The Four Noble Truths:

    The Four Noble Truths with the Eightfold Path is the way to obtain Salvation for Gautama Buddha which comes with Nirvana after enlightenment. It brings Salvation from the sufferings on earth, and, most important, salvation from the curse of reincarnation.

     He promoted 'The Middle Way' as the path to enlightenment rather than the extremes of mortification of the flesh or hedonism (pleasure), emphasizing rather meditation.  
   
    The Four Noble Truths: He describes temporal life as featuring four noble truths:
        1. Diagnosis: The condition of all existence is suffering.
        2. Cause: Suffering is caused by selfishness, desire and craving
        3. Prognosis: Selfishness, desire and craving can be overcome... and then, suffering ends on earth and the cycle of the curse of reincarnation is gone.
        4. Treatment: The Eightfold Path:
   
    The Eightfold Path: Enlightenment and Nirvana is attained by meditation and by following the path of righteousness in action, thought, and attitude... it's all your work!:
          1-3- Wisdom (panna):
                - Right View
                - Right Thought
                - Right Speech
          4-5- Morality (sila):  
                - Right Action
                - Right Livelihood 
          6-8- Meditation (samadhi):
                - Right Effort
                - Right Mindfulness
                - Right Contemplation   

Enlightenment:

    "Enlightenment" is the central masterpiece of Gautama Buddha, and it is what he got sitting for 7 weeks under a fig tree (the bodhi tree), near Benares, after having wandered around for 7 years to search for the cause of suffering... all of a sudden, "in a flash", "he saw the light", and became the Buddha, the enlightened one... his divine eye was quickened, and he was able at last to extinguish all his ignorance, desires, and craving... and life's problems were no longer an enigma to him.

    The Buddhist word for enlightenment is "bodhi," which is the basis for the title "Buddha." He was the first to be enlightened and thus was called "The Buddha." The root meaning of bodhi is "to awaken"; thus the Buddha is the "Awakened One." The rest of humanity is asleep.

    Enlightenment comes essentially one step before nirvana. It is the realizing of the true nature of the cosmos, the link between samsara and nirvana. It is at this point that one can view their past lives.

    Results of the Enlightenment in Gautama:

    He got two kind of results: A positive and a negative:
    Negatively, the eradication of all greed, hatred and egotism from his mind.
    Positively, the cultivation and development of metta, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity as inherent aspects of one’s personality. "Metta" is a Pali word and is usually translated into English as "love", and if we simultaneously think of the words "friendship", "love" and "kindness", we will have some understanding of the true meaning of "metta".

    With this "Enlightenment", Buddha sought to remove much of the supernatural from Hinduism. Hindus worshiped too many gods, and used too many relics, magic prayers, superstitions, candles, incense... and he saw no need for a church institution or authority or priests or rituals; no need to believe in "miracles" or supernatural agencies as means to obtain "nirvana", after the "enlightenment"... he dared to question the authority of the Vedas and advocated abolishing the caste system... and even suggested that the concept of God be abolished...

    How to obtain Enlightenment:

    For Gautama it was very simple, he got it "in a flash" under the Bo tree, as we just mentioned.

    But it is not so simple... the many traditions, sects, branches and denominations follow different special techniques, most of them from  Hinduism... and thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns dedicate their whole life with vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience to try to obtain it.

    The Four Noble Truths are the basis to obtain Enlightenment... and most specially Meditation.

    Meditation:

    In general, to obtain "enlightenment", man's own "mind", "body", and "character", are the greatest obstacles: Please read Meditation and Yoga in Hinduism.. it is the main tool Buddha took from Hinduism... but without gods!...

    1-The "mind", is suppressed, for example, by repeating thousands of times a "mantra", a meaningless word for the student, until the "crisis" comes, when the mind gets so boring that stops reasoning, letting only the "animal mind" at work; or by trying to solve for months or years a "koan", an impossible riddle, like "what is the size of your right hand's sixth finger?", until the mind gets so tired, that it gives up, stops reasoning; or trying for months a ridiculous impossible astral projection; or looking for hours at a "yantra", a geometric figure, a triangle...

    2- The "body", is restrained by sitting for hours in a difficult position, until numbness occurs... and this way you seek to release the spirit from the limitations of the body, say the Buddhists.

    3- The personal "character", is controlled by having a guru or a master that continually humiliates you...

    All, until your mind gives up, becomes obsolete, and your body becomes numb, and you feel yourself like nothing, without self, without any personality... and then, "comes the crisis", you will give up your "human mind" and experience the "animal mind" with all kinds of illusory hallucinations and the bliss of having the joy and peace of an animal, without any reasoning, without any concern of yesterday nor today nor tomorrow nor the after death... just the simple instinctive let it go of any animal...

