Buddhism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Buddhism - Research Paper Example Siddhartha got distressed by all the sufferings around him and decided to leave his family and all the material comforts he possessed, and set out on a wondering life. It was in this journey that he sat under the Bodhi tree and staunchly decided not to move until he got enlightenment (Harvey 45). Buddha decided to leave the palace at the age of 29 on four different occasions to explore. During his first visit outside the palace, he witnessed an old man who was bent over and had problems walking when Siddhartha passed by; the man faced him, his red eyes squinting from his terribly wrinkled old face. In his second trip, he saw a sick man, crying in pain. On his third outing, Siddhartha came upon a corpse. He was saddened by these sights of sickness, old age and death. On his fourth outing, he met a monk who inspired him to leave the palace and all his mundane possessions, including his wife and son (Harvey 46). He sought to understand more about life and why human beings suffer, and ho w he would help in ending suffering in the world. During his enlightenment, he found the power to observe his former life, the power to see the rebirth of all forms, power to see death as well as the realization that he had left all the desires and ignorance that he had possessed. He had by all ways become a Buddha, meaning the â€Å"awakened one†. ... The Basic Tenets of Buddhism Reincarnation According to Buddhism, human beings possess the ability to get free from sufferings by observing, meditation and cultivating a lifestyle as prescribed by Buddha. Buddha gave a number of teachings known as Dharma. The wheel is a distinguished symbol in Buddhism since it depicts the perpetual cycle of life and death. According to Buddhism, after human beings die, they are born in a new form. They could either take the form of a deity, a human being, a ghost, an animal or even an inhabitant of hell. It is the belief that all the positive thoughts and people’s actions bring good karma, and may direct an individual into getting reborn in a higher form. The consequences caused by a person’s negative deeds, or evil karma, may lead to rebirth in a lower form (Gethin 22). Buddhism as a religion does not agree with the existence of a permanent self that will reincarnate from this life to the next. The assumption of an existing self gets created by the following five aggregates: Skandha, that suffers from a constant becoming and possesses a functional cause-effect relation; the body is the material form. Feeling, or Vedanta, is the sensation that develops from the sense organs in the body. Cognition, or sanna, is the process of classifying and labeling of experiences. Mental constructions, or Sankara, are the states that initiate action. Consciousness, or vijnana, is the awareness of a mental or sensory object. These five elements become impermanent, pass constant transformation, and have no abiding principle or the self. All human beings think that they got a self because of the consciousness. However, consciousness by being in a constant process of becoming and