4.Buddhism

Buddhism is one of the famous religions in the world, which has its origins in the teaching of Siddhartha Gautam, a king's son who was born about 553 BC in Lumbini in Nepal. It is about 250 kilometers southwest of the capital city-Kathmadu. At the age of 29, he renounced family and home and spent six years in meditation, and studied until he attained enlightenment. Thereafter known as the Buddha, the enlightened one, he devoted the rest of his life to preaching his doctrine.

Gautam promulgated the four noble truths. The first truth is that suffering dominates life. His next truth is that desire causes suffering. Furthermore, he says that desire comes to and ends in Nirvana, and finally Nirvana can be achieved when you relinquish your self and absorb into the supreme spirit. The path to Nirvana is an individual struggle and results in the passing over the individual self into the eternal self. Individual morality is the means of gaining Nirvana, and not the observance of caste of priestly rituals.

The two main forms of Buddhism are those of Hinayana, which is the earlisest form, and Mahayana, which developed at about the beginning of the Christian era and was based more on the example of the Buddha than on his specific statements. Buddhism in Nepal took on a new dimension with the creation of Vajrayana Buddhism, an offshoot of Mahayana. It was not widely practiced by the Newars in the Kathmandu valley.

Stupa is a place where an image of Buddha is placed, and an edifice built for worship and meditation is called Gumba or Bihar. The main holy book of Buddhism is ‘Tripitak”. Besides Nepal, Buddhism is in practice in India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Myanmar and several countries of the world.

In sum, Buddhism with mainly two forms and four truths is being widely practiced throughout the globe. It is expected that it will even grow around the world in the days ahead.