Buddhism - 29 Minute Books (29 Minute Books) ebok

The monks practice a lay life adhering to many of the principles as first taught by Siddhartha Gautama 2500 years ago in ancient north India. Siddhartha Gautama is more commonly known as the Buddha who reached enlightenment under a fig tree. After the Buddha’s experience realizing the path leading to the cessation of suffering, he began a monastic community that gradually expanded all over India and Asia. His core teachings remained the same but over the centuries, followers began to develop new interpretations of his teachings and reduced the need for renunciation. Instead, they privileged good deeds and limited denial of worldly pleasures. Today Buddhism is one of the largest religions of the world but has many different faces. This brief chapter is an explanation of Buddhism’s early history and a description of its gradual expansion to the far reaches of India and beyond.