Religion in Credo: Buddhism

Religion and philosophy founded in India c.525 B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. There are over 300 million Buddhists worldwide. One of the great world religions, it is divided into two main schools: the Theravada or Hinayana in Sri Lanka and SE Asia, and the Mahayana in China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan. A third school, the Vajrayana, has a long tradition in Tibet and Japan. The basic doctrines of early Buddhism include the "four noble truths": existence is suffering (dukhka); suffering has a cause, namely craving and attachment (trishna); there is a cessation of suffering, which is nirvana; and there is a path to the cessation of suffering.

Tibetan Bodyul, Mandarin Xizang, autonomous region, c.471,700 sq mi (1,221,700 sq km), SW China. A Chinese autonomous region since 1951.

Dalai Lama is the title given to the one who enjoys the highest spiritual rank in Lamaism, a Tibetan form of Buddhism introduced into Tibet in the seventh century A.D.

Country in southern Asia, bounded to the north by China, Nepal, and Bhutan; east by Myanmar and Bangladesh; northwest by Pakistan and Afghanistan; and southeast, south, and southwest by the Indian Ocean.

In The Columbia Encyclopedia
The sacred literature of Buddhism. The texts in the Pali canon are the earliest Buddhist sources, and for Theravada Buddhists, who claim to conserve the original teachings of the Buddha, they are still the most authoritative sacred texts.

From The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism
In Sanskrit, “great vehicle”; a term, originally of self-appellation, which is used historically to refer to a movement that began some four centuries after the Buddha’s death, marked by the composition of texts that purported to be his words.

In Milestone Documents of World Religions
Bardo Thodol (“Liberation through Hearing”), often known in the West as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, is a funerary text, a guide for the dead and dying, and a source of inspiration and support to many interested people around the world.

Act of spiritual contemplation, practised by members of many religions or as a secular exercise. It is a central practice in Buddhism and Hinduisum (the Sanskrit term is samādhi) and the movement for transcendental meditation.

Belief that after death the human soul or the spirit of a plant or animal may live again in another human or animal.

In both Hinduism and Buddhism, esoteric tradition of ritual and yoga known for elaborate use of mantra, or symbolic speech, and mandala, or symbolic diagrams. Tantric practices use both ritual and meditation to unify the devotee with the chosen deity.

Questions of right and wrong considered according to Buddhism. Buddhist beliefs are governed by the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Five Moral Precepts.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
In Buddhism, teaching and scriptures of the Buddha, whose words and principles lead to enlightenment.

Buddhist sect of China and Japan. The name of the sect (Chin. Ch'an, Jap. Zen) derives from the Sanskrit dhyana [meditation]. In China the school early became known for making its central tenet the practice of meditation, rather than adherence to a particular scripture or doctrine.

Form of Buddhism prevailing in the Tibet region of China, Bhutan, the state of Sikkim in India, Mongolia, and parts of Siberia and SW China.

Or Amidism, devotional sect of Mahayana Buddhism in China and Japan, centering on worship of the Buddha Amitabha.

Buddhism of Tibet, Mongolia, and parts of Nepal and northern India; a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
One of the two major forms of Buddhism, found in China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet.