Throughout history there has been numerous religions and theologies that men and women have entrusted their lives and ways of living to. One of the most intriguing is that of Buddhism. The great Buddha referred to his way as the middle way, and he, as the “Enlightened One” began the teachings of the religion with…
The two extremes in which the Buddha speaks of are: that conjoined with the passions and luxury, low, vulgar, common, ignoble, and useless. The second is: that conjoined with self-torture, painful, ignoble, and useless. The avoidance of these two extremes is the path to enlightenment of the middle path as the Buddha had. The middle…
Siddhartha Gautama was born about 563 BC in what is now modern Nepal. His father, Suddhodana, was the ruler of the Sakya people and Siddhartha grew up living the extravagant life of a young prince. According to custom, he married at the young age of sixteen to a girl named Yasodhara. His father had ordered…
The Buddha chose the symbol of an eight-spoked wheel to represent the path to Nirvana The center of the wheel represents Nirvana, the only fixed point Just like the spokes are needed to let the wheel turn, Buddhists need to follow each step of the path to reach Nirvana Each path is used not individually,…
The Buddha observed that no one is free from death and unhappiness (dukkha) Buddha looked for the source of that unhappiness (like a doctor looking for the source of an illness) These are the four noble truths, and they are central to understanding Buddhism Some people see great wisdom in these truths; others find them…