Michael

"I turned to the Buddhas and just asked 'Please look after her.' And a voice came back."

The Story

On a tour of Asia Michael spent his last month in Kathmandu. While there he saw a beautiful but very distressed local girl and when a local shopkeeper told her tragic story he found it impossible to put her face out of his mind. He spent the day at a temple thinking things over and trying to make sense of the world's cruelty.

The story continues...

Buddhism was founded in the 6th century BC by Siddhartha (if you say: 'Sid Arthur' in a cockney accent you will have the correct pronunciation!) Gautama, 'the Buddha.'

It is the world's fifth biggest religion with an estimated 350 million believers around the globe.

The Buddha, which means 'one who is awake', was believed to be born near Nepal 25000 years ago. Many Buddhists believe he is not the first or last Buddha, only one of many to become enlightened to the faith.

Sometimes regarded as being a philosophy rather than a religion, Buddhism is very spiritual. It puts little emphasis on a relationship between God and Humanity. That is to say that Buddhists do not believe in a 'creator' God in the conventional sense. This has led to some confusion to the exact number of Buddhist practitioners, as many Christians claim to be Buddhists by embracing the spiritual and meditative principles.

Traditional Buddhists believe in both karma and reincarnation. However, despite their belief in karma, Buddhists believe that we possess the ability to direct our own individual course and fate.

The goal of Buddhism is for the practitioner to achieve enlightenment (Bodhi). The doctrine of the religion is based around the Four Noble Truths. There is suffering.There is a cause of suffering - craving. There is the cessation of suffering. There is a way leading to the cessation of suffering - the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Noble Eightfold path consists of Sila (Morality), being; right speech, right actions and right livelihood. Samadhi (Meditation), being; right exercise, right awareness and right concentration. And Finally Prajna (Wisdom), being; right understanding and right thoughts. By taking these steps the practitioner will then lead a full life filled with compassion, satisfaction and wisdom.

Buddhism became fashionable in the west- along with a host of other eastern religions- in the 1960s. Today it is still growing as people seek an alternative to 21st century materialism.

If you wish to explore more about the principles, practices and ideas behind Buddhism you can explore the websites in the related links section.

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