Chamika Nuwan

Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to Insight into the true nature of life. Buddhist practices such as meditation are means of changing oneself in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom. The experience developed within the Buddhist tradition over thousands of years has created an incomparable resource for all those who wish to follow a path - a path which ultimately culminates in Enlightenment or Buddhahood.

Because Buddhism does not include the idea of worshipping a creator God, some people do not see it as a religion in the normal, Western sense. The basic tenets of Buddhist teaching are straightforward and practical: nothing is fixed or permanent; actions have consequences; change is possible. Thus Buddhism addresses itself to all people irrespective of race, nationality, or gender. It teaches practical methods (such as meditation) which enable people to realise and utilise its teachings in order to transform their experience, to be fully responsible for their lives and to develop the qualities of Wisdom and Compassion.

There are around 350 million Buddhists and a growing number of them are Westerners. They follow many different forms of Buddhism, but all traditions are characterised by non-violence, lack of dogma, tolerance of differences, and, usually, by the practice of meditation .

Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong , remind followers to practice right living.

With approximately 376 million followers, Buddhism is one of the major world religions . Its philosophy is based on the teachings of the Buddha , Siddhartha Gautama , who lived between approximately 563 and 483 BCE . Originating in India , Buddhism gradually spread throughout Asia to Central Asia , Sri Lanka , Tibet , Southeast Asia , as well as the East Asian countries of China , Mongolia , Korea , and Japan .

Buddhism teaches followers to perform good and wholesome actions, to avoid bad and harmful actions, and to purify and train the mind. The aim of these practices is to end the suffering of cyclic existence, samsara , by awakening the practitioner to the realization of true reality, the achievement of Nirvana and Buddhahood .

Buddhist morality is underpinned by the principles of harmlessness and moderation. Mental training focuses on moral discipline ( sila ), meditative concentration ( samadhi ), and wisdom ( prajña ).

While Buddhism does not deny the existence of supernatural beings (indeed, many are discussed in Buddhist scripture), it does not ascribe power for creation, salvation or judgement to them. Like humans, they are regarded as having the power to affect worldly events, and so some Buddhist schools associate with them via ritual.