RE103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Gautama Buddha, Noble Eightfold Path, Mahayana
Document Summary
Buddha: more of a title than a name; the enlightened one. Parents wanted to protect him from any source of unhappiness, he never went out or met regular people. Lived a life of luxury, aristocratic family. Becomes dissatisfied with his life and goes out to regular world. Encounters an old man (no sense of aging, movement into death), a sick man, a corpse and ascetic man. Buddhis(cid:373) is also (cid:862)the (cid:373)iddle path(cid:863) between two paths. Concluded that life is about suffering, developed 4 noble truths: 1. Life is suffering (where is this coming from, what do we do about it?) He went on a voyage; living life on a middle path is the best way to achieve a sense of reality, leading to enlightenment: 2. Put desire aside so we can gain enlightenment: 4. Mahayana: eastern asia, focuses on enlightenment of everybody, because we are all one, if one person gains enlightenments, we are all part of that.
