Buddhism: The History And History Of Buddhism

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“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell” (Buddha Quotes, 2012). Buddhism was founded when the Buddha had passed after the age of eighty. The Buddha, who was Siddhartha Gautama, left the comforts of his home around the age of forty to seek the meaning of suffering going on around him (Boeree, 2000). It wasn’t until a full moon in May, when Siddhartha became the Buddha, the enlightened one. After Siddhartha’s death, five hundred monks gathered at Rajagrha (the first council) to debate details and vote on the final version of the monastic code. The monastic code was committed to memory and translated into other languages and remained an oral tradition for many years until the original unity of Buddhism began to break. According to (Boeree, 2000), ‘The traditionalists, now referred to as Sthaviravada or ‘the way of elders’, developed a complex set of philosophical ideas beyond those elucidated by the Buddha.” Buddhism was created by a man who was seeking to find peacefulness and happiness around the suffering of the world. The Buddha created a means of worship, prayer, and places of worship to guide others to find themselves spiritually and eventually became known as the philosophical way of life.
After the Buddha left home in search of the meaning of suffering, he then gathered all the knowledge he gained and brought it back to his people. The Buddha taught his teachings for forty years and focused on guiding people to achieve release from suffering. Even after the Buddha had died, his teachings continued on and still had the sole purpose of helping others find release from the world’s suffering. There are thr...

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...that they are cleansing themselves along with the suffering of the world around them. Buddhist believe that people from all walks of life can enter the Buddhist community as a monastic renouncers or lay devotees (Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2013). “Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it ― Gautama Buddha” (Sources of Insight, 2012).

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