The story of Buddha, an awakened sage from the Shakya clan, the legendary founder of the world religion of Buddhism and a spiritual teacher, dates back to the 5th-6th century BC (the exact date is unknown). Blessed, revered by the world, walking in goodness, completely perfect ... He is called differently. The Buddha lived a rather long life, about 80 years, and went an amazing way during this time. But first things first.

Biography reconstruction

Before the Buddha, one important nuance should be noted. The fact is that modern science has very little material for the scientific reconstruction of his biography. Therefore, all information known about the Blessed One is taken from a number of Buddhist texts, from a work called "Buddhacharita" for example (translated as "Life of the Buddha"). Its author is Ashvaghosha, an Indian preacher, playwright and poet.

Also one of the sources is the work of Lalitavistara. It translates as "A detailed description of the games of the Buddha." Several authors worked on the creation of this work. Interestingly, it is Lalitavistara that completes the process of deification, deification of the Buddha.

It is also worth mentioning that the first texts related to the Awakened Sage began to appear only four centuries after his death. By that time, the stories about him had already been slightly modified by the monks to exaggerate his figure.

And we must remember: in the writings of the ancient Indians, chronological moments were not covered. Attention was focused on philosophical aspects. Having read many Buddhist texts, one can understand this. There, the description of the Buddha's thoughts prevails over stories about the time in which all events took place.

Life before birth

If you believe the stories and legends about the Buddha, then his path to enlightenment, a holistic and complete understanding of the nature of reality began tens of millennia before his real birth. This is called the wheel of alternation of life and death. The concept is more common under the name "samsara". This cycle is limited by karma - the universal law of cause and effect, according to which the sinful or righteous actions of a person determine his fate, the pleasures and suffering intended for him.

So, it all started with the meeting of Dipankara (the first of the 24 Buddhas) with a scholar and a wealthy brahmin, a representative of the upper class, named Sumedhi. He was simply amazed at his calmness and serenity. After this meeting, Sumedhi promised himself to achieve exactly the same state. So they began to call him a bodhisattva - one who strives for awakening for the benefit of all beings, in order to get out of the state of samsara.

Sumedhi died. But his strength and craving for enlightenment is not. It was she who determined his multiple births in various bodies and images. All the while, the bodhisattva continued to perfect his mercy and wisdom. They say that in his penultimate time he was born among the gods (devas), and was able to choose the most favorable place for his final birth. Therefore, his decision became the family of the venerable Shakya king. He knew that people would have more confidence in the preaching of someone of such noble birth.

Family, conception and birth

According to the traditional biography of the Buddha, his father's name was Shuddhodana, and he was the raja (ruling man) of a small Indian principality and the head of the Shakya tribe, a royal family of the foothills of the Himalayas with the capital Kapilavatthu. Interestingly, Gautama is his gotra, an exogamous clan, an analogue of a surname.

There is, however, another version. According to her, Shuddhodana was a member of the assembly of kshatriyas - an influential estate in ancient Indian society, which included sovereign warriors.

The Buddha's mother was Queen Mahamaya from the kingdom of the kolyas. On the night of the Buddha's conception, she dreamed that a white elephant with six light tusks entered her.

In accordance with Shakya tradition, the queen went to her parents' house to give birth. But Mahamaya did not reach them - everything happened on the road. I had to stop in the Lumbini grove (modern location - the state of Nepal in South Asia, a settlement in the Rupandekhi district). It was there that the future Sage was born - right under the ashoka tree. It happened in the month of Vaishakh - the second from the beginning of the year, lasts from April 21 to May 21.

According to most sources, Queen Mahamaya died a few days after giving birth.

The hermit-seer Asita from the mountain monastery was invited to bless the baby. He found 32 signs of a great man on the body of a child. The seer said - the baby will become either a chakravartin (great king) or a saint.

The boy was called Siddhartha Gautama. The naming ceremony was held on the fifth day after his birth. "Siddhartha" is translated as "one who has achieved his goal." Eight learned brahmins were invited to predict his future. All of them confirmed the dual fate of the boy.

