Buddhism commenced in Northeast India about 500 BC though the teachings of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, often known subsequent to his experience of "enlightenment" as Sakyamuni. Sakyamuni travelled around and taught in the Ganges basin until his death.
Buddhist ethics teaches to avoid the extremes of asceticism and hedonism; to find a middle ground between the two. Buddhist philosophy teaches to avoid the extremes of eternalism and annihilation, again finding a middle ground.
The single most important idea of Buddhist thought is their notion of "contingent-genesis" or "dependent-origination" (pratitya amutpada). The thought is that every birth or origination occurs in dependence on necessary causes and conditions; however, not everything so asserted can function as a cause-in particular, any kind of external or permanent whole.
The Buddhist idea of contingent-genesis came to be characterized by 3 features:
- Unpropelledness: signifies that origination or genesis is not propelled by a universal design such as the thought or will of a creator.
- Impermanence: means that the cause of an effect is never permanent.
- Consistency: requires that the genesis or effect will be consistent with and not exceed the creative power of the cause.
Sakyamuni taught a specific theory of a twelvefold dependent genesis accounting for the particularized birth of a person or personality which naturally occurs and is not free of ill or suffering. The spectrum of a naturally occurring births are called the "Round of Transmigration" (samsara), and the force impelling this transmigration and unsatisfactory condition of attendant births was taught by Sakyamuni to be action under the sway of afflictors. This action is called karma, the afflictors are called klesa, and the resulting ills are called dukha.
The Buddha called the reality of suffering (dukha) the truth of suffering, and called this action-conjoined with the afflicting elements (karma and klesa)-the truth of cause of suffering.
The Four Noble Truths were the principal teachings of Sakyamuni and the object to understanding the Buddhist saint. The Four Noble Truths are suffering, its causes, cessation, and path.