Can anyone please tell me all you can about Buddhism?

Question

I'm Universal Unitarian, but I am just curious what Buddhism is all about.

Answer 1

First. It's not a religion, it's a philosphy/way of life.

Second. There are three main camps of buddhism, Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajryana. Thereavada being the oldest, and so forth.

The main philosophy of buddhism is that the more "conscious" you are, the more you get ingrained beliefs and hobbies, habits, thought, the concept of Self in general, the further away you are from the real truth.
This is the building up of Karma. Karma is not the good luck bad luck stuff, that is all crap. Karma is anything that is a "thought" or concept.

Therefore, you meditate, thinking about nothing but your breath (this is one style of meditation, there are actually various methods used by various camps), until you reach enlightenment/nirvana.

That is when you see what the ultimate truth is. It is likened to a sun shining behind stormclouds. You meditate until the clouds disappear.

You will keep being reborn into a life of suffering (Go google up Samsara) except if you reach enlightenment in one of these lives.


The schools differ on their take of how to achieve nirvana. The Diamond Vessel (Vajrayana) camp believes in having those who've achieved enlightenment, but forgo it to help others get to their level (the ultimate sacrifice if you will). These are also the same buddhists who always have their most successful monks be "reborn" into another child decades later (you've probably seen these in the news).

The idea is that the buddha who has reached enlightenment, decides to stay in the cycle of suffering for another lifetime, predicts the situations of his rebirth, and then his followers try to find him when he's reborn and re-teach him everything about buddhism so he can go on to help more people.

The original Buddha was a prince who tried to leave everything behind, realized physical suffering and starvation wasn't the way, decided to go the "middle way", sat under a fig tree, and meditated til I believe he realized life was like roses rising from a pile of dirt.

Answer 2

Buddhism (also known as the Dharma or Buddha Dharma, meaning approximately: The Law or Law of the Awakened One) is a religion, a practical philosophy, and arguably a psychology, focusing on the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni (Siddhārtha Gautama), who lived in ancient India most likely from the mid-6th to the early 5th century BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the Indian subcontinent in the five centuries following the Buddha's passing, and propagated into Central, Southeast, and East Asia over the next two millennia. Today, Buddhism is divided primarily into three traditions: Theravāda (Sanskrit: Sthaviravāda), Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna. Buddhism continues to attract followers worldwide, and, with approximately 379 million adherents, it is considered a major world religion. Buddhism is the fifth-largest religion in the world behind Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and traditional Chinese religion, respectively.

Read the rest of the article in my sources...

Answer 3

Try the Beginners' Guide to Buddhism located at the site listed below.

Here are the contents:

Basic Buddhism
Ten steps to understanding Buddhism

Beginners' Buddhism Course
Take a self-study course. Five units covering the basics in detail.

What is Buddhism?
Is it really a religion without a God?

Who was the Buddha?
Was he a man? Was he a god? What was special about him?

Who was the Buddha? (In-depth)
Find out more about this unique individual.

The Four Noble Truths
These encapsulate the essential teachings of the Buddha.

The Four Noble Truths (In-depth)
Find out more about these essential teachings

The Eightfold Path
The Buddha left us precise guidelines to achieve enlightenment.

The Five Precepts
The basic moral guidelines for lay Buddhists.

Meditation
There are two main approaches. What are they?

How to Meditate
Simple steps to bring calm into your life.

Rebirth
Buddhism offers a unique perspective on the age old question: 'What happens when we die?'

Kamma
What are the consequences of our actions? The Buddhist teaching on kamma explains that we are 'heirs to our deeds'.

The Three Jewels/Refuges
The Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha - why are they referred to as 'jewels' and 'refuges'.

What do Buddhists mean by 'Not-Self'?
Buddhism is unique amongst the major religions in that it rejects the notion of a permanent self or soul.

What are the major Buddhist Schools?
From Theravada to Tibet...an introduction to the major schools

What are the major Buddhist Scriptures?
Key scriptures from the major schools of Buddhism.

Introduction to Zen
A brief, simple overview.

