Bodhi

“Now, I, Vairocana Buddha am sitting atop a lotus pedestal; On a thousand flowers surrounding me are a thousand Sakyamuni Buddhas. Each flower supports a hundred million worlds; in each world a Sakyamuni Buddha appears. All are seated beneath a Bodhi-tree, all simultaneously attain Buddhahood. All these innumerable Buddhas have Vairocana as their original body.” (passage from the Brahmajala Sutra) Vairocana is one of many Buddhas revered by particular sections of Sino-Japanese Buddhism, especially

That he himself was no closer to enlightenment then he had been before he had started. Still determined to seek his goal, Siddhartha studied all that he could. He no longer fell to the temptations of the outside world. From here one day underneath a Bodhi tree meditating he achieved enlightenment and thus became the Buddha. The knowledge he now gained he kept to himself until he realised must help others to seek this state. His words forming the core of Buddhism, the four noble truths and

Though Buddhism has only fairly recently had a resurgence in the Eastern world and even more recently been brought to the Western world, the religion has already gained millions of followers. The BBC documentary, “The Life of Buddha” not only displays the personal history of the Buddha himself, but also his continuing impact on the world. The Buddha was truly an extraordinary figure and though many have tried to vanquish his following, the religion that he created has truly stood the test of time

between Moncure D. Conway and Ponnambalam Ramanathan, who follow different faiths but come together and listen to the discourse of the Kālāmas and profess this good doctrine is essential to humanity development. However, scholar and monastic Bhikkhu Bodhi has a different perspective on the Kālāma Sutta. In his essay “A Look at the Kalama

In life, people go through many events, and in Siddhartha Gautama’s life, it was no different. Everyone has to suffer and go through traumatic situations in their life to achieve the goals he may want, or to find the peace one may need. When going through these events in life, one he may feel as if he is suffering and as if things are not going to get any better. In Buddhism, there is the Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths are dukkah, samudaya, nirhodha, and magga. Siddhartha experienced every

When Siddhartha learned how to understand the suffering of life, he made his own teachings to help others understand too. Siddhartha's teachings then became his power to help people. Siddhartha helped many who have felt the same way as him when he saw the suffering of a person out on the street. He helped others who didn’t want to accept the suffering of life with wise words to help them realize why they need to accept it. The Buddha did not use his power to harm others or to get what he wanted,

One of the biggest parts of Buddhism is the worship of relics of the Buddha. Even though it is a widespread feature of practice among lay Buddhists and monks, there are some parts where it is forbidden to only monks. It has affected monks for quite some time now, mostly affecting those of the Sri-Lankan area. This controversy began after the Buddha’s parinibbāna and has echoed throughout the centuries until present time. The source is found in the Mahāparinibbāna-sutta. It comes from the lack of

"A human being experiences themselves, their thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of their consciousness. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty” said the one and only Albert Einstein (“Heart Quotes”). Einstein’s opinion of life is similar to that of the practitioners of Buddhism. Soothing, beautiful lands of India inspired Buddhists view

Buddhism has been around for an estimated two and a half thousand years and its birthplace along with the Buddha himself was born in a small state like place in India. India during the 6th century was comprised of small independent states that competed for resources. One of those states Kapilavastu was the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. Siddhartha Gautama was the son of the ruler of a petty kingdom, legend says that when Gautama was born sages could see potential to be either a great

and wealth (What the Buddha Taught). Siddhartha spent the next years speaking and learning from philosophers about the meaning of life but found all of their teachings unsatisfactory. When Siddhartha was 35, he spent an evening sitting under the Bodhi Tree, and