What is Buddhism?
Buddhism is the spin-off of Hinduism, which developed about 563 B.C. in India. It's founder, the Buddha or Enlightened One, (less known as Siddhartha Gautama), didn't like the idea of a caste system, which exists in Hinduism. The Buddha's teachings teach the correct way of living to reach Nirvana (meaning enlightenment), not the band, (although the band is amazing,) and to live a better, peaceful life. Buddha's teachings spread from India, to Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and Korea. The largest Buddhism branches are Theravada, Mahayana, Lamaism, and Zen. Buddhism is more of a philosophy, a 'way of life.' Here are some basic customs of Buddhism. Link Buddhism is henotheistic, although Buddha, isn't their god. They believe in different aspects of life, which makes it henotheistic.
Who is the Buddha?
The Buddha was originally a real person, meaning he was born into a royal family, and lived well until the age of 29. At age 29, he realized that riches cannot make you happy, so he explored many religions and teachings to find human happiness. Sages at court told his father that he was destined to be a religious leader. his father didn't like that, so he kept him away from pain, suffering, and death. Why those? It is because the sages told his father that Siddhartha (the Buddha) would see these Four Sights, to cause him to give up his riches. The Four Sights were an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a monk. Siddhartha's father kept him away from everything, poverty, pain, death. Later on, after he was married, he escaped outside of the castle, and saw those Four Sights. After that night, he left his rich life, and went to become a monk. He studied and meditated for six years. He didn't like the life of a monk, so he approached a bodhi tree, and began meditating, and thinking about the world. After 46 days, he realized the answers to his questions. After that, he was enlightened. After enlightenment, he spent the rest of his life teaching people the principles of Buddhism, which was called the Dhamma, or the Truth. He died at the age of 80 years old. The Buddha wasn't a god, he was just a man who 'taught a path to enlightenment' from personal experiences. The most important things the Buddha taught, was the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. There are many types of Buddhism, but they all connect back to the Dhamma, despite the emphasis changing due to customs and culture.
What are the Noble Truths?
The Noble Truths are basically the truth about life. There are four Noble Truths.
-The First Noble Truth
-The First Noble Truth
- Life is suffering (meaning pain, getting old, and dying.)
- We suffer psychologically (meaning loneliness, fear, embarrassment, etc.)
- Buddhism explains how to avoid it and be truly happy
- Suffering is caused by dislike
- You will suffer if you expect people to listen to us, or want them to like you, or you don't get something you wanted to have
- Getting what you want isn't happiness
- Suffering can be overcome and you can gain happiness
- You have more time and energy to help others
- (This is called Nirvana)
- The Noble 8-fold Path is the path that leads to the end of suffering
What are the 5 Precepts?
Just like Christians have the Ten Commandments,Buddhists have the 5 Precepts. It is the moral code within Buddhism. The main five are:
-not to take the life of anything living
-not to take anything not given for free
-abstain from sexual misconduct and overindulgence
-refrain from untrue speech
-avoid intoxication, such as avoid alcohol
-not to take the life of anything living
-not to take anything not given for free
-abstain from sexual misconduct and overindulgence
-refrain from untrue speech
-avoid intoxication, such as avoid alcohol
What is Karma, Wisdom, and Compassion?
Karma is, much like Hinduism, the law that every cause has an effect.
Wisdom is something that is believed you develop with compassion. The highest wisdom is seeing that everything is incomplete, impermanent, and has no fixed entity. True wisdom is experiencing and understanding truth and reality. Wisdom in Buddhism, also needs an open, clean mind.
Compassion is understanding others, and caring for one another.
Wisdom is something that is believed you develop with compassion. The highest wisdom is seeing that everything is incomplete, impermanent, and has no fixed entity. True wisdom is experiencing and understanding truth and reality. Wisdom in Buddhism, also needs an open, clean mind.
Compassion is understanding others, and caring for one another.
What is the Eightfold Path?
The Eightfold path are more or less kind of the rules as to what Buddhists had to follow in order to reach enlightenment. They all explain what you must follow, and they all talk about the right things to do.
-Right View/Understanding
-Right View/Understanding
- Supports wisdom, meaning understanding how things are
- Knowing whats going on inside and outside of us
- Insight into the reality of life
- Knowing the truth about the world
- Doing good things with good impacts
- Three kinds of right intention
-Renunciation(Disown)
-Good will
-Harmlessness - You need to act well to reach enlightenment
- You cannot swear
- Cannot say hateful or disrespectful things
- Cannot lie
- Cannot gossip
- Your actions must be good
- No bad actions
- Can't act selfishly
- Basically your dharma, which determines your karma
- Becoming a person who uses the 5 Precepts
- "moral conduct"
- Your profession or job shouldn't be violating the 5 Precepts
- Have to put effort into your life
- Effort to achieve nirvana
- Effort to not have bad qualities such as greed
- Always be aware of your surroundings
- Always need to be aware
- Don't daydream
- Be attentive and aware
- Meditate and be serious
- Try to meditate often
- Meditation isn't an action, it's believed to be a mental culture
- Meditation leads to the final step of nirvana
What are the two main branches of Buddhism?
There are two main branches of Buddhism- Theravada and Mahayana.
Theravada:
Mahayana:
Theravada:
- Theravada means 'teachings of the elders'
- Dominant in Southeast Asia
- Mostly in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos
- Stick to the original teachings of Buddha
- They only see Buddha as a regular man
- They don't worship or pray to him, they don't pray at all during worship
- They only hope to earn merit in their next life
- Monks are the perfect models of Buddhism
- Young men can become temporary monks
- It's normal and even highly respected if boys become monks
Mahayana:
- Mahayana means 'greater vehicle.'
- Believe they need help to attain Nirvana
- Since people reincarnate, they believe that everyone is related
- Believe they need to help everyone, even criminals
- Rely on bodhisattvas, who are those who reached enlightenment, but postponed reaching nirvana
- They pray to bodhisattvas for guidance to nirvana
- Quasideitie families are created to worship the almost-god-like bodhisattvas
- Believe in many gods who help them with achieving nirvana
- Spread to China, Japan, Korea, and Tibet
Buddha- the sage (wise man) who founded the teachings of Buddhism
Mahayana- one of the two major branches of Buddhism
monk (ascetics)- a member of a religious community who practices severe self-discipline
Nirvana- the state your soul is in when there is peace and relaxation
Siddharta Gautama- the Buddha's first name, before founding the teachings of Buddhism
Theravada- one of the two major branches of Buddhism
Mahayana- one of the two major branches of Buddhism
monk (ascetics)- a member of a religious community who practices severe self-discipline
Nirvana- the state your soul is in when there is peace and relaxation
Siddharta Gautama- the Buddha's first name, before founding the teachings of Buddhism
Theravada- one of the two major branches of Buddhism