30 Sec Answer: The three main Buddhist beliefs are the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and Karma.
What Are The 3 Main Buddhist Beliefs?
Buddhism is a major world religion that is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in Nepal around 500 BC. It is a philosophy, rather than an organized religion, and it is practiced by millions of people around the world. Buddhism teaches its followers to lead a moral life and to reduce suffering. At its core, Buddhism has three main beliefs that make up the foundation of the religion: The Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and Karma.
1. The Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths are at the heart of Buddha’s teaching. They were presented as a framework for understanding human suffering and how we can overcome it. These truths provide insight into how our lives are affected by our thoughts, actions and environment. They are:
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Truth One: Suffering Exists – All living beings experience some form of suffering in their lives; this includes physical pain, emotional distress or mental anguish.
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Truth Two: Suffering Has A Cause – Our suffering can be traced back to causes such as craving or attachment to material objects, fear of death or change, and ignorance about reality.
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Truth Three: There Is An End To Suffering – Through understanding these causes and eliminating them from our lives, we can free ourselves from suffering.
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Truth Four: The Path To Ending Suffering – This path is outlined in the Eightfold Path (see below). By following this path, we can end our own suffering and help others do the same.
2. The Eightfold Path
The Eightfold Path is a set of guidelines for leading a moral life and achieving freedom from suffering. It consists of eight steps that must be followed in order to achieve enlightenment:
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Right Understanding – Acknowledging and accepting basic Buddhist principles such as karma and rebirth; seeing the true nature of things beyond appearance; understanding cause-and-effect relationships; and recognizing the impermanence of all phenomena.
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Right Thought – Practicing positive thinking, avoiding unwholesome thoughts, having compassion for others, developing good will towards all beings, respecting truthfulness and honesty.
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Right Speech – Refraining from lying, gossiping or speaking ill of others; being kind and gentle in speech; avoiding harsh words or insults; refraining from idle chatter or senseless talk; only speaking when necessary or beneficial.
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Right Action – Abstaining from killing any living creature, stealing or taking what is not given; refraining from sexual misconduct or wrong sexual behavior; treating other with respect; engaging in honest work practices; practicing moderation in activities such as eating or drinking; engaging in charitable acts; preserving public property; caring for animals; maintaining cleanliness both physically and mentally.
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Right Livelihood – Avoiding occupations which involve exploitation or harm to other creatures such as selling drugs, weapons or animals for slaughtering purposes; abstaining from bribery or deceitful transactions involving money matters; maintaining integrity in business dealings without cheating customers or deceiving employers or employees.
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Right Effort – Making a concerted effort to develop wholesome states such as non-greediness while avoiding unwholesome states such as greediness through constant mindfulness and self-reflection.
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Right Mindfulness – Being aware of one’s thoughts, feelings, words and actions throughout every moment of daily life without judgement but with clear perception about oneself and those around us.
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Right Concentration – Developing focus through meditation practices so that one can concentrate fully on one object at a time in order to gain deep insight into its true nature without becoming attached to it.
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3. Karma
Karma is a fundamental concept in Buddhism which refers to the law of cause-and-effect. It holds that all actions have consequences – whether positive or negative – which will affect us either directly or indirectly throughout our lifetime(s). Every thought we think has an effect on us in some way – either now or later on – depending on how much energy we put behind it. Similarly, every action we take affects us either positively or negatively based on its intention and outcome – if you do something out of love then there may be positive outcomes while doing something out of anger may bring negative results down the line. Therefore, it is important to always strive to act with mindful intentions so that we don’t create more negative karma for ourselves than necessary!