Guest Author - Jeanette Stingley

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So who was the Buddha?

Siddhartha Gautama was a prince who renounced the life of luxury and sought the truth of existence. After several years he discovered the truth of suffering, his teachings are that truth. He was a man, who through his own efforts reached enlightenment. Each of us is capable of reaching enlightenment.
Here is a brief look at the basics:

The Four Noble Truths are the beginning of the basics of Buddhism.

1. Life is characterized by suffering.

2. Suffering is caused by desire

3. You can cease suffering

4. The end of suffering can be achieved by following the EightFold Path

The EightFold Path is an outline for living life to its fullest and promoting non-attachment. These eight step has been divided up into three parts. Those 3 parts are equally important and all are needed for enlightenment.

Wisdom

Right Understanding/View
Right Thoughts/Intentions

Virtue

Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort

Concentration

Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration

The 5 Precepts
In Buddhism, lay practitioners sometimes take five Precepts. These five simple and basic rules help on the path to enlightenment and are the building blocks for living a morally productive life and lifestyle.

- Avoid harming living creatures
- Avoid taking what is not yours
- Avoid sensual misconduct
- Avoid harmful speech
- Avoid intoxicants


Buddhism has three different traditions or schools they are:

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

Middle Way
The Buddha explains that the proper way to live is to follow the middle way or path. We can follow the middle path by living a modest or reasonable lifestyle making do with only what we need.