BUDDHISM

BUDDHISM

—Name - Siddharta .
—Birth – 563BC.
—Place – Lumbini in nepal.
—Parents – Suddhodana and Mahamaya.                       (Gauthami prajapathi).
—Wife – Yashodha.
—Son  -  Rahula .
—At the age of 29 Gautama Buddha left the home.
—He attained nirvana at the age of 35, under the pipal tree in bodhgaya
—He delivered his first sermon at sarnath in banaras.
—He propagated his teachings for 40 years (483 BC) .
He passed away at the age of 80years at kushinagar
—He said that the world is full of sorrows and people suffer on account of desires , if desires are conquered then nirvana is attained.
—For conquer of desire he proposed eight fold path known as ASHTANGIKA MARGA.

CODE OF CONDUCT
—Do not covet the property of others.
—Do not commit the violence.
—Do not use the intoxicants.
—Do not speak lie.
—Do not indulge in corrupt practice.

Features of Buddhism
—Buddhism does not believe in Atman and Brahman (god).
—Buddhism does not support caste based system.
—Buddhism preached non violence.
—Buddhism preached love.
—Buddhism allowed both men and women to practice Buddhism.
—Buddhism was liberal and democratic.

Spread of Buddhism
—The monarchies of Magadha and several republic states  adopted it.
—The Ashoka embraced Buddhism ,the agents of Ashoka spread Buddhism to central Asia and west Asia and Srilanka.

Cause of the decline of Buddhism
—Buddhism gave up pali the language of common people and shifted to Sanskrit the language of intellectuals.
—To recover from challenges made by Buddhism the Brahmanism reformed the religion and said that sudras and women were also admitted to heaven.
—They practiced idol worship and received numerous offerings from devotees.
—Some of monasteries such as Nalanda collected revenue from 200 villages.
—By 700 AD. The monasteries came to dominate by ease loving people and became center for practice which Buddha strongly prohibited.
—The Brahman ruler Pushyamitra Sunga is to have persecuted the Buddhist.
—The Huna king mihiyakula have killed Buddhist because he was a shivite.
—In south India both shivite and vaishnavites opposed Buddhism in medieval period.
—Turks (foreign rulers ) came to India and destroyed some monasteries and killed several monks of Buddhist in Bihar.