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Introduction: Transcending in The Global Age

The document discusses several Eastern religious and philosophical traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. It provides overviews of key concepts in each tradition such as karma and samsara in Hinduism, the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path in Buddhism, and the existence of God and problem of evil/suffering in Christianity. It also examines how each tradition approaches the human condition, limitations, and possibilities for transcending worldly suffering to achieve enlightenment or union with the divine.

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Kyla Lacasandile
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822 views4 pages

Introduction: Transcending in The Global Age

The document discusses several Eastern religious and philosophical traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. It provides overviews of key concepts in each tradition such as karma and samsara in Hinduism, the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path in Buddhism, and the existence of God and problem of evil/suffering in Christianity. It also examines how each tradition approaches the human condition, limitations, and possibilities for transcending worldly suffering to achieve enlightenment or union with the divine.

Uploaded by

Kyla Lacasandile
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction: Transcending in the Global Age

According to Thomas Merton (1948), a Trappist monk, there is no other way for us to find
who we are than by finding in ourselves the divine image. We have to struggle to regain
spontaneous and vital awareness of our own spirituality. 

Hinduism
At the heart of hinduism lies the idea of human beings' quest for absolute truth, so that
one's soul and the Brahman or Atman (Absolute Soul) might become one. 

The Au
the root of the universe and everything that exists and it continues to hold everything
together. 

HINDUISM
Human beings have a dual nature: 

1. one is the spiritual and immortal essence (soul)


2. empirical life and character.

The existence of the body is considered as nothing


more than an illusion and even an obstacle to an
individual's realization of one's real self.

 Hindus generally believe that the soul is


eternal but bound by the law of Karma (action)
to the world of matter.
 Transmigration or metempsychosis is a
doctrine that adheres to the belief that a
person's soul passes into some other creature,
human, or animal.
 Moksha is an enlightened state wherein one
attains one's true selfhood and finds oneself
with the One, the Ultimate Reality, the All-
Comprehensive Reality: Brahman.
 Samsara - Cycle of life and death; a state of
"nothingness" 
 The goal of human life is conceived by the
different Upanishads is to overcome
congenital ignorance. The Upanishads or
sometimes referred to as Vedanta, the concepts
of Brahman and Atman (soul, self) are central
ideas in all the Upanishads, with "Know your
Atman" as their thematic focus.
 For hinduism, one's whole duty is to achieve
self-knowledge in order to achieve self-
annihilation and absorption into the Great
Self. 
 Hinduism is one of the oldest Eastern
traditions, practiced by hundreds of millions
of people for about 5,000 years.

BUDDHISM: FROM TEARS TO ENLIGHTENMENT


"Like stars fading and vanishing at dawn, Like
bubbles on a fast moving stream, Like morning
dewdrops evaporating on blades of grass, like
candle flickering in a stormy wind, echoes,
mirages, and phantoms hallucinations and like a
dream." - The Buddha

Buddhism, is a major Eastern tradition, contained in the teachings of it's


founder, Siddharta Gautama or The Buddha. The teaching of Buddha has been set forth
traditionally in the "Four Noble Truths" leading to the "Eightfold Path" to perfect
character or arhatship, which in turn gave assurance of entrance into Nirvana
(enlightened wisdom) at death.

"FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS"


1. Life is full of suffering
2. Suffering is caused by passionate desires, lusts, cravings
3. Only as these are obliterated, will suffering cease
4. Such eradication of desire may be accomplished only by following the Eightfold Path of
earnest endeavour 

"EIGHTFOLD PATH" 
1. Right belief and acceptance of the "Fourfold Truth"
2. Right aspiration for one's self and for others
3. Right speech that harms no one
4. Right conduct, motivated by goodwill toward all human beings
5. Right means of livelihood or earning one's living by honourable means 
6. Right endeavour, or effort to direct one's energies toward wise ends
7. Right mindfulness in choosing topics for thought
8. Right medication, or concentration to the point of complete absorption in mystic
ecstasy 
Christianity

Biblical God and Humanity

This section looks at the reasonableness of beliefs in Gods existence . We shall treat the
statement that "God exists" as a hypothesis, which we call the theistic hypothesis. For
Augustine, Christianity,  as presenting the full revelation  of the true God is the only true
and full philosophy. 

DISTINGUISH THE LIMITATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES FOR


TRANSCENDENCE
A. It is the spiritual that endures and is ultimately real.
B. There is the preoccupation with the inner life the road to enlightenment that stretches
not outward but inward.
C. There is an emphasis on the non-material oneness of creation.
D. There is the acceptance of direct awareness as the only way to understand what is real.
E. There is a healthy respect for tradition but never a slavish commitment to it.

Evil and Suffering


                Suffering is close to the heart of biblical faith. In comparison with the Buddha,
who saw life in suffering and tried to control it instead of cursing it, Job, of the Old
Testament, did not just complain.
In, Christianity, suffering leads to the Cross, the symbol of reality of God's saving love for
the human being. Suffering, in Buddhism, gives rise to comparison for suffering humanity.

RECOGNIZE THE HUMAN BODY IMPOSES LIMITS AND


POSSIBILITIES FOR TRANSCENDENCE
A. HINDUISM: Reincarnation and Karma
Essential Hinduism is based on the belief in karma and has its first literary expression in
Upanishads. Everything in this life is a consequence of actions performed in previous
existence.For the Jains, there is nothing migthier in the world than karma; karma tramples
down all powers. 

B. BUDDHISM: Nirvana
Nirvana means the state in which one is absolutely free from all forms of bondage and
attachment. It means to overcome and remove the cause of suffering. It is also who is
unencumbered from all the fetters that bind a human being in existence.

The Buddha's silence is due to his awareness that nirvana is a state that transcends every
mundane experience and cannot be talked about. Nirvana is beyond the sense, language
and thought. This way of life conforms to Buddha's teaching that wisdom consists in
treading the Middle Way, avoiding the extreme of asceticism, inactivity and indifference
on the one hand and that of frantic activity and mindless pursuit of pleasure on the other.
EVALUATE OWN LIMITATIONS AND THE POSSIBILITIES
FOR THEIR TRANSCENDENCE
A. FORGIVENESS
         When we forgive, we are freed from our anger and bitterness because of the actions
and/or words of another.

B. THE BEAUTY OF NATURE


          There is perfection in every single flower; this is what the three philosophies
believed. For a hug, for every sunrise and sunset, to eat together as a family, are our
miracles.

C. VULNERABILITY
         To be invulnerable is somehow inhuman. To be vulnerable is to be human. The
experience that we are contingent, that we are dependent for our existence on another is
frightening.

D. FAILURE
          Our failures force us to confront our weaknesses and limitation. When a
relationship fails, when a student fails a subject, when our immediate desires are not met,
we are confronted with the possibility of our plans and yet, we are forced to surrender to
a mystery or look upon a bigger world.

E. LONELINESS
            Our loneliness can be rooted from our sense of vulnerability and fear of death.

F. LOVE
           To love is to experience richness, positivity and transcendence. Life is full of risks,
fears and commitment, pain and sacrificing and giving up thing/s we want for the sake of
the one we love.

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