Buddhism

In the 5th or 6th century BCE, a young man set out to find enlightenment and help his people. Shakyamuni Buddha experienced enlightenment 2,500 years ago and since then his teachings have spread through Asia and the world.

The teachings of Buddha are below, and once they are understood and folowed, one can become enlightenment and attain Nirvana.

All existence is suffering: birth, death, trying to attain the unattainable, all aspects of life are suffered. BUT the Buddhist teachings do not deny pleasure or happiness. Suffering balances happiness, because without one you cannot have the other.

The Subject of suffering: How do we understand suffering? To understand what it is to be human one must look at the Five Groups of Grasping...
-Body: This one is more self-evident, the body and what it is made of. Skin, bones, muscle, etc. as well all the four elements, earth, water, ire, and air.
-Sensation: This is the contact with the physical world with the "sense-organs"
-Perception: The refelction in the head created by the sensation
-Mental phenomena: notions, ideas, longings, moods, etc. created by the perceptions
-Consciousness: Collects the mental phenomena , helps understand and grasp ideas

Existance: The world is real an d identical to it's phenomena (a reflection of a different world). While the world around always exists, it is not until they fully grasp it with their senses does it become "real"

Rebirth: Death is not the end of existence and to continue the cycle of suffering, one must die and be reborn again.

The Doctrine of Karma: there are different realms one can be reborn into. "The sphere of the gods", "the world of man", "the sphere of spirits (animals and hell)". All are temporary, since death is inescapable, and one can transfer to different realms after death. Buddhists view the world of man as the most desirable, since they can attain enlightenment as humans. Animals and demons in hell are dull, and gods are too engrossed in leisure. Where one goes after death is decided by the law of karma, good deeds lead to a better rebirth, bad deeds lead to a worse.

Terminate suffering: Yay! So it's not forever. Once one has lived enough lives to fully grasp karma and therefore only do good deeds. Destroying the suffering in oneself leads to Nirvana. Bit how is suffering terminated?
-Right view: knowledge of the Four Truths (talked about above, suffering, origin of suffering, cessation of suffering, and the Eightfold Path)
-Right resolve: Be kind and do not harm, and have good morals
-Right speech: No gossip, lies, cruelty, or idleness
-Right conduct: No killing or stealing (the no kill ban included animals, explaining Buddhist vegetarianism)
-Right livelihood: an occupation that provides a good life without doing harm to others
-Right effort: resist bad mental phenomena and produce good ones
-Right awareness: mindfullness of oneself and ones actions (controlling temper, words, actions etc.)
-Right meditation: Understanding and following the techniques of meditation

NIRVANA
Once someone has achieved enlightenment (which can be done by both men and women) they become a saint. Those to attain enlightenment without teachings through their own insight become a Buddha.

Sources: Ellinger, H. (1995). Buddhism. London: SCM Press.
Wallace, B. A., Steven Wilhelm. (1993). Tibetan Buddhism: From the Ground Up. Boston: Wisdom Publications.