Buddhism has a half a million followers all over the world making it the fourth largest religion.
Buddhism philosophy is that it is ought to overcome suffering and achieve a state of inner peace and
wisdom called Nirvana.
But who is the first buddha or the founder of all this?
SIDDHARATHA GAUTAMA
He was a wealthy prince in Nepal 5th century before Christ exist.
His background was that he was born in a lavish lifestyle yet moved by suffering in the world, so he decided to give
everything up the lifestyle and the money and went into poverty yet this did not fulfill his life.
Then he came up with the idea of promoting the middle way, that is what we called the Nirvana.
THE FOUNDER AND THE FIRST EVER BUDDHA
Buddha what does it actually means?
It is preferred to be the one who is awake or enlightened. They are considered an extraordinary being, but
not a god
But how did he discover this middle way?
It started in the Mahabodhi temple in bodh day in India.
Where Siddharatha Gautama went there and buddhist believed that in searching for 6 years he founded light here
in this sacred place, where found the middle way of life between the two extremes…..
1. social indulgence – e attitude of allowing yourself or someone else to have something enjoyable
2. without deprivation - the state of being kept from possessing, enjoying, or using something
So he found this or had this thought while meditating under the bodhi tree. And went on to spend the rest of his
life teaching others how to reach the Nirvara which all suffering ceases
Wheel of life.
Relatively this is also similar to the teachings of hindus. They believe in the wheel of life or the wheel of rebirth…
Reincarnation is what they call samsara depending on how they conducted themselves in their previous lives.
Buddhist also believes in KARMA from a sancrit word an action or reaction. They embrace the concet of karma or
what they call the the cause and effect. This is when commit good or bad action then it comes with later
consequences that comeback to you or to the next. Its like gravity as they believe it, if you plant a seed of full
hatred then it will grow to you as you are a person full of anger towards life and anything.
Caste system - He pointed out that there existed wicked and cruel people as well as virtuous and kind people in
every caste. Any person who had committed a crime would be punished accordingly by his karma no matter what
caste he belonged to.
Abolish rituals - recitation, chanting and the making of offerings in which they highly respect as it is part of what
makes them buddhist.
Nirvana interpreted as extinction of the three fires.
1. greed – “wanting a little bit more,” and not being satisfied with what we have, whether it is our salary, our
home, our career, or our prestige.
2. aversion - feelings of aggression, anger, and hatred. It is represented by a snake. Its opposite is loving kindness.
In the same vein as Attachment where we only try to get the things we want, when we experience Aversion, we
push away (usually aggressively) the things that we dislike. This is connected to craving we usually see the buddhas
are living a healthy and balanced lifestyle as they don’t tend to have urges to consume more that what they
normally does.
3. ignorance - elates to not seeing the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and
insight, Buddhism explains, one's mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things. Vices, such as
greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from this ignorance.
All of this three fires contributes to what buddhist calls suffering they are the fuel that sparks that makes us,
humans unsatisfied or we wont find happiness by clinging to the world.
In order to stop this endless painful cycle of recreation you must reach nirvana, and in order to stop the cycle is to
stop desiring, stop suffering stop karma . But how would you do it?
you can only achieve this using the methods of the buddha called he 4 noble truths. But Nirvana is not a place you
go, this is the mis conceptual it is not heaven, it is the state of mind, as buddha reached it when you have that
internal happiness.
4 NOBLE TRUTHS.
1. stress and pain
2. origin it doesn’t come from nowhere, the cravings, or the karma.
3. The can replace hatred, greed and delusion with wisdom and compassion they can attain nirvana.
4. the path or the middle way between the self indulgence and he self mortification, or the 8fortpath.
to summarize this four noble truth is to view it this way “ Life sucks, here’s why, you can fix it, here’s how”
It is simply a guide to escape suffering to leave the cycle and to lead nirvana in our life.
All of this as a canon, when we obseve this this can teach us how to preserve our lives into a perspective of
altercation in happiness as everything is changing.
Then buddhism proceeded to spread during the 150 AD or Anno Domini, which is Latin for “year of our Lord,”
through the land of the southeast Asian continent, from india through china.
During this time buddhism entered Han china via the silk trade routes, as it blended with the Chinese philosophy of
Taoism as a major role in bringing success to buddhism in Chinese culture.
It impacted on how Chinese citizen can been primarily though how to live a good life.
To many chinses netizens today the idea of reincarnation and nirvana still impacts on how they live their day to day
life.
The increase of drinking and usage of tea in china is a way to socialize, start the day or relax after a long day,
interestingly enough buddhism also increases the usage of chairs and wearing of cotton as a garment.
They also has an influence of how they teach, view and do Chinese art. the literature and the architectural
infrastructure in todays Chinese people.
In conclusion SIDDHARATHA GAUTAMA is another figure in the Chinese history that had the enormous impact on
Chinese culture.