Buddhism

American  

[boo-diz-uhm, bood-iz-] / ˈbu dɪz əm, ˈbʊd ɪz- /

noun

1. a religion, originated in India by Buddha (Gautama) and later spreading to China, Myanmar (Burma), Japan, Tibet, and parts of Southeast Asia, holding that life is full of suffering caused by desire and that the way to end this suffering is through enlightenment that enables one to halt the endless sequence of births and deaths to which one is otherwise subject.

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Buddhism British  

/ ˈbʊdɪzəm /

noun

1. a religious teaching propagated by the Buddha and his followers, which declares that by destroying greed, hatred, and delusion, which are the causes of all suffering, man can attain perfect enlightenment See nirvana

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Buddhism Cultural  

1. A religion, founded by the Buddha, that emphasizes physical and spiritual discipline as a means of liberation from the physical world. The goal for the Buddhist is to attain nirvana, a state of complete peace in which one is free from the distractions of desire and self-consciousness. Buddhists are found in the greatest numbers in eastern Asia.

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Other Word Forms

• Buddhist
  noun
• Buddhist
  adjective
• Buddhistic
  adjective
• Buddhistical
  adjective
• Buddhistically
  adverb
• anti-Buddhist
  adjective
• non-Buddhist
  adjective
• non-Buddhistic
  adjective
• pre-Buddhist
  adjective
• pro-Buddhist
  adjective
• pseudo-Buddhist
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Buddhism

Buddh(a) + -ism

Compare meaning

How does buddhism compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Zen Buddhism vs. Buddhism

Example Sentences

Both were made around the end of the 12th century, and their convenient similarity owed to a shift in royal patronage toward Buddhism.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 10, 2025

For example, while still a young child, she saw the movie “Lost Horizons” and became entranced by Tibet and the teachings of Buddhism — “an awareness of the interconnectedness of all things.”

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 31, 2025

The mountains are also sacred to people in Tibet, where many follow Buddhism.

From BBC • Sep. 22, 2025

If you read “The Scripture of the Golden Eternity,” you really see how much he was impacted and inspired by Buddhism and how much he actually understood the teachings.

From Salon • Jul. 30, 2025

At its heart lies a theory Wagner drew from Schopenhauer, from Buddhism and from Christianity, that self-enlightenment, or personal redemption, is achieved by denying oneself gratification, resisting temptation and seeking an understanding of fellow-suffering.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall