Essay Mahayana Buddhism - 1396 Words

History proves that as Buddhism spread throughout the Asian world in the early 1st century, it was occasionally altered to fit the specific needs and beliefs of people it touched. Mahayana Buddhism is one such example of this gradual evolution. It was primarily a movement started and kept alive by monks that slowly gained popularity amongst lay people but was in no way a unified movement. Mahayana Buddhism still adheres to the basic fundamental beliefs presented in the Pali Canons, however, it Sutras often expand upon these basic ideas and traditions in order to answer the questions of a later generation. After closer study of the Mahayana texts the â€Å"A Sutra for Long Life† and â€Å"The World Universe as a Sutra†, it seems†¦show more content†¦The best members of the laity could hope for was a rebirth as a monk or a nun. Mahayana Buddhism makes enlightenment an obtainable goal for all not just the clergy; furthermore, the notion of an â€Å"inner Buddhaho od† provides a greater connection to the Buddha and his teachings for its followers. The truth is within reach for all, they just have to look within themselves to find and accept it. The sutras also make clear the idea of the Bodhisattva, those who have reached awakening and refrain from entering Nirvana in order to help others along the path. For example, the TathÄ gata is described as a person with â€Å"penetrating wisdom, and was endowed with a perfectly pure divine eye† (World Universe as a Sutra, 109). The TathÄ gata has already found the knowledge and truth within himself and is therefore able to see that the same wisdom is present within every being. He finds it strange that every being cannot see the truth within, and therefore, takes it upon himself to â€Å"teach these beings so that they may fully awaken within the Noble path.† This is known as the â€Å"tenth intuition of Bodhisattvas†, where the Bodhisattvas â€Å"practice, know and per ceive†, the minds of the awakened inShow MoreRelatedTheravada And Mahayana Buddhism And Buddhism1433 Words   |  6 Pagesschisms of Buddhism due to different outlooks on the fundamental teachings and ideas of Buddhism. The two that have survived and are still current today are Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism is often found in southern locations, which include Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and parts of Southeast Asia (Mitchell, pp. 91). Mahayana Buddhism, however, is found in the northern areas of the world, such as: Tibet, China, Taiwan, Japan, and more. These two schools of Buddhism bothRead MoreMahayana Branch of Buddhism 1114 Words   |  5 PagesOne branch of Buddhism is Mahayana, which literally means the Great Vehicle. Mahayana can more easily be defined as a loose collection of teachings with large and extensive principles that coexist all together. Mahayana defines itself as penetrating further and more deeply into the Buddhas Dharm a, or the way of the Buddha. This practice originates in India, and slowly spread across Asia to countries as China, Japan, Korea through the missionary activities of monks and the support of kings. HoweverRead MoreEssay on Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism2768 Words   |  12 Pages There are two forms of Buddhism that are still prevalent in society today, these are Theravada and Mahayana. Both these traditions have existed for many centuries and encompass important beliefs derived from the Pali Canon and other ancient Indian Buddhist literature. They revert back to the orthodox teachings presented by the historical Gautama Buddha such as The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path. Both these forms of Buddhism stay devoted to the traditional beliefs that the religionRead MoreThe History of Mahayana Buddhism Essay1118 Words   |  5 Pages Mahayana Buddhism originated in India and is believed to be associated with some of the oldest known existing branches of Bud dhism. The temple our group visited was devoted to this philosophical way of thinking, and its practices. More than half of all Buddhist practitioners participate in the Mahayana tradition, making it the largest major tradition of Buddhism existing today (Statistics on Buddhism). In the course of its history, Mahayana Buddhism spread from India to various other Asian countriesRead MoreBuddhism Is An Indispensable Element Of Chinese And Formation Of Mahayana Buddhism Essay1477 Words   |  6 PagesBuddhism has been the main religion of china for several thousands of years. In fact, Buddhism is an indispensable element of Chinese philosophy and literature. As we all know, Buddhism originated in India and first spread to China around 100BC. Nevertheless, (Mahayana) Buddhism in China separated itself from the mainstream Buddhism and created a new form of Bodhisattva precept