Inner peace, enlightenment, and true happiness are all sought out by many people with very diverse beliefs and religions. This path to eternal peace is the bonding point that ties most religions together. Some of these religions however, require a belief in a figure of higher power or in a higher God such as Christianity. It is possible to still live a morally good life and reach that point of inner peace without having to believe in God or other spiritual figures. Buddhism is an alternative choice for reaching enlightenment that requires no worshipping of Gods or a Bible which to live by. With Buddhism, the Buddhist is able to live a life free of suffering when nirvana is reached by choosing to be a better person and following the path of Buddha. When compared to Christianity, Buddhism offers a more tangible way of seeking inner peace.
Buddhism was founded in India during 500 B.C.E by a spiritual leader by the name of Siddhartha Gautama. Gautama, later known as Buddha, discovered suffering and that he was not happy with his wealthy life as a Prince. At the age of twenty-nine, Prince Gautama decided that he wanted more than anything to discover how one might overcome suffering. "Siddhartha studied for six years with a group of five ascetics, practicing austerities and self- mortifications; however, his practices were so astounding that soon the five ascetics were followers of Siddhartha" (Boeree 2). When Siddhartha realized that he needed to find medium between the life of luxuries and self- mortification, the ascetics left him, assuming he had given up. Siddhartha Gautama then traveled to a village where he sat under a certain bodhi tree and made the decision to stay there until the answers to his questions came to him. .
He sat there for many days, first in deep concentration to clear his mind of all distractions, then in mindfulness meditation, opening himself up to the truth.
He achieved enlightenment sitting under a peepal tree (called the bodhi tree in honor of him, the Buddha; bodhi is an abstract noun formed from the Sanskrit verbal root budh (to awake, become aware or understand). ...
The Dhammapada is a collection of the Buddha's sayings. It was probably compiled by followers of the Buddha during the third century before Christ. The version quoted here was translated by John Richards. In his introduction he indicates that the Dhammapada is a subset of the Theravada Pali Canon of...
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy founded by Siddhartha Gautama in northeast India during the period from the late 6th century to the early 4th century BC. Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played an influential role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of much of the Eastern world. The Buddha, which means the "Enlightened One," died in northeastern India between 500 and 350 BC. According to tradition, his family name was Gautama; later sources call him Siddhartha, which means "He Who Has Reached His Goal." He was reared in a m...
Hinduism and Buddhism have there similarities and have there differences. Hinduism started from the Aryans and developed from there, Buddhism started some years later and became a practice. To call Buddhism a branch would not be correct but to call it similar would be correct. Hinduism and Buddhism both started from the ancient land of India, which at the time was a powerful country. As time went on Hinduism would originate by a group of people, and Buddhism would start from a Prince in India. ...
There are 750 million+ Hindus in the world, most concentrated in India (pearls.org). Before elaborating on what beliefs and practices Hinduism has, perhaps it is helpful to first consider the "familiar to a Westerner" features that it doesn't have. There is no "founder" of Hinduism and no specific time it "began" (i.e. Jesus or Buddha's birth). There is not a set of scriptures that has authority over all other texts of its religion (i.e. ...