Philosophers Checkpoint

Philosophers Checkpoint

There are several types of philosophy in the world; Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism are just a few to mention. Each of these philosophies had a strong presence in their own cultures to believe in the reason for the teachings.

Buddhism, brought to life by Siddhartha Guatama, a once known prince, later called Buddha, is a plethora of teachings in relation to suffering. Siddhartha Guatama can be summarized through the quote “enlighten your life and learn to end suffering”. When Buddha was prince he grew tired of the suffering he witnessed around him. Deciding to leave his life of luxury, he sought out to find why does suffering exist, and what could bring it to an end. In his search Buddha studied under two Hindu ascetics where he learned yoga and the art of true breathing. Buddha realized along with the four noble truths, ignorance is the most immediate cause of suffering. In order to help draw an end to suffering, people must learn to enlighten themselves by meditation and self-abnegation. Banish the selfish cravings humans have and remember karma as Buddha mentions, this is how we enlighten ourselves.

One of Taoism’s earliest figures was Lao Tzu, a rather peaceful man. Since Taoism means “way” in the common form of translation, it seems only right to summarize Lao Tzu in a quote made by him, “the Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao”. This quote seems accurate in representing what he felt because his view shared that for every known being, there is an un-known being from which things were started. In other words the way we see, and try to explain is a view stemming from a way that is not known and cannot be the beginning of the way. Historically he was one of the only philosophers who wished to remain un-known, perhaps to share his view of the “way” as mentioned before. Lao Tzu was historically thought to share the views of Socrates, both figured even the wisest of men are still ignorant. Lao Tzu summarized that the world did not...