Essay --

e Rush Professor Amita Topics in History: Buddhism December 16, 2013 â€Å"Finding Oneself in a Suffering Based World† ACADEMIC INTEGRITY PLEDGE On my honor, I have neither received nor given any unauthorized assistance on this examination (assignment). ___________Paije Rush_______ Print Name ____________Paije Rush______ Signature (Print Name again on e-submission) __________December 17, 2013________ Date All of our problems and suffering originate from confused negatives states of mind and all happiness and good fortunes derive from peaceful and positive states of mind. In this course, we have learned about the Buddha, the Dharma, The Four Noble Truths, the cause and effect of suffering in one’s life. In this course I have learned to creatively and critically analyze literary materials learned through the Buddha’s insights from over 2,000 years ago. I was taught methods for gradually overcoming negative minds such as anger to develop minds with love compassion and wisdom, attributes that are obtained through experience. Topics in History of Buddhism has taught me that Buddhism is a religion of its own that you learn through practice and experience rather than a belief. This idea is a little complicated for some to grasp. In our culture, â€Å"religion† is a better system and â€Å"faith† is one’s way of accepting those beliefs. The Buddha has taught us to accept no teachings without testing them. Instead of believing in teachings one should practice the teachings to realize the truth of them. In Buddhism there are three general levels of the communication. There is the enlightened level, the intellectual level, and the common level. Within these three levels enforces the learning and practicing of the Buddha’s teachings. With le... ...ous life changes. They went from having extremely poor behavior to influencing others to be involved in such an inspirational journey. Overall, from this course I have obtained the notion that overcoming suffering truly depends on the person and their dedication to wanting to free themselves of suffering, pain, violence, and fear to live a liberated life. As long as we are enveloped in ignorance, one’s thought of self, the world, and anything else is just a theory until proven to be true. One must grasp the idea that extinction of desire, Nirvana, and following the steps on the path to liberation is the ultimate goal of a suffer-free life. Once one can successfully cultivate one’s mind so that they are free from the delusion of â€Å"I† and the craving for the wrong type of pleasures, one can then see oneself for themselves and the have a clear understanding of reality.