Critical Thinking APOL 104

Christy
Apologetics 104
Critical Thinking Assignment

Buddhist worldview is unique in retrospect that they do not worship any gods nor God. They are looking for enlightenment to reach the state of Nirvana. In regard to the origin of Buddhism they believe there is no beginning nor end. It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) during the sixth century in Northern India. After he encountered all four kinds of suffering: old age, sickness, death, and poverty Siddhartha became disillusioned and deeply concerned with suffering. The Buddhist worldview of identity began when Buddha came to the discovery that we don't exist as separate beings. In Buddhism the individual self is a root illusion that causes suffering. In which the cycle of reincarnation starts to be the way of thinking since they believe after the body dies on a subtle level the mind continues from life to life. Buddhist believe humanity is impermanent. Their primary purpose in life is to “eliminate suffering from their life by eliminating desire” (Weider and Gutierrez, 2011 pg. 60). This is accomplished by following the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path to reach the state of Nirvana. The question of morality for Buddhist is to attain a literally selfless perspective, to find the power to speak well of others, to obey Buddhist's moral commands, and to avoid making a living through an occupation that breaks the moral precepts of Buddhism. These are the three major parts of the Eightfold Path that connects morality to right speech, right action, and right livelihood (Buddhism: A Religion Profile from International Students, Inc., pg 3). Buddhist's destiny is neither controlled by God nor predetermined nor by accident but by themselves. To Buddhist, karma determines life and destiny because their actions. Buddha's ultimate goal is to become free from the cycle of death and rebirth by eliminating their attachment to and belief in the existence of the illusory self. Once the attachment is eliminated at the moment of enlightenment they will achieve the state of nirvana.