instead of following the Indian Vinaya precept. In fact , the distinct Chinese history and culture played sig nificantRead MoreComparing Doaism and Mahayana Buddhism1016 Words   |  4 PagesWhen it comes to comparing Doaism and Mahayana Buddhism very few similarities exist. Although both religions are practice based, opposed to religions based on faith, the ultimate goal of each religion are vastly different. In Daoism it is believed that the spirit is eternal after death while In Mahayana Buddhism we see that there is an end to the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. However, there is one similarity in both that is incredibly important to the practice of both religions. This similarityRead MoreThe Dharma of Mahayana Buddhism Essay1073 Words   |  5 Pagesselfish and lonely. As a matter of fact, a hypochondria is becoming so popular that one in seven adults is facing it. In our society today, Buddhism, especially Mahayana Buddhism, becomes a cure to the duhkha that we are facing today. The Dharma of Mahayana Buddhism becomes very helpful to resolve many, even all the problems humans are facing today. Mahayana Buddhism believes in the Path of Bodhisattva, which is path to become Awakened by achieve own-being’s enlightenment and more importantly, to helpRead MoreNichiren Buddhism Is A Mahayana Sect Of Buddhism1543 Words   |  7 PagesNichiren Buddhism is a Mahayana sect of Buddhism that was started and named after, Nichiren Shoshu, a Buddhist monk in 13th century Japan (Life of Nichiren Nichiren Buddhism). Nichiren was born in the year 1222, a time of turmoil and disaster, to a poor family of fishermen and became an ordained monk at the young age of sixteen. He studied Buddhism and studies of Chinese Buddhist master scholar, Zhiyi, for years, focusing on the importance of the Louts Sutra, the chief and most profound teachingRead MoreThe Link Between Mahayana Buddhism And Chinese Culture1476 Words   |  6 Pages The link between Mahayana Buddhism and Chinese Culture Buddhism has been the main religion of china for several thousands of years. In fact, Buddhism is an indispensable element of Chinese philosophy and literature. As we all know, Buddhism originated in India and first spread to China around 100BC. Nevertheless, (Mahayana) Buddhism in China separated itself from the mainstream Buddhism and created a new form of Bodhisattva precept instead of following the Indian Vinaya preceptRead MoreEssay about The History and Practice of Buddhism (Mahayana Sect)1023 Words   |  5 PagesThe religion Buddhism came from Buddha’ meaning to awaken. 300 million people around the world are practitioners of Buddhism. In the United States, about one million people serve one form of Buddhism. From Indian, China, Japan, Russia to the United States have practitioners of Buddhism. Siddhartha Gotama known as Buddha was the creator of Buddhism some 2,500 year ago in India. Buddha taught his followers a philosophy teaching a way of life not just a re ligion. Buddha also taught followers: have

Winners Never Cheat - 1792 Words

Winners never cheat and cheaters never win Winners never cheat and cheaters never win. Americans have grown up with this statement. It is as American as baseball or apple pie. It appears that over the years, winning has become everything and athletes will do whatever it takes to win. In order to achieve this goal, more and more professional athletes are turning to the use of performance enhancing drugs. A performance enhancing drug is any substance that is taken for the sole purpose of enhancing athletic performance (Saltzman, 2006 p. 16). Professional athletes who take performance enhancing drugs create false expectations for the children and teenagers who look up to them. Athletes are role models, whether they like it or not.†¦show more content†¦Athletes accepted the charges in 120 cases, but in the remaining 29 instances they challenged the agency, which put the cases into arbitration. (Nawrocki, 2006, p.24) In an interview with the Travel Tygart, the general counsel for the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Nawrocki (2006, p.24) quotes him as saying that his job is less about catching the bad athletes and more about protecting the clean ones. According to Nawrocki, (2006, p.24) the consequences for Floyd Landis, if found guilty, would not only lose the title and prize money, but would also be barred from all professional competition for two years. There would be no jail time, no fines paid, and no probation. To a youth, the consequence hardly seems tangible; there is no real cause and effect. A two year suspension is not going to sway a youth from trying to emulate his or her idol. Coincidentally, more and more teenagers are also turning to illegal drugs to boost their athletic abilities. Saltzman (2006, p. 16) stated that In January 