The Altruistic Heart: The Purpose Of Buddhism In Asia

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The seven deadly sins lead us to a path we do not wish to take; however, the reality is that each and every one of us contain at least one of these characteristics. Sadly, these traits make up us, the human beings. Vanity causes us to be blind and turn our back towards the truth of ourselves. We turn a blind eye towards our flaws which prevents us from fixing them. We become in denial because we do not want to look at our weaknesses. Envy creates tension between two beings. When one desires another’s possession, there are two paths they may take. They may try to overrule the other and create something even better. They may also steal, cheat, and lie in order to obtain their possession. Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work. They …show more content…

“Buddhism in Asia” was my second reaction paper. Within this reaction paper, I placed too much summary and didn’t analyze it well. I believe I picked well articles for my reaction essay; however, the claim is too broad again. I did not explain why Buddhism controls Asia. “The Altruistic Heart” was a excerpt from Rebel Buddha and it explain the purpose of Buddhism. Buddhism’s purpose was to eradicate suffering. Instead of explaining how this connects to society and how it controls it, I explained that there are “many kinds of suffering” (Ponlop). It turned out to be a summary of the story. I connected Taoism to the philosophy Buddhism. I think I made the right choice in doing so. During class, we discussed the differences and similarities between Confucianism and Taoism. Taoism and Buddhism are very similar. In Taoism, Taoists believe that there should be balance in the universe. Within “The Altruistic Heart”, when kindness is conveyed “a healing sense of warmth and peace” is released and ends the suffering. Suffering is a negative attribute while kindness is positive. Yin and Yang are used to display this kind of balance between the two. If I had dug deeper and analyzed it more, I would have been able to bring out the true meaning of the text. The second article I used was “ Buddhism Attracts New Converts in China”. This article greatly supports by thesis but I summarized the text. My thesis involved how Buddhism is controlling Asian society. The spread of Buddhism shows that the majority are converting and becoming Buddhists. The Chinese are going back to the “Buddhist traditions” (Liang) even though they had a bad past with Buddhism. They have become more open to the philosophy and many follow the path of

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