The Buddha's Dispensation (Pali: ''Buddha-sāsana'') is the teaching - and dissemination of that teaching - of the historical Buddha,

Siddhartha Gautama Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

. In

Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

Buddhism that teaching is considered to reside within the

Pali Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During t ...

and those existing, practical traditions that remain faithful to that dispensation.

The Historical Mission of the Buddha

In his first sermon, ' The Turning of the Wheel of Dhamma', the Buddha explains that as a result of what he had discovered from his years long spiritual quest as a '' Samana'', it had become incumbent upon him to explain this discovery to humanity out of compassion for their welfare and happiness. The essence of this teaching was the '' Four Noble Truths''. Humanity was in a general state of suffering and alienation yet were unaware that there was a ''

Path A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...

'' out of this condition. In order to escape this condition of suffering it was necessary to undertake a course of self-discipline (

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

: '' Vinaya'') that involved adopting a strict code of moral conduct (

: '' sila'') and commitment to

spiritual development The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

References

{{Buddhism-stub Buddhist eschatology

The Historical Mission of the Buddha

See also

References