Buddhism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Buddhism - Essay ExampleThe religious philosophy propagates that the widely popular belief in eternal soul, is a case of mistaken identity where one or more of the skandhas atomic number 18 mistaken to be representative of an eternal soul. These five skandhas include Form (rupa) feelings (vedana) perception (sajna) volitional factors (samskaras) and brain (vij-nana) ((Keown, 2003). Form or rupa refers to the external features or characteristics of a human body such as form or color. Feelings or vedana refers to sensations Perception or sajna refers to perceptions or mental images volitional factors or samskaras refers to the power of mental formations and perception and consciousness or vij-nana refers to recognition and judgment (Hirakawa and Groner, 1993 44). This philosophical system further suggests that these five elements or aggregates are impermanent in nature i.e. anitya, and hence subject to change. It is on account of this very reason, that association with the nonion o f a permanent or unchanging self is rendered put on and any individual(a) who associates with this false notion of a permanent self, is likely to suffer since impermanent things often result in suffering i.e. dukha. For a Buddhist, an individual is comprised of these five aggregates which are subject to change, and hence and anything that is unchanging or permanent in nature cannot be associated with the concept of selfhood or personhood. Buddhism argues that this doctrine of no freelance self is associated with the Buddhist doctrine of hooked/ conditioning origination i.e. pratiyasumtpada (Palmquist, 2010). In Buddhism, there is no certain pre-defined concept of self. But the same is defined and explained by way of a series of impermanent and interdependent moments of consciousness (). For instance, according to the doctrine of conditioning origination i.e. ratiyasumtpada the concept of self does not exist separately on its own, since the notion of self is empty / void. The em ptiness of self in Buddhism does not imply non-existence of self, but instead refers to lack of autonomous self-nature i.e. nishvabhava. Buddhism posits that the notion of personhood does not have an autonomous self existence, but instead is a consequence of certain conditions or pratyayas. Thus the existence of personhood or self in Buddhism is dependent on several other factors, which are interconnected with each other and are mostly found in experiences which an individual goes through (Palmquist, 2010). The doctrine of personhood in Buddhism refers to the heretical view that human beings are gifted with a real self. Buddhism essentially rejects the notion of an eternal self or atman. Various religious groups in spite of appearance the religion, such as the Vatsiputriyas had put forward the notion of an eternal self, in a bid to describe and explain the complex phenomenon of life after death, transition and karma. However according to the Buddhist religious theories, the concep t of personhood which is enshrined within the five aggregates, is derived from and dependent on them (Keown, 2003). Another more modern theory on the doctrine of Persoonhood was developed by a group known as the Pudgalavadins or the Personalists. This group was strongly opposed to the conventional and/or orthodox concept of anatta or no-self-ness, since it was difficult to comprehend and interpret. Contrary to the orthodox concept