Lots of people have misconceptions about Buddhism. Here are a few facts most people appear to get wrong.
1) Siddhartha Gautama never traveled away from India but his teachings did. Siddhartha Gautama would be a spiritual teacher in Ancient India who founded Buddhism. It is very important do not forget that he would be a Vedic Brahman (Hindu by today’s standards) lots of his ideas were originally area of the ancient traditional religions with the local historical period. He is considered to have lived from around 563 BCE to a number exceeding 483 BCE while he is known to own died at 80 years old. He traveled and taught along the Ganges River Valley starting near his home, near what’s now Nepal.
2) He’s sometimes called Shakyamuni Buddha, or the Prince from the Shakyas, due to Ssakya Mountain Range which has been his father’s (King Suddhodana) kingdom. He came to be a prince but made a decision to become a holy man. He spent my childhood years in wealth and resistant to the exterior but became curious about what people’s lives beyond your palace could possibly be like. Many legends surround his birth, but everything that is really known is always that his mother was likely to have passed away in childbirth or soon (days) afterwards. His father was warned soon after his birth he would turn into a great military leader or perhaps a great spiritual leader. His father, the king, had his own ideas of the was proper for Siddhartha, but, about 29 years, with the help his charioteer, he escaped the palace walls and ventured outside to learn what life was like for some individuals. He witnessed the consequences of old age, sickness, and saw a corpse, making them alert to death. Finally, he saw an ascetic. Siddharha’s charioteer explained that this ascetic was one who had renounced the world and sought release from anxiety about death and suffering.
3) Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha so that you can end the suffering (dissatisfaction) of most human beings. He realized the fact that we’re all impermanent and decided to go on a spiritual hunt for enlightenment. He studied because of the best teachers of religion and philosophy which he may find back then and learned how you can meditate but decided that somehow wasn’t enough for him.
4) The very center Way: He still had much to master and considered the ascetics of times to adhere to but also in time found out that the extremes which they endured weren’t employed by him. He followed their strategies to self inflicting pain and enduring it, fasting until he was weak, and holding his breath. It didn’t satisfy him as he decided it was merely another ego inflating approach to self-gratification, proving yourself through self-abuse. He chose to turn from other strict abeyance to rules about starving yourself and eating unclean things, while he realized however need strength to continue his quest, so he developed what is known “the middle way”. When his disciples saw which he wasn’t following way they thought necessary, they chose to leave him. He left and made a decision to sit with a sacred fig tree until he’d discovered the solution. The tree was what was considered a sacred fig tree near Bodh Gaya, the tree being named later, the Bodhi Tree. From Wikipedia * “…The Bodhi Tree, often known as Bo (through the Sinhalese Bo), was obviously a large and intensely old Sacred Fig tree (Ficus religiosa) in Bodh Gaya (about 100 km (62 mi) from Patna within the Indian condition of Bihar), under which SiddhÄÂrtha Gautama, the spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism later called Gautama Buddha, is considered to own achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi….”
5) His Awakening: As part of his deep state of meditation (samadhi) for a few days he became enlightened so when he rose from his deep meditation, he declared that he previously some solutions to the questions he sought. He imparted the wisdom of the four noble truths and also the eightfold path which come for a reason. Without the previous, the remaining can be impossible to accomplish. 6)Some Noble Truths
1) Suffering (dukkha) does exist. (All humans suffer during birth, pain, sickness, and death.
2) The main cause of suffering is desire. All of us have desires which are either selfish or unrealistic. This really is considered “delusional”.
3) There is a approach to reach cessation of suffering.
4) The cessation of suffering comes through practicing the eightfold path. (Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path.)
7) The Eightfold Path
1) Right View Wisdom
2) Right Intention Wisdom
3) Right Speech Ethical Conduct
4) Right Action Ethical Conduct
5) Right Livelihood Ethical Conduct
6) Right Effort Mental Development
7) Right Mindfulness Mental Development
8) Right Concentration/Meditation Mental Development
8) Buddhist Principles: By striving towards the right thing one lessens selfish desire, therefore reaching a state of happiness internally that is not dependent on conditional circumstances. Mindfulness in all things is a key ingredient. If one understands that any tangible thing that we desire is impermanent and ceases to be “attached” to these things that we cannot keep, then one becomes more at peace. We can not become attached to any views since we will become passionate about this and when circumstances change, our view will no longer be important or pertinent.
9) Buddhism is not a self help program: Beware of those who call themselves a master or try to sell you “enlightenment”. There are many books and centers out there which try to use words like enlightenment” that is something that actually has to be attained personally, it can’t be given or taught in a paint by the numbers program that promises some things. First, the word enlightenment is not used in any of the texts from Siddhartha Gautama was concerned that people might rush into this without understanding and this would lead to repeating traditional ceremonies without understanding, which will lead to disappointment because of the lack of benefit from practice. Do not come to an understanding of Buddhism lightly or quickly, take your time and be sure. This will take investigation. Investigate completely, any facets that you don’t understand until it makes sense. Also, practice with others and a good teacher are the best method of learning.
10) Buddhism IS A RELIGION: It disturbs some Buddhists that some people feel that Buddhism is just a philosophy. Some people feel there has to be a main book or one religious deity to worship in order for a religion to be real. Most modern practitioners of Buddhism see that all religions are filled with mythology and they understand that most deities and mythological objects in Buddhism are analogies for science and nature or our own mental make up that early man could not explain. Some practitioners, especially in Asia, still believe in the physical existence of some of these objects and deities. We have to remember that early Buddhist teachings came from Siddhartha Gautama in India, who was a Vedic Brahman. It then traveled across Asia to China where it adapted to Confucianism, which relied strongly on Filial Piety. It then traveled through to Japan, where it adapted to Shinto, which is still practiced side by side with Buddhism in Japan. Buddhism was created to adapt to all other learning. Siddhartha Gautama likened it to “a raft to get to the other side” in a parable he taught. “The Parable of The Raft ” When speaking to his followers Gautama Buddha said, “When you come to a river and the current is too fast to allow you to swim across and there is no bridge then you might decide to build a raft. If after crossing the river you would have some choices as to what to do with the raft. a) You could tie it to the bank to be used by someone else later. b) You could set it afloat for someone else to find. c) You could say to yourself, “What a wonderful raft”, and then pick it up and carry it around on top of your head from now on. Which would be proper use of the raft? Buddhism is practiced in most countries around the world, although Buddhists make up only about 7% of the world’s religious population. Only a few modern Buddhist sects use an evangelical approach, trying to convert everyone around them. Most Buddhists refrain from trying to propagate their religion to anyone who doesn’t seek it.
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