ORIGINS:
Siddhartha Gautama - the Buddha, the Awakened One
General Story of Early Life:
Vedic Priests predicted: a)
great world ruler or b) world teacher
Approx. 29 years of age: Great
Going Forth
Tried asceticism
Moved to moderation
- between self-indulgence and asceticism
Sat under the Bodhi Tree and achieved
Awakening, Enlightenment = BODHI
Disciples Returned
Basic Buddhism:
1. Buddha - an ideal all
humans should imitate -- Gautama did not claim God
status; said he was human in all respects.
2. Dharma - the sum total
of all Buddhist teachings - how to understand the world and to live
3. Sangha - the community
of monks and nuns
Beyond all else, Buddhism's teachings are practical - how to live in this world
Two main questions:
How can we
minimize suffering? "A religion of infinite
compassion"/denied caste distinctions - a respect for fellow human beings
How can we
attain inner peace?
The answers are NOT based on blind faith or memorization of teachings,
but on practice and experience.
What is the nature of Reality?
1. Change
- everything is in constant flux
2. Anatman - (not Atman) - there is no permanent, central self. There is no individual soul.
3. Dukkha - all life experiences sorrow, suffering, and dis-ease. No matter how hard we try, disorder reappears.
The problem is how to overcome all of this. The
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS AND THE 8-FOLD NOBLE PATH TO NIRVANA. Nirvana
is an extinguishing of the boundaries of our finite selves. Nothingness
does not replace what we are.
It is not clear whether Nirvana is God. For the Buddhist, there is
no focus on a being who created the universe by design. If that's
what you are looking for in Nirvana, then Buddhism will be seen by you
as atheistic. But if you are looking for the "Godhead" - the
supreme reality, the good, then Buddhism is not an atheistical doctrine.
Four noble truths:
1. To
live is to suffer - not to be considered a pessimistic
view. Optimism prevails. Suffering can be overcome.
How is suffering experienced?
a. in birth
b. in sickness
c. in becoming decrepit
d. in fear of death
e. in being stuck with what one hates
f. in being separated from what one loves
2. Suffering
is caused by desire - when you know the cause
of a problem, you can more efficiently go about trying to solve it.
This does not mean to end all desire, because the desire for liberation,
for example, is a basic factor of Buddhism. It is desire that can't
be fulfilled that causes suffering.
If we were to think more "globally" - that is, don't worry simply that
your children are fed, but be concerned that all children are fed - we
should focus on the totality. We need to realize that there is more
to the universe than ourselves.
3. To
end suffering, end desire
Seems difficult for the Western world. We hold a position of an individual
and permanent self that has an immortal soul.
We attach ourselves to things, to success. Perhaps we should accept
peacefully whatever occurs, and don't look so much
for happiness as for inner peace. MUCH LIKE STOICISM: EPICTETUS:
"Seek not that things should be as you
wish them to be; wish them to be exactly as they are, and you will live
a tranquil life."
4. To
end desire, follow the 8-fold path to NIRVANA. - the
8-fold path is a course of treatment to end the disease of suffering.
a. Understand rightly the noble truths - making
sense of the world is important.
b. Intend rightly - not selfish, but pure motives -
the great almost invariably do not invest themselves in just themselves.
c. Speak rightly - avoid lies, exaggeration, speak kindly
- be aware of the motives that lead to unkindness. Move toward charity.
d. Act rightly - do not hurt other beings; avoid stealing
and physical contact that will hurt others - the
FIVE PRECEPTS of Buddhism are much like the ethical part of the 10 Commandments:
1) do not kill; 2) do not steal; 3) do not lie; 4) do not be unchaste;
5) do not drink intoxicants.
e. Work rightly - professions should do no harm -
engage in pursuits that promote life, not destroy it. It is most
important to realize that working is a means to live, not the entire reason
for existence.
f. Expend effort rightly - use moderation
g. Meditate rightly - be aware of reality more deeply -
"All we are is a result of what we have thought." Freedom is achieved
by self-awareness.
h. Contemplate rightly - try for inner peace
Ahimsa - do no harm. Life is already hard enough, why make it worse?
There is no individual soul, so how can you explain karma? Anatman - not Atman - there is no individual soul.
To become liberated from samsara (the everyday world of decay and pain) is like the Hindu MOKSHA (liberation). Nirvana is beyond this, it is beyond rebirth.
SOME MAJOR FEATURES OF BUDDHISM:
1. DEVOID OF AUTHORITY - Buddha
rejected the authority of the brahmin caste. People were accustomed
to finding out what to do by asking the priests - Buddha held that each
person should seek religious truth for himself.
Possible affinity
to Protestantism in this respect. Rejection of authority, tradition
of the past.
2. REJECTED RITUAL - binds the human spirit - keeps us from find the truth and reality.
3. NOT INSISTENT UPON SPECULATION. Buddhism is a religion/philosophy of doing, not simply knowing in an intellectual sense.
