Ultimate Reality of Mahayana Buddhism Research Paper

Ultimate Reality of Mahayana Buddhism - Research Paper Example In Buddhism, there is a common teaching known as Shunyata. Shunyata was closely related with the works of Nagarjuna. This word implies emptiness or being void or even being open. Buddhism is one of the dominant religions in the Eastern religion which extends to most parts of India. The founder of Buddhism was Siddhartha who lived in the Sixth century BC (Valea 6). In the contemporary world, there are two branches of Buddhism. There is the conservative branch on one hand and the liberal branch on the other. The conservative branch is represented by the Thevada School which spreads in Southeast of Asia and Sri-Lanka. On the other hand, the liberal branch involves Mahayana which spread in China, Korea, Tibet, and Japan. The emergence of the Mahayana Buddhism took place between the first century BC and the first century AD. After the death of their masters, the Mahayana sutras were just revealed a long time after. This is because they were not understood by the majority of the people. Th eir teachings were too complex to the people and therefore attracted little attention. However, people began to understand their teachings with time which cultivated their interests in the teachings. On realizing the benefits of the teachings, more people became interested and the teachings were received by a greater number of people. According to Theravada school, in Ultimate Reality, none of the personal god, material or spiritual substance exists by itself (Valea 8). This school further argues that the world’s origin is not as Brahman rather or primordial being. According to this school, things which are manifested are the transitory factors of existence. These factors are not independent, they depend on each other. Therefore, when one factor experiences some problems, the entire system is affected. Buddha commented that â€Å"The world exists because of causal actions, all things are produced by causal actions and all beings are governed and bound by causal actions.

Social and Behavioural Sciences for Nursing Essay

Social and Behavioural Sciences for Nursing - Essay Example Various appropriate secondary sources will be used to interpret these experiences from social and behavioural science point of view. At age 18, John had been admitted into a psychiatric hospital thrice. Initially, he experienced lack of sleep and was confused holding paranoid beliefs and some grandiose. He saw familiar faces in the faces of strangers causing espionage traits. This made John believe that he was in danger of losing his free and spontaneous thinking ability. According to the mother, John exhibited poor concentration but was high in tension, fear and vigilance which Mueser and Jeste (2008), just as his psychiatrist, attribute to psychosomatic chest pains. Because of the history of psychosis in the family, the psychiatrist easily diagnosed schizophrenia in John. John’s mother recalled how the news was broken to them with the indication that their son would be under medication for the rest of his life traumatising them. These were John’s unique symptoms of a psychological disorder as each patient experiences unique symptoms and as such have unique ways of coping with the same (ed. Steel 2013). In the UK, Weinberger and Harrison (eds. 2011) document between 0.2% and 1% of people experiencing similar problems associated with schizophrenia at any particular time. These people occupy 8% of the hospital beds in Canada. The US has an even higher prevalence of the disorder standing at 1.2% of the total population, with the global data being even higher. Interestingly, one out of a hundred persons would be diagnosed with schizophrenia in their lifetime with diagnosis common in early adulthood at ages 18 to 25 for males and 25 to 30 and again at about 40 for females. The significance of prevalence of this disorder points out at the importance of understanding the perspective of the patient so as to be able to give a more client focussed approach in delivering health care to the community. In this case, John’s life journey informs an appro priate narrative to understand his illness from psychological, sociological and cultural perspectives. Social Perspective John was born into a poor family living in the inner city with the mother having four children each with different unknown fathers. This economic consideration provides a relationship between poverty and schizophrenia because ideally, schizophrenia, just as many other mental illnesses, affects people from poor backgrounds more than those from the more affluent areas. Clinard and Meier (2008) use the isolation theory to explain this phenomenon noting that poverty combined with social isolation would likely trigger psychosis among vulnerable individuals. Supporting this theory is Aneshensel and Phelan (eds. 2006) who postulate that social processes and arrangements form the basis of understanding the causes and consequences of mental illness. In fact, the tag of being mentally ill qualifies as a social transformation in itself. John being a child from a poor family thus explains his condition; an economic condition which was worsened by the expenses that arose from the care that John needed. After spending considerable time in the psychiatric hospital, John was integrated back to the society so as to assist him lead a normal life. This community care policy has benefitted John a great deal as it helped him appreciate himself as any other human. Even so, the community could not really embrace John back normally. Their perspective of the