World Religions, Sixth EditionWarren Matthews

Chapter Four:

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Centers of Early Buddhism

Theravada Buddhists hold a humanistic view of the Buddha

Mahayana Buddhists hold a divine and cosmic view of the Buddha

Contemporary historians grapple with how to adjudicate among

these accounts when forming their own presentation of the Buddha’s

life

Life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha

Life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha

Born as Siddhartha Gautama at Lumbini Grove in India, 563 BCE

Born into a royal family, lived and practiced as a Vedic Hindu

Married princess Yashodhara when he was nineteen

Was shielded by his family from difficulties of life outside the court

In excursions, saw four things that surprised and disturbed him – an

old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic

Became disturbed by the existence of suffering

Left the court, left his wife and son, and became an ascetic

Searched Hindu solutions, practicing extreme asceticism

Studied under two Brahmin yogins

Joined five ascetics in fasting, breath holding, odd body positions

Enlightenment of Siddhartha Guatama, the Buddha

Finally gave up on Hindu solutions

Sat under a tree at Bodhgaya with resolve to understand the nature

of suffering while demons assailed and tempted him

Gained insight into the nature of suffering and how to escape

rebirth

Realized that destroying desire would eliminate suffering, leaving

him free, awake, and enlightened

Became the Buddha, the enlightened one

Bodhgaya Stupa, Site of the Buddha’s Enlightenment

Life of Siddhartha Guatama, the Buddha

With his new insight, the Buddha set out to instruct others

Delivered his first sermon Deer Park of Sarnath

His friends, Brahmins, and his family join him

Sangha – Buddhist community

Dharma – law or teachings

Spent forty-five years as a teacher

The First Sermon of the Newly Enlightened Buddha

The Four Noble Truths

All life is dukkha, or suffering

The origin of suffering is tanha, or attachment

Suffering is ended by dispassion

Suffering is overcome by using the Eightfold Path

The Eightfold Path

Wisdom 1) Right view

2) Right intention

Ethical conduct 3) Right speech

4) Right action

5) Right livelihood

Mental development 6) Right effort

7) Right mindfulness

8) Right concentration

Right view: correct insight into the nature of suffering

Right aim: correct resolve in overcoming suffering

Right speech: truthful speech that reflects Buddhist knowledge

Right action: livelihood according to with Buddhist ethics

Right effort: disciplining the mind

Right living: putting away wrong livelihood

Right effort: applying the force of the mind

Right mindfulness: understanding self and suffering

Right concentration: progression through the stages of insight

The Eightfold Path

Buddhist Teaching

The self is not permanent

There is no ego, no soul, only a temporary gathering of skandhas

Matter – physical bodies/sense organs

Sensations – the process of feeling

Perceptions – the mind receives the feelings

Mental activity – impulses to react to feelings

Consciousness – accompanies the feelings and response he

Self is the aggregation of all these temporary psychological activities

In death, the aggregation comes apart

Buddhist Teaching

Tanha (passion or craving)

The desire to make permanent that which is impermanent

All of nature (including ourselves) is impermanent, transitory

The wheel of becoming fuels suffering (dukkha)

Suffering occurs as long as we ignorantly assume we are “selves”

that are independent of the processes

Buddhist Teaching

Nirodha (dispassion)

Seeing clearly the nature of a person

Understanding that there is no permanent self

Helping bring an end to passion (suffering)

Letting go is the end of suffering

Buddhist Teaching

Eightfold Path (the Middle Path)

The extremes as Buddha saw them:

Ritual – too occupied with the world

Asceticism – too occupied with denial

The middle path avoids these extremes by following all elements

of the Eightfold Path simultaneously

The end of the Eightfold Path is enlightenment

Buddhist Teaching

Samsara (Buddha agreed with the Hindu gurus that samsara,

reincarnation, occurs, but he did not see the individual “re-occurring”)

He did not want to return through rebirth instead of bringing

release

No one must wait for rebirth to attain release

But anyone may achieve release in this life through following the

Four Noble Truths

The Buddha on Samsara and Karma

Samsara – the idea that birth follows death

Karma – the law that a person’s thoughts and deeds are followed by

deserved pleasure or pain

Through their karma, people are anchored in their physical nature,

preventing release and carrying over to rebirth

In Hinduism, karma is an explanation for caste

In Jainism, karma is understood in primarily physical terms

In Buddhism, karma is mainly psychological, not physical

The Buddha and Metaphysics

Branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the nature of the

world

Addresses questions such as:

What is the nature of reality?

Is there a God?

What is man's place in the universe?