    And this is what is called "enlightenment", and "god-realization", and "union with the universal mind", and "heightened awareness", and "cosmic consciousness", and "transcendental bliss"...

    True is not perceived to be an absolute or objective revelation... "knowledge" is not "to know", but "not to know", it is only a "subjective intuitional experience", the thinking has been replaced by feelings; logic plays no part on it, it is the negation of one's rational faculties... it is an "ego" religion, where one's own enlightened self becomes the arbiter of all actions and the gauge of the truth... there is no need for God... you are God!... even if you do not know how to make flowers or stars or atoms... but you are God!...

    The light upon which a Buddhist stumbles is the false glow of one whom the Bible depicts as a deceiving "angel of light", Satan (2Cor.11:14)... because in that state on numbness and without the control of the "human mind" the devil settles in.   

Nirvana (nibbana):

   Nirvana for Gautama is to live the life on earth as the result of the Enlightenment, it is not a place, but a state of mind in which one is released from desire, craving, fear... and, most specially, Nirvana brings a Buddhist out of the cycles of the curse of reincarnation for ever.

    Nirvana has many names in Buddhism and Hinduism Traditions:

    -"Enlightenment"... "Nirvana".- "God-realization".- "Union with the Universal mind".
    - "Heightened awareness".- "Expanded consciousness"- "Altered perception of reality".
    - "Cosmic consciousness".- "Satori"...- "Transcendental bliss"...

    The discipline to obtain it may be yoga, Zen, ascetics, meditation... and the religious frame may be Buddhism, Hinduism, Unity, Theosophy, Scientology, Transcendental Meditation, Hare Krishnas, Rosicrucianism, EST, New Era...

    "Nirvana" for Gautama Buddha:

    Nirvana for Gautama Buddha was meant to live this life on earth, he always avoided to mention the after-death... and to be honest, if there is no Heaven, no Hell, no Reincarnation, most people would rather live this life as a rich Muslin with 4 wives and plenty of abundance and comfort, rather that the life of a Buddhist monk with vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience...
    ... Finally Gautama Buddha died... and now he is either in Heaven or in Hell, like Albert Einstein and Christopher Columbus and Kennedy and St Francis... believe it or not!... anyone of them who is now in Heaven did all right in life; if anyone of them is in Hell, he was an idiot during the only life he had on earth.

    Probably the only time Buddha spoke more clearly about the after-death was at the time of his death, his last words... "the poisoned mush-rooms are opening for me the final gates to "Nirvana".

    "Nirvana" today, after Buddha:

    After Gautama, the Anti-Buddhist Traditions added a new element: With this "nirvana", after "enlightenment", not only all desire is eradicated, but it  will also eventually end with the curse of suffering successive reincarnations, without giving any reason or any proof for it...

    For a Christian, the reason is that if you believe in Jesus, all your bad deeds or bad karma will be eradicated, and if you live with joy and peace on earth, doing good deeds in the grace of God, you go to Heaven after death... the problem for the Buddhists, like for the Hindus, is that the cleaning of the bad deeds may take even thousands of reincarnations...

    This "Nirvana after-death", is different for each one of the thousands of traditions.
    - In the Tibetan Buddhism, students are promised Buddhahood very fast... after completing "only 7 reincarnations"!.
    - Jodo promises to enter the Pure Land after death; but a Heaven that is not the Christian one, rather "nothingness", "to stop being as a person", united with the Absolute like a drop of water in the ocean...
    - Zen Buddhism, like Gautama, do not mention much the after-death... but you have to die!... what is it going to be next?...

    The "Tripitaka": The "three baskets", includes Buddha's sermons, rules for the monks and philosophical teachings, with 100 volumes,  about the size of 70 Bibles.
         - The First Sermon of Buddha at Benares 
        - "Way of Mindfulness" of Buddha, with the cemetery meditations

The Three Marks of Existence:
     1- anicca or impermanence, nothing stands still. Our lives change in many ways from second to second
    2- dukkha or suffering, which is also the first noble truth... everybody suffers.
    3- anatta or not-self, you will never find a permanent essence, self or soul in anything! Other religions have the idea of a soul but Buddhism doesn't. Instead, it sees the individual as a combination of five factors known as khandhas. Each person, therefore, is made up of consciousness, feelings, mental formations (including volition), perception and corporeality (the body). None of these, according to Buddhism, do they constitute what might be called a soul.
    Through meditation, these three marks play an important role. The idea of insight meditation is to see things as they really are and this means realizing at an experiential rather than conceptual level that suffering, impermanence and not-self underlie everything. Paradoxically, to realize this is to bring an end to suffering. Not surprisingly then, the three marks of are fundamental to Buddhist thinking and practice.
    http://buddhism.about.com/library/weekly/aa070202a.htm

The Five Skandhas (Precepts or Commandments):
    1. No killing or hurting any creature.
    2. No stealing.
    3. No wrong indulgence in sexual pleasure.
    4. No lying.
    5. No use of intoxicants.

