First, it should be mentioned that Buddha is not a name of a particular person, who was responsible for establishing one of the most influential Eastern religions. It is a term to describe an enlightened person, whose way of life can be describe with the help of the translation of the term “Buddha”. It is translated as the “awakened one” and is being applied to anyone, who can be considered an enlightened person according to the statements of Buddhist religion. Nevertheless, the historical image of the first appearance of Buddha is unclear and remains the subject of various historical disputes. In addition, apart from the first Buddhist records, there are no official records that prove the appearance of Buddha or his followers, at least.
Second, the only person, who is confirmed to be one of the first Buddhas is the son of a local nobleman named Siddhartha Gautama, who was not satisfied with the life of a nobleman and did not appreciate the wealth of his family. Moreover, they did not satisfy his spiritual and emotional needs. Moreover, he has grasped that the life was full of suffering, which he wanted to terminate. That’s why he devoted his time to studying various spiritual techniques and experiences and eventually came out with the main postulates of the future Buddhism.
These postulates have been developed into a philosophy, a religion and a tradition, which aim to put an end to all the sufferings of the human lives. The end of suffering according to Buddhist teachings lies within three main concepts: ethics, meditation and wisdom. Despite the fact that these concepts are connected with each other and compound each other, it is mostly the ethics, which the Buddhist monks focus on, especially the novices. Buddhist ethics lies in the constant and conscious control of body and language, as all the actions taken by a Buddhist and all the words spoken by him must bring no harm to anyone. These three concepts are also the fundamental idea for creating and developing the Buddhist community, the “Sangha”. The community consisted of Buddhist adepts of various origins, as young and old, reach and poor - many of different people wished to find the enlightenment within them. According to these three concepts have been created the respective rules, rituals and practices in order to make the followers closer to their enlightenment. The rules can sometimes be considered as strict and even radical, as they sometimes contradicted the human nature; however, they were also considered the effective ways of reaching nirvana.
Therefore, the Buddhism itself lies within the concepts that have been developed by a mysterious person, whose existence is not proved completely. However, it has developed into a worldwide religious and philosophical movement followed by millions of people.
Bibliography
Gethin, Rupert. 1998. The Foundations Of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lopez, Donald S. 1995. Buddhism In Practice. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