Youth

Talking about the biography of the Buddha, it should be noted that his younger sister Mahamaya was engaged in his upbringing. Her name was Maha Prajapati. The father also took part in the upbringing. He wanted his son to become a great king, and not a religious sage, therefore, remembering the dual prediction for the future of the boy, he tried his best to protect him from teachings, philosophy and knowledge of human suffering. Especially for the boy, he ordered the construction of three palaces.

The future overtook all his peers in everything - in development, in sports, in science. But most of all he was drawn to reflection.

As soon as the boy was 16 years old, he was married to a princess named Yashodhara, the daughter of King Sauppabuddha of the same age. A few years later they had a son, who was named Rahula. He was the only child of Buddha Shakyamuni. Interestingly, his birth coincided with a lunar eclipse.

Looking ahead, it is worth saying that the boy became a disciple of his father, and later an arhat - one who achieved complete liberation from kleshas (obscurations and affects of consciousness) and left the state of samsara. Rahula experienced enlightenment even when he was simply walking beside his father.

For 29 years, Siddhartha lived as the prince of the capital Kapilavastu. He got everything he could wish for. But I felt: material wealth is far from the ultimate goal of life.

The thing that changed his life

One day, in the 30th year of his life, Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha in the future, went outside the palace, accompanied by the chariot driver Channa. And he saw four sights that changed his life forever. These were:

• Poor old man.
• Sick person.
• Decaying corpse.
• Hermit (a person who ascetically renounced worldly life).

It was at that moment that Siddhartha realized the whole harsh reality of our reality, which remains relevant to this day, despite the past two and a half millennia. He understood that death, aging, suffering and illness are inevitable. Neither nobility nor wealth will protect them from them. The path to salvation lies only through self-knowledge, since it is through it that one can comprehend the causes of suffering.

That day really changed a lot. What he saw prompted him to leave his home, family and all property. He abandoned his former life to go in search of a way to get rid of suffering.

Gaining knowledge

From that day a new story of the Buddha began. Siddhartha left the palace with Channa. Legends say that the gods muffled the sound of his horse's hooves to keep his departure a secret.

As soon as the prince left the city, he stopped the first beggar he met and exchanged clothes with him, after which he released his servant. This event even has a name - "Great Departure".

Siddhartha began his ascetic life in Rajagriha - a city in the Nalanda district, which is now called Rajgir. There he begged in the street for alms.

Naturally, they knew about it. King Bimbisara even offered him the throne. Siddhartha refused him, but promised to go to the kingdom of Magadha after achieving enlightenment.

So the life of the Buddha in Rajagriha did not work out, and he left the city, eventually coming to two brahmin hermits, where he began to study yogic meditation. Having mastered the teaching, he came to a sage named Udaka Ramaputta. He became his disciple, and upon reaching the highest level of meditative concentration, he set off again.

His target was southeastern India. There, Siddhartha, along with five other people seeking the truth, tried to come to enlightenment under the leadership of the monk Kaundinya. The methods were the most severe - asceticism, self-torture, all kinds of vows and mortification of the flesh.

Being on the verge of death after as many as six (!) years of such an existence, he realized that this does not lead to clarity of mind, but only clouds it and exhausts the body. Therefore, Gautama began to reconsider his path. He remembered how as a child he plunged into a trance during the celebration of the beginning of plowing, felt that refreshing and blissful state of concentration. And plunged into Dhyana. This is a special state of contemplation, concentrated reflection, which leads to a calming of consciousness and in the future - to a complete stop of mental activity for a while.

Enlightenment

After renouncing self-torture, the life of the Buddha began to take shape differently - he went to wander alone, and his path continued until he reached a grove located near the town of Gaya (Bihar state).

By chance, he came across the house of a village woman, Sujata Nanda, who believed that Siddhartha was the spirit of a tree. He looked so emaciated. The woman fed him rice with milk, after which he sat under a large ficus (now they call him and vowed not to get up until he came to the Truth.

This was not to the liking of the demon-tempter Mara, who headed the kingdom of the gods. He seduced the future God Buddha with various visions, showed him beautiful women, trying in every possible way to distract him from meditation by demonstrating the attractiveness of earthly life. However, Gautama was steadfast and the demon retreated.

For 49 days he sat under the ficus. And on the full moon, in the month of Vaishakh, on the same night that Siddhartha was born, he attained Awakening. He was 35 years old. That night, he received a complete understanding of the causes of human suffering, about nature, and also about what is needed to achieve the same state for other people.

