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"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions simply because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

Buddhism currently has about 376 million followers and is generally listed as the world's fourth largest religion after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. It was founded in Northern India by Siddhartha Gautama (circa 563 to 460 BCE) and has spread into much of the far East. It is making major inroads into North America

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The religion of Buddhism - Religious Tolerance

Founded in India 2,500 years ago, Buddhism remains the dominant world religion in the East and is becoming increasingly popular in the West. 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.

When it comes to Buddhism, many people have questions like: What does Buddhism teach about people and the universe? Do Buddhists believe in God? Are they atheists? What of a spiritual realm and an afterlife? What are Buddhism's values, traditions, and ethics? Who are its leaders and what are its followers like? What is Buddhism's history? And what are the symbols of Buddhism and what do they mean?

The table of contents below will direct you to various topics on the Buddhist religion, from beliefs to practices to important literature to symbols. (Note: Category headings go to the home page for that subject.)

New and Featured Articles: The Buddhist View on Homosexuality, The Tibetan Book of the Dead

Lotus Flower in Buddhism

Zen Buddhism

Comparison Chart: Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism

Is Buddhism really atheistic?

What do Buddhists believe about the afterlife?

Also see this Comparison chart of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism

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Buddhism - ReligionFacts - Religion, World Religions ...

In the US, capitalists seem to be looting Buddhism, making off with its meditation mindfulness techniques and ignoring spiritual teachings such loving kindness. But how is mindfulness unfolding in South Africa?

Upmarket lifestyle shops sell statues of Buddha by the thousand while some of Wall Streets most successful traders claim that meditation helps them to focus thus enabling them to make more money.

The Buddhist concept of mindfulness is also growing in popularity in Western medicine, as more studies show the benefits of meditation and yoga on reducing anxiety and depression.

Earlier this year, Time magazine devoted a cover story to the mindful revolution, while Bloomberg featured a story headlined To make a killing on Wall Street, start meditating.

Mindfulness, simply put, encourages people to be aware of what is happening in the present moment without judgment, often through meditation based on breathing.

Scientific studies now prove what Buddhist monks have long felt: that the effects of meditation can be measured in the brain, particularly in the prefrontal cortex that regulates emotions.

But it is hard not to be cynical about what looks like capitalist looting of an ancient Eastern spirituality, taking meditation and applying it for material benefit while ignoring the Buddhist values of compassion, tolerance and the pursuit of wisdom.

Neuroscientist Dr Cliff Saron, from the University of California at Davis, has been studying mindfulness since the 1970s.

Disturbed by the recent popularity of mindfulness with hedge-fund traders, Saron says sardonically that the way it has gained traction might be a retraction.

But his painstaking efforts have added to growing scientific proof of the positive effects of meditation.

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Not simply adapting Buddha for suburbia

Buddhism,religion and philosophy that developed from the teachings of the Buddha (Sanskrit: awakened one), a teacher who lived in northern India between the mid-6th and the mid-4th centuries bce (before the Common Era or Christian era). Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of Asia, and during the 20th century it spread to the West.

Ancient Buddhist scripture and doctrine developed in several closely related literary languages of ancient India, especially in Pali and Sanskrit. In this article Pali and Sanskrit words that have gained currency in English are treated as English words and are rendered in the form in which they appear in English-language dictionaries. Exceptions occur in special circumstancesas, for example, in the case of the Sanskrit term dharma (Pali: dhamma), which has meanings that are not usually associated with the English dharma. Pali forms are given in the sections on the core teachings of early Buddhism that are reconstructed primarily from Pali texts and in sections that deal with Buddhist traditions in which the primary sacred language is Pali. Sanskrit forms are given ... (200 of 42,944 words)

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Buddhism (religion) -- Encyclopedia Britannica

Since he was sent to prison in 2012, Michael Hanson has relied on Buddhism to give him strength and prepare for life on the outside.

Hanson participates in weekly meetings with volunteers from Aryaloka, a Buddhist center in Newmarket that runs an outreach program for inmates. He meditates with a group on Saturdays and reads the religious texts he can access behind bars. ... Subscribe or log in to read more

Since he was sent to prison in 2012, Michael Hanson has relied on Buddhism to give him strength and prepare for life on the outside.

