Buddhism and the Philosophical Aspects in Buddhism - Essay Example

Buddhism and the Philosophical Aspects in Buddhism Buddhism as a religion has over 300 million people all over the world. It is both a philosophical way of life and a religion, as the people proposed to the religion state. It was originally introduced about 2, 500 years ago, by Siddhartha Gautama, who was the founding father of the religion. He was widely known as Buddha, which means an awakening. In this historical time, it is considered that Buddha was “awakened” and it made him introduce the religion to people (Keown, 5). He was awakened at the age of 35, which prompted him to start spreading the awakening call. Buddhism is considered a philosophy and a religion at the same time, due to various reasons. First, it is a philosophy since it is a way of life. People have to adhere to the set standards of the way of life to be connected to the religion. Without focusing on this, one cannot be considered to be a Buddhist. In its philosophy or way of life, it is stated that people allied to Buddhism should have acceptable standards of behavior. This means that all the people in the religion have to adhere to the set standards to be considered as followers of the religion and philosophy. In many instance, the people have to connect their way of life to an awakening call. They have to change their way of life as they have been “awaken” from their previous lifestyle. This shows that when a person is joining Buddhism, they have to change their way of life to fit the religion. This will go a long way in ensuring the religious norms are observed to utter optimum. Buddhism as a philosophy in the world has been elaborated to mean love for wisdom. The people in Buddhism must have unending love for wisdom to develop as straight and obedient followers of the religion. Since this is the vital element of the religion, anyone wishing to join the religion must adhere to the philosophy of awakening, and elaborate on unending need for wisdom. In the Buddhism teaching, people with freedom have to lead a better way of life due to their decisions on matters in the world (Keown, 6). With their increasing wisdom, they are able to make decisions that are for the benefit of their life and the religion as a whole. As a Buddhist, the immortal love for wisdom is a practical lesson that should be adhered to and protected. Since this is the core element in the religion, the love for wisdom was split into three main parts. Simplifying the love for wisdom was a practical element that ensured the people allied to the religion understood the message to core. In the first presumed path of the love for wisdom, a person allied to the Buddhism religion should lead a moral way of life. This is an acceptable standard that has been highlighted by the Buddhism culture. All the people that are in the religion should have a connection to other people that lead a moral life. As such, there is a need to have universal way of life, which is moral. This is by avoiding any activities that may be deemed mortal to the Buddhism culture. As such, leading a universal way of life that is moral is an element that needs to be achieved in the Buddhism culture. According to the Buddhism philosophy, people have to consider their away of life as sacred and only attempt activities that are acceptable. This is both in the society and the normal way of life (Keown, 7). With such in mind, the Buddhism culture will have a dominant society that initiates morality in the society. When a person leads a moral life, it creates a scenario where people accept the religion and its philosophical grounds. In bringing up the Buddhism culture, the prince, Buddha had been distracted in his early life. He was raised in the loyal life as a prince and had loyal life of ease. This was a life that would shield him from the miseries and cruelties of the world, which made the prince, live lavishly. However, he was often distracted by sensual pleasures and this led to luxurious living. With such a living, he had never encountered any form of problematic living. Till one day, when the prince was in his garden, he encountered people suffering in sickness, others in their old age, while others succumbed to their illnesses. This was an awakening call that triggered the prince to change his way of life. With this kind of connection, it is evident that the prince was not living a moral life before the awakening (Gowans, 41). He was distracted by sensual pleasures and a luxurious living, while people in the kingdom were languishing in poverty. The Buddhism religion is directly connected to the need to be mindful and aware of one’s thoughts and actions. These are the daily actions that a person does and thinks before taking any task. As such, a Buddhist should have a sober mindset that helps a person to understand a person’s thoughts and actions. This helps in having an inbuilt capacity to take actions and thoughts that are acceptable. This helps in cropping a person’s mortality to the core. As such, a person will have the right direction in the religion. For instance, soon after the awakening of the prince, he started having a mindset that luxuries and lustful living was not moral living. These were some of the activities that he should avoid if there was a need to have a better living (Patil, 311). To begin with, he started to attain high sense of conscious living. He spent several days, starving and thinking over the awakening and how it had changed his life. With such insightful thinking, he gained what was his need, and he became enlightened. He had been in meditative awareness for as long time, and he developed a mindful thought of his activities. From this mediation, he discovered that he could lead a better and insightful life that would be moral to both the society and self. The third element in Buddhism is the ability to understand and develop wisdom. Many people in the world have a weakness in understanding the world, which may not be the best position to a living person. When a person develops an understanding, they are well prepared to lead a better life (Siderits, 32). This better life is only acceptable to the Buddhist way of life which makes it a philosophical religion that deems to make an understanding to human life. Though developing wisdom may not be easy tasks, all people in the Buddhism religion have to make efforts in ensuring they have wisdom. This is especially with the concerns of making decisions in life. When a person is making a decision, they first have to understand the situation. This is followed by using wisdom to understand the situation and make a point of seeing the options that are available. After evaluation the options, a person should create an approach of choosing the best option for the situation. This will go a long way in ensuring a person makes the greatest decisions with wisdom. In the end, the person will be leading a better life that is inclined to the Buddhist culture (Patil, 34). For instance, when the prince was in mediation, he had to develop an understanding of the situation. After understanding his situation, he had to make decisions that would be beneficial to his life. While using his wisdom, he