Report by:

Rio Jessa Evelyn Tare

Real Name: Siddhartha Gautama

AKA: Buddha meaning "the awakened one", or "the one who knows", used when he was already 35 years old.

• Siddhartha Gautama the Prince

• Search for the Truth

• Spreading his teachings

• Was born into the feudal kingdom of the Sakya clan where the Gautama family ruled.

• Lived a luxurious life without any hardships

• His father protected/shielded him from contact with ugliness, sickness, old age and death.

• Married at sixteen to a woman named Yasodhara and soon had a son.

• Siddharta in his early twenties became discontented.

WHY?

• First: Siddhartha saw an old man, bent and trembling, and discoveredold age.

• Second: He saw a sick man suffering from disease.

• Third: He witnessed a funeral procession and a corpse.

• Fourth: He met a wandering monk who had an inner tranquillity despiteliving an austere life, suggesting to Siddhartha that he had come toterms with old age, sickness and death.

*On his 29th birthday, Siddharta renounced his regal life leaving

behind his family and went out of the palace.

• Lived as a monk and eventually called Sakyamuni or sage of the

Sakyas.

• Tried to live an austere life, starved and punished his body to

subdue its worldly desires which he thought was an obstacle to

spiritual development.

• He lost his five followers.

On the night of the full moon in May, complete Enlightenment came to him.

• The first truth is that life is suffering.

In "The Vision of the Buddha” by Tom Lowenstein, the Buddha says:

"What, monks, is the truth of suffering? Birth is

suffering, decay, sickness and death are suffering. To be

separated from what you like is suffering. To want

something and not get it is suffering. In short, the

human personality, liable as it is to clinging and

attachment brings suffering."

• The second noble truth is that suffering in its broad sense, comes

from desire, and specifically, desire for meeting our expectations

and for self fulfilment as we see it. By desiring for ourselves

rather than the whole, we will always have suffering.

*Or in the language today “Life sucks.”

The third noble truth tells us that if our

attachment to desire ends, so too will the

suffering. Specifically, if we change our

perception and reduce our attachment to

desire, suffering will also reduce.

The fourth noble truth shows the way to the ending of

suffering. The Buddha said that the way to cease suffering is

to follow the middle way, the Noble Eightfold path. This

provides the guidelines for day to day living.

Right ViewRight

Intent

Right

Speech

Right

Action

• Right Understanding or Right View

• seeing the world and everything in it as it really is, not as we believe it to be or want it to be.

• “I must state clearly that my teaching is a method to experience reality and not reality itself”

• Right Intent

• Right Intent must come from the heart and involves recognising the equality of all life and compassion for all that life, beginning with yourself.

• Right Intent means persistence and a passion for the journey.

• Right Speech

• Involves recognition of the truth, and also an awareness of the impactof idle gossip and of repeating rumours.

• By resolving never to speak unkindly, or in anger, a spirit ofconsideration evolves which moves us closer to everydaycompassionate living.

• Right Action• Recognises the need to take the ethical approach in life, to consider

others and the world we live in.

• Also encompasses the five precepts which were given by the Buddha,not to kill, steal, lie, to avoid sexual misconduct, and not to take drugsor other intoxicants.

Right

Livelihood

Right Effort

Right Mindfulness

Right

Concentration

• Right Livelihood • Certain types of work were discouraged by the Buddha, in particular those where you

deal in harmful drugs and intoxicants, those dealing in weapons, and those harmful to animal or human life.

• Also implies that a Buddhist who is able, will undertake some work, either as part of a Buddhist community, or in the workplace, or, alternatively, do home-based or community service.

• Right Effort• Right Effort means cultivating an enthusiasm, a positive attitude in a balanced way.

• In order to produce Right Effort, clear and honest thoughts should be welcomed, and feelings of jealousy and anger left behind. Right Effort equates to positive thinking, followed by focused action.

• Right Mindfulness• Right Mindfulness means being aware of the moment, and being focused in that

moment.

• Right Mindfulness asks us to be aware of the journey at that moment, and to be clear and undistracted at that moment. Right Mindfulness is closely linked with meditation and forms the basis of meditation.

• Right Concentration• Right Concentration is turning the mind to focus on an object, such as a flower, or a

lit candle, or a concept such as loving compassion.

• The benefits of Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration are significant as theyteach the mind to see things, not as we are conditioned to seeing them, but as theyreally are.

Release from the control of past pains and future mind games takes us closer to

freedom from suffering.”

Suffering

As defined before, comes from life, as sickness, loneliness, old age, or just a general feeling of life not being what it should.

Impermanence

We wish life to be permanent when all existence is impermanent, everything is subject to continuous change. Birth and death are part of that process of change.

No Unique Self

Each self has no fixed reality, but is a

constantly changing self and dependant on

changing conditions.

While we are not permanent and fixed entities,

we are certainly part of the on-going reality.

Dependant Origination is also called the law of causality andwas the other main revelation which came to Buddha at hisenlightenment. In this teaching, he says that nothing exists on itsown, but always has come from earlier circumstances.

Everything is always a consequence of something before, that is, the origin of everything is not unique, and it is dependent on a particular set of circumstances having happened.

In essence, the Buddha did not see a separate and benevolent creator who could act on our behalf. He saw the interdependence of all life and the cause and effect of actions which create their own future.

"What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow. Our

life is the creation of our mind".

Karma means intended action, and is a dynamic concept. It is not fate or predestination, but a consequence of what has

gone before.

Intention is a major part of Karma!

Buddhists understand life as samsara, meaning perpetual wandering, and describe the transition like a billiard ball hitting another billiard ball.

Rebirth is different from Reincarnation.

Reincarnation implies the transfer of an essence, or a soul, while Rebirth follows the law of causality, or dependant origination, where this arises because of circumstances which happened before.

GoalA primary aim of Buddhism is to break free of the wheel of samsara, and to reach a new level called Nirvana.

MisconceptionThose in the West recognise the term as meaning Heaven, or a Heaven on Earth, or perhaps a famous rock band.

TruthNirvana literally means extinguishing or unbinding. The implication is that it is freedom from whatever binds you, from the burning passion of desire, jealousy, and ignorance.

BUDDHISM: PHILOSOPHY OR RELIGION?

Buddhism is a philosophy, a moral code, and, for some a religiousfaith which originated 2,500 years ago in India. It offers a diagnosisof the suffering of mankind and provides a formula for individualsto resolve that suffering.

“It is more of a way of life than a religion.”

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”-Buddha