Evan Kluesner Philosophy Buddha

The infamous Buddha, the golden statue of the bald, fat man who always has a big smile on his face, and it said to give good luck if you rub the belly of it. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) was actually a frail, skinny wandering traveler before he became known as the Buddha. The statue is depicted as a fat man in the same sense Santa Claus carries around his bag of presents. It symbolizes the practice of giving and compassion. Its also said that upon giving, he takes in and stomachs all of your unhappiness and woes. Siddhartha Gautama didnt just wake up one day and decide that he wanted to live a life free of materialistic desires and follow the path to the final nirvana though. As its told, he originally grew up with all that one could possibly desire in terms of wealth, women, and fame. At the age of 29, he ventured out of his castle and saw a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. He realized that all the wealth, fame, and fortune one could acquire in a lifetime is, in turn, not permanent, and why work hard for something you would eventually lose and gain nothing from in a different lifetime. So he sought a new lifestyle, and began his spiritual journey of avoiding all materialistic desires and to walk the path to achieve the ultimate nirvana, final and complete satisfaction of the soul. Depravation of food and water and self-mortification in general was an act of repaying Siddharthas sins during his journey. After nearly starving and exhausting himself to death, a

village girl mistakenly saw him as a spirit and gave him some small hand-outs. It was enough to keep him alive, and he then sat under the Bodhi Tree and vowed not to move until he reached a state of higher enlightenment. After a long 49 days of deep meditation, then, its said, he reached that new level and was considered a Buddha. Now, from an epistemological point of view, the differences between the beliefs of the Buddhist religion and Hinduism are quite vague. Buddhism is actually commonly mistaken for Hinduism because both have very similar beliefs and teachings. From an ethical point of view, the noble eightfold path, Buddhas only way of reaching the final nirvana, is a little farfetched. To say that one has to live one way and only one way to reach the only state of happiness that will truly satisfy your soul is almost completely contradicting to the entire religion itself. Buddhism teaches acceptance and free will, but it looks as if Buddha wants you to live his way of life, just like Jesus Christ wanted you to live a perfect Christian life. The Buddhist religions final goal is complete nirvana for the soul, and the only way to reach it is how Buddha says one can reach it. Buddha never actually left any writing behind, so all his stories and his life is according to his autobiographies. All religions must have some end point or final goal in mind or followers might lose faith. Followers lose faith, and the entire religion begins to crumble. Buddha was very persistent in pushing his teachings because he wanted to enlighten the rest of the world. From an outside standpoint, Buddhism is just like every other religion, simply put, pushing for some sort of final destination to where your soul is content. So because, according to stories and myths, he became a Buddha and reached a higher state of enlightenment, his way of living was the right way of

living. If you didnt follow the noble eightfold path, you would be stuck and your soul would be forever unsatisfied.