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Expansion of Buddhism around the world
Life and legend of Buddha
Buddhism influence on the world
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Buddha
With the birth of the Buddha, being chosen as the “awakened one” at age thirty-five, his journey through life, and even in his death. Buddha has guided many to discovering the truths of life.
Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha at age thirty-five (Graves 1). The Buddha was believed to have been born in 563 B.C. in what now is Nepal but at the time was a part of India (1). The founder of Buddhism was the son of a chief of the hill tribe of the shakyas, who gave up family life, became an ascetic when he was some twenty-nine years old (Bary 3).
Legends say that as Queen Maya, Buddha’s mother, reached her father’s house, got out, and Buddha emerged from her right side. Without any help he took seven steps in each direction on the compass. Where he had steeped, lotus flowers sprouted everywhere, though it was not the season. He announced, “No further births have I to endure, for this is my last body. Now shall I destroy and pluck out by the roots the sorrow that is caused by births and deaths.” Seven days after his birth, his mother passed away (Wangu 19).
"One day, the Buddhist tradition holds, Siddhartha realized that his years of penance had only weakened his body." (Wangu 22). His body got so tired he couldn't meditate properly. Scriptures say he went to bathe in the river and the trees bent down to help him. Buddha sat under a tree and would not arise until he found the answer he had looked for (Wangu 23).
The Buddha had an act of self-sacrifice. He had discovered the way to end suffering, so he wanted to share his enlighment with others (Wangu 24). The basic condition of life is suffering. Suffering is caused by cravings and desires. There exists nirvana, an end to suffering. The way to get to Nirvana is to follow the "eight fold path." (Graves 2).
" The eightfold path is a series of eight stages that leads to the end of desire."(Wangu 26) About 300 million practice Buddhists (Wangu 6). After Buddha had found the answered he was looking for he set off for the towhist Saranth. There he thought people of his teachings. He drew the whole of life, which stand for his teachings (Wangu 24).
One day a blacksmith gave Buddha a meal, which caused him to become ill (he was about eighty).
Who is the Buddha? Siddhartha Gotama was born into a rich royal family, located in Nepal in 563 BC. Siddhartha’s birth was prophesied by his mother, whom had Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side (a sign of great importance in that culture). It was prophesied that he would be a great emperor or great religious leader. He was provided with all the luxuries of life and was shielded from all harm and those whom needed help.
either be a great ruler or a great holy man. Living an isolated and luxurious life until he was 29, he decided to give up all his own worldly possessions, even his family, to begin his own journey. After seeing an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and lastly a holy man Siddartha desired to find the solution to end ALL human suffering. His enlightenment occurred when he sat under the Bodhi tree and experienced many visions, and to ultimately become Buddha. This when he began to teach the three characteristics of existence: dukkha (suffering), anicca (impermanence), and
As a last resort, Guatama began intense yogic meditation under a papal tree. One night, he went into a deep trance, and moved through different levels of being. First, he saw all of his previous lives, living through each one over and over again. He then realized that reincarnation is based on how you treat all living things and whether you do right or wrong. He then achieved the knowledge of everything there is to be known in the world, and he attained perfection. He became the ?Buddha?, which means ?Enlightened One?, and he found the release from reincarnation. Buddhacarita, the best k...
Bachateros became the bridge to cultivating both cultural and creative consciousness just as Buddha served to be the model for meditation and enlightenment. Siddhartha Guatama, known today as Buddha, meaning, “Awakened One,” was born into his role as a prince in India. After renouncing material wealth and possessions at age 29, Buddha left his palace to seek truth. It was during this journey that Buddha famously attained enlightenment by meditating under a Bodhi
It is generally agreed that the Buddha was born in 563 BC in Kapilavastu to the ruler of a small kingdom. He grew up with luxuries and had a sheltered life. When he was 29 he came to realize that hi life up to this point had been so empty. He let go any earthly attachments and soon set out to find peace and enlightenment trying to steer away from the cycles of rebirths. He started practicing Yoga and "adopted a life of radical asceticism." He soon gave up this way of thinking and focused on "a middle path between the life of indulgence and that of self-denial." After a time of great inner struggle, he began to wander to different places and preach and organized a monastic community know as the sangha.
While living with Samans Siddhartha learned a lot of things he learned the path of self denial through pain through suffering and bearing that pain also by living hungry and thirsty all days. He washed all the images in his mind and emptied his mind for meditation. After all this efforts he came back into him self again at the end.
From its inception, Buddhism has stressed the importance of death, since awareness of death is what prompted the Buddha to perceive the ultimate futility of worldly concerns and pleasures. Realizing that death is inevitable for a person who is caught up in worldly pleasures and attitudes, he resolved to renounce the world and devote himself to finding a solution to this most basic of existential dilemmas.
