Buddhism
BUDDHISM
1. Origins, Early Development of Buddhism & Wheel of Life:
Origins:
Buddhism was founded in India about 500 B.C., or shortly afterward, by a teacher called Buddha. Buddha was probably born in 563 B.C. in southwestern Nepal. His real name was Siddhartha Gautama. At the age of 29, Gautama became overwhelmed with the conviction that life was filled with suffering and unhappiness. This conviction led Gautama to abandon his wife and infant son and to seek religious enlightenment as a wandering monk. After traveling throughout northeastern India for about six years, Gautama experienced enlightenment. He believed he had discovered why life was filled with suffering and how people could escape from this unhappy existence. After others learned of his discovery, they called him Buddha, which means Enlightened One.
Early Development:
Buddha preached that existence was a continuing cycle of death and rebirth. Each person's position and well being in life was determined by his or her behavior in previous lives. Buddha also taught that as long as individuals remain within the cycle of death and rebirth, they could never be completely free from pain and suffering. Buddha said people could break out of the cycle by eliminating any attachment to worldly things. "His Enlightenment or Awakening, called Sambodhi, abolished in himself unknowing and craving, destroyed greed, aversion and delusion in his heart, so that "vision arose, super-knowledge arose, wisdom arose, discovery arose, light arose - a total penetration into the mind and body, its origin, its cessation and the way to its cessation which was at the same time complete understanding of the ‘world.'" This cycle is called the wheel of life.
Wheel of Life:
Ignorance (avijja)
This word "avijja" is a negative term meaning "not knowing completely" but it does not mean, "knowing nothing at all."
Volitional Formations (sankhara)
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