Buddhism

Buddhism is the way towards spiritual development heading to the nature of reality. Through the
use of meditation, partly a person changes and somehow renewed

once developed and reached the paradigm of wisdom.

Anatta, means “no self.” The concept of self is an illusion and there is no permanent concept of
the self. All things are not permanent but there are five (5) aspects; namely, physical
manifestation, sensation, conceptualization, dispositions to act and consciousness.

The Buddhism teachings anchored on Siddhartha Gautama or BUDDHA

“awakened one” and rejection of a permanent while a self-existent soul, atman, refers to
metaphysical self.

8 Noble Eightfold Paths to Nirvana (freedom from attachments)

1. Right view – It is the Buddhist’s cognitive aspect of wisdom that cleanses one’s path out of
confusions, misunderstanding, deceiving thoughts and suspicions. Right view is the virtuous
way to appreciate reality by knowing the truth.

2. Right intention – It is the use of one’s will and one aspect of wisdom that aims a peaceful
renunciation and go through the path of compassion, leaving the past hurts behind and feel no
grudges and free your mind from evil thoughts.

3. Right speech - it means practicing affectionate speech in a polite manner when dealing with
people. It also refers to abstinence from lying, away from troublesome and abusive speech and
prevent from being an idle chatter. As much as possible, only engage in productive and healthy
communication that is pleasing to people around. And just say nothing that hurt others.

4. Right action – It entails abstentions in terms of bodily action such as to avoid taking one’s life,
avoid killing people behind too much anger and misleading dispositions , abstain from stealing
and sexual misconduct and work for the good of others.

5. Right livelihood – It means to avail a fair share of the earth’s resources and only practice
honest occupation. Avoid retooling work performances just to level up and take higher steps
away from others, in a way, someone’s household missed to eat and failed to pay their debts
just because of anyone’s wrong livelihood. Respect life.

6. Right effort – It means exerting and cultivating the right amount of physical and psychological
energy and resources in order to maintain mental states and moral progress in doing something
good without thinking of evil thoughts and resist evil.

7. Right mindfulness – It refers to the present mental state to see things as they are, with clear
self-awareness and consciousness. Mindfulness can be right or wrong, you can rob a bank
because you are mindful. You can end up your life’s suffering because you are mindful, but in
the Buddhist’s teachings, mindfulness is according to ( dhammatalks.org., 2017) as quoted,
“that you’re keeping in mind the fact that there are skillful qualities you want to develop and
unskillful ones you want to abandon.’
Arranged:

**Four (4) Foundations of Right Mindfulness:**

a. Contemplation of the body (kayanupassana) – the breath of the body, helps calm and
concentrate the mind that is conducive to overcoming adversities in life and considered as an
“antidote” to sensual passion.

b. Contemplation of feeling (vedananupassana) – According to (Nyanatiloka, 1967) as cited by

(Holmes, 2017), the “contemplation of feeling is either a contemplation with regard to his own
person, or to other persons, or to both. He beholds how the feelings arise; beholds how they
pass away; beholds the arising and passing away of the feelings. ‘Feelings are there:’ this clear
awareness is present in him, to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfulness; and he
lives independent, unattached to anything in the world.

c. Contemplation of the state of mind (cittanupassana) – the mind is regarded not as a lasting
subject of thought, feeling, and volition, but as a sequence of momentary mental acts, each
distinct and discrete, their connections with one another causal rather than substantial.

d. Contemplation of the phenomena (dhammanupassana) – (Ambrosia, 2002) cited that the

fourth type of contemplation is practicing an insight meditation as a form of reflection on the
nature of experience.

**Eight (8) Right Concentrations through Meditation:**

Right concentration through meditation - the word for meditation is bhavana, which means
"mental culture." Buddhist bhavana is not a relaxation practice, nor is it about having visions or
out-of-body experiences. This makes bhavana a means to prepare the mind for realizing
enlightenment (O’Brien, 2019).

**Hinduism:**

Hinduism is a spiritual belief and religious tradition originated in India, one of the oldest
denominations since the Iron era and considered a prehistoric religion similar to the Bronze Age
Indus valley civilization before the Vedic religion.

**Basic Beliefs of Hindus:**

- Religion is a matter of practice rather than beliefs. It’s more about what you do than what you
believe.

- Belief that every soul is trapped in a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Their ultimate aim is to
escape from the cycle altogether.

- This life, and this world, are only part of a training process.

- Hindus believe the universe doesn’t have a beginning and an end. It’s cyclical patterns, so
once it ends, it begins again.

**Seven (7) “Truths” of Hinduism:**

1. Peaceful living

2. Freedom of thought

3. Respect for nature

4. Respect for animals

5. Becoming one with Brahman

6. Belief that good actions will affect us

7. Belief that bad actions will affect us

The Hindus believed in the law of karma where biblically means, “what you sow is what you
reap.”

**Taoism:**

Taoism is formed from the term “tao” which means, “the way” and yin yang is the symbol of
Taoism. Taoists don’t pray but they just meditate and they don’t believe in gods to respond to
their needs.

**Confucianism:**

This religion was founded by Confucius and developed by Mencius. The teaching relies on living
with peace and harmony. One of the teachings includes proper social behavior, others before
self, and filial piety. The teachings also have a maxim that says, “let the ruler be a rule, the
minister be a minister, the father be a father, and the son be a son.” The teachings found are the
Six classics and analects.
**Sufism:**

Sufism is the mystical Islamic belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of
divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God. It is a way of life in which
a deeper identity is discovered and lived. This deeper identity, or essential self, has abilities of
awareness, action, creativity, and love that are far beyond the abilities of the superficial
personality. The ultimate aim of the Sufi is communion with God through spiritual realization,
which is achieved through the knowledge revealed by the Quran (ilm) and the practice of Islam
(amal). Sufism’s claim to universality is founded on the broad recognition that there is only one
God, the God of all people and all true religions. If Sufism recognizes one central truth, it is the
unity of being, that we are not separate from the Divine. If there is a single truth worthy of the
name, it is that we are all integral to the Truth, not separate.