A Journey Through Buddhism
The entire religion of Buddhism is based on the perspective of a single man. His birth name was Siddhartha Gautama or as most know him as, the Buddha. He was a teacher of spiritual enlightenment. The Buddha believed that everything in life was intertwined with suffering and he was the one who could teach the way of removing it. The Buddhist perspective of the Buddha, mankind, and the collective works of Buddhism defines this worldview.
The Buddha was not a god; he was a mortal man just like anyone else. Siddhartha suffered throughout most of his life until one day while sitting under a Bodhi tree his mind broke free of the constraints of his ego. His breakthrough is known as the enlightenment. This is also the where…show more content… After the Buddha’s meditation under the Bodhi Tree, the morning came and the Buddha realized his enlightenment. He then said, “How amazing that all living beings have the basic nature of awakening, yet they don’t know it. So they drift on the ocean of suffering lifetime after lifetime” (Krill). The Buddha was at first reluctant to share his experience under the Bodhi tree, but with more meditation he realized that many people would benefit if he offered concrete ways to help them to wake up (enlightenment). The seven Factors of awakening offer a description of both the characteristics of awakening as well as a path to awakening. If practiced consistently, will lead to understanding and…show more content… This life is a direct result of your karma in you past lives. Peter Harvey says in an Introduction to Buddhism, people who commit acts of hatred such as murder, rape or bodily harm will be born into a life of hell. If they are a good person and kind to others throughout their life, then they will be born into a good life (Gard 121). On the night of Buddha’s enlightenment, he is said to have remembered 100,000 past lives. Western Buddhists take rebirth as a metaphor of cycles that happen on earth. Tibetan Buddhists on the other hand take this concept literally and base much of their culture, beliefs, and rituals on the possibility of
