Buddhism

Between 0.8 to 3.25 percent of people in India practice Buddhism.

= What are some of the celebrations that Buddhists celebrate? = Buddhism is practiced in many countries, which have different cultures, so holidays vary from country to country. One holiday most Buddhists celebrate is the Buddha's birthday, which falls in the spring. The actual day is determined by the lunar calendar, so it varies from year to year. In 2008 it should fall on 12 May.

You can learn more about holidays celebrated in predominantly Buddhist countries here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Buddhist_holidays

Practicing Buddhist householders (laypeople) are allowed to do almost anything anybody else does except break the Five Precepts.

An easier question would be what are they not allowed to do.

The monks' isolation prohibited them from helping others and spreading Buddhism.

*looks around* Secret book? we have a secret book? If so no one brought it to my attention...

Seriously, as far as I know The Buddha made clear his teachings in full to all that asked. He presented his teachings in a number of formats based upon the people he was talking with. So more advanced followers he would explain things in a more complex manner and for newer followers he used simpler language and examples, but in all cases the teachings were that same.

India.

Historians have differing opinions on the precise date of the Buddha's birth but it was around the year 500BCE. He was born into a noble family in Lumbini, an area that today lies in the South of Nepal.

The point of Buddhist practices is to become a buddha, in other words, to realize one's inherent "buddha-nature." We (supposedly) misuse our minds, which is why our lives are infected with the three poisons of greed, hostility, and delusion. These poisons cause us to lead lives filled with suffering (dissatisfaction, trouble, sorrow).

Meditation changes the way we use our minds. Done properly, it replaces those poisons with clarity, insight, and present-moment awareness, and these lead to abiding peace and ease. Someone who lives this way lives a skillful life of nirvana.

So meditation is beneficial because it enables those who practice it properly to reduce the suffering in their lives. Meditation is essential because the Buddha emphasized that it is critical that each person train his or her own mind--as opposed, say, to merely adopting some set of beliefs--in order to enjoy direct experience of nirvana. He said that it is impossible to experience nirvana without meditation.

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Zack

Shaving of hair symbolizes non-attachment. I don't.

Mythology states that Hinduism was born when Lord Brahma gave birth to sons. Being sons of Lord Brahma they thought their Religion to be brhaminism unless told otherwise by Lord Brahma himself.

The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was the son of Suddhodana Gautama, the leader of the Sakya clan in northeastern India. (Hence he is also often called Sakyamuni, the "wise man of the Sakya clan"). His mother's name was Maya, usually referred to as "Maha Maya" ("Maya the Great"). She died seven days after giving birth to Siddhartha, and he was raised by Maya's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. Siddhartha had several half-brothers, including Ananda and Devadatta. Ananda eventually become the Buddha's attendant, and--due to his great memory skills--is believed to be the verbatim source of Buddha's teachings. Devadatta, on the other hand, was jealous of Siddhartha and tried to foil his mission. The Buddha had a wife, named Yasodhara and a son named Rahula. Even though Yasodhara was initially furious when Siddhartha abandoned her in his quest for enlightenment, she eventually came around to seeing things his way and emulated his actions, though within the confines of the palace. When Siddhartha eventually returned home (now as Buddha), Ananda negotiated between him and Yasodhara, which eventually resulted in Siddhartha ordaining her to be the first female member of his order.

Buddhism was not created with the will: "I will do new". Buddha was a real living person, he was a son of the king of the Sakyas a kingdom in northindia, and was called Gautama. He lived in a palace, outside of this palace it was ugly and stinky smelling. The People become sick, grow old and die. Suffering doing so. Gautama saw this suffering beings and thought by himself, there must be a way to end this suffering. He went off the palace, cut his hair, changed cloth with a beggar and started to meditate nearby the river Ganges, close to the village Gaya. One day came a boat along with a musican and his deciple. The musican tought his deciple: "Don't pull the string to tight it will bent, and don't leave the string to loose, it will make no sound". Hearing these words, Gautama Sakyamuni became enlightened and he was Buddha Sakyamuni. He found the way of the middle. He was the first human who was enlightened by himself. Buddha went from Gaya to Saranath near Benares, and there he turnd the wheel of knowledge the first time. Explaining his experience to everyone who asked him, he lived to the age of over 80 years. Buddhism has not been created, it is the natural consequence of these facts, that Gautama Sakyamuni has reached enlightnement.This is the shortest story about Buddha I've ever told! yep!

A sin is a transgression of religious or moral law, and Buddhism doesn't really have laws. It has the Four Noble Truths and the Ten Precepts - and a multitude of other numbered lists of things to watch out for, but none of them are laws. The Buddha suggested some behaviors which will probably make our lives easier and happier, and make it easier for us to move toward understanding the true nature of reality, but they weren't strict rules about how to behave. They were just revelations about what would be a skillful means toward enlightenment. One of the Ten Precepts is "don't tell lies". If you lie, you're just making it harder for yourself to become enlightened: its not a sin.

Buddhism is an individually centered religion. Sans the exception of the Tibetan Lama system it is not a centralized faith. Buddhism resolves that the individual resolve and choose their beliefs and path without mandates or threats of divine violence in retribution as compared to Abrahamic faiths. The foundation of Buddhism as a branch of Hinduism shares this non-centralized structure.

Sacred means important to a deity, or sharing some connection with a deirty. Buddhism has no god, so nothing is "sacred."