This knowledge was then called the "Four Noble Truths." They can be summarized as follows: “There is suffering. And there is its cause, which is desire. The cessation of suffering is nirvana. And there is a path that leads to its achievement, called the Eightfold.

For several more days, Gautama thought, being in a state of samadhi (disappearance of the idea of ​​his own individuality), whether to teach the acquired knowledge to others. He doubted whether it would be possible for them to come to Awakening, because they are all filled with deceit, hatred and greed. And the ideas of Enlightenment are very subtle and deep to understand. But the highest deva Brahma Sahampati (god) stood up for the people, who asked Gautama to bring the Teaching to this world, since there will always be those who will understand him.

Eightfold Path

Talking about who the Buddha is, one cannot fail to mention the Noble Eightfold Path, which the Awakened One himself went through. This is the road leading to the cessation of suffering and liberation from the state of samsara. You can talk about this for hours, but in short, the Eightfold Path of the Buddha is 8 rules, following which you can come to Awakening. Here's what they are:

1. Correct view. It implies the comprehension of the four truths that were indicated above, as well as other provisions of the teaching that need to be experienced and formed into the motivation of one's behavior.
2. Correct intention. One must be firmly convinced of one's decision to follow the eightfold path of the Buddha, leading to nirvana and liberation. And start cultivating metta in yourself - friendliness, benevolence, loving kindness and kindness to all living things.
3. Correct speech. Refusal of foul language and lies, slander and stupidity, obscenity and meanness, idle talk and strife.
4. Correct behaviour. Do not kill, do not steal, do not fornicate, do not drink, do not lie, do not commit any other atrocities. This is the path to social, contemplative, karmic and psychological harmony.
5. Right way of life. Everything that can cause suffering to any living beings must be abandoned. Choose the appropriate type of activity - earn in accordance with Buddhist values. Refuse luxury, wealth and excesses. This will get rid of envy and other passions.
6. Correct effort. The desire to realize oneself and learn to distinguish between dharmas, joy, peace and tranquility, to concentrate on achieving the truth.
7. Right mindfulness. Be aware of your own body, mind, sensations. Try to learn to see yourself as an accumulation of physical and mental states, to distinguish the "ego", to destroy it.
8. Correct concentration. Going into deep meditation or dhyana. Helps to achieve ultimate contemplation, to free oneself.

And this is in short. First of all, the name of the Buddha is connected with these concepts. And, by the way, they also formed the basis of the Zen school.

On the spread of the teaching

From the moment Siddhartha realized, they began to find out who the Buddha was. He was engaged in the dissemination of knowledge. The first students were merchants - Bhallika and Tapussa. Gautama gave them a few hairs from his head, which, according to legend, are stored in a 98-meter gilded stupa in Yangon (Shwedagon Pagoda).

Then the story of the Buddha develops in such a way that he goes to Varanasi (a city that means the same to the Hindus as the Vatican to the Catholics). Siddhartha wanted to tell his former teachers about his achievements, but it turned out that they had already died.

Then he went to the suburb of Sarnath, where he held the first sermon, in which he told his fellow ascetics about the Eightfold Path and the Four Truths. Everyone who listened to him soon became an arhat.

For the next 45 years, the name of the Buddha became more and more recognizable. He traveled around India, taught the Doctrine to everyone, no matter who they were - even cannibals, even warriors, even cleaners. Gautama was also accompanied by the sangha, his community.

All this was known to his father, Shuddhodana. The king sent as many as 10 delegations for his son to bring him back to Kapilavastu. But it was in ordinary life that Buddha was a prince. Everything has long since become the past. Delegations came to Siddhartha and eventually 9 out of 10 joined his sangha, becoming arhats. The tenth Buddha accepted and agreed to go to Kapilavastu. He went there on foot, preaching the Dharma on the way.

Returning to Kapilavastu, Gautama learned of his father's impending death. He came to him and spoke about the Dharma. Right before his death, Shuddhodana became an arhat.

