Siddhartha Gautama: The Buddha
Historians estimate that the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, lived from 566 to 480 B.C. The son of an Indian warrior-king, Gautama led an extravagant life through early adulthood, reveling in the privileges of his social caste. But when he bored of the indulgences of royal life, Gautama wandered into the world in search of understanding. After encountering an old man, an ill man, a corpse and an ascetic, Gautama was convinced that suffering lay at the end of all existence. He renounced his princely title and became a monk, depriving himself of worldly possessions in the hope of comprehending the truth of the world around him. The culmination of his search came while meditating beneath a tree, where he finally understood how to be free from suffering, and ultimately, to achieve salvation. Following this epiphany, Gautama was known as the Buddha, meaning the "Enlightened One." The Buddha spent the remainder of his life journeying about India, teaching others what he had come to understand.
Tripiṭaka (Skt., ‘Triple Basket’; Chin., Sants'ang; Jap.,Sanzō; Korean, Samjang). The threefold collection of authoritative texts in Buddhism. It is used more loosely in Mahāyāna Buddhism to mean the entire body of the Buddhist scriptures, corresponding to the Pāli Tripiṭaka in its general meaning.
The four noble truths.
The Four Noble Truths comprise the essence of Buddha's teachings, though they leave much left unexplained. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. More simply put, suffering exists; it has a cause; it has an end; and it has a cause to bring about its end. The notion of suffering is not intended to convey a negative world view, but rather, a pragmatic perspective that deals with the world as it is, and attempts to rectify it. The concept of pleasure is not denied, but acknowledged as fleeting. Pursuit of pleasure can only continue what is ultimately an unquenchable thirst. The same logic belies an understanding of happiness. In the end, only aging, sickness, and death are certain and unavoidable.
The Four Noble Truths are a contingency plan for dealing with the suffering humanity faces -- suffering of a physical kind, or of a mental nature. The First Truth identifies the presence of suffering. The Second Truth, on the other hand, seeks to determine the cause of suffering. In Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering. Ignorance, in comparison, relates to not seeing the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and insight, Buddhism explains, one's mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things. Vices, such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from this ignorance.
The Third Noble Truth, the truth of the end of suffering, has dual meaning, suggesting either the end of suffering in this life, on earth, or in the spiritual life, through achieving Nirvana. When one has achieved Nirvana, which is a transcendent state free from suffering and our worldly cycle of birth and rebirth, spiritual enlightenment has been reached. The Fourth Noble truth charts the method for attaining the end of suffering, known to Buddhists as the Noble Eightfold Path. The steps of the Noble Eightfold Path are:
1) Right Understanding
2) Right Thought
3) Right Speech
4) Right Action
5) Right Livelihood
6) Right Effort
7) Right Mindfulness
8) Right Concentration.
Moreover, there are three themes into which the Path is divided:
a.good moral conduct (Understanding, Thought, Speech)
b. meditation and mental development (Action, Livelihood, Effort)
c. wisdom or insight (Mindfulness and Concentration).
The five percepts:
Moral conduct for Buddhists differs according to whether it applies to the laity or to the Sangha or clergy. A lay Buddhist should cultivate good conduct by training in what are known as the "Five Precepts". These are not like, say, the Ten Commandments, which, if broken, entail punishment by God. The five precepts are training rules, which, if one were to break any of them, one should be aware of the breech and examine how such a breech may be avoided in the future. The resultant of an action (often referred to as Karma) depends on the intention more than the action itself. It entails less feelings of guilt than its Judeo-Christian counterpart. Buddhism places a great emphasis on 'mind' and it is mental anguish such as remorse, anxiety, guilt etc. which is to be avoided in order to cultivate a calm and peaceful mind. The five precepts are:
1) To undertake the training to avoid taking the life of beings: This precept applies to all living beings not just humans. All beings have a right to their lives and that right should be respected.
2) To undertake the training to avoid taking things not given: This precept goes further than mere stealing. One should avoid taking anything unless one can be sure that is intended that it is for you.
3) To undertake the training to avoid sensual misconduct: This precept is often mistranslated or misinterpreted as relating only to sexual misconduct but it covers any overindulgence in any sensual pleasure such as gluttony as well as misconduct of a sexual nature.
4) To undertake the training to refrain from false speech: As well as avoiding lying and deceiving, this precept covers slander as well as speech which is not beneficial to the welfare of others.
5) To undertake the training to abstain from substances which cause intoxication and heedlessness: This precept is in a special category as it does not infer any intrinsic evil in, say, alcohol itself but indulgence in such a substance could be the cause of breaking the other four precepts .
Buddhist ethics in Media
While making the false statements or promoting and facilitating false statement is prohibited if we see from the view of Buddhist ethics. But when we see the practice of media nowadays than truth has been shadowed by the false statements and justified by that aspects. We can take the example of during the Maoist insurgency that state own media and Maoist own media claim many false claims. In Buddhism the ethical conduct goal is to self-control, self understanding and self development in order to attain the enlightment but when we see at the present media than people are being manipulated by the message provided by the media. More and more people are being dependent in media for even a small information it has totally lost the track of self- control and understanding. And also there are false advertising done which could create a great controversy in the Buddhist ethics. To promte the advertisemement of intoxicating substance is against the Buddhist ethics.
Conclusion:
We can see that Buddhist ethics revolve around the four noble truth and the eight fold paths. Overall we can say that, the ethical and moral principles are governed by examining whether a certain action, whether connected to body or speech is likely to be harmful to one's self or to others and thereby avoiding any actions which are likely to be harmful.
REFERENCE:
1. The ethics of Buddhism: A short statement by V.A. Gunasekarna.
2. www.sumah.blogspot.com
3. Buddha net basic Buddhism guide : Buddhist ethics.
4. www.wikipedia.com
5. Buddhism by Pat Zukeran
6. Buddhism an introduction by web resources.
