Buddhism {}

(See also: Buddhism, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

buddhism:

non-orthodox form of vedic / aryan teaching founded by the buddha or enlightened one

(See also: buddhism, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

BUDDHISM: The religion based on the doctrine of Gautama Buddha that asserts suffering is inseparable from existence and that enlightenment is achieved by the inward extinction of the self and of the senses. Buddhism is the predominant religion of eastern and central Asia, and is represented by many different sects.

(See also: BUDDHISM, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Buddhism: non-orthodox form of Vedic\Aryan teaching founded by the Buddha or enlightened one

(See also: Buddhism, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Buddhism:

Buddhism. Religion founded by Buddha, which holds that life is full of suffering caused by desire and that the way to end the suffering is to end the birth-death cycle through enlightenment.

(See also: Buddhism, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Buddhism

A variety of religions founded by a man named Gautama Siddhartha, the Buddha (“Enlightened One”). An outgrowth of Vedic Paleopagan mysticism, rooted in the “Four Noble Truths:”

(1) Existence is suffering,

(2) Suffering is caused by desire,

(3) Desire can be overcome,

(4) by following the Eightfold Path (right belief, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right meditation).

(See also: Buddhism, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Definition and meaning of Buddhism

Buddhism - [World History]

Buddhism evolved from Hinduism in northern India and Nepal and diffused from this core area. The founder was Siddhartha Gautama (563 B.C.-483 B.C.) who left his rich Hindu existence to seek understanding. Buddha means "the Enlightened One." The Buddhist way to salvation is through self-discipline and poverty. It is a religion and philosophy of "Four Noble Truths": that suffering and misery are universal, that the cause of suffering is desire, that the end of suffering is realized when desire is controlled, and that the way to escape pain and suffering is to follow the Middle Way. Nirvana is the state of wanting nothing. The Middle Way is virtuous and marked by compassion for all living things. Today, Buddhism is practiced in different forms throughout the world. The largest concentrations of Buddhists occur in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, and Japan.

(Source: The Social Studies Center at Texas University )

Also see these pages:  Social Studies, Social Studies Sitemap, History, History Sitemap

Definition and meaning of Buddhism

Buddhism - [World History]

Buddhism evolved from Hinduism in northern India and Nepal and diffused from this core area. The founder was Siddhartha Gautama (563 B.C.-483 B.C.) who left his rich Hindu existence to seek understanding. Buddha means "the Enlightened One." The Buddhist way to salvation is through self-discipline and poverty. It is a religion and philosophy of "Four Noble Truths": that suffering and misery are universal, that the cause of suffering is desire, that the end of suffering is realized when desire is controlled, and that the way to escape pain and suffering is to follow the Middle Way. Nirvana is the state of wanting nothing. The Middle Way is virtuous and marked by compassion for all living things. Today, Buddhism is practiced in different forms throughout the world. The largest concentrations of Buddhists occur in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, and Japan.

(Source: The Social Studies Center at Texas University )

Also see these pages:  Social Studies, Social Studies Sitemap, History, History Sitemap

Tibetan Buddhism:

Tibetan Buddhism derives from the confluence of Buddhism and yoga which started to arrive in Tibet from India briefly around the late eighth century and then more steadily from the thirteenth century onwards. Indian Buddhism around that time had incorporated both Hindu yogic and tantric practices along with the classical teachings of the historical Buddha who lived around 500 BC.

It acknowledged that there were two paths to enlightenment (complete transcendence of identification with the personal ego). One path was that taught in the sutras according to the historical teachings. The heart of sutra practice was based on morality, concentration, and wisdom (not identifying with the personal ego. The other path, which has become the cornerstone of Tibetan variations, was tantric. This practice blended the sutra teachings with techniques adapted from Hindu systems of yoga and tantra.

(See also: Tibetan Buddhism, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

BUDDHISM

Since we waste our youth suffering from boundless ignorance and unfulfilled desire and since age is mostly a time of physical hardship and blunted hopes, it seems clear that life, for all its promises, is more a burden than a joy. Since, however, to die is to be instantly reborn into life, death is apparently an even more absolute cheat. Considering also that all things have arisen in the Mind, in the midst of the Void, and since we are ourselves our own creators and gods (in a multiplicity of aspects and a simultaneous gallimaufry of forms), there is no escaping from the inevitability of either the existing or the potential cosmos. Indeed, it is this very weariness which Reality seeks to assuage by confusing itself as to its own identity.

