Buddhism is a unique religion. Unlike most mainstream religions, Buddhists do not believe in any Gods, or souls. They instead believe in training the human mind to extinguish all negative desires, and thus become free of an eternity of suffering.
The story of Buddhism started around 2500 years ago in India when Siddhartha Gautama was born into a royal family. His upbringing was the finest imaginable, being the son of a king. He was extremely well-educated and had all the qualities one would desire of a future king. He was however shielded from the harsh realities of life, in fear that he might give up his family and follow a path of meditation, something his father did not desire of him.
This form of living in extreme luxury continued until one day, by chance Siddhartha was riding on a chariot when he encountered an old man. Having never encountered such a sight before, he asked why the man looked the way he was. "That is old age," said the charioteer, "the ravisher of beauty, the ruin of vigour, the cause of sorrow, destroyer of delights, the bane of memories and the enemy of the senses..." (http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/history/buddha.htm)
This was a new experience for Siddhartha who was brought up to live without pain or suffering. He later also saw a sick man and a dead man. He then began to wonder why we grow old, get sick and die. Later he met an ascetic, “a person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices extreme self-denial or self-mortification for religious reasons” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ascetic). Siddhartha then decided to follow leave his family and follow the ascetic, in order to try and find the mystery of life.
The sightings of the old man...
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...ultures of any religion in the world.
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Buddhism was founded by one man, Siddhartha Guatama. He was born into royalty around 563 B.C.E. in a Kingdom near the border of India and Nepal. He was raised in wealth and luxury, and at the age of 16, he married a wealth woman and they had a child together. Around the age of 29, he began to realize that all humans were in a cycle of suffering, dying, and then being reincarnated only to suffer and die over and over again. It was then that he decided to leave his wife and child to find a way out of this repeating cycle of life and death. First he studied with teachers, but found he was coming to no conclusions, so he turned to more extreme things such as self-mortification, but he was still left unsatisfied.
In his early life, he was born a Kshatriya. Until the age of twenty nine, Siddhartha lived a luxurious life as a prince. Siddhartha’s father, King Shuddodana consulted Asita, a well-known soothsayer, concerning the future of his son. Asita proclaimed that he would be one of two things: He could become a great king, even an emperor. Or he could become a great sage and savior of humanity. This made King Shuddodana wary of what his son may become, therefore he did anything in his power to surround his son Siddhartha with beauty and health to show Siddhartha that there is nothing to save humanity from since it is perfect. If Siddhartha was my son, I would let him see all the suffering in the world and allow him to take action instead of hiding it. It is selfish for the King to hide humanity’s flaws. One day, Siddhartha had seen two wandering, sick and old men. He also, for the first time, experienced death. Due to the sights he had seen, he escaped the palace and lived in a forest where he followed a spiritual life of meditation. After only six years, he achieved enlightenment under the famous Bodhi tree. Siddhartha claims that everyone is able to achieve enlightenment and we all possess
History started with God’s creation, redemption, humanity rebellion against God, ultimate plan for divine intervention and restoration. God is the only source of meaning in history and in life. Most historians agree that Siddhartha Gautama started Buddhism in 5th century BCE who was born in Lumbini. He watched suffering in the world and decided for solution. Through meditation and analysis he achieved enlightenment. Buddhism has spread from India to every corner of the world. Many people embraced philosophical and practical aspects of Buddhism and integrated them into their religious and social
Buddhism is one of the prominent and influential religions and philosophies of the world. A basic tenet of Buddhism is that worldly desires and possessions cause all suffering. To absolve one’s self of necessities beyond basic human survival is one of the many plateaus that Buddhists strive to achieve. Furthermore, Buddhists free themselves from temptation via seclusion from society and attempt to allow nature to support them. They believe that Nirvana, the ascension to heaven, can be achieved by freeing oneself of earthly desires.
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Bronkhorst, Johannes. Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism. Leiden: Brill, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed December 5, 2013).
“Buddhism is the oldest worldwide religion. It is known to be a religion, a philosophy and a way of life.” The main idea, foundation and fundamentals of Buddhism were born 2,500 years ago in the foothills of India. Siddhartha Gautama was born into a royal family and raised as a prince in the Gupta period. He was always confined to the palace and was sheltered from the real world. As time went on, Siddhartha wanted to find out the meaning of life and his experiences through his journey created the practice of Buddhism. His first teaching as a Buddha was based on the doctrine of the four noble truths and along with the principle of the middle way, the eight fold path. Through oral tra...
Lopez Jr., Donald S. The Story of Buddhism: A Concise Guide To Its History and Teachings
Ford, Stephen. "Review of Buddhism." Tutorial workshop for Introduction to Religion Class at York University. Toronto. 21 Feb. 2005.
Siddhartha Gotama was born into a rich royal family, located in Nepal in 563 BC. Siddhartha’s birth was prophesied by his mother whom had Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side (a sign of great importance in that culture) it was prophesied that he would be a great emperor or great religious leader.He was provided with all the luxuries of life and was shielded from all harm and those whom needed help. However he encounted an old man disturbed by this he consulted a guard who told him that everyone grows old, later he encounted a diseased man, then a corpse and then finally a ascetic. These are known as the four great sightings. He realized at the age of 29 that, not all lived a life like him and didn’t all have immeasurable riches, and he found that these luxuries didn’t necessarily provide happiness. So he left the palace and his family and decided to trial the different teachings, religions and philosophies of the period. After six long years of meditation and study he attained Enlightenment. Siddhartha is said to have discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. He accepted a little milk and rice pudding from a village gir...
Siddhartha was the son of a king of a north India kingdom. He lived a rich life and was destined to become a powerful king. At the age of 29, Siddhartha confronted a sick man, an old man and a dead man. These encounters forced the young prince to reevaluate his pampered life. He came to notice that wealth and luxury did not grant him happiness. He was determined to come to a deeper understanding of life so he left the palace, leaving his father, wife and child behind. He traveled for six years, studying under many different yoga masters and spiritual teachers. He tried many forms of meditation and yoga, including severe methods of fasting during which he nearly died. Once he found the Middle Path and achieved enlightenment.
Siddhartha Gautama is famously known as Gautama Buddha and was the founder of the idea of Buddhism. The Buddha was known to possess supernatural powers and abilities. He was born in the holy land of Nepal and his journey began in India when he decided to travel and teach himself about life. In the midst of his journey, he discovered Buddhism after he experienced a profound realization of the nature of life, death and existence. Buddhism became a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama and since then Buddhism has been popular throughout many civilizations. Buddhism is now one of the most ancient religions in the world, where people follow Buddha, which stand for “awakened one,” and Buddhism which has gained popularity because of the teachings of the Buddha.
"What is Buddhism? | The Buddhist Centre." What is Buddhism? | The Buddhist Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .
The name Buddhism comes from the word "budhi" which means "to wake up." This philosophy originated from the life of a man named Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha. “At his naming ceremony, priests foretold that his life could go in one of two directions”( Molloy 125). He would either follow his father's footsteps and become a world ruler or he would become a spiritual leader, if he got exposed to the sight of suffering. As Siddhartha grew, his father kept him away from all the suffering of the outside world. He got educated and trained inside a luxurious palace, preparing to eventually become the ruler his father wanted him to be. All was going as planned until Siddhartha decide to visit a town close to his palace without...
"The Buddhist World: Lay Buddhist's Guide to the Monk's Rules." BuddhaNet - Worldwide Buddhist Information and Education Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.