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11-Theme: World Religions. Buddhism.
Buddha
In the biography of the Buddha reflects the fate of the real person in the frame of
the myths and legends, with time almost completely pushed aside the historical
figure of the founder of Buddhism.
More than 25 centuries ago, in one of the smallest states in the north-east of India,
the king Shuddhodana and his wife Maya, after a long wait, a son Siddhartha. His
family name was Gautama. Prince lived in luxury, not knowing worries, eventually
started a family, and probably would have succeeded on the throne of his father, if
fate had decided otherwise.
After learning that exist in the world of illness, old age and death, the prince
decided to save people from suffering and went looking for the recipe of universal
happiness. This was not an easy path, but it was a success. In the area of Guy (she
is now called Bodh Gaya) he attained Enlightenment, and he opened the way of
salvation of mankind. It happened when Siddhartha was 35 years old. In the city of
Benares (now Varanasi), he gave his first sermon and, say the Buddhists, "turned
the wheel of Dharma" (sometimes referred to as the Buddha's teachings). He
traveled to preach in the cities and villages, he developed disciples and followers
who gathered to listen to the instructions the teacher, who they came to be called a
Buddha.
At the age of 80, the Buddha died. But the disciples after the death of the Master
continued to preach his teachings throughout India. They created a monastic
community, where this doctrine maintained and developed.
These are the facts of real biography of the Buddha - the man who became the
founder of a new religion.
However, Buddhism is formed over many centuries, and in the development of his
theory participated pain ¬ shoe number of devotees and religious philosophers.
Polulyakh ¬ gendarnye biographical information relating to the name Bud ¬ Au are
presented in the Pali Canon (Buddhist scripture), in the most ancient part of it Jataka (races ¬ tales of reincarnation of the Buddha), in the "Buddhacharite" ("life
¬ neopisanie Buddha" ) Ashvaghosha (II century). "Lalitavistara", which
mythologized biography of the Buddha, the "Lankavatara Sutra", etc.
In this regard, the mythological life of the Buddha is more complicated. According
to legend, the future Buddha was reborn a total of 550 times (83 times a saint, 58 king 24 - monk, 18 - monkey, 13 - merchant, 12 - chicken, 8 - goose, 6 - elephant,
in addition, fish rat, a carpenter, a blacksmith, a frog, a rabbit, etc.). It was not until
gods decided it was his time, having been born in the form of a man, save the
world, steeped in the darkness of ignorance. Buddha's birth in the family of
Kshatriya was his last birth.
"For higher self cognizance born, for the good of the world - and for the last time."
That is why it was named Siddhartha (one who has reached the goal). According to
mythology, the time of birth of Buddha flowers fell from the sky, played great
music, and came from an unknown source of extraordinary brilliance.
The boy was born with thirty-two signs of the "great man" (golden skin, a sign of
the wheels on the foot, wide heel, light circle of hair between the eyebrows, long
fingers, long ear lobes, etc.).
The wandering ascetic astrologer predicted that a great future awaits him in one of
two areas: either he will become a powerful ruler (chakravartin) capable of
establishing order in the holy land, or it will be a great hermit. Maya's mother was
not involved in the upbringing of Siddhartha - she died (according to some
legends, the departed to heaven, to die in admiration son) shortly after his birth.
The boy was brought up an aunt. Shuddhodana father wanted his son to go on the
first of the ways he predicted. However, the ascetic Asita Devala predicted second.
Prince grew up in an atmosphere of luxury and well-being. The father did
everything possible to prediction does not come true: his son surrounded wonderful
things, beautiful and carefree people, has created an atmosphere of eternal holiday,
that he never learned the sorrows of this world. Siddhartha grew up, got married at
16 and had a son, Rahula. But the efforts of his father in vain.
In the legend of the "Four glimpse" describes how Gautama, despite the best
efforts of parents to isolate his son from the outside world learned that human life
is full of suffering. With the help of his servant prince succeeded three times in
secret to get out of the palace. The first time he met the patient and understand that
beauty is not eternal in the human world is a disfiguring illnesses. The second time
he saw an old man, and realized that youth is not eternal. The third time he was
watching the funeral procession, showed him the fragility of human life.