Throughout the history of humankind, man has always searched to find answers to the many existential questions. Numerous different religions and denominations have developed around the world over time. Though, most wonder about the origin and purpose of our existence. Buddhism was founded on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama about 2,600 years ago in India. After he had experienced that everyone was subject to “birth, sickness, death, and old age”, he tried to find a way to break from the cycle of rebirth (Bloom). Siddhartha Gautama experimented with a number of methods to find the cause of suffering which led him to what he called the Middle Way – a path between “licentiousness and extreme mortification” (Bloom). Once he achieved enlightenment, he turned into ‘the Buddha – the enlightened or awakened one’. Christianity is one of the largest and most prevailing religions of the world and largely based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians trust that Jesus was sent by God to save humanity. Therefore, the faith of the followers of the Christian belief is primarily based on the preaching of Jesus and later the spreading of those by his disciples. Although Buddhism and Christianity show several parallels, their three key differences are that Buddhists do not believe in one divine being, and have different views about both the purpose of life and the concept of afterlife.
In Benn’s (2007) book, he discusses “The Hungry Tigress”, a Jataka tale about a previous incarnation of the Buddha. The narrative talks about Prince Mahāsattva, who upon seeing an emaciated tigress decided to offer his body as food to the tigress. Before offering himself, he made a vow that his act of self-immolation is “for the benefit of all beings and to save all beings in the three realms” (p. 26). The prince’s intentions can be said for all incarnations of the Buddha who perform the act, in that they do it for the benefit of others. The issue with self-immolation for Buddhists is that it is difficult to tell whether they are doing the action for the individual benefit (such as the attainment of nirvāṇa) or out of pure compassion. According to Brendan Kelly (2011), the motivating factor for the self-sacrifice of the Bodhisattva is what dictates whether the act is rewarded with enlightenment (p. 306). If the reason for self-immolation is only for the benefit of the self, then it does not reflect the Eightfold Path, specifically right intention. Compassion is also the difference between self-immolation and suicide; suicide goes against Buddhist concepts of respect towards all life and produces negative karma because the act is essentially killing a living being. However, if self-immolation is performed with the motive of pure compassion, then
In this story of Buddhism, Siddhartha was a man that sought to find enlightenment by studying under different gurus and spiritual maters. After finding little spiritual development through the teachings of others, he sat under the Buddha Tree and meditated on his own life experiences and the pursuit of truth: “It begins with a man who woke up” (Smith, 2009, p.82). During this mediation, Siddhartha became the Buddha because he had become enlightened through a self-awareness of his own spiritual identity. In this manner, Siddhartha had become “awakened” from the slumber of ignorance in the world: “While the rest of the world was wrapped in the womb of sleep...one of their number roused himself” (p.82). This was how the Buddha came to be enlightened after meditating under the Bodhi Tree.
The founder of Buddhism was a man called Siddhartha Gautama, born to a wealthy family and destined for greatness; Siddhartha, however, left his family and the palace in search for religious truth and an end to suffering. Siddhartha tried many ways of reaching an enlightened stage; wandering the forest, joining the beggars, fasting, debating with religious leaders, but when none of these methods brought him a greater understanding of the world, Siddhartha sat himself down under a fig tree, and meditated. After forty-nine days of meditation Siddhartha was said to have achieved an understanding of the cause of suffering, he then became known as the Buddha, enlightened one.
Siddhartha Gautama is famously known as Gautama Buddha and was the founder of the idea of Buddhism. The Buddha was known to possess supernatural powers and abilities. He was born in the holy land of Nepal and his journey began in India when he decided to travel and teach himself about life. In the midst of his journey, he discovered Buddhism after he experienced a profound realization of the nature of life, death and existence. Buddhism became a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama and since then Buddhism has been popular throughout many civilizations. Buddhism is now one of the most ancient religions in the world, where people follow Buddha, which stand for “awakened one,” and Buddhism which has gained popularity because of the teachings of the Buddha.
Buddha had a different view of the world. He was a very rich nobleman that lived in a palace. His father didn’t want him to see suffering so he surrounded Buddha with young people. One time he had to leave his palace to make a journey. He saw a sick person, a corpse, and an old man. Astonished at this suffering he left his family and started wandering India.
Born in 563 BCE in modern day India as prince Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha devoted his life to eliminate the suffering of others. As the son of the king, Siddhartha was given every type of comfort possible, and was expected to inherit the throne. However, Siddhartha believed that he could do more than just serve himself. He believed that he could help people and that he could achieve something for a greater purpose. The Buddha became concerned about suffering when he saw a sick person, an old person, and a corpse all for the first time. His sympathy for the misfortunate motivated him to leave his life as a prince and find understanding on suffering. A hero must help and inspire others with their self-sacrifice and integrity. The Buddha is a revered hero today, not because he is the founder of a major religion, but because he lived a life of self-sacrifice to help others and acted with integrity toward everyone, not just wealthy and powerful
Much of what we know of Buddha was passed down for generations though word of mouth and teachings, which were probably not written until long after his death (Fisher). Buddha like many other religious figures was born without human intercourse and was born into a very wealthy family and lived a life of luxury. He went on to marry and have a son, Buddha’s life changed however when he saw “the four sights” a sick man, an old man, a dead man, and finally a man seeking lasting happiness. The later inspired Buddha to leave his luxurious life behind and seek total liberation also known as nirvana. After traveling for many years and depriving himself from all wants and many needs including food for long periods of time, Buddha had what is known as the awakening. While meditating under a tree he saw all of his past lives and how good and bad deeds can effective future lives (Fisher). The awakening also showed how to end suffering and Buddha was radiant with light afterward (Fisher). From that point on he traveled around Asia teaching everyone he met what he now knew. Many that he taugh...