Buddhism began in India 2,500 years ago and, although virtually extinct in India, it remains the dominant world religion in the East. There are over 360 million followers of Buddhism worldwide and over one million American Buddhists. There even a significant number of "Jewish Buddhists." Buddhist concepts have also been influential on western society in general, primarily in the areas of meditation and nonviolence.

The Buddha ("Enlightened One") was an Indian prince named Siddharta Gautama who lived around 500 BCE. According to Buddhist tradition, the young prince lived an affluent and sheltered life until a journey during which he saw an old man, a sick man, a poor man, and a corpse. Shocked and distressed at the suffering in the world, Gautama left his family to seek enlightenment through asceticism. But even the most extreme asceticism failed to bring enlightenment. Finally, Gautama sat beneath a tree and vowed not to move until he had attained enlightenment. Days later, he arose as the Buddha - the "enlightened one." He spent the remaining 45 years of his life teaching the path to liberation from suffering (the dharma) and establishing a community of monks (the sangha).

Over its long history, Buddhism has grown into a variety of forms ranging from an emphasis on religious rituals and the worship of deities, to a complete rejection of both rituals and deities in favor of pure meditation. Yet all forms of Buddhism share respect for the teachings of the Buddha and the goal of ending suffering and the cycle of rebirth. Theravada Buddhism, prominent in Southeast Asia, is atheistic and philosophical in nature and focuses on the monastic life and meditation as means to liberation.

Mahayana Buddhism, prominent in China and Japan, incorporates several deities, celestial beings, and other traditional religious elements. In Mahayana, the path to liberation may include religious ritual, devotion, meditation, or a combination of these elements. Zen, Nichiren, Tendai, and Pure Land are the major forms of Mahayana Buddhism..

Visit link:
Buddhism - Religion

What is Buddhism? Buddhism is a religion to about 300 million people around the world. The word comes from 'budhi', 'to awaken'. It has its origins about 2,500 years ago when Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, was himself awakened (enlightened) at the age of 35.

Is Buddhism a Religion?

To many, Buddhism goes beyond religion and is more of a philosophy or 'way of life'. It is a philosophy because philosophy 'means love of wisdom' and the Buddhist path can be summed up as:

(1) to lead a moral life, (2) to be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions, and (3) to develop wisdom and understanding.

How Can Buddhism Help Me?

Buddhism explains a purpose to life, it explains apparent injustice and inequality around the world, and it provides a code of practice or way of life that leads to true happiness.

Why is Buddhism Becoming Popular?

Buddhism is becoming popular in western countries for a number of reasons, The first good reason is Buddhism has answers to many of the problems in modern materialistic societies. It also includes (for those who are interested) a deep understanding of the human mind (and natural therapies) which prominent psychologists around the world are now discovering to be both very advanced and effective.

Who Was the Buddha?

Siddhartha Gotama was born into a royal family in Lumbini, now located in Nepal, in 563 BC. At 29, he realised that wealth and luxury did not guarantee happiness, so he explored the different teachings religions and philosophies of the day, to find the key to human happiness. After six years of study and meditation he finally found 'the middle path' and was enlightened. After enlightenment, the Buddha spent the rest of his life teaching the principles of Buddhism called the Dhamma, or Truth until his death at the age of 80.

View original post here:
A Basic Buddhism Guide: 5 Minute Introduction

Siddhartha Gautama: The Buddha

Historians estimate that the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, lived from 566(?) to 480(?) B.C. The son of an Indian warrior-king, Gautama led an extravagant life through early adulthood, reveling in the privileges of his social caste. But when he bored of the indulgences of royal life, Gautama wandered into the world in search of understanding. After encountering an old man, an ill man, a corpse and an ascetic, Gautama was convinced that suffering lay at the end of all existence. He renounced his princely title and became a monk, depriving himself of worldly possessions in the hope of comprehending the truth of the world around him. The culmination of his search came while meditating beneath a tree, where he finally understood how to be free from suffering, and ultimately, to achieve salvation. Following this epiphany, Gautama was known as the Buddha, meaning the "Enlightened One." The Buddha spent the remainder of his life journeying about India, teaching others what he had come to understand.

The Four Noble Truths comprise the essence of Buddha's teachings, though they leave much left unexplained. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. More simply put, suffering exists; it has a cause; it has an end; and it has a cause to bring about its end. The notion of suffering is not intended to convey a negative world view, but rather, a pragmatic perspective that deals with the world as it is, and attempts to rectify it. The concept of pleasure is not denied, but acknowledged as fleeting. Pursuit of pleasure can only continue what is ultimately an unquenchable thirst. The same logic belies an understanding of happiness. In the end, only aging, sickness, and death are certain and unavoidable.

