The Basic Tenets of Buddhism

Buddhism Religion has a very strong impact on peoples lives all over the world. It has spread from generation to generation for many decade. Every religion has a different importance to peoples lives. In the case of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama made his religion, Buddhism, a part of his everyday life. It is a life philosophy, a way of life. Buddhism was one of the major relgion’s. It first started in India around 500 B.C Siddhartha Gautama, didn’t always practice Buddhism. Gautama started out in the Hinduism practice. After he switched over to Buddhism, he became known as Buddha, who was the teacher of the religion. The religion began in Nepal. After the death of Buddha, his followers spread his teachings by traveling throughout India and then spread through much of the rest of Asia. Buddhism spread since the philosophy and beliefs were modified to fit the culture that the religion spread to. However,the main points of compassion and wisdom were always the same. The basic beliefs in Buddhism are” The Four Noble Truths” and “ The Noble Eightfold Path”. The 1st noble truth is that life is suffering, Buddhism explains how we can be happy and avoid suffering. The 2nd truth is that suffering is caused by craving, that getting what you want (material goods) does not give you happiness. The 3rd truth is that suffering can be overcome, true happiness can be attained. We can live day to day and be satisfied and have more time to help others. The 4th truth is that the Noble Eightfold path leads to the end of suffering. The Noble Eightfold path includes (1) knowledge of the truth; (2) the will to resist evil; (3) saying nothing to hurt others; (4) respecting life, mortality and poverty; (5) holding a job that does not hurt others; (6) striving to free one's mind of evil; (7) controlling one's feelings and thoughts; and (8) practicing proper forms of concentration. The major holy site in Buddhism is in Nepal. Lumbini in Nepal,was the birthplace of Buddha which is the reason why it is considered a holy site. There are 4 holy sites which include Lumbini-place of Buddha's birth, place of his enlightenment, place of his discourse and the place of his death, all of which took place outside of nature, under trees. The holy book of the religion is the Tipitaka. This is like the bible of those that practice Buddhism. This holy book includes all the Buddhism teachings. It is very large, the English translation of it takes up close to 40 volumes.