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Need help with an interview please.
Hello. My name is Gregory Saier and I am a student at Axia College Online. I frequent a few online forums and do not want to overstep my boundaries by posting something you would deem unacceptable, although I have looked through the TOS and found nothing to make me think it would be.
I am currently taking a humanities course in college called Religions of the World. I am required in this class to travel to a place of worship and interview a person of a faith other than my own. (I am Roman Catholic) This is for my final paper in the class.
Unfortunately I am unable to venture out very readily as I am partially incapacitated by multiple sclerosis, a disease of the nervous system that impairs some of my abilities and makes it difficult for me to get around. Because of this, I have been allowed some accommodations with an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) counselor, so I have been told my teacher will accept an online interview in lieu of a physical one. If you like, you can check out my Facebook page so I can show you I am a real-life human being. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=1297970379&ref=name
For my project, I have chosen the Buddhist religion because I have always been fascinated with Eastern culture and traditions, and I would like to become more familiar with the spiritual aspect of this region. I have written 10 questions that I am hoping perhaps somebody would be kind enough to answer. The answers can be as long or as short as you wish, but the more content the better, I suppose.
This is to be used for nothing more than my own academic endeavor. I do not have to include your name in my paper, but it would be nice if you could allow me to do so. I will not edit the content of your answers in any way.
You can respond in the thread, or if you feel more comfortable, you can send me a private message. I have subscribed so I will know when you have. Thank you very much for your time, and I hope to hear from somebody soon. Here are my questions-
1. Who was the Buddha?
2. What is the overall idea of Buddhism?
3. So is Buddhism more of a religion or a philosophy?
4. Are there different types of Buddhism?
5. What are the Four Noble Truths?
6. What is Nirvana?
7. Why are souls reborn?
8. How do monks live and what is their purpose?
9. Why is meditation so important?
10. What is the greatest lesson or lessons that non-Buddhists can learn for Buddhism?
I am currently taking a humanities course in college called Religions of the World. I am required in this class to travel to a place of worship and interview a person of a faith other than my own. (I am Roman Catholic) This is for my final paper in the class.
Unfortunately I am unable to venture out very readily as I am partially incapacitated by multiple sclerosis, a disease of the nervous system that impairs some of my abilities and makes it difficult for me to get around. Because of this, I have been allowed some accommodations with an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) counselor, so I have been told my teacher will accept an online interview in lieu of a physical one. If you like, you can check out my Facebook page so I can show you I am a real-life human being. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=1297970379&ref=name
For my project, I have chosen the Buddhist religion because I have always been fascinated with Eastern culture and traditions, and I would like to become more familiar with the spiritual aspect of this region. I have written 10 questions that I am hoping perhaps somebody would be kind enough to answer. The answers can be as long or as short as you wish, but the more content the better, I suppose.
This is to be used for nothing more than my own academic endeavor. I do not have to include your name in my paper, but it would be nice if you could allow me to do so. I will not edit the content of your answers in any way.
You can respond in the thread, or if you feel more comfortable, you can send me a private message. I have subscribed so I will know when you have. Thank you very much for your time, and I hope to hear from somebody soon. Here are my questions-
1. Who was the Buddha?
2. What is the overall idea of Buddhism?
3. So is Buddhism more of a religion or a philosophy?
4. Are there different types of Buddhism?
5. What are the Four Noble Truths?
6. What is Nirvana?
7. Why are souls reborn?
8. How do monks live and what is their purpose?
9. Why is meditation so important?
10. What is the greatest lesson or lessons that non-Buddhists can learn for Buddhism?
0
Comments
2. Refer to the Raelians for a colourful presentation.
3. Both and neither; depends on the mood.
4. Not at all. It's all black-and-white really.
5. Life is weird. The origin of life is even more strange. The cessation of this revolves around a military complex. Refer to the eightfold path and be sure your medically insured.
6. Royal jelly.
7. Because they're smart like moths and know its better to 'go into light'.
8. Its none of everyones business apparently - eh!?
9. Its cheaper than grass.
10. Please rephrase the question, it isn't weird enough.
Hope that helps, and good luck.
First of all, welcome!
And now: VERY IMPORTANT:
Please do not think that we are all as flippant as suggested by Ypip's reply. Buddhism has absolutely nothing to do with craziness like the Raelians. Using those replies will be an almost dead cert to fail any interview!
The questions that you ask are pretty fundamental and, I am sure, you have done some research of your own. There are all sorts of resources on the Net and, possibly, in your local library. I would advise that you test out the answers that you get here to mmake sure that they are not as off-the-wall as the above.
1. The Buddha to whom you refer is also known as the Historical Buddha or the Shakyamuni Buddha. The word 'Buddha' is not a name it is a descripition, meaning Awakened One. Legend tells us that he was a Northern Indian prince who, after a protected childhood and youth, set out to discover the answer to why humans suffer sickness, old age and death. After trying different methods, he sat under a tree and vowed to sit there until he had his answer. When he got up, he had 'seen' the 'why', the 'wherefore' and the way out. He spent the rest of his life - some 45 years - teaching this.
