Founding Story |
Classification |
2,500 years ago in Nepal, Siddhartha Gautama was born and thus the beginning of Buddhism was in motion. Siddhartha's father had great expectations of Siddhartha. He wanted him to be a great king or military leader. Siddhartha was not allowed to leave the palace that was made for him to protect him from becoming a spiritual leader. Siddhartha had become curious and had left the palace to see the outside world. When he went outside, he saw an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. This had lead him to think about suffering. This is when he decided he was going to become an ascetic to understand that suffering and death are not something to be afraid of. Siddhartha meditated under a tree after his experience of being an ascetic. While meditating under the tree, the answers came to him and during this moment of his enlightenment, he became the Buddha. He then preached his teachings everywhere he went.
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Buddhism is classified as henotheistic since they don't believe in a God. They believe in the Buddha's teachings but he is not technically a God. The Buddha is praised like a God because of how important he is the Buddhist beliefs and religion. The Buddha was originally a prince who reached enlightenment and since he was human he had flaws while Gods are said to have no flaws.
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Key Figures |
Religious Authority |
One of the biggest key figures for the Buddhist religion is the Buddha himself, Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha is a key figure for this religion because he is the original Buddha, or person to reach enlightenment. Siddhartha is important to Buddhism because not only was he was the first person to reach enlightenment but also he spread the Buddhist teachings and beliefs across the world.
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Unlike the other major religions Buddhism does not have a collection of writings that all Buddhists read and do what it tells them to. They do have writings but nothing compared to the likes of the Bible or the Quran. They have the Tipitaka that serve these teachings. These teachings came from the Buddha but were not written down for a good 400 years. There are three parts of the Tipitaka. There is the Vinaya Pitaka which is geared towards monks and nuns. The next is the Sutta Pitaka which is about dharma and the teachings of the Buddha. The finally one is the Abhidhamma Pitaka which are the explanations of the Buddha's teachings.
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Core Beliefs
Goals |
Belief about afterlife |
Rules for daily life |
The over arching goal of Buddhism is to escape samsara (The cycle of death and rebirth). The escape from samsara is referred to as Enlightenment.
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The Buddhism belief about afterlife is that your soul is reincarnated if you have not done enough good in your life. You will keep being reborn until you do enough good and are able to escape the cycle of death and rebirth.
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Buddhists follow what is called the Eight-fold Path. This path is eight aspects of life that are combined with everyday life for Buddhists. These eight aspects combine understanding, intent, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. The eight-fold path says to do the right thing when dealing with those eight aspects.
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Concept of higher power |
Key Holidays |
For Buddhists, their concept of a higher power is the Buddha. The Buddha is what they believe to be a higher power because he was the first person to reach enlightenment and to share his teachings. They praise him like he is some sort of a higher power because he was the person who had spread the Buddhist teachings around the world.
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The most important Buddhist holiday is known as Wesak. This holiday is named after a month in the Indian calendar. It commemorates the Buddha's life in three acts: birth, enlightenment, and death. This holiday has its own festival to go along with it. In a way, Wesak resembles the Christian Christmas because some Buddhists exchange presents.
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Sites and Symbols |
Sects and/or Branches |
Stupas are one of the sites for Buddhism. Stupas are sacred burial mounds used for putting those to rest who have passed away. Some of the early stupas were dome shaped because they were supposed to resemble Mount Meru which was believed to be the cosmic mountain at the center of the world. These stupas are also said to be some of the places where the ashes of the Buddha were spread to. In India, there are four stupas built to commemorate the stages that the Buddha went through to reach enlightenment.
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There are two different sects of Buddhism:
Theravada: -They believe in the Buddha himself and that each person must find their way towards enlightenment alone -They see the Buddha as merely human and therefore do not pray to him Mahayana: -Mahayana Buddhists believe that to reach nirvana everyone must help each other and that this also applies to criminals -They pray to bodhisattvas, which is someone who has already reached enlightment. |