Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Buddhism (/ ˈ b ʊ d ɪ z əm / BUUD-ih-zəm, US also / ˈ b uː d-/ BOOD-), [1] [2] [3] also known as Buddha Dharma, is an Indian religion [a] and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. [7]
The Buddha's tribe of origin, the Shakyas, seems to have had non-Vedic religious practices which persist in Buddhism, such as the veneration of trees and sacred groves, and the worship of tree spirits (yakkhas) and serpent beings (nagas). They also seem to have built burial mounds called stupas. [87]
Dharmacakra, symbol of the Dharma, the Buddha's teaching of the path to enlightenment. Buddhism (Pali and Sanskrit: बौद्ध धर्म Buddha Dharma) is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, "the awakened one".
The Navayana, a modernistic interpretation of Buddhism by the Indian leader and Buddhist scholar B. R. Ambedkar, [236] rejected much of traditional Buddhism, including the Four Noble Truths, karma and rebirth, thus turning his new religion into a vehicle for class struggle and social action. [237]
The Buddha also expected his disciples to approach him as a teacher in a critical fashion and scrutinize his actions and words, as shown in the Vīmaṃsaka Sutta. [3] Some Buddhist thinkers even argued that rational reflection and philosophical analysis was a central practice which was necessary for the attainment of insight in meditation.
In the early Buddhist texts, and as taught by the modern Theravada school, the goal of becoming a teaching Buddha in a future life is viewed as the aim of a small group of individuals striving to benefit future generations after the current Buddha's teachings have been lost, but in the current age there is no need for most practitioners to ...
Buddhism also influenced the Japanese religion of Shinto, which incorporated Buddhist elements. [136] During the later Kamakura period (1185–1333), there were six new Buddhist schools founded which competed with the older Nara schools and are known as "New Buddhism" (Shin Bukkyō) or Kamakura Buddhism.
Buddhism did not only appropriate deities into the religion, but also adapted its own teachings. According to religious studies scholar Donald Swearer, bodhisattvas, relic worship, and hagiographies of Buddhist masters were ways for Buddhism to adapt to pre-Buddhist deities and animistic beliefs, by fitting these into the Buddhist thought ...