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Course: World history > Unit 2
Lesson 14: Early BuddhismCore spiritual ideas of Buddhism
Core spiritual ideas of Buddhism by way of comparison with ideas from the Hindu Upanishads.
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- How is Buddha viewed in Hinduism?(7 votes)
- Many Hindus view Buddha as another incarnation of Vishnu.(10 votes)
- What are the Four Noble Truths?(2 votes)
- The Four Noble Truths are four statements considered to be one of the most important teachings of Buddhism.
1) Suffering exists and is a fundamental part of life
2) Desire and longing are the root cause of this suffering
3) If you let go of these desires/longings, you are free from the attached suffering
4) You can follow a path that will help you let go of these desires/longings (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path)
These truths summarize a main argument of Buddhism. Desires keep us from being enlightened, at which point we will not be affected by suffering. This can be done by ending the desires and following that path.(5 votes)
- Why do Buddhists believe they need escape from something? Not sure that I follow that.(2 votes)
- Buddhists mean that (during mediation) they need to "escape" from the world, like busy life, problems, etc. So kind of like (for example), you might listen to music to relax and forget about your worries and daily issues. I hope this answer helped!(5 votes)
- So according to Buddhism, you must strive to spontaneously cease to exist on this plane of reality and assimilate with the universe? Or am I missing something here?(3 votes)
- Getting all of Buddhism, which is one of the great religions of the world and has a history longer than 2000 years all into one sentence there is, I think, missing more than just something. You've missed a LOT.(0 votes)
- At, I don't really get that point clear. Nirvana's bliss? Uhm, not being yourself's bliss? I think I kinda like me even though there are some things I would gladly do away with but that was quite absolute: "non-self". All I'm asking is if it means doing away with our weaknesses or doing away with the complete being. Hope it's the former. 3:45(0 votes)
- No, it is not like heaven. This is a very hard concepts to grasp is you are not familiar with eastern philosophy. However, it means to burn out. Because it stops you from repeating the cycle of life and death. It is true liberation. A cessation of suffering.(3 votes)
- I saw red in electrical(1 vote)
- what is fortnite battlepass?(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] What I'd
like to do in this video is explore the core
spiritual ideas of Buddhism. And we're going to do it relative to the core spiritual ideas of Hinduism as described in the Upanishads. One, because there are
significant parallels and also because Buddha and Buddhism grew out of a Hindu tradition. So in both belief systems,
there's this notion that the reality that we
are in is a quasi illusion. In the Upanishads it's described as Maya. That there's a true self. That there's this atman,
which is of the same substance as the true nature of reality, of Brahman. That all things are actually connected. This notion of the individual
is just an illusion and it's illusion given
to us by this Maya. And the Maya isn't just
our sensory perception, it's even our notions of ego and possibly even
time-space and causality. In Buddhism, there is a parallel notion. That all of what we consider to be reality is just happening in our mind. There isn't anything more real than that. And we are subject to this reality because of our constant craving for that which is impermanent. This craving is called Trishna,
which is the Sanskrit word, or Tanha, which is the Pali
word, the language of Buddha. Now because of this craving, it leads to this constant suffering, this Dhukka, which is really this reality that we are subjecting ourselves to. Now in either case, we take action and that action leads to consequences. And so in both traditions,
we have this notion of Karma. And that the Karma, the
actions with consequences, lead to further actions and consequences, not just in this life,
but in future realities, in whatever next Maya or reality or life that we take on. And this constant cycle
of birth and rebirth is referred to as Samsara
in both of the traditions. So you see this commonality. Now, in Hinduism there's this idea of trying to escape from
Samsara through meditation, by being able to see through the Maya and merge your atman with
Brahman, seeing that all are one. In Buddhism, there is a similar idea. Through meditation, through
following the eightfold path, by recognizing the Four Noble Truths you should escape from this
craving of impermanent things. And in either tradition as you do that, you escape from the Samsara. And when you escape from the Samsara and this cycle of Karma
leading to more and more and the Maya and the Dhukka disappear, in Hinduism the term is Moksha, you have freed yourself from this cycle. In Buddhism, the Sanskrit
word is actually Nirvana, which literally means blown out, but it's merging with the emptiness. So even though officially,
a Hindu might say, through the Moksha your atman is merging with the ultimate reality of Brahman, while in Buddhism, when
you achieve Nirvana, you have recognized your nonself and it has merged with the emptiness, with the non-being. Now there is debate. Is Buddhism saying that
you should try to achieve a state of non-existence? Many people would disagree. They would say Nirvana is
actually the ultimate bliss, to recognize your nonself. Some would say, hey this is just a matter of what words you use. In either case, you are recognizing that there isn't the individual, that you are merging
with the true reality. That you are merging with the universe, whether you consider the
universe to be Brahman or whether you consider the
universe to be emptiness. But in either tradition, this is viewed as a state of release, as a state of ultimate bliss and something that you should try to get to through practice.