Buddhism The Path Toward Nirvana

A Parable A traveler, fleeing a tiger who was chasing him, ran till he came to the edge of a cliff. There he caught hold of a thick vine, and swung himself over the edge. Above him the tiger snarled. Below him he heard another snarl, and behold, there was another tiger, peering up at him. The vine suspended him midway between two tigers. Two mice, a white mouse and a black mouse, began to gnaw at the vine. He could see they were quickly eating it through. Then in front of him on the cliff-side he saw a luscious bunch of grapes. Holding onto the vine with one hand, he reached and picked a grape with the other. How delicious! -attributed to Buddha

Introduction Buddhism is a religion and philosophy practiced by about 500 million people all over the world. Although it started in India, its ideas soon spread through the rest of Asia. Today there are Buddhists in almost every country of the world.

Legend of the Buddha According to legend, Siddhartha was a prince in India born around 560 BC. A wise man predicted that the boy wouldn’t become king if he saw suffering outside the palace, so the king hid Siddhartha from it all. Whenever Siddhartha would go out in his chariot, he ordered everyone sick or even injured to get off the side of the road, so the prince wouldn’t see suffering at all. Then on one ride, he saw on old man—wrinkled, bent-over, and weak. He learned what old age did. On another ride, he saw a sick man. Then he saw a funeral march for a dead man. This was the first time he had seen suffering, and he didn’t understand. Why must people suffer? he asked himself.

Legend of the Buddha (cont.) Siddhartha then saw a holy man who traveled with no possessions except for a bowl, yet seemed content. Siddhartha decided to escape from the palace and spent the next few years looking for answers to suffering. Along the way, he decided upon “The Middle Way”—nothing too extreme. Finally, he decided to meditate under a fig tree until he found the answer to human pain; on the 49 th day, he discovered what caused suffering and reached enlightenment, or “nirvana.” From that day forward he was known as the Buddha, which means “enlightened one.”

The Four Noble Truths In the end, life is or leads to suffering Suffering is caused by desire and attachment to worldly possessions Suffering ends when desire ends Reaching this enlightenment is achieved by following the teachings of the Buddha ++ =

Eightfold Path Right view Right resolve Right speech Right conduct Right livelihood Right effort Right mindfulness Right meditation

Rebirth Buddhists believe in reincarnation, or rebirth. How you’re reborn depends on your karma. If someone is bad, he or she will be earn bad karma and be reincarnated as something worse than a person (like a bug). If people are extremely wicked to others, they might go to hell. If people are good, they earn good karma, and go up the chain until they become gods or spirits. +=

Spread of Buddhism Buddhism spread slowly around India until about 300 BC, when it spread to Southeast Asia. It finally reached China by about 200 BC. Many schools and monasteries (homes for monks) were established all over Asia, and eventually all over the world.

What You’re Going to Do You’re going to create your own eightfold path to happiness. Ask yourself, “What are eight things people can do to be happy?” Have fun with this! If you think eating 10 pounds of gummy bears a day is a step toward happiness, list it!