This essay has taught me that living by the five Buddhist precepts can be a challenging task but once completed it can lead to enlightenment. The precepts teach and guide an individual towards the path of appropriate behavior. I also learned that if you choose to not follow the five main precepts, no one would be harmed or affected except for yourself.
The five main precepts of Buddhism entail refraining from killing, stealing, speaking lies, intoxication and sexual misconduct. For instance, there are many ways in which we kill and steal that we may not be consciously aware of. For instance, by driving a car, we are killing millions upon millions of insects that can be hit by the windshield or become attached to the headlights. When an individual
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It is important to live and to abide by these precepts because they teach an individual to not depend on alcohol or drugs for example to be able to find true happiness. The precepts are important to follow as it teaches individuals to behave as the Buddha would behave. These precepts are not rules or commandments yet rather principles to follow. The main difference between commandments and precepts are that the commandments instill punishment, desire, fear, reward and are ego based, where as precepts are suggestions, guidelines and act as a prescription. It is for these reasons that we can understand that what you do and what you follow is what will happen to you. The function of the precepts allows an individual to look at the world as a whole. It allows an individual to recognize and to stay away from bad and wrongful intentions. The Buddhists make the vow to abstain from these behaviors because the Buddha practices to stay away from evil and to concentrate on right action and right speech. The Buddha does not practice this in order to praise a supreme being but rather to improve an individual’s life and growth. The Buddha for example does not follow a faith like Christianity or Judaism. The Buddha follows the faith in oneself and in its mind, to allow the mind to …show more content…
Firstly, the Four Noble Truths come about with the concept that in order to first be able to fix a problem, the first step is admitting and accepting that there is something wrong in order to seek help, get diagnosis and eventually find a cure. “ In this talk we see the Buddha as physician to the world, the relentlessly clear – seeing healer whose love embraces all creatures.” The first Noble Truth refers to “ Life is Dhukka”, which is interpreted as the diagnosis. It introduces the concept that all life is suffering persistent dissatisfaction, similar to a stuck wheel of a car. It further follows into many pondering questions in which we do not have answers to, like for example why do good things happen to bad people. It further introduces the concepts that all life will eventually die and come to an end. All life objects and individuals will grow old and die, and our possessions will eventually rust and decay. The second Noble Truth refers to “ Trishna” which is the cause of Dukkha. The reason why individuals suffer is due to desire, attachment and the craving and thirst of materialistic items. Individuals spend an enormous amount of time, energy and money on creating and buying fancy and outrageous materialistic possessions, however eventually all of these things will be taken away when the individual dies. The Third Noble Truth refers to “ Nirvana” which is the cure of Dukkha. This noble truth tells us what we
The teachings of Buddhism consists of the eight fold path, the four noble truths and the five precepts. These teachings contain rules that can be followed
Buddhism’s approach to ethics and practices are centred upon the principal beliefs of; the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Five Precepts. By adhering to these guidelines, Buddhists are ensured that they are taking a step closer to escaping Samsara, and attaining the revered state of Nirvana,
In order to understand the concepts of the Four Noble Truths, one needs to understand the aim of Buddhist practice. “The aim of Buddhist practice is to cure craving, the desire conditioned by ignorance that leads to suffering” (Demoss 1).2 Buddhism advocates meditation, and a “…goal of Buddhist meditation is to produce right mindfulness, an alert awareness of what is happening in body, mind, and world at the present moment” (Demoss 318).3 “Traditionally, ‘right action’ is defined in Buddhist ethics by the five percepts: do not kill, do not steal, do not engage in illicit sex, do not lie, and do not become intoxicated” (Demoss 319).4 “According to Buddhism a person does not have an intrinsic permanent changeless identity. There is no core self. The self is empty” (Demoss 1).5 The Four Noble Truths provide a conceptual framework for all Buddhist thought. According to the Four Noble Truths, craving leads to suffering, but craving can cease if one cultivates a path of mental discipline, wisdom, and moral conduct (Demoss 309).6 An understanding of Buddhism is...
