by 
catherine
ANSWERS: 5
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His belly?
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The four roads..and the eight-fold path. It was a legacy of spiritual enlightenment, but which quickly deteriorated into worship of himself by followers. Something he did not intend. His teachings spread widely but have been corrupted by local religions and traditions. There is no real pure Buddhist thought today except as taught by a few priests and monks in a few remote monasteries/temples That is also not what the hope was. It was supposed to go to the people, not become hibernated in monasteries.
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A religion named after him.
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Like so many thinkers, his legacy is not one he wanted: He said specifically not to make him into a god, and they had hardly finished piling the dirt on him before they made him a god. His own thoughts, though, were for peace and kindness and, perhaps above all, thought. Alas, there is not much of any of that, perhaps especially where he tried hardest to encourage it.
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Besides Buddhism and the philosophy of mindfulness/ possibility of overcoming worldly suffering through right thinking, I believe his biggest contribution came through the ministry of Jesus Christ, who was most certainly influenced by this philosophy and spread the idea of resurrection and overcoming suffering via right thinking to thousands upon thousands through the practice of Christianity. Buddha influenced Eastern civilization, and then Jesus -influenced by the Eastern philosophies that spread West with the Roman conquests - in turn influenced the entire Western civilization. I think thats a huge legacy...
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