What are the basic beliefs of buddhism?

Question

I want to understand about it but i cant find anything that describes the essense of buddhism.

Answer 1

Buddhism Beliefs:
Since some background knowledge of rebirth and karma is useful for understanding Buddhism, there now follows a brief introduction to these topics taken from Geshe Kelsang's book, Eight Steps to Happiness:

The mind is neither physical, nor a by-product of purely physical processes, but a formless continuum that is a separate entity from the body. When the body disintegrates at death, the mind does not cease. Although our superficial conscious mind ceases, it does so by dissolving into a deeper level of consciousness, call 'the very subtle mind'. The continuum of our very subtle mind has no beginning and no end, and it is this mind which, when completely purified, transforms into the omniscient mind of a Buddha.

Every action we perform leaves an imprint, or potential, on our very subtle mind, and each karmic potential eventually gives rise to its own effect. Our mind is like a field, and performing actions is like sowing seeds in that field. Positive or virtuous actions sow the seeds of future happiness, and negative or non-virtuous actions sow the seeds of future suffering. This definite relationship between actions and their effects - virtue causing happiness and non-virtue causing suffering - is know as the 'law of karma'. An understanding of the law of karma is the basis of Buddhist morality.

After we die our very subtle mind leaves our body and enters the intermediate state, or 'bardo' in Tibetan. In this subtle dream-like state we experience many different visions that arise from the karmic potentials that were activated at the time of our death. These visions may be pleasant or terrifying depending on the karma that ripens. Once these karmic seeds have fully ripened they impel us to take rebirth without choice.

It is important to understand that as ordinary samsaric beings we do not choose our rebirth but are reborn solely in accordance with our karma. If good karma ripens we are reborn in a fortunate state, either as a human or a god, but if negative karma ripens we are reborn in a lower state, as an animal, a hungry ghost, or a hell being. It is as if we are blown to our future lives by the winds of our karma, sometimes ending up in higher rebirths, sometimes in lower rebirths.

This uninterrupted cycle of death and rebirth without choice is called 'cyclic existence', or 'samsara' in Sanskrit. Samsara is like a Ferris wheel, sometimes taking us up into the three fortunate realms, sometimes down into the three lower realms. The driving force of the wheel of samsara is our contaminated actions motivated by delusions, and the hub of the wheel is self-grasping ignorance. For as long as we remain on this wheel we shall experience an unceasing cycle of suffering and dissatisfaction, and we shall have no opportunity to experience pure, lasting happiness. By practising the Buddhist path to liberation and enlightenment, however, we can destroy self-grasping, thereby liberating ourself from the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth and attaining a state of perfect peace and freedom. We shall then be in a position to help others to do the same.
Understand now? :)

Answer 2

Buddhism can be summed up as the art of the mind, in my opinion. So much lies within, self discovery and so on, and Buddhism goes after this.

There are the four noble truths, which means there is an initial realization that we all suffer. Some see this as a pessimistic viewpoint, and kind of strange to start off with, but it's necessary as a foundation. We then go on to realize that the cause of suffering is craving, we wouldn't suffer if we didn't constantly want something. There's a certain baseline, and when we say buy something we really want, our joy goes up, but sooner or later, we want something else, then something else and so on.

It also focuses a lot of meditation, which is powerful, powerful stuff.

I'd encourage you to check it out, there are some excellent podcasts by Gil Fronsdal at audiodharma.org, very good stuff. There's also an excellent initial guide to Buddhism that comes in book form but can also be found online for free, it's called the Tree of Enlightenment if you want to check that out. Very, very good explanations.

Good luck, my friend!

Answer 3

The Four Noble Truths: 1. Suffering exists and is inevitable. 2. The cause of suffering is desire. 3. There is an escape from suffering. 4. The escape from suffering is brought about by following the Noble Eightfold Path. Generally, Buddhists believe that all beings reside in samsara (the cycle of rebirth) and are constantly reborn into 6 possible realms (gods, humans, fighting gods, animals, hungry ghosts, hells). The only escape from samsara is attaining nirvana or enlightenment, which one does through abiding by the Noble Eightfold Path.

Answer 4

basically, we believe in the law of karma and rebirth, an endless cycle of existence. This is called the wheel of samsara. You die, depending on your good or bad karma, you go to either heaven or hell, stay there for a bit, then are reborn again as a being depending on the karma from your previous life. This goes on forever.

The main goal of buddhism is to break free from this cycle and to attain Nirvana . Nirvana is described differently in different buddhist styles (zen, theravadan, etc), but as a theravadan, we believe that it is the highest, final heaven, a place where only enlightened beings can enter, and we wont ever be reborn again.

btw, buddha wasnt a "600pound fat man", please learn about buddhism before making assumptions like that :)

Answer 5

The essence of buddhism is that the individual has the ability to wake up,to end suffering,to achieve happiness,and to understand the nature of all that is.

Answer 6

Simply speaking, this is to avoid harming others and to help them as much as possible. Another way of expressing this is, Abandon negative action; create perfect virtue; subdue your own mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha. By abandoning negative actions (killing, etc.) and destructive motivations (anger, attachment, close-mindedness, etc.), we stop harming ourselves and others. By creating perfect virtue, we develop beneficial attitudes, like impartial love and compassion, and do actions motivated by these thoughts. By subduing our mind, we cut away all false projections, thus making ourselves calm and peaceful by understanding reality.

The essence of Buddha’s teachings is also contained in the three principles of the path: definite emergence, the dedicated heart and wisdom realizing emptiness. Initially, we seek definitely to emerge from the confusion of our problems and their causes. Then, we see that other people also have problems, and with love and compassion, we dedicate our heart to becoming a Buddha so that we are capable of helping others extensively. In order to do this, we develop the wisdom understanding the real nature of ourselves and other phenomena.

Answer 7

perception, Karma, Suffering, The 4 noble truths and eight fold path

Answer 8

One is all and all is one. The cause of suffering is not knowing this. Otherwise it is you against the world. Who is going to win?

Answer 9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism

Answer 10

Would you believe a message of moderation and self control from a 600 pound man?