Buddhism is a religion. The goal of Buddhists is to escape from the cycle of rebirths, or samsara. Liberation from suffering plays a central role in Buddhism. You can only be freed from suffering by walking the noble eightfold path.
What is Buddhism?
Buddhism originated in the ancient religious environment of India during the time of the Upanishads. Buddha gives his own answer to the experience of impermanence, for Buddha means the awakened one.
The life of the Buddha
Buddhism goes back to the insights of Siddhartha Gautama. He was born a prince. Life at court did not satisfy him. When confronted with suffering and death, he devoted himself to solving the problem of the ephemeral. While sitting under the tree (bodhi tree), he had an experience called awakening. Buddha means the awakened one or the one who has achieved enlightenment.
The Four Noble Truths
The core of Buddha’s teaching is the liberating insight into the Four Noble Truths.
- The noble truth of suffering
- The noble truth of the origin of suffering
- The noble truth of the cessation of suffering
- The Noble Truth of the Way That Leads to the Cessation of Suffering (The Eightfold Path)
- This involves insight into one’s own attitude towards. the reality. It’s about learning the right ratio.
Causes of suffering are:
Causes of suffering are ignorance and lust and attachment to all that is impermanent. That is called ,attachment,. It is the Buddhist’s job to become free from this. There is no imperishable or deepest core, as in Hinduism. The goal of this awareness is inner freedom, the experience of nirvana: extinguished. Ignorance and thirst chain you to the cycle of existence called ‘samsara’.
The Eightfold Path
The eightfold path to overcoming thirst is divided into three groups:
- Wisdom: steps 1 and 2. The right insight leads to the right decision to strive for detachment from transient existence.
- Discipline: step 3,4,5. It is about truth, sincerity, kindness, right conduct and right living.
- Meditation. Step 6,7,8. The right effort, the right vigilance or attention (control over body and mind) and the right concentration which is divided into five meditation techniques.
All eight steps are practiced simultaneously, the whole results in the cessation of suffering.
Meditation
Two forms of meditation play a major role in Buddhism, namely samatha: calming the mind through concentration and discerning insight or vipassana.
Movements in Buddhism
There are three schools of thought in Buddhism.
Theravada
The Way of the Ancients. The ideal is the arhat, the one who alone and through his own efforts has reached nirvana. That is available to very few people. Most people therefore strive for a better next life. In practice, folk Buddhism (karma Buddhism) is the most common). Speculating about the origins of the cosmos and the question of gods is pointless, it does not contribute to enlightenment.
Mahayana
Northern Buddhism, which we mainly find in Japan. It means the great vehicle and is opposed to the small vehicle: the idea that only monks can achieve enlightenment. The ideal is the bodhisattva (Buddha being), the one who returns after enlightenment to bring others to liberating insight. Two central concepts are emptiness and Buddha nature. Emptiness means that inner freedom creates space. to see reality as it is Buddha nature means that every form of existence has a Buddha nature, that only needs to be realized in your own life. Another feature is that it increasingly deifies Mahayana.
Vajrayana
Tibetan Buddhism or the diamond vehicle. It is mainly about a wealth of methods to achieve enlightenment. The highest cleric is the Dalai Lama.