World Religion - Buddhism

             Buddhism believes that humans live in a realm of suffering due to their craving for material and superficial things. Buddhist believe that if humans could let go of their desires, they could achieve Nirvana and break the chain of karma. "Desire, then, is the vulnerable point at which the circle can be broken" (Ellwood, 1999). In able to achieve Nirvana, humans have to pull back the senses from the attachments they have to their desires, and this can only be achieved through meditation and concentration. This is considered "the last and culminating point of the Eightfold Path, which focuses one's awareness on something other than the objects of desire and so lets the senses quiet down from burning for things they can never really have" (Ellwood, 1999). This idea leads us to the first Noble Truth, which states that all life is suffering due to the second Noble Truth. The second Noble Truth explains that "the reason for this sense of inadequacy in ordinary life is that we are alw!
             ays trying to cling to things – objects, persons, ideas, experiences – that are partial and not permanent, and so keep us in anxiety lest we lose them, as sooner or later we shall" (Ellwood, 1999). This is the basic worldview of the Buddhist religion, which is divided into two major branches: Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism.
             The Theravada Buddhism is most widespread in Sri Lanka, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, and it claims to perpetuate the true teachings and practices of the Buddha. The Theravada school traces its descent from the original samgha that first followed the Buddha. Its rule of scripture consists of the Tipitaka, the first great resume of Buddhist writings and it lends towards doctrinal conservatism. Because of this, it has been given the negative name Hinayana, Sanskrit for "Lesser Vehicle" by its rivals, who call their own tradition Mahayana or "Greater Vehicle". The goal of the Theravadin, ...

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