Basic Facts About Buddhism
Estimated Population of Buddhist Believers:
Buddhism is practiced by close to 535-million people in the world. China, containing most Buddhist believers, contains closer to 244-million of the total Buddhist followers. Location of Buddhist Believers: Countries containing the largest portion of Buddhist believers in the world include China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Taiwan, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Mongolia and Singapore. Founders/Important Individuals with Buddhism: Buddha - A Buddha is any individual who is fully Enlightened. This means that the individual is nonaligned with any form of stress or suffering. A fully Enlightened Buddha is wholeheartedly good, free of mental anguish, and has a deep care for all life. There is no one incapable of becoming a Buddha. A life of dedication is required and has been achieved by many previous people and will be achieved by many more to come. All knowledge of the natural world is revealed to a Buddha as they no longer have any mental obstruction to block this knowledge. Siddhartha Gautama - This individual is believed to be the founder of Buddhism. In his early adult life, Siddhartha was only first exposed to suffering of others in the form of sickness, ageing and death as he left the walls of his father's palace. After viewing these hardships, he dedicated his life to finding a way to avoid these troubles. Siddhartha fled from his father's palace in order to study other religious figures on how to avoid strife of any kind. Unsatisfied with their teachings, Siddhartha instead began a life of balance; he was neither rich nor poor. He then began a strict meditation beneath a Bodhi tree that did not end until Enlightenment was achieved. At this point, he achieved the title of Buddha and later passed on his insight and knowledge to others. This spread knowledge he gifted to others later became recognized as the religion of Buddhism. The Dalai Lama - The Dalai Lama held at high respect as the leader monk of Tibetan Buddhism. Dalai Lama's are quite new to Buddhism; only fourteen have existed up until this point. The Dalai Lama is believed to be a past lama reincarnated as a new person born close in time to the death of the previous lama. Each Dalai Lama is sought by High Lamas after the previous has passed. |