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The mind experiences complete freedom and liberation 4. the truth of the
eightfold ariya path leading to the cessation of suffering. HISTORY Buddhism was
founded in Northern India by the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. He was born in 563
in Lumbini which is in modern-day Nepal. At the age of 29, he left his wife,
children and political involvements in order to seek truth; this was an accepted
practice at the time for some men to leave their family and lead the life of an
ascetic. He studied Brahmanism, but ultimately rejected it. In 535 BC, he
reached enlightenment and assumed the title Buddha. He is also referred to as
the Sakyamuni, (sage of the Sakya clan).
He promoted The Middle Way, rejecting both extremes of the mortification of
the flesh and of hedonism as paths toward the state of Nirvana. He had many
disciples and accumulated a large public following by the time of his death in
his early 80’s in 483 BC. Two and a half centuries later, a council of Buddhist
monks collected his teachings and the oral traditions of the faith into written
form, called the Tripitaka. This included a very large collection of
commentaries and traditions; most are called Sutras. In Buddhism there is an
Eighfold path. This consists of the following; 1. right understanding 2. right
thinking 3. right speech 4. right conduct 5. right livelihood 6. right effort 7.
right mindfulness 8. right concentration TYPES Buddhism is usually though of as
being one religion, however it is divided into many.
Buddhism is basically the belief in Buddha and his teachings, this is
accompanied by local customs and rituals. This produces very few contradictions
as Buddhism is a Philosophical system, which allows additions to be easily
added. After the death of Buddha the religion split. The split created three
major different kinds of Buddhism with many different sects. These kinds of
Buddhism are both geographically and philosophically different. One of the three
major types is Southern Buddhism, it has 100 million followers, mainly in Burma,
Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and parts of Vietnam.
It started in Sri Lanka when Buddhist missionaries arrived from India. They
promoted the Vibhajjavada school. By the 15th century, this form of the religion
reached almost its present size. Another of the three is Eastern Buddhism which
is the major religion in China, Japan, Korea and a lot of Vietnam. Buddhism’s
Mahayana tradition entered China during the Han dynasty. It found its first
acceptance there with the workers. Later, it gradually was brought into the
ruling class. Buddhism reached Japan in the 6th century. It almost disappeared
during the 1960’s in China during the Cultural Revolution.
The final main form of Buddhism is Northern Buddhism it has about 10 million
people in parts of China, Mongolia, Russia and Tibet. It entered Tibet in 640
CE. Problems with the native Tibetan religion of Bon caused it to go underground
until its was able to begin again in the 11th century. The heads of the Gelu
school of Buddhist teaching became the Dalai Lama, and ruled Tibet. It has been,
until recently, it was dismissed as a poor form of Buddhism.
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