Buddhism





    About Buddhism

  • Buddhism is one of the most prevalent religions in South and South-Eastern Asian countries.
  • It originated in India over 2,600 years ago when Gautama Buddha gained enlightenment and spread his teachings.
  • Currently, it is the world’s fourth-largest religion and has over 520 million followers i.e., about seven percent of the global population.
  • Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and spiritual practices that are largely based on the Buddha’s teachings and their resulting interpreted philosophies.

    The history of Gautama Buddha

    • Gautama Buddha, born as Siddhartha was the son of Śuddhodana and Maya Devi who were the rulers of the Sakya republic.
    • Siddhartha married Yashodhara and had a son Rahula.
    • It is believed that as a Prince Siddhartha did not see any misery in his early years.
    • One day he saw four sights that shook his worldview, which was an old man, a man suffering from disease, a dead man, and finally an ascetic.
    • Seeing these Siddhartha left the house in an event known as Mahabhinishkramana or the great renunciation.
    • He searched for a way out of this misery and attained Bodhi (enlightenment) under a pipal tree at Bodhgaya, a village in Bihar.
    • He gave his first sermon in the village of Sarnath, near the city of Benares in UP.
    • The event of the first sermon is known as Dharma-Chakra-Pravartana or turning of the wheel of law.
    • He died at the age of 80 in 483 BCE at a place called Kushinagara a town in UP.
    • The death of Buddha is called Mahaparinibbana or Final Nirvana.

    The four truths of Buddhism:

    1. Dukkha: — the world is full of sorrow
    2. Dukkha Samuddaya: — Desire is the cause of sorrow
    3. Dukkha Nirodha: — there is an escape from sorrow
    4. Atthanga Magga: -the eight-fold path leading to the cessation of sorrow

    Atthanga Magga

    Buddha believed that one can attain salvation or moksha by following the Atthanga Magga or eight-fold path.

    The eightfold path contains:

    1. Right view
    2. Right intention
    3. Right Speech
    4. Right action
    5. Right livelihood
    6. Right mindfulness
    7. Right effort
    8. Right concentration

      Other tenets of Buddhism:

      • Buddhism does not recognize the existence of the soul hence it follows the idea of anatta.
      • However, Buddhism believes in the existence of karma and believes that desire is the reason for the creation of karma.
      • Buddhism also believes in impermanence or anicca which says that all existence is transient, evanescent, and inconstant. Hence says that attachment to material properties is not worthwhile.
      • Anicca, along with anatta and dukkha forms the trilakshana, or three marks of existence in Buddhism.

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      Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

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