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Enlightenment!
The Founder of Buddhism was the historical Buddha (which means the Fully Enlightened One), born in Nepal (year 623 B.C.) as Prince Siddhartha of the Sakya Kingdom. The natives of ancient Nepal were the Kirat people (Tamang, Sherpa, Rai, Gurung etc.), better known as the Gurkhas today.
Prince Siddhartha left Nepal (in the Himalayan mountain range) at the age of 29 years old, crossed over to ancient India and eventually gained Enlightenment (Bodhi) at the age of 35 years old, at a place subsequently named as Bodhi Gaya. He became the Buddha.
The key teachings of the Buddha, encapsulated in the Four Noble Truths, are:
1. Living a simple life of love, non-violence and compassion will result in a person getting reborn in heaven, or in good circumstances as a human being. The former is consistent with Christ's Teachings. For the latter, clinical cases of human rebirth have been extensively researched and published by Dr. Ian Stevenson, MD and university Professor.
2. Practising meditation / yoga / Zen together with point 1, will bring about spiritual happiness here and hereafter. This is consistent with Laozi's Teachings.
3. Practising points 1 and 2, together with the initial knowledge of the intrinsic nature of all worldly things (impermanence, insubstantiality and insatisfactoriness) will lead to the end of rebirth, and go beyond heavenly existence. This is termed as Nibbana (Nirvana), which the Buddha has described to us as Highest Happiness, Freedom, Unique and Beyond Space-Time Continuum. Nibbana is not existence nor extinction.
4. The precise method for point 3 is known as the Noble Eight-fold Path.
At the age of 80 years old, the historical Buddha entered into Final Nibbana (Parinibbana). 500 years later (year 57 A.D.), the Buddha appeared in a dream to the Han Emperor Mingdi, which prompted the Emperor to ask his Court the next day about 'a golden man with light shining from his neck'. This account is recorded in China's historical archives. One of the official said he had heard of a holy man in the western region, who had find immortality and whose skin was golden. Subsequently, Han Mingdi sent an expedition to found out more. This marked the spread of Buddha's Teachings from the western region (Himalayas), and also India, into the central plains of ancient China.
2600 years later, Albert Einstein said:
"There is a third stage of religious experience…the individual feels the futility of human desires…beginnings of cosmic religious feeling already appear at an early stage of development, e.g., in many of the Psalms of David and in some of the Prophets. Buddhism…contains a much stronger element of this."
Robert Oppenheimer said:
"If we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains the same, we must say 'no'. If we ask whether the electron's position changes with time, we must say 'no'. If we ask whether it is in motion, we must say 'no'. The Buddha has also given such answers when asked (about Parinibbana)."
Niels Bohr said:
"For a parallel to the lesson of atomic theory...(we must turn) to those kinds of epistemological problems with which already thinkers like the Buddha and Laozi have been confronted, when trying to harmonize our position as spectators and actors in the great drama of existence."
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoThe Buddha was meditating on why people suffer and are dissatisfied with the world. He was trying to find why we can not be happy in the world as it is. What he discovered was that our desires, longings, prejudices, and judgements colors the reality of what is actually happening. He realized that each moment, seen directly without our preconceptions is reality; not what we project onto each moment. This realization he called enlightenment. So what happened is that The Buddha discovered a way to be at peace with the world and to maximize our enjoyment of it by seeing without judgement and enjoying the world as it is.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agomeditation
its not that simple//
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Which of these describes the four Noble Truths?
Ideas or truths that came to Buddha while he was sitting under a tree and which form the basis for the Buddhist religion.
Is it true that Buddha did not achieve enlightenment sitting under the bodhi tree on the first week?
yes
What is the correct sentence The bird is sitting on the tree or the bird is sitting under the tree?
the bird is sitting on the tree
When and Where Did Sidhartha Guatama's become Buddha?
Siddhartha Gotama became a Buddha, that is, enlightened, when he was in his mid-30s, sometime between about 528-449 B.C.E. He got the insight that awakened him while sitting under a Ficus tree in what is now Bodh Gaya, in Bihar, India.
Who got happy while sitting under the Bodhi tree?
No one got "happy" under the Bodhi tree any more than people get happy anywhere on Earth. However, Gautama Buddha achieved enlightenment some 2500 years ago while meditating under the Bodhi tree. Under the same tree the Lord of Illusion, Mara, and his host of demons were defeated so they weren't happy either.
What was the name of the tree Buddha sat and meditated under?
The Buddha achieved enlightenment while sitting under a fig tree,whose species is now called ficus religious. The specific tree is called The Bodhi tree, where Bodhi means Enlightenment.AnswerThe Buddha just before he became a Buddha as a Bodhisattva, sat under the Assattha (Pali), often called the Bodhi-tree, and thereupon attained enlightenment becoming a Buddha. There is, however, more to this. The Pali word Assattha is probably the past participle of the Pali word, 'assasati' which can literally mean "enter by the breath". This makes sense if we understand that Buddhahood is achieved by access to the fourth meditation or dhyana (Jp., Zen) which utilizes the breath to finally transcend it. Here the mind reaches its apex. Mind awakens to its own immaculate nature, hence, Buddha. That would be the "Bodhi Tree."Although there are many thoughts on this question the original tree, under which Buddha received the enlightenment was Ficus benghalensis, the Banyan.
Im a famous horse who sounds like phoning in a document while sitting under a tree who are you?
The answer is Shadowfax. :)
When Buddha was a boy under which tree did he go into his first state of meditation?
the bodhi tree
Where did Buddha gain Enlightenmrnt?
Under the Bodhi (banyan) tree.
Where did Buddha find enlightenment and awakening?
under the bodhi tree
What can you do while sitting in a tree?
Think.
What tree was Siddhartha Gautama sitting under?
A fig tree
