In seven pages the path toward becoming a Buddhist monk is traveled and paved with information regarding typical monastery daily routines, the Eight Fold Path and the Four Noble Truths. Five sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_khbudmnk.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Buddhist monks understand and follows the teachings of Buddha, the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path, much more is involved in Buddhism than a merely cognitive understanding of these
principles. Examining Buddhism, its beliefs and orientation, reveals more precisely what is involved in being a devout Buddhist monk. If the student wishes to put this information in the form
of Buddhist monks personal observations, this can easily be accomplished when writing the students own paper. Simply use the first person and refer to the topics as those under study
as the monastery, while incorporating the information near the end this paper on the typical daily regime into the diary. Just as Christianity can be divided into the
Roman Catholic and Protestant schools of belief, Buddhism also has two major divisions, Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. Theravadian Buddhism is the more philosophical of the two sects (Fowler 251). In
Theravada Buddhism, there is no concept of God as an omnipotent creator, rather there are twenty-six levels of the divine, with each level subjects to laws of cause and effect
in life (Fowler 251). The term "Buddha" means "enlightened one" and specifically refers to Siddhatta Gotama, as the Buddha, the man was born around 563 B.C. and who awakened
to a greater spiritual reality (Fowler 252). Buddha taught that human life involved suffering, and that this suffering could only be escaped through giving up selfish desires. Buddhism grew out
of Hinduism just as Christianity grew out of Judaism. However, unlike Hinduism, Buddhism rejected caste, image worship, animal sacrifice and the domination of a priestly caste (Fowler 252). The
writing of Dr. Walpola Rahula is very enlightening on the basic tenets of Buddhism. Dr. Rahula received the traditional training and education of a Buddhist monk in Ceylon (ix).