What are the principles of Buddism? What do they believe in as far as life and death goes?
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
If you want to write a story about Buddists and their beliefs, you need more research than you can get here. There is too much to sum up. Check out this webpage. Hope it helps.
If you want a summary anyway this is the Buddist path:
(1) to lead a moral life,
(2) to be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions, and
(3) to develop wisdom and understanding.
There are 4 noble truths:
The first truth is that life is suffering
The second truth is that suffering is caused by craving and aversion.
The third truth is that suffering can be overcome and happiness can be attained; that true happiness and contentment are possible. lf we give up useless craving and learn to live each day at a time
The fourth truth is that the Noble 8-fold Path is the path which leads to the end of suffering. (the 8 paths boiled down are numbers 1,2, and 3 above)
Oh, and don't forget Karma...it is all about the balance. Some Buddists believe in reincarnation. That the soul continues to cling to the earthy world after the death of the body and is reborn into a new body.
This really doesn't do it justice, but it is better than nothing.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
I thought this might help, but as Carmina said it doesn't do it justice...
1. (Noble) Eightfold Path: This is the pathway to enlightenment, combining wisdom, morality and meditation. The eight factors are: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
2. Samsara: Wandering. This refers to the cycle of birth and death of which there are said to be six worlds containing six types of being: hell beings, ghosts, animals. humans, jealous gods, gods. None of these worlds is seen to be permanent, though it is hard to escape from a hell world because the opportunities for doing good deeds are negligible. The heavenly words, though full of pleasure and delight, are also temporary. The human world is seen to be most precious as it offers the best chance to win nibbana. This is because there is an awareness of suffering denied the gods which acts as a catalyst for the search for the ultimate bliss offered by nibbana.
3. There are also differing schools of Buddism such as Zen.
4. The Three Marks of Existence: These are suffering (dukkha), impermanence (anicca) and not-self (anatta). The realization of these through meditation is to see things as they really are.
I'm sorry that I don't have more. I hope this helps.
-Maat-
It's the Death Star.
What does it do?
It does DEATH...
My computer beat me at chess, but it was no match for me in kickboxing.
Never put a sock in a toaster.
Politics: “Poli” a Latin word meaning “many”; and "tics" meaning “bloodsucking creatures"
The story of Siddhartha is also an interesting read. To sum it up, Siddhartha is a prince. When he is a child, a prophet phrophesies that he will either be the greatest king or the greatest prophet. His father wants him to be king, so he locks him in the palace. eventually he escapes from the palace and sees pain, suffering, old age, and death. He wants to find a cure for it, and becomes an ascetic. After that proves unsuccessful, he discovers the Middle Path. he is enlightened after sitting under a tree and being tempted by an evil demon. And then he began to preach dharma, or his teachings.
My favorite part is that guy knew in advanced that the religion would corrupt shortly after his death, and believed it was starting to within his lifetime. So there should be a new Buddha one of these days to guide humanity back to the true path or something. The conditions for finding him are all broken, but the past Buddhas were said to live well into the 500's, so if a guy (I think they were all men) claims he is and lives beyond 200 years then he might be telling the truth.
Self quoting is the key to sounding wise and all knowing.
It was the second major Indian belief, the first Hinduism.
Okay, so well, there's the four noble truths... (someone mentioned it above), and the Eightfold Path. I don't really know the exact words, sorry :3
And the first Buddha was Prince Siddharta. When he was born, people (priests, I think) told the King and Queen, his mother and father, that Siddharta had two options: To become the king or Buddha. His mother died a little after he was born, and his father wanted Siddharta to be a king. To do so, Siddharta's father hid the three forms of suffering from him: sickness, old age, and death. If Siddharta found out about these, he might want to give up his royal life and become a Buddha. Well that happened, and Siddharta soon joined a group of people, which all they do is meditate. Siddharta wanted to become to Buddha, so he meditated as much as possible.
Finally, he did become to Buddha and there you have it!
How can I be king of the world? Because I am king of rubbish. And rubbish is what the world is made of. — Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
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