Understanding Buddhism

Buddhism is officially one of the world’s major religions with about 350-375 million adherents

or roughly 6.5% of the world’s population.

Though mainly Southeast and East Asian countries celebrate it as a religion, many other

people across the world taking over the beliefs as their own spiritual path, particularly through meditation.

Buddha’s Life

…born some 2500 years ago in Lumbini,a place at the time in India but now located in Nepal.

The legend says that his father kept him away from the outside of the palace and aiming to not make him aware

of the world’s common sufferings: aging, sickness and death.

When he reached his late 20’s, curiosity of life beyond his palace grew and grew, eventually letting him start to explore the surroundings. He

was quickly confronted with the reality when he saw old men and diseased people.

By the age of 29 he embarked on a spiritual quest to understand how human sufferings could be overcome.

After six years he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree (tree of awakening) where

he sat for 49 consecutive days and practiced meditation and fasting.

Buddhism celebrations and festivals differ from country to country; similar to Hindus, the dates

are based on the lunar calendar and not the Gregorian calendar

Vesak Day – Is the most important Buddhist festival, as Buddhists celebrate the birth, enlightenment and

the death of Buddha on the same day, the first full moon day in May.

Buddhist New Year – The Buddhist New Year is celebrated on different dates throughout the world:

Ancestor Day – Mainly celebrated in Mahayana countries on the first day of the eighth month, ghosts come to visit the world for 15 days

Moreover, a few countries celebrate even unique, regional Buddhism holidays, such as ‘The Festival of the Tooth’ in Sri Lanka or

‘The Elephant Festival’ in Thailand.

The difference in clothing colours & short hair

Theravada Buddhists usually wear orange, while

Tibetan monks wear a more maroon colour.

Why orange/maroon? In ancient times, people used to dye clothes with the cheapest materials available – wood and tree rubber. The colours have remained the same since then.

The short hair symbolizes simplicity and detachment of materialism

Monks are highly respected by the community – In Thailand they walk around the streets and neighbourhoods early in the morning to collect alms, give blessings and spiritual advice to the people

Karma&

Samsara

Samsara is the repeating cycleof birth, life and death,which goes hand in hand withKarma, speaking if you do something good you will receive good and vice versa.

Slide 1 - Reclining Buddha via Flickr by Joe Stump : http://bit.ly/1rqfyZVSlide 2 - Buddha Eden via Flickr by Sérgio Gonçalves : http://bit.ly/1nGvJV1 Slide 3 - Golden Buddha via Flickr via Epsos.de : http://bit.ly/1ri5YIxSlide 4 - Buddha Eden via Flickr by Sérgio Gonçalves : http://bit.ly/1rRvx4nSlide 5 - Buddha Shakyamuni via Flickr by Scott Hess : http://bit.ly/1zc3WhTSlide 6 - Lumbini – Nepal via Wikimedia by Kushal Kafle Slide 7 - Buddha head , Ayuthaya via Flickr by Hug Cirici : http://bit.ly/1noQEuHSlide 8 - Leshan-Big Budha via Flickr by Mircea : http://bit.ly/1rDyruuSlide 9 - Paradise via Flickr BY Hartwig HKD : http://bit.ly/WQr9s7Slide 10 - Buddha Purnima via Flickr by Shital Khandar : http://bit.ly/WQhFguSlide 11 - Buddha sun via Flickr by Hartwig HKD : http://bit.ly/1rSNnULSlide 13 - 2010 Lunar calendar via Flickr by Carl@FellowCreative : http://bit.ly/1nroE9ISlide 14 - Reclining Buddha via Flickr by Joe Stump : http://bit.ly/1rqfyZVSlide 15 -Lantern festival via Flickr by G W : http://bit.ly/1piWzRfSlide 16 - Enlightening Perspective via Flickr by Richard Pluck : http://bit.ly/1np4f59Slide 17 - Songkran festival via Flickr vy Ol’pete : http://bit.ly/1o24WN1Slide 18 - The exposed temple hall via Flickr by Trey Ratcliff : http://bit.ly/1kfeBVJSlide 19 - Budha via Flickr by Mhiguera : http://bit.ly/1mMW8u2Slide 20 - Kandy – Srilanka via Flickr by James Gordon : http://bit.ly/1poxKRhSlide 21 - Monks in Thailand via Flickr by Carl Parkes : http://bit.ly/1qF8CMLSlide 22 - Monks via Flickr by Sam Sith : http://bit.ly/1k10yCKSlide 23 - Monks via Flickr by Sam Sith : http://bit.ly/1k0ZoXSSlide 24 - Monks Noir via Flickr by Trey Ratcliff : http://bit.ly/1qF7SqGSlide 25 - Monks via Flickr by Ronn aka "Blue" Aldaman : http://bit.ly/1zfOHEpSlide 26 - Shakyamuni Buddha via Flickr by Anoop Madhavan : http://bit.ly/WQg8qxSlide 27 - Karma Guen via Flickr by Tobias Steinhoff : http://bit.ly/1nrrwDBSlide 28 - Golden Buddha via Flickr by Sakeeb Sabakka : http://bit.ly/Us5GEa

Photo Sources

Find out more about the history and architecture of Buddhism at:http://architectureofbuddhism.com