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Buddhism’s Basic Beliefs
Origins
• Founded in India approximately 2500 years
ago
• Today there are about 350 million adherents
worldwide → 4th largest religion
• Dominant religion in China, Japan, Thailand.
Cambodia, Tibet, Viet Nam
The Life of Buddha
• Buddha → Means the Enlightened or The
Awakened One
• Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama 563 BCE
– Member of Kshatriya caste
– Father was King Shuddhodana, mother Queen Maya
• Early life of Buddha not recorded until hundreds of
year after his death
• Later versions include many miraculous events
implying Siddartha had a virgin birth
Early Life
• Upon his birth, it was prophesized that Gautama
would grow to be either a powerful King or a
spiritual leader
• His father wanted hiim to be a King – did
everything to distract him from matters of faith –
every pleasure was seen to
• Siddartha grew restless and desired to see the
“real world”
• He ventured outside his palace and saw 4 sights
that would change his perspective
The Four Sights
•
•
•
•
An old man
A Sick man
A corpse (dead man)
A monk
These sights caused Siddartha to question
his own experience and the question the
true meaning of life if it all ends in suffering
and eventually death
The Goal of Buddhists
• The goal of all Buddhists is to achieve a state
of enlightenment → Nirvana
• Nirvana - not clearly defined by Buddha –
generally refers to the extinction of suffering
Buddhist concepts related to
Hinduism
Siddartha Gautama (the Buddha) was Hindu,
thus it is not surprising that many religious
concepts of Hinduism appear in Buddhism.
• Karma
• Dharma
• Samsara
• Nirvana
Hindu concepts rejected by Buddha
– Fatalism – grand order to things – everything is
pre-determined → we are in control of our
destiny!
– Authority of the Vedas and Upanishads → not
absolute knowledge → knowledge lies within and
comes also through experience
– Caste → contrary to the notion that all souls are
equal – social divisions are made by man
– Religious rituals → worship of deities, offerings,
chants, sacrifices are meaningless
– Salvation takes many lifetimes → salvation
could occur within one life
Reaction to Gautama’s ideas
• Gautama was considered a heretic → one who
goes against accepted beliefs of a religion
The Nature of Existence:
Three ideas characterize the physical world:
1. Annica
2. Dukkha
3. Anatta
Anicca → impermanence
– Buddha rejected the idea that the physical realm is
“illusion”
– Our experience is very real – the problem is that
our states of happiness are very brief and followed
by periods of dissatisfaction – everything is
constantly changing!
– Change is the only constant in the universe;
nothing stays the same
– Everything material will decay / breakdown – this
is the source of our dissatisfaction in life
Which is your true self?
Dukkha → dissatisfaction
– All living things experience suffering – to live is to
suffer (both physically and emotionally)
– No such thing as continuous happiness / pleasure
– Suffering is real, not illusion
– Suffering / dissatisfaction is a state of mind
– Suffering leads to desire, which ultimately leads to
more suffering because our desires are endless
Anatta → no-self doctrine
– There is no permanent independent self
– Each individual is a tiny collection of hopes, fears,
thoughts, feelings and physical matter that is
constantly changing
– Each soul is a “drop from the ocean”
The Four Sights
•
•
Feeling spiritually unfulfilled Siddartha
secretly left his palace at the age 29 to
see the “real” world.
His experience is referred to at The Four
Sights
1.
2.
3.
4.
Old man
Sick man
Dead man
Monk
Meaning of the Four Sights
• Old age, sickness and death are inevitable
and come to ALL people regardless of
wealth or social status
• We live our life in denial of these things
for, to think of them would cause us great
distress
• Monk – seeks the answer to “life’s riddle”
through self denial
The Middle Way
• Siddhartha learned to meditate – good but
meditation did not lead to an answer
• Next he tried a life of extreme self denial – living
on a grain of rice per day – he became ill
• Concluded that a life of extremes (indulgence &
self-denial) is unsatifying and provoked further
cravings
• The answer must be pursued through the
Middle Way – path between extremes
Enlightenment
• While meditating under the Bodi Tree
Siddartha achieved supreme realization –
enlightenment – regarding the nature
suffering and the path to the elimination of
suffering
Buddhism addresses the questions that
lies at the heart of all humanity:
– Why do I suffer?
– What is the cause suffering?
– How can I end suffering?
1. The Noble Truth of Suffering:
– To live is to suffer → dhukka
– Suffering → dissatisfaction → because we are
physical beings we can never be truly satisfied
– We are perpetually wanting
2. The Noble Truth of the Origin
of Suffering
– We suffer because we desire – attachment to this
world
– Desire is caused by ignorance / delusion – we
believe we can satisfy our desires
– What we most desire causes the greatest suffering
3. The Noble Truth of the
Extinction of Suffering
– If desire is the root of suffering, then to end
suffering we must conquer desire
– End desire → detach from material world – let it
go!
4. The Noble Truth of the Path Leading
to the Extinction of Suffering
– To end desire → follow the Noble Eight Fold
Path
The Noble Eight Fold Path
1.Right View
Wisdom
2. Right Intention
3. Right Speech
Ethical Conduct
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration
Mental Development