Buddhism, religion or life style?

A long time ago, a king and queen lived in India. They were visited by wise men, who told them that the queen was expecting a child. When a son was born several months later, she called him Siddharta.

The queen passed away a week after the small prince's birth, and her husband decided this son would become the heir to the throne. He made sure Siddharta was raised in the palace's protected environment and that he would not get in touch with the outside world. Although he had everything he could possibly want, he could not be happy. Even when he was older, and had a wife and a son, he still had not found happiness.

One day he decided to take a trip outside the palace. During that trip he saw an old man, an ill man and a dead man. He wondered why people had to suffer like this.

Then he met an ascetic, who possessed nothing but lived off of what people gave him. Yet, the man looked happy. When he returned to the palace he made a decision. That same night he left the palace and went to live together with five ascetics. He wanted to find out why people must suffer.

Six years later, when he was nearly dying from hunger, he decided this was not the way to gain wisdom. He went onwards until he reached a tree. He sat underneath it and decided to meditate until he had an answer to the question that had been bothering him for so long.

On the forty-ninth day he gained an insight into why people suffer and how he could take that away. This insight made him an enlightened person, a Buddha. He reached a state of joy and peace which is called nirvana.

During the rest of his life, Buddha wandered through India to pass on his wisdom. The five ascetics became his first followers, and his family took up his beliefs too.

When, at eighty years of age, he was ready for death, he knew he would not be reincarnated, but that he would go into nirvana instead. He told his followers there should not be a successor, but that they should continue spreading his knowledge. This was the beginning of Buddhism.

Nowadays, Buddhism has a large following. There are many people in mostly India, but also in countries in, for example, Western Europe, which see Buddhism as the basic principle for their life.

Buddhism is often called a non-theistic religion. This means gods are not dominant within the belief. Instead, reaching enlightenment is central within Buddhism. The gods of Buddhists are no creators or immortal creatures. They cannot be enlightened themselves, because they do not suffer enough. Therefore, some people find it odd that Buddhism is called a religion, because our general assumption of a religion is a belief system where a god or gods are central. This is one of the difficulties of defining the term religion.

Another difficulty is the question when something is a religion and when it is a life style. Many people would say Buddhism is a way of life and thus cannot be seen as a religion.

Avoiding all wrong behaviour,
Undertaking the good,
And developing your own mind;
This is the doctrine of the Buddhists.

Buddha  (Dhammapada verse 183).

These are important principles of Buddhism and form the foundation of the five rules a Buddhist must follow:

1. You may not hurt or kill any living creature.
2. You may not steal or take something which is not given to you.
3. Control your sexual desires.
4. You may not lie.
5. Do not use alcohol or drugs.

As a Buddhist you not only believe that the basis Buddha set is the key to a good and virtuous life, but you also use the rules that ensue from this. The rules form the norms people stick to.

In the west, Buddhism is seen much more as a life style. People use Buddha's principles as inspiration: they give them their own twist and apply this to the daily life as we know it in the west. They also do not use the rules Buddhists must follow as the norm.