Basic Tenets of Buddhism

• Siddhartha Gautama is the founder of Buddhism also known as "the enlightened one"
• "The Four Noble Truths": The truth about suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the path to the cessation of suffering
• Four Noble Truths

  1. Life is filled with suffering and sorrow

  2. The cause of suffering is people's selfish desire for the temporary pleasures of this world.

  3. The way to end all suffering to end all desires.

  4. The way to overcome such desires and attain enlightenment is to follow the eightfold path which is called the middle way between desires and self denial
• The eight fold path is the practices or teachings by Buddha to liberate itself from samsara
• Eightfold Path

  1. Right View - Know the truth

  2. Right Intention - Free Mind from evil

  3. Right Speech - Say nothing that hurts others.

  4. Right Action - Work for the good of others

  5. Right Livelihood - Respect Life

  6. Right effort - resist evil

  7. Right Concentration - practice meditation

  8. Right Mindfulness - control your thoughts
• Four-Spoked Dharma Chakra - Symbolize the Four Noble Truths

  
• Eight-Spoked-Chakra - Signifies the Eight Fold Path

  
• Sangha - A buddhist religious community and formed by Buddha's first disciples
• Nirvana is the release from suffering and the cycle of samsara and the attainment of enlightenment
• Buddha saw:

  Old man

  Dead man

  Sick man

  Holy man
• Nirvana in sanskrit "blowing out" or becoming extinguished"