Religion Continued

If you have been keeping up with this boring Blog you would know that this is the continuation of a series. Haha, okay! Im actually only doing this as a form of review for my test tomorrow which covers Hinduism and Buddhism. Today, Buddhism!

Buddhism actually emerged from India. The man behind the name, "Buddha", actually named Siddhartha Gautama. He was born into a prophecy which stated that when he grew up he could be two things: a great ruler of his people or lead a selfish life of knowledge as "the enlightened one". His father, a rich emperor of his land, sought to have the rich ruler and try to surround his son with greatness. He grew up with riches, nothing bad around him up until he was about thirty (i think). Dude was married and with kids and everything. One day as he was cruising around in his chariot he came upon four sites. The first site;an old man, he then realized that one day he could become old. The second; a sick man, he saw that one day he could become sick. The third site; he saw a dead man; upon seeing this he knew that one day he would die. The last thing he saw in his trip was a wandering man, a Hindu monk, he saw how calm and care-free he lived and he knew that this was his calling. Eventually he left his house to lead the life of that monk, he wandered around to seek the truth. He became a follower of Hinduism and under the teachings of Hinduism and a few monks he fell. Here he supposedly quit food for SIX YEARS as well as staying in a Lotus position, never to move. Here he became aware of his appearance, one could almost call to mind a skeleton walking. The stories tell that in some of his weak moments he would eat his own shit to quench his thirst and hunger! Anyways, fed up with the bullshit (pun intended!) he left, tried to get up but fell into a river and almost drowned but somehow managed to survive. Now with food, he could see what had happened. After trying to rid himself of all earthly attachments such as food, he had gone to an extreme of almost dying. This, he thought was not the way to live. So he came up with the "Middle Way". Its exactly what it sounds like, living with only the sufficient amount of things.  So this dude eventually taught many individuals in his lifetime, herding up to thousands of followers simply by walking along the country. He eventually dies and is liberated into "Nirvana", the freedom from being reborn.
Basically, Buddhism, is similar to Hinduism. Except that there is no god or gods to venerate. You do re-incarnate, but not in the same entirety. Karma, is the actions that you do that build up regardless of good or bad in this life and in the ones to follow. So, you have basically one chance, that is to be a human and to escape the cycle of life. You must, if you want, follow the path that the "Buddha" followed, he is not a god, he is a person that succeeded. Buddha means the "awakened one".

Buddhism, in my opinion is a fantastic way to view life. Taken out of its teachings, it is practical and it gives hope regardless if it is true or not.

Comment below on any thoughts you might have!