Buddhism And Its Impact On The World - 882 Words

Buddhism is a well-known religion that has taken the world by storm. With 300,000,000 believers worldwide. According to the 2006 census 2.6% of Australians are Buddhist. It originated in an area of Nepal that was originally part of Northern India. Although there are 300 million Buddhists worldwide, they all share the same core beliefs. Instead of an afterlife, Buddhists believe in Reincarnation, the cycle of birth, death, and being reborn again as either a plant, animal, or human. Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Guatama. Siddhartha was born the son of a king, who ruled over the Shakya clan. In an attempt to make sure his son would be a great king, he shut his son away in a life of luxury. At the age of twenty nine Siddhartha visited a†¦show more content†¦When worshiping, Buddhists sit on the floor, facing an image of Buddha and chanting. If at a temple, they listen to the chanting’s of monks, reading from religious texts. Unlike other religions, Buddhists do not consider the Buddha a god, but instead worship him out of respect. Most world religions have one sacred text. Unlike these religions, Buddhism has more than one sacred text. Each group of Buddhists have a different set of scriptures. The main Buddhists belief is that of the four noble truths. The first is Dukkha (life is suffering). The second is Tanha (the cause of suffering is the desire for the pleasures of life). The third is Nirvana (The way to end suffering is by overcoming desire and experiencing enlightenment). The final one, is that to overcome desire, one must follow the principles of the middle way or the eightfold path. There are three main religious buildings for Buddhists. A temple contains a shrine and meditation often takes place here. The second is a monastery. This is where a group of men or woman who are so devoted to their religion that they have chosen to withdraw from everyday society. These men and woman are called monks or nuns. The final type of building is a Stupa or a pagoda. These monuments are very decorative and are built over the remains of nuns or monks. The main celebrations of Buddhists is Vesak. Other festivals include the Buddhist New-Year and Losar. There three major groups of Buddhists are Mahayana