PDP 6: “Sermons and Teachings”
Author Bio: The author of this article is Siddhartha Gautama, or more commonly referred to as “The Buddha”. He was the son of a king and raised in luxury. Legend said that he was to either grow up to be a great monarch or a great Buddha. Around the age of 29, Siddhartha saw human suffering and began a journey as a wandering ascetic. One night, he attained his goal of the highest truth while meditating. He then set to spreading his teachings throughout east Asia.
Date/Context: The article is dated 6th century B.C.E which is not too long after Buddhism was created. One can imply from this that the religion had not reached a vast number of followers yet and was still being discovered. The article contains the Buddha essentially teaching the bhikkus about the concepts of Buddhism and further develop their understanding of the philosophy.
Summary: This article essentially describes the Buddha explaining and teaching the ways of the Buddhists religion to five bhikkus. These disciples honor and respect the Buddha, but do not refer to him as their master. He lives amongst them equally, but is still considered the Buddha, or Holy One. He begins by describing the middle path which is basically finding a medium between good and evil. From here, he is led to the four noble truths. These essentially state that life consists of suffering, people suffer due to desire, to eliminate suffering, eliminate desires, and in order to eliminate desires, one must follow the eightfold path. After this explanation the bhikkus begin to realize the that the Buddha has discovered the truth to life. He then discusses Nirvana and makes as comparison to the wind. He says that although one cannot see wind, one knows it is there, the same goes for Nirvana.
Key Quotation: “‘He who fills his lamp with water will not dispel the darkness, and he who tries to light a fire with rotten wood will fail.’”
Your author bio thoroughly explains the background of Siddhartha Gautama and how he began his journey to become known as “The Buddha”. The bio includes information that supports the article and gives some necessary background of the topic which contributes to the understanding of the summary. You also did well explaining the time period that this article takes place. It gives a better understanding that there was not a vast number of followers behind the young religion and that it was still being discovered. The key quotation also encompasses the article effectively and gives the basic meaning of the article through one of the analogies made inside of the article itself. The summary gives a general overview of the summary but could have gone more in depth on certain parts. The summary also could have used one of the many analogies stated in the article to aid in the explanation and summary of the document. Finally, your summary could have included more about Nirvana and what was. Overall, your PDP is well written and gives a good overview of the article.
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