Concept in Definition ABC
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Florencia Ucha, in Dec. 2009
Philosophical religious belief born in India and which has spread phenomenally in East and West
Buddhism is primarily a non-theistic type of religion that emerged during the 6th century BC. in India and currently enjoys a huge acceptance and diffusion in the Asian continent, especially in China, a country in which the largest number of Buddhists congregate in the world. However, this does not reduce it only to the eastern world, although this is where it was born and reached a fantastic spread, to this day, Buddhism has transcended the limits of the East and is a philosophical religious belief that has also penetrated deep and deep in the Western universe, achieving millions and millions of adepts.
But on the other hand, Buddhism also turns out to be a philosophical doctrine, a kind of spiritual training method and even a psychological system.
Buddha, its founder and alma mater
Siddhartha Gautama, more popularly known as Buddha, has been the most responsible for the development of all the teachings that survive to this day. He would have lived between 483 and 411 BC. and he was a native of the now-defunct republic near the Himalayas.
The Buddhist goal: an existence absolutely free from suffering and full of happiness
The Buddha is the term that Gautama chose to refer to that individual who manifests a spiritual awakening and sustains an existence absolutely free of suffering and full of happiness.
Gautama, who was considered a sage by his followers, developed Buddhism per se and all its teachings are those that ended up being systematized and becoming the maxims of this philosophical belief religious.
Although it was born in India and would soon become the official religion, over time it was losing force in its territory native but it would become very strong in the rest of the East and not to mention the reach that it would achieve in the West as we have already indicated.
Dissemination and promotion of human values
One of the salient characteristics of Buddhism and one that has undoubtedly been the key to its fantastic adoption throughout the world are the human values that it has known how to spread. The promotion of kindness, for example, is one of the pillars on which this philosophy.
Meditation, the way to quiet the agitation of the mind
Another of the supports of Buddhism is meditation, because it is precisely through this practice that the transformation that is constantly talked about will be possible ...
For Buddhism life is not static Rather, it is in constant modification and what meditation tries is to try to take advantage of this constant passing and thus be able to improve the life of those who practice it.
Meditation is undoubtedly the most determining factor that Buddhism developed to work our agitated mind.
Through regular meditation it is possible to achieve positive, calm mental states that allow us to concentrate on what is important, take conscience of what is precious that surrounds us and to be able to fully enjoy the emotions and of the feelings that seize life, such as love, friendship, among the main.
But not only does meditation allow you to be better with yourself but it also extends that well-being to your relationship with others and life in general.
Accompanying meditation, Buddhism also proposes the realization of social work and the promotion of human development at all levels, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and cultural.
Differences with the great monotheistic religions
The main difference that Buddhism finds with other religions such as Judaism, Christianity or even Islam is that in this case Buddha is not a god, a being with supernatural characteristics or even a prophet, but quite the contrary, it is an ordinary man who holds a certain type of beliefs.
Another difference with respect to the aforementioned religions is that Buddhism does not manifest a series of postulates about its maker, nor are its teachings dictated as a kind of dogma, but in this sense there is again another sample of the absolute freedom that guides and motivates this religion or current, because they will be the very followers, practitioners of Buddhism, who must first verify the teachings for themselves and then if internalize them and feel them as own.
Suppression in the being of those desires related to vital dissatisfaction
The main objective, role and rationale of Buddhism is the suppression in the being of those desires related to vital dissatisfaction, which is promoted by what is known as anxious longing, be it a desire, greed attitude or any other desire that destabilize and that of course will be a certain obstacle for the individual to achieve that state of full happiness of which we were talking higher.
Once the individual, obviously following the teachings of the Buddha, reaches the absolute understanding of the reality that surrounds him, as well as that which has to do with being, a situation known in this context as enlightenment, will banish from his thought all those thoughts that cause the aforementioned vital dissatisfaction.
It is not organized through a vertically organized hierarchy
Another distinctive feature of Buddhism is that unlike other religions such as Catholicism, not organized through a vertically organized hierarchy, that is, there is no leader and maximum authority of the Catholic Church, as is the case of the Pope, but in reality the religious authority is He finds himself in charge of and in charge of the sacred texts written by the Buddha and the interpretation of them by both monks and priests. teachers.
Topics in Buddhism