buddhism...?

Question

who founded it? wat r some beliefs? god worshipped? what do they strive for and how? wat does karma..reincarnation and nirvana have to do with buddhism?

Answer 1

What is Buddhism?

Buddhism is a religion to about 300 million people around the world. The word comes from 'budhi', 'to awaken'. It has its origins about 2,500 years ago when Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, was himself awakened (enlightened) at the age of 35.

Do Buddhists Worship Idols?

Buddhists sometimes pay respect to images of the Buddha, not in worship, nor to ask for favours. A statue of the Buddha with hands rested gently in its lap and a compassionate smile reminds us to strive to develop peace and love within ourselves. Bowing to the statue is an expression of gratitude for the teaching.

Was the Buddha a God?

He was not, nor did he claim to be. He was a man who taught a path to enlightenment from his own experience.

What did the Buddha Teach?

The Buddha taught many things, but the basic concepts in Buddhism can be summed up by the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

http://www.buddhanet.net/

Answer 2

Siddhārtha Gautama founded Buddhism. It stems from Hinduism.

The main belief is that life is suffering. From sickness to failure and to eventual death. The goal in Buddhism is to live a good life and walk the noble 8-fold path. Obtain complete liberation or enlightenment and end the cycle of death and rebirth or, at least, obtain a positive rebirth.

They strive for nothing, really. That wouldn't be true Buddhism. They live in the moment, day to day, and see everything for what it is. They practice through meditation, daily, which can range from deep meditation to walking meditations etc.

Karma is cause and effect. It merely means that every single action causes a reaction. This stems from the idea that everything in the universe is interdependent on everything else.

Reincarnation is considered "Rebirth" in Buddhism. Rebirth is different in that each life is completely different from the last. There is no "path" really, like reincarnation. You can either keep continuing positively or head the other way and commit negative actions.

Nirvana is the ultimate truth. It is comparable, if not the same idea as "Heaven" but viewed differently. It is not a place and arguably, it may be in front of our eyes, right now, in this realm.

They are no beliefs in God. They do not have an Atheist belief, despite what some say, nor do they believe in God. Hence, the middle path.

Buddha was not a God, but a man. Buddha means "enlightened one." We refer to him as "Buddha" as he was the first master of it. Basically, it deals with reality. Beliefs are not considered and are labeled what they are.

Answer 3

Jason, as some of the other answers have indicated, in this current eon, Buddhism arose from the meditations and practices and realisations of Gautama Siddharta. If you want an easy way of coming to terms with some of it, go to the video store and check out the movie "The Little Buddha".

The belief of Buddhism in a nutshell is to be of benefit in the world and if you can't be of benefit, then do no harm (to yourself or others).

The question of "God" from the Jewish/Christian/Islamic perspective is neither accepted nor denied by Buddhists - it is a question that is considered beyond the ability of the human mind to conceptualise.

Therefore, the emphasis is on becoming the best person you can be via the six-fold path - through the perfection of meditation (prayer), generousity, kindness, patience, diligence, perseverance and the development of wisdom.

And following that up by living life according to the 8-fold path - that is a life free from harming anyone or anything. This includes the career you undertake.

Answer 4

As you now know, Shakyamuni Buddha founded Buddhism, in that he gave the teachings that have formed the basis of the philosophy known as Buddhism.
There are many complete answers here about the root and structure of Buddhism, but I thought I'd share a few of the highlights that first started me thinking it may be right for me:

Buddha said don't take anything he says for granted, in fact don't take anything anyone says for granted. Investigate things yourself, don't just believe that something someone says will be a benefit to you, try it out and see for yourself.

Also, there's no 'rules' as such. Simply go along the lines of if you find something good or beneficial then do it, if you find it is negative or harmful then don't do it. Buddhism really is about self-regulation (and eventually the extinction of self.. but that's something for later...)

Karma, Reincarnation and nirvana are all words that are rooted in Hindu beliefs (Buddha was raised a Hindu, by Hindu parents, and started life as a Hindu acsetic, starving to find enlightenment). Buddhist understanding of these concepts is varied, particularily for reincarnation... there is possibly as many understandings of reincarnation as there are Buddhists, and this is fine, as ultimately, as Buddha teaches, all the answers come from within, from the sleeping Buddha inside each of us.

The understanding of Karma is a lot more settled, but would take a long while to explain in a way that would not leave more questions or appear to be flawed. If you are interested i suggest you look it up on a buddhist website. But it would take several days research and much thinking to come to fully understand karma I think. It's probably best at this point just to think that what goes around comes around, whilst focusing on Buddha's teaching that all suffering comes from within, we inflict it upon ourselves.

Answer 5

Forms of Buddhist philosophy can be atheistic because according to many Buddhists gods are not needed for the pondering of the 4 Noble Truths, the kiving of the 8fold Path and the 5 Precepts.