Building upon these concepts, a Buddhist is continuously striving for personal improvement and eventually the ultimate perfection. Human nature is understood to be less than perfect and an individual is responsible for his own action in molding his own
The Three Jewels, the Five Precepts, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path greatly influence individuals and the Buddhist community through their everyday lives, whether it be guiding the adherent’s actions, ethical decision making, or practice. Adherents who follow the teachings become more aware that having an ignorant mindset distracts one from living a good life and happy life; “The purpose of life is to be happy” (Dalai Lama). This was explained in Buddha’s first Sermon, “There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low… the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy and unprofitable.” (Buddha), thus avoiding both these extremes,
The first noble truth of Buddhism is about the truth of suffering and explains that suffering is a part of life. The truth of suffering covers a variety of areas in human life from the inevitability of death to unavoidable sickness; life, by definition, forces people to suffer. The Buddhacarita helps explain the first of the four noble truths in a couple different ways. The first, and most blatantly obvious way, in which these are shown is at the beginning of the story where the bodhisattva first sees suffering in the form of an old man, a sick man and a dead man. While through an enormous amount of luck it is possible to avoid sickness, both old age and death are unavoidable facts of life and the bodhisattva learns this fact from his charioteer who tells him “death is certain for all in this world” disregarding one’s dharma (B 3.59). Not even the bodhisattva, who is destined to become the Buddha and enlighten the world about how to end suffering, is able to break free from the grasp of death and this is of vital importance to the Buddhist doctrine as it stresses that no one, not even the main religious figure, is above the laws of the earth that is the law that all things must eventually succumb to death. Although the Buddha knew that “[he] must die” it was still even hard for the gods themself to understand this fact and not even they were able control
Dukkha is the first of the four noble truths of Buddhism. The word means suffering, but just
The well being of people in Ancient China were affected by the philosophies of Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism. According to the graphic organizer, “Confucius taught people to be kind and love mankind. Taoism teaches you to live in harmony and leave nature alone.” This excerpt shows that you should help yourself before others, and live in harmony with nature. The people of India we also affected by the teachings of the Buddha. The Buddha, or Siddhartha Gautama, taught that one should live life to a medium, and live on the middle path, a path not
So in all actuality, Buddhist believe that every day on earth, people should live with good positive feelings, positive thinking, positive attitude. As Buddhist people suggested, life is practice. One can not be happy in the after life unless one takes the advantage of their life on earth.
He also makes reference to the long history of religious intolerance and persecution within the Christian tradition, brought about by greed, mistrust, and ignorance. He emphasizes the need for continuous practice, prayer, meditation, mindfulness, and personal growth within individual religious traditions and cultures. We must make the spirit of the Buddha and the spirit of Christ part of our everyday lives. He explores the “Five Wonderful Percepts of Buddhism”: reverence for life, generosity, responsible sexual behavior, speaking and listening deeply, and ingesting only wholesome substances; comparing them to the teachings of Christ. These precepts are without a doubt, very similar to the principles thought by Christ and his apostles. Each precept or teaching works with the next, interconnecting and building upon each other toward the same goal to end suffering, bring about personal and worldly understanding, world peace, and spiritual
In the Buddha’s first sermon, he laid out the four main ideas that he had been enlightened with; he called them the Four Noble Truths. 1) Everything in life is suffering and sorrow. 2) The cause of all suffering is people’s selfish desire for the temporary pleasures of this world. 3)
These principles outline the human nature of both craving and existence in a view to understand why certain feelings come to be. We are able to trace all feelings and outcomes to a specific origin. Buddha looks at 12 factors that ultimately cause other actions to occur. The most notable of these being ignorance, cravings, birth and death. The principles fall heavily on The Four Noble Truths and one's understanding of them to achieve enlightenment. Both The Four Noble truths and dependent arising exemplify the principle of causality and that all actions also have a consequence. Buddha wants to prove this principle as it provides the answer of how to free oneself from
The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism capture the ethos of the spirituality and its teachings. By just these four lessons, Buddha preaches the principles of tranquility within meditation, not mere concentration. From these truths he developed a guidance referred to as the Eightfold Path, a series of principles that lead to awakening when practiced and understood. He preaches that inevitable suffering comes from desire, however he concludes with a solution to a life lived in nirvana. The first two of the Four Noble Truths are Dukha and Avidya, focusing on the primitive presence of suffering within day to day life.
Two of the essential attributes of religion are faith and worship. As the textbook explains the Mosaic covenant, Ten Commandments, not commitments and Precepts for an engaging Buddhism one can understand that there not only is a similarity but also a difference in each of the principles. In the beginning, the Mosaic Covenant talks about how God has given the Hebrew’s the Ten Commandments, as an individual reads further into the textbook they can encounter Michael Learner’s interpretation of the Ten Commandments. Both explain instructions and guidelines given from God to his people but with his intention Michael Learner’s work describes the Ten Commandments differently. For example, from the Mosaic covenant, “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” (Judaism, pg 397) This quote states the fourth commandment about the Sabbath day. In Learner’s perspective “Observe the Sabbath”(Judaism, pg 422) explains a different interpretation but the same concept as the mosaic covenant. Secondly, the Precepts for an engaging Buddhism by Thich Nhat Hanh has a different understanding of guidelines but all fourteen precepts explain similar values as the mosaic covenant and Learner’s writings. All fourteen principles solve the problems of life by avoiding the bad causes. For instance, “Fourteenth: Do not mistreat your body. Learn to handle it with respect.” (Buddhism, pg 386) This quote is one of the different precepts in
He set these rules to help create a peaceful atmosphere for the Buddhist community and to avoid corruption in the Buddhist community. All monks and/or nuns must not only follow these rules, but also many other rules and principles. The Eightfold Path labels all of the rights of monks and helps guide them to peace within themselves. The Eightfold Path guides monks and nuns towards Nirvana through eight simple principles. The first principle, the Right of Understanding, explains the significance of understanding situations the way they occur instead of understanding things from one’s personal experiences.