Buddhism A History
For over 2000 years Buddhism has existed as an organized religion. Byreligion I mean that it has a concept of the profane, the sacred, andapproaches to the sacred. It has been established in India, China, Japan andOther eastern cultures for almost 2000 years and has gained a strong foothold inNorth America and Europe in the past few centuries. However, one might ask;What fate would Buddhism face had Siddartha Guatama been born in modern times;or more specifically in modern day North America? Would his new foundenlightenment be accepted now, as it was thousands of years ago? Would it beshunned by society as another "cult" movement? What conflicts or similaritieswould it find with modern science; physics in particular? The answers to thesequestions are the aim of this paper, as well as a deeper understanding of modern Although I will stick with traditional ideas raised by Buddhism, onedetail in the story of Siddartha Guatama must be addressed in order for it to berelevant to the main question being asked: What obstacles would SiddarthaGuatama face had he been born in modern day North America. Primarily, it mustbe recognized that rather than being born into the Hindu religion (which in
These scientists recognized flaws inthe classical Newtonian view of the universe. " Shiki soku zeku indicates the idea that all things . However, in the beginning of the 20th century, new developmentsin physics began to shake the framework of the scientific world. However, if it wereto overcome these obstacles it is quite probable that it would become a deeplyrooted religion in North America due to the likely support it would gain fromthe scientific community. This same line ofthought can be found in traditional Newtonian Mechanics in which the observer ofan event is never taken into account when describing the event. Thus, by applying the obstacles faced by modern physicists, it easy tosee how a more close-minded western way of thought would be skeptical ofSiddartha's new philosophy. Hence from theJacobs 2outset, although in the traditional story Siddartha faced a conflict with hisfather (Ludwig 137), in the North American scenario the conflict would have beenheightened by the fact that his search for enlightenment was not even closelysimilar to the Christian faith. As stated earlier, there are manyparallels that can be drawn between Buddhism and modern physics. Throughpersonal experience it is my interest in modern physics that piqued my interestJacobs 6in Eastern Mysticism. This in itself presents the first obstacle, that being thatChristianity is a strictly monotheistic and non-mystical faith. are produced by ku, and therefore ku is identical with shiki(Niwano 207). Currently such religiousmovements as the Jehovah's Witness, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter DaySaints, and the Black Muslims - established and relevant as they are - face thistype of obstacle (Shupe 7).
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Acceptance Essays
