Download 6: Buddhism - White Rocket Books

Buddhism
 Began in India, 6th century BCE.
 From Hinduism
 Rejected authority of Vedas and the caste system
 Salvation based on individual merit
 “Middle way” between worldliness and asceticism
 Spread to East & SE Asia
 But-- Hinduism resurgent in India
 Founder: Siddhartha
 Gautama clan
 560-480 BCE
 Son of a raja
 Grew up surrounded by youth, beauty and health
 Sheltered from bad sights
 Eventually saw ugliness of real world
 Made it impossible to stay in palace
 Left family and home
 Search for answers to life’s miseries.
 Seeking Enlightenment
 Tried studying philosophy
 Tried severe asceticism
 But no satisfaction or enlightenment.
 Revelation:
 Tanha (desire) causes karma
 and binds us to the cycle
 Desire for enlightenment– just as bad!
 When stopped desiring it, he found it.
 First Teachings
 Avoid extremes—
 Indulgence and asceticism- Seek the middle way.
 Anyone can find enlightenment—
 Any caste, either sex.
 The soul does not exist.
 Is actually a combination of mental and physical traits.
 Formed Sangha (Buddhist monastic order)
 Five Rules
 Abstain from:
 Killing
 Stealing
 Lying
 Improper sexual conduct
 Partaking of intoxicants
 “Four Noble Truths”
 The truth of pain.
 The truth of the cause of pain:
 Craving- For pleasure, lust, passion, existence, and/or non-existence.
 The truth of the cessation of pain:
 Non-attachment
 The truth of the way that leads to the cessation of pain:
 The Eightfold Path
 “The Eightfold Path”
 Right views, right intention,
 right speech, right action,
 right livelihood, right effort,
 right mindfulness, right concentration.
 “The Eightfold Path”
 Follow this, to break the bonds that tie one to life—
 Release from the cycle.
 Extinguishing of tanha (desire, craving)
 “Nirvana” (“extinguished”)
 “arhat” (saint)–
 One who has achieved this.
 Diverged from Hinduism
 Did not intend to start new religion.
 Denied relevance of the gods
 And of worship or sacrifice.
 Release depends totally on the works of the individual.
 Adopted by Emperor Asoka of India.
 Helped spread it.
 Divided into two camps
 390 BCE:
 Hinayana
 Smaller, more conservative
 Includes “Theravada”
 Mahayana
 Larger, More liberal
 Theravada Buddhism
 Conservative
 Closer to Buddha’s teachings?
 Sri Lanka & SE Asia
 Do not rely on the gods or any force beyond yourself.
 Gods, sacrifice, and prayer are of little importance.
 Monk as ideal figure.
 A Buddha = anyone who achieves nirvana by own efforts.
 Have been many Buddhas in past;
 Many more in future.
 Jataka Tales:
 Stories of former lives of Gautama,
 cultivating moral virtues
 Subjects of sermons, art, religious texts
 Wat
 Buildings
 Hall for teaching, preaching, meditation
 Statue of Buddha
 Altar, candles, incense
 Living quarters for monks
 Pagodas
 Worship or festival centers
 Visited by laypeople
 Offerings; pay respect to ideas; dedicate self to quest for spiritual
liberation
 Not to worship Buddha
 Angkor Wat in Cambodia
(12th Century)
 Theravada meditation
 Sammatta
 Intense concentration
 Open the path to enlightenment
 Vipassana
 Insight meditation:
 Seek the sudden, intuitive realization of Buddhist truths (like Gautama did)
 Theravada Monks
 Mahayana Buddhism
 Believe Buddha had secret teachings he shared with few
 Allowed for new interpretations of Buddhist concepts
 Gautama was more than a man
 Compassionate, eternal, almost divine being
 Became human to help mankind
 Many Buddhas besides Gautama.
 Can appeal for aid to others.
 Will help with path to enlightenment.
 Located in different parts of cosmos.
 Worthy of veneration and respect.
 Buddhists could study their lives; build temples to them;
 clergy; ritual, sacrifice, hymns.
 Essential to spread of Buddhism—
 Your god could be an incarnation of Buddha.
 So Buddhism absorbed other religions.
 In India, Hinduism absorbed Buddhism—
 Buddha = avatar of Vishnu.
 Bodhisattvas
 “future Buddhas”
 Postponing nirvana until all beings can attain it.
 Live in heaven, or as human beings.
 Respond to prayers for help.
 Seen as saviors;
 One of the primary objects of devotion.
 In Kansas City, MO
 Bodhisattva at Metropolitan Museum of Art
 Modern interpretation
of bodhisattva
 Bodhisattva tattoo
 Spread of Mahayana
 Into China by 3rd Century CE.
 Korea, Japan, Pacific islands.
 Different versions developed.
 Nearly died out in India
 Absorbed by Hinduism
 Mahayanist Sects
 Pure Land Sect
 Seek rebirth in a “pure land” with no evil
 Have “Sunday schools” and churches
 Intuitive Sects
 Truth of religion only comes in an intuitive flash- Through meditation and sudden insight.
 Ch’an (China) and Zen (Japan)
 It is an individual matter–
 Get little help from others or institutions
 Intuitive Sects (cont’d)
 Reason is to be distrusted:
 Does not lead to truth–
 People must be deliberately confused to find truth.
 Zen: use of riddles
 to confuse the mind and allow for flash of insight.
 Monks use caffeinated tea
 to stay awake for meditation
 Rationalist Sect
 Use reason and study scriptures.
 Sociopolitical Sect (Nichiren)
 Only the Lotus Sutra is correct;
 All other Buddhists are wrong.
 Strong Japanese nationalism.
 Tibetan Buddhism
 Unique features due to isolation
 Magical words and spells in tantras (manuals)
 Tantric Buddhism
 Seek mystical union with the divine through sexual practices
 Overindulgence in order to conquer passions
 Prayer wheels
 Lamas
 “superior one”
 De facto rulers of Tibet
 Red Hat and Yellow Hat schools
 Dalai Lama—head of Yellow Hat School
 Chosen as a child by monks
 Holy days
 New Year (April)
 Buddha’s Birthday (April 8)
 Festival of Souls
 Robe Offering
 New robes (and other gifts) presented to the monks
 Buddhism Today
 Growth since Westerners began learning about it
 Rise of Asian nationalism
 Pride in their own ideas
 “Socially Engaged Buddhism”
 Minimizes sectarian differences
 Focus on universal teachings such as nonviolence and compassion
 Resurgence in China
 Following Communist suppression
 Growth in America
 Esp. with immigration from SE Asia due to Vietnam War