What Does It Mean To Be A Buddhist?

Buddhism

Buddhism is a set of beliefs and practices , considered by some to be a religion , but not by all . A Buddhist is a person who takes believes in the three jewels : the Buddha , the Dharma and the Sangha . The Buddha means the `Awakened one or the Enlightened one , the Dharma means the `Teaching of the Buddha ' and the Sangha means the `Community of Buddhists . It is said that the number of Buddhists in the world ranges from 230 to 500 million . Most Buddhists live in Asia but the religion is found

worldwide . It is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama commonly known as Buddha , who lived in the northeastern region of the Indian Subcontinent . Buddha is recognized as the awakened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end their suffering by understanding the true nature of phenomena , thereby escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth / Samsara . Various schools of Buddhism apply to the goals like : devotional practices , rituals , ethical conduct , and the invocation of holy beings that help them achieve Nirvana , altruistic behavior , and renunciations of the worldly matters , study , meditation and cultivation of wisdom . Buddhism has spread through these main branches : Mahayana and Theravada

Buddha

Gautama Buddha commonly known as Buddha was born in the city of Lumbini Nepal in Ancient India but raised in Kapilavastu . According to the scriptures , he performed several miracles after his birth . Moments after he took a few steps he proclaimed Supreme am I in the world , Greatest am I in the world , Noblest am I in the world , this is my birth , Never shall I be reborn . Buddha married Yasodhara and they had a son called Rahula who then became a Buddhist monk . Buddha , at 29 , went outside the palace and started discovering people 's sufferings . He came across an old man , diseased man , a decaying corpse and ascetic which are commonly known as The Four Sights in Buddhism . They made him to eventually leave the royal life and take up spiritual life so as to live free from suffering by living the life of a mendicant ascetic (respected spiritual practice in ancient India . He found other people who belived like him and joined them . He was taught many things including meditation like Jhana which dealt with self denial to realize the sufferings of the people . He later abandoned the practice when he almost died of hunger He accused it of not really bringing spiritual benefit thus joined the Anapanasati meditation (awareness of breathing ) leading to the discovery of the Middle Way . It is the path of moderation between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification . After the discovery of the Middle Way he vowed not to rise before achieving Nirvana seated under a sacred fig tree known as the Bodhi tree . He attained his goal as becoming Buddha at the age of 35 after many meditation days . From there on he taught Dharma until his death from food poisoning at 80 years in Kushinagara (Tipitaka scripture

Nirvana

Nirvana in...