Magadh Info/Bodhgaya

The Buddhist Religion :

Preface
Buddhism is a philosophy of life based on the teachings of Lord Buddha, which subsequently turned into a religion. The core of Buddhism lies in the purification of mind and soul by realising the truth and getting rid of the worldly desires. The Buddhist philosophy teaches one to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness and wisdom through Buddhist practices such as practicing Eightfold Path, Five Precepts, Four Noble Truths, meditation and yoga. Basically, it were the principles of Karma in the doctrine of Buddhism that made the religion one of the major ones in the world.

Four Noble Truths

According to the Buddhist principles or religion, the four noble truths are the practical aspects of everyone's life. The four noble truths basically deals with how we are leading the present moment and how this moment would determine our future! The first noble truth is suffering, a condition that all living beings experience in various forms. The second noble truth states that the cause of suffering is craving or selfish desire. However, the third noble truth or Nirvana is a state which transcends all the sufferings and the fourth noble truth is the Noble Eightfold Path, the Buddha's teaching on the way to attain Nirvana.

Eightfold Path

The Eightfold path, as per the Buddhist doctrine, provides a being a practical guideline to ethical and mental development by freeing the person from attachments and delusions, and thus, paves way to the quest for truth. All the eight noble ways of the Eightfold Path - Right View, Right Intention, Right Livelihood, Right Speech, Right Action, right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration, combine together to stand on the threshold of the noble or transcendent attainments for freedom of a being from the worldly desires and leads him to nirvana.

Five Preceptions

The Buddhist religion mentions the Dhamma for the human beings in the form of moral conducts to make the human world bearable or a place to live in with dignity. The five precepts forbids a Buddhist from making bad deeds in speech and body and to serve as the basis for further growth in the Dhamma. These precepts mentions to refrain from incorrect speech, to refrain from sexual misconduct, to refrain from taking something which is not given, to refrain from destroying living creatures and last but not the least, to refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness.

Meditation
The Buddhist religion emphasises on the practice of meditation, which enables a being to win over the 'negative' delusions by strengthening the inner 'self' through virtuous and peaceful mind. The meditative practices make a being more constructive in nature, so much so that he is content with whatever he gets and work for the welfare of the other beings. The basic meditation techniques can be practiced by anybody, but if one wants to soak all the drops of spirituality and go beyond basic meditation, it becomes important for him to believe in the three jewels - Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Today, all over the world, there are approximately over 360 million followers of Buddhism, who follow different forms of Buddhism - Theravada, Mahayana, Tantrayana and Zen. But, all the traditions of The Buddhist religion preaches the same values..same teachings - non-violence, truth, love and compassion, tolerance of differences, the path of nirvana and the practice of meditation.