Buddhism - A Spiritual Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Buddhism - A Spiritual Religion - Essay Example There is no single text of Buddhism that is followed all over the world as a number of different Buddhist texts are followed by its practitioners. The Buddhists are divided into different traditions and beliefs according to which, they follow different texts such as Theravada Buddhists use Pali Canon as trustworthy and reliable for their religious practices and Mahayana Buddhists use Mahayana Sutras for their scriptural teachings (Fierser and Powers 2007). Pali Tipitaka is also a Buddhist scripture that is regarded as a reliable scriptural work for many Buddhist practices and traditions by Theravadas (Fierser and Powers 2007). Therefore, there are many Buddhist scriptural works followed by different Buddhists all over the world. Buddha preached his enlightenments consisting of all the principles of right action, right speech, right thinking, right livelihood, right intention, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Buddha teaches that by learning to live a morally perfect life of a person, after the succession of births and rebirths, ceases to be reborn and enters what he called Nirvana, a spiritual condition free of all desires, passions and sufferings (Ellwood and McGraw 2004). Meditation is the basic practice of Buddhist followers. It is said that the founder of this religion himself achieved spirituality and enlightenment on the basis of meditation. There are two kinds of meditative practices, which are Shamatha and Vipassana. These meditative practices are considered essential for acquiring spirituality. In Buddhism, The meditative approaches of mindfulness and concentration are utilized. (Bowker, 1997: 176). â€Å"The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this life. For it is only through meditation that you can undertake the journey to discover your true nature, and so find the stability and confidence you will need to live and die, well. Meditation is the road to enlightenment†.