Siddhartha decided to look for a way out of the trap of the disease - old age - death.
According to some versions - the fourth look, he met another hermit and that led
him to the idea of the possibility to overcome the suffering in the world, leading a
solitary and contemplative life.
When Prince decided on the great renunciation, he was 29 years old. After leaving
the palace, the old father, his wife and young son, Siddhartha became a wandering
ascetic (shramana). He quickly mastered the most difficult ascetic practices breath control, feelings, ability to withstand hunger, heat, cold, into a trance
(special condition where a person deeper into their feelings and as it merges with
the upper world). But it is not a feeling of dissatisfaction, and after six years of
ascetic practices, and another failed attempt to reach the highest enlightenment
through fasting, he was convinced that the path of self-torture does not lead to the
truth. Then, to restore power, he found a secluded spot on the banks of the river
and sat down under a tree (which from now on is called the Bodhi tree, ie, a "tree
of enlightenment") and immersed in contemplation. Before the eye of Siddhartha
spent his own past life, past, future and present life of all living beings, and then
opened the ultimate truth - Dharma. From that moment he became the Buddha - the
Enlightened or Awakened - and decided to teach the Dharma of all people seek for
the truth, regardless of their origin, social class, language, gender, age, character,
temperament and intelligence.
In his first sermon of the Buddha spoke of two "extremes" in behavior that prevent
them to take the path of religious salvation.
"There are, O brothers, the two extremes, which should avoid moving away from
the world. What these two extremes? One extreme involves life immersed in
desires related to worldly pleasures, and this life is low, dark, ordinary,
unwholesome, useless. The other extreme involves living in self-torture, it is a life
of suffering, the unwholesome, useless. By avoiding these two extremes, the
Tathagata (So gone - an epithet of the Buddha) during the Enlightenment
understood the middle way - a way that promotes comprehension, understanding,
leading to calm, to higher knowledge, to enlightenment, to nirvana. "
Its way Buddha called the "middle" as he was lying between the ordinary and the
sensual life of ascetic practice, avoiding the extremes of both. Buddha spent 45
years, spreading his teachings in India. According to Buddhist sources, it won
adherents among all walks of life. Among the followers of Buddhism contains
many rich and powerful people, including the king and his government
MagadhaBimbisaru Ajatashatru son.
Shortly before his death, the Buddha told his beloved disciple Ananda that could
prolong his life for a century, and then Anand bitterly regretted that he did not
think to ask him about it. The cause of death of the Buddha served a meal of a poor
blacksmith Cunda, during which the Buddha, knowing that the poor man is going
to regale his guests stale meat, and asked him to give up all meat. Not wanting to
hurt the satellites, the Buddha ate it. Before his death, the Buddha said to the
beloved disciple: "You probably think, Ananda: the word of the Lord was silent,
we have no more teachers! No, not that you should think about. Let Dharma and
Vinaya (discipline), I cried and who will guide you, will be your teacher, after not
be me "(" the great death Sutra ").
Buddha died in the town of Kushinagar, and his body was cremated according to
the custom, and the ashes divided between eight followers, six of which came from
the community. His ashes were buried in eight different places, and later on these
graves were erected memorial headstone - stupa. According to legend, one of the
students pulled out of the pyre tooth of the Buddha, which has become a major
Buddhist relic. Now he is in the temple in the city of Kandy in the island of Sri
Lanka.
Monasteries and temples
In Buddhism, unlike Christianity and Islam, there is no church, but there is a
community of believers - the sangha, which formed ¬ ruetsya in a Buddhist temple
or monastery. It is a spiritual brotherhood, helping to promote the Buddhist path.
The community provides its members with strict discipline (Vinaya) and guidance
of experienced mentors. It does not have a complex hierarchy, as in the Christian
church. Sangha can be called and the local community, and all Buddhist monks in
the world combined, and its members are not priests, intermediaries between God
(or gods) and laity. Lay people must file a monk - it is their duty and virtue. The
monks, in turn, teach them morals, are soul-searching conversation, but they have
no right to believe or forgive sins. While in some areas of Buddhism, such as
Theravada Sangha plays a role, while in others, especially in Mahayana Buddhism,
are more important monastery-universities. However, the latter in a broader sense
also the Sangha.
