The Dharmas Buddhism practice

Buddhism is the 4th largest religion with a population of 400 million adherents which means 7% of the world’s population. Buddhism was founded almost 2500 years ago in the 6th century B.C.E, by former prince Siddhartha Gautama in northern India today know as Nepal. The main secs of Buddhism are

Theravada Buddhism
Mahayana Buddhism
Vajrayana Buddhism

Zen Buddhism that grew out of Mahayana and has gained increasing popularity in the West. Till now Buddhism remains an immanent religion, meaning Buddhist refer to the presence of their God Budda’s spirit living within their human existent in their everyday life.

Principle beliefs, sacred texts and writings, and core ethical teachings are all important aspects of providing Buddhism with a model for life. Specifically, Siddhartha as the model for Buddhist life, as it is the teachings and the experiences of Buddha that have been adapted by Buddhist in forming the basis of the way they live their lives. However, it is also the sacred text and writings, core ethical teachings and principle of beliefs that provide adherents with the information which helps them create a model for the way they live their lives.

Buddhism has a very specific set of principal beliefs of which are the basis of their religion, and therefore the way they live their day to day lives. The most common belief of Buddhism is that there is an afterlife and not everything end with death according to the way Buddha taught and followed a successful path to nirvana. The principle beliefs of Buddhism include

• The Three Jewels
Buddha
Dharma
Sangha

• The four noble truths
• The mark of existence

Anicca
Duhkka
Anatta

• Karma, Samsara, Nirvana

The Three Jewels Buddhists take refuge in the Three Jewels also known as the Triple Gem or Three Refuges. The Three Jewels are:

• The Buddha, meaning the fully enlightened one.
• The Dharma, are the teachings expounded by the Buddha.
• The Sangha, is the monastic order of Buddhism that practice the Dharma.

The Buddha Going for Refuge to the Buddha means seeing him as your ultimate teacher and leader also as a spiritual example. It also means committing yourself to achieving Buddhahood. This consist of Enlightenment for the sake of all beings, that lets you aim to become someone who sees the nature of reality absolutely clearly, just as it is, and lives fully and naturally in obedience with that vision. This is the goal of the Buddhist spiritual life, representing the end of suffering for anyone who achieves this goal.

The Dharma The Dharma is primarily the teachings of the Buddha and the truth he understood. The word ‘Dharma’ has many meanings but most importantly it means the unmediated Truth which is experienced by the Enlightened mind. As a term it also encompasses Buddhist teachings as that same Truth mediated by language and concepts. Furthermore, The Dharma is the teaching that started when the Buddha first put his recognition into words and communicated it to his followers at Sarnath in Northern India.

He taught for 45 years and his teachings was oral. This occasion is traditionally referred to as the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma, and this wheel became a common emblem of Buddhism. As well as this, The Dharma refers to the entire corpus of scriptures which is viewed as the establishment of the Buddhist canon. The Dharma as a refuge means seeing these teachings as the best guide to reality and committing yourself to practising them.

Sangha Sanga has many meanings such as association, assembly, company or community and most commonly refers to the monastic community of monks and nuns. The Sangha (monks and nuns) memorized the teachings, and there were group recitations at festivals and special occasions. The teachings were rehearsed and demonstrated at the First Council and were handed down from generation to generation accurately by means of these group recitations. The oral tradition continues today.

The Sangha chant selected texts at ceremonies and sometimes the ordinary people join in. The chanting is considered to be a sacred act, in addition to the reminding and teaching the Dhamma. The four noble truths The Four Noble Truths are the most basic formulation, which covers the core of the Buddha’s teaching. It refers to the basic orientation of Buddhism in a short expression. They are buddhas most important teachings. The four noble truths are:

• The truth of suffering
• Th truth of the cause of suffering
• The truth of the end of suffering
• The truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering

The message the four noble truths tries to convey is that, suffering exist, it has a cause, it has an end and it has a cause to bring about its end. The concept of suffering is not set to convey a negative world view, but rather, a logical perspective that deals with the world as it is and attempts to improve it. The Four Noble Truths are a contingency plan for dealing with the suffering humanity faces, suffering of a physical kind or of a mental nature.

1. The First Truth identifies the presence of suffering.

2. The Second Truth, on the other hand, seeks to determine the cause of suffering. In Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. Desire leads Buddhists craving pleasure, wanting material goods, and internal life, all of them are wants that can never be satisfied. This results as leaving them with suffering. Ignorance, in comparison, does not reveal seeing the world as it actually is. in Buddhism it is said that, without meditation and observation the mind is left undeveloped and unable to understand the true nature of things. Desires such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, develop ignorance.

