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Buddhism And The Noble Eightfold Path

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Siddhartha Gautama was the founder of Buddhism (Van Voorst, R, 2013). Gautama lived a life of a prince until he witnessed physical suffering in the world. Upon observing the suffering, Gautama decided to give up everything to become a holy man. He created the Middle Path meaning the moment between self-denial and regular life. He discovered the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, (Van Voorst, R, 2013).

The basic characteristics of Buddhism are meditating, prayer, rest, exercise, lecture and small group discussion with other Buddhists in Zen centers and temples around the world. Buddhists believe that “Siddhartha Gautama discovered the “Middle Path” out of suffering, reaching the full enlightenment that rescued him from constant reincarnation into this world (Voorst, R., 2013)”.
They also believe in karma and rebirth until they reach the point of enlightenment. Enlightenment is reached once they have strived and reached for nirvana. …show more content…

They do not believe in god, but view the Buddha as a supreme heavenly being. It teaches that anyone can become enlightened, (Van Voorst, R, 2013). They frequently quote the Buddha’s saying, “Don’t believe because of what your teacher says—follow your own wisdom.”

The Four Noble Truths is a fundamental concept of Buddhism. Those truths are suffering, the reason for suffering, the end of suffering, and the path to the end of suffering as described in the 2017 Encyclopedia Britannica. Gautama claims once he discovered these truths, he enlightened and was saved from future

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