2. Basic Information  Began in India  Sprang from Hinduism  Indian prince – Siddhartha Gautama  Unhappy with life and the sufferings of the world – gave up wealth and prestige to seek enlightenment/wisdom  Attained it while meditating under a fig tree around 531 BC

3.  Buddha means “enlightened one”  Gautama (Buddha) preached and spread his ideas across India until his death.  Buddhists believe he broke the endless cycle of death and rebirth central to both Buddhism and Hinduism and attained Nirvana (a state of blissful non-existence)

4. Basic Information  Four Noble Truths  Eightfold Path  Nirvana – asking a Buddhist to describe Nirvana is similar to asking a Christian, Jew, or Muslim to describe Heaven – thus hard to explain – people have their own views  Do no believe in a personal creator or personal God  Buddha did not claim to be a god, nor did he claim to have received any revelation from a god.

5.  Many statues of Buddha but Buddhists do not worship him as a deity  Controversial from other religions viewpoint because they do not recognize the existence of an all-powerful god thus they claim that Buddhism is not a religion at all, but a way of life.  Buddhists have no concept of a Savior or of a heaven.  Relate Nirvana to Heaven but, Nirvana is looked at by Buddhists as being a state of non-existence rather than a place where people spend eternity  Nirvana is a state of nothingness, in which a person escapes the wheel of rebirth and simply ceases to exist.

6.  Believe in reincarnation, but they do not believe a soul is transferred from one body or thing to another  Karma determines what one will be reincarnated as

7. Worship  Go to shrine room in temple to meditate  Offerings are placed before a statue of Buddha out of respect, do not consider him a god  Buddhists have no equivalent of a church, synagogue, or mosque.  Do not have ministers, rabbis, or imams.  Can listen to monks whose job is to help guide people in their quest to become enlightened.

8. Ceremonies  Birth and death are not important  Emphasis is placed on being good and living a righteous life in the hope of being born into a higher state of goodness in the next life.  Marriages are arranged. Regarded as social not religious events – marriage performed by family and friends  Funerals are not sad affairs. They are intended to help the dead person attain a better birth.

9. Writings  No single collection of writings  Nothing comparable to Bible, Torah, or Quran.  Tipitaka is the most important of all Buddhist writings  400 years after Buddha’s death his teachings had not been passed down by writings but by word of mouth