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Example research essay topic: Nobel Peace Prize Mother Teresa - 2,281 words

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-Mother Teresa and the Right Path- Intro: Mother Teresa and Siddharta Guartma are centuries apart in time and leagues apart in religious declination. Despite this religious and time divide, the life of Mother Teresa, its positive and negative events, can be critiqued through and attributed to the principals and tenets of, Siddharta Guartma, the Buddha. Mother Teresa was chosen to be the personality figure in this paper because as a person she may be defined on many levels through human suffering. As suffering served as the Buddhas main motivation I found their relation to be direct; both gave great consideration to the essence of suffering and worked towards it alleviation. Furthermore, she exemplified many of Buddhas teachings in her life. History/ Background: Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a Roman Catholic nun and founder of the Missionaries of Charity, to care for the most despite of Indian society.

In 1952 Mother Teresa opened the Normal Hriday (Pure Heart) Home for Dying Destitute's in Calcutta. She and her fellow nuns took in dying Indians off the streets of Calcutta and brought them to this home to care for them during the days before they died, so that they might be able to die in peace and with dignity. In addition she worked with and cared for lepers. Mother Teresa expanded her work by creating a network of 569 missions in 120 nations. Today over 5000 sisters, brothers, and volunteers run approximately 500 centers worldwide, feeding 500, 000 families and helping 90, 000 lepers every year. For her work she was awarded many honors.

For example she was awarded the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971, and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Mother Teresa who was known to the world as The Saint of Gutters and The Saint of Calcutta, was not actually from Calcutta or India for that matter. In fact, she was of Albanian descent and grew up in Skopje, Macedonia, which would make her a Yugoslav-Albanian. Teresa was born Agnes Gonna Bojaxhiu, on August 26, 1910. Her family was Catholic, though the majority of Albanians in Macedonia were Muslim.

She was raised in a middle-class working family. Her mother and father, Drana and Kol? , provided very well for their three children. It was said that she never lacked for nothing. Her father was a contractor with a successful business and a politically active member of society. He, unfortunately died when she was twelve and the direction of her life changed significantly. In Buddhism, his death is an example of Anicca- one of the three characteristics of existence, which means that all existence is impermanent and everything is subject to continuous change.

While her father had been alive, Teresa's household was primarily political in atmosphere. Described by many as a patriot, Kol? was intensely involved in politics and held a seat on the County Council. After his death the atmosphere of the house changed and with it followed the direction of Teresa's development. Drana, her mother, had become Teresa's primary role model and laid the roots of religious devotion that defined Teresa's later life. Drana was an intensely religious woman, who used the church to instill the virtues of charity to her young daughter.

Her brother explains Where our house had been a hotbed of political discussions while my father lived, after his death it was more of a religious center... Our mother was unusually religious. (26 Serrou) Buddhists would use her fathers death as an event in the cycle of dependant origination, an event that contributes directly to her future path. Teresa's focus in life changed from politics to the church and she approached this new spiritual and religious growth with enthusiasm. She became very active in her local church, as a parishioner and an outstanding member of the choir. Under the Buddhist law of Dependant Origination, her latter work with the poor, which occurred through her deep religious values, can be directly attributed to her fathers death.

This law states that nothing exists on its own, but always has come from earlier circumstances. In other words, her fathers death, because it caused the religious shift in her life, is the reason why she would latter come to work for the poor through the church. Continuing on, her religious development and her acute understanding of suffering, was cultivated through the politically tumultuous atmosphere of the Balkans. During her infant years the Turkish ruled with barbarism, terror, and repression.

Further upheaval began when the first of the Balkan wars broke out in 1912; Teresa was only three years old. The end of the war leads to yet another period of foreign occupation. The constant foreign occupation and war caused the displacement and death of thousands, there were constant flows of the homeless, hungry, and wounded. This is where Teresa was first exposed to destitution and suffering, and where she initially became aware of the third characteristic of existence known as Dukkha- the universality of suffering in life. The continued influence of her mother taught her not to turn away but to embrace and aid those in need.

Again her brother explains, we constantly tried to help people. My mother was interested in missions, and [we] would take in local people too and feed and help them. (Serrou) It is easy to see that the influence and goodwill of her mother directly shaped the development of Teresa's character. She did not just spring out of the blue (Serrou), but was a product of her mother. Once again the influence of Dependant Origination is strong. Had her father lived, she may not have had this direct exposure to suffering. In which case, she would not have developed the internal religious declination that inspired her to leave home, to receive formal religious training.

Her lifes religious path began at eighteen, when joined Irelands Sisters of Loreto for formal religious training. Here she took the name Teresa in honor of the French missionary saint Therese of Linux, known for her piety, goodness and unflinching courage in the face of early illness and early death. 2 She learned English and was trained in religious life for about a year. On December 1, 1928 she begins her journey to India. In Darjeeling she continues her training for two years, after which she takes her vows. She is immediately sent to Calcutta where she helps care for the sick in a little hospital, while working as a teacher and principal at St. Marys, an upper-class girls high school.

While working at the school and hospital she exposed for the first time to advanced suffering of the Calcutta slums, which are located a close distance to the school. In this way Calcutta is great social and economical paradox; next to the great opulence of palaces there exists the revolting squalor of local shantytowns. From her St Marys room, Teresa could see strait down into the heart of the Moti Joel slums, where entire families lived heaped together in the mud (37). Letters form her mother provides meaning for the suffering she observes in these shantytowns.