The Four Noble Truths are a contingency plan for dealing with the suffering humanity faces -- suffering of a physical kind, or of a mental nature. The First Truth identifies the presence of suffering. The Second Truth, on the other hand, seeks to determine the cause of suffering. In Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering. Ignorance, in comparison, relates to not seeing the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and insight, Buddhism explains, one's mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things. Vices, such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from this ignorance.

The Third Noble Truth, the truth of the end of suffering, has dual meaning, suggesting either the end of suffering in this life, on earth, or in the spiritual life, through achieving Nirvana. When one has achieved Nirvana, which is a transcendent state free from suffering and our worldly cycle of birth and rebirth, spiritual enlightenment has been reached. The Fourth Noble truth charts the method for attaining the end of suffering, known to Buddhists as the Noble Eightfold Path. The steps of the Noble Eightfold Path are Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. Moreover, there are three themes into which the Path is divided: good moral conduct (Understanding, Thought, Speech); meditation and mental development (Action, Livelihood, Effort), and wisdom or insight (Mindfulness and Concentration).

Contrary to what is accepted in contemporary society, the Buddhist interpretation of karma does not refer to preordained fate. Karma refers to good or bad actions a person takes during her lifetime. Good actions, which involve either the absence of bad actions, or actual positive acts, such as generosity, righteousness, and meditation, bring about happiness in the long run. Bad actions, such as lying, stealing or killing, bring about unhappiness in the long run. The weight that actions carry is determined by five conditions: frequent, repetitive action; determined, intentional action; action performed without regret; action against extraordinary persons; and action toward those who have helped one in the past. Finally, there is also neutral karma, which derives from acts such as breathing, eating or sleeping. Neutral karma has no benefits or costs.

Karma plays out in the Buddhism cycle of rebirth. There are six separate planes into which any living being can be reborn -- three fortunate realms, and three unfortunate realms. Those with favorable, positive karma are reborn into one of the fortunate realms: the realm of demigods, the realm of gods, and the realm of men. While the demigods and gods enjoy gratification unknown to men, they also suffer unceasing jealousy and envy. The realm of man is considered the highest realm of rebirth. Humanity lacks some of the extravagances of the demigods and gods, but is also free from their relentless conflict. Similarly, while inhabitants of the three unfortunate realms -- of animals, ghosts and hell -- suffer untold suffering, the suffering of the realm of man is far less.

The realm of man also offers one other aspect lacking in the other five planes, an opportunity to achieve enlightenment, or Nirvana. Given the sheer number of living things, to be born human is to Buddhists a precious chance at spiritual bliss, a rarity that one should not forsake.

See original here:
Basics of Buddhism - PBS

This manual provides introduction to Zen Buddhism. Check out the history and the basics of Zen Buddhism.

The Mahayana sutras that were written in India and China form the basis of Zen Buddhism. Of these, the most prominent ones are the Lankavatara Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, the Samantamukha Parivarta, the Heart Sutra, a chapter of the Lotus Sutra and the Platform Sutra of Huineng. The fundamental elements of Buddhist philosophy consist of the basics of Zen Buddhism also. These include the Eightfold Path, the five precepts, the Four Noble Truths, the five skandhas, three dharma seals, etc.

The teachings in Zen philosophy are restricted to the Mahayana Buddhism. The major religious figures in Zen include Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Majusri Bodhisattva, Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, Sakyamuni Buddha and Amitabha Buddha. Zen Buddhism has been influenced by Chinese philosophy to a great extent, especially Taoism. This is because of the fact that Zen emerged as a distinct school in medieval China. However, the degree of influence of Taoism on Zen Buddhism is still open to debate.

As per a number of modern scholars, the influence was quite shallow, while others contend a deep influence of Taoism on Zen philosophy. It is a mistake to understand Zen as an intellectual philosophy or a solitary pursuit. Rather, it is more of a practice or a way of life. The temples dedicated to zed lay emphasis on a thorough practice of meditation on daily basis. They also advise practicing along with other people, as it helps in preventing the traps of ego. The students of Zen Buddhism are required to perform some of the tedious tasks that one performs at home.

This is because Zen Buddhists believe that a person should acquire knowledge from all the aspects of life. This knowledge will help him in the process of enlightenment. The textual hermeneutics have been severely condemned in Zen teachings. The pursuit of worldly treasures is looked down upon. They advise people to focus on meditation, which will ultimately lead them to unmediated consciousness of the processes of both the world as well as their own mind.

Link:
Zen Buddhism - Introduction to Zen Buddhism - History of ...

Was Jesus fully enlightened?