2006, Bulgarian teenager Sesil Karantantcheva became the second woman tennis player to receive a ban as a result of a drug offense. This only begins t o illustrate the problem with the youth who look up to professional athletes. Surveys have found that tens of thousands of high school athletes have used steroids to help them bulk up or improve their performance in the field (Teenage Steroid Use, 2006). What kinds of role modelsShow MoreRelatedMoral Compass Essay1178 Words   |  5 Pageschild, I learnt Chinese traditional wisdom, Confucianism, from my parents and elementary school. The core of Confucianism is humanity, to be altruistic, upright and courteous within the society, from which I got to know the rules I should honor. Never cheat. Be kind and honest. Dont do anything that will hurt others. These become the foundation of my moral compass. As I grow older, I have been introduced to other theories which cast light on the formation of my moral compass. According to JeremyRead MoreShould Athletes Use Performance Enhancing Drugs?935 Words   |  4 PagesRoy Shurn Jr English 12 Ms. Terry 11/20/14 PED users in sports Everyone wants to win and everyone loves a winner. Athletes are a competitive group and if you are good enough to get into professional sports, you can achieve fame and fortune would you cheat to accomplish? This is the question that many athletes have to answer? What do I mean by cheating? I mean the use of performance enhancing drugs. How many records were made and broken by athletes that used these enhancements. â€Å"AccordingRead MorePerformance Enhancing Drugs791 Words   |  3 Pagesfor using performance enhancing drugs should be stricter because it can cause health risks, it’s cheating, an it’s legally, and world class athletes use it and still get away with it. The government should banned drugs so no any athlete shouldn’t cheat at all. Performance enhancing drugs can cause health risks which it takes the time to learn about the benefits, and health risks. Other drugs have different risks, benefits, and side effects. There is at least 7 different type of drugs. They allRead MoreMovie Analysis : Brings Me A Surprise 1102 Words   |  5 Pagessecurity. Grandpa is the winner. He always does what he wants, and lives a happy life. Grandpa is old, porn-loving and heroin-addicted. He is Olive’s coach, spending hours working on her dance routine with her. Grandpa has been kicked out of a retirement home, for sleeping around and snorting heroin. His philosophy is that, ‘you would have to be crazy to do smack when you are young’, but when you get older, you would be crazy not to. The reasons why I think he is the winner are as follows. In the firstRead MoreReflection Of Epictetus743 Words   |  3 PagesTo him, he thinks you are cheating, because he just sees that you got the only card that could win you the game. But you know that you didn’t cheat in the game. In this example you can perceive the game the same way that he does. In your view you just got lucky, but in his view he thinks your cheating. Epictetus makes this point to show people that you never truly understand how other people think. He wants you to understand this so that when things like people calling you names or they insult youRead MoreAnabolic Steroids Should Not Be Banned882 Words   |  4 Pagesdidn t make me what I am. Anabolic steroids were helpful to me in maintaining muscle size while on a strict diet in preparation for a contest.† -Arnold Schwarzenegger (Arnold). From a young age I was told never to use steroids, especially since I was involved with sports. I was told to never cheat or take any drastic measures that could effect my performance. As I had conducted research about the use of steroids, I have found that using anabolic steroids was not as bad as I was told. I was told onlyRead MoreReflection Of Epictetus750 Words   |  3 Pageshim, he thinks you are cheating, because he just sees that you got the only card that could win you the game. But you know that you didn’t cheat in the game. In this example, you can perceive the game the same way that he does. In your view you just got lucky, but in his view he thinks you’re cheating. Epictetus makes this point to show people that you never truly understand how other people think. He wants you to understand this so that when things like people calling you names or they insult youRead MoreFair Play Means Using Sport to Make a Better World1612 Words   |  7 Pagesgame and games are pointless unless played fairly. Playing to win but accepting defeat with dignity: Winning is the object of playing any game. Never set out to lose. If athletes or players do not play to win, you are cheating your opponents, deceiving those who are watching, and also fooling oneself. Never give up against stronger opponents but never relent against weaker ones. It is an