ensured the people around him accepted the religion and his awakening. In making sense in his presentation, he focused his teachings on his past life and how he had developed an understanding and changed his way of life. In making his point more of importance, he decided to embark on making people understand his point. In his position, he decided to show people the path, and they would understand and follow the path. To make it known to the people, he gave his first strong sermon that would be the great beginning of the Buddhism culture. His acceptance was not large in the first sermon, but he used his understanding that he will get more followers with consistency in his teachings. To make his point stronger, he decided that it was time to increase his activities in spreading sermons. He participated in giving sermons, wandering from place to another in search of followers (Clark, 43). With the use of his wisdom, he garnered more followers and understood that he was growing the religion to a greater level. In using the core elements of the religion, it is evident that he followed the path of the religion to generate a larger crowd. For instance, he used his moral guidance to avoid several paths that were not acceptable in the religion. The message from the founder off Buddhism was utterly clear to the followers, which made it a point to support the religion and philosophy. In his message, he stated that Buddhism was a religion that explains the purpose for living and how a person should live. The religion was stated to explain the various injustices that should be avoided in life for a better living (Keown, 9). This was also followed by utter disregard for inequalities in life. People, according to the Buddhism culture should live in unity and regard each other as equal beings. Therefore, averting inequalities and avoiding injustices was the main message that led to the development of the Buddhism philosophy and religion. If the religion was made strong in reducing injustices and appreciating morality, the world would be a heaven for human beings. In summing up the need for Buddhism, the founding father insisted that the religion was a code of practice that gives a person a way of life, which is inclined to morality. With the complete reliance on Buddhism, a person is likely to lead a life that is devoid of injustice and inequality. This in the end would lead to personal happiness. As such, people would appreciate their life that is true happiness, which is an acceptable way of life for the people in the Buddhism religion. Therefore, he was compelled to ensure apparent injustices and inequality were minimized to a low state, which would make people live as one. Buddhism as a religion basically lies on the noble truths mentioned by the founding father. These are beliefs that are solidly incarcerated in the religion as the basis of the religion. Therefore, all Buddhists must adhere to the truth as mentioned in their religion. Sticking to the truth makes one a believer in the religion. The first truth that was mentioned by the founding father of Buddhism is that life involves suffering (Siderits, 49). People do not have to live without suffering, and they have to endure suffering when it comes. For instance, in their teaching, they openly expressed that life involves pain, being affected with diseases, growing old, and the final suffering is death. This is also extended by the pain of being lonely, being disappointed, facing frustrations and being depressed. As a fact, the Buddhist first truth is a matter of being realistic as the world is. People have to encounter all these suffering, which is a main point of reality in life. To sum up the first truth, Buddhism explains why people suffer and denotes on ways that can be used to reduce the suffering. The second truth in Buddhism is an extension of the first truth, which states that the major cause of suffering is in a person’s craving and aversion (Gowans, 43). In this truth, it is explicitly stated that people suffer because they wait upon others to act according to their expectations. However, when they do not act according to the expectations, it causes distress on the people that are expecting the favors. Therefore, a person should constantly struggle to get what they want, rather than waiting for other people to work to their expectations. The third noble truth in the Buddhism religion is still connected to suffering and the need to have happiness in life. The thirds truth states that a person can still be happy and overcome suffering. Since happiness is a core element in the Buddhism religion, all people must strive to attain their happiness. Therefore, to attain happiness, the people in Buddhism must be contented with their belongings, and should not expect to be given from other people. In this religion, it is useless to crave for what people will not attain in their life. In summing up the third noble truth, a person should live according to the present and avoid dwelling on the past of expected future. This will lead to a free and life that is full of happiness. In the last noble truth, the religion states that the path that leads to end of suffering is the eight fold path. This is the path that is expected when a person is leading a moral life, through their acts and way of life. As such, a person should focus on the thoughts and actions that they do in their day to day life, which will be heightened by developing wisdom (Siderits, 32). However, a person only understands and develops wisdom with full understanding of the four noble truths. This will also ensure a person develops compassion for others while they are living. In making the religion more realistic, the religion has developed percepts that explain what is needed of the followers. The first precept warns against killing a living thing, while the second precept warns against taking free things. On the third precept, it is openly expressed that the religion refrains people from participating in sexual misconducts and other sensual activities (Keown, 10). This is followed by the fourth precept which warns against untrue speech. The last precept warns the people from involving in intoxication, which leads to a person losing their mindfulness. In summing up, Buddhism is strongly inclined to the use of wisdom in making decisions. Developing compassion with wisdom is therefore a preferred activity that helps people grow in the religion. In addition to this, a person in the religion should keep in mind that karma in a law that should be adhered to. In this case, there are results for every action. Works Cited Clark Kelly James. Readings in the Philosophy of Religion. New York: Broadview Press, 2000. Print. Gowans W. Christopher . Philosophy of the Buddha: An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print. Keown Damien. Buddhism: Brief Insights Series. London: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2009. Print. Patil G.Parimal. Against a Hindu God: Buddhist Philosophy of Religion in India. Columbia: Columbia University Press. Print. Siderits Mark. Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction. New York: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007. Print. Read More