Download Buddhism

Buddhism
World Religions
Chapter 4
Buddhism arose in India
However, it differs starkly in that
It begins with
one man
What Buddhism
teaches is the
discoveries of
this man
about the
nature of
reality and
human life
Siddhartha Gautama
Born in about 563 B.C., he belonged to a wealthy family.
His father ruled a small area in northern India (present day
Nepal)
Stories tell of a sheltered and
happy childhood
His parents kept
him protected
from any
sufferings of the
outside world
The Four Passing Sights
Gautama leaves his
palace one day, and
passes a decrepit old
man on the road.
He had never seen old age
And realized that everyone, including himself, was
destined for this
On another ride, he saw a sick man
And realized that
disease existed.
On a third ride, he sees a dead
body in the road
and becomes aware of death.
How can we enjoy life with so much
suffering?
We get old, we get sick, and we die.
Having seen these sights, Gautama knows he will
never be satisfied with the world of luxury again.
The fourth sight
Gautama sees a
religious ascetic, and
asks him what he is
doing.
This man has chosen to
lead a homeless life
of solitude and selfdenial.
The man replies
that he is seeking
salvation from this
world of suffering,
and then goes on
his way.
This sight fills Gautama with hope –
There is a means of overcoming
his despair.
And he leaves his palace forever,
secretly riding to the edge of a
forest, exchanging clothes with
his servant, and beginning a
mendicant life of austerity and
poverty.
Buddhists call this
The Great Going Forth – the moment
when Gautama begins his quest.
Gautama joins others, and learns their ways.
He eventually joins a group of five
others who practice extreme
asceticism.
Each day they would only eat one
piece of fruit, one sesame
seed, and one grain of rice.
Gautama almost dies from starvation, and is
rescued by a young woman who offers him
rice and milk.
He realizes that extreme
asceticism – denial and hatred
of the body – will not lead to
enlightenment anymore than
immersion in luxury.
He realizes that there is a Middle Way
One that rejects indulgence, but does not reject the body.
Gautama vows to sit under a fig tree and not
to leave until he has found complete and
perfect fulfillment.
But a tempter comes – Mara the god of
death – who is afraid Gautama might
succeed
And first takes the form of
Kama – desire – in the
guise of three voluptuous
women
Gautama is unmoved.
Then temptation comes as death
He assails Gautama “with hurricanes,
torrential rains, and showers of
flaming rocks, but Gautama had so
emptied himself of his finite self
that the weapons found no target
to strike and turned into flower
petals as they entered his field of
concentration.” (Huston Smith)
Then Mara challenges Gautama’s right to
even do this
Gautama touched the earth with
his right fingertip, whereupon
the earth responded,
thundering, "I bear you
witness" with a hundred, a
thousand, and a hundred
thousand roars. (Huston
Smith)
Gautama has overcome the distractions of
desire and fear
And begins a process of deep
meditation, descending
through deeper levels of
awareness.
The First Watch
Gautama sees all of
his past lives
The Second
Watch
He is given the “Divine Eye”
– the capacity to see the
deaths and births of all
living things
Third Watch
He discovers the Four Noble
Truths
The Fourth Watch
By discovering the Four Noble Truths – he achieves enlightenment –
spiritual perfection.
Now Gautama has become the Buddha.
When the Buddha start to wander
around India shortly after his
enlightenment, he encountered
several men who recognized him to
be a very extraordinary being.
They asked him, "Are you a god?"
"No," he replied.
"Are you a reincarnation of god?"
"No," he replied.
"Are you a wizard, then?"
"No."
"Well, are you a man?"
"No."
"So what are you?" they asked, being
very perplexed.
"I am awake."
The Buddha
The term Buddha comes from the
Sanskrit budh
Which means to
awaken
Buddha stays under the tree for
many days, experiencing freedom
from suffering.
And now Mara comes
back once more to
tempt him…
Your experience will be so difficult
for others to grasp – just give up,
and pass into nirvana
Nirvana means a state
of eternal bliss and
release from this
world.
Who could be expected to understand truth as
profound as that which the Buddha had laid hold of?
How could speech-defying revelation be translated into
words, or visions that shatter definitions be caged in
language?
In short, how show what can only be found, teach what
can only be learned?
Why bother to play the
idiot before an
uncomprehending
audience?
Why not wash one's
hands of the whole
hot world — be done
with the body and slip
at once into Nirvana?
The argument was so persuasive
that it almost carried the day.
At length, however, the
Buddha answered,
"There will be some
who will understand.”
(Huston Smith)
Buddha, filled with compassion,
Returns to the world to
teach.
He finds his five former
companions, and
gives his First
Sermon at Deer Park,
where he teaches
them the Middle Way
and the Four Noble
Truths.
45 years Buddha teaches
He establishes the first
Buddhist Sangha
A monastic community
During the year
Buddha and his
followers would spend
9 months teaching,
And then spend the
three months of the
rainy season in
meditation.
At the age of 80, Buddha becomes
ill from eating a meal of spoiled
food.
His last words:
“All the constituents of being are transitory;
Work out your salvation with diligence.”