Historical Context for Founding of Buddhism 佛教成立的歷史背景

Buddhism is a belief system that originated in India in the mid-400s BCE. 
 Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha 

 (the Enlightened One) who was born a prince in northeastern India, around 480 BCE,
 but then devoted his life to finding answers to spiritual questions. 

Buddhism’s sacred text is called the Tripitaka, or Three Baskets of Wisdom, 
and is made up of the teachings of Buddha as they were passed down over generations. 

Buddhism originated from a time and place that was dominated by Hinduism. 
As a result, the two belief systems share some concepts, but differ in others. 

The major beliefs and concepts of Buddhism are:

• Reincarnation 
• Enlightenment
• Nirvana
• The Four Noble Truths
• The Eightfold Path
• Rejection of the Caste System

The 3 mmajor schools of Buddhism include: 1. Vajrayana Also Known as Tibetan Buddhism - Dominant in Tibet and Mongolia 2. Mahayana Also Known as Northern Buddhism  - Dominant in China, Korea and Japan 3. Theravada AKA, Southern Buddhism  - Dominant in Indo-China (Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia) and Sri Lanka

What was the context for the founding of Buddhism?

➡ Directions: Watch clips of the BBC Documentary, "The Life of Buddha" (6:44-10:24, 11:26-22:47) and take notes on some of the events in his life. Then, sketch out a storyboard that depicts the events you learned about from the video clips.
功课：请观看以上视频（6分44秒-10分24秒； 11：26-22:47）-来完成连环画的作业。
Example of Drawing and caption （drawing does not have to be as fancy as below) 连环画， 字幕的例子）

      Buddha was born ca 480 BCE
       佛在公元前480年左右出生

Kalmykia, Europe's only Buddhist area