04/02/2010 16:52 (GMT+7)
Buddhism is a religion to about 300 million people around the world. The word
comes from 'budhi', 'to awaken'. It has its origins about 2,500 years ago when
Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, was himself awakened (enlightened) at
the age of 35. |
04/02/2010 16:55 (GMT+7)
This short essay is intended to give a brief introduction to Buddhism. It
will discuss the way Buddhists perceive the world, the four main teachings of
the Buddha, the Buddhist view of the self, the relationship between this self
and the various ways in which it responds to the world, the Buddhist path and
the final goal. |
04/02/2010 17:03 (GMT+7)
Lama
Thubten Yeshe gave this
teaching during a five-day meditation course he conducted at Dromana, near Melbourne,
Australia, in
March, 1975. Edited by Nicholas Ribush. This teaching
appears in the November/December 1997 issue of Mandala
Magazine. |
05/02/2010 08:29 (GMT+7)
In the year 563B.C. on the border of modern day Nepal
and India,
a son was born to a chieftain of the Sakya clan. His name was Siddhartha Gotama
and at the age of thirty-five, he attained, after six years of struggle and
through his own insight, full enlightenment or Buddhahood. The term 'Buddha' is
not a name of a god or an incarnation of a god, despite later Hindu claims to
the contrary, but is a title for one who has realised through good conduct,
mental cultivation, and wisdom the cause of life's vicissitudes and the way to
overcome them. |
05/02/2010 08:47 (GMT+7)
Essentially, according to Buddhist
teachings, the ethical and moral principles are governed by examining whether a
certain action, whether connected to body or speech is likely to be harmful to
one's self or to others and thereby avoiding any actions which are likely to be
harmful. In Buddhism, there is much talk of a skilled mind. A mind that is
skilful avoids actions that are likely to cause suffering or remorse. |
05/02/2010 09:05 (GMT+7)
The following questions and
answers have been especially formulated with the newcomer to Buddhism in mind.Who was the Buddha? What does the word 'Buddha' mean? What did the Buddha teach? |
11/02/2010 04:57 (GMT+7)
The
teachings
of the Buddha recorded in the Pali canon and in the other scriptures
written in Sanskrit, Prakrit etc. is called Dhamma in this context. It
includes not only the doctrines such as Four Noble Truths, Three
Characteristics, Dependent Coorigination but also the various ethical
teachings relevant to both Sangha and lay society. |
11/02/2010 10:40 (GMT+7)
The
role of the
Sangha in politics in Asia has always been a hugely debated one. In
the light of events in recent times, the “saffron revolution” has once
again dominated the headlines. |
11/02/2010 10:35 (GMT+7)
Buddhism was
well accepted in the areas inhabited by the Han Chinese, who believed
that Sakyamuni, the first Buddha and founder of the religion, attained
enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth month. Sutras were
chanted in the temples and rice porridge with beans, nuts and dried
fruit was prepared for the Buddha. |
11/02/2010 10:34 (GMT+7)
The
Ten virtues and Ten
vices–The cause of human stupidity is in the passions–The Five
prohibitions–The Ten prohibitions–Klaproth's praise of Buddhism–But it
is atheistic, and therefore this praise should be qualified–Kindness to
animals based on the fiction of transmigration–Buddhism teaches
compassion |
11/02/2010 10:32 (GMT+7)
The
Chinese possess a
history of over five thousand years. An important component, which had
yielded fruitful results on Chinese culture, is Indian Buddhism. One
will realise this enormous influence when reading the cultural History
of China. If one tries to talk about Chinese culture without touching on
Buddhism |
11/02/2010 10:31 (GMT+7)
The
three principal
“canons” of Buddhist scriptures survive today corresponding to the
three main traditions of living Buddhism : the Pali or Theravada canon
of the southern tradition of Sri Lanka and South-East Asia; the Chinese
Tripitaka of the eastern tradition of China, Korea, and Japan; and the
Tibetan Kanjur and Tenjur of the northern tradition of Tibet and
Mongolia. |
25/02/2010 09:59 (GMT+7)
Buddhism, along with
Jainism, recognizes that even eating vegetables could contribute to the
indirect killing of living beings because animal life is destroyed by
tilling the soil or the use of pesticides. Jainism consequently
considers death by starvation as the ultimate practice of non-violence,
while Buddhism considers extreme self-mortification to be undesirable
for attaining enlightenment. |
25/02/2010 03:43 (GMT+7)
Bad and good depend on the individual person's
interpretation. In general, if you are able to spend your life
collecting more
virtue and less negative karma, that's a good life. Even spending half
the life
this way is quite good. Spending even one quarter of the day creating
good
karma is better than spending the whole 24 hours creating only negative
karma. |
25/02/2010 03:43 (GMT+7)
This introductory essay is confined to the basic
doctrines propounded by the Buddha over 2500 years ago. This message is
surprisingly modern, and more in keeping with the rational-scientific
temper of
our age than the various theistic systems to which most of the people of
the
world owe formal allegiance. A widespread interest in Buddhism in Australia
is
relatively recent. |
25/02/2010 03:42 (GMT+7)
The
underlying principle is non-exploitation of yourself or others. The
precepts
are the foundation of all Buddhist training. With a developed ethical
base,
much of the emotional conflict and stress that we experience is
resolved,
allowing commitment and more conscious choice. Free choice and intention
is
important. It is "I undertake" not 'Thou Shalt". Choice, not
command. |
25/02/2010 03:42 (GMT+7)
Buddhist don’t pray to a Creator God, but they do have devotional
meditation
practices which could be compared to praying. Radiating loving-kindness
to all
living beings is a practice which is believed to benefit those beings.
The
sharing of merit is a practice where one dedicates the goodness of one’s
life
to the benefit of all living beings as well as praying for a particular
person. |
25/02/2010 03:41 (GMT+7)
Many
of today’s marriages become disastrous because they lack purpose;
there’s no
worthwhile goal for coming together. A couple should not come together
out of
grasping at each other; there should be more meaning to it than that.
But our
craving desire and lack of wisdom work together to create an extreme
situation
that finishes up causing conflict: the woman agitates her man; the man
agitates
his woman—in either case, it ends in “goodbye.” |
25/02/2010 03:41 (GMT+7)
Do you Buddhists
believe in rebirth as an animal in the next life? Are you going to be a
dog or
a cow in the future? Does the soul transmigrate into the body of another
person
or some animal? What is the difference between transmigration and
reincarnation? Is it the same as rebirth? Is karma the same as fate?
These and
a hundred similar questions are often put to me. |
25/02/2010 04:28 (GMT+7)
In
its most basic sense, the Law of
Karma in the moral sphere teaches that similar actions will lead to
similar
results. Let us take an example. If we plant a mango seed, the plant
that
springs up will be a mango tree, and eventually it will bear a mango
fruit.
Alternatively, if we plant a Pong Pong seed, the tree that will spring
up will
be a Pong Pong tree and the fruit a Pong Pong. |
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