2. and 5. The heart of the teaching, the first and last lesson that the Buddha taught, is in the Four Noble Truths:
The first is that we suffer in life. Life can be stresful and unsatisfactory. All that is born will die and, in between those events, will experience suffering from time to time.
The second Truth is that we create our own suffering by clinging on to what is transitory and lacking in true satisfaction. As someone has said: "Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional".
This leads us to the Third Trith: there is a way bout. We are not 'condemned' to suffer.
And the Fourth Truth shows us the "how" of the way out: the Noble Eightfold Path.
3. The discussion as to whether Buddhism is a philosophy or a religion is an old one and has still not been resolved. It is philosophy for some and religious in nature for others. Horse for courses.
4.. There are many different types of Buddhism. They are usually divided into two main groups which are now called Theravada and Mahayana. I suggest that you look those up. The point, for us, is that the Buddha's message has been added to and transformed over the 2500 years and depending on the culture in which it has flourished.
6. & 7. I shall leave those to others to reply.
8. Plazang, a member here, is a monk and is best placed to speak for this.
9. & 10. Meditation is a practice which enables us to 'see' beyond the entanglements of our pain and excitement and general distraction.
Once 'seen', this understnding becomes the lesson.
Buddhism is both simple and complex. I hope that these sketchy answers will give you clues to new areas of research.
I shall certainly visit your Facebook page and am available by PM, IM, email and Skype if you think I could be helpful.
You two must be on the same page, because your answers were similar in some respects. Thank you very much for your input as I am beginning to get very interested in this subject, and not merely for academic reasons. As I stated before, I am not the greatest of shape due to my MS, so perhaps there may be a way to turn my very hardship into something that can be both useful and beautiful.
I have added you to my Facebook. Thank you again for sharing your knowledge, and I think you may find me poking around here a bit in the future.:smilec:
Palzang
Glad you have found a useful correspondent. Most of us will have started the same way: learning about the Dharma through studying Buddhisms. From there, by practice, we experience it.
I know that you have already decided to use another "interview," but I thought I would give a few quick answers anyway. (They are predominately from the Theravdin point of view).
Although much of the personal information we have about the Buddha may have been borrowed from other sources (e.g., The name "Siddhatha" was in all probability hijacked from Mahavira's biography. According to S. Dhammika, "... nowhere in the Tipitaka does it even mention that the Buddha’s personal name was Siddhattha." He goes on to say: "Even the very late and very legendary Mahapadana Sutta (D.II,1) doesn’t mentions this. When in later centuries a full biography of the Buddha was needed, much of the details were ‘lifted’ from the biography of Mahavira."), the Buddha was one of a large number of wandering ascetics in Indian approx. 2,550 years ago.
He was said to be from a relatively powerful and wealthy family of the Kshatriya, or warrior, caste. He left home in search of spiritual awakening because he felt an overwhelming disenchantment toward worldly pursuits and sought an end to suffering and rebirth. He shaved his hair and wandered throughout the wilderness becoming students of spiritual teachers who taught various methods of meditation, extreme asceticism, etc., but none of their teachings lead him to his goal.
As the story goes, he eventually abandoned his extreme ascetic practices and began to meditate again. Eventually, after stilling his mind via concentrated states of meditation, he turned his mind toward understanding the nature of suffering, its cause, its cessation and the way leading to its cessation (i.e., the Four Noble Truths). He finally achieved liberation from suffering and rebirth and spent the rest of his 45 years teaching others what he discovered. For more information, see this and this.
The end of suffering and rebirth.
Buddhism is a word that is used to describe a predominately Eastern philosophy, religion and ethical way of life, but it can also be used as a word to describe a rigorous mental discipline designed for a very specific purpose, the end of suffering. That is why I tend to view Buddhism as a pragmatic approach to suffering rather than as an abstract philosophy, religion, etc.
Yes. There is Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism (e.g., Chan, Nicherin, Pure Land, Zen, etc.) and Tantric Buddhism (i.e., Tibetan).
The Four Noble Truths are truths that pertain to the understanding of dukkha (that which is hard to bear), its cause, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation (SN 56.11):
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of stress: the craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of stress: the remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving.
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: precisely this Noble Eightfold Path — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration."
The simple answer is the end of suffering, the extinction of craving (AN 10.60), the extinguishing of greed, hatred and delusion (SN 38.1). Beyond that, it is open to interpretation. In one sense, one could say that samsara is the antithesis of Nibbana. Pragmatically speaking, samsara, literally “wandering on,” is the potential for the arising of human [mental] suffering, while Nibbana, literally, “extinguishing,” is the cessation of that potential. As Thanissaro Bhikkhu puts it, “Samsara is a process of creating places, even whole worlds, (this is called becoming) and then wandering through them (this is called birth). Nirvana is the end of this process.” Nirvana is “realized only when the mind stops defining itself in terms of place ... it's realized through unestablished consciousness.” See this for more information.
