Buddhism

Essay by Goldguy100University, Bachelor'sA+, November 1996

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Buddhism is a religion founded by an ex-Prince Siddhartha Gaumata. Gaumata was a prince who was brought up in a perfect surrounding. When the prince left the palace he saw all the poverty. At the age of twenty nine, the prince left his wife and his infant son to meditate and practice Yoga to find peace and enlightenment. Gaumata was meditating for a long time when finally while he was sitting under a Bo tree he had attained the enlightenment he was looking for. It is for this reason he got the name Buddha, meaning the enlightened one.

Buddha became a traveling teacher and taught everyone his discovery. Buddha did not write any of his lessons down. He taught about the Four Noble Truths, (1) life is suffering, (2) all suffering is caused by ignorance, (3) Ending ignorance will end suffering, and (4) The path to the destruction of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path consists of (1) Knowledge of the truth, (2) the intention to resist evil, (3) not saying anything that will hurt someone else, (4) respecting life, (5) having a job that doesn't injure anyone, (6) striving free one's mind of evil, (7) controlling one's feelings, and (8) concentrating properly. Buddha preached that the life was a continuing cycle of death and rebirth. The well-being of oneself was determined on your behavior in your previous life. Buddha said that by ridding oneself of worldly things he would be in nirvana, peace and happiness. After Buddha's death, his followers collected his teachings that became the dharma.

The sangha is what sometimes referred to as an ideal Buddhist community. All the people in the community follow all the laws and seek nirvana. The arrangement of the monks that had a role in the sangha.