Buddhism Begins and Ends With Buddha Enlighten Experience, Essay Example

Buddhism is one of the world’s most exceptional religions that existed for more than 2500 years (Khan, 2020, n.p). The religion founds its basis on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. However, the teachings of the faith remain controversial because the original teaching did not exist come from oral sources Documents making its interoperations rely on oral representations of the teachers.  Buddha’s thoughts about the issue of free will lead many people to think that it occurred as a categorical error (Javanaud, 2018, pg.633). The emergence of a new religion, particularly in Asia or Europe, brings a challenge that the first few individuals pose challenges that bring about dilemmas or counterarguments that will remain topics for discussions even after the religion has taken root. The philosophical influence, whether negative or positive, will continue to affect the domains and application of the said religion. Unlike other religions and most philosophies, the historical Buddha did have a written record of their teaching but passed them down orally to younger generations. The lack of written or documented records of the teachings of the Buddha forms the primary reason why Buddhism has so many interpretations concerning religion.

Oral Communication and Original Teachings

The reliance on oral communication to pass down messages concerning Buddhism is one of the primary reasons for possible distortions of the original teaching and giving people room to pass the information based on their understanding and interpretation. One such statement that has brought controversy in Buddhism is Peter Harvey Statement; Buddhism begins and ends with Buddha’s enlightening experience (Harvey, 2013, pg. 32). Some scholars have tried to distinguish Buddha’s original teachings with those taught by early disciples. The contradictions have resulted in too many people becoming skeptical of the actual teaching of Buddha. Apart from religion, generating skeptics, the contemporary world, and influence from western cultures has had a significant impact on the perspectives of Buddhism. In the modern world, many people apply Buddhism’s concept of medication for recreation, leisure, wellness, and health purpose. However, people leave the religious aspects of aspects when practicing Buddhism

Buddha Enlightenment

Understanding the concept of enlightenment from Buddhist perspectives plays a critical role in the development of any argument or discussion.  During the time Siddhartha Gautama became enlightened, he remained silent for seven days. During that entire period, he did not utter any word (Mahathera, n.d, pg.13). Even the angles and Gods became worried that Siddhartha Gautama, the leader of Buddhism, has kept silent without a single word coming out of his mouth. Lord Bharma visited Lord Buddha and pled with him to say anything. In his response, Lord Buddha said, those who know it, you do not need to tell them. Those who do not know there is of the need to tell them because they are ignorant” (Mookerji, 1989, n.p). The Buddha had to decide whether to share his information with anyone or keep it to himself. According to the historic teaching of Buddhism, the Buddha believed that the way to avoid extremes in lives is by using the way of life (khan, 2020, n.p). Based on this assertion, scholars such as Peter Harvey believe that every concept surrounding Buddhism begins with enlightenment. Although many speculations exist surrounding the original teachings of Buddhism, one of the thoughts that most agree on is the principle concept of enlightenment. Angels and even God had to plead with Siddhartha Gautama to share knowledge before he could make his mind to travel and share his knowledge in different parts of the world for 32 years.

Siddartha Gautama

Siddhartha Gautama began to explore the concentration as he grew old, and his wisdom widened (Harvard Divinity School, 2015, n.p). During his meditations, the Buddha looked beyond our world and even his own country. After a series of meditation and looking into his eyes, he discovered the Buddha was just a prince in a series of worlds that existed in the universe. Based on his ideology, the founder Buddha developed the belief that we live and die but not just once or in one world. The belief is one of the primary teaching Buddha that when one dies, they are born, and that maintains the key and balance between life and death. Siddhartha also believed that based on this knowledge, people’s conditions in life also changes together with the relationship we have with others. According to the founder of everyone in this have been friends, father, mother, daughter, and son at some point in life (Harvard Divinity School, 2015, n.p).

Traditional Buddha Teachings

Although Buddha meditations led to many perceptions concerning life cycles, human conditions, and relations, what inspired the enlightenment that governs the religions was his views on suffering (Batchelor, n.d). After analyzing the pain that men undergo, the Buddha concluded that people remained responsible for their joy and misery. Siddhartha believed that people tried to stay blind to the truth that everything is always changing and lived by stealing killing and lying to acquire what they wanted in life. Moreover, he believed that people committed vices to acquire things or items that gave them more misery that rather than happiness. Siddhartha concluded that each harmful actions lead to more unhappiness. Consequently, people who try to find peace but end getting more pain because of their actions and the choices they had made. After a prolonged period of meditations and gaining insights about the insights of the world, Buddha received the enlightenment and principles of karma that gave peace and calmness than he had achieved before in his entire life. After receiving the enlightenment, he became the lord of Buddha or the fully liberated one. Every proponent who believes that Buddhism starts and ends with the enrichment subscribes that the philosophy that the ‘enlightened’ is what led to the discovery of the religion, whose primary purpose is t make people calm.

