Buddhism
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What Is
Buddhism?
Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to
Insight into the true nature of life. Buddhist practices such as meditation
are means of changing oneself in order to develop the qualities of awareness,
kindness, and wisdom. The experience developed within the Buddhist tradition
over thousands of years has created an incomparable resource for all
those who wish to follow a path–a path which ultimately culminates
in Enlightenment or Buddhahood.
Because Buddhism does not include the idea of worshipping a creator
God, some people do not see it as a religion in the normal, Western
sense. The basic tenets of Buddhist teaching are straightforward and
practical: nothing is fixed or permanent; actions have consequences;
change is possible. Thus Buddhism addresses itself to all people irrespective
of race, nationality, or gender. It teaches practical methods (such
as meditation) which enable people to realise and utilise its teachings
in order to transform their experience, to be fully responsible for
their lives and to develop the qualities of Wisdom and Compassion.
There are around 350 million Buddhists and a growing number of them
are Westerners. They follow many different forms of Buddhism, but all
traditions are characterised by non-violence, lack of dogma, tolerance
of differences, and, usually, by the practice of meditation.
Who was the Buddha?
Buddhism started with the Buddha.
The word 'Buddha' is a title and not a name. It means 'one who is awake'
in the sense of having 'woken up to reality'. It was first given to
a man who was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal 2,500 years ago.
He did not claim to be a God and he has never been regarded as such
by Buddhists. He was a human being who became Enlightened, understanding
life in the deepest way possible.
What does Buddhism
Teach?
The Four
Noble Truths are the most basic expression of the Buddha's
teaching, around which all his other teachings revolve. Teaching that
suffering can be overcome through enlightenment and practice of the
Noble Eightfold Path.They
state simply that desire and attachment keep us bound to our dissatisfaction
and cause us suffering and we can choose to take steps to free ourselves
from this suffering and dissatisfaction.
The ideals at the heart of
Buddhism are collectively known as the Three
Jewels, or the Three Treasures. These are the Buddha, the Dharma,
and the Sangha. It is by making these the central principles of one's
life that one becomes a Buddhist.
Buddhism sees life as a process of constant change, and its practices
aim to take advantage of this fact. It means that one can change for
the better. The decisive factor in changing oneself is the mind, and
Buddhism has developed many methods for working on the mind. Most importantly,
Buddhists practise meditation,
which is a way of developing more positive states of mind that are characterised
by calm, concentration, awareness, and emotions such as friendliness.
Using the awareness developed
in meditation it is possible to have a fuller understanding of oneself,
other people, and of life itself. Buddhists do not seek to 'evangelise'
or coerce other people to adopt their religion, but they do seek to
make its teachings available to whoever is interested, and people are
free to take as much or as little as they feel ready for.
What Happened After the Buddha's Death?
Buddhism died out in India a thousand years ago (though it has recently
revived). It spread south to Sri Lanka and South East Asia, where the
Theravadin form of Buddhism
continues to flourish, and north to Tibet, China, Mongolia, and Japan.
The Mahayana forms of Buddhism
are still practiced in these countries, although in the last century
they have suffered greatly from the effects of communism and consumerism.
In the last century Buddhism has emphatically arrived in the West, and
hundreds of thousands of westerners have become Buddhists.
Soon after his Enlightenment the Buddha had a vision in which he saw
the human race as a bed of lotus flowers. Some of the lotuses were still
enmired in the mud, others were just emerging from it, and others again
were on the point of blooming. In other words, all people had the ability
to unfold their potential and some needed just a little help to do so.
So the Buddha decided to teach, and all of the teachings of Buddhism
may be seen as attempts to fulfill this vision–to help people
grow towards Enlightenment.
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