what do you think of my buddhism paper?
DBQ #3
Alli Walters
A2
“Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment”. These are the words of Gautama Buddha (563 BCE to 483 BCE), one of the greatest spiritual pioneers and the founder of the religion, Buddhism. Buddhism is a philosophical religion that focuses on simplicity. It was founded in India around 220 C.E. and it exists all over the world but, primarily dominates China and many other Asian countries. It is ranked the 6th largest religion in the world and is practiced by 376 million people.
Buddhism is primarily a spiritual philosophy and system of ethics, the goal of the faith is to achieve “Nirvana”. Nirvana was first established by a Chinese philosopher, Zhi Dun in 350 C.E. He believed that if he were to follow The Four Noble Truths, when his soul moved on he would become one with Buddha, be enlightened, and enter Nirvana. The Four Noble Truths is the understanding of sorrow, how it arises and how to overcome it. There are four other essential concepts in living Buddhist; the Eightfold Path, Three Characteristics of Existence, Hindrances, and Factors of Enlightenment. Each represent the path to Nirvana. The Eightfold Path teaches you how to free yourself from suffering and sorrow with, wisdom, morality, and meditation. The Characteristics of Existence are transience, sorrow, and selflessness. Hindrances are sensuous lust, aversion and ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and skeptical doubt. Ways to overcome Hindrances are with Factors of Enlightenment which are mindfulness, investigation, energy, rapture, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity.
Confucius was also a spiritual pioneer but, he spread his teachings throughout China. It is a debatable as a religion because it has no specific view on afterlife and no supreme being. Many wonder why he did not practice the teachings of Gautama Buddha, and that is because it had not yet been introduced to China. During the time Confucius was alive Buddhist missionaries had not made it to that side of Asia. It wasn’t until at least two hundred years later after the death of Confucius. Although Buddhism refrained from attachment to anything including other people, Confucius wanted you to be closer to your family. He wanted you to have a wife and kids and wanted you to love people, unlike Buddhism. Once the people realized this some agreed and became monk and others deprecated the religion. Many looked past some aspects of the religion even though the entire faith of the religion was based upon following the Buddhist way. Confucianism was a practiced way to live although it may have been thought of as a religion it was and is not. People should have understood that and stuck to their “beliefs” before they went off and started discriminating Buddhism before giving it a chance. They should have realized that it has everything Confucianism does not.
In 819 C.E. people complained that since Buddhism had not existed in China since “ancient times” and Gautama did not wear the appropriate attire for their “so called” culture, it shouldn’t be allowed to influence their people. Although Buddhism had a slight different point of view than Confucianism the people of The Tang Emperor 845 C.E. believed that too many people were converting. They came to a conclusion that Buddhism was tearing down the empire with its monks and temples. Too many people were converting everyday and leaving their families for the teachings in the temples. This was dishonor and disrespect in their culture, and both were highly disapproved of. In the masses it caused hunger and death in general. People expected everything to be done for them in the temples but, so many were converting, no one was left to perform the duties that allowed them this luxury. As Buddhism was infecting the country it also spread a new sense of peace with Confucianism and was thought of as beautiful. Many Chinese started converting, and more and more of the population thought of both beliefs as a respected point of view and the discrimination slowly descended.
As the Buddhist beliefs traveled around China and other parts of Asia it started to become the dominate religion and eventually took over China. Gautama Buddha may have died but, his beliefs lived on and are still living to this day. Despite the controversy Buddhism survived and many people are loyal to the religious beliefs. “Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment”. The Buddha will forever live, and his culture will just keep growing.