insult to any opponent to play at less than full strength. Play to win, until the final whistle. HoweverRead MoreCompartive Fiction Essay: The Rocking Horse Winner and Young Goodman Brown786 Words   |  4 PagesAccording to Webster’s Dictionary App, the definitions of deceive include: to ensnare, be false to, fail to fulfill, cheat, cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid, to while away, practice deceit and give a false impression. In D.H. Lawrence’s â€Å"The Rocking Horse Winner† and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† the grip of deceit on both the physical and spiritual elements of life is the theme revealed through irony, symbolism and allegory. The bible warns of the pride withinRead MoreCheating Husband By Jess Vinson802 Words   |  4 PagesCheating Husband Headline: He Asked Her to Cheat on Her Husband, But He Never Realized How Far She d Take It Summary: Jess Vinson was enjoying a witty political talk on Facebook. When the stranger messaged her and asked to hook up, Jess told him she was married. After he insisted, he was completely shocked by her response. Introduction: The last few years were difficult for Jess Vinson. As the mother of two children, life was never easy. Like most young mothers, she had a constant stream

The Disadvantages of Smoking free essay sample

The disadvantages of smoking Smoking is one of the worst things kids and adults can do to their bodies. But it is widespread in China, even some of the high school students are smoking now. I think we should tell more people about the effects of smoking. Here are some disadvantages which I have seen, read, or heard about smoking before. Smoking affects your own bodies’ health. In my family, my dad and most of my uncles smoke. It has been almost 20 years since they have started smoking. This long a time smoking made them have yellow teeth, smelly clothes, and yellow fingers. Smoking also made them easy to get a cough. There are also a couple of my female friends that smoke now. Most of them are easy to get tired and angry. So they sometimes may have fight with other students. Also, they pay fewer attention to the classes at school. We will write a custom essay sample on The Disadvantages of Smoking or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Except those things above, smoking also causes cancer. Actually, smoking is the number one cause of deaths due to lung cancer, and other serious diseases. For girls, smoking can make you have a bad skin and performance. Smoking also affects the people around you when you smoke. Have you ever heard about second hand smoke? This is actually the name of it. In most ways, second hand smoke comes from the end of a lighted cigarette or exhales by a smoker. Second hand smoke causes cancer and other kinds of diseases and deaths to non-smoking people. I think it is unfair to a non-smoking person, because of you; they may have the same or worse health problems than you do. If a pregnant woman is exposed to second hand smoke, there will be a risk of having low birth-weight babies. Smoking is a big cost of your ordinary lives, too. Cigarettes are expensive. A pack of cigarettes costs $4. 0 in the United States, on average. According to this, we know even if you buy just one pack one week, you will spend $234 per year. But if you smoke a pack per day, that would be $1624 per year. For this money, you can buy many clothes, shoes, CDs, and computer games instead. My dad counted the money my whole family spent on cigarettes last year. The number of the money we spent is $15,000. My dad and uncles needed two or three packs per day; they also smoke good cigarettes, so the price of cigarettes would be more expensive than the average price in America. They like to send their friends or other family members cigarettes as gifts, too. That will be another reason for them to spend such a big number of money on smoking. Smoking is easy to start but hard to stop. This is because cigarettes have tobacco inside. Tobacco contains nicotine, which is highly addictive. Just like drugs, your body will quickly become so used to the nicotine, so that it would request you to smoke every day to make yourself feel normal. I remember my dad tried to give up smoking many times, but he failed in every time of trying. He told me that it was hard for him to give up smoking for a long time. If he didn’t smoke for one day, he would feel so uncomfortable, and then he would smoke more times than before! Due to all the things above, we know how important it is for a person to stay away from smoking. If you never smoke, the bad effects of those above will never get to you. But for a smoking person, I suggest you to try your best to give up smoking. As you stop smoking, you will have better performance and looks, more money and energy, and also more life to live!

