Buddhism

Abstract

Religion is usually identified as an integral part of human nature that allows people to follow certain beliefs and practices. There are many religions in the world including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, etc. that all have different beliefs, concepts, traditions and practices. Buddhism is one of them and has its own religious foundations and ideologies with millions of followers. This paper aims to investigate the origin of Buddhism and its history. In addition, this paper also attempts to know the developmental stages of Buddhism from east to west as well as the importance of Buddhism in modern world.

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Introduction4

Discussion4

Conclusion8

References9

Buddhism

Introduction

Buddhism originated in the Northeast India and is based on Siddhartha Gautama's teachings (Gethin, 1998). The religion is mainly divided in two major branches. The first branch or sect is recognized as Mahayana, which means the 'Great Vehicle'. While other branch or sect is Theravada that means the 'Way of the Elders'. It can be seen that Buddhism is majorly present in Southeast Asia and East Asia due to its birth-geography. It is a fact that Theravada is popular in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, while Mahayana is more common in Nepal, Tibet, Japan, Mongolia, China, Korea, Taiwan, India and Vietnam (Gethin, 1998). The most interesting thing to know is that more than 300 million people identify themselves as Buddhist, which becomes approximately 6 percent of the world's total population. Further, Buddha's teachings (Dharma) spread widely from India to other Western countries where many people while staying in their own religion accept Buddhism as a way of getting peace. It is also noticeable that believers of Buddhism regard Gautama as a prophet or God. However, it is also important to know there are numbers of people from other religions like Hindus and Baha'i who also follows Buddha's teachings (Gethin, 1998).

Discussion

Buddhism is one of the oldest religions of the world and Gautama Buddha Shakyamuni, 2500 years ago, founded Buddhism in the 5th century B.C. in northern India, what is now recognized as Nepal. Gautama is called as the Buddha, which means “The Awakened” or “Enlightened One”. It is important to know that theory of Dharmas is the basis of Buddhist Philosophy (Harvey, 1990). The theory states that “all that is natural is in a single flow, and based on atom composition, all the natural Elements have brief and temporary life span, eventually, they end, and therefore, the nature both material and spiritual is not in true, physical existence “(Harvey, 1990). In fact, these elements discussed in the theory are accepted as Dharma carrier that is an everlasting and undeniable substance. In addition, the theological concept of the theory is generally regarded as true and real existence or real meaning of the phenomenon. However, it is also essential to discuss about Nirvana that is an integral part of Buddhism and recognized as state of no-suffering for good. In fact, Nirvana can be seen as an ultimate objective in Buddhism (Hanh, 1999).

As discussed earlier, most of the Buddhists are divided into two major ...