Download Session 3 – Buddhaism

Session 3 – Buddhism
In this session we will turn our focus to the
religion of Buddhism, which sprang out of
the teachings of Hinduism
There is by no means time to cover all that
there is, so don’t let your study end here!
Much of the information is taken from the
“Compact Guide to World Religions”
Statistics on Buddhism
Buddhist comprise around 7% of the worlds
population, which turns out to be about 375400 millions followers
Theravada Buddhism (differences will be
discussed later, exists mostly in Myanmar,
Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand
Mahayana Buddhism is primarily located in
mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan,
Taiwan, and Vietnam
Vajrayana, or Tantric Buddhism exist mostly
in Bhutan, Mongolia, and Tibet
Again, we will discuss the differences
between these forms of Buddhism
(comparable to Catholics, Protestants, and
Mormons, etc.) more in a moment
Estimates of the number of Buddhists in the
United States vary between 0.5% and
0.9%, with 0.7% (2.5-3.0 million) reported by
the CIA and others
Siddhartha Gautama
(Buddha) lived 563-483 B.C.
This places his life time
around the time the people
of Judah were exiled in
Babylon
Buddha means “The enlightened one”
Buddha's life can be divided into three
periods: enjoyment, enquiry,
and enlightenment
Enjoyment (563-534)
Siddhartha was born into the warrior caste
of the Shakya tribe in northeastern India at
the time (now part of Nepal)
According to tradition, Siddhartha’s father
wanted to shelter him and keep him in the
palace so he would never see any form of
suffering (old age, sickness, death, poverty)
One day though he journeyed away from
the palace where he was supposed to be,
and he encountered all four of those types
of suffering among the people
This greatly troubled and had a profound
effect on him. It caused him to become
somewhat disillusioned with the wealth of
his family and life he grew up with
He became deeply concerned about the
issue of suffering at this point
The Period of Enquiry (534-528)
Because of this encounter with suffering, he
left his family (including his wife and child)
and his life of luxury
He committed himself to figure out the
source of suffering, and how to eliminate it
Feeling convicted by the ascetic lifestyle he
had seen many living, he began to practice
extreme asceticism himself
After about six years of this life, his body
became so weak (from lack of food) that he
almost drowned while bathing in a river, he
had to grab an overhanging branch to pull
himself out of the water
He then realized that extreme asceticism
does not produce the enlightenment he
was seeking, and didn’t lead him to the
source of suffering and how to eliminate it
Period of Enlightenment (528-483)
After eating and regaining
his strength, Buddha
traveled to a city named
Bodh Gaya where he sat
under a fig tree by the edge
of a river and vowed that he
would not rise again until he
had attained enlightenment
He then began a deep state of meditation
During this time of meditation, we have the
Buddha being tempted by Mara, who is the
demon (evil figure) in Buddhism
He resisted the temptation though, and
after a period (some say one day, some say
forty days) and attained enlightenment and
became known as the Buddha
Bodh Gaya is now the site of the holiest
shrine in the Buddhist religion
Buddha called his path to enlightenment
the Middle Way
He has lived a wealthy life, and he had
lived a life of extreme asceticism, and he
found that both of them caused him
suffering, so he came up with a middle way
Soon after, Buddha would travel to another
city and preach his first sermon, the
contents of which are know known as the
four noble truths
Buddha teachings (Dharma) proclaimed
the “Four noble truths”
1 - Life is suffering
2- Suffering is caused by desire
3 - The cessation of desire
eliminates suffering
4 – The stopping of desire comes by
following “The Middle Way” between the
extremes of sensuousness and asceticism
The eightfold path
-Right view (Understanding the four
-noble truths)
-Right resolve (Decision to observe and
-follow them)
-Right speech (Practical actions to avoid the
desires in this life that produce suffering)
-Right action (Practical actions to avoid the
desires in this life that produce suffering)
- Right livelihood (Practical actions to avoid the
desires in this life that produce suffering)
- Right effort (Emptying of your mind, directing
your attention towards final liberation)
-Right concentration (Involved a higher
-state of mind and body control)
- Right Ecstasy (This is obtained when all the
sense experiences cease and universal
knowledge is obtained. This is release or final
liberation; there is no more reincarnation now
Wisdom (Panna)
1.Right Understanding
2.Right Thought
Ethical Conduct (Sila)
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
Mental Discipline (Samadhi)
6. Right Effort
7. Right Awareness
8. Right Meditation
They don’t have to all be done in order, they
are instead attitudes and actions that
should develop with each other
The first two points serve as the foundation,
you have to understand the situation if your
going to do these steps
There are ethical guidelines in Buddhism for
right action, and that will help someone in
living right (right livelihood)
At the basis of ethical conduct are the sila, or
moral precepts, which include the
commands to refrain from:
1.The taking of a life (not just human)
2.Stealing
3.Immoral sexual behavior (monks are
celibate)
4.Lying
5.The taking of intoxicants
While the sila address one’s actions, the
Samadhi (mental disciple) address one’s
attitude and state of awareness
Samadhi is defined as a deep state of
consciousness “in which all sense of
personal identity ceases”
Buddha’s immediate goal was to eliminate
the cause of suffering, but his ultimate goal
was to liberate from the cycle of death and
reincarnation (samsara)
Buddha says the following in reference
to nirvana
“There is a sphere which is neither earth, nor
water, nor fire, nor air, which is not the sphere
of the infinity of space, nor the sphere of the
infinity of consciousness, the sphere of
nothingness, the sphere of perception, or nonperception, which is neither this world, neither
sun nor moon. I deny that it is coming or
going, enduring, death, or birth. It is only
the end of suffering.”
