[Music]
welcome to I'm your target demographic
in our continuing series on world
religions we turn our sights now to
Buddhism this is a superficial video
meant to explain to non-buddhists
viewers what does religion entails and
what they believe let's start at the
beginning
Buddhism can be a complicated religion
to explain in terms of history for a few
reasons is incredibly old originating
somewhere in the range of 500 years BCE
or before Common Era even before this
though Buddhism has roots in a variety
of belief sets that parallel what is now
known as Jainism which I may eventually
cover in another video at the time India
put its main focus on tradition based on
texts called the Vedas which were
ancient Sanskrit texts which informed
their beliefs and made up a foundation
for the Hinduism faith there was a bit
of division as a man named Siddhartha
Gautama began to teach a shift from this
normal way of being based on discipline
and abstaining from indulgences see he
was a bit sheltered and as he discovered
more about the world he began to teach
on the lessons he's learned there were a
people typically called shramana
who were religious leaders though these
Shimano's would focus on very different
things such as some focusing on
non-violence or some focusing on
vegetarianism siddharta gautuma was one
of these sh ramana's he didn't teach
this sort of extreme discipline others
might have been teaching he instead
taught a middle way eventually becoming
fully formed as what is now known as the
Eightfold Path
eight practices that would lead to
liberation or as he called it nirvana
who is later given the title of Gautama
Buddha though Buddha is a title that
many other people have been given many
times long after they've passed before
we dive into these eight practices to
achieve enlightenment let's zoom out and
look at the four core beliefs of
Buddhism called the four noble truths
which Siddhartha discovered as he began
to see more about the real world outside
of his sheltered life
the first truth is that suffering exists
it is birth it is aging it is illness
and death pain is everywhere the second
truth acknowledges the origin of this
pain that there is a craving for this
pain such as craving for sensual
pleasures craving material goods we
desire even though we know it is painful
the third truth is the end of suffering
it is that this craving can be stopped
and you can be free from it the fourth
truth is how to be rid of the suffering
which points to the eight fold path the
eight practices that can help to end
this cycle of pain and suffering let's
look at what these eight practices are
in the Eightfold Path it begins with the
right view meaning that our actions have
consequences death is not the end and
there are consequences after death
Buddhism focuses on a cycle of rebirth
called samsara this cycle of rebirth is
painful which is why people eventually
want to earn liberation from the cycle
they believe this reincarnation might
put you into another human body or
perhaps an animal or even a spirit there
are many ways you might return to this
earth the second practice is the right
resolve to give up the world and live
your life and dedication to following
this path you should focus on loving
others abstinence from sensuality and a
life of compassion the third practice is
Right speech don't lie don't be rude no
gossiping right conduct means not to
injure or kill others not taking what's
not yours and no material desires
including sexual acts the fifth practice
is the Right Livelihood that you would
possess only what is essential to
sustain life how you make Olivia be
ethical and compassionate number six is
right effort that you should foresee
your mental state and stop impure and
negative thoughts which includes
ill-will towards others worry and doubt
you want to focus on meditating and
focusing on stopping these thoughts
before they arise right mindfulness
follows
not only preemptively stopping negative
thoughts but focus on what you are
thinking be always aware of your
thoughts and actions try to be aware of
reality and your own impermanence viii
practice is Right concentration we're
called right Samadhi which is a
culmination of the other traits you have
lived your life morally been in the
right mindset you're able to stop
negative thoughts and focus fully
resulting in a very powerful state of
meditation by acknowledging the Four
Noble Truths and following the Eightfold
Path there is a state called Nirvana
which results in the end of your
constant rebirth and the pain that comes
with it
now Nirvana is going to be difficult to
explain because when you achieve Nirvana
it is the extinction of your physical
life so there's no one that has
experienced it that can really explain
it to you and even Buddhists often
disagree with what attaining Nirvana
means and looks like so you might run
across different definitions I'm going
to introduce a term here called
Bodhisattva which is someone who has
nearly attained Nirvana but has chosen
to remain here and delay Nirvana to help
others achieve it now to prove why this
is complicated there are others called
arhats typically often monks who have
chosen a solitary life so they have
already achieved enlightenment through
nirvana so you can understand why this
is a bit confusing and why people might
disagree on what enlightenment truly
looks like so back to gautuma buddha he
taught these lessons and helped others
to understand enlightenment how to
achieve it for a long time these lessons
were oral tradition meaning they were
just passed on by spoken word until
people started to transcribe his lessons
almost 400 years later because of this
lack of written text Buddha's personal
life and even what years he lived are
constantly debated his lessons
originally centered out of Indian what
is now Nepal though Buddhism has spread
now across the world interest sanely
Buddhism has actually declined in India
only 0.7% of the population there are
countries however where Buddhism is the
national religion such as Cambodia and
tile
and we're over 90% of his residents are
Buddhists by pure number the most
Buddhists reside in China with over a
hundred and eighty-five million but
that's only 16 percent of China's total
population Buddhism is also the primary
religion in Tibet or the Tibetan
Autonomous Region of China this Tibetan
Buddhism has evolved and changed a bit
from other forms of Buddhism influenced
by the religions in that region before
Buddhism spread there now let me talk
about a figure you probably know
something of the dalai lama in tibet the
dalai lama is the head of one of its
schools of tibetan buddhism and is a
symbol for unifying that tibetan region
is an old tradition started in the early
1400s the people of tibet believed that
an ancient bodhisattva named avila
KATUSA vara is reincarnated and acts as
a benevolent watcher over tibet for
context a vilaça to Savar is one of
these Bodhisattvas that held back
enlightenment to help others and is now
believed to be reincarnated looking out
for those suffering in the world and she
returns to help alleviate this pain as
of this video's creation the 14th Dalai
Lama is Tenzin Gyatso a religious name
given to him once he took the mantle
since they believe this is reincarnation
when the Dalai Lama dies they begin to
seek out his replacement usually relying
on visions or clues to tell them where
the child is the current Dalai Lama was
found when he's only a few years old and
announced as the new Dalai Lama when he
was only five and given full duties and
15 now I'm not gonna go too in depth
here but there was an uprising of
Tibetans against China which forced the
Dalai Lama to flee Tibet where he fled
to India China is still angry about this
and the Tibetans dedication to the Dalai
Lama they can still be arrested if
they're seen with photos of him for
example the current Dalai Lama now tours
the world speaking of Tibet struggles
and advocating for peace
so that is just a short summary again
it's very superficial this is meant for
people who maybe don't know anything and
they just want to get an idea as to what
Buddhists believe in it doesn't cover
the nuance of how they perform these
practices that complicated nuances
between various branches of Buddhism or
all the various terms and positions
included in the religion if you found
this interesting check out some of my
other videos on religions and let me
know what other religions you'd like to
see me explain thanks for watching