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Buddhism Buddhism appeared approximately at 500 BC in Magadha (Ghangean India). It has spread since then over most of Asia, and some other Western countries. It has over 300 million adepts, world wide. Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Buddha (the enlightened one) is the founder of Buddhism, even though, the followers of the religion seem to think that the knowledge spread by him existed since the beginning of time. Buddhism is divided into two main schools: the Theravada or Hinayana - small vehicle - in Sri Lanka and SE Asia - it's central element is the monk, and the Mahayana - large vehicle - in China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan - it puts an accent on the respect and faith to Buddha and on love and compassion to any human being. A third school, the Vajrayana, has a long tradition in Tibet and Japan. Buddhism isn't a religion of worship but one which puts accent on the relation between man, and his self, his spirit, his mind. There are temples, in which the monks live. These are supported by the laic community. The statue of Buddha is not worshipped. It is just respected, as a symbol of morality. The doctrine of this religion has a simple basis: the four noble truths. The first noble truth is dukkha: life is exposed to suffering. The second noble truth is tanha: suffering is caused by thirst for living, actually by desire, craving, need. The third noble truth: this suffering can be stopped, and the fourth noble truth: this is the way to stop it: the eight folded path
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