Buddhism

A path diagnosing suffering and prescribing a way beyond it — without a creator god.

c. 500 BCE → · Originating in India · Dharmic

Founded by Siddhartha Gautama, the awakened Buddha, Buddhism teaches that craving binds us to a cycle of suffering and rebirth, and that following the Eightfold Path leads to nirvana, its cessation. It shares karma and rebirth with its Indian context but rejects an eternal self or creator, emphasizing insight through meditation. From India it spread across Asia, branching into the Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana traditions.

Key figures

• Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha
• Bodhisattvas
• Arhats and lineage teachers

Texts

• The Pali Canon (Tripitaka)
• Sutras

Beliefs

• The Four Noble Truths
• Suffering, impermanence, non-self
• The Eightfold Path to release
• Nirvana — the end of craving and rebirth

Rituals

• Meditation and mindfulness
• Taking refuge and precepts
• Offerings and chanting

Grew from

• Historical Vedic Religion

Connections in the atlas

• Ashoka's Dhamma missions
• Ashoka
• The Jikji
• Lhasa and the Jokhang Temple
• Tengu
• Taishakuten
• Conch shell (shankha)
• Hachiōji Castle ruins
• The word nirvana
• The figure in the moon
• ▶ One symbol, many meanings: the swastika
• ? When did the Buddha live?