The Philosophy of the Buddhists

I will give you a glimpse into the world of the Buddha and the philosophy that he used to practise and preach. He was born as Siddhartha Gautama in the year 563 BC in Lumbini a place situated neighboring the Indo Nepal border. His father was the ruler of a petty kingdom of the Sakya tribes. Initially Siddhartha led the luxurious behavior of a prince in their palace at Kapilavastu, subsequently, he was married to Yasodhara. He had been living in marital mirth for thirteen years, when he saw an extremely sick person, a frail sexagenarian man, the corpse of a deceased person, a corpse being cremated and a sadhu or holy man.This had a major impact on Siddhartha, who realized that the normal phases in a persons life were old age, sickness and eventually death. In the year 528 BC, Siddhartha experienced the Great Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Gaya, consequently, he was known as Buddha or the enlightened one. His exhortations ar known as dhamma. He achieve Nirvana at the age of eighty, in the year 483 BC (Siddhartha Gautama). The Dhamma populates of four courtly truths. The first of them states that life means suffering. It is essential to realize and accept that you harbor to undergo suffering in order to experience in the world.The world and sympathetic nature are imperfect. According to the Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 63, the cycle of birth and death are continuous and humans clear to experience old age, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief and despair. There are pleasures such as ease, comfort and happiness. Hence from birth to death, humans experience both suffering and happiness. This serves to render the life archetype imperfect and incomplete. The world is essentially unpleasant and bereft of perfection. The second truth is that sufferings are caused by desires and to slightly extent due to ignorance.Attachment towards impermanent things and ignorance of the fact that those things are temporary causes suffering. Moreover, suffering is caused b y desire, passion, ardor, and craving for wealthiness and fame. A genuinely important precept in this context is that desire causes ignorance and vice versa (L. Ross, 2007). The third noble truth is regarding the truth of cessation. Sufferings can be avoided and the complete cessation of suffering can be achieve through nirodha or the unmaking of sensual craving and fancyual attachment.In order to end sufferings, one should identify their seed and remove them. This can be achieved through dispassion towards material things, which are transient in nature. In other(a) words, suffering can be removed by realizing the cause of suffering and then removing the very cause. This is a continuous process, which eventually culminates in Nirvana or that supreme state of being that is put out from all worries, complexes, fabrications and the individual ego (The Four direful Truths).The fourth Noble truth is the truth of the way, which represents the via media between the extremes of asce ticism and indulgence. There is an eight fold path by which a human can create Nirvana and end sufferings permanently. This way comprises of chasten knowledge, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right meditation. This path removes all sufferings from life and extends over many lifetimes of a human (L. Ross, 2007). Therefore, Peter, you have to follow this eight fold path.The Buddha institutionalized a monastic order with five prefatory precepts. These precepts train abstention from killing others, stealing, indulgence in unchaste activities and the consumption of alcoholic drinks. These fundamental precepts are compulsory for every Buddhist and Peter you have to make them an integral part of your life. The Buddha had preached that the practise of these precepts resulted in Nirvana. Buddha refused to dilate on the term Nirvana. According to Buddhism, both existence and nonexistence are meaningless. This philosophy is termed as the four-fold Negation.It is the fundamental concept on which the Buddhist philosophy is based (L. Ross, 2007). Some very important and basic philosophical doctrines in Buddhism are first, momentariness which states that nothing exists for a long time and that things do not have substance or duration. Moreover, every moment is a in the altogether existence and is succeeded by another new existence and their interconnection results in the next moment. The second doctrine is that of relative existence, which states that nothing has nature and character. In isolation, things are shunya, which means conceit or a vacuum.Existence is therefore completely relative and the only nescient state is that of Nirvana. The third major doctrine is that there is no atman or soul. According to Buddhism, human beings consist of a body, feelings, ideas, impressions and momentary consciousness. Fourth, Buddhism does not accept the existence of God, Brahman or any other last substance i n the universe. Fifth, everything has a cause, which is dependent on a previous momentary existence. Sixth, karma, is only a causation and reincarnation is caused by the actions of people in the past.Therefore, karma is the effect of past actions (L. Ross, 2007). Another important concept of Buddhism is emptiness. A major philosophical paradox of Buddhism is that form is emptiness and emptiness is form. It is the mantra of Buddhism, whose origin is the Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra or the feeling Sutra. There are misconceptions about this concept of emptiness western scholars defined it as nihilism. Nihilism states that universe is unknown, that nothing exists, that nothing meaningful can be described about the world.However, the Buddhist concept of emptiness is dissimilar to nihilism, because it states that the ultimate reality is knowable. It also states that there is a lucid ontological basis for phenomena. Further, human beings can communicate and obtain knowledge of the world . Sunyata or emptiness cannot be construed as nothingness. In other words, emptiness is not non existence and it is also non reality (Emptiness). Pay great attention to these thoughts, assimilate them and study upon them. Your preceptor,Bodhidharma Karmapang. References Emptiness. (n. d. ). Retrieved September 11, 2007, from http//www. thebigview. com/buddhism/emptiness. html L. Ross, K. (2007). THE BASIC TEACHINGS OF BUDDHISM. Retrieved September 11, 2007, from http//www. friesian. com/buddhism. htm Siddhartha Gautama. (n. d. ). Retrieved September 9, 2007, from The Big view http//www. thebigview. com/buddhism/buddhasresume. html The Four Noble Truths. (n. d. ). Retrieved September 11, 2007, from http//www. thebigview. com/buddhism/fourtruths. html