Buddha Is As Buddha Does: The Ten Original Practices for Enlightened Living is a book written by bestselling author Surya Das, published in 2008. In Surya Das’s book, wisdom can be appreciated and practiced by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. This book has a powerful message and serves as a practical guide to wise living. The author offers ways of thinking about life that can be useful to anyone from any religion or background. This book challenges the reader to reflect upon methods of their own thinking, speaking and behaving, as well as relationships with others. Lama Surya Das is known for working with the Dalai Lama to set up the Western Buddhist Teachers Network, which is a network of Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars.
The book is similar to what is learned in the religious beliefs of Buddhism, the way to enlightenment. The Buddha can be defined as the awakened one. Buddha teaches individuals to transform your life experiences, and become totally responsible for your lives. Buddhism is unique from other religions, in that it is non-theistic. The Buddha teaches that believing in God was not needed to seek enlightenment. The Buddha teaches many things, but the basic concepts in Buddhism are the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Four Noble Truths are; first, life is suffering. Life includes pain, getting old, diseases and ultimately death. This is a fact that cannot be denied. Second is that suffering is caused by craving and
The First Noble Truth observes that human existence is characterized by suffering. The Second Noble Truth states that suffering has origin. The Third Truth asserts that suffering, because it has an origin or cause, that it can be eliminated. Finally, the Fourth Truth tells that there is a path to
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 what 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
“Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are, it solely relies on what you think”, The Buddha. Buddhism is a message of deep enlightenment for the spiritual mind set of breaking the chain of reincarnation to achieve nirvana. Buddhism was founded by a man named Siddhartha Gautama who lived five hundred years ago. He spawned a spiritual enlightenment for the mind which we call Buddhism and eventually it came to the United States. Buddha, spreading his teachings of the four noble truths throughout Asia and many parts of the world that would someday enlighten the minds of the American culture and help lead people to a higher state of enlightenment. Over many hundreds of years Buddhism has transformed into many sects throughout history and is becoming one of the many fastest growing religion in America. (Pew, 31-33).
The Four Noble Truths are suffering exists, suffering has a cause, suffering can be cast away, and the truth of the path that frees us from suffering. Buddha taught that all that exists is fleeting and that lasting happiness cannot be found in samsara, the temporal world of change. Buddha also taught that the way to Nirvana is to eliminate desire, which is the cause of suffering. Desire is eliminated by the Middle Way of the Eightfold Path, which includes right views, aspirations, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and
The 4 Noble truths are the most basic teachings in Buddhism. The first of the 4 noble truths is that ordinary life brings about suffering. The second Noble truth tells us that the origin of suffering is attachment. In order to end suffering we have to stop craving. The third Noble truth is that suffering will end when your sense of craving is able to be overcome so you are able to achieve Nirvana. The forth Noble truth tells us about Eightfold Path and that if we follow it, we can end our suffering and achieve Nirvana. The Eighth Fold Pass features eight ideas that will help you achieve Nirvana if done correctly. The steps are “Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.” These beliefs are the rules that all Buddhists follow to some extent.
Buddhism is a major global religion with a complex history and system of beliefs. The founder of Buddhism is said to be Siddhartha Gautama, the son of an Indian warrior-king. Gautama led an extravagant life through early adulthood, reveling in the privileges of his social class. Gautama became bored with the indulgences of royal life so he wandered into the world searching for understanding. After encountering an old man, ill man, a corpse, and an ascetic, he was convinced that suffering lay at the end of all existence. He then became a monk, depriving himself of worldly possessions in the hope of comprehending the truth of the world around him. The culmination of his search came while meditating beneath a tree, where he finally understood how to be free from suffering, and ultimately, to achieve salvation. Gautama became known as the Buddha, meaning the “Enlightened One.” He spent the remainder of his life
It took him six years, but one morning Siddhartha awoke from a night of fighting an inner battle and had an “Awakening”. He began sharing his message of awakening which includes a middle path between extremes and self-denial and self-indulgence and finding truth and reality through self-introspection. His followers called him “the Buddha” which means “the Enlightened One” (Bickel and Jantz). His teachings included Four Noble Truths: Life is all about suffering, the cause of suffering is our desire and greed, there is a way to overcome our desire and greed, and lastly the path to happiness and relief of suffering is an eight step process. There are three qualities to maintain this enlightened status: wisdom, mental discipline and ethical conduct. Unlike most Western religions, there are not a lot of rules and regulations in the Buddhist religion, however there are three fundamental principles upon which the religion is based. Buddha which is the finding the path of enlightenment and teaching it to others, dharma described as the true ways of things and sangha which is a community of monks, nuns and laypeople who practice and promote the dharma. The central religious practice for Buddhists is the intense dedication to meditation. Meditation is the process of understanding the nature of reality, obtaining dharma and awakening
The Four Noble Truths contain the essence of the Buddha's teachings. It was these four principles that the Buddha came to understand during his meditation under the bodhi tree. The best way to explain the truth's are by using the doctors analogy, as the Buddha was viewed upon as a physician. In the first Noble Truth he diagnosed the problem and in the second the Buddha has identified its cause. The third Noble Truth is the realization that there is a cure. The fourth Noble Truth is the prescription, the way to get out of the suffering.
