This document provides an overview of Buddhism, including its origins in India in the 6th century BCE founded by Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha. It discusses some of Buddhism's key teachings such as the Four Noble Truths about the nature of suffering and how to end it. The document also examines cultural practices similar to Buddhism, including Shintoism in Japan, shamanism in various Asian countries, and how these have blended with or influenced Buddhism over time. The document concludes that for a belief to be compatible with Buddhism, it must be clearly stated, truthful, beneficial and not harmful when put into practice according to one's self-inquiry and equal-minded evaluation.

1. BUDDHISM:
ORIGINS
AND
CULTURAL
PRACTICES
SIMILAR TO
IT
BY SIDDHANT KAR
BA APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
SEMESTER 2
AUD 7174

2. ORIGINS
• BUDDHISM, FOUNDED IN THE LATE 6TH CENTURY B.C.E. BY SIDDHARTHA
GAUTAMA (THE "BUDDHA"), IS AN IMPORTANT RELIGION IN MOST OF THE
COUNTRIES OF ASIA.
• BUDDHISM HAS ASSUMED MANY DIFFERENT FORMS, BUT IN EACH CASE THERE
HAS BEEN AN ATTEMPT TO DRAW FROM THE LIFE EXPERIENCES OF THE
BUDDHA, HIS TEACHINGS, AND THE "SPIRIT" OR "ESSENCE" OF HIS TEACHINGS
(CALLED DHAMMA OR DHARMA) AS MODELS FOR THE RELIGIOUS LIFE.
• HOWEVER, NOT UNTIL THE WRITING OF THE BUDDHA CHARITA (LIFE OF THE
BUDDHA) BY ASHVAGHOSA IN THE 1ST OR 2ND CENTURY C.E. DO WE HAVE
ACOMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE.

3. • BUDDHA FIRST NOBLE TRUTH IS THAT LIFE IS SUFFERING (DUKKHA). LIFE AS WE
NORMALLY LIVE IT IS FULL OF THE PLEASURES AND PAINS OF THE BODY AND
MIND; PLEASURES, HE SAID, DO NOT REPRESENT LASTING HAPPINESS. THEY ARE
INEVITABLY TIED IN WITH SUFFERING SINCE WE SUFFER FROM WANTING THEM,
WANTING THEM TO CONTINUE, AND WANTING PAIN TO GO SO PLEASURE CAN
COME.
• THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH IS THAT SUFFERING IS CAUSED BY CRAVING—FOR
SENSE PLEASURES AND FOR THINGS TO BE AS THEY ARE NOT. WE REFUSE TO
ACCEPT LIFE AS IT IS.
• THE THIRD NOBLE TRUTH, HOWEVER, STATES THAT SUFFERING HAS AN END,
• AND THE FOURTH OFFERS THE MEANS TO THAT END: THE EIGHT-FOLD PATH AND
THE MIDDLE WAY. IF ONE FOLLOWS THIS COMBINED PATH HE OR SHE WILL ATTAIN
NIRVANA, AN INDESCRIBABLE STATE OF ALL-KNOWING LUCID AWARENESS IN
WHICH THERE IS ONLY PEACE AND JOY.

4. DECLINE OF THE BUDDHISM
• AFTER THE BUDDHA'S DEATH, HIS CELIBATE WANDERING FOLLOWERS GRADUALLY
SETTLED DOWN INTO MONASTERIES THAT WERE PROVIDED BY THE MARRIED
LAITYAS MERIT-PRODUCING GIFTS. THE LAITY WERE IN TURN TAUGHT BY THE
MONKS SOME OF THE BUDDHA'S TEACHINGS.
• A FAMOUS KING, NAMED ASHOKA, AND HIS SON HELPED TO SPREAD BUDDHISM
THROUGHOUT SOUTH INDIA AND INTO SRI LANKA (CEYLON) (3RD CENTURY B.C.E.).
• ALTHOUGH BUDDHISM BECAME VIRTUALLY EXTINCT IN INDIA (CA. 12TH CENTURY
C.E.)—PERHAPS BECAUSE OF THE ALL-EMBRACING NATURE OF HINDUISM, MUSLIM
INVASIONS, OR TOO GREAT A STRESS ON THE MONK'S WAY OF LIFE—AS A RELIGION
IT HAS MORE THAN PROVED ITS VIABILITY AND PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY IN THE
COUNTRIES OF ASIA TO WHICH IT HAS BEEN CARRIED.
• THE MANY FORMS AND PRACTICES THAT HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED WITHIN THE
BUDDHIST FOLD HAVE ALSO ALLOWED MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF PEOPLE TO
SATISFY THEIR SPIRITUAL NEEDS THROUGH THIS GREAT RELIGION.

