Buddhism the Oldest Religion of the World - Assignment Example

Buddhism – the Oldest Religion of the World Introduction to Buddhism Buddhism is a religion pertaining to the East, whose origin can be traced back to an era five hundred years before Christ. The Religion is an offshoot of Hinduism, which is supposed to be the oldest religion of the World. Hinduism started off as a highly flexible religion that does not impose a set of rigid rules to be mandatorily obeyed by all and sundry. On the contrary, people were urged to follow any of the specified spiritual paths of their choice, along with an emphasis on the aspect that all of them (spiritual paths) lead to one and the same truth. But unfortunately, with the passage of time, some powerful vested interests took control over Hinduism and started to eliminate the religion’s flexibility. They projected themselves as the only recourse for all religious aspirants, and thus reduced the religion to nothing more than dogmatism and ritualism. For furthering their own ulterior motives, these vested interests left no stone unturned in instilling superstitious fear amongst the masses. The Life of Buddha It was at this particular point of time that Prince Siddhartha was born to a powerful emperor in a zone that is the present-day Nepal, a neighboring country of India. Siddhartha lived a luxurious life, as was the case with all the children born in royal families. As a matter of fact, he was brought up in a highly protected environment so as to be totally unaware of all the negative facets of life. In due course of time, he got married to a beautiful princess, and subsequently both of them were blessed with a son. On one occasion, which can conveniently be rated as the turning point in his life, Siddhartha, during an outing, happened to see an ailing person, an aged man and a corpse, with all these things being totally new to him. When he came to know the truth about all these three things – sickness, old age and death - Siddhartha went into a state of total shock, to say the least! His entire perception of life changed and he was bogged down by the all-important question, “Who am I? What is the truth?” After that, it was too tough for him to be persisting with the life filled with luxuries, as the above question made Prince Siddhartha more and more eager to get aware of the answer. He realized that the same could not be attained amidst all the worldly matters, and that total renunciation is the sole means of knowing the truth. In this state of mind and during the middle of a night, he just walked out of the palace into the outside world, driven by his intense quest for truth. He wandered from one place to other and from one teacher to another seeking a satisfactory answer, but these efforts, rather than providing any comfort, further aggravated Siddhartha’s confusion. During the course of all these attempts, he got aware about the base levels to which Hinduism was brought down (discussed earlier), as well as the way the powerful priests and other authorities were exploiting the people, under the guise of religion. Siddhartha also developed more exposure to the various forms of suffering, and he just intensified his efforts of seeking the truth. The young Siddhartha, who was just twenty nine at the time of all these intense spiritual quests, further intensified his practices by staying away from water and food. He subjected himself to highest level of torture, and invariably, all this started taking toll on his body that almost reached the threshold of death. A girl passing by saw Siddhartha in this perilous condition and pleaded with him to take some food that she was carrying with her. As of that point of time itself, he gradually started to realize the futility of all these practices of self-denial and self-torture, in revealing the truth to him. Also, he developed a conviction that the truth is somewhere between the two extremes of luxurious indulgence and self-torture. Hence, it was not that big an effort for the girl in persuading Siddhartha to consume food and water. After completing the meal, he took a highly refreshing bath in a river. Subsequently, he sat beneath a Fig Tree and decided that he would continue doing so until he gets aware of the truth. (1) Siddhartha went into a state of intense meditation and concentration where he became fully oblivious to all the surroundings. Legend has it that during this phase he was able to vividly recall all his past births, along with being totally conscious about the happenings in the whole universe. In this regard, there is also a legend speaking about an evil entity, Mara, which makes every possible attempt in distracting Siddhartha and preventing him from reaching the highest state of enlightenment. But he was totally unperturbed by all these efforts of the evil one and persisted with his austerities, unhindered. (1) Though this essay includes a comparison between Buddhism and Hinduism, still it would not be out of place in relating the scenario of previous paragraph with an important aspect of the life of Jesus Christ. When Jesus went into solitude for duration of forty days, just prior to the start of his ministry, he was tempted by Satan. And Christ just went on to thwart these evil efforts and forced Satan to leave the place. This is very similar to the acts of Mara discussed above, and which could not exercise any impact on Siddhartha, and finally it (Mara) had no other choice but to relinquish all attempts and accept defeat. Siddhartha went on with his meditation seeking the answer for his quest, and finally, on a day of full moon, which was six years after he left the palace, he got the answer for his questions of suffering, and he was transformed into “Buddha”, the enlightened one. After that, he began the efforts to communicate about his great discovery, which is inclusive of the “Four Noble Truths” and “The Eight Fold Path”, to the World. (1) The Four Noble Truths