The four noble truths stem from the Buddhist religion. At the core, they're viewed as the foundational truths of Buddhism. 1. Suffering (Dukkha) In the Buddhist faith, Dukkha is known to be anything that's temporary and has an ending.
The religious Buddha was originally a prince, Siddhartha Gautama, born in 623 B.C. into a regular, royal life. For years, his father “protected” him and Siddhartha was shielded from the truth and harshness of the world. When he was older, he married Yasodhara and finally went out to the real world. When he did, Siddhartha found something that disturbed him: suffering. He found war, disease, and death. Finding this suffering, he desperately wanted to stop it. Siddhartha wanted to find a way to cure the suffering he saw, because how he saw it, there was no point in life if there was so much suffering. At age 29, Siddhartha set out into the world to find enlightenment. After a 6 year journey, after meditation, starvation, and torture, Siddhartha finally received his enlightenment. He was meditating under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya, India, and said he would not move until he gained perfect enlightenment. Devaputra Mara, demon of all demons brought an army of his kind to disturb Siddhartha during his meditation. When that did not work, he brought his three daughters to try and distract him. Siddhartha concentrated even harder that he already was, and successfully ignored the demons and girls. From this, Siddhartha had gotten so deep into his concentration, that he was able to receive the enlightenment he was looking for. The enlightenment was there is a state of suffering that had to be lived by everyone, until their death and ultimate release from the
Buddhism is the practice of finding peace within ones self by developing inner peace, wisdom and kindness. This practice dates back 2,500 years, and the founder is known as Buddha Shakyamuni. He was born a royal prince in a town called Lumbini; originally part of northern India but now makes part of Nepal. When Buddha was 29 years old, he retired form his royal life and left to the woods to fallow the spiritual life of meditation. He found a new way of life without materialistic needs by finding inner enlightenment. Buddha teaches how to get liberation from suffering form oneself, and how to attain enlightenment for the sake of others; his main goal was to give people permanent liberation form suffering by helping them find lasting peace or nirvana.
The four noble truths stated that suffering could not be escaped. Birth sickness, senility and death are all occasions of suffering. Suffering can be either physical or psychological. One that is living an un- enlightened life is living in suffering. A major cause of suffering is ignorance. Someone who is manifesting as ego grasping is living an un-enlightened life. There is one only way suffering can be ended and that 's through the eightfold path.” Oxtoby, Willard Gurdon, and Amir Hussain. World Religions: Western Traditions. Willard Gurdon Oxtoby & Amir
Buddhism is religion that is based off of peace and spirituality taught by the teachings of Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gotama. Many who follow its teachings believe Buddhism to be more of a way of life or lifestyle choice rather a religion. Buddha is not a god, but one man that taught his followers a path of enlightenment from his experiences and values. Buddha’s main teachings were the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths were teachings about suffering, pain, disease, happiness, loneliness, and aging. It explained why we as humans can overcome certain obstacles in our lives by looking at the more spiritual side of things such as “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own
Are you ready to meet the religion who charted a priceless, complete, commonsensical guide to true happiness? Today, large numbers of men and women from diverse backgrounds throughout our world are following the Teachings of the Buddha. So what is Buddhism? Buddhism is the religion of a spiritual path, followed into enlightenment through the conquering of one’s knowing desires. Buddhism takes you on a spiritual journey, to become one with the soul. It teaches one how to comprehend life’s mysteries, and to cope with them. Buddhism is not only an ancient belief, but its mythical origins, major practices and legal concepts are what build this 2,500 year old religion.
In the third he identified the four noble truths: the universality of suffering, the cause of suffering through selfish desire, the solution to suffering and the way to overcome suffering. This final point is called the Noble Eightfold Path, this being eight steps consisting of wisdom (right views, right intention) ethics (right speech, right action, right livelihood), mental discipline (right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration), which ultimately lead to liberation from the source of suffering.