Lots of people have misconceptions about Buddhism. Here are several facts many people manage to get wrong.
1) Siddhartha Gautama never traveled outside of India but his teachings did. Siddhartha Gautama was a spiritual teacher in Ancient India who founded Buddhism. You should do not forget that he would be a Vedic Brahman (Hindu by today’s standards) lots of his ideas were originally area of the ancient traditional religions with the local historical period. He’s believed to were living from around 563 BCE to 483 BCE because he is considered to own died at Four decades old. He traveled and taught over the Ganges River Valley starting near his home, near what exactly is now Nepal.
2) He’s sometimes called Shakyamuni Buddha, or Prince with the Shakyas, as a result of Ssakya Mountain Range that has been his father’s (King Suddhodana) kingdom. He was born a prince but decided to become a holy man. He grew up in wealth and shielded from the outside world but became interested in learning what people’s lives outside the palace might be like. Many legends surround his birth, but all of that is definitely known is his mother was supposed to have left in childbirth or soon (days) afterwards. His father was warned after that his birth that he would turn into a great military leader or possibly a great spiritual leader. His father, the king, had his own ideas products was proper for Siddhartha, but, at around 29 yrs . old, with the help his charioteer, he escaped the palace walls and ventured outside to find out what life was like persons. He witnessed the consequences of old age, sickness, and saw a corpse, producing mindful of death. Finally, he saw an ascetic. Siddharha’s charioteer explained that the ascetic was individual who had renounced the planet and sought release from nervous about death and suffering.
3) Buddhism began by Siddhartha so that you can end the suffering (dissatisfaction) of most human beings. He realized the reality that we all have been impermanent and went on the spiritual quest for enlightenment. He studied because of the best teachers of faith and philosophy that he can find at that time and learned the way to meditate but decided that somehow wasn’t enough for him.
4) The very center Way: He still had much to learn and turned to the ascetics almost daily to follow but also in time discovered that the extremes that they endured weren’t working for him. He followed their methods for self inflicting pain and enduring it, fasting until he was weak, and holding his breath. It didn’t satisfy him while he decided this became just another ego inflating approach to self-gratification, proving one’s self through self-abuse. He made a decision to turn using their strict abeyance to rules about starving one’s self and eating unclean things, as he realized although need strength to keep his quest, so he developed what is called “the middle way”. When his disciples saw that he wasn’t following way they thought necessary, they thought we would leave him. He left and made a decision to sit within sacred fig tree until he previously discovered the result. The tree was the thing that was considered a sacred fig tree near Bodh Gaya, the tree being named later, the Bodhi Tree. From Wikipedia * “…The Bodhi Tree, also referred to as Bo (from your Sinhalese Bo), was a large and extremely old Sacred Fig tree (Ficus religiosa) in Bodh Gaya (about 100 km (62 mi) from Patna within the Indian state of Bihar), to which SiddhÄÂrtha Gautama, the spiritual teacher and founding father of Buddhism later called Gautama Buddha, is considered to own achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi….”
5) His Awakening: In the deep condition of meditation (samadhi) stay he became enlightened and when he rose from his deep meditation, he asserted that he previously some techniques to the questions he sought. He imparted the wisdom of the four noble truths and the eightfold path that can come for a reason. With no previous, the remaining will be impossible to realize. 6)Some Noble Truths
1) Suffering (dukkha) exists. (All humans suffer during birth, pain, sickness, and death.
2) Explanation for suffering is desire. You have desires which are either selfish or unrealistic. That is considered “delusional”.
3) There is a approach to reach cessation of suffering.
4) The cessation of suffering comes through practicing the eightfold path. (Freedom from suffering may be possible by practicing the Eightfold Path.)
7) The Eightfold Path
1) Right View Wisdom
2) Right Intention Wisdom
3) Right Speech Ethical Conduct
4) Right Action Ethical Conduct
5) Right Livelihood Ethical Conduct
6) Right Effort Mental Development
7) Right Mindfulness Mental Development
8) Right Concentration/Meditation Mental Development
8) Buddhist Principles: By striving towards the right thing one lessens selfish desire, therefore reaching a state of happiness internally that is not dependent on conditional circumstances. Mindfulness in all things is a key ingredient. If one understands that any tangible thing that we desire is impermanent and ceases to be “attached” to these things that we cannot keep, then one becomes more at peace. We can not become attached to any views since we will become passionate about this and when circumstances change, our view will no longer be important or pertinent.
9) Buddhism is not a self help program: Beware of those who call themselves a master or try to sell you “enlightenment”. There are many books and centers out there which try to use words like enlightenment” that is something that actually has to be attained personally, it can’t be given or taught in a paint by the numbers program that promises some things. First, the word enlightenment is not used in any of the texts from Siddhartha Gautama was concerned that people might rush into this without understanding and this would lead to repeating traditional ceremonies without understanding, which will lead to disappointment because of the lack of benefit from practice. Do not come to an understanding of Buddhism lightly or quickly, take your time and be sure. This will take investigation. Investigate completely, any facets that you don’t understand until it makes sense. Also, practice with others and a good teacher are the best method of learning.
10) Buddhism IS A RELIGION: It disturbs some Buddhists that some people feel that Buddhism is just a philosophy. Some people feel there has to be a main book or one religious deity to worship in order for a religion to be real. Most modern practitioners of Buddhism see that all religions are filled with mythology and they understand that most deities and mythological objects in Buddhism are analogies for science and nature or our own mental make up that early man could not explain. Some practitioners, especially in Asia, still believe in the physical existence of some of these objects and deities. We have to remember that early Buddhist teachings came from Siddhartha Gautama in India, who was a Vedic Brahman. It then traveled across Asia to China where it adapted to Confucianism, which relied strongly on Filial Piety. It then traveled through to Japan, where it adapted to Shinto, which is still practiced side by side with Buddhism in Japan. Buddhism was created to adapt to all other learning. Siddhartha Gautama likened it to “a raft to get to the other side” in a parable he taught. “The Parable of The Raft ” When speaking to his followers Gautama Buddha said, “When you come to a river and the current is too fast to allow you to swim across and there is no bridge then you might decide to build a raft. If after crossing the river you would have some choices as to what to do with the raft. a) You could tie it to the bank to be used by someone else later. b) You could set it afloat for someone else to find. c) You could say to yourself, “What a wonderful raft”, and then pick it up and carry it around on top of your head from now on. Which would be proper use of the raft? Buddhism is practiced in most countries around the world, although Buddhists make up only about 7% of the world’s religious population. Only a few modern Buddhist sects use an evangelical approach, trying to convert everyone around them. Most Buddhists refrain from trying to propagate their religion to anyone who doesn’t seek it.
More details about Devi check out this net page.