include the following aspects: suffering is inevitable in life, attachment is the root cause of suffering, eliminating suffering is possible and suffering is the only way for this elimination. (2) The Eight Fold Path encompasses the excellent moral precepts of Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. (2) Gradually, there was a steady rise in the number of followers of Buddha, as people were totally disillusioned by the distorted form of Hinduism that was being projected by the vested interests, as discussed earlier in this essay. When compared with that, the simple moral precepts of Buddhism emphasizing solely on ethical actions and ethical thoughts, and giving no scope for elaborate and meaningless rites and rituals, turned out to be a source of solace for the people. This growing new philosophy (Buddhism) also managed to obtain the patronage of a powerful ruler of those times, who got a monastery built for Buddha, as there was a need for a bigger place to accommodate the consistently rising adherents of the new thought. (1) The teachings of Buddha predominantly centered on the Eight Fold path and The Four Noble Truths. He was totally silent on questions pertaining to the aspects of “Existence of God” and “Divine Grace”, to cite a few. Buddha maintained that there is no use in going into elaborate discussions on all these aspects, and that focus should be only on actions aimed at removal of suffering. At the same time, he also did not directly deny the existence of God. Buddha taught that, when a person meticulously adheres to the Eight Fold Path, they would automatically be reaching the truth – God or whatever else it may be termed! Based on this, it can be conveniently inferred that the philosophical thought of Buddha is close to Agnosticism, as defined in the modern-day dictionaries. Buddha lived up to the ripe age of 80, spreading his message of love, peace and non-violence. And by that time, owing to the vast number of adherents, Buddhism was recognized as an official religion. Even the last message of Buddha, from his deathbed, was fully in accordance with the great things that he not just taught in his life, but also abided by them. In this message, Buddha urges his followers to seek their own salvation, as well as asking them to “be a light unto you”. Now, it would be heart-rending, to say the least, in knowing that after death of the Master (Buddha), the vested interests promoting a form of pseudo Hinduism launched an attack on Buddhism. It was unable to withstand this onslaught for a long time, and finally, this great religion was forced out of India, barring a few communities, which were anyway not empowered to resuscitate Buddhism, on their own. Hence, in the contemporary scenario, it is seen that followers of Buddhism are found more in some neighboring countries of India, than in India. But from the viewpoint of Buddhism, there has been a pleasant change in the state of affairs, over the past few years. Many steps are now being initiated in India for propagating the immortal legacy of Buddhism, with not the least amongst them being advent of various places preserving many ancient things pertaining to Buddhism. A Buddhist Place of Worship It was a matter of good fortune for me to have got an opportunity to visit a place of worship of Buddhism, and that too while studying about the religion in my academic course. This particular visit has gone a long way in further enhancing my knowledge of the subject that was taught in the class. This particular worship place, which is situated in the same town where I reside, is not a formal place that is accorded the status (of a worship place) by the concerned religious authorities. Nonetheless, the endeavors of this place in not just providing an apt understanding of Buddhism, but also in actually treading the path shown by Buddha, deserve a thorough appreciation. The place is managed not by any monks who have renounced worldly affairs, but by normal individuals who are highly successful in their chosen line of activities. Despite the high level of success and prosperity marking their respective lives, all these people were bogged down by questions “Who am I? What is the purpose of this life?” It is this very quest that has propelled all of them in seeking answers in Buddhism and obtaining the much needed mental peace. It is the joint efforts of these people that led to the establishment of this place, where a warm welcome is accorded to all spiritual aspirants irrespective of their religious or ethnic background. It appears that all members of this place are constantly in a state of inexplicable bliss, where they are totally unperturbed by the stress and strain of modern-day existence. I was elated, to say the least, when the senior most member of the worship place permitted me to interview him, as this would help me in my current academic pursuits, not to mention the aspect of an increased appreciation of Buddhism. Interview Summary The member to whom I am referring is an elderly gentleman in his early 60s, who is revered as the head of this worship place. At this point, it needs to be noted that this place is not having any formal hierarchy of authority, and it is just out of pure respect for his higher age and wisdom that this individual has been accorded the elevated position of a head. As a matter of fact, formation of the worship place is primarily attributable to the brainchild of this gentleman. The moment I entered the premises, the ambience marked by the presence of serenity could not escape my attention, more so because locations having it (serenity) are slowly becoming a rarity in the contemporary World. My first query to the gentleman was about his choice of Buddhism as a source providing solace in the modern-day mundane existence. The patient and elaborate manner in which the head responded to my question, along with reflecting on his heightened position in the realm of spirituality, also