Buddhism is believed to have began in Western Asia around 2,500 years ago by a young prince named Siddhartha Gautama. After luxuriously living as a prince, he went on a religious quest seeking to alleviate human suffering. Gautama earned the title Buddha meaning the enlightened one, when he declared to have found the answers to life's suffering.
The Four Noble Truths are comprising the essence of Buddha's teachings, though they leave much left unexplained. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. It was these four principles that the Buddha came to understand during his meditation under the bodhi tree.
They are as followed:
The truth of suffering (Dukkha)
The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya)
The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
Buddhist worship is called puja. Buddhists can worship both at home or at a temple. At home they have a room set aside which they call a shrine for their worship where they have candles and an incense burner. There are as many forms of Buddhist worship as there are schools of Buddhism - and there are many of those. Worship in Mahayana tradition takes the form of devotion to Buddha and to Bodhisattvas. Worshipers may sit on the floor barefoot facing an image of Buddha and chanting. They will listen to monks chanting from religious texts, perhaps accompanied by instruments, and take part in prayers. A mantra is a word, a syllable, a phrase or a short prayer that is spoken once or repeated over and over again (either aloud or in a person's head) and that is thought to have a profound spiritual effect on the person. A very well known mantra is the mantra of Avalokiteshvara: om mani padme hum. This is sometimes said to mean "Behold! The jewel in the lotus!", but this translation isn't much help - the phrase isn't really translatable because of the richness of meaning and symbolism it contains.
There are many special or holy days held throughout the year by the Buddhist community. Many of these days celebrate the birthdays of Bodhisattvas in the Mahayana tradition or other significant dates in the Buddhist calendar. The most significant celebration happens every May on the night of the full moon, when Buddhist all over the world celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha over 2,500 years ago. Days like this are:
Buddhist New Year
Vesak or Visakah Puja ("Buddha Day")
Magha Puja Day
Asalha Puja Day
The Kathina Ceremony
Songkran, and many other holy days.
Lumbini is the place where the Buddha, known as the Tathagata* was born. It is the place which should be visited and seen by a person of devotion and which should cause awareness and apprehension of the nature of impermanence. A visit to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, is not only for spiritual enlightenment but also for solace and satisfaction that one gets in such a calm and peaceful place.
Maya Devi Temple is an ancient Buddhist temple situated at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lumbini, Nepal. It is the main temple at Lumbini, a site traditionally considered the birthplace of Gautama Buddha. The temple stands adjacent to a sacred pool (known as Puskarni) and a sacred garden. The archaeological remains at the site were previously dated to the third-century BCE brick buildings constructed by Ashoka the Great, an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BCE to 232 BCE.
The Four Noble Truths are comprising the essence of Buddha's teachings, though they leave much left unexplained. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. It was these four principles that the Buddha came to understand during his meditation under the bodhi tree.
They are as followed:
The truth of suffering (Dukkha)
The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya)
The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
Buddhist worship is called puja. Buddhists can worship both at home or at a temple. At home they have a room set aside which they call a shrine for their worship where they have candles and an incense burner. There are as many forms of Buddhist worship as there are schools of Buddhism - and there are many of those. Worship in Mahayana tradition takes the form of devotion to Buddha and to Bodhisattvas. Worshipers may sit on the floor barefoot facing an image of Buddha and chanting. They will listen to monks chanting from religious texts, perhaps accompanied by instruments, and take part in prayers. A mantra is a word, a syllable, a phrase or a short prayer that is spoken once or repeated over and over again (either aloud or in a person's head) and that is thought to have a profound spiritual effect on the person. A very well known mantra is the mantra of Avalokiteshvara: om mani padme hum. This is sometimes said to mean "Behold! The jewel in the lotus!", but this translation isn't much help - the phrase isn't really translatable because of the richness of meaning and symbolism it contains.
There are many special or holy days held throughout the year by the Buddhist community. Many of these days celebrate the birthdays of Bodhisattvas in the Mahayana tradition or other significant dates in the Buddhist calendar. The most significant celebration happens every May on the night of the full moon, when Buddhist all over the world celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha over 2,500 years ago. Days like this are:
Buddhist New Year
Vesak or Visakah Puja ("Buddha Day")
Magha Puja Day
Asalha Puja Day
The Kathina Ceremony
Songkran, and many other holy days.
Lumbini is the place where the Buddha, known as the Tathagata* was born. It is the place which should be visited and seen by a person of devotion and which should cause awareness and apprehension of the nature of impermanence. A visit to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, is not only for spiritual enlightenment but also for solace and satisfaction that one gets in such a calm and peaceful place.
Maya Devi Temple is an ancient Buddhist temple situated at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lumbini, Nepal. It is the main temple at Lumbini, a site traditionally considered the birthplace of Gautama Buddha. The temple stands adjacent to a sacred pool (known as Puskarni) and a sacred garden. The archaeological remains at the site were previously dated to the third-century BCE brick buildings constructed by Ashoka the Great, an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BCE to 232 BCE.