Download BUDDHISM & BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES

BUDDHISM &
BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES
What pastoral carers need to know
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Why do pastoral carers need to know
about Buddhism and its Scriptures?
• Pastoral carers are expected to offer a pastoral
relationship to people of any Faith or no Faith
• Some people of no Faith are interested in
Buddhism as a spiritual way of life
• There are many distinct Buddhists lineages
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Why do pastoral carers need to know
about Buddhism and its Scriptures?
• Buddhism is the most rapidly growing Faith in
Australia, especially among the youth and
young adults.
• Youth and young adults are a particularly
challenging group to offer pastoral care to
• Pastoral carers need to be able to explain to
Christian parents and to other Christians why
Buddhism is so attractive
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What is Buddhism?
• A path to enlightenment
• It was founded in India about 525 B.C. by
Siddhartha Gautama who achieved
enlightenment at the age of 40 and then spent
45 years teaching and establishing a
community of monks and nuns (sangha) to
continue his work. He is known as the Buddha.
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What is Buddhism?
Enlightenment means
• Perfect wisdom which knows all existence
without obscuration
• Perfect compassion which pervades equally to
all living beings
• Perfect capacity to be able to benefit others
according to their needs
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What is Buddhism?
• A particular way of understanding
experience
• A set of beliefs about the nature of
existence (cause and effect rather than a
Creator God )
• An ethical framework to live by.
• Spiritual practice – a graduated path to
enlightenment
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Two Buddhist traditions
• Theravada (Foundational Vehicle or Doctrine
of the Elders) in Sri Lanka and S.E. Asia
• The Mahayana (Great Vehicle) in China,
Mongolia. Korea, and Japan. Vajrayana
(Diamond Vehicle) is an additional Mahayana
lineage practiced in Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia
(Buddhists self-identify their school similar to the
way Christians self-identify their broad orientation
(viz., Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox)
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What distinguishes the schools of
Buddhism?
• The Foundational Vehicle is representative of early
Buddhist doctrine viz., the ideal of the perfected
saintly sage or arhat, who attained liberation by
purifying self of all defilements and desires.
• The goal of the Great Vehicle is to achieve
enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Its chief religious ideal is the bodhisattva who strives
to perfect generosity, morality, patience, effort,
concentration, wisdom.
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First Teaching of the Buddha
• The “Four Noble Truths” was the Buddha’s
first teaching and is the foundation of all
Buddhist practice
– The truth of Suffering (3 types)
– The Origin of suffering (karma and delusion)
– The truth of Cessation (ignorance is root)
– The truth of the Path (5 paths –
accumulation, preparation, seeing,
meditation, no more learning)
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Samsara, Nirvana, Enlightenment
• Samsara. Continual cycle of birth-and-death
with the momentum to rebirth provided by
one’s delusion and previous karma.
• Nirvana – Absence of delusion. Liberation
from the cycle of death and rebirth and
associated suffering.
• Enlightenment – Perfected wisdom,
compassion and capacity
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Buddhist understanding of experience
• The mind – that which is clear and knowing
• The intrinsic nature of mind is pure.
• Disturbing emotions are temporary flaws
which bring about the loss of mental peace
• Freedom from suffering is achieved by
removing the disturbing emotions and
obscurations
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Buddhist understanding of experience
• Form – physical body
• Feeling – mind which experiences feelings
• Discrimination – mind which distinguishes and
comprehends objects
• Compositional factors –mind that holds the
object eg intention
• Consciousness – primary mind consciousness
that know the object
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Buddhist belief about existence
Nature of things
Impermanent
Suffering
Empty
Selfless
Wrong View
Grasp at things as
permanent
Seeing things as cause of
happiness and suffering
Grasping at permanent
independent unitary self
Believing things exist
independently and from
their own side
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Buddhist Precepts
• Refuge – to not harm others
• 5 lay precepts – refrain from taking life, stealing,
sexual misconduct, lying, taking intoxicants *
• Like Christian monks and nuns, the lives of
members of Buddhist monastic orders are
regulated by a large number of rules (know as the
Pratimoksa)
* Note the similarities with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
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Buddhist spiritual practice
• Thought transformation (cherishing others,
disciplining disturbing emotions eg attachment)
• Generating faith (using images, visualizations)
• Making offerings and practicing generosity
• Observing morality
• Prayer (Buddha’s name, mantras, sutras, pujas,
dedication)
• Mind training – (hearing, contemplating,
meditating)
• Confessing and Rejoicing
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Buddhist Scriptures
There is no one universal set of scripture
throughout all of Buddhism. Most traditions
have a tripitaka (a Sanskrit word meaning
“three baskets”)
– The vinaya pitaka (discipline and rules for
monks and nuns)
– The sutra pitaka (sermons and teachings
about the Buddha)
– The abhidharma pitaka (structured
presentation of Buddhist teachings)
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Buddhist hermeneutics
1. Study
A practitioner’s first task is to understand the
Buddha’s teachings by relying on both the
written and oral lineages. Practitioners study
or memorize the written texts and receive
commentaries on these from qualified
teachers.
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Buddhist hermeneutics
2. Reflect
The practitioner then uses techniques such as
debate, discussion and or analytical
meditation to discover the meaning of the
teaching as relevant to his or her own
experience and to increase familiarity with the
topic.
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Buddhist hermeneutics cont’d
3. Meditation
The third stage of the process is to develop
calm abiding (the ability to hold the mind
single pointedly on the object of meditation)
and single pointed concentration (the ability
to analyze the object while holding the mind
single pointedly on it.
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Buddhist hermeneutics cont’d
The Mahayana practitioner has two aspirations
To fulfill the purpose of others
To achieve enlightenment
Listening reflecting and meditating are used to
develop :
Compassion focusing on sentient beings
Wisdom focusing on enlightenment
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Examples of Buddhist practice
• Thought transformation (cherishing others,
disciplining disturbing emotions eg attachment)
• Generating faith (using images, visualizations)
• Making offerings and practicing generosity
• Observing morality
• Prayer (Buddha’s name, mantras, sutras, pujas,
dedication)
• Mind training – (hearing, contemplating,
meditating)
• Confessing and Rejoicing
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Spiritual Formation
Do not commit any non virtuous deeds.
Collect all virtuous qualities.
Completely transform your mind.
This is the teaching of the Buddha
Be kind as much as possible: it is always
possible. His Holiness the Dalia Lama
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