Yes, he was fully enlightened. But because he lived amidst a people who were absolutely ignorant about enlightenment, he had to speak in a language which may indicate he was not. He had to use such language because, at that particular time and place, there was no other possibility only this could be understood. Languages differ. When a buddha speaks, he uses a language that is totally different. He cannot say, I am the son of God, because to talk about the son or the father is just nonsense. But for a Jesus it is impossible to use any other language Jesus is speaking to a very different type of person.

Yet in many ways, Jesus is connected to Buddha.

Christianity has no knowledge of where Jesus was for thirty years. With the exception of two earlier incidents when he was born, and once when he was seven years old only the three years of his ministry are known; the remaining period is unknown. But India has many traditions about it: there are folk stories in Kashmir indicating that he was meditating in a Buddhist monastery there during all the years which are not accounted for.

Then, when he was thirty, he suddenly appeared in Jerusalem. Then he was crucified and there is the story of his resurrection. But again, where does he disappear to after he resurrects? Christianity has nothing to say about it. Where did he go? When did he die a natural death?

Miguel Serrano, in his book The Serpent of Paradise, writes: Nobody knows what he did or where he lived until he was thirty, the year he began his preaching. There is a legend, however, that says he was in Kashir the original name of Kashmir. Ka means the same as or equal to, and shir, Syria.

It is also reported that a Russian traveler, Nicholas Notovich, who came to India sometime in 1887, visited Ladakh in Tibet where he was taken ill and stayed in the famous Hemis Gumpa. During his stay in the Gompa he went through various volumes of Buddhist scriptures and literature wherein he found extensive mention of Jesus, his teaching, and his visit to Ladakh. Later Notovich published the book, Life of Saint Jesus, in which he related all that he had found about the visit of Jesus to Ladakh and to other countries in the East.

It is recorded that from Ladakh, after traveling through lofty mountain passes, along snowy paths and glaciers, Jesus reached Pahalgam in Kashmir. He lived there for a long period as a shepherd looking after his flock. It is here that Jesus found some traces of the lost tribes of Israel.

This village, it is recorded, was named Pahalgam, village of shepherds, after Jesus lived there. Pahal in Kashmiri means shepherd and gam, a village. Later, on his way to Srinagar, Jesus rested and preached at Ishkuman/Ishmuqam the place of rest of Jesus and this village was also named after him. When he was thirty, suddenly he appeared in Jerusalem and there follows the crucifixion and the story of the resurrection.

While Jesus was still on the cross, a soldier speared his body, and blood and water oozed out of it. The incident is recorded in the Gospel of St. John: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. This has led to the belief that Jesus was alive on the cross, because blood does not flow out of a dead body.

Excerpt from:
The Unknown Life of Jesus Osho | Sat Sangha Salon

Please enter your screen name or email address and password. Not a member? Sign up!

Sign up for a free account so you can save searches and track your favorite communities. It only takes a minute!

IMPORTANT: In order to create your account, you must be able to receive a confirmation email from RetireNet.com. If you are using a spam filter with your email program, please make sure that you retirenet.com is in your list of approved domains.

Already have an account? Sign in!

In order to reset your password, we need to verify your identity. Enter your email address below and we will email you a link to reset your password. If you don't know your email address or you can't receive email at that address, contact support.

Return to Sign-in

Fill out the following form to send a friend information about this item.

Fields marked in red are required.

Your form has been submitted.

Link:
Welcome to the Retirement Net - Retirement Communities and ...

Spiritual Enlightenment transcends religion. It transcends thought. It transcends mind and its senses. And it conveys a level of wisdom and knowledge about life and the universe that is unparalleled. The concept of enlightenment implies complete understanding of life and the universe, which usually is accompanied by a detachment of all things impermanent and a complete awareness of everything that is, at the moment that it is.

Pretty cool, huh? Yeah. Its what gave the Buddha his mojo, what gave Muhammad his immense understanding, and what gave Jesus (and Thomas) the power to heal people and perform other miracles (dont forget Peter walked on water too). If you want to understand more about spiritual enlightenment, please read the article I posted that explains more about spiritual enlightenment here. This article is going to talk about the disciplines used world-wide to attain spiritual enlightenment.

I passed through the portal of the enlightenment experience about 12 years ago. I call it the enlightenment experience, because thats what it was an experience. It was an experience of my regular senses shutting down, to be replaced with amazing visions, sounds, realizations, epiphanies, and a melding with an intelligence and love so overwhelming it literally changed my life and granted me a wisdom of which I was not worthy beforehand. It was brought on by a deep focused meditation after a short prayer. If you would like to hear more about my enlightenment experience, watch the video (or read the transcript) I made about the first time I encountered it.