Raising Children Essay Example

Raising Children Essay OPINION Raising Successful Children Lizzy Stewart By MADELINE LEVINE * PHRASES like â€Å"tiger mom† and â€Å"helicopter parent† have made their way into everyday language. But does overparenting hurt, or help? Related * Sunday Book Review: ‘Teach Your Children Well’ by Madeline Levine (July 29, 2012) Related in Opinion * Room for Debate: Are Olympic Parents Supportive or Overbearing? (August 2, 2012) While parents who are clearly and embarrassingly inappropriate come in for ridicule, many of us find ourselves drawn to the idea that with just a bit more parental elbow grease, we might turn out children with great talents and assured futures. Is there really anything wrong with a kind of â€Å"overparenting lite†? Parental involvement has a long and rich history of being studied. Decades of studies, many of them by Diana Baumrind, a clinical and developmental psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that the optimal parent is one who is involved and responsive, who sets high expectations but respects her child’s autonomy. These â€Å"authoritative parents† appear to hit the sweet spot of parental involvement and generally raise children who do better academically, psychologically and socially than children whose parents are either permissive and less involved, or controlling and more involved. Why is this particular parenting style so successful, and what does it tell us about overparenting? For one thing, authoritative parents actually help cultivate motivation in their children. Carol Dweck, a social and developmental psychologist at Stanford University, has done research that indicates why authoritative parents raise more motivated, and thus more successful, children. In a typical experiment, Dr. Dweck takes young children into a room and asks them to solve a simple puzzle. Most do so with little difficulty. But then Dr. Dweck tells some, but not all, of the kids how very bright and capable they are. As it turns out, the children who are not told they’re smart are more motivated to tackle increasingly difficult puzzles. We will write a custom essay sample on Raising Children specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Raising Children specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Raising Children specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer They also exhibit higher levels of confidence and show greater overall progress in puzzle-solving. This may seem counterintuitive, but praising children’s talents and abilities seems to rattle their confidence. Tackling more difficult puzzles carries the risk of losing one’s status as â€Å"smart† and deprives kids of the thrill of choosing to work simply for its own sake, regardless of outcomes. Dr. Dweck’s work aligns nicely with that of Dr. Baumrind, who also found that reasonably supporting a child’s autonomy and limiting interference results in better academic and emotional outcomes. Their research confirms what I’ve seen in more than 25 years of clinical work, treating children in Marin County, an affluent suburb of San Francisco. The happiest, most successful children have parents who do not do for them what they are capable of doing, or almost capable of doing; and their parents do not do things for them that satisfy their own needs rather than the needs of the child. The central task of growing up is to develop a sense of self that is autonomous, confident and generally in accord with reality. If you treat your walking toddler as if she can’t walk, you diminish her confidence and distort reality. Ditto nightly â€Å"reviews† of homework, repetitive phone calls to â€Å"just check if you’re O. K. † and â€Å"editing† (read: writing) your child’s college application essay. Once your child is capable of doing something, congratulate yourself on a job well done and move on. Continued, unnecessary intervention makes your child feel bad about himself (if he’s young) or angry at you (if he’s a teenager). But isn’t it a parent’s job to help with those things that are just beyond your child’s reach? Why is it overparenting to do for your child what he or she is almost capable of? Think back to when your toddler learned to walk. She would take a weaving step or two, collapse and immediately look to you for your reaction. You were in thrall to those early attempts and would do everything possible to encourage her to get up again. You certainly didn’t chastise her for failing or utter dire predictions about flipping burgers for the rest of her life if she fell again. You were present, alert and available to guide if necessary. But you didn’t pick her up every time. You knew she had to get it wrong many times before she could get it right. HANGING back and allowing children to make mistakes is one of the greatest challenges of parenting. It’s easier when they’re young — tolerating a stumbling toddler is far different from allowing a