buddhist creation of the earth

1sarah, Buddhism doesn't look at the "external" for their beliefs. It concentrates on the "self" and enligtenment. There are several people on a2k that practice Buddhism, and they will be able to answer your question. Asherman is one of our Buddhist guru.

Heres some great informative links.... there's also Zen buddhism.... pretty cool. Here ya go=

The Four Sights

Soon Siddhartha became disillusioned with the palace life and wanted to see the outside world. He made four trips outside the palace and saw four things that changed his life. On the first three trips, he saw sickness, old age and death. He asked himself, "How can I enjoy a life of pleasure when there is so much suffering in the world?"

On his fourth trip, he saw a wandering monk who had given up everything he owned to seek an end to suffering. "I shall be like him." Siddhartha thought.

Renunciation

Leaving his kingdom and loved ones behind, Siddhartha became a wandering monk. He cut off his hair to show that he had renounced the worldly lifestyle and called himself Gautama. He wore ragged robes and wandered from place to place. In his search for truth, he studied with the wisest teachers of his day. None of them knew how to end suffering, so he continued the search on his own.

For six years he practiced severe asceticism thinking this would lead him to enlightenment. He sat in meditation and ate only roots, leaves and fruit. At times he ate nothing. He could endure more hardships than anyone else, but this did not take him anywhere. He thought, "Neither my life of luxury in the palace nor my life as an ascetic in the forest is the way to freedom. Overdoing things can not lead to happiness. " He began to eat nourishing food again and regained his strength.

Enlightenment

On a full-moon day in May, he sat under the Bodhi tree in deep meditation and said. "I will not leave this spot until I find an end to suffering." During the night, he was visited by Mara, the evil one, who tried to tempt him away from his virtuous path. First he sent his beautiful daughters to lure Gautama into pleasure. Next he sent bolts of lightning, wind and heavy rain. Last he sent his demonic armies with weapons and flaming rocks. One by one, Gautama met the armies and defeated them with his virtue.

As the struggle ended, he realized the cause of suffering and how to remove it. He had gained the most supreme wisdom and understood things as they truly are. He became the Buddha, 'The Awakened One'. From then on, he was called Shakyamuni Buddha.


http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/footsteps.htm

Sarah, welcome to A2K.

From the religious tolerance website:

There's a sutra where the Buddha said that there is neither a beginning nor a non-beginning. He said something about the beginning can not be grasped and that it is not necessary to reach nirvana. We should focus on the present or something like that.

A definition of Nirvana and Enlightenment. http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma6/enlightnirvana.html

Ray,

See what a wise dude Sidhartha was?

lol Yes, but I can't ignore that there are a lot of different interpretations of his words. That's really what confused me in the first part; one buddhist says this, another says another thing...