Buddhism: History and Basic Beliefs
History
Buddha was born around 623 B.C. with the name Siddhattha Gotama. His father was a king in India. There were some seers at his birth and one prophesied that if the Siddhattha remained in the palace he would be a great king, but if he left the palace, then he would become a Supremely Enlightened One. The king tried to keep his son from the evils of the world, and pampered him within the palace. He eventually got married to his cousin, and it is possible that he had other wives.
However, one day he left the palace, and saw four things that disturbed him: A dying man, a weak sickly man, a funeral procession, and a monk. He began to consider leaving his home to seek truth, but then he received word that his wife had given birth to their first son. That night, he decided to leave the palace behind and to go seek truth.
He became a pupil of two great teachers in India, but refused to stay behind and teach other pupils, because he had not obtained ultimate truth yet. He decided to try the life of self-mortification, and began starving himself and sleeping on thorns. He soon became extremely weak, and realized that that lifestyle could not lead him to ultimate truth. He had been with five other monks who were practicing an ascetic way of life. When they realized that he had given up on the self-mortifying lifestyle, they scorned him.
He then went to live in the woods, and one day while sitting under a tree now called the Bodhi Tree, he went into deep meditation. While in meditation, he was enlightened, and understood the Four Noble Truths. At this time he came the Buddha, the Supremely Enlightened One.
Now that he had become Supremely Enlightened, he debated whether he should share the truth he found with others. At first he didn’t want to because they wouldn’t believe him, but then he realized that while some wouldn’t believe, some would, so he decided to share it. The first people he went to were the five monks he had lived with previously. At first they scorned him, but eventually they listened to him as he told them that he was the Supremely Enlightened One, and was able to show them how to reach Nirvana. They soon became his first converts.
During his life many people became Buddhist monks. He continued his teaching, until his death at the age of 80. After his death, his followers tried to compile his teaching, and they passed it down orally until around 80 B.C. when they started to write down the oral tradition.
According to adherents.com, in 2007 there were 376 millions Buddhists worldwide, placing it as the 5th largest religion worldwide. The majority live in China, Japan, and Thailand (which is 95% Buddhist). There are an estimated 1.5 million Buddhists in the U.S.
Basic Teachings
Four Noble Truths
These are the foundational truths for the Buddhist belief system. Acceptance of these truths is the beginning of the path to Nirvana
1) The Truth of Suffering
Buddha realized that life was full of suffering. There was suffering in birth, and in death. There is suffering from sickness, poverty, famine, war, and violence. Many people do not realize how much suffering there is because of the temporary times of pleasure. However, these always end in suffering as well.
2) The Cause of Suffering
Buddha taught that the cause of suffering is desire or craving. Because people want certain things suffering exists. It is the desire for pleasure, such as good food, good company, wealth, health, success, or any number of things. However, desire is never satisfied. Even when someone gets what they want they end up wanting more. Often people will do evil things to try to get what they want. If someone does not get what they want, it could lead to anger, or harsh words.
3) The End of Suffering
The end of suffering is the goal for all Buddhists. The end of suffering is the eradication of desire, which lead to supreme happiness and enlightenment. Although it may be difficult to believe that suffering can cease to exist, Buddha’s life proved that it can be done.
4) The Path leading to the End of Suffering
Buddha revealed to the world the path that would lead to the end of suffering. He has called it the Middle Path, because it is neither indulging in worldly pleasures nor denying yourself basic needs. It is outlined in the noble eight-fold path.
Noble Eight-Fold Path*
*The following notes are quoted from http://www.bambuddhas.com/enlightenment.html
1) Right Understanding is the knowledge of the Four Noble Truths. In other words, it is the understanding of oneself as one really is.
The keynote of Buddhism is this Right Understanding. Buddhism, as much, is based on knowledge and not on unreasonable belief.
2) Right Thoughts are threefold. They are:
The thoughts of renunciation, which are opposed to sense-pleasures.
Kind Thoughts which are opposed to ill-will.
Thoughts of harmlessness, which are opposed to cruelty. These tend to purify the mind.
3) Right Speech deals with refraining from falsehood, stealing, slandering, harsh words and frivolous talks
4) Right Action deals with refraining from killing, stealing and unchastity. It helps one to develop a character that is self-controlled and mindful of the rights of others.
5) Right Livelihood deals with the five kinds of trades that should be avoided by a lay disciple. They are:
trade in deadly weapons
trade in animals for slaughter
trade in slavery
trade in intoxicants
trade in poisons
Right Livelihood means earring one’s living in a way that is not harmful to others.
6) Right Effort is fourfold, namely:
the endeavor to discard evil that has already arisen.
the endeavor to prevent the arising of unrisen evil.
the endeavour to develop that good which has already arisen.
the endeavour to promote that good which has not already arisen.
Effort is needed to cultivate good conduct or to develop one’s mind, because one is often distracted or tempted to take the easy way out of things. The Buddha teaches that attaining happiness and Enlightenment depends upon one’s own efforts. Effort is the root of all achievement. If one wants to get to the top of a mountain, just sitting at the foot thinking about it will not bring one there. It is by making the effort of climbing up the mountain, step by step, that one eventually reaches the summit. Thus, no matter how great the Buddha’s achievement may be, or how excellent His Teaching is, one must put the Teaching into practice before one can expect to obtain the desired result.
7) Right Mindfulness is also fourfold:
mindfulness with regard to body
mindfulness with regard to feeling
mindfulness with regard to mind
mindfulness with regard to mental objects.
Right Mindfulness is the awareness of one’s deeds, words and thoughts.
8 ) Right Meditation
Meditation means the gradual process of training the mind to focus on a single object and to remain fixed upon the object without wavering. The constant practice of meditation helps one to develop a calm and concentrated mind and helps to prepare one for the attainment of Wisdom and Enlightenment ultimately.
Karma
Karma is a deliberate choice or action. It can be either good or bad. Karma is what determines where people will be reincarnated. Those who are enlightened no longer have Karma.
Reincarnation
Buddha taught that man was continually being reborn, but that his self was not immortal. The self did not go from one life to another, but the feelings and thoughts did. It is basically the same person, but not completely.
There are six realms for rebirth: the gods, demigods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and the hells. Your karma determines which realm you will be in.
Basically, the first three are considered good realms with happiness, while the last three are bad realms with more suffering. The human realm is the best realm because it is most conducive to reaching Nirvana, the goal of all Buddhists. The lower levels are typically too concerned with the pain and suffering, while the gods and demigods typically experience too much happiness to see the need to end suffering.
During Buddha’s enlightenment meditation, he claimed he was able to see his past lives.
Nirvana
Nirvana is that state of supreme enlightenment, and the end of suffering. Buddha never fully explained what Nirvana is, and no Buddhist today seems very sure. When Nirvana is reached then reincarnation no longer occurs. It is almost as if a person ceases to exist once he has reached Nirvana and dies. Nirvana typically cannot be reached within one lifetime.
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