Many Mahayana Buddhists ,however, find boddhisatvas
( those who do not go into Nirvana or the"blowing out of existences' of total transcendence,stillness and union with the Ultimate)

,buddhas
( Enlightened Ones like Siddhartha Gautama Sakyamuni)

,arhants(saints) and gods of pre or non Buddhist origin
( who also may be caught up in the cycle of rebirth,reincarnation, resulting from undetachment and sinking into bad Karma or negative results of poor choises and staying in the Wheel of Samsara in rebirth in separated and illusional /delusional existence,desire and pain)
useful in help in our attaining liberation(moksha) from this captivity to rebirth,etc

Gautama Siddartha Sakyamuni founded the Buddhist way of thought and teaching and the Sanga (monastic community or community of practicioners)

Answer 6

Buddha founded it. He believed in karma,reincarnation, and Nirvana also most Buddhism forms are atheistic.

Answer 7

Buddhism a very wise religion, the more you studied it and the more you understand about life, Buddha is the one telling us about Buddhism and we called it Buddhism, but it is reality the true of life, it just he told us, he did not make it happened.

please read the follow page, and you will have some basic understand about Buddhism. I hope you will enjoy learning it as much as I do and I am very happy I become a Buddhism.

wish you the best. see the website
http://www.buddhanet.net
-they have a lot of resource on line and also see the online resource sections.

Five Mintues introduction
http://buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm

Introduction about Buddhism:
http://buddhanet.net/e-learning/intro_bud.htm

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Answer 8

Buddhism

Buddhism is a very logical philosophy which reveals about the mind, life, and the nature of the world. Lord Buddha is the great master.
A Buddha is a great master who shows people the way to achieve Nirvana the cessation of Sorrow. Lord Buddha was his own master and preached the knowledge he gained through enlightenment. He has reached the state of Buddha by improving his self doing merits and meditation for many years in his previous lives.
Lord Buddha did not represent another powerful invisible figure to preach his knowledge and was his own master. To the layman he taught how to live a good, sincere, happy and a purposeful life and proposed some guidelines to follow to achieve these objectives. Those who do good deeds are rewarded with positive results and vice versa he said. He also said those who want to improve the mind should practice to eliminate selfishness, hatred, anger and ignorance.

Lord Buddha had born 2500 years ago in Northern India and has gain the state of Buddha in his life due to the great merits he has done in his previous lives and the improvement of mind by the meditation he has done. He is not the first or the last Buddha.
There were Buddha's in the past and will be in the future. So we are living in a rare era, an era where Buddhism exists in the world.
We are very lucky to be born in a period of a Buddha. Because there are dark eras where Buddhism does not exists in this world.

He said right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration will lead to cessation of sorrow and to attain Nirvana the ultimate peace. To achieve Nirvana you have to follow the above path. It is not a process which can be done very quickly. One has to follow the path Buddha has taught patiently to achieve Nirvana.


For the intellectuals he said the life is sorrow and taught the way to eliminate the sorrow, by enlightenment. Enlightenment could only be attained through improvement of knowledge thus the improvement of conscious or mind hence some consider it as a philosophy. Worshipping is not a requirement in Buddhism though many do it as a habit and a custom.

Long before Newton, Buddha said every action has a reaction including in all conscious deeds. Those who do good deeds shall be rewarded with positive results and those who do harmful actions (with an evil intension) may experience in adverse results. The results of our righteous or sinful deeds Buddha said shall follow our soul in subsequent lives. Apart from heaven and hell he also said there are other forms of lives after this life.

Just like in thousands of present day books which provide self improvement techniques. Buddha provided an enormous amount of advice to the layman to improve one's self. He said selfishness; hatred, anger and ignorance prevent one from self improvement. One who wants to improve the mind should learn to eliminate these four statuses of mind. Buddha is said to have supernatural powers such as reading others thoughts. He has gained those abilities through meditation. We already know some people possess super natural powers and extra ordinary abilities. Such status could be achieved by improving one's mind thought it is not the ultimatum of the Buddhism. Self improvement or the learning process since the childhood is a way of improving our mind or thinking. It is by improvement of one's mind that the truth could be understood.

It is up to the individual who follows Buddhism to understand and practice what Lord Buddha had taught. Understanding and practicing is important for self improvement.
The Lord Buddha has shown the way. It is our own responsibility to follow it and understand the truth.

Buddhists are practicing 3 major merits in their lives.
They are

1. Dana (Giving & helping other people and animals.)

2. Sheela (preventing from doing sins like killing and harming others and animals, stealing, adultery, false speech, etc.)

3. Bhavana (The improvement in mindfulness and wisdom by practicing Meditation.)

From these practices they are trying to give up desires step by step and coming closer to the state of ultimate freedom NIRVANA.


5 Main precepts of Buddhism

1. I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living beings.
2. I undertake the precept to refrain from stealing.
3. I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct (adultery, rape, child abuse, etc).
4. I undertake the precept to refrain from false speech (lying).
5. I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicants which lead to heedlessness.

Every Buddhist should take those precepts and try to improve own self to live a happy, peaceful life. When you give up your lust, anger, fear, hatred your mind becomes more clear and calm. Mind can be improved by meditation.
One fine day when you understand the truth by your self which was shown by Lord Buddha you will find the ultimate peace. Buddhism is a great philosophy, it all about understanding by your self. There is much more to learn about Buddhism.
So here are two of the best web sites to find out more about Buddhism.


http://www.metta.lk/

http://www.bswa.org/