4. REJECTED TRADITION - to determine the right or the good within oneself, not traditional practice or writings.
5. SELF EFFORT IS CENTRAL - you have to work out your own salvation. Anyone can attain enlightenment.
6. NO USE OF THE SUPERNATURAL - no miracle-working - in fact, Buddha claimed that you will know that a person is not his disciple when that person claims to be able to do magic or work miracles. Looking for miracles is looking for shortcuts and easy answers. It takes you away from the task of self-advancement and improvement.
TYPES/SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM - can be divided in some sense by considering whether people are independent or interdependent and by considering how individuals are related to the universe - are they related to the universe alone, or to other things in the universe? And, what is the most important or best part of a human being? The human being's rationality, or his emotions? One path is an anthropic tendency, another is a transcendental tendency.
1. THERAVADA (also called Hinayana) - THE LESSER VEHICLE - way of the elders. Main feature is a community of monks. Conservative - concern with passing on the teachings of the Buddha unchanged.
Four Noble Virtues:
Loving kindness
Compassion
Equanimity
Joy in the well-being of others
The ideal person is the ARHAT-
strives toward Nirvana on his own.
Sees the Buddha as a saint.
The TRIPITAKA - 3 baskets - the Pali
Canon.
1st collection
= SUTRA - sayings of the Buddha. The Dhammapada
= summary of Buddha's teachings.
2nd collection = VINAYA = rules for monastic life
3rd collection
= ABHIDHARMA - philosophical works, more than the basics.
2. MAHAYANA - THE GREATER (BIG) VEHICLE -
for the laity. Has many more adherents than
Theravada. Liberal. A person must save himself by saving
others. Probably influenced by Hindu BHAKTI
devotion.
Pairs wisdom
and compassion = KARUNA = empathy, sympathy, kindness
Since there is no isolated individual, no one is really different from
anyone else, and being kind to others is being kind to yourself.
Major Prayer: "May all creatures be well and happy."
The Mahayana Buddhist does not wish to achieve nirvana only for himself; he foregoes it until all can have it. The person who does this is a BODHISATTVA = ENLIGHTENMENT BEING.
The ideal person is BODHISATTVA
- nearly achieves nirvana, but foregoes it for the benefit of others.
Sees the Buddha as a savior.
Open to many
religious paths - much like Hinduism in this respect. The term is
SKILLFUL MEANS - whatever people need to do to get to awareness is acceptable
so long as it does not violate the path.
3-body doctrine
(TRIKAYA): Buddha nature can be expressed in three ways:
1. DHARMAKAYA - manifestation of divine reality
2. NIRMANAKAYA - physical body
3. MAITREYA - a final incarnation of Buddha that is a savior and who will inaugurate a golden age. (Sound familiar?)
Buddha who rules western paradise = AMITABHA BUDDHA. This is the MAITREYA.
Doctrine of Emptiness = SHUNYATA - empty of permanent essence. Zeroness. Everything is constantly changing. Every person is empty of permanent individual identity.
Doctrine of TATHATA - thatness, thisness - reality is in each moment. Simple, mundane events express reality.
VERSIONS OF MAHAYANA:
A. SHINGON - "true word" -- sacred chants = mantras. The ritual leads to union with Buddha nature. Use designs called mandalas to represent reality.This is the version of Buddhism in Japan that is associatedwith Vajrayana Buddhism, below.
B. TENDAI - combines ritual and devotion
C. JODO, PURE LAND - devotional. Complete
devotion to Amitabha Buddha results in rebirth in the Pure Land - Western
Paradise.
In this, human
actions are not so important as the saving power of Buddha.
The notion of the Western Paradise has affinities to the Christian notion
of heaven.
D. NICHIREN - only form of Buddhism originating
in Japan - values the material world and success in it.
E. ZEN BUDDHISM
Favors meditation.
Zazen - sitting
meditation
Koan - logically
insoluble problem to bring enlightenment. This
is probably the result of the Buddha's Flower Sermon. Rather than
speaking, he held up a Lotus flower. No reliance on words to express
truth and enlightenment. Minds must be freed from verbal prisons.
This does not imply that rationality is worthless - instead, that is what
gets us by in the world.
Manual labor
is stressed
A view of the
world as absolutely beautiful. The welfare of others is as important
as one's own welfare. An appreciation for this world.
3. VAJRAYANA BUDDHISM = THE 'DIAMOND VEHICLE'
Can reach nirvana in one lifetime.
Ecstatic moments.
Tibetan Buddhism.
Is perhaps a third branch of Buddhism.
Major Work: Bardo Thodol
= The Tibetan Book of the Dead
Opposed to detachment - not a negative attitude toward bodily pleasures.
Much emphasis on the pleasures of sex, but not to the exclusion of all
else, as is sometimes believed.
Enlightenment
comes about when a person unites opposites.
The Tibetan teacher is a Lama (guru).
Works in Tibetan Buddhism:
Kanjur - works from the Tripitaka
Tanjur - commentaries (4000 works)