Is how did Buddhism begin and what is the origin of Buddhism the same thing?

Answer 1

Though sometimes people may use those two different terms to ask the same question, it can mean two different things. The Origin of Buddhism could mean how it began or where, and if you are asking where it would be the place in which it started, which differs between the different schools. How Buddhism began is traced back to the history of Gautama Sakyamuni and his followers.

Buddhism had it's start about 2500 years ago when Siddhattha Gotama (who would later be known as the Buddha) went out from his father's palace and noticed human suffering. Perhaps because he had been spared from seeing suffering all his life he did not just accept it as "just part of life" like most people. He started to wonder why people had to suffer, and how to prevent it. After much thought and meditation he came to understand that:

• All life entails suffering
• That suffering results fro desire
• Tat desire can be endd and thus suffering can be ended
• The route to endicg suffering is by the Eightfold Path

These thoughts, known as the Four Noble Truths became Buddhism