Where did Buddhism come from?
The son of a wealthy prince in northern India, privileged and well-educated Siddhartha Gautama was troubled: on a trip beyond the protective palace walls one day, the twenty-nine year-old encountered the harsh reality of people suffering. Shocked by what he saw, he left his wife and son to seek out the cause of suffering and to find a solution to it. It was the sixth century before the birth of Christ.
His initial seeking was through traditional Hindu approaches, living a disciplined, deeply ascetic life for six years. Realizing that asceticism did not give him the answers he sought or freedom from suffering, he turned to meditation.
After a period of intense meditation, Gautama reached a state of “enlightenment,” or the “highest knowledge.” He believed he understood why there was suffering and how man could escape from this life of misery. When others heard of his discovery, they called him “the Buddha,” or “Enlightened One.”
The Buddha’s enlightenment had three stages: he saw his previous lives pass before him; he saw the cycle of birth, death and rebirth (reincarnation) and the law that governs the cycle (karma); and he discerned the four holy, or noble, truths.
Buddha began preaching and gathering followers. Because his teaching avoided the extremes of asceticism and affluence, he called the path to enlightenment the “Middle Way.”
Buddhism came out of the Hindu world, adopting some Hindu beliefs (such as karma and reincarnation) and rejecting others such as the existence of deities. Over the years Buddhism has absorbed many teachings and ideas from other religions.
Buddhism spread throughout India, and then with great missionary zeal into many parts of east, southeast, and central Asia, becoming the dominant religious and cultural force in most parts of Asia within fifteen hundred years of its founding.
Buddhism Splits
By about 250 B.C, a major division in Buddhism developed over the doctrine of whether Enlightenment is accessible to all or only to a few. This division grew into two main branches of Buddhism: Mahayana (The Greater Vehicle) and Hinayana (The Lesser Vehicle). As the term Hinayana developed a negative connotation, followers of this branch began to call themselves Theravada Buddhists (meaning “the Way of the Elders”).
Mahayana Buddhism is primarily found in the northern East Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Theravada Buddhism is the main form of Buddhism in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
Around 500 A.D., Mahayana Buddhism began to incorporate yoga and later tantric teachings including secret occult rituals passed down only from guru to disciples. Tantric traditions influenced Tibetan shamanism to develop into Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or The Diamond Vehicle).