Buddhism Running head: BUDDHISM

Buddhism: The Sociological Relationship Harvey L. Ross III Soc. 121 DL01

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What inspired me to create my subject concept was a phrase taken from the class text, Social Science examines human behavior and attempts to objectively understand the social world. (Henslin, 2007) My fascination with this statement motivated me to find out more about influential sociologists. Some of the greatest minds of our time were people who longed for change. In order to catalytically begin change, they needed to answer the question, What is wrong with this picture? Be it political, sociological, or religious, each pivotal figure of his studied field started with a vision. The visionary I decided to research is Siddhartha Guatama. I hope to explain through this paper who Siddhartha was and why he was an important sociologist of his era. Siddhartha, son of King Shuddhodana and Queen Maya of the Shakya clan, was born April 8th, 563 BCE. (Wikipedia, n.d.) Before his birth, the queen had a strange dream, in which she saw a white elephant entering her womb through the right side of her chest. (The Teachings of Buddha, 1966) To her, this was an omen that a royal child was on the way. Shortly after Siddharthas birth and his mothers untimely death, a hermit visited the kingdom and predicted that the child would either grow to become a noble king or a great holy man. At first the king was pleased to hear this prophecy, but later he started to worry about the possibility of his only son leaving the palace to become a homeless recluse. (The Teachings of Buddha, 1966) King Shuddhodana kept the young prince busy learning lessons that would hopefully make him a great king rather than a holy man. But Siddhartha found no pleasure in the civil and military arts, as his mind was focused on other areas. (Eckel, 2002) One day as the young prince watched farmers plowing their fields, he noticed a bird descend to the ground to eat a worm which had been unearthed due to farm work. He sat down in the shade of a tree and thought

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about it, whispering to himself: Alas! Do all living creatures kill each other? (The Teachings of Buddha, 1966) The king, troubled by the haunting of the hermits prophecy, doubled his efforts to prepare his heir for the throne. The king surrounded the young prince with every imaginable earthly pleasure and shielded him from any negative encounters. The king even arranged a marriage to a neighboring princess which produced a grandson. Shuddhodanas plan worked for a time but it still could not deter the young prince from his holy calling. In his early thirties, Siddhartha became curious about life outside the palace and asked to go beyond its walls. (Eckel, 2002) He saw three sights in the palace garden that introduced him to human suffering: an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. (Eckel, 2002) These greatly upset Siddhartha, so much so that the young prince abdicated his throne and set off to seek enlightenment. Siddhartha first visited a hermit to study his ascetic practices. (The Teachings of Buddha, 1966) He practiced the techniques rigorously and almost died from intense fasting. After six long years, convinced that asceticism was an unproductive route to salvation, he finally gave up the practice, and eventually accepted food from women in villages he visited. Siddharthas wanderings eventually brought him to the foot of a bodhi tree, or the Tree of Awakening. (Eckel, 2002) He vowed to never leave the tree until he either died or attained enlightenment. This was a struggle, needless to say, for Siddhartha. He was desperate and filled with confusing thoughts, beleaguered by all lures of the devil, and dark shadows overhung his spirit. (Teachings of Buddha) He eventually triumphed over the adversities thrown his way and attained that which he sought, enlightenment. It was December 8 th, 528 BCE, when the prince turned pilgrim became a Buddha at age thirty-five. (The Teachings of Buddha, 1966)

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Now awakened, Buddha knew he was ready to help others reach his state of understanding. He realized complete awakening and insight into the nature and the cause of human suffering was ignorance of the steps necessary to eliminate it. (Wikipedia, n.d.) Buddha dedicated the rest of his life to train his disciples in his teachings. Buddha used his life lessons to create The Four Noble Truths, a guide to ending human suffering: 1. The Truth of Suffering (Dukkha): "The world is full of suffering. Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, sickness and death are sufferings. To meet a man whom one hates is suffering, to be separated from a beloved one is suffering, to be vainly struggling to satisfy ones needs is suffering. In fact, life that is not free from desire and passion is always involved with distress." (The Teachings of Buddha, 1966) 2. Cause of Suffering (Samudaya): "The cause of human suffering is undoubtedly found in the thirsts of the physical body and in the illusions of worldly passion. If these thirsts and illusions are traced to their source, they are found to be rooted in the intense desires of physical instincts. Thus, desire, having a strong will-to-live as its basis, seeks that which it feels desirable, even if it is sometimes death." (The Teachings of Buddha, 1966) 3. Cessation of Suffering (Nirodha): "If desire, which lies at the root of all human passion, can be removed, then passion will die out and all human suffering will be ended." (The Teachings of Buddha, 1966) 4. The Way (Mrga) the Cessation to the Cause of Suffering: "In order to enter into a state where there is no desire and no suffering, one must follow a certain Path. The stages of this Noble Eightfold Path are: Right View, Right Thought,

Buddhism Right Speech, Right Behavior, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. (The Teachings of Buddha, 1966)

Now that you have a basic understanding of the man and his teachings, Ill tie some of this information into our class reading. Upon dissecting this story, one can see many comparisons that come into play: the kings norms, the positive sanctions the prince received for abiding the kings rules, and how the princes personal values shaped the type of man he would become. It was also interesting to think about what theoretical perspective Siddhartha would cling to. In my opinion, he chose symbolic interactionism! Symbols were so important in Buddhas enlightenment process; take, for example, the old man, the sick man, and the corpse. He attached the meaning of suffering to these groups of people. The self is a changing symbol: As we interact with others we constantly adjust our views of who we are based on how we interpret the reaction of others. (Henslin, 2007) Another concept to relate to this story of Buddhism is comparing Siddharthas life while growing up to Piagets theory of Development of Reasoning. We dont really see every stage in this paper, but it is safe to assume that he progressed through these stages: the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete, and formal operational stages. Interestingly, its amazing that an individual during that era could have honed his reasoning skills simply through social interaction. Lastly, the sociological research model relates to how Buddha created his guide to end suffering, The Four Truths and The Eightfold Path. First, his objective was to find out why people suffered; thus, he had to observe suffering. He didnt really have literature to examine, but he did, however, take the time to learn lessons from ascetics and monks. He understood

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suffering was wrong and wanted to find a way to end it. Next, Buddha had to make a decision on what process would work for his cause. Instead of employing intense ascetics or meditation, he chose a happy medium he used both! His years of wandering were used to collect data, and he analyzed this data via his meditation beneath the Tree of Awakening. Finally, once he had finished his research, he shared it with others for their benefit. To conclude, my readings have led me to believe that sociology is simply psychological study on a social level. When one views problems in society, he can choose to understand why it is occurring, or do nothing. No matter what perspective one takes -- conflict theory, functional analysis, or, my personal favorite, social interactionism a sociologists goal is understanding social development. Ive learned that making a change requires time and effort to realize a problem, study it, and use your gathered statistics to better mankind. If you can pardon the pun, this course has definitely been an enlightening experience for me!

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Work Cited

Eckel, M. (2002). Buddhism. Oxford University Press The Teachings of Buddha. (1966). Tokyo, Japan: Society for the Promotion of Buddhism Henslin, J. (2007). Sociology: A Down-to-Earth-Approach. Pearson: Allyn & Bacon Wikipedia. (n.d.). Gautama Buddha. Retrieved September 30, 2008. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha#cite_note-1