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Buddhism
To do no evil;
To cultivate good;
To purify one's mind:
This is the teaching of the Buddhas.
~The Dhammapada~
The Four Noble Truths
1. Identifying the Symptoms
Life is suffering.
(Dukkha)
2. Diagnosis
Desire is the cause of
life’s suffering.
(Tanha)
3. Prognosis
Suffering has an end.
4. Prescription
The way to overcome
suffering is by following
the Eightfold Path.
The Eightfold Path
*Quotes from Huston Smith
Wisdom (Prajna)
1. Right Views
The Four Noble Truths
2. Right Intent
“People who achieve
greatness are almost
invariably passionately
invested in some one
thing.”
Morality (Shila)
3. Right Speech
“…resolve to notice how many times
during the day we deviate from the truth,
and to follow this up by asking why we
did so.”
4. Right Conduct
“…call to understand one’s behavior
more objectively before trying to
improve it.”
Five Precepts:
1. Do not kill.
2. Do not steal.
3. Do not lie.
4. Do not be unchaste.
5. Do not drink intoxicants.
5. Right Livelihood
“…engaging in occupations that
promote life instead of destroying it.”
Meditation (Samadhi)
6. Right Effort
“Those who follow the Way might well
follow the example of an ox that
marches through the deep mire carrying
a heavy load. He is tired, but his steady
gaze, looking forward, will never relax
until he comes out of the mire…”
7. Right Mindfulness
“…special times should be allotted for
undistracted introspection.”
8. Right Concentration
“Something happened to the Buddha
under the Bo Tree, and something has
happened to every Buddhist since who
has persevered to the final step of the
Eightfold Path. Like a camera, the mind
had been poorly focused, but the
adjustment has now been made.”
What do you see?
Read this sentence:
FINISHED FILES ARE THE
RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC
STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.
Now count the F's in the sentence. Count them only
once. Do not go back and count them again.
Vaccha asked Buddha if one still
exists after attaining Enlightenment
(Nirvana)…
“The word reborn does not apply to him.”
“Then he is not reborn?”
“The term not-reborn does not apply to him.”
“To each and all of my questions, Gotama, you have replied in the
negative. I am at a loss and bewildered.”
“You ought to be at a loss and bewildered, Vaccha. For this doctrine is
profound, hard to comprehend, rare, excellent, beyond dialectic,
subtle, only to be understood by the wise. Let me therefore
question you. If there were a fire blazing in front of you, would you
know it?”
“Yes, Gotama.”
“If the fire went out, would you know it had gone out?”
“Yes.”
“If now you were asked in what direction the fire had gone, whether to
east, west, north, or south, could you give an answer?”
What does that really mean?
 Think about a flame…
 “Expiring flames do not really go out
but return to the pure, invisible
condition of fire they shared before
they visibly appeared”
 Say what?
 “The ultimate destiny of the human
spirit is a condition in which all
identification with the historical
experience of the finite self will
disappear, while experience as
such not only remains but is
heightened beyond recognition.”
NO soul??? (Anatta)
 Hold up-let me explain…
 Think about a flame again…
“He (Buddha) used the image
of a flame being passed from
candle to candle. As it is
difficult to think of the flame
on the final candle as being
the original flame, the
connection would seem to be
a causal one, in which
influence was transmitted by
chain reaction but without
perduring substance.”
Nothing lasts forever…(Anicca)
“Regard this phantom world
As a star at dawn, a bubble
in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a
summer cloud,
A flickering lamp—a
phantom—and a dream.”
~Buddha~
Let’s stop and review…
“The Three Marks of Existence”:
 Suffering (Dukkha)
 No soul (Anatta)
 Impermanence (Anicca)
Are you still confused?
It’s okay…
“A thousand questions remain, but the
Buddha is silent. Others abide our questions.
Thou are free. We ask and ask; thou smilest
and art still.”
~One of Buddha’s disciples~
The Two Branches of
Buddhism
*Quotes from Huston Smith
Hinayana (Theravada)
“Little Raft”
“No one saves us but
ourselves,
No one can and no one
may;
We ourselves must tread
the Path:
Buddhas only show the
way.”
Mahayana
“Big Raft”
“He findeth not who seeks
his own…”
Hinayana (Theravada)
“Little Raft”
Mahayana
“Big Raft”
Key virtue=Wisdom (bodhi)
Key virtue=Compassion
(karuna)
Primarily for members of
monastic order (sangha)
Relevant to laypeople
Ideal=Arhat
Ideal=Boddhisattva
Buddha=teacher, sage, man Buddha=world savior
Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand,
Cambodia
China, Korea, Japan, Tibet
Popular Sects
*Quotes from Huston Smith
What sets Tibetan Buddhism
apart from the other branches?
Vajrayana
 Tibetan Buddhism
 Enlightenment can be
reached in just one
lifetime!
 Sights (mandalas),
sounds (mantras), and
motions (mudras)
Sights
Sounds
Om Mani Padme Hum
Motions
Free Tibet Movement
Free Tibet Movement
“The Bodhisattva Path Is One Of Power And
Strength
A Strength From Within To Go The Length
Seeing Others Are As Important As Myself
I Strive For A Happiness Of Mental Wealth
With The Interconnectedness That We Share As
One
Every Action That We Take Affects Everyone
So In Deciding For What A Situation Calls
There Is A Path For The Good For All
I Try To Make My Every Action For That Highest
Good
With The Altruistic Wish To Achieve
Buddhahood
So I Pledge Here Before Everyone Who's
Listening
To Try To Make My Every Action For The Good
Of All Beings
For The Rest Of My Lifetimes And Even
Beyond…”
The Panchen Lama
Yabshi Pan
Rinzinwangmo (Renji)
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima
Just for fun…
Just for fun…
Zen Buddhism
 We are all familiar with the sound of two hands
clapping. What is the sound of one hand
clapping?
 Li-ku, a high-ranking officer in the Tang dynasty,
asked a famous Ch’an master: “A long time ago a
man kept a goose in a bottle. It grew larger until it
could not get out of the bottle any more. He did
not want to break the bottle, nor did he wish to
harm the goose. How would you get it out?”
Zen Buddhism
 A master, Wu Tsu, says, “Let me make an
illustration from a fable. A cow passes by a
window. Its head, horns, and the four legs
all pass by. Why did not the tail pass by?”
 What was the appearance of your face
before your ancestors were born?
Zen Buddhism
 Use of riddles (koans)
 Reason is limited
98% of the world’s Buddhists live in Asia…
that’s 373 million people
Going Global…
Going Global…
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter,
Spring…
Does the film make more sense now?