People used to think that Buddhism is a personal worship, but it isn’t.

In fact, it is
a method whose Buddha after his enlightenment taught the first disciples about
the path to the cessation of suffering from samsara.

Buddha was primarily an ethical teacher and reformer, not a metaphysician.

When any one asked Buddha metaphysical questions as to whether the soul was
different from the body, whether it survived death, whether the world was finite
or infinite, eternal or non-eternal, etc. he avoided discussing them.

Instead of discussing metaphysical questions, which are ethically useless and

intellectually uncertain, Buddha always tried to enlighten persons on the most
important questions of sorrow, its origin, its cessation and the path leading to its
cessation.

The answers to the four questions constitute the essence of Buddha’s

enlightenment. These have come to be known as the four noble.

They are:

(1) Life in the world is full of suffering.

(2) There is a cause of this suffering.

(3) It is possible to stop suffering.

(4) There is a path which leads to the cessation of suffering.

The fourth noble truth, as seen already, lays down that there is a path (marga) —
which Buddha followed and others can similarly follow — to reach a state free
from misery. Clues regarding this path are derived from the knowledge of the
chief conditions that cause misery. The path recommended by Buddha consists of
eight steps or rules and is, therefore, called the eightfold noble path (astangika-
marga). This gives in a nutshell the essentials of Buddha Ethics. This path is open
to all monks as well as laymen. The noble path consists in the acquisition of the
following eight good things:
- Right views
- Right resolve
- Right speech
- Right conduct
- Right livelihood
- Right effort

- Right mindfulness
- Right concentration
Finally, Buddhism concern about other two principal things, that is samsara (or
reincarnation) and karma (or the law of cause and effect).
The concept of Samsara in Buddhism refers to the cycle of life, which includes
birth, living, death and returning to life. Samsara is the continually repeating
cycle of birth and death, where beings cycle through six realms of existence.

Samsara in Buddhism can be overcome by following the Buddhist path and

improving your karma. Essentially, Samsara is life on earth, filled with sorrow
and pain.

Karma is the Buddhist version of the law of cause and effect. It teaches that
whatever you reap in life is what you sow. In Buddhism, whatever you did in this
life will affect what you become in your next life. In this way, the cycle of
Samsara is driven by the law of karma.