After that, he returned to Rajagaha. Maha Prajapati, who raised him, asked to be accepted into the sangha, but Gautama refused. However, the woman did not accept this, and went after him along with several noble girls of the Koliya and Shakya clans. In the end, the Buddha accepted them nobly, seeing that their capacity for enlightenment was on a par with that of men.

Death

The years of the Buddha's life were eventful. When he was 80 years old, he said that he would soon reach Parinirvana - the final stage of immortality, and free his earthly body. Before entering this state, he asked his disciples if they had any questions. There were none. Then he spoke his last words: “All composite things are short-lived. Strive for your own liberation with particular diligence.”

When he died, he was cremated according to the rules of the rite for the Universal Ruler. The remains were divided into 8 parts and placed at the base of the stupas, specially erected for this purpose. It is believed that some monuments have survived to this day. Dalada Maligawa Temple, for example, which houses the tooth of the great sage.

In ordinary life, the Buddha was just a status person. And having gone through a difficult path, he became the one who was able to achieve the highest state of spiritual perfection and put knowledge into the minds of thousands of people. It is he who is the founder of the most ancient world doctrine, which has an indescribable meaning. It is not surprising that the celebration of Buddha's birthday is a large-scale and high-profile holiday celebrated in all countries of East Asia (except Japan), and in some it is official. The date changes annually, but always falls in April or May.

Man has always sought to know himself, the world around him and fill your life with meaning. Any religion carries the spiritual foundations of the life of a particular nation. One of the oldest religions is Buddhism. The secrets and legends associated with the founder of the doctrine disturb the minds of people to this day.

The Man Who Really Existed

A few centuries before our era, in the territory where it is now located country Nepal, a boy was born in the royal family. According to one legend, the gods sent a new prophet to earth, who was supposed to teach people how to be happy. Another narration says that the Buddha himself chose the time and place of his birth.

After being born, the boy took seven steps. Where his feet touched the ground, lotuses grew. The future sage said that he came to earth for the sake of people and wants to save them from suffering. Until the age of 29, the young man lived in a family that gave him an excellent upbringing and the opportunity for all-round development.

Wanting to save humanity from pain and misfortune, the philosopher firmly believed that this was possible and was looking for a way out. This is how Buddhism appeared - a philosophical doctrine, which was based on noble truths, which later became a symbol of faith of the emerging religion.

the prophet had many students and followers in different countries of the world. Among his admirers were even royalty and dignitaries.

A great contemplative in India died at the age of 80.

What does Buddhism preach?

The Buddha preached his own understanding of how a person can get rid of physical and mental torment. He believed that cessation of suffering is possible and explained how to live in order to come to this.

To achieve the highest happiness, in other words, nirvana, according to the Buddha, anyone can. For this he developed his path to deliverance which includes the following.

1. The views of a person must be correct, based on noble truths.
2. In the name of truth and truth, a person must be ready for a feat.
3. Speech should be sincere, friendly and truthful.
4. By his behavior, a person should not harm anyone.
5. It is necessary to lead an honest and correct way of life.
6. A person should engage in self-education, develop willpower.
7. You need to be attentive, vigilant and active.
8. The ability to assemble internally must be constantly developed. This must be learned through meditation and contemplation.

The preacher explained to people that the first thing to learn is how to get rid of the evil in yourself.

By observing these basic commandments, a person will be able to become calm and independent from all life's adversities. All sorts of rituals and sacrifices are alien to this religion. The history of Buddhism, undergoing ups and downs, continues to this day.

Shrines and relics of Buddhism

In the town of Bodhgaya (India), and it was here that the founder of the religion began his path of enlightenment, modern English archaeologists unearthed a sacred temple. After that, Buddhists from all over the world began to make pilgrimages to this territory, and those countries in which Buddhism is the main religion consider it their duty to build another new temple here.

Not only holy temples and monasteries are dedicated to the wisest of the wisest people on the planet. Numerous statues testify to how valued and teaching is valued at all times. There are Buddha statues in China, Japan, Nepal. One of the most famous and famous statues is in India, it is made from a huge single piece of stone.