Buddhism does not seek to answer metaphysical questions

The Buddha concentrated on suffering, its nature, cause, and cure

Buddhist Scriptures

Pali collection, the Buddha's language (3 collections, 5 volumes)

Originally kept in memory of disciples

Written in Pali on palm leaves

Gathered in separate baskets, or pitakas

Chinese collection (61 volumes)

Tibetan collection

Kanjur (100+ volumes)

Tanjur (225 volumes)

Buddhist Scriptures

The Tripitaka (three-fold basket)

Vinaya Pitaka – rules for Buddhist monks (the Buddha's

language)

Sutta Pitaka – stories, poems and songs about the Buddha and

his former lives

Abhidhamma Pitaka – systematic development of ideas found in

the Sutta Pitaka

The First Buddhist Councils

First Council – soon after Buddha’s death

Affirmed authority of the religious community, purity of monks

Established official scriptures (Tripitaka)

Second Council – 100 years later at Vaisali

Tensions between monks and laity

Unofficial council 50 years later begins official split

Third Council – 247 BC

King Ashoka rejects heretical Buddhism

Two Ways to Experience the Buddha:Theravadin and Mahayana

Theravadin Buddhism – small vehicle

Buddha as an exemplary human being

Buddha as a model for ultimate religious transformation through

self-application

Devotees focus on monastic life

Maitreya, the Buddha to come

Salvation is through dedicated self-effort rather than intervention

of deity

Two Ways to Experience the Buddha:Theravadin and Mahayana

Mahayana Buddhism – great vehicle

Buddha as cosmic and god-like

Salvation is not solely a matter of personal discipline but is

assisted by various deities

Human beings aided in their spiritual development

Bodhisattvas, beings who, though capable of Nirvana, remain

active in the world out of compassion for the suffering of

others

Schools of Buddhist Philosophy

Madhyamika

Formulated by Nagarjuna in the second century

All existing things are empty of reality

Doctrine of pratitya-samutpada, dependent origination

Yogacara

Formulated by Asanga in the fourth century

All things as well as ideas are not real

Buddhism in India

Ashoka

In 273 AD Ashoka comes to the throne and controls nearly all

India

Became guilty over the suffering his conquests caused

Instituted a set of ruling principles set in stone:

1) Admitted his guilt in causing suffering

2) Prohibited killing animals

3) Set rules for community, family, school

4) Allowed civil servants to teach dharma

5) Promoted Buddhism with international missionaries

Buddhism in China

Tian Tai – based on the Lotus Sutra, that all beings can actualize

their Buddha nature and become Buddhas

Hua-Yen – based on the Avatamsaka Sutra, says that all

phenomena interpenetrate one other, a holistic view of Buddha

nature and the universe

Jingtu – based on the Sukhavativyuha Sutra, says that one is saved

by faith, not by works

Chan – based on the Lankavatara Sutra, says that meditation, not

expounding scriptures, leads to the Truth

Schools of Chinese Buddhism

Lotus – Buddha nature

Flower Garland – interpenetration of all things

Pure Land – humans beings saved by calling on bodhisattva

Amitabha

Meditation – brought by Bodhidharma, emphasizes meditation alone

Buddhism in Japan

Buddhism transmitted to Japan from Korea in the sixth century CE

Tendai

Brought by Dengyo Daishi from China, ninth century CE

In harmony with Shinto, Amida is common figure of honor

Shingon

Brought by Kobo Daishi from China, ninth century CE

Mysterious and magical

Mantra (a phrase), mudra (posture), mandala (sacred picture)

Jodo

First devotees were Ryonin and later Genku

Teaches salvation through the grace of Amida

Buddhism in Japan

Shinran

Disciple of Genku who ate meat

Established the Jodo-Shin sect of Buddhism in Japan

Zen (Chan)

Koans – illogical puzzles that provide insight

Satori – the enlightenment experience

Soto – gradual enlightenment by sitting in meditation

Nichiren

Recitation of the name of the Lotus Sutra

Buddhism in Tibet

In seventh century CE, Tibetan ruler Srong Tsan Gampo married two

Buddhist wives from abroad, brought Buddhism into Tibet for the first

time

In the following century, Indian Buddhist teacher Shantarakshita

brought Buddhism to Tibet in a more systematic fashion

Buddhism in Tibet

Occult and tantric forms

Nyingmapa – Red Buddhism

Embraced Hinduism tantric practices

Ate meat and drank alcohol

Gelugpa – wore yellow

Advocated celibacy and vegetarianism

Passed on their lineage through reincarnation

The Dalai Lama is from the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism

Tenzin Gyatso, the Current Dalai Lama

Buddhism in the West

Waves of Asian migration to the U.S. beginning in the nineteenth

century brought Buddhism to the West

Non-Asians have also taken an interest in Buddhism, particularly

during the 1960s

Nichiren Shoshu Sokagakkai is an example of organized forays by

Buddhists into America

Similar to its Japanese counterpart, it advocated salvation through

chanting

Today, a wide range of Buddhist traditions that developed throughout

Asia are evidenced in the American landscape

Buddhist Worldview

Theravadins deny deity while Mahayanists believe deities are

essential

Human suffering is produced by ignorance of impermanence

Alleviation of suffering by detachment from the world

Solution to suffering is knowledge using the Four Noble Truths

No life after death

Lack of a strong concern for an end-time of history

Buddhist Worldview

Community ethics

Symbiotic relationship between monastics and laity

Karmic responsibility, karuna, compassion

Abstinence from theft, intoxication, inappropriate speech, injury

Laity recite a vow of refuge in three things:

the Buddha – the enlightened one

the Dharma – the Buddhist teachings

the Sangha – the community of Buddhists

Buddhist Worldview

In some parts of Asia, young laymen take on the role of a Buddhist

monk for a finite period of time

Coexistence with other forms of religious practice

Interest in active dialogue and engagement

Although Mahayana Buddhism allows for the ordination of women

nuns, they hold second-class status relative to monks

Non-Asian women converts to Buddhism have introduced

innovations in the possible roles for women leaders in Buddhism

Buddhist Nun in Syracuse, New York