Download File - World Religions

Foundational Teaching and Branches of Buddhism
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The foundations of Buddhist tradition and practice are the Three
Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings), and the Sangha
(the community).
All schools of Buddhism seek to aid followers on a path of
enlightenment.
Saṃsāra defined as the continual repetitive cycle of birth and death
that arises from ordinary beings' grasping and fixating on a self and
experiences.
• Specifically, samsara refers to the process of cycling through
one rebirth after another within the six realms of existence
There are numerous different schools or sects of Buddhism.
The two largest are Theravada Buddhism, which is most popular in,
and Mahayana Buddhism, which is strongest in.
Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by
scholars:
• Theravada ("The School of the Elders")
• Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle").
• Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian
siddhas, may be viewed as a third branch or merely a
part of Mahayana.
Theravada has a widespread following in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Burma (Myanmar).
Mahayana which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, and Tiantai (Tendai) is found in
Tibet, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia.
Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding
the Himalayas, Mongolia and Kalmykia.
The majority of Buddhist sects do not seek to proselytise (preach and convert), with the notable exception of Nichiren
Buddhism.
Branches of Buddhism
Movement and development of
the branches of Buddhism
Branches of Buddhism Theravada Buddhism
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In Theravada Buddhism, the ultimate goal is the attainment of the sublime state of Nirvana,
achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path (also known as the Middle Way), thus escaping
what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth.
Distinctive doctrines:
• The Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama, Shakyamuni) is gone, and individual practitioners
must work out their salvation on their own.
• The Buddha was unique, and individual practitioners cannot become Buddhas, only
arhats ("saints").
• There will be a future Buddha, Maitreya, but not for thousands of years.
• Nirvân.a (liberation) and samsâra (the place of death and rebirth) are definitely different.
Samsâra is a place of suffering to be left behind. Nirvân.a is a liberation that is free of
death and rebirth but is beyond description and rational understanding.
Every Buddhist from the Therevada school recites a ‘formula’: The Three Refugees and The
Five Precepts.
They are moral laws somewhat like the ten commandments.
• The Three Refugees:
1. I take refuge in Buddha.
2. I take refuge in the Dharma – the method.
3. I take refuge in the Sangha – the fraternity of the
followers of the Buddha.
• The Five Precepts:
1. I promise to abstain from taking life.
2. I promise to abstain from taking what is not given.
3. I promise to abstain from exploiting my passions.
4. I promise to abstain from false speech.
5. I promise to abstain from getting intoxicated.
Theravada Temple China
Branches of Buddhism Mahayana Buddhism
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Distinctive Doctrine:
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9.
The Gautama Buddha is not gone, and individual practitioners are not
on their own.
The Buddha taught the dharma out of compassion, and his
compassion would prevent him from being unavailable to
practitioners now.
To emulate the compassion of the Buddha, practitioners become
bodhisattvas, who vow to carry all beings with them into salvation.
Bodhisattvas are also available, like the Buddhas, to help people
work out their salvation. Maitreya is presently a bodhisattva, but the
most important bodhisattva is probably Avalokiteshvara, who
developed into the Chinese goddess of Mercy, Guanyin (Kwan-in in
Wade-Giles, Kannon in Japan).
The Buddha was not unique, and individual practitioners who have
become bodhisattvas can become Buddhas.
There are already multiple Buddhas besides Shakyamuni. Most
important are Mahâvairocana and Amitâbha. Most of the famous
Buddha statues in Japan are not Shakyamuni: the great outdoor
bronze Buddha at Kamakura is Amida, and the Buddha enshrined in
the Tôdaiji ("Great Eastern") Temple in Nara (the largest wooden
building in the world), is another Buddha named Locana.
The awakening consists in understanding the true nature of reality.
The bodhisattvas seek to understand this reality through wisdom
(prajna) and to actualize it through compassion (karuna).
They realize that since no individual has a “self,” there can be no real
difference between themselves and others, and therefore their own
liberation is not distinct from the liberation of all beings.
Mahayana Temple New York
bodhisattva
Branches of Buddhism Mahayana Buddhism
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Distinctive Doctrine:
10. They are thus “self-less,” both philosophically, in the sense of understanding the absence
of self or essence in all things and persons, and ethically, since they act for all beings
without discrimination.
11. As developed by later philosophers, such as Jnanagarbha in the 8th century, the doctrine
of the Two Truths, absolute truth (paramarthasatya) and conventional truth
(samvritisatya), resolves the apparent conflict by stating that ultimately things do not exist
as such, which is to say, do not exist as they seem to exist, substantially.
12. Understanding absolute truth consists in understanding the nature of ordinary reality as
nothing more than conventional.