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Geography of Buddhism………………………………………………….1

Birth of Buddhism………………………………………………...1

Biography of the Buddha…………………………………………………...2

The mythological biography of the Buddha………………………….3

Basic principles and features of Buddhism as a religion…………….4

List of used literature…………………………………8

Geography of Buddhism

Buddhism is the oldest of the world's religions, which received its name from the name, or rather from the honorary title, of its founder Buddha, which means "Enlightened". Buddha Shakyamuni (a sage from the Shakya tribe) lived in India in the 5th-4th centuries. BC e. Other world religions - Christianity and Islam - appeared later (respectively five and twelve centuries later).

If we try to imagine this religion as if “from a bird's eye view”, we will see a colorful patchwork quilt of directions, schools, sects, subsects, religious parties and organizations.

Buddhism absorbed many diverse traditions of the peoples of those countries that fell into its sphere of influence, and also determined the way of life and thoughts of millions of people in these countries. Most adherents of Buddhism now live in South, Southeast, Central and East Asia: Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Cambodia, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand and Laos. In Russia, Buddhism is traditionally practiced by Buryats, Kalmyks and Tuvans.

Buddhism was and remains a religion that takes on different forms depending on where it spreads. Chinese Buddhism is a religion that speaks to believers in the language of Chinese culture and national ideas about the most important values ​​of life. Japanese Buddhism is a synthesis of Buddhist ideas, Shinto mythology, Japanese culture, etc.

Birth of Buddhism

Buddhists themselves count the time of the existence of their religion from the death of the Buddha, but among them there is no consensus about the years of his life. According to the tradition of the oldest Buddhist school - Theravada, the Buddha lived from 624 to 544 BC. e. According to the scientific version, the life of the founder of Buddhism is from 566 to 486 BC. e. In some branches of Buddhism, later dates are adhered to: 488-368. BC e. The birthplace of Buddhism is India (more precisely, the Ganges valley). The society of ancient India was divided into varnas (estates): Brahmins (the highest class of spiritual mentors and priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (merchants) and Shudras (serving all other classes). Buddhism for the first time addressed a person not as a representative of any class, clan, tribe or a certain gender, but as a person (unlike the followers of Brahmanism, the Buddha believed that women, along with men, are capable of achieving the highest spiritual perfection). For Buddhism, only personal merit was important in a person. So, the word “brahmin” Buddha calls any noble and wise person, regardless of his origin.

Biography of the Buddha

The biography of Buddha reflects the fate of a real person framed by myths and legends, which over time almost completely pushed aside the historical figure of the founder of Buddhism. More than 25 centuries ago, in one of the small states in the north-east of India, the son of Siddhartha was born to King Shuddhodana and his wife Maya. His family name was Gautama. The prince lived in luxury, knowing no worries, eventually started a family and, probably, would have succeeded his father on the throne, if fate had not decreed otherwise.

Having learned that there are diseases, old age and death in the world, the prince decided to save people from suffering and went in search of a recipe for universal happiness. In the area of ​​Gaya (it is still called Bodh-Gaya today), he achieved Enlightenment, and the way to save humanity was opened to him. It happened when Siddhartha was 35 years old. In the city of Benares, he read his first sermon and, as Buddhists say, “turned the wheel of Dharma” (as the teachings of the Buddha are sometimes called). He traveled with sermons in cities and villages, he had students and followers who were going to listen to the instructions of the Teacher, whom they began to call the Buddha. At the age of 80, the Buddha passed away. But the disciples, even after the death of the Teacher, continued to preach his teaching throughout India. They created monastic communities where this teaching was preserved and developed. These are the facts of the real biography of Buddha - the man who became the founder of a new religion.

