Buddhism

1. Samsara: The soul does not die along with the body, but it enters a new body of another person to carry on its own existence. This reincarnation or endless cycles of uncontrolled rebirths is known as Samsara. The samsara involves the transference of ones mind or consciousness into new bodies after death. All the Buddhist teachings show the path to stop samsara, because all the human lives have been caught into this endless cycle of rebirths. When a person achieves nirvana, he has attained perfect wisdom and is released from the endless cycle of rebirths. 2. Dharma: Dharma is the teachings of the Buddha and his idea of the truth concerning the laws of the universe. Dharma is the path of the Buddha which is followed by his followers and the people. Dharma is the moral duty of a person. The concept of dharma refers to the duties of an individual, and it is considered essential for the welfare of an individual or society. The concept of dharma is a Hindu aspect. Dharma also refers to religion. Dharma is also believed to be conducting ones duties with compassion towards all human beings, absence of jealousy, absence of greed and cruelty. The Hindu aspect of dharma was also accepted by Buddha. 3. Four noble truths: When Buddha observed that no one can escape death and unhappiness, he decided to find the cause of unhappiness and its treatment. As a result of that, he found out the four noble truths of human life: The truth of suffering, the cause of suffering, the elimination of suffering and the end of suffering. Most of the people related to the central themes of the suffering and desire. The truth of suffering: The sufferings include the childhood, old age, disease, death, sorrow, and frustration. These are the experiences which we try to avoid.

Buddhists do not believe that there is no happiness in the world, but they do believe that these moments are not permanent. The cause of suffering: The very basic cause of suffering is to desire. We desire many of such things which are harmful to us. The possession that people desire the most, cause them the most suffering. The more we are greedy for our desires, the more is the cause of suffering. Everyone has the basic needs, which should by enjoyed by them without any type of greed. The elimination of suffering: The goal of Buddhism is to eliminate the suffering from human lives. Suffering can be eliminated, only when ones views are changed, when a person lives honest life without any type of greed, living a natural and peaceful life. A person attaining nirvana is able to eliminate any kind of suffering, whether it is physical or mental. The end of suffering: To end the sufferings, one must have corrects thoughts, views, speech, conduct, honest effort and livelihood, etc. Adopting this path is to live the Buddhist way of live, which means to live a life of selfimprovement. 4. Enlightenment: Enlightenment is to understand the truth of life and the freedom from ignorance. A persons good deed bring a better life for them in their next birth, whereas a persons bad deed brings him a bad or an unpleasant life. When a person removes ignorance and craving from himself, he can achieve enlightenment. By attaining enlightenment, one experiences the end of suffering and is released from the endless cycle of rebirths. 5. Nirvana: The concept of achieving nirvana is to achieve a state of supreme realization. As mentioned above, to achieve nirvana, one must have good thoughts, good

speech, good conduct, an honest livelihood and honest efforts. To achieve nirvana, a person must perform good deed. This actually is a difficult concept to understand, but Buddha suggested that to understand the meaning of nirvana, one must experience nirvana. It is believed that when a person achieves nirvana, he has now attained perfect wisdom and absolute peace.