Buddhism sounds like an interesting religion, and I'd like to learn more about it. What are the Buddhist's basic beliefs?|||The suffereing nature of the human life form can be redeemed by attaining the state of nirvana. There are four truths;
1. The general nature of suffering to be seen in human form [and animals too][ dukkha sathya]
2. The cause is ignorance that make us attached to the wordly things that do not have any definite exietnce [dukkha samudaya sathya]
3. We can escape from this by attaining the state of nirvana [niro:dha sathya]
3. There is a path to reach nirvana. [ma:rga sathya]
It is ignorance that makes us see a world of permenaence when there really is no such one. It is that creates the sufereing in life . Study the 12 category cyclic way of how a life form is made [patichcha samuppada] and how emanicipation can be had Bit difficult to understand ?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15717455/Book-…
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17028761/CHAP-…|||Basically to be enlightened; knowledgable, and like...happy.
There's not really a "God" in Buddhism, it's just all Spiritual enlightenment. =]|||I'd say the main spiritual belief would be some form of the idea that perceptions of separateness are illusion. All is really one.
What did the zen master say to the hot dog vendor? Make me one with everything.
The place to start is with the four noble truths, and the eightfold path that's outlined in truth number four.|||I am a practicing Soka Gakkai Buddhist, There are several other Buddhists schools. I can only speak for mine. We practice to become happy and help others to do the same. We strive through our Buddhist practice to elevate our life condiction and overcome difficulties with courage and cnfidence. Cause and effect or Karma is a major factor. we Strive for a Human revolution.
President Ikeda writes, "A great revolution of character in just a single person will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and, further, will cause a change in the destiny of all humankind."|||http://www.probablefuture.com/Secrets_of_Remote_Influencing_EBook.html|||Desire is the cause of all human suffering.|||THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
1. Suffering exists
2. Causes of suffering - desire and attachment
3. End of suffering - complete eradication of all attachment and desire
4. The Eightfold Path or Middle Way
- Right Understanding: understanding skillful behavior in terms of cause and effect and the Four Noble Truths and how they fit into th overall scheme of the Buddha's teachings
- Right Thinking: generosity, letting go, loving-kindness, and compassion
- Right Speech: telling the truth and avoiding malicious talk, harsh language, and gossip
- Right Action: the principles for leading an ethical life; abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and intoxication
- Right Livelihood: choosing an appropriate profession that is important to spiritual practice
- Right Effort: preventing negative states of mind, overcoming negative states of mind, cultivating positive states of mind, and maintain positive states of mind
- Right Mindfulness: the practice of mindfulness meditation; cultivating mindfulness of body, feelings, mind, and thoughts
- Right Concentration: the stages of deep absorption reached in meditation
By studying and practicing the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, one is able to touch every teaching, sutra, and discourse given by the Buddha. The Four Noble Truths is the foundation for any buddhist practice.|||That each of us has the Buddha-nature, the pure awareness that is beyond all suffering, underneath all the dross of our everyday minds, and if we uncover it by getting rid of attachments that warp our view (desires, fears and habits) we will see that we have been Enlightened all along.|||You have received excellent 'and' most accurate answers from Sati and Shehan.
Gautama Buddha's way to truth was through the question of suffering. What is it? How does it arise? Can it be ended? How can we end it? When other spiritual teachers and philosophers asked The Buddha to describe his teaching, he would answer: "I teach one thing and one thing only; suffering and the end of suffering." After his enlightenment, he formulated The Four Noble Truths/The Noble Eightfold Path.
The Four Noble Truths/Eightfold Path 'are' the very foundation of Buddhism.
The Four Noble Truths.”
1) There is suffering/dissatisfaction: suffering exists; it has a cause.
2) Suffering is caused by craving {selfish desires; selfish attachments.
3) There is an end to dissatisfaction/suffering is to be eliminated.
4) Suffering can be eliminated by following 'the Noble Eightfold Path'.
“Understanding The Four Noble Truths”
The Buddha himself said that he taught four ideas: dissatisfaction, cause, end, and the path. “Dissatisfaction” refers to the unhappiness we feel in life. “Cause” is the reason for the unhappiness: 'our undisciplined grasping mind'. “End” is the Buddha’s promise that we end suffering by eradicating our cravings {selfish desires). “Path” is the Eight Steps {Eightfold Path) we must take to reach this goal.
“Understanding The Fourth Truth: *The Eightfold Path.”
The Buddha’s Fourth Truth is the path that leads to the end of dissatisfaction and suffering. Its eight steps bring total peace and happiness to all those who mindfully follow them.
1) Right Understanding: Skillful Understanding of The Buddha’s message requires that we understand skillful behavior in terms of cause and effect and The Four Noble Truths and how they fit into the Buddha’s teachings.
2) Right Thoughts: Skillful Thinking introduces us to three positive thoughts: generosity or letting go, loving-kindness/loving-friendliness, and compassion.
3) Right Speech: Skillful Speech explains how telling the truth and avoiding malicious talk, harsh language, and gossip can help us advance on the path.
4) Right Action: Skillful Action lays out the principles for leading an ethical life, especially through following the five precepts: abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and intoxication.
5) Right Livelihood: Skillful Livelihood explains why choosing an appropriate job or profession is important to our spiritual practice and how we should approach questions of business ethics.
