Buddhism is the main religion of Thailand and the country demonstrates one of the most devoted Buddhist populations in the world. It is one of the world’s oldest religions and also one of its largest. Tourists who visit the country and stay in one of the Thailand luxury hotels may or may not be of the Buddhist faith, though they are very likely to be interested in visiting one of the great temples found there. Similar to the other large and historic religions of the world, there are different branches and belief foci in the Buddhist faith. One of the common themes and its traditional perspective on salvation, is the consideration and orientation to the nature of reality. Most of the beliefs and practices of all branches of Buddhism are based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, also known as The Buddha, which translates as the awakened one. Gautama lived in what is now India, in the general time frame of 400 BCE. This coincided roughly with the beginnings of some of Western Europe’s great early playwrights. The purpose of most of the Buddha’s teachings is to reach an understanding of the nature of phenomena’s, to end personal and worldly suffering and also to achieve nirvana. He lectured on the reason for life incarnation and rebirths in the cycle of suffering and strife. There are two primary branches of Buddhism that most of the other sects fall into. They are Mahayana, which is the great vehicle, and Theravada, which generally is interpreted as the school of the elders. Different branches of the religion take a different approach to its teachings and interpretation of the literature. Some followers also include Vajrayana Buddhism as a third major branch. Sub groups such as Zen Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism are included in the Mahayana branch.
