SPREAD OF BUDDHISM

QUESTIONS

• Where did Buddhism originate?
• Who and why was Buddhism created?
• Similarities and differences between Christianity and Buddhism...
• Where did Buddhism spread to?
• How many people approximately are Buddhist?

BUDDHISM CREATED

• Siddharta was born about 563 B.C.E. in the foothills of the Himalayas.
• He was born a prince.
• He was rich and lived a comfortable life style.
• At the age of 29 he left to look for a new meaning to life.
• For the first time he saw poverty, illness, and hardship.

CONTINUED

• At home, he soon felt discontented with his materialistic life
• Causing him to give away all his belongings in search for enlightenment
• He started his quest by starving himself
• He soon discovered he needed to follow the middle path
• Siddharta sought enlightenment through concentration

CONTINUED

• He sat under a pipal tree, practiced intense meditation
• Fought off all temptations for 40 days
• He finally reached his ultimate goal of nirvana
• He came to understand his previous lives
• Broke the cycle of suffering and became Buddha

SPREAD OF BUDDHISM

• Buddha began to spread his knowledge
• He traveled throughout northeastern India for several decades
• Spreading it to anyone regardless of social class or gender
• He died in 483 B.C.E., after 45 years of traveling and teaching

SPREAD OF BUDDHISM

COMPARISON TO CHRISTIANITY

• The spread of both are almost identical
• Both traveled by them selfs to try and gain followers
• Buddha was born rich as Jesus was not
• Both appealing to lower class individuals

SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY

FOLLOWERS

• 376,000,000 are approximately Buddhist

MAIN PLACES PRACTICED

• Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka
• East Asia, Indonesia
• Regions of Russia , and the Netherlands

WORK CITED

• http://religions.findthedata.org/q/48/1461/How-many-people-follow
• http://www.ushistory.org/civ/8d.asp
• http://teenink.com/college_guide/college_essays/article/152483/