Buddhism: The Way of Enlightenment Exercise: Are you anxious about anything? Take a bit of time. Why are you anxious about it? Think about it. Afraid you won’t get something you want? Or afraid that something you have gotten will be taken away from you? So, what possible solutions do you have to get rid of this anxiety? 1. Generally, we try to get what we want to stop the anxiety. Or if afraid of losing something, we take steps to secure it. 2. You could also try to want different things. 3. Stop wanting. This is the buddhist strategy.

The prince who felt pain At his birth it was prophesied that he would either become a world ruler or a great sage. His father wanted the former, so he arranged for his son to be brought up without seeing the troubles of the world. The father did the sensible things. Since much of Indian religion comes about in the face of negative reality. The encounter with illness, poverty, old age and death which prompts so much of Indian religion. So he set him up in three palaces to insulate him from negative reality, so that he would not have much of a religious appetite.

“And this will happen to you O my prince” One day, Gautama ventured beyond the palace to inspect his kingdom. According to one tradition, Siddhartha Gautama was overcome with grief at what he saw: a frail old man a desperately ill man a corpse. a poor, ascetic holy person

Impressed by the peacefulness of the ascetic The prince decided immediately to give up his life of luxury and set out to discover for himself the secret of serenity in a world of pain. And, so, before his thirtieth birthday, Siddhartha Gautama left his privileged life, his beautiful wife and his newborn baby, to search for an answer to the troubling dilemma of suffering. Siddhartha Gautama had experienced both pleasure and deprivation. In his view, neither of these extremes led to true insight. Both were paths of ignorance, he insisted. As a last resort, he basically gives up and sits under a tree and eats enough to just maintain.

Clip Buddha and Ashoka Trimmed 5:20-6:29

Buddhism: Primary Texts?

Tripitaka (Pali Canon) Canon for Theravada Buddhists. Sutra Section: Teachings of the Buddha Vinaya: Rules of monastic discipline Abhidharma: Philosophical and doctrinal arguments

Complete life story of the Buddha Buddhacarita Complete life story of the Buddha

Lotus Sutra Discusses doctrines on the value of faith and the possibility of universal liberation.

Bardo Thodol Tibetan book of the dead Contains teachings about the after-death stage, prior to rebirth.