Buddhism: The Deepest Secret Of Life

Buddhism can be defined as the life-long and devoted endeavor to become fully acquainted with, observant of and exemplary of the enlightened knowledge of the Buddha (Jacobson 36). Even more, Buddhism is unlike any other religion in that it does not attempt to put forth any conceptual system by which man is provided a reason for his existence or a means for understanding “the deepest secrets of life” (Jacobson 37). Buddhism supports man’s needs for dealing with the realities of life as they affect him in the present moment and at the present time. In essence, it is not a means to an end in seeking and establishing assurances for what lies at the end of one’s life but rather for maintaining a spiritual focus on life as it unfolds in the here and now and unlike Hinduism as well as numerous other religions, Buddhism does not rely on linguistic origins or cultural foundations to support its meaningfulness (Jacobson 38); it does, by its most concise definition, emphasize the objective of ending suffering and anticipating rebirth through the acquisition of knowledge (Fox 42). The primary figure credited with originating Buddhism is the Buddha who was born near Nepal during the period between 566 and 486 B.C. and into to the aristocratic warrior caste of Indian society (Keown 14). Despite his noble birth, the Buddha spent the majority of his …show more content…
in Becker 28). Becker concedes that his assertion is based on the fact that many of the world’s Buddhist scholars have strived to prove that the enlightened Buddha would not have purposely put forth a philosophy that offered man no hope of an eternal life after death