10 Facts About Buddhism

Lots of people have misconceptions about Buddhism. Here are some facts most of the people apparently get wrong.

1) Siddhartha Gautama never traveled outside of India but his teachings did. Siddhartha Gautama was a spiritual teacher in Ancient India who founded Buddhism. It is very important remember that he would have been a Vedic Brahman (Hindu by today’s standards) so many of his ideas were originally part of the ancient traditional religions from the local historical period. He could be shown to were living from around 563 BCE to around 483 BCE as they is believed to have died at Four decades old. He traveled and taught over the Ganges River Valley starting near his home, near what’s now Nepal.

2) He is also known as Shakyamuni Buddha, or Prince of the Shakyas, as a consequence of Ssakya Mountain Range that has been his father’s (King Suddhodana) kingdom. He was created a prince but chose to become a holy man. He spent my childhood years in wealth and resistant to the outdoors but became interested in learning what people’s lives outside the palace could possibly be like. Many legends surround his birth, but all that is actually known is the fact that his mother was meant to have ended in childbirth or soon (days) afterwards. His father ended up warned right after his birth which he would turn into a great military leader or a great spiritual leader. His father, the king, had his or her own ideas of what was proper for Siddhartha, but, about 29 years of age, house his charioteer, he escaped the palace walls and ventured outside to discover what life was like for other people. He witnessed the consequences of final years, sickness, and saw a corpse, making them alert to death. Finally, he saw an ascetic. Siddharha’s charioteer explained the ascetic was person who had renounced the entire world and sought release from anxiety about death and suffering.

3) Buddhism began by Siddhartha to be able to end the suffering (dissatisfaction) of all people. He realized the fact many of us are impermanent and decided to go with a spiritual pursuit of enlightenment. He studied with all the best teachers of faith and philosophy he could find back then and learned how you can meditate but decided that somehow wasn’t enough for him.

4) The very center Way: He still had much to understand and turned to the ascetics of times to check out but also in time found that the extremes that they endured weren’t doing work for him. He followed their ways of self inflicting pain and enduring it, fasting until he was weak, and holding his breath. This hadn’t satisfy him while he decided this is the next ego inflating technique of self-gratification, proving yourself through self-abuse. He made a decision to turn from their strict abeyance to rules about starving one’s self and eating unclean things, as he realized however need strength to remain his quest, so he developed what is known as “the middle way”. When his disciples saw that they wasn’t following the way they thought necessary, they made a decision to leave him. He left and thought we would sit within sacred fig tree until he previously discovered the solution. The tree was the fact that was considered a sacred fig tree near Bodh Gaya, the tree being named later, the Bodhi Tree. From Wikipedia * “…The Bodhi Tree, also referred to as Bo (through the Sinhalese Bo), was a large and extremely old Sacred Fig tree (Ficus religiosa) in Bodh Gaya (about 100 km (62 mi) from Patna in the Indian condition of Bihar), under which SiddhÄÂrtha Gautama, the spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism later referred to as Gautama Buddha, is said to own achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi….”

5) His Awakening: In his deep state of meditation (samadhi) for several days he became enlightened so when he rose from his deep meditation, he asserted that he’d some strategies to the questions he previously sought. He imparted the wisdom with the four noble truths as well as the eightfold path that come for a reason. Without the previous, the remainder would be impossible to realize. 6)Several Noble Truths

1) Suffering (dukkha) does exist. (All humans suffer during birth, pain, sickness, and death.

2) The main cause of suffering is desire. All of us have desires which are either selfish or unrealistic. This is considered “delusional”.

3) You will find there’s approach to reach cessation of suffering.

4) The cessation of suffering comes through practicing the eightfold path. (Freedom from suffering may be possible by practicing the Eightfold Path.)

7) The Eightfold Path

1) Right View Wisdom

2) Right Intention Wisdom

3) Right Speech Ethical Conduct

4) Right Action Ethical Conduct

5) Right Livelihood Ethical Conduct

6) Right Effort Mental Development

7) Right Mindfulness Mental Development

8) Right Concentration/Meditation Mental Development

8) Buddhist Principles: By striving towards the right thing one lessens selfish desire, therefore reaching a state of happiness internally that is not dependent on conditional circumstances. Mindfulness in all things is a key ingredient. If one understands that any tangible thing that we desire is impermanent and ceases to be “attached” to these things that we cannot keep, then one becomes more at peace. We can not become attached to any views since we will become passionate about this and when circumstances change, our view will no longer be important or pertinent.

9) Buddhism is not a self help program: Beware of those who call themselves a master or try to sell you “enlightenment”. There are many books and centers out there which try to use words like enlightenment” that is something that actually has to be attained personally, it can’t be given or taught in a paint by the numbers program that promises some things. First, the word enlightenment is not used in any of the texts from Siddhartha Gautama was concerned that people might rush into this without understanding and this would lead to repeating traditional ceremonies without understanding, which will lead to disappointment because of the lack of benefit from practice. Do not come to an understanding of Buddhism lightly or quickly, take your time and be sure. This will take investigation. Investigate completely, any facets that you don’t understand until it makes sense. Also, practice with others and a good teacher are the best method of learning.

10) Buddhism IS A RELIGION: It disturbs some Buddhists that some people feel that Buddhism is just a philosophy. Some people feel there has to be a main book or one religious deity to worship in order for a religion to be real. Most modern practitioners of Buddhism see that all religions are filled with mythology and they understand that most deities and mythological objects in Buddhism are analogies for science and nature or our own mental make up that early man could not explain. Some practitioners, especially in Asia, still believe in the physical existence of some of these objects and deities. We have to remember that early Buddhist teachings came from Siddhartha Gautama in India, who was a Vedic Brahman. It then traveled across Asia to China where it adapted to Confucianism, which relied strongly on Filial Piety. It then traveled through to Japan, where it adapted to Shinto, which is still practiced side by side with Buddhism in Japan. Buddhism was created to adapt to all other learning. Siddhartha Gautama likened it to “a raft to get to the other side” in a parable he taught. “The Parable of The Raft ” When speaking to his followers Gautama Buddha said, “When you come to a river and the current is too fast to allow you to swim across and there is no bridge then you might decide to build a raft. If after crossing the river you would have some choices as to what to do with the raft. a) You could tie it to the bank to be used by someone else later. b) You could set it afloat for someone else to find. c) You could say to yourself, “What a wonderful raft”, and then pick it up and carry it around on top of your head from now on. Which would be proper use of the raft? Buddhism is practiced in most countries around the world, although Buddhists make up only about 7% of the world’s religious population. Only a few modern Buddhist sects use an evangelical approach, trying to convert everyone around them. Most Buddhists refrain from trying to propagate their religion to anyone who doesn’t seek it.

More info about Veda go to this web page.