Buddhism, basic teachings

At his birth there was a prophecy that either he would become a world conqueror, or he would "conquer" the world by renouncing it and becoming a Buddha. His father preferred the more tangible kind of conquest and tried to shield Siddhartha from all the evils of life that might tempt him into spiritual reflection. This strategy backfired; for when, about age thirty, Siddhartha finally did experience evils, by encountering a sick man, an old man, a dead man, and a wandering ascetic, he determined immediately to renounce the world and seek enlightenment like the ascetic. This violated Siddhartha's duty as a householder, since his wife had just given birth to their first child, but Vedic duties and the traditional four stages of life, were no longer of interest to him.

After years of fasting and other ascetic practices,

during which he supposedly subsisted on as little as one grain of rice a day, Siddhartha felt that he had achieved nothing. He ceased his fasting, but then sat down under a tree with the determination not to arise until he had achieved enlightenment. The tree became the Bodhi, "the Enlightenment Tree”; for under it Siddhartha, resisting the attacks and temptations of Mâra, the king of the demons, “the Ego”, became the Buddha, the one who "Woke Up." That was in about 527.

The Buddha proceeded to Sarnath, near Benares, and delivered his first sermon in a place called the Deer Park. That set the "Wheel of the Law," the Dharmacakra, in motion. The form of the Dharmacakra at right is identical to the one on the flag of India and is copied from a pillar set up at Sarnath by the great King Ashoka. The sermon consisted of the Four Noble (Ârya) Truths:
1 - The Truth of Suffering, or Misery (Duhkhasatya), that life is suffering, including birth, disease, old age, and death:

Siddhartha did not seek enlightenment because he saw someone having a bad day; he was moved by the examples of disease, old age, death, and asceticism -- as when he says in the Majjhima-Nikâya, Sutta 63, "there still remain birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair.

2 - The Truth of the Cause (Samudayasatya), that suffering is caused by desire (tr.s.n.â) and by ignorance (avidyâ), which ultimately depend on each other.

3 - The Truth of Cessation (Nirodhasatya), that suffering can be ended if its causes, desire and ignorance, are removed; and

4 - The Truth of the Way (Mârgasatya), which is the Middle Way, between the extremes of asceticism and indulgence, or the Eightfold Way, which is

1. Right Knowledge, samyagdr.s.t.i,
2. Right Resolve, samyaksan.kalpa,
3. Right Speech, samyagvâk,
4. Right Conduct, samyakkarma,
5. Right Livelihood, samyagjîva,
6. Right Effort, samyagvyâyâma,
7. Right Mindfulness, samyaksmr.ti, and
8. Right Meditation and Concentration, samyaksamâdhi.

The Buddha established a monastic Order called San.gha, with five basic Precepts:

1. Not to kill
2. Not to steal
3. Not to be unchaste
4. Not to drink intoxicants
5. Not to lie

The monastic discipline soon involved many more rules, and the Five Precepts became simple moral injunctions that applied to the laity as well as to the monks and nuns.
Practice and Enlightenment then lead one to Nirvâna, which the Buddha refused to positively characterize. Do we even exist when we achieve Nirvâna? The Buddha denied that we exist, denied that we do not exist, denied that we both exist and do not exist, and denied that we neither exist nor do not exist. This kind of answer is called the Fourfold Negation and becomes a fundamental Buddhist philosophical principle to deal with attempts to characterize Nirvâna or ultimate reality: that we cannot either affirm or deny anything about it.

Buddhist scriptures are called the Tripit.aka, or the "Three Baskets," consisting of the Sutrapit.aka, the Buddha's sermons, the Vinayapit.aka, the monastic rules, and the Abhidharmapit.aka, early philosophical treatises. The Buddha himself spoke the Prakrit Mâgadhî, but the oldest version of the Tripit.aka that is extant was committed to writing in Sri Lanka using the Prakrit Pâli, which had become a literary language. These texts are called the "Pâli Canon." The version of the Tripit.aka that exists in Chinese used to be regarded as derived from the Pâli Canon, but they are now both seen as based on older versions.

Since there is no God or soul in Buddhism, there is certainly a sharp contrast with religions like Judaism, Christianity, or Islâm. However, the contrast is less sharp with other historical and world religions. Thus, while there is no God, there are gods in Buddhism, gods like Indra and Brahmâ who turn up as guardians of Buddhist temples. Most importantly, the sanctity of the Buddha himself is immediately obvious. After his death, the ashes of the Buddha became relics in much the same way that we find relics of the Saints in Christianity. The form of the stupa originally served to enshrine such relics.

That the Buddha may originally have been just a person is not something extraordinary in Indian religion, where in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism it is possible for ordinary human beings to become morally and spiritually superior to the gods, achieving the “Self-Realization of the Being”. Especially noteworthy is the belief that in achieving Enlightenment, the Buddha acquired supernatural powers.
These powers were: Healing any disease, Clairaudience, Telepathy, The power to know one's own previous existences, Clairvoyance, Supreme Knowledge, Supreme Enlightenment, Astral Projection, Jinas, and the most important which is the incarnation of his own Spirit!