Buddhism is not only a religion, it’s also a
philosophy. It encourages it’s followers to
At the age of 29, he, he
Prince of Nepal, abandoned
his love, his luxuries, and his
glorious life to become a
wondering Aztec. He stood
for peace, and found it. He
gained monks and
encouraged others to give up
luxuries and find peace too.
He grew to have believers
and even today he has over
13 million followers,
thousands of years later. The
Tipitaka, a very important
and sacred book, is what the
monks wrote down from
Buddha’s teaching’s after his
death. Even today people
practive the ancient and
sacred practices for them.
Buddhism is very popular in
Indian and Asian cultures.
be peaceful and positive. They follow and
worship Buddha. They read from a book
called the Tipitaka. Unlike most religions,
they don’t encourage wordly happiness,
the existence of souls, or that worldly
things are permanent.
The four noble truths are:
1. There is suffering.
2. There is cause for suffering.
3. There is cessation of suffering.
4. There is path leading to the cessation
of suffering.
One does not have to read the Tipitaka
from beginning to end to understand the
four noble truths. Each chapter is a sutra
(synopsis), which Buddha would have used
to explain the same four noble truths to his
audiences under different circumstances.
The goal Buddhists have is to attain final
liberation called Nibbana. To get there you
have to follow eight important steps. (The
noble eight-fold path.) Info from
webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/buddhaintro.htm
1. Right View- To understand wholesome
deeds, unwholesome deeds and comprehend
the law of Karma.
2. Right Intention- The intention of non-
greed, non-hatred and non-delusion.
3. Right Speech- Abstaining from false
speech, malicious speech, harsh speech and
idle chatter.
4. Right Action- Abstaining from killing,
stealing and sexual misconduct.
5. Right Livelihood- Abstaining from wrong
and corrupt means of livelihood.
6. Right Effort- Awakening zeal for
One major holiday is Buddha
day, which is on the night of the
full moon in May. During that
day more than 2,500 years ago,
people have been celebrating his
life, death, and transformation.
Another popular holiday would
be Buddhist New Year. In
different countries, such as
Tiland, Burma, Srilanka,
Combodia, and Lous, the New
Year is celbrated for three days
after the new moon in April.
Chinese New Year is also
celebrated by many but has no
religious bit about it; besides the
fact that there is Buddha incense
put out instead of other things
for luck.
Many ceremonies occur during
festivals, for ex; The Festival of
Floating Bowls, which occurs
during Kathin Festival Season,
when all the rivers and canals
are full of water, and takes place
on the full moon of the twelfth
lunar month. People bring out
bowls made of leaves that
contain flowers, candies and
incense candles and float them
in the water.