The Buddha, sensing the horror and outrage of life on earth, wants to lead us to the perfection of the Absolute.

He teaches that birth and death (the wheel of Samsara), together with the Karmic burden, can be dropped in enlightenment and we can enter into Nirvana directly. In an even deeper understanding we are shown that Samsara and Nirvana are already one so there is not even any need for enlightenment! (But of course you have to be enlightened before you can understand that you are already enlightened!)

To the average westerner this seems fairly tame stuff and much too intellectual for his taste. He doesnt want contemplation, he wants action. But he should understand that Buddhism is a discipline of conscious mind and is meant to accompany action, not to take its place. It is serenity of the mind which enables creative work to be done and acceptance of life to take place. The other thing the westerner sometimes fails to recognize is that death and reincarnation are as much a part of his belief system as they are that of a Hindu philosopher. What, after all, is Heaven but the prospect of rebirth on a higher plane? What is Hell but the karma of past lives?

(See also: BUDDHISM, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Buddhism. Buddhism is now split into two distinct Churches: the Southern and the Northern Church.

The former is said to be the purer form, as having preserved more religiously the original teachings of the Lord Buddha. It is the religion of Ceylon, Siam, Burmah and other places, while Northern Buddhism is confined to Tibet, China and Nepaul. Such a distinction, however, is incorrect.

If the Southern Church is nearer, in that it has not departed, except perhaps in some trifling dogmas due to the many councils held after the death of the Master, from the public or exoteric teachings of Sakyamuni - the Northern Church is the outcome of Siddharta Buddha’s esoteric teachings which he confined to his elect Bhikshus and Arhats. In fact, Buddhism in the present age, cannot he justly judged either by one or the other of its exoteric popular forms. Real Buddhism can be appreciated only by blending the philosophy of the Southern Church and the metaphysics of the Northern Schools.

If one seems too iconoclastic and stero:, and the other too metaphysical and transcendental, even to being overgrown with the weeds of Indian exotericism - many of the gods of its Pantheon having been transplanted under new names to Tibetan soil - it is entirely due to the popular expression of Buddhism in both Churches.

Correspondentially they stand in their relation to each other as Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. Both err by an excess of zeal and erroneous interpretations, though neither the Southern nor the Northern Buddhist clergy have ever departed from truth consciously, still less have they acted under the dictates of priestocracy, ambition, or with an eye to personal gain and power, as the two Christian Churches have.

(See also: Buddhism, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

(See also:  , Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Nichiren Buddhism (Nichirenism, Nichiren Shoshu, NS, Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism): Mystical Japanese religion named after Nichiren Daishonin (1222-1282), founder of nichiren-shu (School of the Lotus of the Sun). Daishonin was a militant Japanese patriot and a incarnation of an early disciple of the Buddha. Chanting the Japanese expression Namu myoho renge-kyo (which literally means Veneration to the sutra [scriptural discourse] of the lotus of the good law [i.e, the Lotus Sutra]) is the core of NS worship. NS chanting isa means of gaining anything one wants, notably health, influence, and material assets.

(See also: Nichiren Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Hinayana, Lesser Vehicle Buddhism

The oldest or most “orthodox” form of Buddhism, with deities demoted to very minor roles or completely absent.

(See also: Hinayana, Lesser Vehicle Buddhism, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Mahayana, Greater Vehicle Buddhism

A later, “heterodox” version of Buddhism which incorporates many Paleopagan deities from throughout Asia as Buddhas or Saints.

(See also: Mahayana, Greater Vehicle Buddhism, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Enlightenment

(Jpn.: satori)

See also: attainment of Buddhahood)

Acquired enlightenment

(Jpn.: shikaku)

See also: inherent enlightenment)

Awakening of Faith

(Jpn.: Kishin-ron)

See: Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, The

(See also: Awakening of Faith, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Delusion (Ignorance)

"Delusion refers to belief in something that contradicts reality. In Buddhism, delusion is ... a lack of awareness of the true nature or Buddha nature of things, or of the true meaning of existence. "

According to the Buddhist outlook, we are deluded by our senses-- among which intellect (discriminating, discursive thought) is included as a sixth sense.

Consciousness, attached to the senses, leads us into error by causing us to take the world of appearances for the world of reality, whereas in fact it is only a limited and fleeting aspect of reality." (The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen.)

 (See also: Delusion (Ignorance, Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)