6) Right Effort: Skillful Effort lays out four steps we can take to motivate our practice: preventing negative states of mind, overcoming negative states of mind, cultivating positive states of mind, and maintaining positive states of mind.
7) Right Mindfulness: Skillful Mindfulness refers to the practice of mindfulness meditation, specifically cultivating mindfulness of your body, feelings, mind, and thoughts.
8) Right Concentration: Skillful Concentration refers to four stages of deep absorption we can reach in meditation.
Source: of The Four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold Path - above Info: "Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness" By: Bhante Henepola Gunaratana.
If you are interested in learning about Buddhist Meditation and learning the Buddhist Way of LIfe - here are a couple books which may be helpful:
"Beginning Mindfulness: Learing the Way of Awareness." By: Andrew Weiss - teaches Mindfulness Meditation, Walking Meditation, Lovingkindness Meditation, Tonglin: the Art of Compassion and Mindfulness in Everyday Life.
"Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness" By: Bhante Henepola Gunaratana teaches how to follow the Four Noble Truths/Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism.
Buddhanet is one of the most reputable and accurate websites to learn about Buddhism and its various traditions: http://www.buddhanet.net http://www.buddhanet.net/ebooks.htm
Shehan and Sati have supplied you with 'most' excellent and accurate answers pertaining to the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.
Metta to all.|||Buddhism is a very logical philosophy which reveals about the mind, life, and the nature of the world. Lord Buddha is the great master.A Buddha is a great master who shows people the way to achieve Nirvana the cessation of Sorrow. Lord Buddha was his own master and preached the knowledge he gained through enlightenment. He has reached the state of Buddha by improving his self doing merits and meditation for many years in his previous lives.
Lord Buddha did not represent another powerful invisible figure to preach his knowledge and was his own master. To the layman he taught how to live a good, sincere, happy and a purposeful life and proposed some guidelines to follow to achieve these objectives. Those who do good deeds are rewarded with positive results and vice versa he said. He also said those who want to improve the mind should practice to eliminate selfishness, hatred, anger and ignorance.
Lord Buddha had born 2500 years ago in Northern India and has gain the state of Buddha in his life due to the great merits he has done in his previous lives and the improvement of mind by the meditation he has done. He is not the first or the last Buddha.
There were Buddha's in the past and will be in the future. So we are living in a rare era, an era where Buddhism exists in the world.
We are very lucky to be born in a period of a Buddha. Because there are dark eras where Buddhism does not exists in this world.
He said right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration will lead to cessation of sorrow and to attain Nirvana the ultimate peace. To achieve Nirvana you have to follow the above path. It is not a process which can be done very quickly. One has to follow the path Buddha has taught patiently to achieve Nirvana.
For the intellectuals he said the life is sorrow and taught the way to eliminate the sorrow, by enlightenment. Enlightenment could only be attained through improvement of knowledge thus the improvement of conscious or mind hence some consider it as a philosophy. Worshipping is not a requirement in Buddhism though many do it as a habit and a custom.
Long before Newton, Buddha said every action has a reaction including in all conscious deeds. Those who do good deeds shall be rewarded with positive results and those who do harmful actions (with an evil intension) may experience in adverse results. The results of our righteous or sinful deeds Buddha said shall follow our soul in subsequent lives. Apart from heaven and hell he also said there are other forms of lives after this life.
Just like in thousands of present day books which provide self improvement techniques. Buddha provided an enormous amount of advice to the layman to improve one's self. He said selfishness; hatred, anger and ignorance prevent one from self improvement. One who wants to improve the mind should learn to eliminate these four statuses of mind. Buddha is said to have supernatural powers such as reading others thoughts. He has gained those abilities through meditation. We already know some people possess super natural powers and extra ordinary abilities. Such status could be achieved by improving one's mind thought it is not the ultimatum of the Buddhism. Self improvement or the learning process since the childhood is a way of improving our mind or thinking. It is by improvement of one's mind that the truth could be understood.
It is up to the individual who follows Buddhism to understand and practice what Lord Buddha had taught. Understanding and practicing is important for self improvement.
The Lord Buddha has shown the way. It is our own responsibility to follow it and understand the truth.
Buddhists are practicing 3 major merits in their lives.
They are
1. Dana (Giving %26amp; helping other people and animals.)
2. Sheela (preventing from doing sins like killing and harming others and animals, stealing, adultery, false speech, etc.)
3. Bhavana (The improvement in mindfulness and wisdom by practicing Meditation.)
From these practices they are trying to give up desires step by step and coming closer to the state of ultimate freedom NIRVANA.
5 Main precepts of Buddhism
1. I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living beings.
2. I undertake the precept to refrain from stealing.
3. I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct (adultery, rape, child abuse, etc).
4. I undertake the precept to refrain from false speech (lying).
5. I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicants which lead to heedlessness.
Every Buddhist should take those precepts and try to improve own self to live a happy, peaceful life. When you give up your lust, anger, fear, hatred your mind becomes more clear and calm. Mind can be improved by meditation.
One fine day when you understand the truth by your self which was shown by Lord Buddha, you will find the ultimate peace. Buddhism is a great philosophy, it all about understanding by your self. There is much more to learn about Buddhism.
So here are two of the best web sites to find out more about Buddhism.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/
http://www.bswa.org/|||--check out this page http://spiritualfactes.blogspot.com/2009/07/buddhism.html
--it has info on Buddhism and what not, pretty cool =]
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