I have done a report on Buddhism once this year, and it was the best report I've ever done. I'll tell you why. I, personally, find it interesting when a man can be so strong that he'll basically give up his life for his beliefs. Then its more amazing when he gains such a following from it, it begins his own religion. We're not just talking about winning a presidential election here, Buddha didn't have to fight over a miscount to win his position in Buddhism, as Jesus Christ didn't in the Catholic church. They had to teach the beliefs that they saw right, and even harder live by them, and harder yet be willing to die for them. This is what a consider a true leader, a true man, which is why I am going to tell you about Mahavira, which means "the great souled one, " or "great hero." I picked him for the same reason I find all faiths started by a mere man so interesting. Mahavira was just a man, a man who had everything, but gave it all up for what he believed, and people sa!
             w this, they saw it and they followed it, they saw it, followed it, and his beliefs still lead people in their lives today. From my research I found that Mahavira didn't start Jainism, "but he brought together in a systematic form the beliefs and philosophy of his predecessors, preached them widely throughout his home country, and laid the foundations of an organized Jain church with monks and nuns and layman and women alike following his teachings." (www.jainworld.com)
             Mahavira was born Vardhamana in a village twenty – seven miles north of Patna. Most sources say that he was born about 599 B.C., but few say it to be as late as 490 B.C., but I found most to go with the 599 and the more mythical accounts to say the other. His father, Siddhartha, "funny how that was the Buddha's name before he found enlightment??" and his mother Trisala were both decedents of kings. Unt...