Buddhism

Buddhism
Symbol
Organised Religion
Ideological doctrine:	Dharma, Four Noble Truths, Nontheism
Operation
Region(s) of operation:	Multi-system
Status & relations
Internal factions:	Theravada, Mahayana
Historical information
Predecessors:	Śramaṇa traditions
Founded:	500 - 300 BCE
Founded by:	Buddha
Notable splinter factions:	Seven Suns Temple
[Source]

“	No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.	”
–Buddha

Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of the Buddha that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed to the Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies. Most Buddhist traditions share the goal of overcoming suffering and the cycle of death and rebirth, either by the attainment of Nirvana or through the path of Buddhahood. Currently, Buddhism has become rather widespread across known space with Zhu Que being a traditional Buddhist stronghold.

History

Background

Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of the Buddha, supposedly born Siddhārtha Gautama, and also known as the Tathāgata ("thus-gone") and Sakyamuni ("sage of the Sakyas"). The evidence of the early texts suggests that he was born as Siddhārtha Gautama in Lumbini and grew up in Kapilavasthu, a town in the plains region of the modern Nepal–India border, and that he spent his life in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. According to the Buddhist sutras, Gautama was moved by the innate suffering of humanity and its endless repetition due to rebirth. He set out on a quest to end this repeated suffering. Finding preexisting teachings to be insufficient to attain his goal, he turned to the practice of asceticism. This too fell short of attaining his goal, and then he turned to the practice of dhyana, meditation. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in the Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He gained insight into the workings of karma and his former lives, and attained enlightenment, certainty about the Middle Way as the right path of spiritual practice to end suffering (dukkha) from rebirths. As a fully enlightened Buddha, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha (monastic order). As the Buddha, he spent the rest of his life teaching the Dharma he had discovered, and died at the age of 80 in Kushinagar, India.

Buddha's teachings were propagated by his followers, which in the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE became over 18 Buddhist sub-schools of thought, each with its own basket of texts containing different interpretations and authentic teachings of the Buddha; these over time evolved into many different traditions such as Theravada and Mahayana.

Buddhism spread only slowly in India until the time of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, who was a public supporter of the religion. The support of Aśoka and his descendants led to the construction of more stūpas (Buddhist religious memorials) and to its spread throughout the Maurya empire and into neighboring lands such as Central Asia and to the island of Sri Lanka. These missions, in opposite directions, would ultimately lead, in the first case, to the spread of Buddhism into China, Korea and Japan, and in the second case, to the spread from Sri Lanka to much of Southeast Asia. The religion would gain a foothold in China that it retains into the current day to a lesser extent. Buddhism would remain strong in both Central Asia and India until the Muslims conquests when the religion was extinguished in former and extremely weakened in the latter. During the Middle Ages, Buddhism slowly declined in India, while it vanished from Persia and Central Asia as Islam became the state religion.

Buddhism faced various challenges and changes during the colonisation of Buddhist states by Christian countries and its persecution under state power. East Asian Buddhism suffered under various wars which ravaged China in its later Imperial period, such as the Taiping rebellion and the World War II, and under the early Communist regime. In Central Asia meanwhile, the arrival of Communist repression to Tibet and Mongolia had a strong negative impact on Buddhist institutions, though the situation improved in the later 20th century. Indeed, the situation for Buddhism improved across the board at the dawn of the 20th century with the religion spreading across Earth, and Buddhist texts were increasingly translated into local languages. While Buddhism in the West was often seen as exotic and progressive, in the East it was regarded as familiar and traditional.

Humanity's first forays into space took religion with it, and Buddhism was one of those. Several of Mars' earliest pioneers including Xi Guiying were Buddhists, and many early Chinese colonists were also Buddhists. Buddhism became one of the planet's many religions after its colonisation and remained a significant part of Mars' patchwork of different faiths and cultures. Meanwhile, Buddhism would also arrive with the terraforming efforts on Luyten b and would become a significant element in the culture of Zhu Que. While the borders of governed space expanded, Buddhist missionaries from Earth would expand their own horizons by sending missions both near in the Solar System to places such as the Main Belt and to distant systems such as the Trappist System.

Buddhism would face persecution like many other religions during the early regime of ALIAS on Mars, and Buddhism's presence on Mars would be extinguished. However, many stūpas and other cultural remnants of Buddhism remain on Mars, though many of them stand abandoned now. Some part of the Martian diaspora practice Buddhism still, some in tandem with Martian folk religion, but they are very much in the minority.

Current Era

In current times, Buddhism has spread throughout known space and is one of humanity's most widespread religions. Buddhism is rarely the most dominant religion except for some outlier planets such as Zilong and within the Main Belt. Meanwhile, Buddhism has significant influence on Saturn, Zhu Que, and few other planets. The lack of central authority behind Buddhism besides Buddha's teaching has also led to splinters of the faith forming over the years, most notably the Seven Suns Temple.

Structure

Buddhism is a decentralised religion with no clergy outside of its traditional orders of monks. Laypeople practise Buddhism by holding to the five precepts or pañcaśīla, meditation, and other tenets of the religion such as charity to monks or nuns (dāna). Meanwhile, Buddhist monks or the Sangha provide a means for those who wish to practice full-time in a direct and highly disciplined way, free from the restrictions and responsibilities of the household life. The key feature of Buddhist monasticism is the adherence to the vinaya which contains an elaborate set of 227 main rules of conduct including complete chastity, eating only before noon, and not indulging in malicious or salacious talk. Between midday and the next day, a strict life of scripture study, chanting, meditation, and occasional cleaning forms most of the duties for members of the Sangha. Transgression of rules carries penalties ranging from confession to permanent expulsion from the Sangha. There are numerous Buddhist monastic communities throughout known space with most being located on Earth or Zhu Que.

Membership

Buddhism is a widespread religion on Earth with adherents throughout the East Asian arcologies such as Sky Garden, Taegeuk, Binan Suo, Shengli, and Xin Xiwang. Buddhism was also once widespread on Mars as well before being destroyed along with many other religions by ALIAS. Within the Solar System, Buddhism has a significant presence on Saturn and among Belters and Kubelters. Outside the Solar System, Buddhism is strongest on Zhu Que, where it makes up a significant percentage of the population and is a noteworthy part of the Zhu Que's overall culture. Besides Zhu Que and the Luyten System, Buddhism also has a presence in the Gliese 1061 System, the Gliese 832 System, and the LHS 1723 System.