However, the Buddhist community - a very specific association of monks or mo ¬
nahin belonging to a school of Buddhism or the monastery. Monks usually do not
form ¬ Xia priests, they are trained in a monastery, studying sacred texts, engaged
in meditation. Member of the community is open to anyone, regardless of sex
(though women's monastic communities is much less than the husband ¬ s'),
nationality, color, social status. A rite of passage as a monk is simple, in many
countries it is associated with the repetition of the three-member formula: "I seek
refuge in the Buddha, I seek refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha." In
Tibetan Buddhism, ¬ skom this formula is supplemented by another member: "I
seek refuge in the Lama (the highest)", which is the Manual ¬ nickname - novice
teacher. As a rule, the monks with ¬ observe a large number of rules contained in
the texts Vinaya Pitaka. Most of these rules are strictly adhered to in-schinah of
Theravada. In countries spread Theravada mo ¬ nahi were to live solely on charity,
they are not allowed to participate in social and political life.
At present, due to the modernization of Buddhism ¬ ma many of those of its
provisions have changed dramatically. In some schools of Mahayana Buddhist
mona ¬ chi, on the contrary, had to take an active participation ¬ tion in
agricultural work, often involved in trafficking in human, etc. If a significant part
of the monks said ¬ Xia compulsory vegetarianism, in the regions spread ¬ tion
Tibetan Buddhism, according to the existing tra ¬ ditsiyam there, the monks could
eat meat. Within the monastic community there as "spiritual" hierarchy (the degree
of accumulation of virtues, the OS level ¬ military practice of meditation,
education monk), and various officers of rank (or abbot of the temple, for
example). The relationship between the monks (the older and younger age, teacher
and student, the rector and members of the community, etc.) and ritualised regu ¬
ted to special rules of conduct.
Similar ritualization and regulation characteristic of rela ¬ solutions between the
monks and ordinary believers - Buddhist ¬ mi. At the same time, the spread of
Buddhism in Theravada ¬ there exists a rather sharp distinction between the monks
and lay people - Buddhists. In the last part of the content of the duty of monks. In
Mahayana Buddhism, which postulated ¬ ruet possibility of salvation of all people,
regardless of whether they are monks or not, in theory, cut ¬ whom such
differences do not exist, but in practice, the monks will definitely enjoy great
respect and reverence of the laity.
In Buddhism, Tibetan lamas wing divided by the degree of dedication to a number
of categories: lower (bandn) give only 5 vows getsul - 36 vows (at 5-7 years of
study), the highest category - gelungi (253 vow).
Higher education Buddhist monks are in the philosophical schools of the
monasteries (for example, in the monasteries Braybun, Galdan, Sr. gave the highest
degree - lharamby (PhD)). In the hierarchy of Tibetan Buddhism to the highest
category is the Dalai Lama ("Ocean Teacher"), which is the spiritual leader of all
the followers of Buddhism ti ¬ Betsky sense (in Tibet, Mongolia, Buryatia,
Kalmykia, Tuva).
Monasteries (initially - resting place of monks during the rainy season - vihara) are
complex ¬ plexes with the temple, stupas (a sort of pyramid ¬ DAMI - the burial
place holy or sacred the subject ¬ cent), buildings for accommodation of the
monks, Dishes, phi ¬ losofskimi schools, sometimes - with special rooms for
meditation classes, etc.
The most common among the objects on ¬ subtraction and religious objects found
in the temples images ¬ of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the mandala, the magic
figure, ¬ use the employed in the practice of meditation, are also ¬ Xia
philosophical conception of the universe in Buddhism, ¬ WIDE sacral objects Vajra (intercepted middle beam of lightning with curved ends) - one of the main
symbols of Buddhism, symbolizing the masculine universe, ac ¬ efficiency,
compassion, which often acts in tandem with colo ¬ Kolchik symbolizing feminine
wisdom, pass ¬ sity etc.
Buddhist ceremonies and celebrations
Ceremonial aspect of Buddhism is diverse in its many numerical ¬ schools and
directions emphasis on personal time ¬ part of Buddhist worship: prayer, Mass
ceremonies and offerings to the church, the practice of meditation. Bud ¬ diyskie
rituals accompany the faithful from birth to death.
