Buddhism
Buddhism is the religious and philosophical tradition founded by Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha, “the Awakened One,” c. 563–483 BCE) in the 5th century BCE in the Indian subcontinent. At its core, Buddhism diagnoses the fundamental unsatisfactoriness of conditioned existence (dukkha) and prescribes a practical path to liberation (nirvana) through ethical conduct, meditation, and wisdom.
Core Teachings
- Four Noble Truths — (1) Life is dukkha (suffering/dissatisfaction); (2) dukkha arises from craving (tanha); (3) dukkha can cease (nirodha); (4) the path to cessation is the Eightfold Path
- Noble Eightfold Path — Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration
- Dependent Origination (pratityasamutpada) — All phenomena arise in dependence upon conditions; nothing exists independently
- Samsara — The cycle of birth, death, and rebirth from which Buddhism seeks liberation
- Anatta — The doctrine of no-self: there is no permanent, unchanging soul
Major Traditions
| Tradition | Region | Emphasis |
|---|---|---|
| Theravada | Southeast Asia | The historical Buddha’s original teachings; monastic practice |
| Mahayana | East Asia | The Bodhisattva ideal; universal salvation; Zen, Pure Land |
| Vajrayana | Tibet, Mongolia | Tantric Buddhism; mantra, mandala, guru transmission |
Vajrayana Buddhism in particular shares significant structural overlap with the archive’s Hindu Kundalini and subtle-body systems — including chakra-like energy centers, mantra practice, and guru-based energy transmission analogous to Shaktipat.
Buddhism in the Archive
Buddhist concepts appear throughout the knowledge vault as cross-traditional parallels:
- samsara / Veil_of_Maya — The illusory cycle of conditioned existence, paralleling the Demiurgic prison in Gnosticism
- Mara — The Buddhist tempter, structurally parallel to the Devil and Angra_Mainyu
- Ego death — The Buddhist dissolution of self-view paralleling the Nigredo
- Zen kensho — Direct enlightenment experience paralleling Gnosis and mystical unio mystica
See Also
- Hinduism — the parent religious-cultural tradition
- Comparative_Religion — the academic framework for Buddhist-Western comparison
- samsara — the cycle of rebirth Buddhism seeks to transcend
- Veil_of_Maya — the illusory nature of conditioned reality
- Mara — the Buddhist figure of temptation and spiritual obstruction
- Gnosis — the direct experiential knowledge paralleling Buddhist awakening
- Mysticism — the cross-traditional pursuit of direct realization
- Kundalini — the Tantric energy system shared with Vajrayana Buddhism
- Subtle_Body — the esoteric anatomy utilized in Tantric Buddhist practice
- Gnosticism — samsara as parallel to the Demiurgic prison