Bodhi

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is a book about a man named Siddhartha who travels through Ancient India searching for enlightenment. He is born the son of a Brahmin and considered a learned man at a young age. Throughout the book, Siddhartha constantly searches for enlightenment in different places and different forms. First, he searches for it by letting go of all worldly connections. Next, he looks for it by learning about physical love and attachment. Lastly, Siddhartha searches for and finds…

Mindfulness foster compassion Quoting Buddha “Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.” Mindfulness is different, it focuses on awareness, it fosters compassion towards our own self. Well, one may ask what does compassion has to do with physiological issue? Well, let me explain. Let’s say there are two kind of people. First, the ones who often keep doubting himself, being hard on whatever he does, potentially doubting every action and emotions. Where else, there…

Arthur C. Clarke couldn’t have chosen a better title for this brilliant science fiction short story. I’m a sucker for a story with a good title. “The Nine Billion Names of God" revolves around Tibetan Buddhist monks who plan to put together a list that consists of all the names of God. The story opens with Dr. Wagner-- he is asked to work on an automatic sequence computer (Mark V.) that can carry out letters by the lama. They need a computer with letters, so they can write the names of God.…

By following Eight Fold Paths that Buddha had given us as the proper way to behave, we eventually be bodhisattvas and arhat. The first path is Samma Ditthi or perfect vision. It’s about having the right view and understand the nature of life. Secondly, Samma Sankappa or aspiration is having the right thought and point of view. Samma Sankappa focuses on letting thing go because nothing belongs to us. The third one is Summa Vacca. Having right speech will make our lives healthier and we would be…

“Zen Confidential” is the final reading for this course. It follows the author, Shozan Jack Haubner on his journey from being raised in a conservative Catholic family to becoming a Zen monk. Buddhism differs from Christianity and Islam in that instead of praying to a God, Buddhists reach enlightenment by participating in meditation. They center themselves and work from within. Buddhist monks have a common goal to reach enlightenment and to come to terms with the world. Haubner states that in…

Zen Buddhism was originally a practice in China before it was introduced to Japan in the 11th century. Buddhidharma was the first Zen master to teach in the monastery; he was applauded for teaching meditation and the monks saw it through Buddha’s precepts. The word Zen means “meditation,” and the goal of Zen meditation is to achieve enlightenment. It can be experienced through everyday life, at work, in art, and in sports. The monks practice meditation, which is the fundamental part of Zen. The…

Comparison between Buddhist philosophy and Gross National Happiness philosophy Bhutan is an enlightened country where happiness is the guiding principle of development, and majority of the people are enthusiastically practicing Buddhism. Buddhism is one of the profound religion in the world which show and leads the people to the enlightenment. As a Buddhist country, we look at the welfare of all the sentient being. Similarly, the concept of Gross National Happiness is a unique philosophy which…

Siddharta Gautama was born to King Shuddhodana and Queen Maya in 566 B.C.E in southern Nepal. His tribe name was Gautama and his given name was Siddhartha. There were two possible outcomes for his life. He could inherit the throne and follow in his father’s footsteps to become a king or if he was ever exposed to the reality of suffering of the world he would become a great spiritual leader. His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become a king, so he protected Buddha from seeing…

The term Ghost has a Germanic origin which means Spirit or Soul. The term ‘Soul’ is complicated because various established and widely followed spiritual doctrines like Buddhism neglect the existence of soul in anybody. But it is strange that Chinese Buddhism has a concept of Hungry Ghost; quite similar to the term ‘Preta’ in Indian Buddhism and Hinduism. So Buddhism will not accept Ghost as somebody’s soul which is appearing on earthly realm to fulfill his desires indeed Ghost is used as…

Rinzai focuses on the use of the Koan. A Koan is paradoxical statement or question used as a meditative tool. Rinzai disciples concentrate on a koan to discover their own nature and become Buddhas. Practitioners must realize himself as the answer to the koan; a koan cannot be answered by knowledge or thinking. If the practitioner focuses solely on the koan, he will forget both the passing of time and the outside world. This will allow the practitioner to unexpectedly “wake up” form their former…