What the Buddha Taught and Is It Still Relevant Today?

2710 Words6 Pages

Although the history of Buddhism is difficult to be certain of, many historians believe that Buddhism was around 2,500 years ago in India when Siddhatta Gautama discovered the way to live without suffering. Siddhatta Gautama founded Sangha, the sect of wonderer ascetics.1

Siddhattha Gautama or more commonly known as Buddha was born as a prince that had every luxury in his command but decided go on a search to look for the solutions of suffering when he was faced with reality.

After attaining his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, he delivered his very first sermon to a group of five ascetics and from that day onwards, he taught and preached his teachings to all mankind without taking into account their backgrounds.

The population of the disciples of the religion is reaching over 500 million with a majority of it to be found in countries such as Ceylon, China, Tibet, Korean, India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and scattered everywhere around the world.2

Historians believe that the Buddha passed away at Kusinara at the age of 80 but his teachings lived on forever.

Since it is such an ancient religion, one might wonder if it holds its relevance to the world today.

During his enlightenment, the Buddha discovered the three universal truths. All of Buddha’s teachings are based on these three truths. One of the three universal truths is anicca, which means that nothing is permanent. This idea is relatable to today’s world because it is the truth. Nothing in this world will last forever. People will grow old, plants will wilt and die and non-living things will decay and rust.

The second universal truth is dukkha, which means suffering. Buddha said that life is dukkha beca...

... middle of paper ...

.../5precepts.html

10. Snyder, David N. “The Complete Book of Buddha’s Lists—Explained” Nevada: Vipassana Foundation, 2009, pp 201-204.

11. Gyatso, Tenzin. “How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life” New York: Atria. 2002, pp 71.

12. Dechen, Khandro. “The Ten Paramitas” Aeroncyclopaedia. Accessed on April 20, 2014. http://www.aroencyclopaedia.org/shared/text/p/paramitas_ar_01_eng.php

13. “Statistics about Buddhism.” Adherents. Accessed April 20, 2014. http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_86.html#617

14. Stein, Joel "Just Say O," TIME 162, no. 5 (August 4, 2003): 48-56

15. “What is Buddhism?” Dhammaloka. Acessed April 20, 2014. http://www.dhammaloka.org.au/articles/item/577-what-is-buddhism?.html

16. “The Direction of Buddhism in America today” UrbanDharma. Accessed on April 20, 2014. http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma5/tension2.html

Show More
Related

  • Describe The Four Noble Truths Of Anatta Tanha

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    either be a great ruler or a great holy man. Living an isolated and luxurious life until he was 29, he decided to give up all his own worldly possessions, even his family, to begin his own journey. After seeing an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and lastly a holy man Siddartha desired to find the solution to end ALL human suffering. His enlightenment occurred when he sat under the Bodhi tree and experienced many visions, and to ultimately become Buddha. This when he began to teach the three characteristics of existence: dukkha (suffering), anicca (impermanence), and

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast the Lives of Buddha and Jesus

    3762 Words  | 8 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Buddha and Jesus Christ in Literature

    1821 Words  | 4 Pages

    The man commonly known as Buddha was born in 560 B.C. and died at the age of eighty in 450 B.C. He was born to Suddhodana, king of the Sakhyas, and Maya. He was born in Lumbini, near the city of Kapilauastu in the Himalayan mountain ranges. His real name is Siddhartha (meaning “one who has accomplished his aim”) Gautama (his family name). Unfortunately, Buddha’s mother died a week after he was born, so he was raised by his aunt, Mahaprajapati.

    Read More

  • The Spread of Buddhism and Christianity

    1557 Words  | 4 Pages

    Buddhism was founded by one man, Siddhartha Guatama. He was born into royalty around 563 B.C.E. in a Kingdom near the border of India and Nepal. He was raised in wealth and luxury, and at the age of 16, he married a wealth woman and they had a child together. Around the age of 29, he began to realize that all humans were in a cycle of suffering, dying, and then being reincarnated only to suffer and die over and over again. It was then that he decided to leave his wife and child to find a way out of this repeating cycle of life and death. First he studied with teachers, but found he was coming to no conclusions, so he turned to more extreme things such as self-mortification, but he was still left unsatisfied.

    Read More

  • Shacarita Analysis

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Ashvaghosha's Buddhacarit The Life Of The Buddha

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Asoka and the Buddhist Faith

    1774 Words  | 4 Pages

    After many years of seeking answers to his questions, particularly about suffering and death, Siddhartha came to a revelation and decided to adopt a path of moderation known as the Middle path, which found ground somewhere in between self-indulgence and asceticism. According to legend, Siddhartha sat under what is known as the Bodhi Tree and meditated intensely until at last he achieved Enlightenment when he reached a state of profound understanding. From that point on he was known as the Buddha. (Molloy 127)...

    Read More

  • Buddhism and Islam

    1683 Words  | 4 Pages

    Buddhism originated from India, and was founded by Prince Siddharta Gautama, who later came to be known as Buddha, or the enlightened one. Born of a princely caste, he later renounced his comfortable life in search for nirvana. In order to do that, he joined a band of ascetic, who was a group of Hindu priests. In his teaching, the Buddha taught his followers to follow "the middle way", that is, not the way of extreme asceticism. He attained full understanding of the nature of being by meditation and after his success, decided to impart his knowledge to those who follow him .

    Read More

  • Key Differences Between Christianity and Buddhism

    1825 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the history of humankind, man has always searched to find answers to the many existential questions. Numerous different religions and denominations have developed around the world over time. Though, most wonder about the origin and purpose of our existence. Buddhism was founded on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama about 2,600 years ago in India. After he had experienced that everyone was subject to “birth, sickness, death, and old age”, he tried to find a way to break from the cycle of rebirth (Bloom).

    Read More

  • Buddha and Confucius

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    The steps of the Eightfold Path were: 1) Right Views 2) Right Resolve 3) Right Speech 4) Right Conduct 5)

    Read More

  • Buddhism : Buddhism And Buddhism

    1715 Words  | 4 Pages

    Buddhism prevailed as a religion indigenous to west India and comprises of varieties of traditions, beliefs and practices based on the teachings of Buddha. There are many reasons why Buddhism became so popular and entered into many civilizations. Buddhism began to be popular throughout Asia alongside India. Buddhism has blossomed in the contemporary world, especially in the West. It is an issue to wonder what Buddhism offers that other religions cannot and has become so significant worldwide. Buddhism has become an idea that is widespread and the teachings of Buddha have made a real difference in many civilizations like India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea and surprisingly Buddhism has come to make a significant difference in American culture.

    Read More

  • Buddhism

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    As with most religions, the early years of Buddhism are shrouded in obscurity. One thing is certain, however, and that is that the Sangha, the Buddhist order of monks, survived the physical death, or Parinirvana, of the Buddha. But the period between that event and the reemergence of Buddhism into the light of history around 250 B.C.E. is somewhat unclear (Hawkins, 1999). Buddhist tradition holds that there was a meeting, or council, held immediately following the Buddha's death. The major concern of this meeting was to stabilize the Buddhist scriptures by coming to an agreement as to what were the accepted scriptures as spoken by the Buddha. For a variety of reasons, no such agreement seems to have been reached, although there was some general agreement on the basic message of the Buddha. This meant that to a certain extent the interpretation of what was a genuine Buddhist scripture and what was not was left up to the individual Buddhist.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Four Noble Truths Of Buddhism

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dukha is by definition the first truth that preaches realization that suffering is universal, one of the most important teachings in all of Buddhism. It is translated into an understanding that everything in life is conditioned, temporary and independent from other functions of living. Anything is justified as beautiful because it is dukkha, meaning at some point it will come to an end. This has taught Buddhist followers to appreciate the qualities of life by cherishing and not taking anything for granted. It is often misinterpreted as a negative form of appreciation, seeming as though there is no acknowledgment for an end. However it is supported by further philosophies to appreciate what life has to offer by “living each day as if it were the last” (unknown). The third Noble Truth is referred to as Nirodha, the ac...

    Read More

  • The Life of Buddhist Monks

    2048 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Buddhism's Core Beliefs." ReligiousTolerance.org by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • Mahayana Buddhism

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    History proves that as Buddhism spread throughout the Asian world in the early 1st century, it was occasionally altered to fit the specific needs and beliefs of people it touched. Mahayana Buddhism is one such example of this gradual evolution. It was primarily a movement started and kept alive by monks that slowly gained popularity amongst lay people but was in no way a unified movement. Mahayana Buddhism still adheres to the basic fundamental beliefs presented in the Pali Canons, however, it Sutras often expand upon these basic ideas and traditions in order to answer the questions of a later generation. After closer study of the Mahayana texts the “A Sutra for Long Life” and “The World Universe as a Sutra”, it seems evident that, although Mahayana Buddhism is based on the teachings of the traditional Pali Canon, it places a larger emphasis on philosophical inquires; and ultimately creates a more accessible version of enlightenment, and the Buddhist faith in general, for all.

    Read More

More about What the Buddha Taught and Is It Still Relevant Today?

Open Document