Word: buddha
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...million people-including the Dalai Lama-practice Buddhism. An outgrowth of Hinduism, Buddhism accepts the central Hindu idea of reincarnation: every soul turns on a wheel through a recurring drama of birth, death and rebirth. Existence is pain. The root of pain is desire. By following the Way of Buddha, a man can eliminate desire and win ultimate knowledge. Depending on his works, a man may be reincarnated as a prince or a panda. Therefore, all life is sacred. A true Buddhist should not kill a fly or step on an insect because-literally-it may be somebody...
Founder. Gautama, the Buddha, the Enlightened One, was born in northern India six centuries before Christ. As the devout tradition goes, Gautama, a king's son, married a beautiful princess, had a child and lived in silken luxury until he was 29. Then, seeing in turn a sick man, a corpse and an emaciated holy man, he was shocked into a realization of the harshness of life. He became a penniless wanderer and for six years mortified his flesh before deciding that extreme asceticism was not the path of deliverance...
Teachings. Gautama the Buddha left no works written in his own hand, and Buddhism has its problems determining which of the many writings of his disciples most truly reflect the Master's words. Buddha's teachings have some resemblance to those of the later Stoics: he argues that liberation is not gained by rites, liturgies, prayers, magic or sacraments, but only by the deliberate inner search for self. Most effective is right thought and right behavior. Sin does not offend any god, but only the man who commits it. This stern doctrine proved too barren for most...
Schisms. Buddhism split into two great branches: 1) the Hinayana, or Little Vehicle, which in modified form adheres to Buddha's original doctrines and survives in Ceylon and Southeast Asia; 2) the Mahayana, or Great Vehicle, which attaches importance to repetitive prayer and elaborate ritual, has taken on the trappings of magic and multiple gods, and is practiced also in China, Japan and Korea...
...Tokyo's Metropolitan Gymnasium last week poured an impressive throng of 4,500 Anglicans and Episcopalians, including church dignitaries from eleven nations, to celebrate the centenary of their first mission in Japan.* The Buddhists had just been in the same hall to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of Buddha's birth by posing such questions as "Does the accomplishment of sunya [nothingness] depend on pratityasamutpada [cause and effect]?" The Anglicans held a more down-to-earth meeting. There were speeches on the benefits of atomic energy and discussions of the Communist menace to Asia. But the high point...