When you enter the state of Nirvana, a
person is not annihilated, because in order
to be annihilated you had to exist in the first
place, which the Buddha says you didn’t
Differences on Reincarnation
When looking at the samsara cycle
(reincarnation) Hindus would believe that
the individuals essence continues from
lifetime to lifetime, Buddhist disagree
Buddhism does not teach that such a
continuous essence exists
Each person consists (in Buddhism) of five
aggregates which include, the physical
body, emotions, perception, volition,
and consciousness
Upon death these things dismantle, and
much like a car being taken apart for pieces,
it’s no longer a cohesive unit
Initially (first two centuries)
Buddhism will not spread
much beyond the borders
of India, until King Ashoka
took power
He ruled from 274-232 B.C. and was a
warrior king who, during one very bloody
battle became disgusted from the violence
and then renounced all such fighting
He then converted to Buddhism
Once he converted to Buddhism he used his
resources and influence to spread it
He commissioned Buddhist
missionaries to go to other
parts of India (and
surrounding countries like
Syria, Egypt, Cyrene,
Greece, Sri Lanka,
Myanmar, Thailand)
The goal: Free oneself from the laws of
“Karma” and achieve the state of “Nirvana”
This is often described as the blowing out of
a candle, becoming one with the state of
Nirvana (At this point Buddha said you
will be at peace)
Buddhists are not all on the same page, and
not all Buddhist fit into a nice Buddhism box
of belief systems. Different groups exist.
The major split within Buddhism
– Hinayana Buddhism: “Little vehicle”
– Mahayana Buddhism: “Great Vehicle”
Theravada Buddhist believe that
enlightenment was limited to only a certain
group of people (like the monks)
Mahayana Buddhists believe that
enlightenment was available to all people
Because they didn’t like the term Hinayana
(and felt it was negative) they started
referring to themselves as Theravada
Buddhist, which means “the teaching of the
elders” (much more positive)
Another difference between the two is the
concept of Bodhisattva and Arahat
The Bodhisattva (which is a Mahayana idea)
is someone who achieves enlightenment,
but doesn’t go to Nirvana immediately
Instead they choose to stay here out of the
love for others and teach and guide them to
reach this point of enlightenment
The Arahat ( A Theravada idea) is someone
who is more concerned about themselves
and achieving enlightenment for themselves
There are many other differences that
divide these two sects of Buddhism
Theravada Buddhists see Buddha as being
only a man and not a god
Mahayana Buddhist view Buddha as a
historical manifestation of a universal
absolute or the Buddha essence
Another difference would be Theravada
Buddhist believing there was only one
Buddha, and Mahayana Buddhist that say
there have been many manifestations of the
Buddha essence (plus another coming)
Another difference would be weather or
not you have to achieve enlightenment on
your own, or if you can have help from the
Bodhisattvas (Mahayana’s say that you can
have assistance from them)
From India, Theravada Buddhism will
spread towards the southeastern parts of
Asia, and Mahayana Buddhism will spread
to northeast Asia
Besides the two main branches of Buddhism,
there is a third group known as Vajrayana
It is derived from a form of
Hinduism called tantra,
which emphasized occultic
techniques for the
development of
spiritual power
Vajrayana means “The diamond vehicle”
The people of Tiber, where Vajrayana
Buddhism is the predominant religion, have
given the world what is probably today’s
most known living symbol of Buddhism
The Dalai Lama
He is Tibet’s political and
spiritual leader, and
considered by them to be
the 14th reincarnation of
Avalokiteshvara, the
bodhisattva of compassion
There is one more difference between
Buddhist that you may encounter
Folk Buddhism vs. Official Buddhism
Folk Buddhist are
animistic and believe in
sprits that influence and
control people’s lives
Folk Buddhist tend to know very little
about official Buddhism
Buddhist Scriptures
What is to be considered scripture is another
reason we have multiple sects of Buddhism,
there were disagreements on that topic
The Theravada Buddhists consider the canon
to be closed with the Pali Tripitaka (Pali
refers to the language it was written in, and
Tipitaka means three baskets of teachings,
which include the Buddha’s sermons, rules
for monks, and philosophical teachings)
The length of the Tripitaka is around
seventy times that of the Bible
The Mahayana Buddhist on the other hand
saw the canon as remaining open. So
they include in their scriptures writings
from Indian, Chinese, Japanese,
and Tibetan Sources
Some of the more popular
writings would include the
Lotus Sutra, and the
Perfection of Wisdom (which
includes the Diamond Sutra
and the Heart Sutra)
The scared
scriptures of the
Vajrayana
Buddhist are the
Kanjur (which
have 108
volumes to
them) and the
Tanjur (which
have 225
volumes)
Needless to say, none of
them are lacking in
written material to read
Siddhartha Gautama was a Hindu from
birth, and never intended to start a religion,
only to reform Hinduism
Buddha in the processes created one of the
most worshipped idols in the world
Temple of the tooth
The Shwe Dagon or Golden Pagoda contains
over 3500 idols of Buddha
“Professing themselves to be wise, they
became fools, And changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like
to corruptible man, and to birds, and
fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” Romans 1:22-23
Hindrances to Evangelism
1. Different perspectives on God, emotions,
attachments, etc.
2. The idea of many paths to God
3. Jesus not being unique to them
Many of the same hindrances you’ll have
with a Hindu will apply to Buddhists
Tips for witnessing
1. Affirm you common ground
2. Pick up on the issue of desire
3. Keep God’s personhood in mind
4. Be clear about sin and forgiveness
5. Use bridges to the good news (use
examples from their beliefs)
Memory Verse
Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the
sufferings of this present time are not
worth comparing with the glory that is to
be revealed to us.”