Religion has always been an inseparable part of our lives. This inseparable part has various meaning for various people. For some, people like nuns or priests, it is the meaning of life or even life itself. For some, it is some kind of rules to make our life steady and much better. For some, it does not even exist. It's just made up for controlling people. If we are going to speak as a general define or dictionary meaning we can say religion is a set of basic beliefs and practices that are generally agreed upon by a group of people. Of course, these beliefs and practices can change from one to the another or even in itself. All religions have their own specific rules. Most of them promise rewards for those who follow these rules and punishment
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Compared to other religions, Buddhism is quite different. Many Buddhist claims that Buddhism is a philosophy rather than a religion due to its faith and worship owing allegiance to a supernatural being. Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as the "Enlightened One," or Buddha is the founder of Buddhism and his teachings form the basis of religion. Over 500 million people or 7% of the global population is Buddhist. This number makes it the fourth popular religion. “Buddhists hold to the Three Universal Truths: impermanence, the lack of self, and suffering. These truths encompass the ideas that everything is impermanent and changing and that life is not satisfying because of its impermanence and the temporary nature of all things, including contentment. Buddhism also teaches the Four Noble Truths: All life is suffering (Dukkha). Desire and attachment cause suffering (Samudaya). Ceasing to desire or crave conceptual attachment ends suffering and leads to release (Nirodha). This release comes through following the Noble Eightfold Path—right understanding (or view), right intention, right speech, right conduct, right occupation, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration (Magga). (Buddhism. By Johnson, Judy A., MTS). These are the tenets of Buddhism. If we going to speak more simply, we can say the main purpose of Buddhism is to explain the sources of pain, suffering and dissatisfaction in life and show people how to get rid of them. Teachings are basically inner-gaze methods like meditation, the birth and death cycle also known as reincarnation and cause-effect chain called “Karma”. “Karma is the Buddhist belief in cause-effect relationships; actions taken in one life have consequences in the next.” (Buddhism. By Johnson, Judy A., MTS). Contrary to others Buddhism has no holy book comparable to Bible or Qur’an. “For Theravada Buddhists, an important text is the Pāli Canon, the collection of Buddha’s teachings.
Compared to other religions, Buddhism is quite different. Many Buddhist claims that Buddhism is a philosophy rather than a religion due to its faith and worship owing allegiance to a supernatural being. Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as the "Enlightened One," or Buddha is the founder of Buddhism and his teachings form the basis of religion. Over 500 million people or 7% of the global population is Buddhist. This number makes it the fourth popular religion. “Buddhists hold to the Three Universal Truths: impermanence, the lack of self, and suffering. These truths encompass the ideas that everything is impermanent and changing and that life is not satisfying because of its impermanence and the temporary nature of all things, including contentment. Buddhism also teaches the Four Noble Truths: All life is suffering (Dukkha). Desire and attachment cause suffering (Samudaya). Ceasing to desire or crave conceptual attachment ends suffering and leads to release (Nirodha). This release comes through following the Noble Eightfold Path—right understanding (or view), right intention, right speech, right conduct, right occupation, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration (Magga). (Buddhism. By Johnson, Judy A., MTS). These are the tenets of Buddhism. If we going to speak more simply, we can say the main purpose of Buddhism is to explain the sources of pain, suffering and dissatisfaction in life and show people how to get rid of them. Teachings are basically inner-gaze methods like meditation, the birth and death cycle also known as reincarnation and cause-effect chain called “Karma”. “Karma is the Buddhist belief in cause-effect relationships; actions taken in one life have consequences in the next.” (Buddhism. By Johnson, Judy A., MTS). Contrary to others Buddhism has no holy book comparable to Bible or Qur’an. “For Theravada Buddhists, an important text is the Pāli Canon, the collection of Buddha’s teachings.