Essay on Budism by Huston Smith - 1605 Words

Buddhism As a college student that has lived and grown up in western New York, I do not have too much experience with the other religions of the world. I have grown up a Christian Protestant my whole life, and I am a firm believer in my religion. Soon after reading the chapter on Buddhism in Huston Smith’s book The World’s Religions, I came to understand and respect the Buddhist religion. I came to learn who the Buddha as a man really was, and the steps he took in becoming a religious icon. I know understand that Buddhism is not all meditation and relaxing. There is a strict code of the four noble truths and the prescription of getting through them called the eightfold path. Much like Christianity Buddhism also has many different views†¦show more content†¦Yet nothing distracted Siddhartha from his journey and after 49 days Siddhartha was transformed into the Buddha, but Mara had one more temptation for Buddha. Mara try to get Buddha not to bother teaching othe rs the way to enlightenment because he had already reached nirvana and â€Å"why bother to play the idiot before an uncomprehending audience?† Buddha’s reply was that there would be some that would understand and thus went to teach the path to enlightenment. When Buddha went to preach he taught one the devoid of authority, devoid of ritual, skirted speculation, intense self-effort, and to devoid of the supernatural. All of these aspects have been implanted in the formation of the four noble truths. Buddhism’s four noble truths are Buddha’s declaration of key discoveries of his quest to find enlightenment. The first noble truth is that all humans suffer, this is called dukkha. This philosophy came through to Buddha by realizing that all being try to achieve happiness and when they fail to succeed they suffer and thus life is full of suffering. People also suffer because of fear, fear of death, fear of sickness, fear of poverty. The second noble truth is wh at causes the suffering which is desire or also called tanha. Our desires are endless, people always want bigger and better things, and when our desires are not met we suffer because of it. The third noble truth is the cure or the prescription to the first two truths, it is called the eightfold path. The