If by sacred the meaning is "important" then yes, all animals are important to Buddhists as potential sentient beings that must be protected and not killed. The Deer is a symbol is Buddhism because it is a direct reference to Buddha's first sermon...

Buddhism can be practiced alone but within a community Buddhists are generally organized around a temple. Attached to a temple are a number of monks and caretakers (some cultures frown on monks taking an active part in society and the caretakers usually deal with mundane things like handling money and doing grocery shopping) There is not a single entity or authority leading Buddhists to my knowledge. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, but has no authority over any others. Note that there are many different forms of Buddhism, quite often mixed in with local customs and beliefs.

Upa Gupta was the monk who influenced Ashoka to embrace Buddhism.

Buddha Jayanti or also known as Buddha Purnima is the most sacred festivals of Buddhist. Buddha Purnima (Buddha Birthday) is celebrated in remembrance Lord Buddha. Lord Buddha is the founder of Buddhism. This day is the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha. It falls on the full moon of the fourth lunar month (month of Vaisakh) i.e. April or May. This day commemorates three important events of Buddha's life

- His birth in 623 BC.

- His enlightenment i.e. attainment of supreme wisdom, in 588 BC.

- His attainment of Nirvana i.e. the complete extinction of his self at the age of 80.

This day is a thrice blessed day. Lord Buddha is considered the ninth avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu (Preserver in the Hindu Holy Trinity of Creator-Preserver-Destroyer). Gautam Buddha "lived and died in about the fifth century before the Christian era". Buddha means "enlightened one" - someone who is completely free from all faults and mental obstructions.

Gautam Buddha was not a god and the philosophy of Buddhism does not entail any theistic world-view. The teachings of the Buddha are solely to liberate human beings from the misery and sufferings of life.

According to the Buddhism, sorrow and desire are the main cause of all the evil and suffering of this world. Lord Buddha advocated the Eightfold Path consisting of precepts like right conduct, right motive, right speech, right effort, right resolve, right livelihood, right attention and right meditation to gain mastery over suffering. It is only after following this path one can reach the ultimate aim of Nirvana. Nirvana is the transcendental state of complete liberation. Gautama Buddha lived and taught in northern India in the 6th Century B.C.

Korean Buddhism is somewhat concerned with theological doctrines, as are many schools of Mahayana Buddhism.

There are several forms of Buddhism practiced in South Korea, but the most common is the Chogye, the Korean Rinzai Zen school of Mahayana Buddhism. There is little truly distinct about Korean Buddhism.

There is one element, however. In Mahayana Buddhism, there is the view that the Buddha left a successor, Mahakashyapa, as the second Buddhist patriarch. Zen Buddhism believes that the founder of Ch'an/Zen, Bodhidharma, was the tenth Buddhist patriarch. Most of Zen Buddhism believes that there were only 28 Buddhist patriarchs. The 28th gave his transmission to many successors, thus ending the lineage of Buddhist patriarchs.

But there are two schools of Korean Rinzai Zen, Chogye and one other, which both believe that the head of their sect is the current patriarch of all Buddhism. Thus these two schools of Korean Rinzai Zen are sometimes referred to as "Patriarchal Zen".

rely on the religious teachings of brahman\.

I can only speak for myself on this matter, and some may take offense at what I write here, but this is my story:

I was raised as an Episcopalian. In my mid- 20's I decided that if I was going to call myself a Christian, I should know and understand all that it meant. So I started an almost 25 year quest to fully understand my religion, and all other major religions and how they relate, or don't relate to each other. A part of this investigation was to validate my religion and to ensure that I was worshiping as God intended.

I studied not just the Christian Bible, but the Pentateuch (The Five books of Moses), the sayings of The Buddha, Daoism, and slightly less, the Koran and Hinduism. I studied commentaries on each religion by persons who either supported or were opposed to each religions teachings or current practice. I studied books on the history of each religion and their holy books (who wrote them and when). The more I studied Christianity, the more I realized that Jesus was a Jewish reformer and not out to start a new religion; and that many of the things in Christianity that we believed and practice came to us through Paul not Jesus. Lastly, I found that many of these things that we followed as Christians would be anathema to Jesus. So as others who came to believe this, I started to investigate Judaism more deeply to potentially convert to Judaism.

I purchased the most authoritative version of Jewish holy books that had extensive commentaries included. But as I read these books and their commentaries, and as I contemplated all that I had read and studied over the decades, and all the discrepancies within the Bible and between the Jewish and Christian versions of the Pentateuch and with the Bible and science, what I found in all the Abrahamic religions was not the hand of God shaping events, but the hand of man. I was absolutely floored and left adrift spiritually.

Then I remembered the teachings of The Buddha that I had read. I remembered how everything he said made sense and was fully supported by science. I also remembered how his story made me feel that I could also attain the happiness and peace he felt. So I bought the Dalai Lama's book "How to Practice" and began meditating. I started noticing how calmer and more at peace I could be with myself and others. So I bought more books and started attending teachings of both The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Han and here I am almost 9 years later happier and calmer than I have ever been.

Buddhism arose in the Hindu milieu, and thus is associated with Hinduism.

Buddhism influenced the development of Daoism (or Taoism) in China. Buddhist concepts were also absorbed by Manichaeism and arguably by the Eastern Christian Church.