Buddhism - 500 BC to AD 1400

About 2500 years ago in north-eastern India, Siddhartha Gautama ( the Buddha ), who lived between 563 and 483 BC, looked at the external and internal suffering of people around him.

AIM OF BUDDHISM

The aim of Buddhism is to achieve a from the endless cycle of suffering and rebirth which is retribution for the misdeeds of previous existences. This release is sought through good works , discipline and meditation, and the final goal is to reach total enlightenment also known as a nirvana. Reaching nirvana is portrayed as a spiritual quest exemplified in the legendary life of Gautama himself.

After the death of Gautama, a group of his followers established a monastic order and began to collect Buddha’s preachings. Buddhist sects were divided according to principle. Theravada or Southern Buddhism which spread to Thailand and Indo-China concentrated on individual monastic discipline, while Mahayana or Northern Buddhism had a more universal nature, with the emphasis on the supernatural character of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas ( semi-divine beings who helped mortals achieve salvation ). It was mainly this form of Buddhism that spread to China, Japan and East Asia. Zen is a form of Japanese Buddhism that seeks what is truly real by deep thought without any reason or study.

MONASTARIES, MONKS, AND MONUMENTS

Monasteries and monks formed an essential part of Buddhism. Originally monks were wanderers, who begged for food, but gradually monasteries evolved from groups of huts to substantial buildings. Monasteries are most important in Theravada Buddhism: according to its creed only monks can reach nirvana.

The earliest Buddhist monuments date from the 3rd century BC, when Asoka, the Mauryan emperor of India erected great stone columns surmounted by figures of animals and the Wheel of the Buddhist Law throughout his empire, and built stupas, the most famous of which is at Sanchi.

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