Branches of Buddhism Mahayana Buddhism
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Distinctive Doctrine:
13. The universal accessibility of awakening, together with the idea
that the universe has no beginning in time and is filled with an
infinite number of beings and an infinite number of worlds, leads
to the conclusion that there are not only an infinite number of
bodhisattvas in the universe but also an infinite number of
buddhas, each dwelling in his own world-realm.
14. The existence of these buddhas erases the separation between
samsara and nirvana inherent in the idea that buddhas cease to
exist upon attaining nirvana.
15. Nirvana and samsâra are no longer definitely different. The
"Fourfold Negation" is applied to the relationship between the
two. Samsâra and nirvana are thus neither the same, nor
different, nor both the same and different, nor neither the same
nor different.
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This allows some room for maneuver, which may have
made Buddhism more palatable in China, where
Confucianism never did approve either of the worlddenying metaphysics or the monasticism of Buddhism.
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Distinctively Chinese schools of Buddhism developed, like
T'ien-t'ai (Tendai in Japan) and Ch'an (Seon [Son] in
Korea, Thien in Vietnam, Zen in Japan), for whom
samsâra and nirvana were virtually identical, so that
enlightenment and nirvana transformed the world rather
than eliminated it.
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The paradoxical metaphysics of Buddhism could be
assimilated to the similar paradoxical doctrines of the
native Chinese philosophical school of Taoism.
Branches of Buddhism Vajrayâna Buddhism
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Distinctive Doctrine:
1. Vajrayâna Buddhism is Tantric Buddhism, often called "esoteric" Buddhism.
1. Although it is sometimes also translated as "diamond" (i.e. "hard"),
2. The vajra (kongô in Japanese) was originally the thunderbolt of Indra;
and in Vajrayâna it symbolizes the magical power of Tantrism.
3. Tantric magic could be worked through mandalas, sacred diagrams,
mantras, sacred formulas for recitation (the most famous one being,
"Om, mane padme hum" -- "The jewel is in the lotus"), and mudrâs,
sacred gestures.
4. This Tantric magic could be merely "wonder working" or could be
regarded as means of achieving liberation in addition to or apart from
meditative or meritorious practices.
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Just as Hindu Tantrism expresses its magical power through
goddesses like Kâlî, Vajrayâna emphasizes female figures.
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Vajrayâna comes to balance male Bodhisattvas with female
Bodhisattvas as attendants of the various Buddhas.
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Tibetan Buddhism supplies female figures corresponding to each
Buddha, like the "savioresses" Green Târâ, White Târâ, and
Mâmakî, who actually vow to always be reborn as women in the
process of leading all beings to salvation.
5. Vajrayâna symbolism always balances male and female: the Vajra Mandala (or
the "jewel" above) corresponds to the Womb (or Matrix) Mandala (the "lotus").
6. Vajrayâna Buddhism most importantly spread to Tibet and then Mongolia.
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In Tibet it assumed distinctive forms that are usually called Lamaism,
since the monks are called Lamas.
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The present Dalai Lama, who was the priestly ruler of Tibet until he fled
the Communist Chinese in 1959, is from a line that is reputed to be
successive incarnations of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
Branches of Buddhism Comparision
Mahayana
Theravada
There are no beliefs. However, there is a faculty of
There is the belief that some celestial beings exist conviction that is required for a worldling in order to
in other realms and they are able to help humans start their practice. Initially, it has to be embraced
Belief
and answer prayers.
that the Buddha is fully enlightened, thus actual
investigation might follow.
Becoming a Buddha, hence fulfilling the destiny Deliverance of mind. Becoming an Arahant and
Goal of religion
of a Bodhisattva, enlightenment & inner peace. freeing one's self from bondage, namely samsara.
There is no worship in Theravada, though there are
Place of worship Temples and monasteries.
monastic temples.
Donation (alms-giving, etc.), Morality, and
Meditation, regularly visit to temples to make
Meditation (insight). (Morality is nobler than
Practices
offerings to the Buddha.
donation and meditation is nobler than morality.)
Nepal
Place of origin India
Siddhartha Gautama
Siddhāttha Gotama
Founder
Theravada means "teaching of the elders". It refers
to the pure or original teachings of the Buddha over
Literal Meaning Mahayana means "Great vehicle"
2500 years ago.
There are classes of beings. Some are called
There are deities, celestical beings, but nothing
devas, higher life forms than human beings, though
like creator gods of theistic religions. Though it is
nothing supernatural. They are all stuck in their own
Concept of Deity
believed that some devas are able to help lower
samsara. There is no absolute entity, as an existing
beings.
entity is seen as a conditioned phenomenon.
