How did Buddhism begin?
About 2500 years ago, a prince named Siddhartha Gautama began to question his sheltered, luxurious life in the palace. He left the palace and saw four sights: a sick man, an old man, a dead man and a monk. These sights are said to have shown him that even a prince cannot escape illness, suffering and death. The sight of the monk told Siddhartha to leave his life as a prince and become a wandering holy man, seeking the answers to questions like "Why must people suffer?" "What is the cause of suffering?" Siddartha spent many years doing many religious practices such as praying, meditating, and fasting until he finally understood the basic truths of life. This realization occurred after sitting under a Poplar-figtree in Bodh Gaya, India for many days, in deep meditation. He gained enlightenment, or nirvana, and was given the title of Buddha, which means Enlightened One.
What are the Four Noble Truths?
The First Noble Truth
Suffering (Dukkha)
Suffering comes in many forms. Three obvious kinds of suffering correspond to the first three sights the Buddha saw on his first journey outside his palace: old age, sickness and death.
The Second Noble Truth
Origin of suffering (Samudāya)
Our day-to-day troubles may seem to have easily identifiable causes: thirst, pain from an injury, sadness from the loss of a loved one. In the second of his Noble Truths, though, the Buddha claimed to have found the cause of all suffering - and it is much more deeply rooted than our immediate worries.
The Third Noble Truth
Cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
The Buddha taught that the way to extinguish desire, which causes suffering, is to liberate oneself from attachment. This is the third Noble Truth - the possibility of liberation. The Buddha was a living example that this is possible in a human lifetime.
The Fourth Noble Truth
Path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
The final Noble Truth is the Buddha's prescription for the end of suffering. This is a set of principles called the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path is also called the Middle Way: it avoids both indulgence and severe asceticism, neither of which the Buddha had found helpful in his search for enlightenment.
Suffering (Dukkha)
Suffering comes in many forms. Three obvious kinds of suffering correspond to the first three sights the Buddha saw on his first journey outside his palace: old age, sickness and death.
The Second Noble Truth
Origin of suffering (Samudāya)
Our day-to-day troubles may seem to have easily identifiable causes: thirst, pain from an injury, sadness from the loss of a loved one. In the second of his Noble Truths, though, the Buddha claimed to have found the cause of all suffering - and it is much more deeply rooted than our immediate worries.
The Third Noble Truth
Cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
The Buddha taught that the way to extinguish desire, which causes suffering, is to liberate oneself from attachment. This is the third Noble Truth - the possibility of liberation. The Buddha was a living example that this is possible in a human lifetime.
The Fourth Noble Truth
Path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
The final Noble Truth is the Buddha's prescription for the end of suffering. This is a set of principles called the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path is also called the Middle Way: it avoids both indulgence and severe asceticism, neither of which the Buddha had found helpful in his search for enlightenment.
What are some of their ways to worship?
Buddhists either worship at their home or at a temple. Buddhists will often set aside a room or a part of a room as a shrine. There will be a statue of Buddha, candles, and an incense burner. Buddhist temples come in many shapes. Perhaps the best known are the pagodas of China and Japan. They mostly meditate. But they do have some special celebrations.
What are the names of three different sects of Buddhists?
Theravada Buddhism is one of the the largest schools of Bhuddhism. "Theravada" means "teaching of the elders." In southeast Asian Theravada Buddhism is the most dominate. These Buddhist believe that their for of Buddhism adheres the original teachings of Buddha. Theravada Buddhists, do not pray during worship. When they give offerings to the statue of Buddha they leave these offerings in the hope of earning merit in their following life.
Mahayana Buddhism is the other largest schools of Buddhism. Many Buddhists didnt agree with the Theravada Buddhism school so they came to join Mahayana Buddhism. Mayana Buddhists believe that inorder to attain Nirvana you need guidance from others. Countinuing on, Mahayana Buddhists believe that all people are related due to reincarnation and the on going on the birth/death cycle. Mahayana Buddhists also believe this towards criminals. They believe you have to help criminals find enlightment, thinking of how that person could have been your mother or father in the pervious life.
Pure Land is also called Jodo-shu. It helped some Buddhist feel like there was a heaven like Nirvana. Pure Land is believed to be a Most Happy Land ruled by a Buddha named Amida. Pure Land is described to be a place where there is no pain. When a good Buddhist dies he/she is automatically reborn into Amida's Pure Land.
What are their Holy Places?
