Buddhism is a form of non-theistic religion, and a philosophy, which was very popular in its time of fifth century BCE, where around the world people were taking on new meanings to life and trying to find spiritual answers in the world.
The religion originated with Prince Siddhartha who was believed to have been born in Lumbini and raised within Kapilavastu, until his enlightenment at the age of 35 when he was known as the Buddha and spent around 45 years teaching people his views, and went through India into china spreading Buddhism which was marked as the Buddha’s Passing.
Buddhism today however finds itself in three main traditions, which are in relation also to the location of their countries, and because of their histories, which have influenced traditions. On section is known as Theravada Buddhism, also known as Southeast Asian Buddhism, which is mainly practiced in Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Thailand. Then there is East Asian Buddhism, which goes by Sino-Japanese Buddhism, and is predominantly practiced in areas of Japan, Korea, and Singapore. The other main section is Tibetan Buddhism, called Northern Buddhism, and is mainly found practiced in areas of Tibet and Mongolia.
The belief in Buddhism is that any person who has awaken from the “sleep of ignorance”, in which they directly realize the true nature of reality without receiving any instruction and is called a Buddha. However those who receive teachings from a Buddha and achieves the same thing is considered an arahant, and therefore Siddhartha Gautama is truly just one among other buddhas and his teachings are oriented towards attainment of this awakening, known as enlightenment or Nirvana.
One of the main focuses of Buddha’s teachings towards the holy life and the ultimate goal of liberation is through the “The Four Noble Truths”, which concentrates on the dukkha, a name for the suffering and unhappiness that ultimately characterizes the unawakened in worldly life. The Four Noble Truths regard the suffering state in many ways, stating its nature, its cause, its cessation, and the way that leads to its cessation, which is terms “The Noble Eightfold Path”, which plays a fundamental role in a Buddhist’s virtuous and moral life.
We will first take a look at the first part of Buddha’s teachings which is the “the Four Noble Truths” which focus on Buddha’s teachings that in life suffering and sorrow are only existent because of desire and it can only be cured by following the Noble Eightfold Path. The first part of the Four Noble Truths is suffering, which states “Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering,” and in short means that those five topics are the focuses of suffering. The next view in the Truths is the cause of suffering which is the desire that leads to renewed existence, or rebirth, which is also known as the cycle of samsara. The third view in the Four Noble Truths is the cessation of suffering or desire, which leads in the last Truth, which states the way leading to the cessation of suffering is The Noble Eightfold Path. Those are the four views in Buddha’s Four Noble Truths and according to scripture; they were among the topics of Buddha’s first sermon given after his enlightenment, which was dictated to the five ascetics, which he had practiced austerities with.
Now that the Four Noble Truths are covered, we go into what the last part of the truths talked on, which was the Noble Eightfold Path, which is considered the way to the cessation of suffering and is divided in to three parts. The first part of the Eightfold Path is Sila which contains the first three parts to the Eightfold, which are the right speech, the right actions, and the right livelihood. The Sila is concerned over the physical actions and covers morality, where it abstains from unwholesome deeds of body and speech, by speaking non hurtful, non exaggerated, and in a truthful way, avoiding actions that harm, and ones livelihood would not harm oneself and others.
The next part in the Eightfold path is the Samadhi, which also contains three parts of the Eightfold Path, and focuses on developing mastery over one’s own mind. In order to do so the practice the right effort and exercise where one make an effort to improve them. They also practice right mindfulness/awareness and concentration, where you have the mental ability to see things for what they are with a clear conscious, and being aware of the present reality within themselves without any cravings.
The final part of the Eightfold Path it the Prajna, which contains the last two teachings and focuses on the wisdom, which purifies the mind and stresses right thoughts and understanding. These two stress a change in one’s pattern of thinking and fully understanding reality and not just as it appears to be.
There are a number of ways of taking in the Eightfold Path, where in one hands the Path is spoken of as a progressive series of stages through which the practitioner moves, and the cumulation of one leading to the beginning of another. However, there is another view that the Path is a simultaneous development, instead and steps can become cleared together rather than one by one.
In conclusion, Buddhism is a fascinating religion and is one of the biggest religions in the world that does not specifically believe in a god. Buddhism sets down the way of the eightfold path, which can either be viewed as a series of progressive stages, or can be viewed as just a series of objectives to be completed before you can ascend into a higher stage of being. Buddhism believes in karma and in the reincarnation of the soul, and above all is a mainly peaceful religion. Buddhism also places emphasis on suffering, and believes that through suffering in the body we can attain enlightenment in the soul and the mind.
