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Buddhism is a religion and philosophy founded by Siddhartha Gautama in northeast India during the period from the late 6th century to the early 4th century BC. Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played an influential role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of much of the Eastern world. The Buddha, which means the "Enlightened One," died in northeastern India between 500 and 350 BC. According to tradition, his family name was Gautama; later sources call him Siddhartha, which means "He Who Has Reached His Goal." He was reared in a minor royal family of the ruling Kshatriya, or warrior, caste. Shocked as a young man after wittness by pure accident sickness, old age, and death, he renounced his family life in order to wander as a shramana, or ascetic, in search of religious understanding and a way of release from the human condition. Discarding the teachings of his contemporaries, through meditation he achieved enligh!tenment, or ultimate understanding. Thereafter, the Buddha instructed his followers (the sangha) in the dharma (Pali dhamma, "truth") and the "Middle Way," a path between a worldly life and extremes of self-denial. The essence of the Buddha's early preachi
sed into final nirvana) efforts were made to consolidate the teachings and structures of the Buddhist community. Several important Buddhist councils were held to decide questions of faith and order, leading finally to the distinction between those who believed they held to the most ancient traditions (the Theravadins) and those who claimed their understandings represented the highest and most complete account of Buddha's message (the Mahayanists). Scholars think that by the 3rd century BC, Theravada doctrine and practice were fairly formalized. The Theravada canon of sacred scriptures, the Tipitaka (Sanskrit Tripitaka, "The Three Baskets"), all written in the Pali language, include the Vinaya Pitaka ("Basket of Discipline"), the Sutta Pitaka ("Basket of Discourses"), and Abhidhamma Pitaka ("Basket of Scholasticism"). Theravada doctrine emphasizes the composite nature of all things. The Theravada tradition explicated necessary regulations for the community, meditative technique! tion and a sudden enlightenment experience. Mahayana became the predominant form of Buddhism throughout East Asia and has had an immeasurable impact on the civilizations of China, Korea, and Japan. Known also as Vajrayana (the "Diamond Vehicle"), or Mantrayana (the "Vehicle of the Mantra"), Tantric Buddhism became prominent in India in the 7th century AD. An esoteric path requiring strict guidance under an accomplished master, Tantric ritual involved both the identification of the initiate with a visualized deity and action intended to demonstrate the adept's transcendence of all dualistic categories such as good and evil, male
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Approximate Word count = 1087
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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