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Major Religions of the World
Religions throughout the world are a necessary part of cultures of different peoples. Religions are cultural complexes that effect so much of a person's everyday life ? religion not only deals with worship, but also encompasses clothing style, morality, eating habits, language, and so much more, some of which that vary depending on the religion. Each religion's origins, along with their creation myths, differentiate them from other religions, some of which are very similar.
In Buddhism, followers put their beliefs into the Buddha, or "the enlightened one." Buddha was born Siddhartha Guatama in Nepal in 566 B.C. He was the prince of the small Sakya tribe at a young age, and was raised by Mahaprajapati, his mother's kind sister, when his mother died just seven days after he was born. Guatama married Yashodhara at the age of 16, but was unhappy with his life ? his father kept him in palaces, and he was never allowed to see the outside world. Guatama insisted, and his father let him, showing Guatama his first views of death, of elderly, of pain and sickness. When Guatama realized that he was not receiving fulfillment from his life, and began to look for peace and understanding at the age of 29, he left his tribe and the comforts of his upper-class home to seek the meaning of the suffering that was hidden from him for so long. Guatama tortured himself, through starvation and self-mutilation, for six years. After realizing that it was solving none of the problems in his life, Guatama instead took food offered from a young girl and sat under a bodhi tree until he understood. He saw into his past lives, he saw the meanin ...