Importantly, the work done here is not to entirely discredit each other's religious tradition, rather to hasten thought, consideration, and perhaps propagate peaceful dialogue (It is rather interesting to note the juxtaposition of Jesus, a good Jewish boy, to Buddha, originally a Hindu who died from eating contaminated pork ).
The Buddha is thought to have traditionally existed between 563 and 483 B.C.E. and it is from his great sermons that the essence of attaining Nirvana for his followers was produced. Herein then lie the four noble truths as follows: .
1. All of life is suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by clinging (desire) or "thirst.".
3. One ceases to desire, one ceases to suffer.
4. To attain this one follows the Eight Fold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right striving, right mindfulness, right concentration. .
Suffice to say, Gautama was revolutionary in that this was a path supposedly available to anyone (something withheld in the caste system of Hinduism) who was rich or poor; however, as far as women were concerned, notions as how to handle them were at best mixed. It is odd, to say the least, that at a time when many men who renounced the world often took with themselves their wives, Gautama believed that to truly free himself; he must be released of all pleasures of the world, including both his wife and new-born son. He even went so far as to name his son, "Rahula" or "fetter" (this all in his life before his search for peace). The chains that bore him together in his present life would be broken and so he went on in his journey to attain enlightenment or Nirvana, first exploring asceticism and Hinduism until eventually finding his "awareness. ".
On the other hand, this was not a time for the woman. All of this took place during the Axial Age (which extended from about 800 to 200 B.C.E. ); importantly during a time when all of history's greats were coming into focus to create the world ethos as it exists in today's modern world: Plato, Socrates, Zoroaster, Confucius, and the Hebrew prophets.