We can look at this issue in many ways, but I believe that the most important is to start by understanding that the Buddha himself never answered these types of questions for two reasons. The first reason is that they are based upon faulty assumptions. For example, when asked by a certain monk, Which is the birth, lord, and whose is the birth?, the Buddha answered, "Not a valid question... From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth" (SN 12.35).
The second reason is that they do not lead to the end of suffering. For example, when asked who experiences things such as feelings, craving, clinging, et cetera, the Buddha re-framed these questions in a way that was conducive to liberation, i.e., in terms of dependent co-arising. In other words, when answering the question of "who" or "what" experiences suffering, and consequently, the cessation of suffering, the Buddha speaks only in terms of conditionality—that which conditions the origination of suffering, and that which conditions its cessation (SN 12.12).
There is no mention of an "experiencer," only the complex process by which suffering arises and ceases. Essentially, it is up to the meditator to use these teachings as a guideline for observing their experience of the present moment in terms of the Four Noble Truths, and to perform the tasks associated with each, i.e., comprehend suffering, abandon its cause, realize its cessation, and develop the path to that cessation. Furthermore, the question as it is phrased will inevitably lead to one of the two extreme forms of wrong view, eternalism and annihilationism. For example, in SN 12.17 the Buddha explains:
"'The one who acts is the one who experiences [the result of the act]' amounts to the eternalist statement, 'Existing from the very beginning, stress is self-made.' 'The one who acts is someone other than the one who experiences' amounts to the annihilationist statement, 'For one existing harassed by feeling, stress is other-made.' Avoiding these two extremes, the Tathagata teaches the Dhamma via the middle:
From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications.
From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness.
From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form.
From name-&-form as a requisite condition come the six sense media.
From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes contact.
From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling.
From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving.
From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance.
From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming.
From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth.
From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play.
Such is the origination of this entire mass of stress & suffering.
"Now from the remainderless fading & cessation of that very ignorance comes the cessation of fabrications. From the cessation of fabrications comes the cessation of consciousness. From the cessation of consciousness comes the cessation of name-&-form. From the cessation of name-&-form comes the cessation of the six sense media. From the cessation of the six sense media comes the cessation of contact. From the cessation of contact comes the cessation of feeling. From the cessation of feeling comes the cessation of craving. From the cessation of craving comes the cessation of clinging/ sustenance. From the cessation of clinging/sustenance comes the cessation of becoming. From the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth. From the cessation of birth, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair all cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress & suffering."
How monks live depends on a lot of factors, the main being the specific tradition they are from, but in general they are supposed to live simple lives, dedicating themselves to the Dhamma (i.e., the teachings of the Buddha). Their purose is to practice the Dhamma, inspire others and keep the teachings alive for future generations.
The way I see it, craving is the cause of suffering, and to end suffering its cause must be removed; the difficulty arises when it comes to how exactly this is done. My theory is that craving is a very subtle aspect of the mind, or better put, that craving is a very subtle but powerful aspect of our psychology. It is there, latent in the mind, waiting to exert its influence through mental fabrications by directing or at the very least encouraging the mind to desire sensory experiences, to desire becoming, or to desire non-becoming, i.e., it is the "appetite" of the mind to feed upon sensory experiences via the five clinging-aggregates, the deisre to desire.
The problem is that these processes of subtle movement in the mind are so subtle that they are almost impossible to discern as they are taking place. That is where I believe meditation comes in; meditation helps to calm and still the mind so that these mental events become easier and easier to observe. One, in effect, uses conditionality in order to fabricate controlled states of mental absorption until they are able to discern the presence of craving, its movement in the mind, and the fact that even these refined and subtle states of mental absorption are ultimately stressful and unsatisfactory. This leads one to develop dispassion, and dispassion leads one to cease fabrication thus opening the doors to the deathless (i.e., Nibbana) ending the chain of causation.
There are many, but one of the things I have found to be most helpful is the Buddha's advice to his son, Rahula, in MN 61.
Best wishes,
Jason
I'd like to add you to my Facebook too so if you're still around do you think this would be okay? If you've become friends with Simon I could find you through his profile if that's okay.
I'm glad you got some good answers to you questions. I'm partial to Elohim's answers because he was so thorough and, like him, I also follow a Theravada tradition. For your personal understanding of Buddhism you now have info from different sources that you can compare which will be of help to you, I'm sure.
Good luck in everything you do and I'm sending you my deepest wishes that the MS does indeed turn into "something that can be both useful and beautiful". (Very well put!)
Sincerely,
Boo