Over the centuries his teachings spread from Nepal to Central Asia, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, and now Europe and North and South America. Theravada Buddhism is most common in South Asia; Mahayana further north. Buddhism exists in many different strands today, but all schools and sects share basic ideas. About seven percent of the people of the world are Buddhist.
While many people see Buddhism as a religion, others see it as a philosophy, and others as a way of finding reality.
Siddhartha Gautama (563483 BC) began life as the infant prince of a small kingdom in what is now the southern part of Nepal. As an adult he left wealth and status behind to search for truth. Enlightened at the age of 35, the Buddha spent the next 45 years of his life traveling and teaching in the northern part of India. He died at the age of 80.
The Buddha focused much of his teaching on how to overcome suffering. He saw that all living things suffer in being born, in getting sick, in growing old, and in facing death. By overcoming suffering, he taught, a person will be truly happy.
Early teaching. His first lesson after becoming enlightened was to other seekers who had also renounced the world. This was a group of holy men or monks with whom the Buddha had studied for five or more years. To them he first presented what he saw as the Four Noble Truths of life and the Eightfold Noble Path (see below). These teachings identify the causes of suffering and their cure.
Three marks of existence. The Buddha taught that life is best understood as being "impermanent" (everything changes), "unsatisfactory" (left on our own we are never truly happy), and "interdependent" (all things are linked, even to the degree that the self is better understood as an illusion).
The middle way. Buddhism teaches non-harm and "moderation" or balance, not going too far one way or the other. This is called the Middle Way, and encourages people to live in balance.
Meditation. The Buddha recommended meditation as a way to discipline the mind and see the world as it is. Buddhists may meditate while sitting in a special or specific way. Standing and walking meditation are other styles.
Three poisons. In discussing suffering, the Buddha identified the three poisons of desire, anger and stupidity, and he showed that we could end our suffering by letting go of desires and overcoming anger and stupidity.
Nirvana. The complete letting go of negative influences is called Nirvana, meaning "to extinguish," like putting out the flame of a candle. This end of suffering is also called Enlightenment. In Buddhism, Enlightenment and Nirvana often mean the same thing.
Do Buddhists believe in god or gods? The Buddha would not say if gods exist or not, although gods play a part in some Buddhist stories. If someone asked the Buddha, "Do gods exist?" he maintained a "noble silence". That is, he would not confirm or deny. Buddhists do not believe that people should look to gods to save them or bring them enlightenment. Rather individuals should work out their own path the best they can.
Other basic teachings. Many of the Buddha's ideas are found in other Indian religions, especially Hinduism.
"Buddha" is a Pali word which means "The awakened one". Someone who has woken up to the truth of the mind and suffering and teaches the truth to others is called a Buddha. The word "Buddha" often means the historical Buddha named Buddha Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama). Buddhists do not believe that a Buddha is a god, but that he is a human being who has woken up and can see the true way the mind works. They believe this knowledge totally changes the person. This person can help others become "enlightened" too. Enlightened people are beyond birth, death, and rebirth.
According to Buddhism, there were countless Buddhas before Gautama Buddha and there will be many Buddhas after him.
In Pali texts, the first Buddha in Buddhavamsa sutta was Taṇhaṅkara Buddha. The Mahapadana sutta says the earliest Buddha of the recent seven buddhas was Vipassi Buddha ("But sutta is not saying that Vipassi is first Buddha"). Counting from the present "kalpa" (the beginning of our present world (Earth)) Gautama Buddha is considered the fourth Buddha. In this telling, the first is Kakusandho Buddha, second Konakamano Buddha, and the third Kassapo Buddha. The last Buddha of this "kalpa" will be Maitreya Buddha. Then the world (Earth) will renew itself and from then begins a new "kalpa".
Buddhists respect and treasure the "Three Jewels", which are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
The Buddha refers to the awakened one, the Dharma to the Buddha's teachings, and the Sangha to the people who follow the Buddha and his teachings.
Buddhists say "I take "refuge" in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha." They find comfort in these jewels or treasures.
The Buddha's first and most important teachings are the Four Noble Truths.
The Buddha told people to follow a special way of life called the "Noble Eightfold Path" if they want to understand the "Four Noble Truths". These are:
Buddhists are encouraged to follow five "precepts", or guidelines. The Buddha taught that killing, stealing, having sex in a harmful way, and lying are not signs of skill.
If a person wants to be a monk or nun, he or she will follow other "precepts" as well.
Story
A story can be different things:
Governor General
Governor General is a representative of a head of state. The term is mostly used in Commonwealth countries, where the governor general is a representative of the monarch.
Sometimes the title is spelled as "Governor General", which is used in Canada, but sometimes it is spelled with a hyphen ""-"", "Governor-General", which is the spelling used in Australia.
Black hole
A black hole is a region of space from which nothing, not even light, can escape. According to the general theory of relativity, it starts existing when spacetime gets curved by a huge mass. There is a sphere around the black hole. If something goes inside the sphere, it can not leave. This sphere is called the event horizon. A black hole is black because it absorbs all the light that hits it. It reflects nothing, just like a perfect black body in thermodynamics. Under quantum mechanics, black holes have a temperature and emit Hawking radiation, which makes them slowly get smaller.
Because black holes are very hard to see, people trying to see them look for them by the way they affect other things near them. The place where there is a black hole can be found by tracking the movement of stars that orbit somewhere in space. Or people can find it when gas falls into a black hole, because the gas heats up and is very bright. This can be found by Earth or Earth-orbiting telescopes. Inside a black hole the rules of physics are very different.
Astronomers have found evidence of supermassive black holes at the center of almost all galaxies. In 2008 astronomers found evidence that a supermassive black hole of more than four million solar masses is near the Sagittarius A* part of the Milky Way galaxy.