The History of Buddhism Meditation

The history of Buddhism dates back three millennia BCE, it was setup by Prince Gautama Siddhartha, who was born in 560BCE into a hindu family.

The two main groups that developed were Theravada and Mahayana. It is in the East that meditation was at first associated with inner spiritual discovery.

Gautama Siddhartha experienced a sense off inner discontent even though he lived a protected life. He was horrified by the aging, illness and death that people were facing.

He decided to leave his family and his privilaged life behind, he set as a simple vagabond, to explore the deeper longing of his soul, he also sought true knowledge with the spiritualists of his time.

After first practising Yoga and then turning to extreme asceticism, his health rapidly failed, he eventually realised that extremes were not the answers that he was looking for.

He began the 'middle path' style of meditation which is famous today.

This simple, thoughtful method came to him one day after he had over heard a musicisn explaining to his student that the srtings on his sitar should be kept not to loose and not to tight so as to produce the best notes.

Gautama sat under a fig tree to meditate in Bodh Gaya. It was under the tree that he gained the self-knowledge he wanted and became enlightened.

The tree is known today as the 'Bodhi tree' or the 'enlightenment tree'.

As Guatama had become a Buddha or enlightened one, he very quickly gained many followers and his teachings spread throught out most of Asia. for information about Zen meditation, click here return from Buddhism history to the history of meditation

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Disclaimer: If you have a serious illness and are taking medication for that illness, DO NOT STOP TAKING YOUR MEDICATION unless you are told it is safe for you to do so by your health care professional. The author of this web site in no way recommends the stopping of medication if you need to take it, use your medication together with meditation.