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Buddhism Basics Buddhism is a major Asian religion that began in India in the 6th century C.E., spread to China, and then to the rest of the world. It is centered around the teachings of a man named Siddhartha Gautama who came to be known as "the Buddha" after he achieved enlightenment into true reality when he was about 35 years old. Siddhartha Gautama, or the historical Buddha, was born a Hindu and grew up in Hindu culture. Therefore, Buddhist philosophy contains some basic Hindu ideas, much like Christianity contains some Jewish ideas. Hinduism is its "parent religion." Buddhism, like any other major world religion, contains different groups within it. The three major groups are: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Theravada means "doctrine of the elders" and is one of the earliest forms of Buddhist religion. It is dominant in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and other parts of southeast Asia. It focuses on the pursuit of nirvana, or extinguishing of unenlightened self and its desires. Mahayana means "great vehicle" which is a term that arose, to an extent, in opposition to Theravada. Mahayana refers to itself as the "great vehicle" and to Theravada as the "lesser" or "smaller" vehicle, implying that it is a superior path in some respects. Mahayana allows for more involvement of regular lay people in Buddhist practice than does Theravada (which tends to focus on monks and nuns). It also prioritizes the role of the bodhisattva, a person who achieves enlightenment and takes a vow to teach others until all are enlightened. Vajrayana means "thunderbolt" or "diamond" vehicle and is a form of Buddhism prominent in Tibet and in other areas which feature tantric and shamanistic practices. This form also spread to Mongolia and India. Other forms of the religion include Zen and Pure Land. Zen begins in China and spreads to Japan and elsewhere. It focuses on specific meditative approaches to the path of enlightenment. Pure Land is prominent in Japan and focuses on the reverence of Buddha Amida, or the Buddha of "boundless light." Pure Land adherents envision being reborn into the "pure land" of this Buddha, which is loosely similar to Christian notions of heaven. Buddhist philosophy revolves around the central teaching of the Buddha, which is found in the Four Noble Truths. These truths contain basic ideas about the nature of life and our experience as human beings within it. Specifically, the Four Noble Truths offer an explanation for the suffering people experience in life and how to minimize it. Buddhism is a philosophy as much as it is a religion. Like most religions, it is a set of beliefs about reality, and an approach to daily life rooted in those beliefs. However, it does not involve the worship of a deity or even of the Buddha himself. In its core, it is an "a-theistic" philosophy - meaning "no god." The central practice of Buddhism, aside from the general ethical prescriptions, is meditation. It is a religion of the mind and, as such, its focus is on enlightening the mind through a range of practices including study and meditation. Ultimately, suffering in life can be minimized or eliminated altogether by strengthening and enlightening the mind. http://www.world-religions-professor.com/buddhism.html How Siddhartha Gautama Became the "Buddha" Siddhartha Gautama lived in northern India in the 6th century C.E. He was born into a Hindu family of the ruling caste. Ancient Buddhist texts record slightly different stories about his life and how he became a "Buddha" or "enlightened one." Here is the most common version. Siddhartha was about 5 days old when his father called a group of priests together for a feast. He asked them about the infant's future. They prophesied that the infant would either become a great king or a great sage. The father preferred his son to become a great king, so he structured his son's life such that he never had to face any of the hardship or struggles of life. Why? Because in the Hindu tradition of the time (which you can read about here), those who became holy men or sages followed a path of renunciation. At a certain point in their lives, they would renounce what was called "householder" life - a life of marriage, family, work, etc. - and go live in the forest where they spent the rest of their lives in study, meditation and other spiritual practices. Siddhartha's father did not want his son to become one of these renouncers, so he made sure his son's life was as perfect as possible, offering everything wonderful and nothing negative or upsetting. The father made sure his son was shielded from anything that would make him want to leave the kingdom. One day, as Siddhartha was touring a park area of the kingdom, he saw four things that changed his life. First, he saw a sick person. He had never seen a sick person before and was shocked at the sight. Next, he saw an old person, someone stooped over and suffering the effects of old age. Again, he was shocked for he'd never seen this suffering before. Then, he saw a corpse! He'd certainly never seen a dead person before, nor did he even really understand the reality of death. His father had kept him sheltered from all these things, particularly death. Finally, he saw a sage or holy man walking up the path. The sage passed by the sick person, the old person and the corpse - and as he did so, his face and demeanor was filled with compassion, peacefulness and joy. Siddhartha at that moment recognized for the first time the profound suffering that even the best of lives involves. He resolved to be like the sage, who in the midst of sickness, old age and death could still live a life of compassion, peacefulness and joy. So, he returned to the palace and made plans to renounce the kingdom and his life, and to wander into the forest to seek enlightenment. Once in the forest, Siddhartha Gautama undertook the strict ascetic practices of the Hindu forest tradition, such as extreme fasting