They remind her of her basic call: to care for the poor. The plight of these poor and her inability to do more for them, troubled her greatly. She spends two years, under the guidance of a spiritual director named father Henry, in prayer and contemplation searching for an answer. The answer she had been seeking finally comes to her on September 10, 1946 during the most important journey of [her] life. While on a train ride to Darjeeling, for a spiritual retreat, she receives a second calling from God to serve Him amongst the poorest of the poor. In her own words she explains, I was to leave the convent and help the poor whilst living among them.

It was an order. She seeks Romes permission to start her own order in the slums, but is denied. However, serving the poor became a categorical imperative and she could not be deterred. Undaunted and without help from the church she begins her ministry in the slums. In the early work of her missionary she and a dozen or so disciples roam the harsh streets of Calcutta to seek out and help the miserable.

They themselves lived in poverty, begging for their own support, including their daily meals. It was a very rough period for Teresa. Despite many instances of humiliation and hardship, which often drove her to tears, she pressed on. Finally, after two years Rome finally embraced Teresa's efforts and formally established the Missionaries of charity in 1950.

Through Teresa's objective the church commanded all members of the order to unremittingly seek out the poor, abandoned, sick, informed, and dying. Two years before in 1948, Teresa performed her first act of comfort for the dying. She came across a half-dead woman lying in front of a Calcutta hospital. She stayed with the woman, holding her in her arms and praying for her until she died. 3 This first encounter inspired her open the Normal Hriday (Pure Heart) Home for Dying Destitute's in Calcutta. She and her fellow nuns took in Indians, who often died alone, off the streets of Calcutta and brought them to this home to care for them during the days before they died. Mother Teresa wanted to allow them to die in peace and with dignity.

Her work expands when the Shishu Bhavan is opened. It is a plain two-storied building in Calcutta. The building houses several of the Missions other diverse activities including the home for children, a soup kitchen clinic, dispensary, and a shelter for mothers pregnant with unwanted children. The work brings her great happiness and fulfillment. Even more, as word of her work spreads, donations and new followers flow in. have enabled her to open similar 120 countries throughout the world.

This is perfect example of Karma, a Buddhist concept that attributes positive or favorable events to past good actions. Her dedication to this noble work won her praise from around the world. By doing such good work, Buddhists say that she is building good Karma. Good karma brings the rewards of good fortune.

For Mother Teresa good fortune comes in the form of awards and honors as well as donation that help her expand her work. In 1962 she wins her first prize for her humanitarian work: the Padma Shri award for distinguished service. Even individual countries bestow their greatest honors upon her. For example, in 1985 The United States awarded her the Medal of Freedom, their highest civilian award. She received her greatest honor in 1979 when she Wins Nobel Peace Prize.

Teresa displayed her fanatic devotion to her cause by using such events to spread the word and support for her work. Over the years, she uses the money from such prizes to found dozens of new homes. Religious fervency, her devotion to the ideals of the Catholic Church, fueled the good works for which she received so much admiration. However, this same religious fervency also compromised her nobility to some and exposed her sharp criticisms is some instances. Her condemnation of abortion was possibly her largest controversy.

Time and time again she preached the mantle of the Church, by openly and pointedly condemning the practice of abortion. The most publicized incident occurred at Harvard University's 1982 Commencement. In her speech she referred to abortion as the greatest evil and continued by asking, If a mother can kill her own child, then what is left of the West to be destroyed? Her comments offended many and took everyone by surprise. She did not see the defense of the unborn any differently than she saw the defense of the poor and sick. Her comments offended many and took everyone by surprise.

She however was steadfast, continuing to speak her mind and defend the pillars of the Catholic Church, on which she had based her life. The virtues that she practiced in her life, the virtues that lead to such great success, reflect the rules for healthy and successful living as out-lined in Buddhisms Eight Fold Path. The first fold in the path is Right Understanding- to view life realistically and understand the nature of existence to be suffering; life is a veil of tears. It is obvious that Mother Teresa had this Right Understanding, it was developed early in life. Furthermore, her lifes work, commitment to helping others exemplify Right Action and Right Livelihood, the fourth and fifth folds on the path.

Both require a person to only act in positive ways and make a living by doing things that positively affect those around you. Mother Teresa's Interpretation &# 038; Analysis: Her success in life came, in part, from the very thing, suffering, that ruins the lives of most everyone else. Her sense of Dukkha and her noble understanding. Failed to follow her own words, if you are humble, nothing will bother you, neither praise nor slander because you know who you are. Evaluation: 1: web 2: Seeker of Souls 3: web Teresa, M. (1996). Mother Teresa: In My Own Words.

New York: Gramercy Books, Random House Publishing, Inc. Goddard, D. (1994). A Buddhist Bible. Boston: Beacon Press. Noonan, Peggy. (1997, September 15). Seeker of Souls.

Time: VOL. 150 NO. 11. Retrieved December 11, 200 from Time. com the World Wide Web: http: //www. time.

com / time /magazine/ 1997 /dom/ 970915 /religion. seekerofsoul. html. Saddhatissa, H. (1976). The Life of the Buddha.

London: George Allen &# 038; Unwin Ltd. Serrou, R. (1984). Teresa of Calcutta. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co. 1: Blade, J. and Playfoot J. (1985). My Life for the Poor.

London: Ballentine Books. 2: Seeker of Souls 3: web


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Research essay sample on Nobel Peace Prize Mother Teresa

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