Buddhism belongs to one of the world religions but is basically a religion without any god. At the center of the cult is instead the Buddha, the enlightened one, who is a teacher and role model who shows how the Buddhist should live.
A philosophy and religion
Prayer, sacrifice and belief in gods are meaningless according to the Buddha. It is man himself who has the power over his actions and his life.
Buddha lived about 2500 years ago in India . Trying to imitate him and apply his teachings is essential in Buddhism.
The teachings of the Buddha are about how we humans should live to avoid being reborn into a new life filled with desires which according to Buddhism are seen as suffering.
According to the Buddha, man can free himself from the cycle of rebirth by renouncing all desires.
Buddhism has emerged from Hinduism
Buddhism has its roots in Hinduism. The Buddha himself was a Hindu, just as the founder of Christianity Jesus was a Jew. Buddhism therefore has much in common with Hinduism, including the belief in karma and rebirth. However, the Buddha rejected the Hindu rituals and caste system .
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It was only after the death of the Buddha that Buddhism became an independent religion. Thereafter, it spread rapidly throughout India, to Sri Lanka and finally to the countries of Southeast Asia and the regions around the Himalayas.
Buddhism is still a fairly large religion in India, but most of its followers are today in Southeast Asia in, for example, Thailand , Burma , Sri Lanka , China , Japan and South Korea .
The life of the Buddha
According to tradition, Buddhism was founded by Siddharta Gautama, a prince son who lived in northern India in the 400s BC. The term buddha (meaning “the one who woke up”) he first got eventually.
Siddharta grew up in financial abundance in a secure existence within the palace walls where he later married and had a son.
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After a while, Siddharta realized that luxury did not give him any satisfaction. He was tired of pleasure and other useless losses and instead wanted to seek the knowledge of life. According to tradition, he then left security, family and wealth to seek the truth instead.
He studied Hindu scriptures under famous gurus (wisdom teachers) and learned yoga in order to find the truth. He was told by other gurus that asceticism is the victory of the soul over the body that leads to higher insight.
But neither intensive philosophical studies nor ascetic life gave him knowledge of the innermost meaning of life. Siddharta therefore abandoned these paths to try to reach enlightenment in other ways.
After years of striving and meditation, he finally managed to reach the goal. In a meditative state under a fig tree, he eventually became a buddha – an enlightened one – and reached nirvana, ie the extinction of desire and the end of rebirth.
After reaching enlightenment, Siddharta, henceforth called Buddha, understood that he had to tell what he knew. He then went out and preached, thus reaching his fame.
History of Buddhism
Idea-historical background
Buddhism is named after its founder Siddharta Gautama who was born in the 400s BC in northern India . The term “Buddha”, which means “the enlightened”, he first got eventually.
To understand Buddhism, we must first get to know the time when Siddharta lived. By the 400s BC, religious and philosophical thinking had come a long way in India. It was during this time, among other things, that the great Vedic literature ended.
Common to religious thinking was that they sought a divine and unified principle (brahman) behind the diversity of nature. They also wanted an answer to the question of how man could reach and be reconciled with this unified principle. Did it happen through rites, through strict asceticism, through meditation or in some other way?
Those who sought the answer to the question of the human part in the divine became very interested in what we today call psychology. They wanted to explore the interior of man in order to arrive at what it was in man that could lead him to the eternal and divine.
In a psychological system of thought that emerged, an attempt was made to distinguish different psychological elements in man. One of these elements is completely different from the others. It can almost be called the “spirit” of man. It is the true self, which makes all the other psychic qualities work.
Siddharta Gautama – a seeker
Siddharta Gautama was the son of an Indian prince (petty king) who belonged to the warrior class. There is a lot to read about his children and youth in the Buddhist scripture collection Tripitaka (the three baskets). How much has really happened of everything that is told is of course difficult to know today.
Siddharta is the personal name and Gautama is the family name. He grew up in a materially very rich home. The mother died shortly after his birth. Siddharta was raised within the palace walls, isolated from the outside world – according to tradition, so that he would not have to see the misery outside.
During her life in luxury and abundance, Siddharta eventually came to feel uneasy and disappointed at material welfare and earthly pleasures.
It is said that at the age of 29, during a ride with his driver, he in turn saw: an elderly man, a sick man and a dead man. All this made him terrified and sad. Was there really so much misery in the world? He now realized the suffering of the world and the transience (short-lived) of life and wealth. On another excursion, Siddharta encountered a wandering ascetic, one who distanced himself from the transience of life.
According to another tradition, Siddhartha’s encounter with the misery of life did not take place in this simple way. Instead, the realization came after he had carefully thought through various forms of distress and difficulties.
Siddharta leaves home
Siddharta’s search for the truth became intense. At the age of 29 – wearing simple clothes and with a shaved head – he left his safe home to seek spiritual truth. He then had a wife and a small child. It may seem strange that he abandoned home and family. But in India at that time, it was natural for the spiritual seeker to choose homelessness and loneliness to seek the truth. That Siddharta did this at an unusually young age underscores the deep cold or compulsion he felt to seek the truth and liberation.
For many years, Siddharta tried all the paths to peace of mind and answers to the riddles of life that religious teachers advocated. He began by trying the yoga methods used during his time. But they only led to emptiness and not to peace, enlightenment and nirvana.
He then tried a kind of mental training according to a then common method (a form of meditation). It did lead him to the plane where there were no sensory experiences, but he did not find enlightenment either. When the psychic sensations (sensory impressions) come to rest with the help of these methods, Siddharta said, the soul should be prepared for a pure spiritual experience. But that did not happen.
In his disappointment, Siddharta tried the next method – hard asceticism. But after a long period of starvation and bodily self-torture, he realized that one could not gain peace through asceticism.
The Enlightenment
Siddharta pondered further. None of the methods he has tried so far had given him any solution to the mystery of suffering. He eventually came to mind once in his youth when he had attained a kind of ecstatic state, when he sat in the shade under a rose-apple tree on his father’s estate. Could it be a path to enlightenment?
According to tradition, Siddharta came on his trek to a wonderful place with beautiful nature on the banks of the river Neranjara. Here Siddharta decided to sit under a fig tree and simply wait for the enlightenment to appear.
His wait was not in vain. After a long meditation, Siddharta was reached by the “great light”. He looked into the heart of all things, into the origin of suffering and the path to its abolition, he saw his previous existences and their end, all the past, the present and the future. Then he became a “Buddha”, an enlightened one and reached nirvana (the “extinction” of desire and the end of rebirth). Siddharta tells according to The Noble Seeker’s Sutta :
“Here arose in me the conviction and the realization that now my deliverance was secure and that this was my last birth, so that I would never be born again.”
After this event, the tree under which he sat is called the tree of enlightenment, the Bodhi tree.
The documents (the original written sources) strongly emphasize the psychological aspects of Siddharta’s experience. It was through psychic training in supernatural states that he was able to attain enlightenment. It was in a state of trance during meditation that he came to insight.
After his experience, Siddharta understood that he had to tell about what he knew. The first people he gathered around him were five begging monks who had followed him a bit along the way. In Benares, Siddharta Gautama, hereinafter referred to as Buddha (“the enlightened one”), gave his first sermon, the famous Benares sermon.
Indian emperors contributed to the spread of Buddhism
Buddhism initially spread relatively slowly across India and neighboring countries. But in the 200s BC, the Indian emperor Ashoka (304-232 BC) became a Buddhist and had shrines built and the doctrine implemented throughout his vast empire. Ashoka is known through his own writings as one of the first believing Buddhists.
Ashoka also contributed to the spread of Buddhism outside India by sending out missionaries. From his time until the eighth century AD, Buddhism largely spread as it does today.
In our own time, interest in the Buddhist mission has increased again. Its purpose is to gain popularity in Europe and America as well. Buddhist centers are e.g. in several western countries, i.a. London. World Buddhist conferences are held regularly.
What are the 3 main beliefs of Buddhism?
- Life is a suffering.
- The cause of suffering is our desires.
- The cure of suffering is the extinguishing of desires.
- Desires can be quenched by following the eightfold path, which requires: the right knowledge, the right state of mind, the right speech, the right action, the right life, the right striving, the right vigilance and the right
The teachings of Buddhism
The Buddha taught that human life is a single “suffering” because life is so changing and uncertain while we as humans are never satisfied but constantly strive for more (a kind of constant state of disharmony).
Man feels peace only when all desires and desires have disappeared. It is therefore important to free oneself from all desires and desires. It is the desire, including the desire for life, that keeps us in the cycle of rebirth (samsara). Behind this lies the belief in karma – the sum of man’s good and bad deeds – which determines how one is reborn. Many desires give bad karma.
After reaching nirvana, the Buddha realized that the path to enlightenment and extinction of all desires lay between the extremes of abundance and asceticism. By not living in luxury and abundance, but also not too simply and poorly, man can attain the knowledge and insight needed for liberation (nirvana). According to the Buddha, the right path to enlightenment is a golden mean based on a simple, balanced lifestyle filled with self-discipline and meditation.
The Buddha’s teaching of the ” golden mean ” is based on the knowledge of the four noble truths of suffering (duhkha).
- The first noble truth emphasizes that everything is suffering. Birth, aging, illness, worries, misfortune, pain, worry, despair, death is suffering, not getting what you want is suffering. All human experiences are suffering because they are transient (short-lived).
- The second noble truth describes suffering as a result of our desires. The Buddha believed that it is our desires that are the cause of evil. It is our desire and longing for variety, pleasure and joy that drives us.
- The third noble truth speaks of how suffering can end. It is important to satisfy the desires. This is difficult because you have to be able to control all your senses.
- The fourth noble truth depicts the path to the cessation of suffering. The Buddha tells here about the eightfold path that leads to liberation from rebirth. In the eightfold path, eight methods are presented that describe how man must live to get out of the cycle of rebirth. These ethical methods are partly the basis for which karma the individual gathers during life.
In addition to the four noble truths about suffering, four basic virtues should characterize the life of a Buddhist, namely: loving kindness, compassion, joy, and open-minded sensual balance.
The core of Buddhism
The methods of the eightfold path and the four virtues (see above) can be likened to the commandments of the Christian Bible . It is primarily through his ethical actions, not his faith (such as in the monotheistic religions), that the Buddhist can attain enlightenment.
The four noble truths, including the eightfold path, together with the four virtues, are the main points of all Buddhist teachings.
An even broader summary of Buddhism is found in the three jewels that unite all Buddhists. The three jewels are the most important parts of Buddhism: Buddha (the teacher), dharma (the doctrine) and sangha (the community or congregation that includes all active Buddhists).
Different directions in Buddhism
As in most religions, there are many different types of teachings in Buddhism. Some see the Buddha only as a teacher, while others perceive him as a god.
Buddhism can be divided into three main directions: theravada, mahayana and vajrayana – each of which has in turn developed different schools.
Theravada , the school of the elders, maintains that there is only one Buddha and no gods. The Buddha is perceived only as a teacher who shows people the eightfold path to enlightenment. The road goes through many rebirths before you as a monk or nun finally reach nirvana.
The opportunity to attain enlightenment in this life is therefore extremely limited for ordinary people. Theravada is found in Sri Lanka , Thailand , Burma , Laos and to some extent in Cambodia and Vietnam .
Mahayana , the great chariot, is by far the greatest direction in Buddhism. The name means that anyone who wants can fit in the big carriage that leads to nirvana. This means that all people can become a Buddha in this life, but it usually takes many rebirths as a Mahayana Buddhist before.
The Mahayana counts Siddharta Gautama as the foremost of all Buddhas, but there may be many other less significant Buddhas. Such a Buddha figure is called a bodhisattva and is a person who has gained insight and is close to enlightenment, but who has given up nirvana in order to instead be able to help other people reach wisdom (which leads to a better rebirth within samsara). Bodhisattvas are therefore revered as if they were saints or a kind of gods. Mahayana dominates in China , South Korea and Japan , among others .
Vajrayana , the diamond cart (something that cannot be destroyed), originates from Mahayana Buddhism and has been known since the 6th century AD. Vajrayana Buddhism occurs mainly in the countries of the Himalayas and is a mixture of Mahayana Buddhism and local folk traditions.
Within vajrayana, great emphasis is placed on magical rituals , yoga and tantrism (mysterious diagrams, religious formulas, mantras, etc.). In Tibet , a separate form of Vajrayana Buddhism has developed called Lamaism or Tibetan Buddhism. The leader of Tibetan Buddhism is called the Dalai Lama , a Bodhisattva.
In Japan, there is also a Buddhist tradition called zen, which originates from Mahayana Buddhism. “Zen” means meditation. In Zen Buddhism , therefore, meditation is the way to liberation. Zen, like the Buddha’s original teaching, is about disconnecting all bodily desires and thereby attaining spiritual freedom. The goal is to reach “satori”, break through sensual confusion and discover one’s own Buddha nature.
The monastic nature of Buddhism
Just as in Mahayana and Tibetan Vajrayana, it is said in Zen that in our true state we are already awakened, but because of temporary layers of confusion, we have forgotten our true nature. Za-zen (meditation) aims to free us from such layers of confusion.
Siddharta Gautama gained many followers who walked with him and wanted to follow his teachings. For them he created a word of mouth and a word of nuns.
The Buddhist monastery with its monks and nuns plays an important role in Buddhism. The ideal of monks is held high because monks and nuns are considered to have come a long way in the path of enlightenment.
Monks and nuns live in voluntary poverty and celibacy. It is the job of other people to provide food for the monks and nuns. The system works because it is considered honorable and at the same time a religious duty to donate its food to a monk or nun.
In the monasteries a lot of time is devoted to studies teaching and meditation.
In Buddhist society, it is usually the task of the monks to lead ritual acts of various kinds such as weddings and funerals.
Monks and nuns are also important role models in Buddhist society as they, with their lifestyle, remain a constant reminder of the Buddhist ideals of life and the path to enlightenment.
The woman in Buddhism
In Buddhist societies, the position of the unmarried woman is often considered respectable. Both women and men are usually taught Buddhist teachings on equal terms.
The Buddha also founded a nun order. There is thus a well-established Buddhist tradition of nuns, many of whom are well known. In Mahayana and Vajrayana, there are many female bodhisattvas.
Within the monastic system, however, there are rules that make the nuns dependent on the monks. For example, each nun must visit a monk every two weeks to receive instruction. In addition, sometimes a monk must be present when the nun is to perform certain acts. In total, the nuns have many more rules that they must follow than the monks have.
Like other religions, Buddhism has adapted over time to the culture of each country. In many of the countries of East Asia, women are still subordinate to men. But traditional gender role models are not Buddhism. Women and men are subject to the same laws of nature and react in the same way to life. Buddhism is about trying to follow the eightfold path, whether you are a nun, a monk or a layman.
Did you know that:
- It was previously thought that the Buddha lived 566-486 BC, but after later research it has been concluded that he is more likely to have lived 490-410 BC
Tasks and questions
Questions to the text:
- Buddhism can be considered both a philosophy and a religion. Explain.
- How did Buddhism originate?
- Mention some similarities and differences between Buddhism and Hinduism.
- Why did Siddharta Gautama want to leave her life in luxury within the palace walls and venture out into the world?
- What did the Buddha mean by “life is suffering”?
- Explain the concepts of karma and reincarnation .
- Explain the concepts (a) buddha and nirvana .
- According to the Buddha, how can one attain enlightenment?
- Summarize the core of Buddhism (most important parts).
- What makes Mahayana Buddhism ?
- What characterizes Theravada Buddhism ?
- Explain what Vajrayan Buddhism is and how it is practiced in Tibet.
- What significance do monks and nuns have for Buddhist society? What do they do and why are they considered important?