The Nilajan River- Prince Siddhartha, sought enlightenment through many years of ascetic life. Despite undergoing such hardships as limiting his diet to one grain of barley a day, he was unable to find enlightenment. At the age of thirty-one, he decided to renounce his futile asceticism and went to the Nilajan River to wash away the dirt on his body. There he accepted food offered to him by a shepherdess named Sujata. After meditating for forty-nine days at Gaya Hill under the Bodhi tree, he finally became enlightened.
The cave of ascetic practice- Prior to the Buddha’s full enlightenment, he diligently practiced an ascetic life in a cave on Snow Mountain. Gradually reducing his food intake until his body became so weak and emaciated that his sinews and bones showed. As he was unable to find full enlightenment by practicing austerity in this way, he began to take food to regain his strength.
Sarnath- The site where the Buddha gave his first sermon to his first five disciples was at Sarnath (Deer Park). The location is marked with a stone Buddha sculpture from the Gupta period (5th century) and represents the refinement and elegance of all the Indian Buddha images. The Buddha is sitting in full lotus posture on the Dharma seat and is holding his two hands in front of his breast, one hand opposite the other. Between the fingers of his hand, there is the characteristic mark of the Buddha, namely the formation of a web (all the Buddhas possess thirty-two specific marks, and this is one of them). In the center of the lower part of the precious seat is a carving of the Dharma wheel which symbolizes the Buddha expounding the Dharma. On both sides, there are the five Bhiksus and two followers, a mother and a son. In front of the Dharma wheel, is a pair of crouching deer indicating that the place where this happened was Deer Park.
The Jetavana Vihara was in ancient Sravasti. It was built by the elder Anathapindika and offered by him to the Buddha. Now it has become a public park where the Bodhi tree, the foundations of the monastery, the stupa of the Buddha,, and other structures still remain. In recent times, the site of the Jetavana Vihara has undergone excavation. Buildings dating from the time of the Gupta kings of the first century up to the tenth century have been unearthed.
Kushinagar is approximately fifty-five miles east of Gorakhpur in present day India. It was the place where the Buddha entered into Parinirvana at the age of eighty. His mortal remains were burned outside of Kushinagar. After the Buddha’s passing into Nirvana, a stupa was built there to worship the relics of the Buddha. This Nirvana stupa was rebuilt by Burmese Buddhists in 1927. An image of the Buddha entering into Parinirvana was created during the Gupta period in the fifth century. It was later buried until it was excavated in 1876 and refurbished. The image is 18 feet long and is now worshipped in the Nirvana Hall later built at Kushinagar. The head of the image is facing west, its body is clad in a yellow robe and is resting on a great marble stone. Each year, many Buddhists visit Kushinagar on their pilgrimage.
5-7 items related to Buddhism
A japa mala or mala is an eastern rosary with 108 beads. Buddhist rosaries were likely adapted from Hinduism. Malas are used especially in esoteric Japanese and Tibetan Buddhism, in which they are worn by priests and devotees alike.
According to Tibetan Buddhist belief, spinning a prayer wheel is just as effective as reciting the sacred texts aloud. This belief derives from the Buddhist belief in the power of sound and the formulas to which deities are subject. For many Buddhists, the prayer wheel also represents the Wheel of the Law (or Dharma) set in motion by the Buddha.
The begging bowl, or alms bowl, is one of the simplest but most important objects in the daily lives of Buddhist monks. According to one legend, when he began meditating beneath the Bodhi Tree, a young woman offered him a golden bowl filled with rice, thinking he was the divinity of the tree. He divided the rice into 49 portions, one for each day until he would be enlightened, and threw the precious bowl into the river.
This and other legends, combined with its humble monastic uses, have made the simple begging bowl a symbol of the Buddha's teachings on nonattachment.
This and other legends, combined with its humble monastic uses, have made the simple begging bowl a symbol of the Buddha's teachings on nonattachment.
Sculptures known as "Buddha images" can depict one of many buddhas ("enlightened ones") other than the historical Buddha, such as the Medicine Buddha, Laughing Buddha, or others. The Great Buddha of Kamakura, Japan (right), for instance, depicts Amida Buddha. But images of the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, are especially popular. These can be found in the imagery of all Buddhist cultures.
Mandalas are works of sacred art in Tantric (Tibetan) Buddhism. The word "mandala" comes from a Sanskrit word that generally means "circle," and mandalas are indeed primarily recognizable by their concentric circles and other geometric figures. Mandalas are far more than geometical figures, however. For Tantric Buddhists, they are rich with symbolism and sacred meaning. In fact, the etymology of the word "mandala" suggests not just a circle but a "container of essence.