So how does one become enlightened? Well theres not a set process. It just sorta happens. That said, it rarely happens to someone if theyre not looking for it. So intention is a good ingredient. But beyond that, there are quite a few commonalities among enlightenment stories globally and parallels within spiritual disciplines designed to bring on enlightenment that suggest we can make a few educated guesses on how to more easily get you there. Lets first discuss my pet theory, then we can review how the worlds disciplines to achieve enlightenment support it.

My theory on how to attain spiritual enlightenment is simple: Stop all conscious thought in your mind, and the experience of enlightenment will occur. I suppose I could have made it sound much more mystical by saying cease the noise that exists within your mind, and you will hear the truth that lies just beyond but I think you get the gist. In fact, from a scientific perspective, I believe that enlightenment is caused by certain chemicals that get released within the body during waking conscious hours when brain activity in certain areas of the brain is reduced below a presently non-defined threshold. Well discuss some evidence later in this article that supports this pretty strongly. For now, lets take alook at the disciplines that typically lead to spiritual enlightenment, and then see how they individually stack up to this basic hypothesis. The different disciplines / methods include:

Meditation (various forms discussed below) Prayer Chanting Yoga Martial Arts Fasting Sweat Lodges / Physical Distress Dancing / Quaking / Shaking Pilgrimages Sensory Depravation Near Death Experience Depression / Despair Self Flagellation Psychedelics Spontaneous Enlightenment

There are a number of different types of meditation. Even some of the different disciplines in this very article can be considered forms of physical meditation. But regardless of the flavor of meditation, all types of meditation are connected with calming the mind and bringing conscious attention into oneself so as to reduce the focus on stuff going on outside of you. How does that fit our hypothesis? If you shut down external distractions, it becomes easier to reduce internal distractions, which is of course a baby step to ceasing all thought and attaining enlightenment. Here are the different types of meditation:

I. Mindfulness Meditation, is the popular term for a form of meditation called Vipassana (vih-PAH-sah-nah), and it comes from the Buddhist tradition. It is probably the most popular form of meditation taught in the West, although it is usually not directly tied to Buddhism when it is taught. Vipassana focuses on being present wherever you are, letting your mind run freely, and simply observing whatever thoughts arise without judgement, and with full acceptance. Fans of Eckhart Tolle are familiar with this type of meditation. Its about 2500 years old if not much, much older. The practice of observing ones thoughts lets that person not be controlled by those thoughts, which then results in a detachment or separation of those same thoughts. Eventually, the process of not having your conscious attention drive new thought threads based on the spurious thoughts that fly through your mind (now doing so unmolested in meditation) allows the mind to eventually calm and quiet itself. Having the mind be calm and quiet is one step from having all conscious thought cease. Regardless of you ever being able to get to the point where conscious thought ceases, Vipassana has been shown through multiple studies to have dramatic positive effects on body and emotional health.

II. Sitting Meditation,called Zazen among Zen practitioners, is also very popular, although it is not always performed under the Zen umbrella. Zen, of course, is a form of practical Buddhism designed to lead directly to enlightenment through a conscious ceasing of all thought in the mind (sound familiar?). Zen koans are riddles that are designed not to have mindful answers to them, so that meditating on them may cause the mind to hiccup and stop thinking altogether. Good example: What is the sound of one hand clapping? How could you think your way into a solution to that riddle? Zazen is your opportunity to practice that process.

Excerpt from:
The Top 15 Ways to Achieve Spiritual Enlightenment - I AM ...

OSHO: No Tengo Biografa (1) OSHO: I DONT HAVE A BIOGRAPHY #1 http://www.osho.com/visit

Una seleccin de frases extradas de conferencias y entrevistas.

No tengo biografa. Y todo lo que creemos que es una biografa carece de importancia. No tiene importancia en qu fecha nac, en que pas nac Lo importante es lo que soy en este momento, en este lugar. -Osho

Este es el video que presenta a Osho en el primer DVD de una coleccin publicada por la editorial Planeta DeAgostini titulada Biblioteca del Bienestar Emocional OSHO. Esta coleccin est disponible y a la venta en los kioscos y por suscripcin en Espaa, Argentina, Mxico, Chile y otros pases de Latino Amrica.

1 - Slo soy yo mismo 2- Mi mensaje es un cierto tipo de alquimia. 3- Mi mensaje es muy simple. 4- S, yo enseo a ser egosta! 5- No vengo a consolar a nadie 6- Terrorista espiritual? 7- Me encanta molestar a la gente 8- Mi manera de hablar, es un truco para la meditacin. 9- Slo soy un hombre corriente 10-Vida, Amor y Risa son los tres pilares de mi enseanza

OSHO: I DONT HAVE A BIOGRAPHY #1 A selection of excerpts from talks and interviews

I don't have any biography. And whatsoever is thought to be biography is utterly meaningless. On what date I was born, in what country I was born, does not matter. What matters is what I am now, right here. - Osho

This is an opening video introducing Osho in the first DVD of a series by the Spanish publishing group PLANETA. The series is running in Spain, Argentina, Mexico and Chile.

1) I Am Just Myself 2) My Message is a Certain Alchemy 3) My Message is Very Simple 4) Yes, I Teach Selfishness! 5) No Need for Any Consolation 6) Spiritual Terrorist 7) I Love to Disturbe People 8) My Speaking is a Device for Meditation 9) Just an Ordinary Man 10) In the Schools they Teach the Three R's; I Teach the Three L's...Life, Love, Laughter.

Here is the original post:
OSHO: I Don't Have a Biography (1) (No Tengo Biografa ...

Osho does not teach any religion and does not belong to any particular religion. What he really teaches is religiousness - the real fragrance of all the flowers of existence, the Buddhas, the mystics and sages that this world has known. Osho has given thousands of discourses on all the well-known and not so known mystics of the worldfrom Ashtavakra to Zarathusthra .

Osho is a modern day mystic whose wisdom, clarity and humor have touched the lives of millions of people around the world. His insights are creating the conducive atmosphere or Atma-Sphere for the emergence of what he calls the New Man or Zorba , the Buddha the combination of celebration, dance and song of Zorba and the silence, stillness and meditation of the Buddha, the meditation of the East and the materialism of the West. Zorba the Buddha is a totally new human being who is an awakened one, and he is life-affirmative and free. When someone asked Osho the definition of religion, Osho replied: To be in romance with life is religion.

Amongst all the Enlightened Ones, Gautama the Buddha is very special to Osho. He says: I love Gautama the Buddha because he represents to me the essential core of religion. He is the beginner of a totally different kind of religion in the world. He has propounded not religion but religiousness. And this is a great radical change in the history of human consciousness.

When a Buddha moves the wheel of dharma , it takes two thousand five hundred years for it to stop completely. says Osho. The wheel that Buddha moved has stopped. The wheel has to be moved again. And that is going to be my and your lifes work that wheel has to be moved again. Once it starts revolving it will again have twenty-five centuries life.

Osho teaches meditation for our inner transformation. Love and compassion are the natural expression of this transformation. We can meditate with Buddha, dance with Krishna and celebrate our love with Sufis .

- Swami Chaitanya Keerti , Osho World Foundation, New Delhi

Osho has spoken on hundreds of mystics and traditions including Buddhism, Christianity, Communism, Hassidism., Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Sikhism, Sufism, Tantra, Taoism, Yoga, Zen and many more

Some of the mystics HE speaks on

Books on Adi Shankaracharya: The Song of Ecstasy (in English) The Great Transcendence (in English) Bhaj Govindam Moodh Mate (in Hindi)

Read the rest here:
Welcome to Osho World

Active Adult Living has been on the internet since 1998 - longer by far than any other web sites out there. Active Adult Living has done the homework when it comes to 55+ age restricted active adult communities. We feature active adult communities, 55+ communities, as well as age targeted communities, retirement villages, condominiums, urban living, and rentals .... Active Adult Living is easy to navigate for boomers, seniors and empty nesters to find their perfect home to buy or to rent. We have THOUSANDS of active adult communities for ...read more

On average, Americans consume about 130 pounds of the sweet stuff each year. Sugar is EVERYWHERE. Check any label at the grocery store and you'll find it in everything from ketchup to lunch meat. Sugar releases the feel good chemical dopamine into the brain, so it's no wonder in our high stress world that so many reach for sweet solace. Did you know that research has likened the addiction to sugar to that of cocaine? I'm not saying quit sugar all together, but there is a way to free yourself from the "sugar trap."

Protein deficiency has been linked to increased sugar cravings. ...read more

It's easy to get stuck in a flavor rut when it comes to cooking with herbs. You buy cilantro for taco night, and what doesn't get used sits in the fridge until it wilts. Sound familiar? Herbs add a fresh flavor to slow cooked dishes, and even cocktails.

Experiment with different herb/food pairings to discover your favorites! Here are some that I find most commonly available, and that are easy to mix and match.

Parsley isn't just for garnish. It's peppery flavor is perfect in virtually any recipe, and adds a burst of freshness, and color. It's a great last minu...read more

Read more:
55+ Active Adult Retirement Community Villages | Sales ...