2 . Buddhism

Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by many as a religion. Buddhism gradually spread from India throughout Asia to Central Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Southeast Asia, as well as to East Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan.

With approximately 360 million followers, Buddhism is considered a major world religion.

The aim of Buddhist practice is to end the suffering of cyclic existence by awakening the practitioner to the realization of true reality, the achievement of liberation (nirvana). To achieve this, one should purify and train the mind and act according to the laws of karma: perform negative actions, and negative results will follow, and vice versa. Buddhist morality is underpinned by the principles of harmlessness and moderation. Mental training focuses on moral discipline (sila), meditative concentration (samadhi), and wisdom (prajñā).

While Buddhism does not deny the existence of supernatural beings (indeed, many are discussed in Buddhist scripture), it does not ascribe power for creation, salvation or judgment to them. Like humans, they are regarded as having the power to affect worldly events, and so some Buddhist schools associate with them via ritual.

The Buddha taught that life was dissatisfactory because of craving, but that this condition was curable by following the Eightfold Path. This teaching is called the Four Noble Truths:

• Dukkha: All worldly life is unsatisfactory, disjointed, containing suffering.

• Samudaya: There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or desire (tanha) rooted in ignorance.

• Nirodha: There is an end of suffering, which is Nirvana.

• Maggo: There is a path that leads out of suffering, known as the Noble Eightfold Path.

In order to fully understand the noble truths and investigate whether they were in fact true, Buddha recommended that a certain lifestyle or path be followed which consists of:

• Right Understanding

• Right Thought

• Right Speech

• Right Action

• Right Livelihood

• Right Effort

• Right Mindfulness

• Right Concentration

The Eightfold Path essentially consists of meditation, following the precepts, and cultivating the positive converse of the precepts (e.g. benefiting living beings is the converse of the first precept of harmlessness). The Path may also be thought of as a way of developing śīla, meaning mental and moral discipline.

Buddhists undertake certain precepts as aids on the path to coming into contact with ultimate reality. Hence, they are also known as Training rules. Laypeople generally undertake (at least one of) five precepts. The Five Precepts are not given in the form of commands such as "thou shalt not ...", but rather are promises to oneself: "I will (try) to...".

• The five precepts are:

• To refrain from harming living creatures (killing).

• To refrain from taking that which is not freely given (stealing).

• To refrain from sexual misconduct.

• To refrain from incorrect speech (lying, harsh language, slander, idle chit-chat).

• To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness.

This difference stems from the rationale behind them. While other religions institutes commandments and is based on the wishes or commands of a divine being, Buddhist precepts are based more on common sense that the Buddha highlights to Buddhists. Just as we would not want to be killed, others, cherishing their own life would not want to be killed. Hence we should not engage in harming or killing others. The same rationale applies to the latter 3 precepts.

The other distinguishing feature of the Buddhist precepts is that they are wider-ranging in implication than the "commandments" of some other religions. The first precept, against killing, for example, forbids the killing of animals as well as humans.