Buddhism for Dummies
A Brief Overview of Key Buddhist Principles
The Buddhist tradition probes at fundamental questions about the cyclical nature of suffering, various forms of life on earth, and the way out of such an existence. It was founded in 6th Century BCE India by a man formally known as Siddhartha Gautama, who, through a series of events, found himself in a state of ‘enlightenment’ which freed him from the shackles of samsara (the cycle of rebirths that binds sentient life to suffering).
For the remainder of his human life as The Buddha, he taught and described the dharma, or Buddhist teaching, that could guide a monastic class (sangha) and lay class alike. In his death, it is said that The Buddha entered nirvana: a state of transcendence, free from suffering and rebirths.
Buddhism is guided by a series of Four Noble Truths. The first acknowledges that the condition of sentient life is suffering (dukkha). This suffering can come in three forms: ordinary, due to change (moving from neutrality to non-pleasure or pleasure to neutrality), and due to condition (the experience of being sentient). The second truth declares that we suffer because we crave, particularly craving sensual pleasures (sex, food, even love), existence (not wanting to die or age), and non-existence (not wanting to live). The third truth asserts that to eliminate…
