earth swayed like a woman drunken with wine, the sky shone bright with the Siddhas who appeared in crowds in all the directions, and the mighty drums of thunder resounded through the air. Pleasant breezes blew softly, rain fell from a cloudless sky, flowers and fruits dropped from the trees out of season-in an effort, as it were, to show reverance for him,” (The Global Experience, Ashvaghosha, pg. 79).Having achieved enlightenment, the Buddha began spreading his knowledge to help others achieve “Nirvana”, which means to be released from the reincarnation cycle. He preached that there were 4 Noble Truths: (1) all life is suffering; (2) the source of suffering is desire; (3) to end desiring is to end suffering; (4) there is an eight-fold path to end suffering; to have the right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. This idea of being released from suffering attracted many people, and Buddhism soon spread rapidly through Northern India, and then through Southern India.However, the popularity of this form of Buddhism (Theravada, as it came to be known, meaning “way of the elders”) began to dwindle as only a few people were being able to enlightenment as it was so difficult. It was mainly monks who were practicing the eight-fold path, and they would meditate for months and years and would maybe experience an inner spiritual awakening, but few were achieving Nirvana. It got even more difficult as years wore on because after someone had achieved Nirvana and died, it left other people without someone to help guide them to Nirvana. Many people began to feel that achieving enlightenment was nearly impossible, and they began to drift away from the religion, causing a major downfall in the spread of Buddhism.It was then that a new form of Buddhism arose in India called “Mahayana” Buddhism, meaning “great vehicle of salvation”. This form of B...
