Paste your essay in here…Right along Christianity and Islam, Buddhism has become one of the greatest and most popular systems of belief. For many people, the guidelines towards a life of dignity and better living are what the teachings of Buddha are about. Buddhism as a doctrine questions itself repeatedly for its various reasons and qualities, and many consider that it is not a real religion, but a philosophy, a lifestyle that makes it very different from other traditional religions.
The lack of infrastructure that binds Buddhism together or not having a unified church makes it quite difficult to consider Buddhism as a religion. If there are many temples dedicated to Buddha, and most practitioners dedicate themselves to a set of rules and commandments that are supposed to be the “way to enlightenment,” the consistency of these beliefs change and derive within the many teachings and understandings of Buddhism.(Murti, 2008) Explains how since the beginning of Buddhism many schools and variants of the doctrine have emerged, which at certain times might engage together for council and discuss the general beliefs of Buddhism, consistency within the doctrine would be ensured. Nevertheless, Buddhism has kept the tendency to spread in many schools and sects, always keeping a few rules at the core of their beliefs.
Acting with dignity and making decisions based on our perceptions of good and evil is the succession of events in which human beings should act upon for the Buddhist doctrine. Buddhist monks and acolytes inquire into deep philosophical questions because of the relationship between good and evil and the matter of our choices they make. The existence of good and evil, the definition of both good and evil and the question whether or not something is actually good, for many philosophers, has become the centre of discussion all around the globe.This is why deep inquiries have been performed by buddihists on the western civilization and their values, to widen their beliefs. This has also happened vice versa with many western scholars looking into Buddhism in search for a higher meaning. The fact that Buddhism does not rely on promises of afterlife or greater future rewards in exchange for the dedication and studies that it demands is quite remarkable. This is the main reason why Buddhism is regarded more as a philosophy more than a religion to some people. Buddhism does not try to explain why life is created or why it is what it is, it doesn’t need to concern itself with these types of questions because they don’t have any major importance for our lives.
Buddhism is all about living in the present rather than relying on the past or future. In order to perform better in life there is a very complex system on rituals and prayers to do constantly. Buddhism and the philosophy of it is remarkably distinct from any other well know religions that have complex mythologies and worship all-powerful gods. The believe system of Buddhism is very simple with little details that help lead our lives to a state of dignity which will ultimately end with beauty and enlightenment.
A moral life is the main direction of Buddhism. The story goes that, Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) devoted a long period of his life in search of a way to live in a more adequate manner; he was a respected thinker and a benevolent prince. He eventually abandoned his life as prince and ended up spending majority of his spare time meditating in the woods about the life and sufferings of the regular man. With this he resolved a series of fundamental truths or laws that men should follow in order to carry a life of dignity and benevolence. Afterward the teachings became widely known, and many people came to him to learn about the ideas of the great prince who left his heritage. He taught many people and the ones that were trusted by Buddha became the ones in charge of spreading his ideas for the outer regions of India as well as the whole world. This is when the original Doctrine from Buddha began to change, even though they kept the most important lessons as the core.
The interest in the perfection of life through dignity is a deeply philosophical matter. A lot of philosophies try to achieve mandates or teachings that keep a resemblance to some of the Buddhist precepts. The consideration of good and evil as forces, do not respond to human condition, but that our perception and intention towards life is what determines why our actions are good or bad is the main basic conception for Buddhism.
It also resembles many teachings of other great philosophers who don’t seem to have any connections with Buddha or any of the school pertaining to Buddhism. Plato’s Republic, for example, has a very similar approach to happiness in his last chapter; claiming that through justice is where you will obtain happiness. Implying that a great way to achieve the greatest of happiness’s in our moral lives is under a good system of laws and through human virtue, for example, men who live and act as righteous beings and protect their fellow men while standing for values of virtue, beauty and a good life. However, for Buddhism, the concept of justice is a very vague idea; Western civilizations ethical principles of governing classes were very different from Indian governing. The concept of charity and piety are very strong concepts in Buddhist writings, and justice is not mentions very often. Damien Keown explains this in a clear way:
“Classical thinkers such as Aristotle saw politics and ethics as inextricably linked and understood that a just and fair society had to be founded on secure and philosophically wellgrounded moral foundations. The concept of justice, however, is seldom – if ever – mentioned in Buddhist literature. Perhaps this is because Buddhism grew up under a system which the Greeks would have regarded as despotism. Republican tribes, like the Sakya to which the Buddha belonged, were rapidly being conquered and annexed by powerful monarchies, one of which – the kingdom of Magadha – eventually became supreme.” (Keown, Buddhist ethics: A very short introduction, 2005)
Western culture might lead to that most of our comprehensions of life as it is resemble the concepts of justice and dignity, bringing this culture closer to our conceptions. However with Buddhism, this presents a few concepts that lead us to think in a different way. Such as the notions of Karma and Dharma, which could be understood as the fate that humans create through the different actions we undertake in our regular lives. Karma is more determined by the intention of the individuals who act upon life for various reasons, but their intentions are what matters in the realm of Karma. It is a very complex way to understand what happens in our lives; bad and good karma accumulates, and the fates we create are developed by them both. Meaning for buddhism, most of the cotrol of our future happiness depends souly on our current and past actions. Although, this does not prevent us from having terrible times at certain point in our lives, but it determines the proportion of these difficulties or how often it could happen.
Dharma, on the other hand, is a less known, or at least less comprehended subject in western civilization. Dharma is a superior law that guides Karma; it regulates the flow of time as some sort of all-governing dimension. Dharma is often referred to as a sort of “natural law” that governs every place and living being in the flow of life. Everything is subjected to Dharma, there is no control over it and even the gods are subjected to its laws.
The idea of a law that governs the life as we know seems a lot closer to the role played by god in the bible, as something judging all things happening at every point of time. However, Dharma does not resemble a god at all, since it does not speak to anyone to give directions for an understanding of a better life, nor does it have a clear form. Dharma only moves when and if beings accumulate karma. The good and the bad karma is what determines dharma to bring times for better or worse for every being. Some people might accumulate good karma for all their lives, but dharma is what decides whether good things will happen to them or maybe the good karma is going to act in that person’s next life; which is another major theme for Buddhism.
Buddhism does lack any sort of theories about the afterlife in which many other religions do believe. But it does have a complex belief on resurrection. For Buddhism they do not expect to find any sort of end relief in a heavenly place where their spirits lay to rest for eternity, instead for Buddhists their beliefs rely on making a better life in the present and enjoying every little aspect of their existence, to the point where the fact that you are alive becomes the matter of utter joy. All the teachings in this sense are a guide to the enjoyment of life and the preservation of goodness in our continuum.
There is, however, a notion of Nirvana, which represents the final goal. “Extinguishment of the fires, “ and the cease of reincarnation. Which means that through Nirvana, men can stop the suffering that engulfs life, which in buddism is belileved as an inherent part of existence. Life itself needs pain and suffering to carry on the changes and evolutions that the flow of time is characterized by. With this, existence becomes indivisible from pain and suffering, although, pain in general is not all bad from a Buddhist concept. Suffering becomes one with the process of life and leads men to grow. The pain and struggle of labour sets foot to the growing of beauty and life. To achieve greater beauty and dignity the cycle of suffering is unending, until all the karma is reunited and the struggling and suffering of men reach the ultimate release in Nirvana.
This is one of the main points in why Buddhism is so different from many other religions. Most religions use their values and teachings in the reach of a higher place, a place that is beyond earth, where suffering is rewarded and appeased. Other religions, such as Islam or Christianity rely on the fear of their followers from the higher being that will throw great torments and punishments upon those who do not carry out his commands, Also promising great riches and beauty in the near distant future or afterlife. This Fear of a higher power or god becomes a heavy burden for all their followers, as they are afraid to enjoy many pleasures of life because of fear of being punished in the afterlife for their deeds. However with Buddhism they do not need any directions from a higher power, or information about what is good and bad. The prophets and monks take charge in teaching the knowledge of the ancestors, and with that the words of Buddha and the precepts for living are given by other humans, and instead of fear of punishment for the afterlife, they fear of punishment of their current life or the many next life’s to come after.
In this way Buddhism becomes much more philosophical than most religions, but having said that it is too spiritual to be considered strictly a philosophy. The different forms of Buddhism make it difficult to pinpoint other philosophical roots for it. Some Buddhist orders use many other precepts to guide their followers. There are a lot of slight differences in their daily rituals for each one of these orders. Some believe in celibacy, where others are very open about their sexuality and the connections between the body and the mind. But, the core beliefs are always the same. To withstand the suffering in life, Be better in the exercise of your life without expecting any immediate rewards, all the while knowing the awards will come eventually in due time if one is strong enough to keep living and enjoying the beauty of existence, and that struggle will eventually lead to happiness.