The Buddhist Way of Life and Death

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the Buddhist Faith infers a very different attitude toward life and death than that taught by other religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It shows how, unlike the other religions where the soul is unique and enjoys only one chance at life, in Buddhism, the individual soul is born and reborn countless times and its ultimate goal is to attain Nirvana.

From the Paper:

"The doctrine of Karma is central to Buddhism and to the entire Buddhist way of life.... According to Buddhist belief, each individual carries with him, or her, the weight of all his actions good or bad. This accumulation of deeds, thoughts, and desires constitutes the Karma that must ultimately be expunged completely if the individual soul is at last to achieve union with the eternal and unchanging "nonexistence." Karma means, not "fate," but rather, "action." The burden of Karma carried by a soul is the result of the choices made by that soul. Noble actions contribute to right understanding, and eventually to the extinction of the separate existence of the soul that is at last achieved in the state of Nirvana. Wrong choices increase the weight of Karma and cause a diminishment of understanding; a fact that leads to a perpetuation of the cycles of death and rebirth. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alarid, Leanne Fiftal, and Hsiao-Ming Wang. "Mercy and Punishment: Buddhism and the Death Penalty." Social Justice 28.1 (2001): 231.
• Becker, Carl B. Breaking the Circle Death and the Afterlife in Buddhism. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993.
• Corless, Roger J. The Vision of Buddhism: The Space under the Tree. 1st ed. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House, 1989.
• Gowans, Christopher W. Philosophy of the Buddha. New York: Routledge, 2003.
• Jones, Richard H. "Must Enlightened Mystics Be Moral?." Philosophy East & West 34.3 (1984): 273-293.

More papers on The Buddhist Way of Life and Death:

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