5. SHINTOISM AND
BUDDHISM
• IT IS BELIEVED THAT BEFORE BUDDHISM WAS
INTRODUCED IN JAPAN, HOWEVER, SHINTO
WAS BORN FROM AN EXISTING PRIMITIVE
FORM OF RELIGION THAT WORSHIPPED
NATURE. THE ANCIENT PEOPLE OF JAPAN
HONORED SACRED SPIRITS THAT THEY
RECOGNIZED IN NATURE, MANIFESTING IN
MOUNTAINS, ROCKS, RIVERS AND TREES.
• IN JAPAN PEOPLE FOLLOW BUDDHISM BUT
MAJORITY MAINLY FOLLOW SHINTOISM
• IN BUDDHISM YOU MAY SEE MONKS IN
SHINTO YOU GET TO SEE SHRINE
MAIDENS/PRIESTESS AND PRIESTS

6. • ALTHOUGH SHINTO, THE WAY OF KAMI (GODS), IS BELIEVED
TO BE AN INDIGENOUS FAITH OF JAPAN, FEW JAPANESE ARE
DEVOTED SHINTOISTS.
• MANY VISIT BUDDHIST TEMPLES AS WELL AS PRAY FOR LUCK
AND HAPPINESS AT SHINTO SHRINES. IT IS BELIEVED THAT
BEFORE BUDDHISM WAS INTRODUCED IN JAPAN, HOWEVER,
SHINTO WAS BORN FROM AN EXISTING PRIMITIVE FORM OF
RELIGION THAT WORSHIPPED NATURE.
• THE ANCIENT PEOPLE OF JAPAN HONORED SACRED SPIRITS
THAT THEY RECOGNIZED IN NATURE, MANIFESTING IN
MOUNTAINS, ROCKS, RIVERS AND TREES. THEY BEGAN
ERECTING SHRINES WHERE THEY COULD WORSHIP THESE
DEITIES, AND THE SHRINES BECAME CENTERS OF REGIONAL
LIFE AND CULTURE.
• SHINTO CULTURE WAS THE MAIN FOCUS/FOLLOW WHILE
BUDDHISM WAS A MINOR FOLLOWING
• THE ARRIVAL OF BUDDHISM, HOWEVER, BROUGHT WITH IT
STYLISTIC CARVED FIGURAL ICONS, AN ART FORM THAT
INFLUENCED SHINTO IMAGERY, AND AS SHINTO-BUDDHIST
SYNCRETISM PROGRESSED, MANY SHINTO SHRINES AND THEIR
DEITIES WERE COMBINED WITH BUDDHIST TEMPLES AND
FIGURES. PURIFICATION AND AESTHETICS IN HARMONY WITH
NATURE, APPEAR TO BE DERIVED FROM SHINTO.

7. SHAMANISM AND BUDDHISM
• IN KOREA, THE SHAMANIC CULTURE, LARGELY OF WOMEN, IS CLOSELY TIED
WITH BUDDHIST FAITH. ALL THROUGHOUT CHINA AND NATIONS INFLUENCED
BY CHINA, WE FIND THAT THE FOLK MAGIC OF CHINA, WHICH IS LARGELY FOLK
TAOISM, WHICH CAN BE SEEN AS SHAMANIC, IS INTEGRATED WELL WITH
BUDDHISM.
• VAJRAYANA BUDDHISM, THE BUDDHISM OF THE TIBETAN HIGHLANDS, IS SEEN
BY MANY HISTORIANS AND BUDDHOLOGISTS TO BE THE RESULT OF THE
BLENDING OF THE BON RELIGION, A TRIBAL SHAMANIC RELIGION OF ANCIENT
TIBET, WITH THE FOREIGN TEACHINGS OF BUDDHISM.
• SHAMANISM AND BUDDHISM ARE OFTEN QUITE COMPATIBLE. WE CAN SEE THIS
IN HISTORY, IN CURRENT PRACTICE, AND PHILOSOPHICALLY.

8. • FOR A BELIEF TO BE COMPATIBLE WITH
THE BUDDHA’ TEACHINGS, IT MUST HAVE
TWO QUALITIES:
• IT MUST BE CLEARLY STATED AND
TRUTHFUL IN THE ORDINARY SENSE,
SUCH AS NOT SELF-CONTRADICTORY.
USING IT MUST BE BENEFICIAL AND NOT
HARMFUL.
• EACH BUDDHIST IS RESPONSIBLE FOR
PERFORMING THIS EVALUATION IN
RELATION TO OUR OWN BELIEFS AND
PRACTICES. THIS IS PART OF THE
PRACTICE OF DHAMMA-VACCAYA, SELF-
INQUIRY.
• SO WE CAN LOOK AT SHAMANIC BELIEFS
AND PRACTICES THAT WE KNOW ABOUT
AND ARE CONSIDERING USING.
BUDDHISTS PRACTICE CALLS US TO BE
EQUAL-MINDED IN EVALUATING ANY
IDEA NO MATTER WHAT ITS SOURCE.