Buddhism is one of the most widespread and revered religions in the world. This doctrine was especially popular among the broad masses of the population of East, Southeast and Central Asia. The very word "Buddhism" comes from the Sanskrit "buddha", which means "enlightened." The essence of Buddhism is set forth in the noble truths bestowed on humanity by the Buddha.
Buddhism - the path to enlightenment
The adherents of Buddhism are convinced that every person who has attained the highest holiness is able to become a Buddha - an enlightened one. Tradition says that after many successive rebirths, Buddha, following the will of the gods, decided to descend to earth and show people the true path to salvation. For his last birth, Buddha chose the royal family of Gautama, who once lived in the northern part of India.
Buddha, incarnated in a man, learned the true cause of human suffering and found a way to get rid of it, although Mara, the demon of evil, tried with all his might to prevent this. The Buddha managed to defeat Mara, after which he delivered his famous sermon, which laid out the foundations of the new religion. Those who listened to the Buddha's sermons joined the itinerant group of monks and disciples of the enlightened one.
For forty years, surrounded by disciples, the Buddha walked through villages and cities, preaching his teachings and performing miracles. He met death at a very old age.
The essence of Buddhist doctrine
The central position of Buddhism is the idea that being and suffering are equal and identical. This doctrine did not begin to reject the idea of transmigration of souls, adopted in Brahmanism, but only made some changes to it. Buddhists believe that every reincarnation and in general any kind of being is an inevitable and inevitable evil and misfortune.
The highest goal of every Buddhist is considered to be the cessation of rebirth and the achievement of complete non-existence, called nirvana.
Not everyone, Buddhists believe, manages to achieve the state of nirvana in his current rebirth. The path to spiritual salvation can be very long. And each time, incarnating in a new being, a person ascends to the highest wisdom, gradually leaving the vicious cycle of being and closing the chain of rebirth.
The most important thing in Buddhism is the knowledge of the essence and the root cause of being, that is, suffering. Buddhism claims to know the only way to salvation, the achievement of nothingness and the complete cessation of human suffering.
It is believed that the Buddha announced four noble truths. The main one is that any existence is suffering. The second asserts that the causes of suffering are originally inherent in the very nature of man. The third point is that suffering cannot be stopped. The last noble truth consists in showing the true path to salvation, which consists in contemplation and meditation - a kind of immersion in oneself.
The sign of identity that Buddhism puts between suffering and being, reduces the whole picture of the world to a rather hopeless existence, where every creature is doomed to continuous torment and destruction. At the same time, any joy only strengthens the attachment to mortal existence and hides in itself the danger of re-entering the path of endless rebirth.
