Buddhism 101

Buddhism is a well-known world religion, a religion that touch people heart with it great compassion together with the notion to spread the seed of wisdom to all sentient beings, to help them reach their enlightenment state, so that they can be liberate from the samsaric (suffering) world. However, to understand the teaching of Buddhism, we needed to know who is the founder, where is it originated, it teaching, and it history. Through these, we can be able to grasp the fundamental ideas or the basic teachings such as the Four Noble Truth and The Noble Eightfold Path.

The Buddha

About 2500 years ago, in the Indo Nepalese region in the city called Kapilavathu, “Siddhartha” (later become the Buddha) was born in a royal family father Sakya Sudhodana and mother Maya. The prince grew up under the king shadow, and was literate in every-ways to become the future king.

At the age of nineteen, the king arranged a marriage of the prince to the most beautiful princess named Yasodhara and later gave birth to a son (Rahula). The prince was kept amused and happy for sometimes until one day he encountered an old man, a sick person, a death person and an enlightened monk. Through the encounters, the prince saw “suffering” naturally occur to all sentient being. This occurrences had awakened the prince mind, therefore, had deepened his quest in search for the truth.

At the age of twenty-nine, to seek for true happiness to liberate all sentient being, the prince left his family and became a monk. During his sought for the truth, the prince encountered two masters whom taught him the practice of deep meditation, after practicing with the two masters for a while. The prince realized this was not what he was seeking. Therefore, he w...

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