The Concept of Buddhism - Book Report/Review Example

?Ashley Steinberg Prof. Ironbiter Midterm Assignment 7 October Journal Entries: Buddhist Ideas and Practices Buddhism is one of the oldest religion and concept of the world Over thousand years, the Buddhist ideas and ideals, both have guided as well as influenced thoughts of several human beings all across the world. Bogoda, in his article mentioned that, some people in this world were born great, where as, greatness was thrust on some people. But, in the concept of Buddha –Dharma, the greatness of any individual was dependent on how far one could progress in perspective of ethical discipline and mental culture. According to him “true greatness in Buddhism was proportional to that of one’s success in unfolding the perfection dormant in human nature” (Bogoda). Being a religion with an unsurpassed track record for living up to its ideals, Buddhism has certainly earned the attention and reverence of believers across the globe. With the passage of time, it is embraced more and more by the West. But what is intriguing is the fact that perhaps somewhere there is a lack of a basic understanding of what Buddhism is and what it is not, even among many of its proponents. Currently there exist over two hundred distinct varied versions of Buddhism throughout the world. The Buddha taught for 45 years – up until the day he died. He discussed not only the lofty spiritual ideas but also the mundane topics pertaining to everyday life and issues associated with the day-to-day life of a common man. (Trungpa, 2008, p. 9) Over the years, the concept of Buddhism has been approached in various ways by various scholars across the globe. Each one of them has presented to the readers a synopsis of their own interpretation of the fundamental principles and practices of Buddhism. Each of their literary creation provides us an insight into the basics of teachings of the Buddha, from the writers’ perspective. But none of them, to be very honest, has been truly successful in capturing the distilled essence of the Buddhist philosophy. And they are not to be blamed because the religion in question is not merely a religion, but a living philosophy and a way of life. However, we may attempt to achieve a deeper understanding of this philosophy if we look at a synthesis of the various pieces of literature offered by the multitude of scholars across the world and carefully analyze their reflections on Buddhism. In this article we would review few specific journals based on the Buddhist ideas and practices. The Long Road Turns to Joy: The Long Road Turns to Joy, is a book that emphasizes on various Buddhist ideas and practices. The book was written by Vietnamese Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh in the year 2011. The book is a small but handful description about how walking can be transformed from a habit to mindful way of being. According to the author, when an individual started to do walking meditation then the long distances become always joyful for them. An individual when concentrate deeply to the present moment, then he or she can forget every sorrow s or regrets associated with their lives. When any individual, started to do this regularly then he or she can easily overcome depression that one was in and leave the life peacefully (Hanh 3-6). Hanh also mentioned that, breath in and then breathing out with awareness were convenient objects along with walking meditation. Various steps that one individual generally was associated with their day to day work was described by Hanh as the ways to be mentally calm and happy. In his book he cited that peace was near to us and within touching distance. The only thing one need was to think that the peace was near and then only it could be achievable. He also mentioned that regaining our own sovereignty could be possible by smile. Touching the earth were the easiest options to have control over our frustration, anger and anxiety. He cited the incident of Lord Buddha, as Lord Buddha was touch the earth with his right hand and told “with earth as my witness, I’ll sit here in meditation until I realize true awakening”, when he was challenged by Mara. According to Hannh, whenever anyone felt irritated, angry or unhappy, he or she was visited by Mara, and at that point if the individual touched the earth’s surface then he or she could feel better. In this book, the author clearly demonstrated the importance of walking in an individuals life. The book changed the ordinariness associated with walking. It gives us the opportunity to discover the new world available to us when we walk with mindfulness. The book describes the joy of writing in very easy words which is understandable to all, it also open our eyes to the possibilities of walking that have never before been mentioned. What the Buddha Taught What the Buddha Taught, has been written by Sri Lankan monk scholar Dr. Walpola Rahula in the year 1959. In this book, he described the basic teaching of Buddha as it was found in the extant text, the Tipitika. He discussed about four noble truths, meditation and the relevance of Buddha’s thought to the contemporary world. After a small introduction of Buddha, he discussed about actual teaching of the Buddha, Buddhist attitude towards mind. The author, in this book, propagates the freedom of thought and the importance of tolerance in an individual’s life. He adds that Buddhism is not a religion, but a philosophy of life. Truth is not some blind faith or belief, but an articulation of seeing and understanding. He advises his readers to avoid indulging in useless imaginary speculations and instead adopt a practical attitude towards life. (Rahula, 1979, pp. 2-4) This book is consisted with four noble truths of Buddha, how that affects individual life. He chooses Dukkha (suffering), Samudaya (the arising