Mythological biography of the Buddha

Mythological biography is much more complicated. According to legend, the future Buddha was reborn a total of 550 times (83 times he was a saint, 58 - a king, 24 - a monk, 18 - a monkey, 13 - a merchant, 12 - a chicken, 8 - a goose, 6 - an elephant; in addition, a fish, rat, carpenter, blacksmith, frog, hare, etc.). So it was until the gods decided that the time had come for him, having been born in the guise of a man, to save the world, mired in the darkness of ignorance. The birth of the Buddha in a kshatriya family was his last birth. That is why he was called Siddhartha (one who reached the goal). The boy was born with thirty-two signs of a “great husband” (golden skin, wheel sign on the foot, wide heels, light circle of hair between the eyebrows, long fingers, long earlobes, etc.). The wandering ascetic astrologer predicted that a great future awaited him in one of two areas: either he would become a powerful ruler capable of establishing righteous order on earth, or he would be a great hermit. Mother Maya did not take part in the upbringing of Siddhartha - she died (and according to some legends, she went to heaven so as not to die from admiration for her son) shortly after his birth. The boy was raised by his aunt. The prince grew up in an atmosphere of luxury and prosperity. The father did everything possible to prevent the prediction from coming true: he surrounded his son with wonderful things, beautiful and carefree people, created an atmosphere of eternal celebration so that he would never know about the sorrows of this world. Siddhartha grew up, got married at the age of 16, and had a son, Rahula. But his father's efforts were in vain. With the help of his servant, the prince managed to sneak out of the palace three times. For the first time, he met a patient and realized that beauty is not eternal and that there are ailments that disfigure a person in the world. The second time he saw the old man and realized that youth is not eternal. For the third time he watched the funeral procession, which showed him the fragility of human life.

Siddhartha decided to look for a way out of the trap of illness - old age - death. According to some versions, he also met a hermit, which made him think about the possibility of overcoming the suffering of this world, leading a solitary and contemplative lifestyle. When the prince decided on a great renunciation, he was 29 years old. After six years of ascetic practice and another unsuccessful attempt to achieve higher insight through fasting, he became convinced that the path of self-torture would not lead to the truth. Then, having regained his strength, he found a secluded place on the bank of the river, sat down under a tree (which from now on is called the Bodhi tree, that is, the “tree of Enlightenment”) and plunged into contemplation. Before the inner gaze of Siddhartha, his own past lives, the past, future and present lives of all living beings passed, and then the highest truth, Dharma, was revealed. From that moment on, he became a Buddha - Enlightened, or Awakened - and decided to teach the Dharma to all people who seek the truth, regardless of their origin, class, language, gender, age, character, temperament and mental abilities.

The Buddha spent 45 years spreading his teachings in India. According to Buddhist sources, he won adherents from all walks of life. Shortly before his death, the Buddha told his beloved disciple Ananda that he could extend his life for a whole century, and then Ananda bitterly regretted that he had not thought to ask him about it. The reason for the death of the Buddha was a meal at the poor blacksmith Chunda, during which the Buddha, knowing that the poor man was going to treat his guests with stale meat, asked to give all the meat to him. The Buddha died in the town of Kushinagara, and his body was cremated according to custom, and the ashes were divided among eight followers, six of whom represented different communities. His ashes were buried in eight different places, and subsequently memorial tombstones - stupas - were erected over these burials. According to legend, one of the disciples pulled out the tooth of the Buddha from the funeral pyre, which became the main relic of the Buddhists. Now he is in a temple in the city of Kandy on the island of Sri Lanka.

Gautama Buddha, whose original name was Prince Siddhartha Gautama, was the founder of Buddhism, one of the world's greatest religions.

Siddhartha was the son of a king who ruled in the city of Kapilavastu, located in northern India on the border with Nepal. Siddhartha, descended from the royal family of Gautama of the Shakya tribe, was supposedly born in 563 BC. in the city of Lumbini, located within the modern borders of Nepal. At sixteen, he married his cousin, who was the same age as he was.

Prince Siddhartha grew up in a luxurious royal palace, but he did not strive for material comfort. He felt deeply dissatisfied with his life. He saw that most of the people around were poor and constantly in need. Even those who were rich were often disappointed in life and unhappy, and everyone around them was prone to illness and eventually died. And, naturally, Siddhartha began to think that there must be something more in life than temporary pleasures that are too fleeting in the face of suffering and death.

When he was 29 years old, it was shortly after the birth of his first son, Siddhartha decided that he should end the life he had been living and devote himself entirely to the search for truth. He left the palace, leaving there his wife, his newborn son, all his earthly treasures, and became a wanderer who did not have a penny in his pocket. For some time he studied with some famous saints of that time, but, having mastered all the subtleties of their science, he realized that it was not a panacea for solving the problems that life itself poses to a person.

At that time it was widely believed that excessive asceticism was the path to true wisdom. Therefore, Gautama tried to become an ascetic and subjected himself to starvation and mortification for several years. In the end, however, he realized that by torturing his body, he only clouded his brain and that this did not bring him one step closer to true wisdom. Therefore, he began to eat normally again and did away with asceticism.

