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Buddhism has a rich history and core beliefs that present world views of how to reach Nirvana. Additionally, Mahayana Buddhism presents a unique perspective to Buddhism. To date there is no official biography of the Buddha, but it has been generally agreed that his life followed a timeline. The story starts with Maya dreaming of a white elephant entering her side, which is now considered the time that the future Buddha was conceived. Born a son to the prince of the Shaky tribe, Shattered was also delivered from the side of his mother Maya.
With Maya dying a week after his birth, Shattered was raised by his aunt and was raised to succeed his father to become a great king. Catharsis’s father forbade him from leaving the royal grounds and being exposed to suffering, but decided to disobey him. When visiting a nearby town and witnessing the suffering that was integral to ordinary life, Shattered was moved by his encounters and decided to escape his sheltered and carefree life. Leaving the royal grounds and relieving himself of all luxurious belongings, Shattered sought spirituality from several teachers ND learned different methods of meditation and philosophies. Shattered spent about six years seeking answers to his questions-??particularly about the troubling facts of suffering and death. His own mother had died young, a death that was apparently without meaning. Why, he often asked, is there suffering? Why do people have to grow old and die? Is there a God or unchanging divine reality behind the surface of things? Is there a soul? Is there an afterlife? Are we reborn? Can we avoid suffering? How should we live? ” (Mallory, Page 126, 2013). In seeking the answers to his questions,
Shattered attempted to rid himself of distractions by living on little food, drink, and sleep to inhibit insight and gain spiritual powers. At one point, Shattered collapsed from weakness due to this practice of austerity. When he was revived, Shattered realized that his practices did not bring him any closer to finding answers to his questions, and decided to live a life of moderation instead. In this new state, Shattered resisted all temptation and reached a profound state of awareness and understanding that is now coined Boded, or his awakening/enlightenment.
At this point, it is fabled that Shattered was able to see his past lives, the laws of karma, and finally the insight to life and rebirth. Shattered was said to have “woken up” from this and adopted “the Buddha” as a new name. From here, Buddha traveled and shared his learning and taught disciples. These teachings were all facilitated verbally and through chant, and were not written down until after the Buddha death. There are early Buddhist teachings that are the core of this religion, such as the Three Jewels (Tirana), The Three Marks of Reality, The
Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path. After his death, disagreements over Buddha teachings surfaced and created different branches and schools of Buddhism. Of these, three are considered the major schools, which are Tetrahedral Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Vagrancy Buddhism. Focusing on Mahayana Buddhism, the most significant difference in this school is that everyone (not just monks) is capable of achieving nirvana. By definition, Mahayana means “big vehicle” which is a metaphor for a large ferry that is capable of carrying many different people with different surrounds.
Presumably, this is to indicate that many different people with different backgrounds can reach nirvana, and not just monks. Mahayana Buddhism unique attribute to the religion is a foundation of compassion. “The Mahayana tradition maintains that a person must save himself by saving others” (Mallory, Page 146, 2013). This is the central defining difference within this school of Buddhism, as it emphasizes compassion to the furthest degree. With that being said, Mahayana Buddhism goes as far as believing that one would never reach nirvana until all are enlightened as well.
The ideal Mahayana Buddhist is called a bodhisattva, which means “enlightenment being’ and considered to have the deepest sense of compassion. A bodhisattva would have so much compassion that they would refuse to reach nirvana and would instead accept being reborn to help others reach it. The story of the Buddha and how he acquired the philosophy of his teachings are quite inspiring. The most intriguing idea about this religion is that it aims to teach one to reach a state of complete awareness.