Introduction to Zazen
Find out about 'sitting meditation' in the Zen tradition.

Answer 4

Buddhism started in Northern India, I think in about 500 or so BCE (whoops, put CE, which is 1000 years later.) There was some guy Siddhartha Gautama who was kept isolated by his father because his father heard a prophecy that if his son saw the suffering of the world, it would bum him out and he'd have to be a prophet-type guy to do something about it. Eventually, rich Siddhartha sees suffering (as we all do, or should) and goes to sit under a bodhi tree (a type of fig, Ficus) until he gets inspired.

Siddhartha becomes the Buddha--the enlightened one. I think he's technically a bodhisattva--an enlightened human who could enter Nirvana and skip samsara--the endless cycle of death and rebirth--but chooses to stay behind in the regular human world to help others gain enlightenment. Good karma--good deeds in your life, turning suffering into happiness, stuff like that. You get reincarnated the next go-around as a higher life form so that you can learn more and become more enlightened. Bad karma--bad deeds, hurting people, being tempted by earthly delights--you get reincarnated as a lower life form (like a dog, or slug or something) so that you can learn from your mistakes as a more miserable life form and hopefully do better in your next life. Eventually, you can go to Nirvana--the divine void, where you are free of the cycle of death and rebirth--or be a bodhisattva.

There are many deities and bodhisattvas--like, say, Jesus is probably a bodhisattva, cuz he was a good guy and a prophet who helped enlighten people. You study them to see how to be a better person. I think you can pray for guidance, too, like to the deities. You should do lots of meditation, chanting, maybe a little yoga or tai chi to get more centered and spiritual as a Buddhist. It's a cool religion to study. I can't think of much more to say about it right now, but there's a start.

Oh, and *Confucianism* is the major atheistic religion in the world. Not Buddhism.

Answer 5

The Buddha for me was a prophet, just as Sri Krishna, Jesus, Shuriab, Abraham, Mohammed, Zorraster, Bahulla, Luqman, etc.

The 4 Noble Truths & the 8 Fold Path is the core and encapuslates Buddhism for me. It is the best palce to start.

4 Noble Truths
Truth of suffering, truth of the cause of suffering, truth of end of suffering, truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.

8 Fold Path
Right Belief,Right Resoution, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Living, Right Effort, Right Thinking, and Peace of Mind through meditation.

Answer 6

Two Words: Universal Suffering.

Answer 7

if you like drama, vietnam war movies, check out "heaven and earth"

Lots of Asian countries are buddhist, including Vietnam. In that movie there were many references to Buddhism.
But i just like the movie...

I kind of got this picture that Buddhists believe everything that happens to you was meant to happen, your fait, and you can't change it. It's your karma, good or bad. it may be bad from a previous life you did mad things in. This is also called your soul debt.
Like poor innocent Vietnamese babies that were slaughtered had it coming because of fait. nothing could stand in the way of fait. it happened to them because it was meant to happen.
The women in the movie got married to an American, first husband died of old age, next husband committed suicide (in movie they only show the suicide..but this was a real life woman)
And this woman becomes very rich in America and she just calls it her fait and destiny in the conclusion.
As a Christian, i believe we can control our lives and our minds. We can choose to become rich, be poor and stay in Vietnam and live with our family, or whatever else. It's our own pursuit i believe. Leave everything up to fait? I don't think is a solution. I don't believe in reincarnation. and Buddhism doesn't show where humans originally came from..just reincarnations.

Buddhism doesn't sound terrible. In the movie it talked about forgiveness similar to Christianity...a little.

Answer 8

Just put the word Buddhism in your web search and you will find a lot of sites about it. Good luck.

Answer 9

I've been wondering the same thing, and from what I've learned it's the only non-God religion ever. Buddha was a prince in India who gave up his wordly possessions in search of the meaning of life and peace. People of that religion follow his teachings.

Answer 10

Sounds like you'll believe anything, so...

Buddhism is the great eternal mystic frog revealed to mankind through his servant, Jim Varney.