What is Buddhism?

is a religion[note 1][3] and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual
practices largely based on original teachings attributed to the Buddha and resulting interpreted
philosophies.

-To bring us to this state, Buddhism points us to lasting values in this impermanent world, and
gives us valuable information about how things really are.

Karma: What goes around, comes around

Buddhism inspires us to take responsibility for our own lives, without moralizing, by
understanding cause and effect (karma). Just like gravity, the law of karma functions,
everywhere and all the time.

Buddha explained in great detail how we shape our future through our thoughts, words and
actions. What we do now accumulates good or bad impressions in our mind. Knowing this gives
us great freedom and puts us back in control of our lives.

Compassion and wisdom

In Buddhism, compassion and wisdom go together. Practicing meditation regularly, we get

more space in our mind, and distance from difficult thoughts and feelings. This allows us to see
that everyone has the same basic problems as us, and we strengthen our compassionate wish to
try to do something to help others.

Enlightenment

The Buddha was special because he was the first person to attain full enlightenment in recorded
history. But there is no essential difference between the Buddha and us. We all have a mind, and
we can all attain liberation and enlightenment by working with our minds.

Enlightenment is the ultimate goal in Buddhism. All positive qualities — especially joy,
fearlessness, and compassion — are now fully perfected.

What makes you a Buddhist?

In order to be able to become Buddhist, we need to take responsibility for creating our own lives,
with the confidence that cause and effect, or karma, really functions. Through our thoughts and
judgments, we create habits and attitudes that either limit or free us. Through experience, we see
that we create today the causes of our situations tomorrow.
How do we become enlightened?

Practicing meditation, we get used to being in a state with less disturbing emotions and more joy
and clarity.

The life of the Buddha

The life story of the Buddha begins in Lumbini, near the border of Nepal and India, about 2,600
years ago, where the man Siddharta Gautama was born.

Although born a prince, he realized that conditioned experiences could not provide lasting
happiness or protection from suffering. After a long spiritual search he went into deep
meditation, where he realized the nature of mind. He achieved the state of unconditional and
lasting happiness: the state of enlightenment, of buddhahood. This state of mind is free from
disturbing emotions and expresses itself through fearlessness, joy and active compassion. For the
rest of his life, the Buddha taught anyone who asked how they could reach the same state.

Buddha’s teachings

In his 45-year teaching career, the Buddha gave teachings to a wide variety of people. Those who
came to him fell into three main groups — as people also do today. Buddha gave them different
teachings, which can be classified into different types of Buddhism.

theravada (The School of the Elders)

The Theravada provides teachings about cause and effect (karma), as well as pacifying
meditations to create distance from difficult thoughts and feelings.

Mahayana (Great Way)

Mahayana teachings attract people whose primary motivation in life is to be useful to others, also
known as the Bodhisattva Attitude. The teachings and meditations of the Great Way aim to
gradually increase compassion and wisdom.

Vajrayana (Diamond Way)

Buddha’s teachings described as the Diamond Way (Sanskrit: Vajrayana) are about the mind
itself. These direct teachings that Buddha gave are for those who have a special kind of
confidence.
Reference

https://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/buddhism/buddha/