1. Buddhism

2. Buddhism in the World

3. Religions by percentage

4. The Beginning of Buddhism
Siddhartha Guatama

5. Siddhartha Gautaman (563-483 BCE)
Born in India (Nepal).
Raised in great luxury to be a king.
At 29 he rejected his luxurious life to seek enlightenment and the meaning of life.
Lived a strict, ascetic life for 6 yrs.
Rejecting all desires, he sat in meditation until he found nirvana.
Became “The Enlightened One,” at 35.

6. The essence of Buddhism
The term Buddha means “the awakened or enlightened one.”
Buddhism is based on four basic principles known as the Four Noble Truths

7. What is the fundamental cause of all suffering?
Desire!
Therefore, extinguish the self, don’t obsess about your wants or personal desires.

8. Four Noble Truths
There is suffering in the world. To live is to suffer. (Dukkha)
The Buddha found this out when he was young and experienced suffering and death in others.

9. Four Noble Truths
The cause of suffering is self-centered desire and attachments. (Tanha)

10. Four Noble Truths
The solution is to eliminate desire and attachments. (Nirvana = “extinction”)

11. Four Noble Truths
To reach nirvana, one must follow the Eightfold Path.

12. Nirvana Eightfold Path The union with the ultimate spiritual reality.
Escape from the cycle of rebirth.

13. Find Your Own Source of Suffering
For this weekend’s assignment you need to write a paragraph that highlights your own personal sources of suffering.
You will identify three earthly things that you desire/obsess over and then explain how these things could serve as your potential source of suffering.
First step is to identify your three desires
The next step is to explain how these desires might serve as sources of suffering.
You need to use the rubric that has been included on the wikipage in order to see the guidelines that you will be evaluated on.