Buddhism is divided into two major parts, Theravada which is the way of the elders and Mayahana which refers to Hinayana, the lesser vehicle. Buddhism has been significant not only in India but also in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar (now known as Burma), and Laos, where Theravada has been dominant; Mahayana has had its greatest impact in China, Japan, Taiwan, Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as in India. It is believed that currently there is between 150 and 300 million Buddhist around the world. The reason that the exact number is not known is due to the fact that religion is “nonexclusive” and also that it is quite hard to tell the exact number of Buddhist followers in communist countries such as China.
Buddhists believe the four noble truths, which Buddha discovered and preached about. They are: 1) As soon as a human is born he is suffering until the moment of death, which means that human life is suffering. This follows the Hindu principal of reincarnation where death leads to rebirth, therefore death is not relief. 2) All suffering is caused due to ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment and grasping that is caused from such ignorance. 3) The suffering can be stopped if ignorance and attachment is overcome. 4) The path to the end of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path; this consists of the right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight elements are usually put in three main categories, morality, wisdom and Samadhi or concentration.
Buddhists also believe in Anatman, Karma and Nirvana. Anatman is the belief that human existence is made up of five aggregates (bundles): the material body, feelings, perceptions, predispositions and karmic tendencies. Anatman is a principle which states that a person is only a temporary combination of all these and they are always changing. A person cannot be the same for two consecutive moments.
Karma consists of a person’s acts and their ethical consequences. It follows the principle that every action ultimately leads to human rebirth, and if the actions are good then the person is awarded and if the actions are evil then they will be punished. Each person has a karma which determines that person’s specie, beauty, intelligence, longevity, wealth and social status. Buddha’s teachings state that different karma can lead to the rebirth as a human, an animal, a hungry ghost, a denizen of hell or even one of the Hindu gods.
All Buddhist aim to achieve an ultimate goal of Nirvana, this is a Buddhist path to release from the continual cycle of rebirth and suffering. Nirvana is an enlightened state where greed, hatred and ignorance are eliminated. Nirvana is a state of consciousness beyond definition. After a Buddhist achieves Nirvana, he may continue to live, using up the remaining karma until the final stage of nirvana is achieved at the moment of death.
Buddhism has been a great success; one reason for such success is due to the adaptation to new cultures and conditions and although belief in the western world is low it is slowly adapting Buddhism and it is estimated that in the near future the number of followers is going to rise.
