World Religions: Buddhism

Alexander Street Video: 12:00
In which John relates a condensed history of India, post-Indus Valley Civilization. John explores Hinduism and the origins of Buddhism. He also gets into the reign of Ashoka, the Buddhist emperor who, in spite of Buddhism's structural disapproval of violence, managed to win a bunch of battles.

Alexander Street Video: 56:00
Buddhism offers an introduction to the religion, a family of beliefs derived from the teachings of Buddha who died around 400 BCE. The emperor Ashoka Maurya (who r.272-231BC) was responsible for the first large-scale stone art in India and he also redistributed the Buddha’s relics among (supposedly) 84,000 simple stupas (or solid memorial mounds containing relics) across his empire. It is from this act that Buddhist architecture and art springs. Buddhism looks at the architecture ranging across England, India, Indonesia, China, and Japan.

Alexander Street Video: 1:19:00
Likened by Buddhists to the Vatican City, Ganden is considered the most influential monastery of Tibetan Buddhism. Monks lived in the monastery for more than 500 years before a brutal invasion drove them to India. Ganden: A Joyful Land is a look at the lives and remembrances of the remaining generation of monks to have studied at the monastery in Tibet where the Dalai Lama’s lineage began.

Films on Demand: 7:17
What is the difference between Theravada and Mahayana? Why are elephant motifs found in temples? What is a mantra? This program investigates these questions and more by taking a look at Buddhist symbolism, rituals and practices. Learners will gain a deeper understanding of the core beliefs of Buddhism and the importance of temples in worship and devotion.

(The Metropolitan Museum of Art) For centuries, art and Buddhism have traveled together—from India to Japan and through Southeast Asia to Java. Along the way, they’ve informed one another while influencing—and being influenced by—other traditions. Here, guided by highlights from The Met’s Asian collections, we follow along on the journey, to discover art as an essential component of the world’s fourth largest religion.

(National Geographic) Buddhism is one of the world’s largest religions and originated 2,500 years ago in India. Buddhists believe that the human life is one of suffering, and that meditation, spiritual and physical labor, and good behavior are the ways to achieve enlightenment, or nirvana.

(Harvard University) Essays and other resources on Buddhism provided by the Pluralism Project at Harvard University.

(Asia Society) Buddhism is a religion that offers a spiritual path for transcending the suffering of existence.

(Asia Society) Buddhism, founded in the late 6th century B.C.E. by Siddhartha Gautama (the "Buddha"), is an important religion in most of the countries of Asia. Buddhism has assumed many different forms, but in each case there has been an attempt to draw from the life experiences of the Buddha, his teachings, and the "spirit" or "essence" of his teachings (called dhamma or dharma) as models for the religious life.

(Gettysburg College) The clearest explanation of Buddhism begins with the life of its founder, Siddhartha Gautama, who was born sometime in the fifth century BCE in the foothills of the Himalayas, in what is now Nepal.