Strive on with diligence, the last words of the Buddha were. No emancipation or purification can be gained without personal struggle” (Harvard School of Divinity). The last words remain open to main interpretations. Scholars such as Harvey may argue that the Buddha meant that (h religions followers should strive to attain enlightenment. Other scholars can argue that the leader suggested that people Buddhists should learn the spirit of perseverance. According to Stephen Batchelor, the author, ‘Secular Buddhism: Imaging the Dharma in an Uncertain World,” as the world of mindfulness penetrates the Western Culture, or people have continued to engage in the traditional forms of Buddhism that involve meditation (Batchelor, n.d, n.p). However, Batchelor notes that few people have an interest in the religious aspects of Buddhism (Batchelor, n.d, n.p). The spiritual dimension of Buddhism would involve the origin of the practice by Buddha and the enlightenment. In the contemporary world, the practice of medication remains informed by health and wellness issues as opposed to the religious aspects taught by Buddha and the early teachers of religion. Many people continue to practice Buddhism in the secular context in schools. Moreover, people have gone a step further to recover from the Buddhist context, principles of flourishing man but using a worldly twist. Although during Buddha teachings about meditations, he recognized that the world is changing, the underlying questions remain if there is a way to conceptualize his teachings in the contemporary world that remains dynamic and ever-evolving.

Theravada Buddhism

Theravada Buddhism, popularly referred to as the “Doctrine of the Elders,” which draws spiritual inspiration from Pali, contains the early records concerning the principle or cannons of Buddha’s teachings (p.69).Prebish. Buddha referred to the religion he founded as the “Dhamma-Vinaya,” which means “the doctrine of many” (Keown. 1996. p.11). Buddha established the order of bhikkhus (nuns) and monks to preserve the teachings of Dhamma-Vinaya. After the passing of Buddha, Dhamma continued to spread. However, many interpretations arose, leading to an estimated 18 different sects of Buddhism. After the death of Buddha, his teachings continued to pass across the monastic community orally. The monks are responsible for piling the lessons contained in three categories the ‘Vinaya Pitaka” (Discipline basket), the ‘Sutta Pitaka (Discourse basket), and “Abhidhamma Patika” (Higher doctrine) (Prebshi, 1975, pg. 65).

Pali did not have an alphabet, which made the monks write the Tipitaka phonetically. Although Tipitaka has an English translation, it is critical to learn the Pali language to gain a deeper understanding of its teachings. The lack of an alphabet makes critics challan whether Buddha uttered any words in Tipikata. Unlike many religions around the world with proper records, Tipikata’s belief as the truth for acceptance as a practice of faith lacks. On the contrary, one should adopt its teachings to find if they are true.

According to David L. McMahan book, “The Making of the Buddhist Modernism,” the author explores the cross-cultural geology of practices, themes, and ideas that have played a critical role in the development of hybrid Buddhism, which is different from what Siddhartha Gautama discovered more than 150 years ago (McMahan, 2008, pg. 1). Buddhism that exists in the modern world is different from the original teachings because it influences western cultures. Many proponents from western religion became interested in the faith and its practices that led to many scholars analyzing and developing their concepts. Moreover, one of the reasons that the disruption of the religion was is because the founder and teachers failed to document are beliefs, values, and practices. Unlike other religions, such as Islam and Christianity that have their information recorded in the Quran and the Bible, respectively, Buddhism lacked any form of documentation relying on knowledge and information passed from one generation to the other (Stearms, 2002, n.p). The easiest way to distort any information is to change pass information orally because there is a substantial likelihood that the next person will pass the information based on their understanding and interpretation. Even with documented records, people still read the same information and have different interpretations and opinions. The original Buddhism consisted of a kind of interior Science and kind of psychology. The modern Buddhism concept has gone a step further and borrowed the concept of Buddhism, such as cosmetology. Although modern Buddhism has many similarities with Buddha’s beliefs, it is essential to note that the practitioners have left a critical element that involves religions.