The same for all Buddhists are Buddhist festivals that are celebrated according to
the lunar calendar.
In February and March in East and Central Asia, in March-April in South and
South-East Asia is the New Year, which is not actually a Buddhist, but in
celebration of the active participation of Buddhist monks. During the celebration
with ¬ oruzhayutsya hill symbolizing Mount Sumeru (center mi ¬ rozdaniya,
according to Buddhist tradition), sprinkled in ¬ Doi figure of Buddha.
In April-May in all Buddhist mo ¬ nastyryah and temples celebrated a triple
celebration: the birth of Buddha, his awakening and dive into nirvana. The temples
are read prayers, arrange holidays, parades, things are ¬ gifts and offerings of the
members of the Sangha.
Under different names in all Buddhist countries, there ¬ minoveniya Day for the
dead. The temples are the prayers, worshipers tidy the graves, put the Buddhas and
offerings to other gods, feed the poor.
In many countries there ¬ is the rite of entry into sanga (June-July), associated with
the beginning of the rainy season.
In June and July also marked the holiday with ¬ progress on the ground of
Maitreya (Buddha of the future world order ¬ ka). It marks a detour around the
temple chariots on which the statue of Maitreya. This festival is also called ¬ Xia gyre Maitreya.
From mid-October to mid-November, celebrated the end of the rainy season, said ¬
Xia Buddha descent from heaven of Indra, where, according to Buddhist legend,
preached to the gods and his mother, who also resides in this realm. The temples
hold special ceremonies, in some monasteries Buddha statues removed from their
pedestals and Prony ¬ syatsya the streets.
In the regions, the spread of Tibetan Buddhism ¬ tion orientation (Tibet, Mongolia,
Buryatia, Kalmykia, Tuva) celebrated the birthday Tszonhavy, oc ¬ novatelya
school of Buddhism that was popular in those regions.
Su ¬ exists also still a significant number of festivals and rites with disabilities,
which are celebrated in Buddhist countries and in each country have a traditional
flavor.
Quick rough chronology of Buddhism
563 483 years. BC years of life of Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni Buddha
534 BC entry to the perfection of the Buddha,
renunciation of the world
528 BC enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni Buddha;
base Sangha (community)
468 BC death of the founder of Jainism VardhamanyMahaviry
447
BC holding Cathedral Rajagriha
367,
BC holding Cathedral Vayshavi
322 185 years. BC the spread of Buddhism in India
269 232 years. BC During the reign of King Ashoka, the patron of Buddhism
247 BC King Tissa of Sri Lanka takes Buddhism
202 BC 200 AD the emergence of Mahayana;
the further spread of Buddhism (South India, Central Asia, China)
'29
BC first written excerpts from "Tipitaka"
78 101 years. During the reign of King Kanishka, the patron saint of Buddhists
300 500 years. the emergence of Buddhism in Southeast Asia;
strengthening of Buddhism in China;
base sect Chan (c. 500)
320 540 years. During the reign of the Gupta dynasty in India;
Buddhist education centers
399, the emergence of Buddhism in Korea
538, the spread of Buddhism in Japan
740 798 years. approval of Mahayana Buddhism in Tibet
750, the construction of the stupa of Borobudur (Indonesia)
1044 1077's. foundation of Theravada Buddhism in Burma (Myanmar)
1200 Muslim rulers rule in Northern India;
destruction of Buddhist centers
1327 approval of Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia
1360 appearance of Theravada Buddhism in Laos
1950 foundation of the World Buddhist community in Sri Lanka
1956 celebration of the 2,500 th anniversary of Buddhism
TREE OF RELIGIONS
Buddhism
• Theravada
-* (Sri Lanka)
-* (Sri Lanka)
ar)
-Nikaya * (Myanmar)
-Nika * (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos)
• Mahayana
o Nara school [without Ritsu] (Japan)
o Tiantai [Tendai] (China, Japan)
o Amidaistskie school [amidaizm] (Japan)
o Zen school [Zen]
o Nichiren (Japan)
• Vajrayana
• Marginal Buddhism (metabuddizm) *
-Buddhism] (Republic of Korea)