My Paper
4-1: An Investigation of Introductory Buddhism and Daoism Rabin Chaulagain HUMN218-Q3WW Franklin University Professor Omar Alomari 16th June, 2013
1. Review and answer the five questions below. Your answers must be typed, double-spaced, and grammatically correct. Each of the five answers should be approximately 3/4 to 1-1/2 pages in length and will be worth up to 10 points each. a. Discuss the lives of Siddhartha Gautama and Laozi as they relate to their ultimate religious views.
Answer: Siddhartha Gautama was the first Buddhist monk. Siddhartha was born into a very wealthy family in the Himalayan foothills in Nepal. A fortune teller predicted that he would either grow to be a great leader or a “great holy man”. But his parents wanted him to grow to indulge in their lavish lifestyle, so they constantly surrounded him in decadent luxuries in order to discourage him from pursuing a life as a holy man. One day, Siddhartha’s curiosity peaked and he escaped the palace. While exploring the outside world, he experienced direct view of how unhappy life could be. He witnessed old age, sickness, and death. Also, while he was following his curiosity, he saw a holy man who was happy and at peace. The sights of this man lead him to forsake his family and the palace to “become a wandering mendicant”.
When Siddhartha left the palace, he first studied under teachers who followed regimes of intense fasting and self-mortification. He rejected those teachers and realized that the only way to obtain salvation was through meditation, and that the meditation would only work if there were no physical distractions and discomforts. One night, after much meditation, Siddhartha finally broke free
1. Review and answer the five questions below. Your answers must be typed, double-spaced, and grammatically correct. Each of the five answers should be approximately 3/4 to 1-1/2 pages in length and will be worth up to 10 points each. a. Discuss the lives of Siddhartha Gautama and Laozi as they relate to their ultimate religious views.
Answer: Siddhartha Gautama was the first Buddhist monk. Siddhartha was born into a very wealthy family in the Himalayan foothills in Nepal. A fortune teller predicted that he would either grow to be a great leader or a “great holy man”. But his parents wanted him to grow to indulge in their lavish lifestyle, so they constantly surrounded him in decadent luxuries in order to discourage him from pursuing a life as a holy man. One day, Siddhartha’s curiosity peaked and he escaped the palace. While exploring the outside world, he experienced direct view of how unhappy life could be. He witnessed old age, sickness, and death. Also, while he was following his curiosity, he saw a holy man who was happy and at peace. The sights of this man lead him to forsake his family and the palace to “become a wandering mendicant”.
When Siddhartha left the palace, he first studied under teachers who followed regimes of intense fasting and self-mortification. He rejected those teachers and realized that the only way to obtain salvation was through meditation, and that the meditation would only work if there were no physical distractions and discomforts. One night, after much meditation, Siddhartha finally broke free
References: Fronsdal, G. (n.d). Rituals in buddhism. Retrieved from http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/articles/rituals-in- Laozi. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_madeinchina/2005-09/27/content_73460_2.htm Molly, M. (1942). Experiencing the world 's religion. (5th ed., pp. 124-234). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies. The dalai lama 's biography. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.savetibet.org/resource-center/dalai-lama/the-dalai-lamas-biography