Mahayanists don't believe in a Supreme Being
Theravada rejects the concept of creator god.
God's role in
Who is the Creator of the universe. Some do
Beings are heirs of their own kamma.
salvation
believe in numerous devas.
Branches of Buddhism
Mahayana
Theravada
Sangha; ones who live according to the monastic
codes. The concept of monk, or nun did not exist in
Monks, Nuns, Laypeople , Clergy-People, , disciples &
earlier Buddhism. Those who chose to live under the
Clergy
Monastics
guidance of the Tathāgata (Siddhāttha Gotama) parted
from the worldlings.
Becoming a Buddha, through the path of the
Bodhisattva. A Bodhisattva is an enlightened being to Attaining Nibbāna through the Noble Eightfold Path,
Means of salvation
an extent, seeking full enlightenment out of
thus becoming an Arahant, an awakened one.
compassion for all beings.
Equal to men, are able to become clergy-people.
Women can join the Sangha. In the Dharmic
Anyone of any sex or gender identity can become a
approach, the Buddha was the very first to allow
Status of women
Mahayana Buddhist, Sex and Gender are both
women into monastic life.
impermanent and fluid.
Use of statues and
Statues are used for meditation and prayers.
Statues of the Buddha are objects of meditation.
pictures
One can marry and lead a moral life but should know
Not required. Marriage is viewed as a secular concept.
Marriage
that desire, attachments and cravings lead to suffering.
There are no religious laws in Theravada, rather
Dharma is a set of instructions for those willing to
teachings of wisdom, and the Dhamma for those who
Religious Law
follow, not a set of laws.
are seeking liberation.
There is no concept of sin in Theravada. Kamma
Confessing is not relevant, but meditation practice may
implies volitional action and all deeds have their fruits.
Confessing sins eliminate negative impressions in mind created by
Nevertheless, not being mentally attached to a certain
harmful actions.
misdeed was strongly adviced by the Buddha.
Branches of Buddhism
Mahayana
Geographical
distribution and
predominance
Asia, Australia and North America.
There are no specific views of Abrahamic
View of Abrahamic
religions in the Mahayana tradition of
religions
Buddhism. They respect all beliefs.
Non-Thestic, Some Atheists, Some
Belief of God
believe in gods.
Reincarnation.
Life after death
Inner Peace, Enlightenment, Wisdom.
About
Concept of God No gods
Every human (or any other being) is
driven by illusory disturbing emotions,
ignorance and ego. On the other hand
Human Nature
each being has indestructible perfect
potential (sometimes called a state of
Buddha) that is their true nature.
Some people wear robes while others
wear long clothing. Clothes shouldn't be
Clothes
revealing to anyone.
Theravada
Asia, Australia and North America.
There are no specific views of Abrahamic
religions in the Dhamma of the Theravada.
Though they reject theism for themselves.
N/A
Reincarnation, Heaven/Hell are both temporary
Spiritual awakening one's self through meditation.
N/A
Human life is very hard to obtain, hence it is very
important to practice. An ordinary human is called
a puthujjana, a worldling. This kind is motivated
by their illusory ego in all aspects of life.
Robes, Clothes comfortable for meditation; not
reveling.
Branches of Buddhism
Mahayana
Theravada
The Tathāgata is the worthy one. According to
Founder of Buddhism. "Buddha" can also be Theravada, Siddhāttha Gotama had the supreme
View of the
understood as a nature of mind inherent in any enlightenment, which makes him superior to an
Buddha
being or any being that realised that state.
Arahant. He's the one who propounded the Four
Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.
main existing branches of Buddhism and a
(Pali, literally "school of the elder monks") is a
term for classification of Buddhist philosophies branch of Buddhism that uses the teaching of the
and practice. The Buddhist tradition of
Pāli Canon, a collection of the oldest recorded
Introduction
Vajrayana is sometimes classified as a part of Buddhist texts, as its doctrinal core, but also
Mahayana Buddhism, but some scholars may includes a rich diversity of traditions and
consider it as a different branc
practices
The Buddha stated in doctrine that such theistic
ideas and overall organized religion have the
potential to drive someone insane, thus causing
View of theistic Mahayana Buddhists respect all beliefs,
though they see them as mistaken.
fanaticism or self-harm. According to Theravada,
religions
such theistic ideas originate out of false egobelief.
Mahayana Buddhists usually follow Siddhartha
Gautama (The Buddha) or sometimes
Theravadins follow Siddhāttha Gotama's
Amitābha who is a canonical figure, usually
teachings only. Their canonical texts are the Pali
Teachings
described as a celestical Buddha.
Canon, namely Tipitaka.
Prajñāpāramitā Sutras are one of the main
canonical texts of the Mahayana tradition.