Masters and Gautama: A Synthesis of Buddhist Philosophy :: Buddhism Buddhist Philosophy Papers

Masters and Gautama A tax deduction of Buddhist PhilosophyRegardless of who we ar or where we come from, we are unlucky enough to be subject to a world consisting of modifiers, pre-established companionable elements, systems of opinion and belief, which, though we whitethorn be unaware of them while they mildew their magic on us, ultimately serve to wrap us in a prison of thought. At the same time, there exist modifiers which may serve to free us. Depending on the right conditions, the time, we can be happy enough to see through the shroud pul lead over our head at birth, to the true explanation of why were here, the truth of our existence. Its for this condition that Ive chosen to bring together two articles which, in their knowledge way, relate the story of just such an occurrence- where a person comes to the actualization that the world is absolutely different than what their influences in life have led them to think of it as. The first is an excerpt from a playscript, whi ch acquaints us with the history of the Buddha, his picture show and echtization of the vagaries of life, and his subsequent pursuit of enlightenment thereafter. The second is the story of a man on death row in San Quentin prison who, truly comparatively, through the study of meditation and spiritualism, raises his perception of life to a brand-new level and begins to see through his own veil of thought, recognizing the horrible deceit of his past.These two texts clearly illustrate the potential every person has to potpourri themselves, their lives, by simply turning around and evaluating the way they see and defend the world. Together they demonstrate how anyone can rise over the problems of their past, reject what theyve bountiful accustomed to thinking of as normal, in an effort to better themselves.From the book The Worlds Religions, the excerpt Buddhism by Huston Smith gives us an informative, only summarized look, into the life of a man named Siddhartha Gautama. Born o f a king into a life of luxury, in what is now Nepal around 563 B.C., Gautama was prophesized to be the world saviour(par. 9), the one who would see the truth of existence and eventually lead stack from Brahmanism and the vagaries of life. This story has been told by many authors countless times, there is no real unique quality in Hustons telling, but this version of the narrative, with its clarity and straightforwardness, makes it a perfect selection to use for the telling of the Buddhas past.