Buddhism is a religion, based upon the life and teachings of an Indian prince, named Siddartha (563 BCE). He was brought up in luxury, and protected from all suffering. One day, the gates around his castle were open, and he saw suffering for the first time. He was so troubled by what he saw, that he renounced his royal birthright and left home to find the answers to suffering. He met different people in his travels, and along the way he thought he might be able to find the answers he was looking for by denying himself all pleasure. He was near death, when he finally accepted some food from a passing stranger. He came to a realization that there was a Middle Way, or Middle Path, between the extreme luxury he was born to, and the extreme suffering that he endured.
He sat beneath a bodhi tree and began to meditate. This meditation led to his enlightenment (which is perfect knowledge), and then he became the Buddha. His teachings are summed up in the 4 Noble Truths.
- All life is suffering and pain
- Suffering and pain are caused by desire for wealth, pleasure, fame, and power
- To end suffering, you must overcome your desires
- To overcome desires, you must follow the Middle Way.
The Middle Path stresses virtuous conduct and compassion for all living things. Buddhists believe in reincarnation – the idea that when a person dies, his soul is reborn into another body. The body a person is reborn into, depends upon the karma of the previous life. Karma is the cause and effect of your actions and thoughts in the previous life. To break this cycle of constant rebirth, you want to reach nirvana, which is the condition of desiring nothing. Once nirvana is reached, you will become a Buddha.
https://www.brainyquote.com/lists/authors/top_10_buddha_quotes
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-enlightenment-of-the-buddha-449789