focuses on all the basic tenets of Buddhism. He stated that this Religion (Buddhism) leaves no scope for any intricacies, and that it just lays down a simple moral and ethical path for all its adherents. The gentleman went on to add that, it is this uncomplicated approach of Buddhism that drew him towards the faith. He then went on to dispel another widespread myth that spiritual pursuits can be successfully undertaken only after total renunciation of worldly affairs. The senior member emphasized that, on the contrary, spirituality and religion enable people to persist with their mundane matters, without deviating from the path of morality. And this morality is gradually being sidetracked in the current scenario where materialism is the dominant force. As a matter of fact, the head felt that, Buddhism is now even more relevant than it was ever before, for a philosophy inclusive of just simple and yet essential ethical precepts is just the right panacea for the various ills that are plaguing the globe. This worship place, though being different from conventional ones, is highly effective in meeting the spiritual needs of all its members. All of them meet on a regular basis and keep sharing their spiritual ideas and experiences. The main hall of the place has a statue of Lord Buddha in the state of meditation, and the same could be related to the intense austerity that led to his (Buddha) eventual enlightenment. All the members emphatically state that whenever they are bogged down by any problem, all they do is to just face the statue directly and attempt to keep the mind free of all thoughts. They claim that, after following this form of concentration for about half-an-hour or so, their minds are fully engulfed with total peace, and thereafter, within a short span of time the problems vanish. Neither do I vouch for the authenticity of all that, nor do I question the claim, as it is just an attempt of me to study about the Religion with a dispassionate mind, as an outsider. The elderly gentleman also elaborated that the activities of the worship place are not just confined to exchange of spiritual ideas, and that all the members also strive towards addressing various social causes. He added that these endeavors of addressing various social issues fully conform to two vital tenets of The Eight Fold Path – Right Action and Right Effort. Overall, I should say that the visit to this place was a highly enlightening experience for me, not just from the perspective of my academic course, but also in light of the fact that I got aware of some hitherto unknown facets of both Buddhism and also Lord Buddha. Buddhism and Hinduism – A comparison A thorough study of Buddhism and Hinduism throws light on the fact that both the Religions have similarities, as well as differences. A main similarity between the religions is that, both of them are essentially systems of philosophy, where aspects pertaining to religion, as understood by the Western World, are not that emphasized on. There are two other points where both the religions are in agreement – the concept of reincarnation and giving more priority to social welfare than individual gains. (3) On the other hand, the ancient Hinduism mandates that all individuals need to discharge their duties as stipulated by their respective castes, while Buddhism emphasizes solely on ethical conduct and not on any obligations dictated by society. (3) From the point of view of modern society, there is another highly vital aspect where Buddhism is rated to be far superior to Hinduism. Comparatively, the Buddhist Thought accords more recognition to the issue of “Freedom of Womenfolk”, whereas, even to this day, there are instances where undue restrictions are being imposed on women of Hindu Community. Of course, this scenario of female suppression is not that serious as what it was till about a century back, but nonetheless, some form of male domination is still existing. (4) Another major difference between both the religions is that, most of the major philosophies of Hinduism are centered on Polytheism and Monotheism, where belief in the existence of a higher power is mandatory. On the contrary, as discussed earlier, Buddhism is totally silent on all aspects related to God and its Philosophy is closer to the present-day Agnostic thought. Here, it is worth making a note that, notwithstanding the approach of Agnosticism, there is one concept that Buddhism has directly rejected – anthropomorphic concept of God. Owing to all the facts discussed in this essay, it can be safely concluded that Buddhism provides more flexibility and freedom to an individual, than Hinduism, which has been reduced to just a set of superstitious beliefs, courtesy the misdeeds of the vested interests. And they are doing their utmost in concealing the real essence of this great religion from the general public, lest their prosperity could be adversely impacted. Conclusion Buddhism, as is the case with the study of any religion, is such a vast subject that it is just not possible to be covering all its facets in a brief essay such as this one. Similarly, a comprehensive comparison between Buddhism and Hinduism, two of the biggest religions of Asia, also entails elaboration that goes into many volumes. Yet, in this essay, a sincere effort has been made in including all the pertinent vital points, so that a lay reader gets to have at least a brief understanding of this extensive subject. (Total Words : 2955 including headings) SOURCES 1) “An Introduction to Buddhism”, webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/buddhaintro.html, Internet, webspace.ship.edu, ND. 2) “About Buddhism”, thebigview.com/buddhism/, Internet, thebigview.com, ND. 3) “Hinduism and Buddhism” a comparison”, essortment.com/all/hinduismandbud_rtqs.htm, eSSORTMENT, Internet, 2002. 4) “Buddhism Vs Hinduism, Comparison Essay”, echeat.com/essay.php?t=26309, Internet, echeat, March 2005. Read More