Like Jesus, the Buddha was a teacher who cared about the poor and desired to liberate others from all of the suffering in the world. I learned that Buddha was born a wealthy man, but one day, when he had left his fine home, he saw men who were sick, old, and dying, and was instantly struck by the injustice of the world. He resolved to leave his comfortable life and to find Enlightenment as a result. For many years, he embarked upon a spiritual journey of extreme asceticism. Then, one day, while on a long and terrible fast, a young girl offered him a bowl of milk and rice. The Buddha was so moved by her gestures and the simplicity of her kindness he was able to achieve Enlightenment, or an understanding and acceptance of the impermanence of all things.
Although some people find Buddhism depressing, Buddhism's teaching about life's impermanence and the endless suffering of desire and disappointment that characterizes life is not supposed to be 'dark' or miserable. Rather, it merely encourages the practitioner to accept this fact, in a complete and radical fashion, and not to be sad about it. All things are supposed to be endured with equal grace. That is the purpose of meditation: to counsel a 'right mind.' I always think -- if Buddhism was so depressing, then why is Buddha always smiling? Buddhism also teaches that there is no essential difference between all living beings, regardless of who they are. That is why it is essential to bestow equal compassion to others as to one's self, and not to cling to an egocentric view of the world.
I have come to understand that Buddhism is more than incense and chanting, the aspects of the religion that had the greatest impact upon me as a child. Buddhism is a philosophy and a mindset, and its practices of non-attachment to the world can be observed even within the context of Christianity. As a small child, the image of the Buddha in a temple was terrifying to me in its strangeness, but now I find the image of the Buddha comforting and serene. I have come to judge the religion on its own terms, and its ethical...
If the person reacts with hatred or anger, he gets no immediate relief and instead develops a negative attitude and feeling, which will lead to his own downfall. The generation of hatred and hateful thoughts produces undesirable forms of existence in future lives and also creates a distorted image of the person who harbors that hatred. Others can sense it and even experience steam of hostility coming out of
Both Taoism and Buddhism encourage meditation as a means by which to liberate the mind and achieve emptiness. One of the Buddhist practices that encourages emptiness is mindfulness meditation, or vipassana. However, there are numerous specific methods that be used during the meditation practice. Some are more Tibetan in origin as those espoused by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and the Vajrayana tradition. Other meditation practices are like those I learned at
Introduction This is a review of Freedom in Exile, the fourteenth autobiography known as The Autobiography of Dalai Lama. The account of The Dalai Lama was published in 1991. It is an account of his life from the point when he was born in 1935 in a village called Takster Dokham, when he was recognized as the 14 Dalai Lama at a tender age of two, movement to Central Tibet, the
Western civilization has been developing according to a set of coordinates that are entirely separated from the ones of its Eastern counterpart. The focus of this paper is to propose subjective psychologically-minded interpretations to a series of Asian stories and poems extracted from the traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. The storyline of Searching for Buddha begins with the account of a monk's lengthy and arduous journey towards finding Buddha. When
Religion There are few opportunities to provide a genuine fusion between religion and science. Buddhism and Hinduism may offer the richest opportunities for the scholastic exploration of the intersection between these two seemingly disparate disciplines. The Advaita Vedanta, in particular, points the way towards a holistic epistemology. Providing both metaphysical and scientific grounds for understanding universal phenomenon, the Advaita Vedanta can become a shared paradigm between science and religion. This fusion
The film Women of Tibet endeavors to give light on the probable happenings when in case two forces, the divine feminine and the sacred masculine commences to work together in a bid to create a more peaceful world. Helga Huebach ('Ladies of the Tibetan Empire') argues that males in the 7-9th century used high profiled women as a means of establishing their political stability by their matrimonial alliances.Before 1959 and
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