Buddhism Breaks Apart Essay example

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Buddhism Breaks Apart
Buddhism is the religion of spiritual enlightenment through the suppressing of one’s worldly desires. Buddhism takes one on the path of a spiritual journey, to become one with their soul. It teaches one how to comprehend life’s mysteries, and to cope with them. Founded in 525 B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama; Theravada Buddhism is the first branch of Buddhism; it was a flourishing religion in India before the invasions by the Huns and the Muslims, and Mahayana Buddhism formed due to new locations, it was altered according to local influences. Buddhists believe that Buddha is not a deity, but just an ideal guide to reach enlightenment in order to get closer to God.
Buddha was born of a virgin mother Queen Mayadevi.
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Traveling the world in search of answers Buddha became exhausted and discouraged; Buddha sat down beneath a papal tree, and vowed that he wouldn’t move until he had reached enlightenment. After forty days without food or water, Buddha finally reached an enlightened state. Buddhism was formed in 525 B.C. when Buddha achieved enlightenment.
After obtaining enlightenment, Buddha formed the basic beliefs for his followers. The four noble truths are the early doctrines of Buddhism, Dukhka, Trishna, Nirvana, and Eightfold Path.”(Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition pg 3)” Enlightenment can only be reached through these steps. When one acknowledges suffering to be a part of life, they learn to deal with pain. If one is, suffering then there is always a reason behind it, namely craving or attachment to material objects. There is a cessation or pause of suffering, and that leads to the eightfold path if one has the right view, intentions, speech, actions, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. During the remaining forty-five years, Buddha spent his life traveling teaching others how to gain enlightenment.
During Buddha’s life, his teachings were recorded orally, and it wasn’t until after his death that the teachings were written down. There was confusion in how accurate the text scriptures were, and so out of the eighteen early Buddhist schools Theravada Buddhism was chosen. The Theravada Buddhist school’s
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