from food and water. At one point, the stories say, http://www.world-religions-professor.com/buddhism.html he ate only 1 grain of rice and 1 drop of water a day, and became so thin that he could place his hand on his stomach and close his fingers around his backbone! He became emaciated and weak, so much so that he couldn't meditate or do the other spiritual practices of the tradition. So, he began eating again until he regained strength and then embarked again upon the meditative path in order to achieve enlightenment. After a great struggle within himself and the "demons" of ignorance, he finally broke through the illusions of his own mind and experienced true Reality. He achieved enlightenment and became a "buddha" - an enlightened one. The Four Noble Truths & The Eightfold Path The heart of Buddhist teaching is found in the Four Noble Truths. These truths are what Siddhartha Gautama became enlightened about when he became the "buddha" or "enlightened one." These truths are shared by all the different groups, schools of thought and divisions within Buddhism. The Four Noble Truths are: 1. the truth of suffering - life involves suffering or dissatisfaction. Even the most privileged lives involve suffering or dissatisfaction of some sort. 2. the truth of desire - suffering is caused by desire, specifically unenlightened desire 3. the truth of the cessation of desire - when unenlightened desire is ceased or eliminated from life, suffering ceases as well 4. the truth of the 8-fold path - desire is enlightened through right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, right understanding and right resolve The Four Noble Truths support the common characterization of the Buddha as a doctor or healer. He assesses the life's condition, makes a diagnosis, and provides a prescription for the cure. Life involves suffering, even for those who lead privileged lives. Bad things happen, people get sick, loved ones die, things don't go as planned, and so on. On closer inspection, the suffering we experience because of these things comes not so much from the things themselves, but from how we think about them and how we "desire" regarding them. Generally, we want them to be different from how they are, or to provide something they cannot provide. We want people to live forever - they won't. We want relationships to stay the same forever - they won't. We want our bodies to stay the way they were when we were at our best - they won't. We want everyone and everything we love to stay the same and live forever - they won't. Our ignorant, unenlightened desire drags us into these false cravings that can never be satisfied, so we suffer. The prescription, according to the Buddha, is to cease this ignorant craving - to enlighten our desires. And the way to do this is to embark upon the eightfold path. http://www.world-religions-professor.com/buddhism.html The eightfold path comprises the essence of the Buddhist spiritual path. It includes proper skills and behaviors, proper mental states and conditions, and proper aspirations and intentions. In short, it is the complete ethical, meditative and spiritual life of Buddhism. The fact that the Four Noble Truths do not involve worshipping a deity or even revering the Buddha himself make them attractive to people from other religious traditions, as well as to people who are more secular or philosophical in their outlook. These truths and practices can be grafted onto those from other traditions fairly easily. Thus, we have people who call themselves "Zen Christians" or "JewBoos" and who practice a blend of Buddhism with Christianity or Judaism. Impermanence, Interdependence & Emptiness The ideas of impermanence, interdependence and emptiness are central to Buddhist teaching - and to the whole Buddhist worldview actually. What these ideas boil down to really is that there is no permanent essence to anything. No part of anything lasts forever or is eternal. Everything (and everyone) that exists does so because of the interrelatedness of various parts - not because it has a permanent essence or "soul" around which all the parts are organized. This is jarring to some people, especially those who are attached to the idea of an immortal soul, which is at the heart of Christianity, Islam and some other religions. Buddhism affirms no such soul. It affirms exactly the opposite - that there is nothing permanent about us or about anything else. Moreover, attachment to the idea of a permanent soul or essence to anything is at the heart of the ignorant desire that causes so much suffering in our lives. The famous chariot example illustrates these ideas. Buddha points to a chariot and asks "where is the essence of the chariot?" Is it in the wheels? The seat? The axle? The cart? No - none of these contain any "essence" of the chariot. And if each of these is broken down into their smaller parts, there is no essence within them either. The chariot, as a whole, is simply a particular arrangement of parts, each of which themselves are also a particular arrangement of smaller parts. The chariot is a thing that exists interdependently. This is true of all things and all people. All things exist interdependently - not as permanent essences. Thus, all things are ultimately "empty" - which is the Buddhist teaching of emptiness. Because things are empty, they are impermanent. We forget this, says the Buddha, and act as if things are permanent. We desire them to be permanent and when they turn out not to be, we suffer. We suffer especially when we desire permanent happiness from impermanent things or people. It is not possible for impermanent things or people to provide permanent happiness because they themselves are not permanent. So, much of the "right" mental states and meditative practices in Buddhism are designed to help us get our minds around these notions of impermanence, emptiness and interdependence. Only when we do that can we minimize or cease the suffering in life. http://www.world-religions-professor.com/buddhism.html