Buddhism

Epic card · No. 4142

Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya (transl. "doctrines and disciplines"), is an Indian religion and philosophy based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a śramaṇa (wandering ascetic) and religious teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with an estimated 320 million to 540 million followers, representing approximately 4.1%–6.7% of the global population. It originated in the eastern Gangetic plain as a śramaṇa movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road. Buddhism has since played a significant role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to the West in the 19th century. According to tradition, the Buddha taught a path of cultivation that leads to awakening and liberation from dukkha (lit. 'suffering', also rendered 'unsatisfactoriness'; in context "unreliable", "precarity, instability, an unreliable place to stand") by attaining nirvana, the 'blowing...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Dirk Beyer, CC BY-SA 3.0