A bit about Buddhism:
Buddhism can be described as a path or journey that
addresses the dissatisfaction or suffering in our lives caused by
spiritual ignorance, caused by our deep-seated attachment to experiencing
ourselves as the centre of the universe, caused by our narrow perspectives
on life. The ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to bring an end to suffering
by increasingly training the mind to be free from selfishness, hatred and
spiritual ignorance. All the teachings, insights and methods of Buddhism
are all designed to help the arising of, or realisation of, Enlightenment
or Awakening. Indeed, the word ‘Buddha’ means ‘the Awakened One.’ In the
Buddha’s day he wasn’t only referred to as ‘the Buddha’ he was also known
for example as ‘the Compassionate One,’ ‘the Great Hero’, ‘the Conqueror.’
‘The Conqueror’ because he had conquered the whole of limited, conditioned
existence within himself. He spent the last 45 years of his life wandering
from village to village, from town to town, on foot in northern Indian teaching both high and low alike the way out of
suffering. He taught a path leading to the fullness of Wisdom and
Compassion. One Indian sage summarised Buddhism like this: “Cease to do
evil; learn to do good; purify the heart. That is the fundamental
principle of Buddhism.” But as the story goes, even a child of 3 can
understand this but it’s so difficult that a man of 80 cannot put it into
practise.