of suffering), Nirodha (the cessation of suffering) and Magga (the path) as the four noble truths of life and elaborates his thoughts and views on each of these. (Rahula, 1979, p.13) According to him, the greatest strength of Buddha’s thought was it was modern and also well acceptable for all the people, while discussing about the thoughts of Buddha, he also discussed about the techniques to ensure that the Buddhism spread all across the world. In this book, he discussed about Buddha’s concept of perfect king and also applied this concept in respect to the modern day’s leader. Dr. Raula in his pointed out concepts like anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing), modern leadership, noble truth in very easy language so that general people can easily understand what the Buddha was mentioned way back and how those thoughts are still applicable in modern times. What the Buddha Taught, beyond doubt, may be treated as a reliable introduction to Buddhism. Dr. Rahula goes back to the earliest recorded teachings of the Buddha to provide us with a solid foundation into a fascinating religion. The book gives us a great introductory resource about the Buddha’s teaching, and the work is worthy of continuous reading which in turn will ensure deeper reflections about the concepts of Buddhism. This book is associated with the tips that I helpful in our day to day activities. What the Buddha Taught, is in a nutshell is all about the Buddha’s thought about truth, the modern day leaders and also about the application of his thought process in our present day to day life. Mindfulness in Plain English Mindfulness in Plain English was written by Bhante Henepola Gunaratna, and this book is a great help for the non-Buddhists, people who newly turns to Buddhist ad also for the season politicians. Most of this literary work draws from the Tipitaka which is the 3 sectioned collected work including the Vinaya (code of discipline for monks and nuns and lay people), Suttas (public discourses attributed to the Buddha), Abhidharma (set of deep psycho-philosophical teachings). The author states that the prime purpose of meditation is to bring about a transformation of the mind and the soul. It is true that happiness and peace are the two major issues in human existence. But one can never get everything he/she wants because it is impossible. But there is another option. One can learn to control his/her mind and live a restrained and satisfied life with a whole new viewpoint. Meditation is intended to purify the mind. It cleanses the thought process of negative feelings like greed, hatred and jealousy that keep us enslaved in emotional bondage. It brings the mind to a state of tranquility and awareness and leads the soul to a state of concentration and insight. (Gunaratna, 2011, p. 23) The author claims that meditation is a very simple and easy task and that there is nothing fancy or extraordinary about it. He elaborates certain well-known facts about meditation, sheds light on its different aspects and also demystifies certain myths associated with it. He discusses about the kind of attitude and healthy practices one must cultivate so as to be successful in his life. Then he goes on to explain in detail the structure of meditation- what to do with the body and mind while meditating and how to cope with the problems and distractions that one might face during meditation. He draws a comparison between mindfulness and concentration and lists out the differences and similarities between the two. He concludes with his reflections on the utility of meditation in everyday life and on how it can prove to be a boon for a person. (Gunaratna, 2011) The book is about developing high degree of mindfulness by practicing vipassana meditation. At the very beginning, the author discussed about the benefits of the meditation. After that, the book pointed out different aspects of meditation, different ways of doing this, what one should do with their body, mind to remain peaceful. According to the author, regular meditation helped to overcome problems and distractions in daily life. He also mentioned that how the mindfulness was related to concentration. At the end, Gunaratna focused on what meditation can give in everyday’s life and what we as individual could learn from the meditation. The book also consisted of a part which described how the friendly behaviors’ and talking about mindfulness was helpful for the development of metta. According to him, Vipassana means insight, which can be represented as awareness of exactly what is happening around us, where as Samatha can be referred to concentration when mind bought to a standstill and focused on a particular thing and not wonder about anything else. This helped in building up the concentration and also mental focus. The book is all about the importance of meditation in our daily life. With the clarity of thoughts and easy representation, the author helps us to move step by step forward through myths, realities and importance of meditation and mindfulness. The Wisdom of No Escape The Wisdom of No Escape was written by Pema Chodron and was first published in the year 2010. According to his view, it was possible for us to say yes to life in all of its manifestations. According to him one must embraced all the happiness and sufferings, all the confusion and intelligence and considered all these as parts of our existence in this world. According to his point of view, these thought process helped us to open up huge amount of courage and love within our hearts which was the base of Buddhism. The book is consisted of traditional Buddhist wisdom which was easily relatable for any individual. In this book, Chodron explained four noble truths associated with Buddhism, and taking refuge as a practice that encourages fearlessness among individual, and also