APOL-104
June 25, 2012
Critical Thinking Assignment
PART ONE:
The Question of Origin In Buddhism, they do not teach nor do they believe that there is an all-powerful God that created the universe. They look to Buddha, the religion’s founder, for a model of how to behave. In the Buddhist view, the universe is infinite in both time and space and the universe is created and destroyed over and over again in a process we call natural evolution.
The Question of Identity Buddhist considers all life to be sacred and/or spiritual in nature. They believe in reincarnation and a person’s spiritual future is based solely on one’s good or bad actions in this lifetime, also known as Karma.
The Question of Meaning/Purpose In Buddhism, the primary purpose is to end suffering. The Buddha believed and therefore taught that humans suffer because they are to consumed in things that do not give long lasting happiness and are too busy trying to hold on to things such as friends, material possessions, and things that do not last, and in the end brings upon sorrow. This is where the beliefs of the Four Noble Truths come in: teaches that all life is marked by suffering, suffering is caused by desire and attachment, suffering can be stopped, and the way to end suffering is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Question of Morality Respect, love, and compassion are highly valued in Buddhism as are an ethical and moral path is the basis for their model of behavior. The Noble Eightfold Path consist of right knowledge, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. They follow this for their spiritual well-being and are to follow the Five Precepts for the here and now which includes refraining from taking a life, taking what is not given, refrain from involving themselves in wrong sexual relations, wrong speech, and to abstain from drugs and alcohol.
The Question of