Leading a solitary life, he tried to solve the problems of human existence. Finally, one evening, as he sat under the giant fig tree, all the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fit together. Siddhartha spent the whole night in deep thought, and when morning came, he realized that he had found the key to solving problems and that he had become a "Buddha", i.e. "enlightened man"

At this time he was 35 years old. For the remaining 45 years of his life, he traveled throughout northern India preaching his new philosophy to all who would listen to him. When he died, which happened in 483 BC, he had thousands of converts. Although his words were not written down on paper, many of his teachings were memorized by his students, and they were passed on to succeeding generations orally.

The main teaching of the Buddha can be summarized in what Buddhists call the "Four Noble Truths": first, human life is by nature an unhappy life; the second - the cause of an unhappy life is human egoism and desires; the third - with the egoism of an individual and his desires can be done away with; the final stage, when all desires and aspirations are nullified, is called "nirvana" (literally, "fading", "fading"); the fourth truth is the way to get rid of selfishness and desires, called the "Path of Eight Roads": right belief, right thinking, right speech, right action, right way of life, right effort, right attitude to duties, right meditation. It might be added that Buddhism is a religion open to all, regardless of race, and that, unlike Hinduism, it does not recognize the division into castes.

For some time after the death of Gautama, the new religion spread slowly. In the III century BC. the great Indian ruler Ashoka was initiated into Buddhism. His support ensured the rapid spread of the influence of Buddhism and its dogmas in India, as well as in neighboring countries. Buddhism spread south to Ceylon and east to Burma. From there it spread to all of Southeast Asia, Malaysia and what is today Indonesia. Buddhism also spread north, directly into Tibet, and northwest into Afghanistan and Central Asia. It was most widely used in China, and then spread to Korea and Japan.

In India itself, the new faith began to decline after 500 BC. and completely disappeared after 1200 AD. In China and Japan, by contrast, Buddhism remained as the main religion.

For many centuries, it has remained the main religion in Tibet and the countries of Southeast Asia.

The Buddha's teaching did not find a written expression for several centuries after his death, and it is not difficult to understand that his movement split into various currents. The two main branches of Buddhism are the Theravadi branch, which dominates South Asia and is considered by most Western scholars as the closest to the original teachings of the Buddha, and the Mahayana branch, which has become widespread in Tibet, China and North Asia.

Buddha, as the founder of one of the world's major religions, certainly claims to be one of the first places on our list. But since there are only about 200 million Buddhists in the world compared to 500 million Muslims and a billion Christians, it is quite clear that Buddha influenced fewer people than either Jesus or Mohammed. However, the difference in numbers can be misleading. One of the reasons why Buddhism gradually died out in India is that Hinduism absorbed many of its ideas and principles. In China, similarly, a large number of people who do not call themselves Buddhists are strongly influenced by Buddhist philosophy.

Buddhism contains many more pacifist ideas than Christianity or Islam. The orientation towards non-violence plays a significant role in the political history of Buddhist countries.

It is often said that if Christ were to return to earth, he would be shocked at much of what was done in his name, and he would be horrified at the bloody struggle between the various religious sects whose members claim to be his followers. The Buddha would no doubt also be amazed at how many different doctrines present themselves as Buddhist. Despite the fact that there are many branches of Buddhism and there are significant differences between them, there is nothing in Buddhist history that remotely resembles the bloody religious wars that were fought in Christian Europe. In this respect, at least, the Buddha's teaching had a far greater impact on its followers than did the Christian teaching.

Buddha and Confucius had approximately equal influence on world development. Both of them lived at about the same time and the number of their adherents does not differ much from one another.

I tend to rate Buddha over Confucius for two reasons. The first of these - the arrival of communism in China, as it seems to me, significantly weakened the influence of Confucius. And the second reason: the fact that Confucianism did not become widespread outside of China indicates how closely the ideas of Confucius were intertwined with ideas that existed earlier in China. On the other hand, the Buddhist teaching is in no way a repetition of previous Indian philosophy, and Buddhism spread far beyond the borders of India due to the originality of the concept of Gautama Buddha and the great attraction of his philosophy.