Buddhist Religious Traditions Paper :: essays research papers

Buddhism is a philosophy/religion that was created by Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) over 2500 eld ago, founded on Hindi beliefs. There atomic number 18 two major divisions Mahayana and Theravada, and many subdivisions. Fundamentally, Buddhists believe that champion must rise above desires, to reach a state of enlightenment. Buddha was idolized, and subsequently deified, only he never claimed to be anything more than a man (dictionary.com, 2005). The goal of this paper is to answer the following questions base on the assigned readings for week two What scared elements characterize Hindu religious traditions? And what are their significance meanings?Buddhism Is A Quest For Nirvana aft(prenominal) reading the book Buddhism by Malcom David Eckel, if I had to define Buddhism it would not be by principle that governs a Buddhist way of life but the ultimate goal to which that life is directed, the key would be nirvana. Nirvana is the classical cessation of the suffering that plagues human existence. The concept of nirvana gains its meaning and oftentimes of its importance in classical Buddhist thought from the assumption of metempsychosis or transmigration (samsara), an assumption that Indian Buddhist share with their Hindu duplicate (Eckel, D., 1946). Classical Buddhist sources pictured human life as a continuous cycle of death and rebirth. A person, or sentient creation could rise on the scale of transmigration as far as the gods in heaven or fall down through the realm of animals to one of the lowest hells. The realm of a persons life in a future life is determined by the actions or karma performed in this life (Eckel, D., 1946). Good actions could bring a good rebirth and stinking actions could bring a bad rebirth. In either case, however, the results in are impermanent. According to Eckel even the actions that brought rebirth in the highest heaven eventually would descent and condemn a person to wander again through the realms of rebirth.