Noble Truths. The first paragraph contains how Siddhartha’s life was full of suffering, pain, and sorrow. The second paragraph will be the cause of suffering is the desire for things that are really illusions in Siddhartha’s life. Following, in the third paragraph I will be explaining how the only way to cure suffering is to overcome desire. Finally, I will be explaining that the only way to overcome desire is to follow the Eightfold Path.
is decidedly similar to Gautama Buddha is Alba. At birth she is predicted to have a fortunate life by her
It is said that history is shaped by the lives of great men. Great men are leaders. They bring about change; they improve the lives of others; they introduce new ideas, models, and theories to society. Most of the world's religions were founded, developed, or discovered by great men. Two particular religions - Christianity and Buddhism - developed in different parts of the world, under different circumstances, and in different social atmospheres. But each religion is based upon the teachings of a great man. When one compares the life of Buddha with the life of Jesus, one finds that the two share many things in common. This essay aims to compare and contrast the lives of Buddha1 and Jesus in two key areas: conception and birth. In these two areas, one finds that the Buddha and Jesus share many similarities.
In The Working Poor by David K. Shipler, Shipler analyzes the effects of poverty and the accountability of working poor in America. Chapter six of the book focuses on traumas of childhood that affect the later life of a person. In this chapter, Shipler speaks of sexual abuse within families, neglectful parenting, and other factors that contribute to a poverty-stricken life. He gives real-life experiences and the effects that an individual’s childhood has had on his or her life. Although his examples are based on real lives of the poor in America, it appears as though he has found the most extreme cases. While these situations are horrible, not all poverty-stricken people are classified under these extreme conditions. Shipler offers excellent points and facts involving the traumas of childhood affecting the future, but fails to acknowledge that not all children will succumb to the struggles of poverty nor does he offer plausible solutions to his criticisms.
In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, a classic novel about enlightenment, the main character, Siddhartha, goes on a lifelong journey of self-discovery. Along the way, Siddhartha encounters many who try to teach him enlightenment, undoubtedly the most important being the Buddha himself. Although Siddhartha rejects the Buddha's teachings, saying that wisdom cannot be taught, we can see, nevertheless, that along his journey for understanding Siddhartha encounters the Four Noble Truths that are a central theme in Buddhism: suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the middle path.
Mother Teresa was one of the most renowned humanitarians of her time. She dedicated her life to other people never to herself. She had many missions throughout her lifetime and was well known throughout the world. Mother Teresa was a kind-hearted woman whose quest was to make this world a better place.
Agnes (Mother Teresa) parents were Albanian. She was one out of five siblings, but only three of them survived (“Mother Teresa Bibliography”). Unfortunately for her and the family her father died when she was between the age of seven and nine years of age. By this age Agnes felt and knew that she had a great love for god. After Agnes father died she was very involved in the church. Agnes heard the calling of god about the age of twelve for her to devote her life to him (“Mother Teresa-Facts”). Since, she was too young to join the nuns so she just continued to go to church until she was of age to do so.
Ashvaghosha’s Buddhacarita: The Life of the Buddha serves as one of the most relevant and profound texts regarding the Buddhist religion and it’s foundations. However, unlike other popular religious texts, this one does not serve as a historical document but rather a vessel for explaining the teachings of the Buddha, serving as a guide for the followers of the Enlightened One. Ashvaghosha’s descriptions of the Buddha, his life, and his actions provide an example of the Buddha’s disciplines and truths, giving his followers a detailed and structured idea of his way of life. The Buddhacarita’s descriptions in particular focus on the teaching of pervasive suffering, it’s causes, and the paths (both right and wrong) to breaking free from it.
First before delving into the story of Devadatta, I would like to briefly give the background of his cousin, “The Buddha.” The Buddha, also known by his government name Gotama, was born into both luxury and privilege. In being sheltered by his father, owning three palaces...
Several comments should be made about this choice. First of all, it should be emphasized that the scope of this essay is such as to only be able to examine Buddhism as a philosophic system with psychological implications. Buddhism is, of course, mu...
Christianity and Buddhism, two of the world’s largest religions, each have primary figures perhaps as big as the religions themselves. Jesus Christ, the primary figure in Catholicism, and Gautama Buddha, the founder and key figure of Buddhism, share many similarities as symbols of their respective religions, but generally have stark differences in their roles for each institution. Followed by billions across the world, the teachings of Jesus and Buddha have a profound global impact, even thousands of years after their lives on earth. For Christians, Jesus Christ serves as a definitive, divine symbol of unquestioned moral authority; while Buddha represents an enlightened human being whose teachings offer a more ambiguous set of guidelines for
...ely different compared to Buddha because Buddha would the person that Socrates would choose to question and discuss with due to Buddha’s perceptible knowledge and enlightenment. However, regardless of their differences, Socrates and Siddhartha Gautama will be remembered as the prominent teachers to some of us.
It all started in 1922 in Skopje, Yugoslavia. One day while, the soon to be known as, Mother Teresa was walking, she felt God call her to serve the poor at only the age of 12. Seven years later she discovered her calling was to serve the poor in Calcutta, India and prepared to leave her comfy nunnery in Loretto. As she walked through the beautiful garden in the nunnery, before she left, she questioned leaving all of this beauty for the slums of Calcutta.
In August 1948, at the age of 38, Mother Teresa decided to adventure into the poorest neighborhoods of Calcutta, India, in order to live out her utopian dream by providing food, care, education, and shelter for the poor. Feeding people the Word of God; clothing them with dignity; educating them with knowledge, peace, truth, justice and love; nursing the mind and spirit; and sheltering them with a heart that understands. ("servants") I believe that a utopian vision is any vision that follows natural law, creates happiness in the community, and is feasible. Mother Teresa's visions are, in fact, effective utopian visions. Mother Teresa's visions included living a simple life, serving the poorest of the poor, treating everyone as equals, suffering cheerfully, and loving all until it hurts. In this paper, the ideas and visions that Mother Teresa cherished will be evaluated and questioned based on my three defined criteria of a utopian vision.
During this time period, Mother Teresa adopted Indian citizenship and spent several months in Patna to receive medical training at the Holy Family Hospital before venturing off to complete her charity work. She began her missionary work by founding a school in Motijhil, Kolkata, and from the start, Mother Teresa was joined by a group of young women who helped her form a religious community with the basic foundation of helping the “poorest among the poor” (“Mother Teresa,” n.d.). While Mother Teresa’s efforts were noticed by several officials, the first year of her missionary work was wrought with difficulty. During this time, Mother Teresa had no income, she had to beg for food, and the temptation to return to her previous life at the convent was great. A diary entry written by Mother Teresa herself describes in detail the hardships and lessons that she experienced: “Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Today, I learned a good lesson. The poverty of the poor must be so hard for them. While looking for a home, I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached. I thought how much they must ache in body and soul, looking for a home, food, and health. Then, the comfort of Loreto came to tempt me. ‘You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again,’ the Tempter kept on saying, ‘of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your