What is Buddhism? by Dr. Damien Keown

Reader in Buddhism at Goldsmiths College, University of London and the author of Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press)

Who is the Buddha?

What the West knows as 'Buddhism' is a body of religious teachings attributed to a historical individual, Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in North East India in the fifth century BC. Following a profound spiritual transformation achieved at the age of thirty-five he became known by the honorific title of 'Buddha' ('enlightened one'). The Buddha claimed no divine provenance or authority for his teachings and the religious life in Buddhism consists of living in accordance with the Buddha's teachings (Dharma).

What did the Buddha teach?

Buddhist teachings are encapsulated in the form of four basic propositions known as the Four Noble Truths. These maintain i) that life as we now know it is imperfect and unsatisfactory ii) that the causes of this unsatisfactoriness are craving and ignorance iii) that there exists a state of perfection (nirvana) which is free from all deficiencies and iv) that the way to perfection is by following the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Noble Eightfold Path is a program for right living consisting of:

1. Right understanding
2. Right resolve
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right meditation

Buddhism is distinctive as a religion in lacking any belief in a Supreme Being or creator god, as well as denying the existence of a personal soul. In terms of Buddhist thought, the world has evolved simply as the result of natural processes: it had no beginning and will have no end. The human person is understood naturalistically as a complex of material and psychic elements that are constantly in flux. Individuals have free will and their destiny is a function of their moral choices. This is known as the doctrine of karma.

What is karma?

Karma is an important concept in Buddhist ethics and may be defined as a principle of moral retribution, which holds that one inevitably suffers the good or bad consequences of one's moral deeds. Karma is linked to a belief in rebirth such that good and bad moral deeds in one life lead to rebirth in a better or worse condition in the subsequent life.

Buddhism in the world today

The Buddha did not appoint a successor and as a result many different schools arose after his death. Buddhism spread widely and influenced every Asian civilization, but it has no head or central authority. The three most important forms of Buddhism encountered today are Theravada(the oldest surviving school of Buddhism), Tibetan Buddhism, and far-Eastern Buddhism (including Pure Land, Zen and other sects).

The historical spheres of influence of these schools have been as follows. Theravada Buddhism has been and remains prominent in South East Asia, notably in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma. Tibetan Buddhism influenced much of medieval central Asia but in modern times has been suppressed following the Chinese invasion of the country in 1959. Buddhism, along with other religions, has suffered a similar fate in the People's Republic of China. Prior to the advent of communism, Buddhism had a history of almost two thousand years in China, and has been present for some 1500 years in Japan and Korea. In modern times Buddhism has also traveled to the West and today there are approximately five million Buddhists in the USA and around one million in Europe. The total number of Buddhists worldwide is around 500 million.