Buddhism Educational Posters & Art Prints

World Religions -
Buddhism Wall Poster
“For whether the world is eternal or otherwise, birth, old age, death, sorrow, pain, misery, grief, and despair exist. I am concerned with the extinction of these.” The Buddha

Buddhism developed from the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, a Hindu prince from northern India who lived from 563 to 483 B.C. Siddhartha came to be known as the Buddha, or "the enlightened one." One of the central beliefs of Buddhism is that suffering always exists in the world. The Buddha taught that the only way to avoid suffering is to understand it and its source – desire. Today about 350 million Buddhists live all around the world. Most Buddhist live in the Asian nations of Japan, China, and Vietnam, but many live in the U.S.

As a young prince, Siddhartha enjoyed a life of luxury in his father's palace. But he grew curious about the world outside the palace walls. When he left the palace, he discovered a world filled with suffering. He thought he might find freedom from suffering by giving up the material comforts of life. He soon realized that self-denial was no more helpful to him in his quest than the luxury of the palace was. So, Siddhartha shifted his lifestyle to the "middle path" – he tried to live a life of neither self-denial nor excess. Doing so helped him to concentrate and understand the world around him. Finally, he gained enlightenment, or complete understanding.

Buddhists strive to follow the Four Noble Truths that the Buddha discovered upon gaining enlightenment: 1) life involves suffering; 2) suffering comes from the desire for things to be as we want them to be; 3) the only way out of suffering is to abandon this desire; 4) only a life of morality, concentration, and wisdom can lead to the end of desire and suffering. Nirvana, or release from desire and suffering and from the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, is the supreme goal of Buddhism.

Like Hindus, Buddhists believe in reincarnation, or rebirth, and karma, the consequences of human actions. But unlike most other religions, Buddhism has no God or gods. Buddhists do not think of the Buddha as God, but as a man who achieved the ultimate spiritual life and gained understanding of the world.

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