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Buddhism: The Journey to Nirvana

The different realms of reincarnation as taught in Tibetan Buddhism.

           By Kayla Falcinelli

For those of you unfamiliar to the religion of Buddhism, it is religion focused on rebirth and reaching illumination. The Buddha himself, a son of a warrior king named Siddhartha Gautama, founded the religion. He searched for enlightenment and found peace with meditation.

            Buddhists believe in karma, and that it plays a role in rebirth. It is believed that unless you reach a state of Nirvana, the cycles of life and death will be on going. The religion encourages its followers to detach from stressful habits and memories, and to cleanse the mind. Death is inevitable, but if we prepare ourselves for the next stage of life, there is a greater chance of achieving enlightenment.

According to Tibetan Buddhism, when a person dies their soul will go through three stages before entering realms of reincarnation. These stages are called “bardos”, and will last a total of forty-nine days. At the end of these stages a person will either return to earth to be reincarnated, or achieve enlightenment. 

            There are six realms of reincarnation, which include the Realm of Asura, the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, the Hell Realm, the Animal Realm, and the Human Realm. Rebirth into the Asura realm means you’re filled with power and jealousy. The Realm of Hungry Ghosts is full of craving, and includes obsession and addiction. The Hell Realm is said to be the worst, and is occupied by anger and hatred. Rebirth into the Animal Realm is guided by ignorance and stupidity. The Human Realm is driven by desire, and gives someone the opportunity to achieve Nirvana

Buddhism is very centered on pushing out all the bad thoughts and feelings, and finding peace within you. It is important to have compassion for yourself and others when following the journey to enlightenment. 

            To learn of the importance of compassion, be sure to come see his Holiness the reincarnated 14th Dalai Lama at Western Connecticut State University October 18th and 19th 2012.  The public is invited to a free showing (video simulcast) in the Ives Concert Hall, 181 White St. To help promote this opportunity, WCSU students in the Writing, Linguistics and Creative Process  Department's Advertising, Copywriting and Promotions class are writing this blog and they created a Twitter page.

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Soccer May 20, 2013 at 06:27 pm
g, Let's throw out some more numbers... Here is a site to look at:Read More http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/PDF/dgm/report1/basiccon.pdf This is the Connecticut State Department of Education Bureau of Grants Management spreadsheet. It shows and compares what Danbury is paying per student compared to the rest of the state. Looking at the numbers, out of the 170+ districts in the state, Danbury pays the 8th LEAST amount per pupil. Out of the 10 districts in Connecticut that have over 10,000 students, Danbury ranks 2nd LOWEST in the state. This amount is about $3,000 less per pupil than the average of the state and the average of districts with 10,000+ students.
g May 20, 2013 at 01:33 pm
Good afternoon Jessica, Danbury plans to spend approximately $114,000,000 on teaching staff salaryRead More and benefits for the next school year per the school budget here - http://www.danbury.k12.ct.us/bbadmin/Budget/2012-2013%20budget.pdf the total budget is $121,000,000. Teachers, administrators, contracted professionals, staff enrichment programs, staff insurance, and the rest comprise about 95% of the school system budget. See staff cost summary on page 8 of the report. You'll also note our board of education plans to spend a bit more than 3 million dollars on supplies and materials plus a million on equipment. The budget represents a 5% increase from the prior year. On our district home page - http://www.danbury.k12.ct.us/ it says Danbury has 10,300 my calculator tells me that's about $12,000 per child in the district. With $12,000 per child, why are teachers paying for supplies? Hmm ... let me think ... 95% of the budget goes to staff salary and benefits for the long 185 day year .... I have a guess where the money goes. Do you?
Black People are ANIMALS May 16, 2013 at 12:18 pm
You should invite all the spics to the lake to go swimming. The Squantzter is usually hungry thisRead More time of year.