Modern societies have taken some teachings and concepts from the historical Buddha teachings and practice (Keown. 1996).  The traditional Buddha believed that meditations would ensure that people achieve enlightenment. However, the modern forms of Buddhism that believe in the power meditations as a recreational activity and method of relaxing the mind do not conform to the traditional Buddha teachings. Buddha sought to discover that would play a critical role in ending human suffering. The Siddhartha engaged in many practices prescribed by ascetics and mendicants of his time to find ways of ending suffering. However, the method did not yield any positive results because they were not leading him to the enlightened. The Buddha then decided that he would meditate under a banyan tree until he achieves enlightenment. Buddhism first originated from India and believed in three jewels, the doctrine (dharma), the monostatic community (Sangha), and the Buddha. After Buddha’s death, a debate ensued on the survival of the doctrines and order. The council of Buddha established a set of beliefs based on the assumption that the surviving monks remembered the teachings of the Buddha. Debates rose concerning the concept of rebirth and no self. The question that generated many discussions and debates was how there could be rebirth without the existence of oneself. Moreover, questions arose whether enlightenment was a gradual concept or a spontaneous one. However, it significant to note that whether scholars questioned whether the pace of achieving enlightened, they belied in the concept.

Mahayana

Mahayana or the ‘Great Vehicle” has led to many interpretations of Buddha teachings, even radical ones (Keown. 1996. p.11). Mahayana contains many interpretations of modern teachings, not only those of Buddhism. In Mahayana places great emphasis on doctrine on compassion (Keown. 1996. p.68). The age of Mahayana is critical because it represents a period that non-monks became equal as the clergy. Individuals who had not renounced their lives to become nuns or monks became equal to their spiritual leaders. The period also presents Buddha as a spiritual being for the first time.

Conclusion

The lacked written or documented records of the teachings of the Buddha form the primary reason why Buddhism has so many interpretations concerning the religion. Concepts from Buddhism continue to dominate the world but used in a secular way with the elimination of the religious components. Peter Harvey’s statement continues to hold the true definition of Buddhism because the founder Siddhartha believed that it was the ultimate way of ending man is suffering and ensuring they achieve that could not come from any other source.  An analysis of the origin of Buddhism and the teaching of Buddha reveals the intention of the religion as enlightenment. Based on Buddha’s early teaching, it is appropriate to conclude that ‘Buddhism begins and ends with the Buddha’s enlightenment. The contemporary application of Buddhism with the application of religious components is a deviation from Buddha teachings. Consequently, the use of meditations from yoga does not constitute part of yoga but appears as the borrowing of some principles. Enlightenment forms the fundamental principle of Buddhism.

Reference List

Batchelor, S. (n.d.). Secular Buddhism.

Harvard Divinity School (2015). Buddhism. [online] Rlp.hds.harvard.edu. Available at: https://rlp.hds.harvard.edu/files/hds-rlp/files/buddhism.pdf [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].

Harvey, P.(2013) An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History, and Practices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Javanaud, K. (2018). Buddhist Perspectives on Free Will: Agentless Agency? Ed. By Rick Repetti. Philosophy East and West, [online] 68(2), pp.633-639. Available at: https://philarchive.org/archive/REPBPO-2.

Khan (2020). Introduction to Buddhism (article) | Khan Academy. [online] Khan Academy. Available at: https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/asian-art-museum/aam-buddhism-topic/buddhism/a/introduction-to-buddhism [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].

Keown, D. (1996). Buddhism. A very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Khan (2020). The history of Buddhism (article) | Khan Academy. [online] Khan Academy. Available at: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/early-indian-empires/a/buddhism-in-indian-culture [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].

McMahan, D. (2008). The making of Buddhist modernism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272160010_The_Making_of_Buddhist_Modernism

Mahathera, V. (n.d.). The Buddha and His Teachings. [online] Saddhamma.org. Available at: http://www.saddhamma.org/pdfs/books/buddha-teachingsurw6.pdf [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].

Mookerji, R., 1989. Ancient Indian Education: Brahmanical and Buddhist (Vol. 11). Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

Prebish, C. S. (1975). Buddhism: a modern perspective.Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University

Stearns, C., 2002. The Buddha from Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.