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    Buddhism for Today
    Buddhism for Today
    Buddhism for Today
    Ebook31 pages29 minutes

    Buddhism for Today

    By Robert Donaldson

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    In 1222, Nichiren Daishonin was born in Japan. At age twelve, Nichiren Daishonin entered a Buddhist temple and, at sixteen, was ordained a priest. Nichiren Daishonin assiduously studied the teachings of Shakyamuni, T’ien T’ai and Dengyo.

    Nichiren Daishonin realized that the Lotus sutra was the teaching that would relieve the people of their suffering in the Latter Day of the Law, an immensely long peoiod of time that was predicted to begin approximately 2,000 years after Shakyamuni’s death.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRobert Donaldson
    Release dateJun 15, 2013
    ISBN9781301047789
    Buddhism for Today
    Author

    Robert Donaldson

    Robert Donaldson is a writer living in Reno, Nevada. He has written articles on gardening, social commentary and technology. He also has written and self-published two novels.

    Read more from Robert Donaldson

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      Book preview

      Buddhism for Today - Robert Donaldson

      Buddhism for Today

      by

      Robert Donaldson

      Copyright 2013 by Robert Donaldson

      Smashwords Edition

      An Introduction to Buddhism

      Buddhism is a religion that, historically, is said to have been founded by Shakyamuni Buddha in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains sometime around 600 B.C. Some historians believed that Shakyamuni lived as far back as 1,000 B.C.

      Shakyamuni Buddha expounded many teachings over the course of his lifetime. The intent of these teachings was to help the people of the world relieve their suffering. The wisdom of Shakyamini was such that he knew that different people had different capacities to understand his teachings. Therefore he preached different sermons based on the time, the place and the capacity of the people.

      The basis of Shakyamuni’s teachings was to lead the people out of suffering and into enlightenment. He realized that the people experienced the sufferings of aging, sickness and death. To relieve this suffering the Buddha taught that the cause of most suffering is attachment to material possessions.

      The quest for material possessions often leads the people to embrace greed, anger and stupidity, resulting in constant restlessness and dissatisfaction with one’s life. Shakyamuni’s teachings often referred to other Buddhas whose purpose was to inspire in the people the desire to reach a higher, nobler state of existence.

      During the last eight years of his life, Shakyamuni taught the Lotus Sutra—his highest teaching. All the Buddha’s teachings up to that point were designed to lead the people to the highest teaching.

      Over the years, many Buddhist priests and scholars studied Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching in an attempt to fully understand the meaning behind his words. They and many others were prompted by the realization that the teachings were intended to help people deal with the difficulties encountered in everyday life. The world was filled with conflict. Nations were at war and the people were often at odds leading to social upheaval and disagreements.

      Buddhism later spread to China, where T’ien T’ai, a Chinese Buddhist monk studied the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha as put forth by his followers as sutras that taught certain truths about life. The teachings and interpretations put for by T’ien T’ai became the foundation for the Tendai sect of Buddhism.

      T’ien T’ai, after much research and investigation classified Shakyamuni’s teachings as provisional and true. The pre-Lotus

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