Buddhism: Buddhism And The Beliefs Of Buddhism

Decent Essays
Buddhism was started in India by the Buddha, who was said to have found enlightenment, and taught others to find enlightenment for themselves. Buddhists believe that people are stuck in an endless, painful cycle of birth and death unless they can achieve enlightenment. At death, the body is wrapped in a white scarf and buried. The exception is of Tibetan Buddhists, who feed the bodies of the dead to the vultures. This is very different from what most Americans practice because in America, a corpse is buried or cremated instead of fed to the vultures, and in America, many people do not believe in reincarnation. Buddhism, a religion located mainly in southern Asia, follows the teachings of the Buddha and believes that the deceased are trapped …show more content…
Christianity, the most common religion in the western hemisphere, says that people need to follow the Bible. While one of the teachings in the Bible is of being a good person, which is the same for many Buddhists, but Buddhism is frequently about freeing oneself from religious dogma, such as belief in a perfect, infinite, all-powerful God. In researching Buddhism, I noticed that the beliefs are very similar to my own personal ones. People receive peace when they reach enlightenment, which is defined by Emanuel Kant as maturity, or independence. I believe that after death, people don’t need their bodies anymore, so cadavers should be either used for organ transplants or, as Buddhists do in Tibet, fed to animals. The belief that people don’t need their bodies after they die seems to be relatively well accepted, but people, like me, don’t realize that this is what Buddhism …show more content…
Buddha, a man who was believed to have reached enlightenment, decided not to go immediately to nirvana so that he could teach the process of finding enlightenment to others. If enlightenment is not achieved, and the person can’t reach nirvana, they are reborn in a very painful process; Buddhists believe that birth and death are very painful. In Tibet, a sky burial is preformed, while in many other parts of Asia, the body is buried. Buddhist beliefs, particularly Tibetan ones, are very different from Western beliefs due to the lack of a god and the way in which the body is

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Buddhism was a very controversial philosophy in ancient China; many philosophers and scholars had strong views and arguments for or against Buddhism’s principles. Buddhism was founded in India and brought to China around the first century C.E. Buddhism’s influences spread throughout China slowly but gained more followers after the collapse of the Han dynasty in 220 C.E and continued to spread many centuries afterwards, during the empire’s political instability. China’s broken government and loss of unity allowed Buddhism to thrive. The philosophy promised that those who followed the ways of Buddha would rid themselves of their sorrows (doc. 1) and after death would be allowed to enter Nirvana; a state of being in which there is no suffering nor sense of desire for one's self (doc. 2).…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Han Dynasty Religions

    • 1938 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Buddhism was constructed in Nepal in about 500 B.C. by Buddha, or “the awakened one”. Buddhists believe in a “rebirth” of essence and an inner peace through daily practice. The ultimate objective is pure and lasting happiness for all human beings. If a follower lives a proper life, the cycle of rebirth is complete and they have reached Nirvana. Buddhists also believed in Karma, in which all actions have consequences.…

    • 1938 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hinduism Vs Buddhism

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Every religion has a different viewpoint on the afterlife. While there may be some similarities, the differences are vast. Specifically, Hinduism and Buddhism differ in the way they approach the idea of the afterlife. That is the main difference; how they interpret death. However, a common theme across these religions is that a life well lived on earth today brings an eternal reward tomorrow.…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Thematic Essay Draft Religion has come very far throughout history some have failed and some are still practiced today. Religion can even influence millions of lives around the world. Two of these types of religions include Buddhism and Christianity. They are still alive and thriving all over the world today. Buddhism is one of the many religions and belief systems in the world today.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    End of Life Care -Nursing Cultural Competency America is a melting pot of many religions and nurses are called upon more and more in today’s world to practice cultural competency. This paper focuses on awareness of other religions in order to practice culturally competent end of life of care for all patients. Judaism, Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism’s end of life rituals and traditions, stance on organ donation, embalmment, autopsies, after death care will be briefly discussed in order to establish nursing implications for the religions mentioned above. This paper is intended to educate nurses in order to practice cultural competency at the highest level.…

