Question

What is the truth of life, according to Buddhism ?

Answer 1

The foundation of the Buddha's teachings about the nature of life is the Four Noble Truths. In summary:

1. There is dukkha (a term with no direct translation into English, which has been variously translated as suffering, unsatisfactoriness, stress or anxiety).
2. There is a cause of dukkha, namely craving and attachment.
3. There is freedom from dukkha.
4. There is a way to achieve freedom fromdukkha, namely by following what is known as the Noble Eightfold Path.

Answer 2

The earliest surviving representations of the Buddha date from hundreds of years after his death, so they are not portraits in the usual sense. Buddha images vary greatly from place to place and period to period, but they almost always show these conventional features:

Symbols of radiance. Among these may be a halo around the head or whole body, a flame at the top of the head, or a gold-covered surface.

Superhuman physical characteristics such as very large size, a lump on the top of the head sometimes said to indicate extraordinary wisdom, fingers all the same length, or special markings on the palms and on the soles of the feet.

Long earlobes, stretched during the years when the Buddha-to-be, as a prince, wore heavy earrings.

Monk’s robes. Monks wore a sarong-like lower garment and one or two upper garments, each made of a sheet of cloth wrapped around the upper body, sometimes leaving the right shoulder bare.