preteenager to meet her friends at the mall. The potential mistakes carry greater risks, and part of being a parent is minimizing risk for our children. What kinds of risks should we tolerate? If there’s a predator loose in the neighborhood, your daughter doesn’t get to go to the mall. But under normal circumstances an 11-year-old girl is quite capable of taking care of herself for a few hours in the company of her friends. She may forget a package, overpay for an item or forget that she was supposed to call home at noon. Mastery of the world is an expanding geography for our kids, for toddlers, it’s the backyard; for preteens, the neighborhood, for teens the wider world. But it is in the small daily risks — the taller slide, the bike ride around the block, the invitation extended to a new classmate — that growth takes place. In this gray area of just beyond the comfortable is where resilience is born. So if children are able to live with mistakes and even failing, why does it drive us crazy? So many parents have said to me, â€Å"I can’t stand to see my child unhappy. † If you can’t stand to see your child unhappy, you are in the wrong business. The small challenges that start in infancy (the first whimper that doesn’t bring you running) present the opportunity for â€Å"successful failures,† that is, failures your child can live with and grow from. To rush in too quickly, to shield them, to deprive them of those challenges is to deprive them of the tools they will need to handle the inevitable, difficult, challenging and sometimes devastating demands of life. While doing things for your child unnecessarily or prematurely can reduce motivation and increase dependency, it is the inability to maintain parental boundaries that most damages child development. When we do things for our children out of our own needs rather than theirs, it forces them to circumvent the most critical task of childhood: to develop a robust sense of self. There is an important distinction between good and bad parental involvement. For example, a young child doesn’t want to sit and do his math homework. Good parents insist on compliance, not because they need their child to be a perfect student but because the child needs to learn the fundamentals of math and develop a good work ethic. Compare this with the parent who spends weeks â€Å"helping† his or her child fill out college applications with the clear expectation that if they both work hard enough, a â€Å"gotta get into† school is a certainty. (While most of my parent patients have graduated from college, it is always a telltale sign of overparenting when they talk about how â€Å"we’re applying to Columbia. †) In both situations parents are using control, in the first case behavioral (sit down, do your math) and in the second psychological (â€Å"we’re applying. †) It is psychological control that carries with it a textbook’s worth of damage to a child’s developing identity. If pushing, direction, motivation and reward always come from the outside, the child never has the opportunity to craft an inside. Having tutors prep your anxious 3-year-old for a preschool interview because all your friends’ children are going to this particular school or pushing your exhausted child to take one more advanced-placement course because it will ensure her spot as class valedictorian is not involved parenting but toxic overparenting aimed at meeting the parents’ need for status or affirmation and not the child’s needs. So how do parents find the courage to discard the malpractice of overparenting? It’s hard to swim upstream, to resist peer pressure. But we must remember that children thrive best in an environment that is reliable, available, consistent and noninterfering. A loving parent is warm, willing to set limits and unwilling to breach a child’s psychological boundaries by invoking shame or guilt. Parents must acknowledge their own anxiety. Your job is to know your child well enough to make a good call about whether he can manage a particular situation. Will you stay up worrying? Probably, but the child’s job is to grow, yours is to control your anxiety so it doesn’t get in the way of his reasonable moves toward autonomy. Parents also have to be clear about their own values. Children watch us closely. If you want your children to be able to stand up for their values, you have to do the same. If you believe that a summer spent reading, taking creek walks and playing is better than a specialized camp, then stick to your guns. Parents also have to make sure their own lives are fulfilling. There is no parent more vulnerable to the excesses of overparenting than an unhappy parent. One of the most important things we do for our children is to present them with a version of adult life that is appealing and worth striving for. Madeline Levine is a clinician, consultant and the author, most recently, of â€Å"Teach Your Children Well: Parenting for Authentic Success. †