    • 1667 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Buddhism is all about finding peace within yourself and ending your suffering for an all around better life. These religions are focused on its followers and helping them find themselves rather than worshiping an almighty higher…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    "To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others," shares Sunil Daman. Likewise, the Holy Bible talks about the mind in James 1:7-8 (New King James Version), "For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. " When a person does not know the direction that they are going or finds themselves in an aisle, they can tend to seek what they may think is the truth. Such is the case with Rita Gross. She did not find peace in a relationship that offers peace and therefore sought enlightenment rather than relationship.…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Death In Buddhism

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages

    As with many Eastern religions, Buddhist death rituals borrow from other local religious ceremonies. This is “in part because Buddhism did not on the whole seek to monopolize social religious practices outside matters that deal strictly with salvation.” With varying religious traditions being utilized in the death ceremony, there can be participation from people of differing religious perspectives. This, in turn, allows the ceremony to be more accepting of all people. Some of the rituals that occur include oiling, washing, and dressing the body; transferring consciousness from the body (in Tibetan Buddhism); and, in Laotian tradition, giving “a special offering to the deceased individual[s]” that “informs them of their own death, so that they no longer linger among the living.”…

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death In American Culture

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A culture with a particularly unique view on death is India with their philosophical belief system of Vedanta. Academics Suriyaprakash and Geetha explain that those who subscribe to Vedanta travel through life trying to reach the ultimate stage of enlightenment called “Brahman” where an individual becomes whole which often happens after physical death (335). To reach this you must be able to conquer the fear of death, which is related to obtaining complete stillness of the mind. In order to do so you must realize that death is essential, only affecting the physical body which can be aided with yoga (Suriyaprakash and Geetha 339). When death occurs the soul of a person (Atma) sheds from the physical body and rebirths itself, merging with Brahman…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Buddhism Research Paper

    • 1700 Words
    • 7 Pages

    As mentioned previously, Buddhism is a dynamic and complex system of spiritual development that transcends the idea of religion in its entirety and delves into the concepts of philosophy. Buddhism focuses on gathering deep insights on life through the exploration of the nature of it. Buddhists focus on this aspect rather than worshiping gods or deities. In the 6th century BC, Siddhartha Gautama achieved enlightenment, therefore becoming the first known Buddha, and creating Buddhism in Northern India.…

    • 1700 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Christianity And Afterlife

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Topic: What are the Buddhist Concepts of the Afterlife? Word Count: 907 Afterlife is a concept seen differently by many religions and cultures, ranging from believing in Buddhism, where after death you come back into another body to believing in Christianity, where you come across judgement to see whether you get sent to Heaven or Hell. Nobody can confirm what happens in Afterlife, the only people who know are the ones who have died and they do not have a way to tell us. There have been many different cases of when people have allegedly experienced ‘the other side’ and making it out alive.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Buddhist Dying Case Study

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Pages

    I did not know that friends and family cme to honor Buddhist that are dying. Compared to my Hispanic background, when someone is typically sick or on the verge of death. The family and the community come to visits and comfort the person. It was amazing to see some similarities about their process of dying.…

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Buddhism is a way of discovering peace within oneself. It is a religion that assists us to find the happiness and contentment we seek. The diversity of expression within the different Buddhist schools of thought involves the consideration of the core ethical teachings which reflect the principle beliefs of the religion. This concept is evident within the sacred texts and writings of Buddhism which explore the interrelationship between core ethical teachings and principle beliefs. The underlying ethical belief of compassion is what underpins the teachings of Buddhism.…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jesus and Buddha’s Differences Jesus preached: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7:12) [Currie]. Similarly, Buddha stated: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful" (Udana-Varga 5:18) [Currie]. Clearly, these two great religious figures shared the same beliefs regarding the golden rule.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    hilosophy is defined as the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct; religion is defined as a particular system of faith and worship. Buddhism teaches one to develop their mental capacity to the fullest in order to fully understand life. Buddhism also teaches one to end the worlds suffering through compassion and doing good onto others. Buddhism expresses the importance of finding oneself and the true meaning of life; therefore, it is a philosophy rather than a religion.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics