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Buddhist Monks Protest. Burma Rangoon Crisis. SKY NEWS.

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10,000 monks in protest for democracy.

Buddhism is a variety of teachings, sometimes described as a religion[1] or way of life that attempts to identify the causes of human suffering and offer various ways that are claimed to end, or ease suffering. This is formulated through the Four Noble Truths which teach suffering and its cessation through the Eightfold Path. It is a body of philosophies influenced by the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known as Gautama Buddha.[2] It is also a set of teachings to guide one to directly experiencing reality[3][4]. Many scholars say that there is not one Buddhism but many Buddhisms, and the latest edition of one textbook is retitled Buddhist Religions.[5] Buddhism is also known as Buddha Dharma or Dhamma, which means roughly the "teachings of the Awakened One" in Sanskrit and Pali, languages of ancient Buddhist texts. Buddhism began around the 5th century BCE in India with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, commonly referred to as "the Buddha".

Gautama, whose personal name according to later sources was Siddhartha, was born in the city of Lumbini[6] and was raised in Kapilavastu.[7] The traditional story of his life is as follows; little of this can be regarded as established historical fact. Born a prince, his father, King Suddhodana, was said to have been visited by a wise man shortly after Siddhartha was born. The wise man said that Siddhartha would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a holy man (Sadhu). Determined to make Siddhartha a king, the father tried to shield his son from the unpleasant realities of daily life. Despite his father's efforts, at the age of 29, he discovered the suffering of his people, first through an encounter with an elderly man. On subsequent trips outside the palace, he encountered various sufferings such as a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and a monk or an ascetic. These are often termed 'The Four Sights.

Gautama was deeply depressed by these four sights and sought to overcome old age, illness, and death by living the life of an ascetic. Gautama escaped his palace, leaving behind this royal life to become a mendicant. For a time on his spiritual quest, Buddha "experimented with extreme asceticism, which at that time was seen as a powerful spiritual practice...such as fasting, holding the breath, and exposure of the body to pain...he found, however, that these ascetic practices brought no genuine spiritual benefits and in fact, being based on self-hatred, that they were counterproductive."

After abandoning asceticism and concentrating instead upon meditation and, according to some sources, Anapanasati (awareness of breathing in and out), Gautama is said to have discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way—a path of moderation that lies mid-way between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. He accepted a little milk and rice pudding from a village girl and then, sitting under a pipal tree or Sacred fig (Ficus religiosa), also known as the Bodhi tree, in Bodh Gaya,[10][11] he vowed never to arise until he had found the Truth. His five companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After 49 days meditating, at the age of 35, he attained bodhi, also known as "Awakening" or "Enlightenment" in the West. After his attainment of bodhi he was known as Buddha or Gautama Buddha and spent the rest of his life teaching his insights (Dharma).[12] According to scholars, he lived around the fifth century BCE, but his more exact birthdate is open to debate.[13] He died at the age of 80 in Kushinagara (Pali Kusinara) (India).

The most common way scholars categorize Buddhist schools follows the major languages of the extant Buddhist canons, which exist in Pāli, Tibetan (also found in Mongolian translation) and Chinese collections, along with some texts that still exist in Sanskrit and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. This is a useful division for practical purposes, but does not necessarily correspond to philosophical or doctrinal divisions since, despite the differences, there are common threads to almost all Buddhist branches:
All accept the Buddha as their teacher.
All accept the Middle Way, Dependent origination, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, in theory, though in practice these have little or no importance in some traditions.
All accept that both the members of the laity and of the Sangha can pursue the path toward enlightenment (bodhi).
All consider Buddhahood to be the highest attainment; however Theravada consider the Nibbana attained by Arahants as identical to that attained by the Buddha himself, as there is only one type of Nibbana. According to Theravada, a Buddha is someone that had discovered the path all by himself and taught it to others.

Channel: News & Politics
Uploaded: September 25, 2007 at 7:38 am
Author: eddiesteele

Length: 00:04:44
Rating: 4.93
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