Buddhist teachings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Buddhist teachings - Essay Example ing; 2) the desire as the reason for suffering; 3) nirvana as the cessation of suffering; and 4) the Eightfold Path which leads to the cessation of suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path was indicated by Buddha. It consists of eight rules and leads to the cessation of suffering and liberation from samsara. According to the median path it lies between the adherence to world pleasures and asceticism. 2. Theravada is the earliest school of Buddhism, which was formed by Buddha followers immediately after his death. They were trying to attain personal enlightenment by literal adherence to Gautama’s lifestyle and meditation practice. The knowledge of Theravada is recorded in canonical text Tipitaka and explained in large commentary literature. In the middle of the 5th century Theravadins divided into three groups, and in 100 years the most orthodox one established themselves in Sri Lanka. Mahayana emerged as an opposition to Theravada during first centuries B.C. and flourished in the beginning of the first millennium. The ideal of Mahayana is Bodhisattva – a person who is striving to enlightenment, but refuses nirvana for the liberation of all other beings from suffering. Mahayana argued that nirvana is available for everyone, both a layman and a monk, and everyone on his path to enlightenment may rely on bodhisattvas’ help. Vajrayana is Tantric Buddhist School which was originated in 3rd – 7th century in India and later was spread to Tibet. It embodies the idea of relative and absolute unity to the individual lives, claiming that each person has indestructible nature of the Buddha. The aim of Vajrayana is to bring mind into non-dual state, when each event expresses its unlimited potential. Its methods are designed for those who can see the reflection of own mind in his teacher, thus to adopt teacher’s non-personal qualities through the dedication and self-identification (Keown,