3. The Third Noble Truth is, the truth of the end of suffering, has a dual meaning, suggesting either the end of suffering in this life on earth, or in the spiritual life, is through achieving Nirvana. When a Buddhist has achieved Nirvana, which is a state free from suffering and is a worldly cycle of birth and rebirth it means spiritual enlightenment has been reached.

4. The Fourth Noble truth charts the method for attaining the end of suffering, known to Buddhists as the Noble Eightfold Path. This is the cure to the sufferings, it helps overcome and achieve good actions through the steps of meditation, indicating them to the steps of the Noble Eightfold Path are Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

The Marks Of Existence In Buddhism, the three marks of existence are three characteristics of the people. These characteristics are:

– Anicca (Impermanence)

– Duhkka (Suffering)

– Anatta (Not self)

Anicca: is that all living and non-living things are in a constant state of change and non-permanent on this earth. Buddhism states that everything comes into being then go away. Human life demonstrates this change such as the aging process, the cycle of repeated birth and death, nothing lasts, and everything decays.

Dukkha: meaning dissatisfaction, suffering and pain. The dukkha includes the physical and mental sufferings that follows each rebirth, aging, illness, dying. Dissatisfaction is from getting what a person wishes to avoid such as a desired.

Anatta: In Buddhism, the term anatta refers to the heading of “non-self” saying that there is no unchanging, permanent self, soul or essence in human beings.

Karma and Samsara

Karma is a Sanskrit term that literally means “action” or “doing”. In the Buddhist tradition, karma refers to deed done deliberately through body, speech or mind driven by intention which leads to future consequences. It is the Buddhist version of the law of cause and effect. It teaches that whatever you do in life is what you add up to your next.

Each day gives people the opportunity to change their behaviour, with the chance to do good or bad.
In Buddhism, whatever you did in this life will affect what you become in your next life. In this way, the cycle of Samsara is driven by the law of karma.

Nirvana

Nirvana is a place of perfect peace and happiness, like heaven, where Karma and Samsara no longer exist. Nirvana is the highest state that someone can attain, a state of enlightenment, meaning a person’s individual desires and suffering go away.

Sacred Text and Writings

For Buddhists, sacred texts are the most important source of authority. They contain teachings of the Buddha on how to reach enlightenment.

Tripitaka

The teachings of Buddhism, the words of the Buddha and the basis for the teachings of the monks, can be found in the sacred texts which are known collectively as the Tripitaka. The Tripitaka is the earliest collection of Buddhist writings.

At first they were composed orally, but were written down by the 3rd century B.C.E. The word means “the three baskets”, refers to the way the texts were first recorded. The early writing material was long, narrow leaves, which were sewn together on one side. Bunches of these were then stored in baskets. This is a large collection, running 45 volumes in one modern edition.

Lotus Of The Good Law The Lotus of the good law tells of the wonderful powers of the divine Buddha. Invites everyone to become divine with Buddha through the help of the Bodhisattvas. It is made up of 28 chapters and speaks about the powers of the Bodhisattvas. Important in Japan as it is an essential elaboration of the means of achieving enlightenment.

Tibetan Book Of The Dead The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the Tibetan Buddhist text that is most well-known to the West. Written by a Tibetan monk, the Book of the Dead describes in detail the stages of death from the Tibetan point of view. It is intended to guide a person through the experiences that the consciousness has after death, In the bardo and the interval between death and the next rebirth.

Core Ethical Teachings
The Five Precepts All Buddhists live by the Five Moral Precepts which are refraining from:

1. harming living things.
2. taking what is not given.
3. sexual misconduct.
4. lying or gossip.
5. taking intoxicating substances, example drugs or drink.

Therefore, on celebration days Buddhists will often eat vegetarian food and will not drink alcohol. Gifts will be simple, especially those given to monks. Monks in particular will not dress up, and people will not eat to excess.
The Vinaya At the heart of the Vinaya is a set of rules it was orally passed down from the Buddha to his disciples. The Vinaya is a set of disciplinary precepts for monks and nuns to refrain from worldly affairs such as cussing, drinking alcohol, sexual activity, and more. It plays a pivotal role in leading a monastic community and therefore constitutes a purpose of having these rules.

The history of Buddhism is the story of one man’s spiritual journey to Enlightenment, and of the teachings and ways of living that developed from it and now as a religion has 400 million adherents. Principle beliefs, sacred texts and writings, and core ethical teachings link in together to in an ethical way to shape meaning for the adherents. They are all important aspects of providing Buddhism with a model for life. The teachings of the Buddha are exceedingly vast and very profound.