The Six Realms of existence, or the six worlds:
    1- The world of heaven. This is the world of enjoyment, pleasure or pleasant things. The condition of heaven is impermanent, and this state of mind will also change.
    2- The world of humans. (Human beings) In the world of humans, sometimes we are happy, sometimes we are sad, sometimes we are laughing, sometimes we are crying.
    3- The world of asuras. This is the world of fighting, or strife. The realm or state of mind of fighting.
    4-The world of hungry spirits. This is the realm of dissatisfaction, not being content. The state of having endless unsatisfied desires, or greed. Figuratively speaking, always being hungry.
    5- The world of animals. It is the realm lacking reason. The state without reason. Without reason, mistakes are made, causing hardships or suffering to self, and at times others. Without reason, being dominated by one's desires.
    6- The world of hell. Hell refers to the realm of suffering. The state of suffering and pain, which through cause and condition people will enter.
    http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=95

The Ten Perfections and Nirvana: 

Giving. As a full jar overthrown pours out the liquid and keeps back nothing, even so shall your charity be without reserve - as a jar overturned.

Duty. As a yak-cow, when the hairs of her tail become entangled in anything, would rather suffer death than injury to her tail, even so should you keep to your duty - as the yak to her tail.

Renunciation . As a man in prison, suffering pain for long, so shall you look upon your existences on earth as in prisons, and turn your face toward renunciation and await release.

Insight. As the beggar-monk shuns no families from whom he begs, whether lowly or high or in between, and acquires his daily fare, so shall you at all times question the wise and gain insight.

Courage. As the lion, whether when lying down or standing up, lacks no courage, but is ever light-hearted, so also shall you in each of your individual-existences hold fast to your courage.

Patience. As the earth bears all that is cast upon it, both the pure and impure, and feels no resentment nor rejoicing, so also shall you receive favors and rebuffs alike with indifference.

Truth . As the star of healing is balanced in the heavens, and swerves not from its path in its time and its season, so shall you remain fixed on your path of truth.

Resolution . As the stone mountain, firmly based quails not before the tempest, but abides in its place, so shall you abide in your resolution once resolved.

Loving-kindness. As water quenches the thirst of the good and the bad alike, and cleanses them of dust and impurity, so also shall you treat your friend and your foe alike with loving-kindness.

Serenity. As indeed the earth looks with serenity on all the pure and impure that are cast upon it, even so shall you approach with serenity both joy and sorrow - if you are to attain wisdom.

Nirvana is probably one of the most difficult concepts to define in a way comprehensible to the Western mind. Some have defined Nirvana as the state of Not-being. This is both correct and incorrect. For Nirvana is a release from the cycle of reincarnation and the end of individual existence. Nirvana is also the blissful state in which all suffering ceases and the individual is joined with the World-Soul.  http://www.analects-ink.com/mission/10_Perfections_Buddhism.html

"Suffering" for Buddha and for Christ:

    Gautama the Buddha lived the rest of his 45 years on earth living in this state of Nirvana, with trials and tribulations, with could and sweat, with hunger and thirst and sicknesses... but with peace!... he did not get rid of "suffering", but he coped with it... he had problems in the order of monks he founded, and many problems with the resentment and queries his words provoked on Hinduism... but with peace!... in Nirvana!...

    Buddha had a way to cope with "suffering" in this life on earth...

    Jesus Christ had his way too, and it was a great revolution: Jesus "glorified suffering" in the 2 Mountains: in the Sermon of the Mountain, and at Calvary... a Christian not only accepts suffering with peace, but with joy!... because "suffering" is the way God uses to purify us, it is like the injection or scalpel of a Surgeon, or like the chisel of God the artist, to bring out the best of our life, a healthy and perfect one... and still more, "suffering" is the best tool to help our friends and enemies to go to Heaven... Jesus did not save us with his sermons or miracles, but with his Cross... and the cross of a Christian is his best way to evangelize, to help others to go to Heaven.

    Suffering for a Christian is real, with tears and screams, but with an immense joy, like the one of a mother who knows her birth-pains bring a child to life (Jn.16).  Suffering in the Bible - Value of Suffering in the Bible

    Do you want light and emotions?... Come to Jesus Christ, "I am the light of the world", said in Jn.8:12, after he declared himself "God", and proved it by making many wanders and miracles, and proving it lastly by his resurrection from the death, and appearing 11 times to his disciples after his resurrection... and Jesus assures you that if you are in him, "you are the light of the world" (Mt.5).
    And on top of being the light of the world, now, on earth, you will go to a real Heaven, without any re-incarnation, but Jesus, who is God, says to you and to me that one eternity is waiting for us... eternally in Heaven or eternally in Hell... want it or not... believe it or not!...    

 

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