Hanson participates in weekly meetings with volunteers from Aryaloka, a Buddhist center in Newmarket that runs an outreach program for inmates. He meditates with a group on Saturdays and reads the religious texts he can access behind bars.

Hanson stays in touch with the tenets of his faith. But as a practitioner of Shaolin Chan, a strain of Buddhism that flourished centuries ago at the Shaolin monastery in China, Hanson hasnt found anything within the walls of the New Hampshire State Prison for Men that speaks directly to his beliefs.

The study of Buddhism, or any spiritual practice, is important in rehabilitating a person, he said, and so the time that Im spending in prison, Im trying to use it wisely to become a different person a better person and its difficult for me to do that without having that part of my spirituality.

Hanson was jailed at the Rockingham County House of Corrections in 2011 after he pleaded guilty to trying to access child pornography. A probation violation the next year sent Hanson back to jail this time to the state prison in Concord.

During Hansons first stint behind bars, a book that outlined the philosophy of Shaolin Buddhism was a source of comfort. And although Hanson was allowed to read the book in the Rockingham County jail, he was barred this year from getting a copy in state prison. Officials determined information about martial arts contained within the book, The Shaolin Grandmasters Text, posed a security risk.

Sometimes painted with a broad brush, Buddhism and its many disciplines can be as varied as the denominations of Christianity. Shaolin Chan centers around the idea of nonattachment, but unlike some other Buddhist practices, Shaolin focuses heavily on martial arts. For Shaolin disciples, kung fu functions as a form of meditation through action.

Hanson maintains that the Grandmasters Text is fundamentally a religious work with only cursory information about martial arts. Without it, Hanson says he has no way to study Shaolin philosophy. He is suing the prison to gain access to the book, alleging the prisons Literary Review Committee violated his constitutional rights.

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Banning books in prison spurs lawsuit: Playboy OK, but books on Buddhism and sailing rejected

Published September 30, 2014

Myanmars radical Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu attends a media briefing in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. Wirathu, known for his anti-Muslim campaign, has formalized an agreement with a like-minded Sri Lankan Bodu Bala Sena or Buddhist Power Force to work together to protect Buddhism which he says is challenged worldwide. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)(The Associated Press)

Myanmars radical Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, center, exchanges copies of a three-point agreement with the officials of Sri Lanka's Bodu Bala Sena or Buddhist Power Force during a media briefing in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. Wirathu, known for his anti-Muslim campaign, has formalized an agreement with a like-minded Sri Lankan group to work together to protect Buddhism which he says is challenged worldwide. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)(The Associated Press)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka A Myanmar Buddhist monk and a Sri Lankan ultranationalist both known for campaigning against Muslims have formally signed an agreement to work together to protect Buddhism.

Ashin Wirathu leads the fundamentalist 969 movement that has been accused of instigating deadly violence against minority Muslims in Myanmar. He was a special invitee Sunday at a rally of Bodu Bala Sena, or Buddhist Power Force, which claims minority Muslims are trying to take over Sri Lanka by having more children, marrying Buddhist women and taking over businesses.

Wirathu signed the agreement with Bodu Bala Sena in Colombo on Tuesday after saying at the rally they would join forces. The groups said their agreement involves networking and building the capacity to stabilize Buddhism. They promised to release the contents of the agreement soon.

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Buddhists hard-liners from Myanmar, Sri Lanka formalize agreement to protect religion

Ever since his stark 1967 musical debut, Songs of Leonard Cohen, the Canadian performer, poet, and songwriter has earned more than his fair share of accolades and awards. He's sold over 23 million albums and published 12 books of verse. Through it all, Cohen has remained both unique and consistent in his attention to his most important themes.

For example, his 1971 Songs of Love and Hate was just that, an exploration into the conflicting deepest drives of the human condition. In 1992, The Future was the call of an Old Testament prophet crying for the need for hope, perseverance, and reformation for all of us living in dark times. In 2012, his Old Ideas was taken by many as a restatement of these concerns from the point of view of an elder statesman of verse looking back over a long career through the lens of Zen Buddhism. His new Popular Problems, Cohen's 13th album, is a continuation of these themes, juxtaposing hope and despair, grief and yearning, and, yes, love and hate. It's also another illustration of how words can mean very different things on the page as opposed to an audio performance of them.

