The Buddhist Religion

The Buddhist Religion

The Buddhist Religion
James P. Watson, Jr.
HUM/130
September 18, 2011
Tracy Hawkins

The Buddhist Religion

Over 2500 years ago a man named Buddha who taught about how people living on earth suffered and the cure for that suffering. Early Buddhism teachings were that we were the only ones that could relieve ourselves from our own suffering. Buddha taught that understanding how we can create our own suffering, we can also be the ones to free ourselves from that suffering. Buddhism spread from India to East Asia, and became one of the most dominant religions in the Eastern countries. Today the religion has spread into the Western world attracting many followers.
I will discuss Zen Buddhism, one of the schools of Buddhism. How it began and what it means. Practices of Zen Buddhist and how it spread to the Western world.
Buddhism is not a religion as traditional religions are. Buddhism is a nontheistic religion. “There is no personal God who creates everything and to whom prayers can be directed. The Buddhists at the 1993 Chicago Parliament of the World’s Religions found it necessary to explain to people of other religions that they do not worship the Buddha” (Fisher, 2005 p. 134). “As the Buddha’s teachings have been expanded upon and adapted to local cultures, two primary divisions have developed. The form that tries to adhere closely to what it considers the original teachings is called Theravada, or “Way of the Elders.” It is prevalent in Southeast Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. The other major grouping is dominant in Nepal, Tibet, China, Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Japan. Those of this group call it Mahayana, the “Greater Vehicle,” because they feel that theirs is a bigger raft that can carry more people across the sea of samsara than the stark teachings of the Theravadins. Both groups are in general agreement about the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the teachings about karma and...