Buddhism Essay Research Paper Buddhism is one

Buddhism Essay, Research Paper

Buddhism is one of the biggest religion founded in India in the 6th and 5th

cent. B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. One of the great Asian

religions, it teaches the practice of and the observance of moral precepts. The

basic doctrines include the four noble truths taught by the Buddha. Since it was

first introduced into China from India, Buddhism has had a history which has

been characterized by periods of sometimes awkward and irregular development.

This has mainly been the result of the clash of two cultures, each with a long

history of tradition. Most of the difficulties have arisen due to the

transplanting of an Indian religious/philosophical system onto a culture

strongly dominated by indigenous secular, philosophical and religious systems.

In spite of these difficulties, Chinese Buddhism has come to have an important

influence on the growth and development of Buddhism in general and this has

occurred largely because of its own innovatory contributions.(Eliade, M.

p.16-29) The spread of Buddhism into China began in Central Asia and was

facilitated by the efforts of the Indo-Scythian king Kanishka (Encyclopedia

Britt. 273-274) of the Kushan dynasty which ruled in northern India, Afghanistan

and parts of Central Asia in the 1st and 2nd centuries (Encyclopedia Britt.

274). He is said to have undergone an Ashoka-like conversion upon seeing the

slaughter caused by his campaigns. Around the beginning of the common era,

Buddhism started to filter into China from Central Asia via the Silk Road,

brought by monks, merchants and other travelers. It also entered later via trade

routes around and through Southeast Asia. It was nurtured in the expatriate

community of Loyang and other northern cities. (The Encyclopedia of Religion

p58-62) Siddhartha (Buddha) was born around 563 B.C.E. in the town of

Kapilavastu (located in today’s Nepal). Siddhartha’s parents were King

Shuddhodana and Queen Maya, who ruled the Sakyas. His history is a miraculous

one… One night, Queen Maya dreamed that an elephant with six tusks, carrying a

lotus flower in its trunk, touched her right side. At that moment her son was

conceived. Brahmins (learned men) came and interpreted the dream. The child

would be either the greatest king in the world or the greatest ascetic (a holy

man who practices self-denial). The future child would be named Siddhartha,

which means "he whose aim is accomplished." (Snelling, J. p 12-19)

Later when Queen Maya was going to her father’s home to prepare for the birth,

she stepped off her chariot in the Lumbini Gardens and held the branch of a sal

tree to rest. In that instant, Siddhartha emerged from her right side without

any help. The infant walked seven steps each in four directions of the compass,

and lotus flowers sprouted from where his foot touched the earth. Then the

infant said, "No further births have I to endure, for this is my last body.

Now shall I destroy and pluck out by the roots the sorrow that is caused by

birth and death." Seven days later Queen Maya died. Mahaprajapati, Maya’s

sister, looked after Siddhartha. King Shuddhodana shielded Siddhartha from all

kinds of suffering and hardship. When Siddhartha was about 20, he married

Yasodhara, daughter of one of the King’s ministers, and one year later they had

a child named Rahula (meaning "fetter" or "impediment"). At

age 29, Siddhartha asked his charioteer, Channa, to take him out of the city two

times without the consent of the king. During these two trips, Siddhartha saw

"Four Sights" that changed his life. On the first trip, he saw old

age, sickness, and death. The second trip, he saw a wandering holy man, an

ascetic, with no possessions. Siddhartha started questioning the holy man, who

had a shaved head, wore only a ragged yellow robe, and carried a walking-staff.

The man said, "I am… terrified by birth and death and therefore have

adopted a homeless life to win salvation… I search for the most blessed state

in which suffering, old age, and death are unknown."(Snelling, J. p33) That

night, Siddhartha silently kissed his sleeping wife and son, and ordered Channa

to drive him out to the forest. At the edge of the forest, Siddhartha took off

his jeweled sword, and cut off his hair and beard. He then took off all his

princely garments and put on a yellow robe of a holy man. He then ordered Channa

to take his possessions back to his father. Siddhartha then wandered through

northeastern India, sought out holy men, and learned about Samsara

(reincarnation), Karma, and Moksha. Attracted to the ideas of Moksha, Siddhartha

settled on the bank of Nairanjana River, and adopted a life of extreme

self-denial and penances, meditating constantly. After six years of eating and

drinking only enough to stay alive, his body was emaciated, and he was very

weak. Five other holy men joined him, hoping to learn from his example. One day,

Siddhartha realized that his years of penance only weakened his body, and he

could not continue to meditate properly. When he stepped into the river to

bathe, he was too weak to get out, and the trees lowered their branches to help

him. In that instant, a milk-maid named Nandabala came and offered a bowl of

milk and rice, which Siddhartha accepted. The five holy men left Siddhartha

after witnessing this. Refreshed by the meal, Siddhartha sat down under a fig

tree (often referred to as the Bo tree, or Tree of Enlightenment) and resolved

to find out an answer to life and suffering. While meditating, Mara (an evil

god) sent his three sons and daughters to tempt Siddhartha with thirst, lust,

discontent, and distractions of pleasure. Siddhartha, entered a deep meditation,

and recalled all his previous rebirths, gained knowledge of the cycle of births

and deaths, and with certainty, cast off the ignorance and passion of his ego

which bound him to the world. Thereupon, Siddhartha had attained enlightenment

and became the Buddha (enlightened one). His own desire and suffering were over

and, as the Buddha, he experienced Nirvana… "There is a sphere which is

neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air…which is neither this world nor

the other world, neither sun nor moon. I deny that it is coming or going,

enduring, death or birth. It is only the end of

suffering."(www.buddhanet.net) Instead of casting off his body and his

existence, however, Buddha made a great act of self-sacrifice. He turned back,

determined to share his enlightenment with others so that all living souls could

end the cycles of their own rebirth and suffering. Buddha went to the city of

Sarnath and found the previous five holy men that deserted him earlier at a deer

park. When they saw Buddha this time, they realized that he had risen to a

higher state of holiness. The Buddha began teaching them what he had learned. He

drew a circle in the ground with rice grains, representing the wheel of life

that went on for existence after existence. This preaching was called his Deer

Park Sermon, or "Setting in Motion the Wheel of Doctrine." Siddhartha