Buddhism is a spiritual tradition that focuses on personal development. Today there are 376 million followers worldwide. Its history dates back to 2500 years when a prince of Nepal known now as Buddha, was himself awakened at the age of thirty five.
Many people consider Buddhism not as a religion but a way of life. In this way of life Buddhist believe that nothing is fixed or permanent and that change is always possible. So the path to awakening is through the practice and development of morality, meditation and wisdom. Therefore, Buddhist seek to reach the state of nirvana, following the teachings of Buddha. Buddha is not considered as a god but a man who found his awakening through reflection on his experience.
Origins: Who was Buddha?
Siddhartha Gautama, today known as Buddha, was born to a royal family Lumbini in Nepal, in 566 BC. He was the son of an Indian warrior king. So he lived a wealthy and luxurious life. At the age of 29 Gautama got bored of the royal life and wandered in to the world in search of understanding. On his way he met an old man, sick man and a corpse. This made him realize that suffering lay at the end of all the things. So he searched for a way for six years until he found the Middle Way that was neither Luxurious nor poverty.
Buddhist believe that one day when meditating under the ‘Bodhi tree’, Gautama reflected on his experience on his life until he became enlightened. This led to rebirth towards enlightenment and was known as Buddha which means the awakened one.
The Four Noble Truths
2500 years ago Buddha said “I teach suffering, its origin, cessation and path. That’s all I teach”.
The first noble truth Buddha teaches is suffering. According to Buddha suffering goes much deeper than what he saw on his first journey. The first sufferings Buddha saw was old age, sickness and death. Buddha’s teaching about the truth of suffering leads to the end of suffering. The second noble truth, on the other hand, tries to identify the cause of suffering. Buddhist believe that desire, ignorance and hatred, all bring sufferings. The third noble truth teaches Buddhist to eliminate desire that causes suffering. And the final noble truth is Buddha teachings to end suffering through the principles called the eight fold. The Eight fold Path is also called the Middle Way.
Karma
In Buddhism karma is understood in a different way than the world views it as preordained fate. But it is understood as the good and bad actions a person takes in their lifetime. Good action or positive acts with the absence of bad actions like meditation brings happiness in the long run. But bad action like killing bring unhappiness to a person in a long run.
The cycle of rebirth
In Buddhism rebirth is based on karma. A person’s karma decides where that person’s rebirth will occur. There are six different places where a person can be reborn. They are the three fortunate realms and the three unfortunate realms. The realm of men is highest fortunate realms considered. While the inhabitants of the unfortunate realm which mostly are animals and ghosts suffer untold suffering.
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