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Home  Lord Gautam Buddha
Lord Gautam Buddha [....Continue ] He realised that wealth and luxury did not guarantee happiness, so he explored the different teachings religions and philosophies of the day, to find the key to human happiness. After six years of study and meditation he finally found 'the middle path' and was enlightened After six years of study and meditation he finally found 'the middle path' and was enlightened. After enlightenment, the Buddha spent the rest of his life teaching the principles of Buddhism — called the Dhamma, or Truth — until his death at the age of 80 Buddhism is a religion to about 300 million people around the world. The word comes from 'budhi', 'to awaken'. It has its origins about 2,500 years ago when Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, was himself awakened (enlightened) at the age of 35. To many, Buddhism goes beyond religion and is more of a philosophy or 'way of life'. It is a philosophy because philosophy 'means love of wisdom' and the Buddhist path can be summed up as: (1) to lead a moral life, (2) to be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions, and (3) to develop wisdom and understanding. Lord Siddhartha Gautam was born into a royal family in Lumbini, now located in Nepal, in 563 BC. At 29, he realised that wealth and luxury did not guarantee happiness, so he explored the different teachings religions and philosophies of the day, to find the key to human happiness. After six years of study and meditation he finally found 'the middle path' and was enlightened. After enlightenment, the Buddha spent the rest of his life teaching the principles of Buddhism — called the Dhamma, or Truth — until his death at the age of 80. A statue of the Buddha with hands rested gently in its lap and a compassionate smile reminds us to strive to develop peace and love within ourselves. Bowing to the statue is an expression of gratitude for the teaching. The Buddha taught many things, but the basic concepts in Buddhism can be summed up by the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The second truth is that suffering is caused by craving and aversion. We will suffer if we expect other people to conform to our expectation, if we want others to like us, if we do not get something we want,etc. In other words, getting what you want does not guarantee happiness. Rather than constantly struggling to get what you want, try to modify your wanting. Wanting deprives us of contentment and happiness. A lifetime of wanting and craving and especially the craving to continue to exist, creates a powerful energy which causes the individual to be born. So craving leads to physical suffering because it causes us to be reborn. [....Continue ] Devotion to higher learning and meditation, being aware of breathing; and seeing non-duality; Looking deeply and understanding, finding true nature and living a life of generosity; Realizing the existence of impermanence, non-self and inter-being in the ultimate reality; Touching the ground of being and direct experience with reality; Liberating oneself from ignorance to overcome mental obstructions (fear, anger, hatred, arrogance, jealousy and greed) and letting go; Practicing Dharma and touching the Dharma Body, realizing all Dharmas are empty of permanent and unchanging self; Moderation in food and abstinence from alcohol; At peace in remote and solitude and contemplating on emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness to realize liberation; All of the above help to establish “Four Beautiful State of Mind” that are not subject to any limitations often called “Four Limitless Meditations” – loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity; When this state of mind is attained we realize that this world is filled with suffering and wonders. We learn to derive joy and happiness from the wonders and understand suffering deeply. We understand that the root causes of suffering are craving and ignorance and by overcoming craving and ignorance we can end suffering.
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