Comparative Religion: Life of Buddha, Enlightenment & Spiritual Life

This essay provides an overview of the life of Siddhartha Gautama, known as Buddha, and his significant contributions to Buddhism. It delves into his early life of affluence, his encounter with suffering, and his subsequent quest for enlightenment. The essay examines Buddha's teachings, including the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, which guide followers towards nirvana, the ultimate goal of Buddhism. It also explores the concepts of Dharma and Karma, which influence the Buddhist understanding of peace and justice. Furthermore, the essay highlights the importance of reflective learning and individual experiences in shaping the spiritual lives of Buddhist practitioners, emphasizing the connection between personal beliefs and challenges in the pursuit of enlightenment. The essay concludes by asserting that through commitment to the path of Buddhism, freedom, and illumination can be achieved by expanding religious experience and conquering pressure and nervousness.

Running head: COMPARATIVE RELIGION
Comparative Religion
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Introduction
Buddha means the enlightened one or the aroused. It is the title that is bestowed to
Siddhartha Gautama. It is alleged that Buddha stayed in Nepal between 6th & 4th centuries. At
that era, Buddha tried various lessons but could not get any that was satisfactory to him. He
found the answers to what he was seeking one night when he was meditating and accomplished
his awareness. That is the reason he became Buddha. He became a pillar, a role model, and a
foundation of the Buddhist religion and to the faithful. Clarification, individual experiences,
knowledge as well as communal learning are the most important part of the religion (Lomas,
2017). They assist in shaping individual’s experiences as they practice their religions. This study
will briefly evaluate or examine the life of Buddha and the contributions his life has made to
Buddhism. Similarly, this study will also examine enlightenment and the way to it, how
reflective learning attached with individual knowledge directs the spiritual lives of the Buddhist
faithful.
Buddha was born of a king, his father was a king, and therefore that means he was from a
royal family. Affluence and privacy feature his personal life. He ventured out of seclusion
immediately got into his twenties and moved out of the palace where he was confronted with a
harsh part of human life full suffering. In his daily routine walk, he met an old man. Consequent
journeys resulted in a diseased individual and a corpse, with all these experiences; he abandoned
affluence and the solace life at the palace and took life as a Spartan (Taylor, 2018). He developed
a desire to know more concerning individual tribulations and look for ways to find ways to
conquer fear in him. When he left the palace, his immediate family did not accompany him; he
moved away leaving both his wife and son at home. More than a few years came to pass and the
clarification he was in quest of did come to him. However, he amplified the energy in his search

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for the answers. As a result, he endured more pain and suffering. All these did not work for him,
and he decided to abandon that life and seek another route in life.
After reaching enlightenment, Buddha got the answers to why human beings are
suffering, and this is referred to as the dukkha in the scripts (Ariyabuddhiphongs, 2014). Based
on his understandings, he founded the four noble truths concerning suffering, a crucial concept in
the religion’s teachings. In these teachings, we find reasons why everything is suffering.
The ultimate objective of Buddhism is nirvana. Buddha reached got to this stage during
his enlightenment period, and once an individual has gotten into this stage, rebirth is dealt away
with, it is finished. Spiritual awakening is reached through consideration, moral living and
observing the eight-fold route of understanding. Being stable in mind and selecting the precise
actions and conducts enable a good moral upbringing. This will ensure that an individual does
get attracted to dishonesty or destruction to others. A good case in point of nirvana would be for
a personal to contemplate, depicting on definite awareness, and individual-reflecting to release
oneself from observations of insufficiency. As described by Kosaka (2010), Eight-Fold is
described that the Buddha trained as a way of freedom from the impermanence and anguish of
reality, and the objects would be subsist a kind life full of inner peace with objectives.
Other basis of morality in Buddism is provided by Dharma and karma. In other context,
they also influence Buddhism concept of peace and justice. The two forms the cosmic route that
directs the soul through re-embodiment and toward the definitive goal of enlightenment. On the
pilgrimage life of the monks and the wondrous, pilgrimage comes out as an essential motif in a
wide range. It takes place in three ways that leads to a sacred location. In life, it is always
important for an individual to a spiritual step in a bid to explore and gain new knowledge and

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experience that helps in life. The pilgrimage is a true reflection of what human beings has to do
to stay spiritually informed.
In conclusion, a self-reflection is required by the reflective learning in religion as well as
the procedure of one-self learning in regards to what an individual have not been taught. The
connection between individual beliefs and challenges may just positively affect me. Reflection
again can be considered as premeditated thinking concerning action with regards to it
development. Differences in purpose and viewpoints of faith can replicate in content thus
construct differences in our religious way of life. A religious assertion can either be a personal
psychological activity that religious occurrence is acknowledged with, for instance, Buddha and
his illumination period (Hickman, 2016). Through committed to the path of Buddhism, freedom,
and illumination come. The power or the urge is polluted actions that are encouraged by illusion,
and the hub is the self-holding lack of knowledge. The principle of Buddhism enables an
individual to expand the religious experience, ponder, and to conquer pressure and nervousness
(Borchert, 2014). Our issues and anguish are from the perplexed and adverse state of minds.
Buddha trained techniques to improve affirmative minds in love, intelligence, and kindness.

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List of references
Ariyabuddhiphongs, V. (2014). Anger concepts and anger reduction method in Theravada
Buddhism. Spirituality In Clinical Practice, 1(1), 56-66. doi:10.1037/scp0000003
Borchert, T. (2014). The Buddha's Precepts on Respecting Other Races and Religions? Thinking
about the Relationship of Ethnicity and Theravada Buddhism. SOJOURN: Journal Of
Social Issues In Southeast Asia, 29(3), 591-626. doi:10.1355/sj29-3c
Hickman, L. l. (2016). What We Can Teach When We Teach (About) Religion. Education &
Culture, 32(2), 4-17
Kosaka, T. (2010). Listening to the Buddha's Own Words: Direct Participation as a Principle of
the Teachings of the Buddha. China Media Research, 6(3), 94-102.
Lomas, T. (2017). Recontextualizing mindfulness: Theravada Buddhist perspectives on the
ethical and spiritual dimensions of awareness. Psychology Of Religion And Spirituality,
9(2), 209-219. doi:10.1037/rel0000080
Taylor, K. W. (2018). What Lies Behind the Earliest Story of Buddhism in Ancient Vietnam?.
Journal Of Asian Studies, 77(1), 107-122. doi:10.1017/S0021911817000985