Being a Buddhist
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See Take Refuge in the Triple Jewel. Going for Refuge is the very basis of being a Buddhist. Second is to take the Five Moral Precepts.
- Snippet from Wikipedia: Buddhists
Buddhists, also known as Bauddha, are people who adhere to Buddhism, an Indian religious and philosophical tradition founded by the Buddha in the 6th or 5th century BCE in the Indian subcontinent. Buddhist identity may be religious, cultural, or secular, encompassing ordained members of the monastic community (Saṅgha), lay practitioners, and individuals who adopt Buddhist ethical principles, meditation, or mindfulness practices without formal ritual affiliation.
Buddhists are broadly classified into two main categories: Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunīs, who are ordained monastics and serve as religious teachers, and Upāsakas and Upāsikās, who are lay followers living a household life while supporting and practicing the teachings of Buddhism.
The term derives from the Sanskrit word Bauddha (बौद्ध), meaning "follower of the Buddha", itself originating from Buddha (बुद्ध), meaning "the Awakened One". In ancient India, followers of the Buddha were sometimes identified as Shakyas, after the clan into which the Buddha was born. The English word Buddhist emerged in the early 19th century, formed from "Buddha" and the suffix "-ist", denoting an adherent of a belief system; its earliest recorded usage in English dates to 1810.
Globally, the distribution of people identifying as Buddhists is highly uneven. Approximately 98% reside in Asia and the Pacific, around 1% in Europe, and less than 1% collectively in Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. Within Asia, Buddhists account for about 93% of the population in East Asia, 67% in Southeast Asia, and 29% in South Asia.
Buddhism comprises numerous schools and traditions, alongside non-denominational and secular forms. The two largest traditions are Theravāda Buddhism, predominant in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, and Mahayana Buddhism, which is dominant in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
According to the Pew Research Center, there are approximately 320 million Buddhists worldwide, accounting for about 4.1% of the global population. Buddhism is the only major world religion to have experienced a substantial overall decline in the past decade, largely attributed to rising irreligion in East Asia. Nevertheless, Buddhism has gained cultural and intellectual influence in Western countries, driven in part by growing interest in meditation and mindfulness practices.
By absolute numbers, Thailand constitutes the largest share of the global Buddhist population, followed by China and Myanmar. Outside of Buddhist-majority countries, sizable Buddhist populations are found in India and the United States.
Buddhism (Buddha-Dharma-Sangha): Buddhist Masters (See navbar_buddhist_masters), Korean Buddhist Words, Buddha Dharma topics, Buddhist glossary, Being a Buddhist means Taking Refuge with Triple Jewel, Buddhas (The Buddha - Shakyamuni - Gautama Buddha - Maitreya - Amitabha - Medicine Buddha - Bhaisajya Guru - Amoghasiddhi - Ratnasambhava), Buddha Dharma - Buddhist Paths - Tripitaka (Sutra - Shastra - Sutrayana - Mahayana - Sravakayana - Pratyekabuddhayana - Pratyekabuddhas - Vinaya-Pratimoksha - Tantra - Buddhist Tantra - Vajrayana - Mantrayana - Mantras, Dharani), Sangha (Buddhist Monks - Buddhist Nuns - Buddhist Laypersons - Upasaka and Upasika), Buddhist Morality and Vows in Buddhism (Five Moral Precepts - Vinaya Buddhist Monk Vows - Buddhist Nun Vows - Pratimoksha - Bodhisattva Vows - Tantric Samaya Vows, Paramitas - Ten Perfections, Four Immeasurables, Four Noble Truths, Two Collections (Merit and Virtue and Wisdom), Blessings, Merit, Virtue; (Vajrayana Buddhism: Tibetan Buddhism (Gelugpa, Sakya, Kagyu, Nyingma), Mongolian Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism: Chinese Buddhism, Vietnamese Buddhism, Japanese Buddhism, Korean Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism: Thai Buddhism, Cambodian Buddhism, Sri Lankan Buddhism, What the Future Holds: European Buddhism, American Buddhism), Awesome Buddhism, Buddhism Mobile App. (navbar_buddhism - see also navbar_buddhist_masters, navbar_sangha, navbar_noble_truths, navbar_paramita, navbar_precepts, navbar_immeasurables, navbar_tantra)
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