And the wheel turns… that is, the wheel of dharma, the Buddha’s teachings about the path to Nirvana, turns. Followed by more than 350 million people throughout the world today, Buddhism is based on the teachings of revered spiritual leader Siddhartha Gautama, known as the “Supreme Buddha, the Enlightened One.”
As the central figure of Buddhism, Buddha was not recognized as a god, nor did he presume to claim a connection to God. Rather, Buddha taught his followers a path to enlightenment based on his own life experience, a distinction that differentiates Buddhism from many of the world’s other major religions.
A one-time prince in a small Indian kingdom until the age of 29, Siddhartha turned to the ascetic’s life after venturing outside the confines of the palace. He meandered around India for a few years, eventually sitting under a fig tree to meditate; there after several days he found enlightenment, and so released himself from the cycle of worldly suffering and arose the Buddha.
What this enlightenment entails is both a spiritual knowledge (e.g. the knowledge of one’s past lives), a metaphysical one (a knowledge of the workings of karma), and a philosophical one (the understanding of the Four Noble Truths).
Buddhism’s primary tenets, the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, lay out the means by which one can achieve Nirvana, or peace from unending suffering. In their simplest form, the Four Noble Truths tell us that life is suffering, that suffering arises from our attachment to desires, that suffering ceases when that attachment ceases, and that freedom from suffering is only possible by practicing the Eightfold Path. By giving up desire, one accepts the world as it is, and one is no longer bound by worldly craving – one is free.
There are three major branches of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayna, primarily found in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Tibet, respectively. These differ on some core doctrine – Theravada practitioners see Siddhartha as the only Buddha, and as the Buddha as fundamentally disconnected from the world: the practitioner follows in his path, but cannot contact him.
Mahayana practitioners see a large body of enlightened souls who remain behind in order to help practitioners on their own quest. Vajrayana practitioners focus on improving the divine qualities within the human via Tantric practices. Today, about 6% of the world is Buddhist, a number that does not reflect largely secular East Asian populations.