Released two days after his 80th birthday, Cohen's nine-song Popular Problems is a collaboration with co-writer Patrick Leonard. As with Old Ideas, Cohen still draws from the same philosophical and spiritual wells of his past, and he again paints his lyrical mysteries from the perspective of a sage who's earned his world-weariness. For example, the atmospheric opener, "Slow," is built on a low-key organ base with horn section punctuation in which Cohen looks back over his life and claims he always liked things slow. It's not age, he sings, that makes him want to "finish last."

The equally moody and percussive "Almost Like the Blues" has Cohen revisiting tropes from The Future, this time a little uncertain about the possibility of salvation in a world of murder, rape, and "bad reviews." There's a wry wit present in Cohen's vocals that might not be obvious when reading lines like, "So says the great professor of all there is to know/But I've had the invitation that a sinner can't refuse/And it's almost like salvation/It's almost like the blues."

A sad violin provides the middle and coda for one of the set's most distinctive offerings, "Samson in New Orleans," which sounds like one of Cohen's oblique hymns where he moves from the first to the second person to address a modern Samson who thinks New Orleans is better than the USA, but he needs to take the temple down. As usual, such obscure pronouncements sound more revelatory than they actually are.

Likewise, the elliptical "A Street" has Cohen saying the party is over as he addresses a colorful friend who wears military uniforms, telling him the poet is standing "on a corner where there used to be a street." Cohen acknowledges the illusory meaning of words in the dirge, "Born in Chains," chanting "Blessed by the name, the name be blessed."

In a similar vein, Cohen revisits the topic of war in "Nevermind" where Cohen muses over what is truth, what comes from "a bowl of lies," with the lyrics interspersed with a chanted Middle-Eastern counter-melody. When it comes to love, Cohen sends mixed signals. A plucking dobro gives "My Oh My" a haunted bluegrass dimension where Cohen admits, "It was easy to love you, I didn't have to try." But the surprising "Did I Ever Love You" is a list of unanswerable repeated questions about love delivered in shifting tones and settings. Once again, there's nothing easy about nailing down Cohen's feelings on anything.

Perhaps the least mysterious song is the album's closer, "You Got Me Singing" which is as straightforward a personal statement as Cohen has ever shared. Supported by acoustic guitar and violin, Cohen confesses he's inspired to sing even if the world is gone and everything seems bleak. "You got me thinking that I'd like to carry on/You got me singing/Even though it all looks grim/You got me singing the hallelujah hymn." But these hymns are sung by a man who claims, "There is no God in heaven/And there is no Hell below."

The principal difference between Old Ideas and Popular Problems is that the latter has a fuller, more spacious sound. That's perhaps due to the presence of Patrick Leonard in the control booth. That's not to say Popular Problems has the same depth and punch of The Future, but all the musical support evokes the kinds of settings Cohen has employed from the beginning. In particular, he still likes the gospel harmonies of female backing singers, horn sections, and strings that make the songs more affirming and sometimes celebratory than the lyrics would suggest. In other words, Cohen is to be experienced as an artist and no one should pretend to understand when he is being ironic, deliberately vague, playful, or too mystical for simplistic explication. And that's what poetry is all about.

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Music Review: Leonard Cohen - 'Popular Problems'

Last Updated 7-17-2014

Alternate titles: Chan; Seon; Sn; Thien; Zen Buddhism

Zen,Chinese Chan, Korean Sn, also spelled Seon, Vietnamese Thien, important school of East Asian Buddhism that constitutes the mainstream monastic form of Mahayana Buddhism in China, Korea, and Vietnam and accounts for approximately 20 percent of the Buddhist temples in Japan. The word derives from the Sanskrit dhyana, meaning meditation. Central to Zen teaching is the belief that awakening can be achieved by anyone but requires instruction in the proper forms of spiritual cultivation by a master. In modern times, Zen has been identified especially with the secular arts of medieval Japan (such as the tea ceremony, ink painting, and gardening) and with any spontaneous expression of artistic or spiritual vitality regardless of context. In popular usage, the modern non-Buddhist connotations of the word Zen have become so prominent that in many cases the term is used as a label for phenomena that lack any relationship to Zen or are even antithetical to its teachings and practices.... (169 of 3,634 words)

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Zen (Buddhism) -- Encyclopedia Britannica