Buddha

I also really enjoyed hearing the story behind the Buddhist religion in class today. I find it fascinating how such a simple story can end up leading to something so complex, and how the life of Siddhartha Gautama, has ended up so important in today’s world today. This highlights how such simple things can become influential in society, and it shows that once the masses are told something, it does not take very long before they accept it as a truth. In this sense, I find it fascinating how easily stories can become religions/cults/ideologies that we want to follow, but I guess this relates back to another example of the meme theory that we talked about earlier in the semester.

In general, I personally find learning about religions very interesting, and I think that learning about the past will allow us to accept and come to terms with the great diversity we see prevalent today. Although I know some things about the Buddhist practices that go on today, I know nothing about the history of the religion and the fundamental principles it works from. I had no idea about the theories of nothingness, and therefore, I found it very interesting that the fundamental principles do not centralize themselves around worshiping a specific person or figure.

Since class I have tried to find out more and look further into the entire Buddhist religion and for anyone interested I have found a number of websites that go into greater detail about not just the life of Siddhartha Gautama, but also the fundamental practices of the religion itself. If you look carefully, there are certain disparities between the stories of how it came to prominence, and although this may show that the initial tale may not be exactly true, I think the ideas and theories behind the religion itself are the things that should be of most interest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/ - This is a whole section on the BBC website that is dedicated to the religion. It gives information about the history, beliefs, customs, the followers and also many of the subdivisions attached to the religion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism - Although obviously we are continually told of the dangers of Wikipedia, the site provides a very detailed discussion about the religion, and again it links to many of the leading figures which have played a role in the faith both historically and today. It also provides many references in which to work off, and many external links as well.

Some other links which include the same detailed discussions include

http://www.aboutbuddhism.org/

http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/a/basicshub.htm

http://www.buddhaweb.org/