Buddhism

## Overview/Origin

Buddhism originates from the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Born as a prince, Gautama lived a sheltered life of bliss for 29 years. When he was 30, he left the palace and observed the suffering beyond its walls. Disturbed by his discovery of sickness, old age, and death, Gautama resolved to leave the palace in search of a solution to the problem of suffering.

Gautama studied many methods under many teachers, but he was no closer to attaining the solution to suffering. It was only when he awoke from six days of meditation under a fig tree (now known as the Bodhi tree) that Gautama reached the highest state of enlightenment--nirvana, which means awakening--and thus became the Buddha, the "awakened one."

For the rest of his life, Buddha taught others the way to enlightenment. A few centuries after his death, three collections of Buddha's teachings now known as the Tripitaka (three baskets) were compiled and written on palm leaves by his followers: Sutras (Buddha's discourses), Vinanya (monastic rules), Abhidharma (Buddhist psychology and metaphysics). These writings became the basis for subsequent Buddhist cannon.

### Main Schools of Buddhism

There are two main schools of Buddhism practiced today. At their core, they both believe that sentient beings are trapped in samsara (reincarnation), and that the goal of living should be to escape from dukkha (suffering), by achieving nirvana (enlightenment).

#### Theravada (School of the Elder Monks)

* more closely resembles the teachings of Gautama
* personal journey, individual thought/meditation
* recognizing non-self, oneness, and eventually achieving nirvana
* goal is to become an arhat (one who achieves nirvana) as quickly as possible

#### Mahayana (The Great Vehicle)

* a more complex pantheon of beings and deities that is different in one part of the world to another
* goal is to become a bodhisattva: one who has attained nirvana, but stays in samsara to help other sentient beings also achieve nirvana
* there are celestial beings who will aid people in focusing their meditation and energy
* many Mahayana Buddhists believe in Amitabha Buddha, a deity-like figure who may be invoked, focused upon, or visualized so that one is transported to a pure land of bliss known as Sukhavati where it is easier to achieve nirvana. It is something of a heaven. \*Many Mahayana Buddhists believe that Siddhartha Gautama Buddha is a projection of Amitabha into our reality.
* in some Mahayana belief systems, there are multiple realities, each with their own Buddha
* you can be born and reborn into these different realities and even into Sukhavati

Read More:

https://www.theschooloflife.com/article/the-buddha/

https://tricycle.org/magazine/who-was-the-buddha/

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/buddhism-intro/v/theravada-and-mahayana-buddhism

## Vision of/for Life

### The Four Noble Truths

The essence of Buddha's teachings are summarized as the Four Noble Truths:

#### 1. Suffering exists

The first step towards enlightenment is having a pragmatic view of reality as it is. Pleasure and happiness are fleeting. Pursuit of them is them is therefore futile. The only inescapable certainties are aging, sickness, and death.

#### 2. Suffering has a cause

Desire and ignorance are the cause of suffering. Desire is a miserable endeavor because it will never be satisfied. Ignorance is an incorrect view of reality which leads to vices such as greed, envy, hatred, etc.

#### 3. Suffering can be ended

One may not only end their earthly suffering, but also their spiritual suffering.

#### 4. There is a cause to end suffering

The method for attaining the end of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path.

### The Noble Eightfold Path

The path may be divided into three themes:

1. Moral conduct (Understanding, Thought, Speech)
2. Meditation and mental development (Action, Livelihood, Effort)
3. Wisdom (Mindfulness, Concentration)

#### 1. Right Understanding

An accurate view of reality, specifically The Four Noble Truths.

#### 2. Right Thought

Correct intention. Avoiding desirous thoughts and anything negative that might stem from them like envy, hatred, harmful intent, etc.

#### 3. Right Speech

Refraining from lying, slander, coarse speech, senseless speech, etc.

#### 4. Right Action

Refraining from physical misdeeds like murder, stealing, sexual misconduct, etc.

#### 5. Right Livelihood

Refraining from engaging in transactions that directly or indirectly harm others. e.g. slavery, arms dealing, drug dealing, etc.

#### 6. Right Effort

Determination to maintain the current positive state that is a result of following the Eightfold Path, and committing to avoiding future negative states.

#### 7. Right Mindfulness

Awareness of oneself: body, feelings, thought, and of the external phenomena that is the existing world.

#### 8. Right Concentration

Single-mindless. No distractions from following the Eightfold Path and striving for nirvana.

## Who is God?

Followers of Buddhism do not acknowledge a supreme deity. There is only the universe.

\*Mahayana Buddhists sometimes believe in celestial beings. See Mahayana (The Great Vehicle).

## Who am I?

A sentient being who, like all things, is one with the universe. We should not see ourselves as individuals. Instead, we should avoid confusion and realize that our minds are not the source of our own consciousness. We exist in connection with everything.

## Where am I?

If you're reading this now, you live in a world of suffering, you're still inside the cycle of samsara, and you have yet to achieve nirvana. Moreover, your existence is affected by a universal system of cause and effect known as karma.

### Karma and Samsara

Nothing exists independently of causes and conditions. In other words, everything that happens is a result of something else happening. Karma, translated from Sanskrit, literally means "action." It can be understood as something that propels us to do things or influences occurrences,but is not necessarily the actions or occurrences themselves.

One area in which karma is often discussed is samsara (reincarnation). Samsara is a cycle of suffering in which life, death, and rebirth repeats until nirvana is achieved. Positive/negative karma can mean favorable/unfavorable rebirth moving a person closer/farther from nirvana in the next incarnation.

Read more:

https://www.namchak.org/community/blog/karma-in-buddhism/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zr3sv9q/revision/4

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0141.xml

## What is the problem?

### Dukkha (Suffering)

Being trapped in an endless cycle of suffering. See The Four Noble Truths for more information.

## How do I fix it?

### Nirvana (aka Moksha)

In Sanskrit, nirvana literally means "becoming extinguished." This is a transcendent state of non-self in which one is released from the suffering of samsara.

### Dharma (aka Dhamma)

Dharma is universal truth. The Buddha's teaching is dharma. This means that while Buddhism specifically teaches to know The Four Noble Truths and practice the Eightfold Path to achieve nirvana, it is possible for anyone who follows dharma to achieve nirvana. Buddhists, for example, might hold that Christians knowingly or unknowingly follow dharma and it is therefore possible for a Christian to attain nirvana, or at least be going in the right direction.

## Resources

https://www.history.com/topics/religion/buddhism

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism

https://www.pbs.org/edens/thailand/buddhism.htm

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eightfold-Path

https://www.britannica.com/topic/nirvana-religion

https://www.britannica.com/topic/dharma-religious-concept