Precept Essays

“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life” (Buddha). Throughout different time periods religion has impacted the society in which people live. Religion has and continues to dictate the rules citizens have to follow in all areas, especially social, educational, and political. Religion influences morals, values, and people’s identities. Many people turn to religion for not just spiritual answers, but for guidance and help in everyday life. Religion also affects

My purpose in this essay is to explain and analyze the Divine Command Theory. Divine Command Theory states that morality is ultimately based on the commands of God. I disagree with this theory because how do we know what concepts of God are true and what other concepts are false? There are so many religions making their own claims and interpretations that they believe are true. Therefore, how do we know then what God approves or disapproves of? Divine command theory is the idea that certain actions

The precept I choose is “Everyone deserves a standing ovation because we all overcometh the world.” – Auggie Pullman This precept means that everyone should be awarded in their life. Many times in life the people who do incredible things are awarded, but the people who do small things and truly try their best are often not recognized. What Auggie meant is that every day people do great things. Perhaps some may seem very insignificant to us. However, it might have been the best thing they have ever

Jainism is known nonviolence and extremely strict religious precepts. The religion is an ancient Indian religion, which emphasizes the equality of all beings. According to bbc.co.uk, “Most Jains live in India, and according to the 2001 Census of India there are around 4.2 million living there. However, the Oxford Handbook of Global Religions, published in 2006, suggests that census figures may provide lower than the true number of followers.” The first wave of Jain immigrants from India to New

main character, Auggie Pullman, has a facial deformity that affects his entire life. During his first year of Beecher Middle School, Auggie’s homeroom teacher, Mr. Brown, presents the class with a monthly precept. A precept is a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought. Mr. Brown’s precept “Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.”, can describe Auggie’s development as an individual. The development of his personality throughout the movie is astounding even though he had some

Natural Moral Law sets out five primary precepts; Preserve Life, Ordered Society, Worship, Education, Reproduction and is based around the fact that if an action upholds all five of these primary precepts then it is morally good or right. From these primary precepts stems a set of secondary precepts, which are rules which appear to make you morally good if you follow them. For example, using the primary precept of Preserve Life, then the secondary precepts would be do not murder, no to abortion and

purpose.These methods are known as the Primary precepts. Aquinas created them in order to give life meaning, and to identify God’s given purposes in life. They are designed to identify actions that are morally good, more catered for an absolutist frame of mind. The primary precepts are as follows: To worship God, To create and inhabit an ordered society, to reproduce, to learn, and to defend the innocent. According to Aquinas, following these precepts is essential for maintaining good and to stir

similarity that these two religions have is that they both have the basic rules of behavior. This similarity highlights how both Buddhism and Judaism are more uniform compared to other religions such as Christianity. Even though the Torah and the Five Precepts have different beliefs for their respective faiths, both of these two religions have an essential book of rules for the appropriate and model behavior. The Jews have the Torah. The Torah is the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happienss never decreases by being shared” (The Buddha). Through the way the beliefs and believers and expressed, the sacred texts are written, the practices and rituals are conducted, and the ethics are derived, we can see that the four main components of Religion contribute to a dynamic, living religious system for adherants of Buddhism. Buddhism originated 2,500 years ago during the life

Meditation is a common practice in Buddhism because it is a conscious effort to change and understand how the mind works, coming from the Pali word “bhavana”, meaning, “to make grow” or “to develop”. Many Buddhists see meditation as the primary way to achieve Nirvana because Buddha attained enlightenment while he was meditation. Meditation helps develop awareness and energy necessary to transform habits because of its two stages, “samatha, which develops concentration, and vipassana, which leads

Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) was a great Indian philosopher estimated to be born around the year 4-5 BC. He founded the religion and philosophy that we now called Buddhism. Many people today still see him as spiritual guide. Buddha lived a sheltered life with luxuries provided for him by his father. Rumors circulated that his father was attempting to protect Buddha from all of life’s miseries such as death, sickness, and injustice. Eventually (at age 29) Buddha left this place that his father has

The laws that all Buddhists must follow are known as The Five Precepts. The first precept states that “to avoid taking the life of beings.” (Buddhist Ethics). This precept prevents the intentional murder of another human. In Canada, we have a right to life, stated in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter of Rights and Freedoms) which also prevents the murder of humans. The second precept says, “To avoid taking things not given.” (Buddhist Ethics) refers to stealing

Buddhism started with the Buddha who was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal around 2,500 years ago. The word ‘Buddha’ means ‘who is awake’ and in the sense of having ‘woken up to reality’. He did not say his is a god or a prophet. He was a human being who became Enlightened, try to understanding life in the deepest way possible. Siddhartha is the prince of a small kingdom on the Indian-Nepalese border. After seven days of his birth, his mother died. His mother’s younger sister, Maha Pajapati take

The Buddhist religion consists of a set of rules that are to be followed by all Buddhist adherents. These rules guide Buddhists onto the path of enlightenment and they tell adherents how to follow the teachings seen through sacred texts and how to act in the Buddhist community. There are various branches of Buddhism that teach similar beliefs to each other, however many Buddhists look to the same significant people in the Buddhist religion, such as the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama spreads teachings

keep the Five Precepts, for example, troublemakers or heroin addicts, and gets lesser to those who observe the Five Precepts regardless of how much gift values are. In the light of the Buddha’s teachings, offering to the purer and more observant monk, the givers receive more merit no matter how little they present to the good monk. Therefore, the alms-givers will gain more merit when offering alms to those with a higher degree of precepts observed, like 8 or 10 precepts, or 250 precepts completely.

shape the lives of its adherents. Through the teachings or Dhamma of the Buddha the lives of adherents are shaped, as adherents are guided by the Noble Eightfold Path and the Five Precepts, and through Temple Puja the life of the Buddhist community is also shaped. The Buddhists teachings of the Eightfold Path and Five Precepts, the worship through the significant practice of Temple Puja, and the Dalai Lama influences adherents not only the way that they live, but also the choices that they make, such

theologians due to his ability to mesh the ideas of differing important philosophers and advancing those ideas. Many today are still influenced by his philosophy. In his book, Summa Theologiae, Aquinas explains natural law and how it deals with the precepts set forth by God. The natural law can be used to solve current moral issues with which society continues to struggle, such as euthanasia. Aquinas introduces the idea of natural law by providing a question regarding the effects of the law. He argues

needs to be directed to his supernatural end in a higher way" (Aquinas,1947, II.i. Q.94 art.2). He also proposed that there is a precept which all the other natural laws played a part; "A certain order is to be found in things that should be apprehended by men… that good is to be done and evil to be avoided. All the other

Created and taught by Buddha, the Four Noble Truths are the bases of Buddhism’s principles. The Four Noble Truths are made up of four truths that describe and explain what suffering truly is and how one can put an end to their suffering. The suffering one experiences in his or her life, is known as dukkha. Dukkha is the main reason for which the Four Noble Truths were created, as they serve the purpose to explain to all Buddhist followers how to end their suffering. The first truth, the Truth of

The book Wonder by R.J. Palacio was filled with eye opening precepts. As I read the book I felt that one precept stood out most of all. This was the September precept “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.”- Dr. Wayne Dyer. I fell this means that you should choose kindness over the ability to be right. I say this because in a way the ability to be right is not always a good trait to have. For example we all know that one person in school who is a teacher’s pet or know