Buddhism

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct, wisdom, and meditation releases one from desire, suffering, and rebirth.
2. n. The religion represented by the many groups, especially numerous in Asia, that profess varying forms of this doctrine and that venerate Buddha.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The religious system founded by Buddha, or the Buddha, in India. Its essential principles, in so far as they can be reduced to an Occidental form of thought, are, that man is under the operation of certain inflexible laws, from which there is neither escape nor deliverance; existence under them is an evil; priestly rites and sacrifices are unavailing; death is no escape, but only a transmigration to another form of existence; obedience to the moral laws—the practice of charity, temperance, justice, honesty, truth—insures a sojourn in heaven, followed by a higher existence on the earth; disobedience insures a punishment in some of the innumerable hot and cold hells (see naraka), situated in the interior of the earth or on its furthest verge, followed by a lower state of existence on earth; the supreme felicity to be attained by perfect obedience is the suppression of every passion and desire, and eventually Nirvana, or unconscious existence, if indeed Nirvana be not annihilation. In its original spirit agnostic, if not atheistic, it has become modified in time, and now has its rites and temples, which vary in different nationalities and localities. From India Buddhism spread over Ceylon, Java, Cochin-China, Burma, Tibet, Mongolia, Tatary, China, and Japan, but was stamped out in India by the rise of Hinduism. Also spelled Boodhism.

Wiktionary

1. n. The religion and philosophy founded by the Nepalese teacher Gautama Buddha

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The religion based upon the doctrine originally taught by the Hindu sage Gautama Siddartha, surnamed Buddha, “the awakened or enlightened,” in the sixth century b. c., and adopted as a religion by the greater part of the inhabitants of Central and Eastern Asia and the Indian Islands. Buddha's teaching is believed to have been atheistic; yet it was characterized by elevated humanity and morality. It presents release from existence (a beatific enfranchisement, Nirvâna) as the greatest good. Buddhists believe in transmigration of souls through all phases and forms of life. Their number was estimated in 1881 at 470,000,000.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a religion represented by the many groups (especially in Asia) that profess various forms of the Buddhist doctrine and that venerate Buddha
2. n. the teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct and wisdom and meditation releases one from desire and suffering and rebirth