Buddhism, Quick Survey, Middle Way, Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path

Buddhism of Buddha:
    Buddhism has 400 million followers. It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha (Enlightened One), in southern Nepal, India, in the sixth century B.C.
    The Buddha achieved enlightenment in 535 B.C. through mediation and gathered a community of monks (sangha) to carry on his teachings. Buddhism takes as its goal the escape from suffering and the reincarnation with the attainment of Nirvana, and it emphasizes meditation and the observance of moral precepts.

    He promoted 'The Middle Way' as the path to enlightenment rather than the extremes of mortification of the flesh or hedonism, emphasizing rather meditation.

    The Four Noble Truths: The doctrines of the Buddha describe temporal life as featuring four noble truths:
        1- Diagnosis: Suffering is always present in life.
        2- Cause: Desire and craving cause suffering, the belief in the importance of one's self.
        3- Prognosis: Desire and craving can be overcome... and then, suffering ends on earth and the cycle of the curse of reincarnation is gone.
        4- Treatment: With the Eightfold Path:
    The Eightfold Path: Enlightenment and Nirvana is attained by meditation and by following the path of righteousness in action, thought, and attitude:
          1-3- Wisdom (panna):
                - Right View
                - Right Thought
                - Right Speech
          4-5- Morality (sila):
                - Right Action
                - Right Livelihood
          6-8- Meditation (samadhi):
                - Right Effort
                - Right Mindfulness
                - Right Contemplation

Salvation for the Buddha comes with Nirvana after enlightenment. Salvation from the sufferings on earth, and, most important, salvation from the curse of reincarnation.

   The Three Marks of Existence suffering, impermanence, and not self - are concepts which are crucial to an understanding of the Buddhist view of the world.
    The Five Skandhas, precepts or commandments - Dharma Talk: The Five Skandhas
    The Six Worlds or Realms of Existence, represent the states of mind which human beings go through continuously.
    The Ten Perfections, generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolute determination, loving kindness, equanimity

Emperor Asoka (264-228 BC) played a role in some ways similar to that of Constantine in the history of Christianity. However, Buddhism has largely disappeared from its country of origin, India, except for the presence there of many refugees from the Tibet region of China and a small number of converts from the lower castes of Hinduism.

Holy Scriptures: The Tripitaka: The "three baskets", includes Buddha's sermons, rules for the monks and philosophical teachings, with 100 volumes, about the size of 70 Bibles.
- The First Sermon of Buddha at Benares
- "Way of Mindfulness" of Buddha, with the cemetery meditations

Traditions after the Buddha... the Anti-Buddhism:
Though there are different branches of Buddhism, there are some basic teachings accepted by almost all. These include: The Three Marks of Existence, The Four Noble Truths, The Five Skandhas (precepts or commandments), The Six Realms, The Eightfold Path, and the Ten Perfections

Enlightenment and Nirvana for Gautama was very simple, he got it "in a flash" under the Bo tree, after sitting in meditation for 7 weeks, and life's problems were no longer an enigma to him.
But it is not so simple... the many followers, traditions, branches and sects found out they need years of hard work, and thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns dedicate their whole life with vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience to obtain it... and, most often, after all that hard work, they reincarnate, the greatest curse for a Buddhist.

Gautama Buddha left us a good psychological method to overcome suffering and the problems of life... he did not tried to start a new religion, he purposely never even mentioned the words religion, god, soul, the after-death... but everybody needs God and the supernatural, so many followers and traditions live a Buddhism openly against the teachings of the Buddha.
In fact, Gautama was "a rebel" against the complicated way and rituals of Hinduism, he took away the gods, priests, authority, rituals, candles, incense, the caste system... Gautama even always evaded the task to define the blessed state of Nirvana, always avoided discussing either God or life after death

After Gautama Buddha, his followers, with the many holy scriptures and rules, have made out of his simple system a "religion" full of "rituals to many like-gods", making a god even out of Gautama, with intense "authority", and practice of the "occult", with much "supernatural" and magic, and prayer wheel, and prayer bids, and candles, and incense, and complicated worship rituals to the like-gods... and the principle of the "middle way" between the extremes of ascetics and self-indulgence has been converted into the hard way of a most rigid "monasticism"... making a real "Anti-Buddhism" out of Buddhism...

    1- Hinayana, Lesser Vehicle, (Theravada): Emphasizes the writings of the Buddha, the closest to Buddha's original teachings, in southern Asia, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia.
    2- Mahayana, Greater Vehicle: emphasizes the spirit of Buddha, by far the largest branch of Buddhism, in China, Japan, Tibet, Korea, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand.
    Mahayana introduced the doctrine of "bodhisattva", "helpers": Enlightened perfect beings, who choose to help others reincarnating, instead of entering Nirvana (i.e. the Dalai Lama). With this doctrine, Mahayana makes a god out of the Buddha and out of anyone who is enlightened, in open rebellion against the teachings of Gautama Buddha.
    3- Vajrayana, Diamond Vehicle, the third Vehicle, Tantrism. It borrows the Hindu belief in the goddess Shakti sexual power and developed a cult devoted to idols, magic and sex. It has been condemned as a degeneration of Buddhism, and indeed it is an anti-Buddhism.
     4- Tibetan Buddhism: In Tibet and Japan, added to Tantrism the primitive animistic religions of the Tibet, the magic "bon", and some "Mahayana" doctrines to create the most openly occultist of all Eastern religions. On top of it created the super-authority of the "Dalai Lama", a god-on-earth, heading a hierarchy of priests, destroying the "religion without authority" that Gautama the Buddha proposed.
    5- Zen Buddhism, from Japan had become in the mid-20th century perhaps the best known of the Buddhists schools in the Western world... "Zen" means "be nothing, think nothing", and "Zazen" "seated meditation"; its adherents claim Zen to be the quintessential of Buddhism.
    6-Nicheren Buddhism: In the 13th century a Japanese, Nichiren, founded a school whose aims are the opposite of Gautama Buddha: To satisfy all desires, because "happy individuals can build a happy world"; with emphasis on acquiring wealth, power, personal happiness, political power...
    7- Pure Land (Sukhavati, Jodo, Ching-tu): One enters the Pure Land through faith in the god Amitabha, or Amida or Buddha, by repeating the "membutsu", "Namu-Amida-Butsu", "Have faith in Amida, and you will be saved", they proclaim, imitating Jesus Christ... in a total contradiction of the teachings of the Buddha.
    - Finally, Hinduism: The Buddha, for the Hindus, is the 9th incarnation of Vishnu... of course, openly against the will and teachings of Gautama Buddha himself... The 7th and 8th incarnations of Vishnu for the Hindus are Rama and Krishna... and the 10th incarnation and the last one, will be "Kalkin", still to come. .