Is Buddhism A Religion Essay

Buddhism has been around for over two thousand years, and continues to do so in many countries around the world. This religion originates in Asia and has a very unique adversity, much of its structure arose from the end of World War II, predominantly Asian nations needed to restructure society (RoAT 167). The word ‘Buddha’ means one who has awakened and will no longer be reborn. Thereafter, one who will enter nirvana, the state of being free from suffering.

In his book God is Not One, author Stephen Prothero offers audiences glimpses into the various religions throughout the world including Islam, Christianity, Confucianism, Buddhism, and more. Within the Buddhism chapter, Prothero discusses the numerous aspects of the religion. He provides extensive information regarding Buddhism’s background, beliefs, and practices. Although he mostly presents facts about this religion, Prothero effectively utilizes these details as substantial evidence to prove his argument that Buddhism heavily focuses on experience rather than narrative (Prothero 201).

“Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are, it solely relies on what you think”, The Buddha. Buddhism is a message of deep enlightenment for the spiritual mind set of breaking the chain of reincarnation to achieve nirvana. Buddhism was founded by a man named Siddhartha Gautama who lived five hundred years ago. He spawned a spiritual enlightenment for the mind which we call Buddhism and eventually it came to the United States. Buddha, spreading his teachings of the four noble truths throughout Asia and many parts of the world that would someday enlighten the minds of the American culture and help lead people to a higher state of enlightenment. Over many hundreds of years Buddhism has transformed into many sects throughout history and is becoming one of the many fastest growing religion in America. (Pew, 31-33).

A prince named Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) founded “Buddhism” in the sixth century before the birth of Christ. Buddhism is better understood as philosophy rather than a religion and follows the concept of the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Noble path.

Buddhism is a religion that focuses more on the individual and the actions of that individual, which was prevalent to me when I made my way into Portland and set foot in a Buddhist temple. The man I met within the walls of this temple was far from my stereotypical thoughts of Buddhist monks. The man I met looked like your plain old, average Joe, American man. Before I delve into the depths of my visit to this inspiring place, I need to sum up the Buddhist religion and why I chose to study this particular group of people.

Buddhism is a well-known world religion, a religion that touch people heart with it great compassion together with the notion to spread the seed of wisdom to all sentient beings, to help them reach their enlightenment state, so that they can be liberate from the samsaric (suffering) world. However, to understand the teaching of Buddhism, we needed to know who is the founder, where is it originated, it teaching, and it history. Through these, we can be able to grasp the fundamental ideas or the basic teachings such as the Four Noble Truth and The Noble Eightfold Path.

“BuddhaNet's Buddhist Studies: A Basic Buddhism Guide.” BuddhaNet's Buddhist Studies: A Basic Buddhism Guide, www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/basic-guide.htm. Accessed 20 Feb. 2017.

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. It is the oldest and fourth largest religion in the world with around 500 million followers. Buddhism focuses on teaching people how to come to terms with and end the suffering of themselves and others by cutting out greed, hatred, and ignorance from their lives. Unlike most major world religions, Buddhism does not revolve around worshiping a god or divine creator, instead the focus of Buddhism is living one 's best life and transforming the lives of others. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to reach Enlightenment and upon death achieve Nirvana, the liberation of pain and suffering. For Buddhists, it is the individual’s responsibility to find his or her own path to enlightenment; the principles of Buddhism are seen more as guidelines than rules.

Buddhism is an extremely unique religion that has many different philosophies and practices that you can not find in any other world religions. Buddhism explains the purpose of life. It is also a way to find peace within oneself. It helps find the happiness and contentment that people in our world today desperately seek. These variety of traditions, beliefs, and spiritual practices are largely based on teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha, commonly known as the Buddha, “the enlightened one”. Followers of Buddhism generally tend to stay away from conflict and live peacefully, working towards the ultimate goal of pure and lasting happiness. The religion is growing around the world and most recently in the west. It is a religion that can easily attract people from their fast pace world by giving them solutions and practices to relieve their stress and worries. Buddhism has answers to many of the problems in modern materialistic society. It is an ancient religion that millions of people around the world still follow today. (“A Five Minute Introduction.”)

In the United States there are over four million buddhists, one thousand temples, study groups, or Buddhists associations (Monroe 108). This number has come from just one man searching to find happiness and eventually enlightenment. Buddha’s story is how buddhism became a religion all over the world. It teaches a peaceful manner, reveals the key to happiness for the mind, and eliminates the desire in life. Not just the history of buddhism is important, but how it has spread through the world and what it looks like today.

Buddhism. In todays society the only thing most people know about Buddhism as a religion is the big and round Buddha who that is always showing his belly. They think Buddhism is all about just being relaxed and “chilling out.” Buddhism is something much more than just relaxing though, at its basis it is a religion that encompasses a variety of beliefs, traditions, and spiritual practices that are attributed to the Buddha. “Buddhism is a way to salvation which is open to all and depends for its attainment neither on fait nor on divine grace but only understanding ‘the way things really are’.” The Buddha is not a god or otherworldly in Buddhism. Since its beginning, Buddhism today has now been molded into 3 major denominations: Thereavada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Across these denominations and the various less known ones there are about 350 million Buddhist living in the world today, that accounts for about roughly 7% of the world population and also making it the 5th largest religion in the world.

Buddhism is one of the largest religions in the world that started in India. Later spreading to China,Burma,Japan , Tibet and other parts of southeast Asia. Buddhism is a religion that

Buddhism is religion that is based off of peace and spirituality taught by the teachings of Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gotama. Many who follow its teachings believe Buddhism to be more of a way of life or lifestyle choice rather a religion. Buddha is not a god, but one man that taught his followers a path of enlightenment from his experiences and values. Buddha’s main teachings were the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths were teachings about suffering, pain, disease, happiness, loneliness, and aging. It explained why we as humans can overcome certain obstacles in our lives by looking at the more spiritual side of things such as “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own

is catagorized as a philosophy, but is still regarded it as a religion. "The name Buddhism

“Buddhism, a religion that originated in India by Gautama the Buddha and later spreading to China, Burma, Japan, Tibet and parts of Southeast Asia. Holding that life is full of suffering caused by desire and ignorance, that the way to end suffering is through enlighten that enables one to halt the endless