Buddhism
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The religion of Buddhism is a 25,000 year-old religion that is believed to have been started by a man named Siddhartha Guatama. Currently there are 376 million followers world wide. According to the BBC (n.d.), Buddhism is a spiritual tradition that focuses on personal spiritual development and the attainment of a deep insight into the true nature of life (Buddhism at a Glance, n.d.).
To understand Buddhism is to understand the first leader, Siddhartha Guatama. There are many different versions of how Siddhartha was born. In Buddhist tradition, Siddhartha was royalty that had palaces just for the seasons. Before he was born his mother, Queen Maya, had a dream that there was a white elephant that entered her body on the right side. Siddhartha was born the next day from her right side. However, she died afterwards from complications at birth. (Wikipedia, 2006)
After the birth there was a celebration and a seer announced that Siddhartha would be a king or a grand holy man. His father, King Ð*Ñ™uddhodana, wanted him to be an exceptional king and was afraid his son would not follow in his path. As a result, Siddhartha was sheltered from life outside the royal grounds. (Wikipedia, 2006)
Sometime during his young life, Siddhartha became married and had a child. He was provided everything in life, but still felt like there could be more. One day he wandered off of palace grounds and saw what is known as the four sights: an old crippled man, a sick man, a dead man, and an ascetic man. Siddhartha was disturbed by these images and decided to leave all his wealth to live an ascetic life and find a way to triumph over suffering. (Wikipedia, 2006)
During this time, Siddhartha nearly starved himself after living a while as an ascetic. He began to reconsider his methods because living in this manner did not him achieve a solution to human suffering. Instead, he decided to live a life in-between or the “Middle way”. The Middle Way is a way of self moderation- not too much and not too little. (Access to Insight edition, 2005)
According to a translation of the Pali Canon (ancient Buddhist collection of text from the Theravada),
But with this racking practice of austerities I havent attained any superior human state, any distinction in knowledge or vision worthy of the noble ones. Could there be another path to Awakening (Bhikkhu, 1998)?
One day he accepted food and decided to sit under a Bodhi tree until he found the truth to suffering. He did find enlightenment under the tree and was known from that time as “The perfectly self awakened one.” (Wikipedia, 2006)
From then on he was known as Buddha. When Buddha truly became enlightened he reached Nirvana (a state of where a person has achieved freedom from pain and worry from the external world). Buddha decided to preach the Dharma (teachings of Buddha) of what he had learned under the Bodhi tree. (Wikipedia, 2006)
The basis of the Dharma is the four noble truths, which are: The truth of suffering (Dukkha), the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth leading to the end of suffering. (Buddhanet, 1992-2006)
The first noble truth was the realization from Buddha that life is suffering. There are many forms of physical suffering such as sickness, old age, mental illness and disasters. However, to understand the truth of suffering one must understand the cause of suffering. According to Buddhist tradition the cause of suffering is from desires based on greed and selfishness. The things people desire the most will cause the most suffering. (Buddhanet, 1992-2006)
The third noble truth tries to define the end of suffering. The Buddhist tradition believes that the end of suffering is to eliminate the desire for things in the material world.
The last noble truth is the path leading to the end of suffering. This goes into the noble eight fold path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right lively hood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation. The noble eightfold path was designed to eliminate or reduce suffering if it is followed. (Buddhanet, 1992-2006)
Fundamentally, the ethical and moral principles are regulated by understanding a person’s action. Essentially, if something can hurt ones self or others, it should be avoided. One belief in Buddhism is the development of a skilled mind to control the desires of the body. (Buddhanet, 1992-2006)
Moral demeanor is different for Sangaha (Buddhist monks and nuns) and laity (Buddhist people who are not monks and nuns). The lay person should develop training in what is the “Five percepts”, which are: avoid killing, avoid stealing, avoid sexual misuse, avoid lying, and avoid using intoxicants. The consequences to not following these moral rules are a result in bad karma. All things should be avoided to obtain the Buddhist goal of the end of suffering. (Buddhanet, 1992-2006)
According to the Vineyard or Buddhist scriptures, The Singh has approximately 350 rules that have to be followed depending on sex. The males are called Shimkus and the females are called Bhikkhunis. The rules all have a penalty when the rules are broken that range from expulsion to a prison sentence depending on the severity of the crime. The positive thing about Buddhism is that Buddha himself instructed that these rules could be changed according to the conditions at the time. (Buddhanet, 1992-2006)
Buddhist does not believe in a god. They believe that the search for how the universe was made is irrelevant and instead the focus should be on how to enlighten ones self. According to Buddhist at the 1993 Chicago Parliament of the world religions,
Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was not God or a god. He was a human being who attained full Enlightenment through meditation and showed us the path of spiritual awakening and freedom. Therefore, Buddhism is not a religion of God. Buddhism is a religion of wisdom, enlightenment and compassion. Like the worshippers of God who believe that salvation is available to all through confession of sin and a life of prayer, we Buddhists believe that salvation and enlightenment are available to all through removal of defilements and delusion and a life of meditation. However, unlike those who believe in God who is separate from us, Buddhists believe that Buddha which means “one who is awake and enlightened” is inherent in us all as Buddhanature or Buddhamind (Fisher, 2005, p.134).
Another source explains the belief in a god has it origin in fear. According to Dhammika,
All this seems to support the Buddhas teaching that the god-idea is a response