Buddhism

Cheyenne Godfrey

Phil 2010

a.

1.Summarize the pivotal experiences that led the young Siddhartha Gautama to abandon his courtly life. Siddhartha disobeyed his father and left the royal grounds. This led him to see the suffering of ordinary life. He saw, what was called, the four passing sights. The suffering he saw made him question the human experience.

2.What, according to tradition, was Buddha’s final teaching before his death? What do you think it means? Trust your own insights, and use self-control to reach perfection and inner peace. I think what he means is trust what yourself is telling you and only use, in everyday life, what you need not what you want.

3.What are Buddhism’s “Three Jewels” and what role do they play? The Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. The Buddha is thought of as the ideal human that everyone should imitate. The Dharma is the sum total of Buddhist teachings about how to live properly and view the world. The Sangha is the community of monks and nuns.

4.Explain the “Three Marks of Reality.” Three marks of reality is a way of looking at the world. The three marks are constant change, a lack of permanent identity and the existence of suffering. Constant change meaning we look at the world the way it actually is. No permanent identity is abandoning egotism and the fixation with material things that identify people. Suffering is the realization that life can never be fully satisfying because of inescapable change.

5.Give two examples from everyday life that show the Buddhist notion of impermanence (Annica). How is the concept of Tathata related to impermanence? One example is our physical appearance changes, although you don’t see it right away, gradually it is changing. Another example is our views. Our views as a small child are usually different as an adult. Tathata represents the reality that is revealed in each moment. No moment is exactly the same. (constant change)

6.Contrast the Buddhist notion of no...