The Origin of Buddhism

      We need to stay in Nepal for a few weeks. British also wants to expand the market in Nepal, so our goal is to collect data of Nepal.
      To be honest, I am not interested in that anymore. I think the culture and religion are more attractive and interesting than money.

Map of India and Nepal

      I have seen a Buddhism monk before in India a few weeks ago, and he looks totally different with Hindu priest. I decided to do some research about Buddhism while my colleges are collecting data of Nepal for our company. 

     So Buddhism is founded by Siddhartha Gautama in India. He was born in 560 BCE in Nepal which is the country at the South north of India. He is also called as Buddha, which literally means The Enlightened one. 

A Statue of Buddha

     Buddha rejects the caste system, the need for priest, and the existence of any gods. He even rejects to be treated as a god.

     The Tenets of Buddha is very interesting. Buddha thinks that the suffering is universal which means everyone suffers in their lives. And the cause of suffering is desire. You suffer because of your pursue of material wealth or long life. The only way to end suffering is to crush your desire. And the only way to crush your desire is to follow Noble Eightfold Path, which means you need to embrace the tenets of Buddha. 

    

An Ancient Painting of Noble Eightfold Path

      Here is a painting of the Noble Eightfold Path. Each part in the circle represents right understanding, awareness, speech, action, likelihood, effort, thought, and concentration. 

      I like Buddhism because it seems to offer salvation to everyone regardless of their birth and wealth. It doesn't have any priest or caste system, so it is really egalitarian. Most important thing is, the Noble Eightfold Path, Buddhism's guide, leaves us a space to figure out the understanding and rules of life by ourselves. It doesn't state what you can't do, it just suggest you that you might want to have good understanding or good speech which will lead you to a good life. 

A Lama with a prayer wheel

      Theocratically, if you follows the Noble Eightfold Path, you will be able to achieve nirvana. Nirvana refers to the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished.  

A Book that explains Nirvana