experiencing the concept of dharma. According to her point of view, willingness to die over and over again heightens the first reminder which was the sense of gratitude and preciousness. The main idea presented by the author in this journal is to make the reader learn to love himself. He states with regret that most of us spend our entire life cursing ourselves for what we are and pondering over what we could or should have been. We feel ashamed and embarrassed to accept what we are and keep comparing ourselves with others. Instead of self-reproach one should rather love oneself and one’s world. The author wants the reader to realise that pain and comfort are two facets of the same life. So if we are so eager to gain comfort, we should also not hesitate in facing pain. The idea that has been reinforced is that one should be equally receptive to the sweet and the bitter components of life, instead of running after one and shunning the other. This would not only raise our self-esteem and confidence, but also be a perennial source of peace and happiness. The journal is the author’s humble attempt to alleviate human misery and pain at both the personal and global level through her motivational piece of writing. (Chodron, 2010, p. 1-3) According to his point of view, we expend a phenomenal amount of energy in order to improve ourselves, instead of enjoying what we are and what we already have with ourselves. According to his point of view, meditation was a helpful practice in lighting up ourselves and also helped us to be more curious. He also mentioned that if we love ourselves then that ensured the truth of loving others. He also stated that meditation enabled us to cultivate precision, gentleness and also helped us to generate an ability to let go off small-mindedness. If we analyze the writing of Chodron with modern perspective, then it is very clear that meditation is helpful to ensure that we are far away from the tension. This book helps us to understand that the inputs from ourselves, our family, culture is enough to make us happy. It is very difficult, to let go the fact that one must continue to improve, but it is a belief the limits the experience that we can have from our life. We must accept the fact that experience from our personal life often closes us off to an appreciation and acceptance of our own inner beauty. Beyond Religion Beyond Religion is written by H. H. Dalai Lama, and the book was all about considering the entire world as a single unit devoid of any religion. I this book, H. Dalai Lama pointed out several development that took place in the world in last few decades starting from the development in medical science, taking out million of people from the lines of poverty by means of education and healthcare, universal declaration of the human rights, ideas of democracy and freedom also spread all around the world. According to his point of view, due to all these development there was an increase in recognition of humanity, and also growing awareness of health environment all across the globe. But along with that, he also mentioned about the suffering that humanity is still facing difficulties and problems. According to his point of view, in more affluent parts of the world people was enjoying the fancy lifestyle but there were huge number of people whose basic needs were not fulfilled. Although after the end of cold war, the threat of nuclear destruction was reduced, but still there were many places where gun battle was continuing for the supremacy of power and the poor people who were facing the affects of the same. Despite the development of science, people in various parts of the world were still fighting with the environmental problems to survived and complete their daily life. In his writing, H.H. Dalai Lama also pointed out that not only the under developed countries, developing and developed countries were also facing problems like, social disturbance, domestic violence etc. People were in concern about their child’s education, future etc. According to him, there was serious lacking in the way we humans were going about the things. He mentioned that it was nothing but the fundamental problems as we were giving to much focus on external material aspects of life rather than moral ethics and inner values. If we analyze the writing of H.H. Dalai lama, than it is very clear that in his book, he discussed about both the positive as well as negative side of the development of the modern world. His book focused on the development of moral ethics and values along with the materialistic development that is essential for the holistic growth of the world. Conclusion Thus different writers have, over the ages, presented their viewpoints on what Buddhism is all about and what it is not. They have made valuable contributions to the theological and philosophical treasure of mankind. Having studied the precious reflections of five venerable scholars from different corners of the globe on the same concept, we now ought to be in a position where we can showcase the confidence of having understood, to a great extent, a religion that is a symbol of integrity, peace and human values. Works Cited Bogoda Robert, Buddhist Culture, the Cultured Buddhist, Buddhist Publication Society, 2005 Web. ?http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bogoda/bl139.html?. Chodron Pema, “The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving-Kindness”, Shambhala Publication, 2010, Print. Gururatna, Bhante, and Gunartna Henepola, Mindfulness in Plain English, Wishdom Publication, 2011, Print. Lama, H.H. Dalai, Beyond Religion, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, Print. Rahula, Walpola, What the Buddha Taught, Grove Press, 1979, Print. Trungpa, Chogyam, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, Shambhala Publication, 2008. Print Read More