Introduction

Buddhism is one of the major religious and philosophical traditions in the world.  It began over 2,000 years ago in northeast India, with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha (the founder).  Buddhism spread all over India, and then northward through the Himalaya mountain passes into China, Tibet, Korea, and Japan.  Southward, it reached Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma (now Myanmar), Cambodia, and Vietnam.  

During the 1900's, it spread to Europe, the United States of America, and Australia. Buddhism has always adapted well to other cultures, and has developed distinctive forms in different countries.  The number of Buddhists in the world is estimated at some 330 million. 

Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gotama, who lived in and around the Ganges Plain during the fifth and sixth centuries BC. Heir to the throne of the Sakyan kingdom, at the age of 29, Siddhartha renounced his royal heritage to search for a means of ending the sense of dissatisfaction and futility of which he had become acutely aware.

Having tried and discarded all the approaches to spiritual practice then available, he discovered a radically different path, a middle way between the extremes of indulgence and asceticism. This brought him the enlightenment he sought; he was known thereafter as 'the Buddha', the enlightened one.

The Buddha summarised his teaching in four statements known as the noble truths: Life in the relative world is fundamentally unsatisfactory and although happiness can be found in the world, all things that give rise to it - possessions, people, wealth, desirable mental states - inevitably age, decay and die.

Our sense of dissatisfaction is not something that falls upon us out of the blue - we become dissatisfied whenever we want life to be different from the way it is right now.

There is an ending of all dissatisfaction, all suffering, and all distress -Nirvanaor Enlightenment. This goal is attained by following the Buddhist path, which comprises the perfection of ethical conduct, meditation and wisdom. (For a lucid modern exposition of the Buddha's path to enlightenment.

Having established itself in northern India during the 5th century BC, Buddhism was contained within the subcontinent for about a hundred years. The teaching spread to Nepal by the 4th century BC, and reached Kashmir, Sri Lanka and Central Asia by the 2nd century BC. The later spread of the religion occurred partly through trade and partly through the work of missionaries.

By the time of the birth of Christ, Buddhism was established in China, reaching Korea by the end of the 3rd century.

The increased trade in the Far East at this time gave greater impetus to the spread of the religion, and by the 7th century Buddhists were to be found in Java, Sumatra, Japan, Tibet, Thailand and Myanmar.

Further westward expansion was halted by Islamic conquests but conversion still persisted; Bhutan, for instance, was not reached until the 9th century but today is one of the most strongly Buddhist countries in the world.

Buddhism is not a centralised religion with centralised institutions, although it does have a hierarchical form of organisation within each of the three main groups (see above).

In countries such as Thailand, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, where the Government and a large part of the population are Buddhist, the state is very closely associated with the religion and its organisation and institutions tend to be more formalised. In other countries, such as Japan, the religion exists within a looser framework.  

The beliefs of Buddhism 

All Buddhists have faith in: (1) Buddha; (2) his teachings, called the dharma; and (3) the religious community he founded, called the sangha.  Buddhists call Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha the Three Refuges or Three Jewels.    In the Sanskrit language the word for the three jewels is triratna.  At the beginning of most Buddhist gatherings and on special occasions, people say three times: "I go to the Buddha for refuge, I go to the dharma for refuge, I go to the sangha for refuge." 

The Buddha was the founder of Buddhism.  He was a religious teacher who lived in north-east India.  His real name was Siddhartha Gautama.  According to later Buddhist accounts, he was a member of a rich and powerful family.  At the age of about 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. 

Most scholars think he lived from about 563 to 483 B.C. However, some scholars claim he lived from about 448 to 368 B.C. By his own effort he attained enlightenment (a state of understanding truth) and then taught others how to do the same.  The title Buddha means Enlightened One.  Buddhists follow Buddha by following this path to enlightenment in one of its forms.  But Buddhists believe that taking refuge in the Buddha means more than just following him.  It also means that a person has confidence in the nature of enlightenment, whether it is manifest in one's own life or in other beings.    

Dharma means teaching, especially the teaching of the Buddha and his followers.  Dharma also involves the wider idea of truth, especially the truth about the way things are.  This idea is taught in various summaries, such as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Three Marks of Existence, and the Twelve-Linked Chain of Dependent Origination. 

 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.  For example, good deeds may lead to rebirth as a wise and wealthy person or as a being in heaven.  A person's evil deeds may lead to rebirth as a poor and sickly person or even in hell. 

Buddha also taught that as long as individuals remain within the cycle of death and rebirth, they can never be completely free from pain and suffering.  Buddha said people could break out of the cycle by eliminating any attachment to worldly things.  By ridding themselves of such attachment, people would gain a kind of perfect peace and happiness.  Buddha called this state of peace and happiness nirvana.  According to Buddha, those who are willing and able to follow the Middle Way and the Noble Eightfold Path will conquer their attachment to worldly things and thus achieve nirvana. 

The sangha is the Buddhist religious community.  It consists of four groups of people: laymen, laywomen, bhikkhus (monks), and bhikkhunis (nuns).  These people are called the sons and daughters of the Buddha.  The laypeople support monks and nuns with gifts of food, shelter, and clothing.  In return the monks and nuns give to the laypeople the example of lives lived close to the example of the Buddha.  Monks and nuns also have a special task to preserve and pass on the dharma.  Often the word sangha is used to mean just the monastic community.  In most Buddhist countries, monks are expected to live a life of poverty, meditation, and study.  Some Buddhists become monks for life.  Others serve in the sangha for short periods of time.  The monks wear special orange or red robes, and are a common sight in Buddhist countries.