Download The Buddha

The Buddha
• Siddhartha Guatama is the one
we have come to know as the
supreme buddha, “enlightened”
or “awakened” one.
• Siddhartha is born and lived
somewhere between the 6th
and 5th centuries BCE
• Siddhartha means “one who
achieves”
Siddhartha’s Birth
• The future Buddha, enters his
mother’s womb through her
side while she slept. The
entering future buddha is often
pictured in art as a white
elephant which symbolizes
purity and power
• Maya gave birth to Siddhartha
in a garden of Lumbini in
present-day Nepal
• He was born prince of the
Sakya clan, a warrior class
The Princely Life of
Siddhartha Guatama
• At his birth, a sage predicted
that Siddhartha was a
Bodhisattva, or one destined
to reach enlightenment and
become a buddha. His father
however wanted Siddhartha to
be an earthly ruler, so he
shelters him
• Siddhartha’s father wanted to
shelter him from the pain and
suffering of the world, so he
wouldn’t try to take the spiritual
path. He gave him every worldly
possession, surrounding him
with women and wealth
4 Signs
• Siddhartha, while traveling outside the kingdom was accompanied by 4
heavenly messengers who jolted him out of his illusion in the form of 4
signs or appearances.
• 1. Old Man
• 2. Sick Man
• 3. Corpse
• 4. Holy Man
Renunciation
• Siddhartha, after beholding the signs from the celestial beings, the illusions that
led him to a deeper truth, knows he must leave. That very night, Sid decides to
leave everything behind, including his wife and newborn son. At this point
everything about that palace life repulses him.
• He rides his horse out of the palace grounds and looks back saying that he will
not enter the city again until he has seen “the further shore of life and death.”
• With this, he rides into the forest and then gives his horse and his jewelry to his
groomsman. Mara, the god of desire, tempts him out of fear that Siddhartha will in
fact achieve enlightenment.
• He cuts off his hair as a sign of his renunciation and tells his servant to inform the
King of his decision to enter into ascetic practice in order to destroy old age and
death (he wants to destroy suffering).
• He sets out to seek different masters or gurus in search of the truth
The Journey
• 3 major events lead to his enlightenment:
• First, he tries to free himself from the pain and
suffering of the world by progressing through
the highest levels of meditation. But even at
the highest state he was not beyond birth and
death.
• Second, for 6 years Siddhartha practices
various asceticisms and austerities in the
hopes of subduing the ego by disciplining the
body.
• After becoming extremely emaciated and
weakened, he realized that this was not going
to freedom. Near the Indian town of
Bodhgaya, a young maiden offers him some
rice pudding which, counter to his ascetic
practice, and to the dismay of his fellow
ascetics, he accepted. This nourishment
leads him to the 3rd stage in his journey in
which he goes and sits beneath the Bodhi
tree and vows not to get up until he reaches
enlightenment.
Siddhartha’s
Awakening
• Siddhartha begins his path
towards enlightenment by
contemplating compassion.
• As he contemplates
compassion, the god of desire,
Mara, is risen to anger and fear
at the prospect of Siddhartha
leading others to enlightenment.
• Siddhartha continues his
contemplation through a night
filled with Mara’s tricks and
attacks
Buddha meditating under the bodhi tree, 900AD
The Long Night
4 Watches:Despite Mara’s temptations, Siddhartha continues contemplating
• 1st watch of the night: Siddhartha remembers his past lives and
sees the truth that the cycle of existence is without substance.
• 2nd watch: Siddhartha is filled with compassion for all beings
because he sees the ways in which they suffer without escape.
Even those born in heaven are disturbed by sensual passion and
fall from heaven; therefore, no state of existence is free from
illusion and death
• 3rd watch: Siddhartha understands the real nature of the world in
the cycle of causation. One factor leads to another and causes the
endless cycle of birth and death in suffering. Ignorance of this
cycle is what traps us in repetition.
• 4th watch: He reaches “the stage which knows no alteration…the
state of omniscience” The earth sways, lotuses and water lilies fall
from the sky and the world becomes peaceful. At this point the
Buddha understands the 4 Noble Truths and the 8-fold path
• Through contemplation, Siddhartha, whom the sage once proclaimed a
bodhisattva, recognizes that there is great suffering in the world.
• He recognizes, or becomes aware that craving/desire/attachment, are the
causes of this suffering for both the mind and the body. When he realizes this,
he overcomes the ignorance that keeps people from becoming enlightened.
In this wisdom he breaks the chains of suffering that bind us to the samsara,
and realizes nirvana. Nirvana is the ultimate experience of the nothingness or
emptiness that lies beyond the realm of illusions that are the source of our
suffering.
• For 7 weeks after attaining enlightenment, he remains under the Bodhi tree
and contemplates the truths of his awakening and considers whether or not he
could share his dharma, or teachings that led him to enlightenment, with
others.
• A Brahma god convinces him to share his path, to teach the dharma to others
for the benefit of all beings. Out of compassion for the suffering of others, the
Buddha begins to teach.
Buddha’s
Teachings
Setting the Wheel of the Dharma
in motion
Buddha begins teaching at
The Dharma: Sarnath, a deer park just outside of
India. Buddha’s first
Buddha’s teachings Benares,
audience is comprised of the 5
ascetics with whom he had been
These 5 form the first sangha, or
community of people practicing the
dharma.
In the first sermon, the Buddha presented the 4
Noble Truths and the Middle Way. The first 2 noble
truths are diagnose the problem of exsistence and
the 2nd two suggest a cure.
He elaborates on the “three marks” which are
suffering (duhka), impermanence (anitya) and ‘noself’ (anātman)
4 Noble Truths
• 1: Life is suffering (duhkha). this means that there is unhappiness or
unsatisfactoriness
• 2: This “suffering” is caused by attachments and craving. We will always
be disappointed by our attachment to impermanent things.
• 3: You can overcome suffering by understanding that the cause of
suffering is desire; therefore it is possible to end suffering
• 4: There is a way or path for overcoming desire’s hold on you by
following the middle way, given in the eightfold path. This path focuses
on moral discipline, mindfulness and wisdom. Mindfulness and
awareness of desires allow us to overcome them and hence allow us to
overcome suffering.
The 3
Marks
1. Suffering (duhka) is an inherent
part of human existence
2. Impermanence (anitya): Nothing
escapes the change of the wheel of
time of the samsara. Human nature
cannot provide a permanent
foundation for happiness because
the individual is made up of
constantly shifting feelings,
perceptions, mental formations,
consciousness, and material forms
3. No-self (anatman): The above
notions of suffering and
impermanence are based on a
notion of the human as without a
self. Because everything changes,
we have no permanent soul or self.
No-Self
In Buddhism, the human subject is both spiritual and material.
However, this subject is impermanent. Therefore, rather than
having a static or permanent self, the human subject is
constantly changing and developing. This is why we must not
be attached to those things that comprise our sense of self
(atman). The Buddha makes no mention of a soul or a self in
the sense of an eternal and unchangeable spiritual essence.
This stood in stark contrast to orthodox indigenous Indian
traditions like Brahmanism as well as the teachings of many of
Buddha’s spiritual contemporaries.
What is a No-Self?
The doctrine of ‘no-self’ does not deny the particularities of
the individual (remember the dharma is constantly invoking
both ascent and descent).
No-self is simply an emphasis on the fact that the human
condition can be described without appealing to a concept
of an immutable, eternal soul. Humans can be understood
entirely in terms of the 5 aggregates called skandhas
(material form, feeling/emotions, cognition/perception,
mental formations/will, and consciousness/state(s) of mind)
The Skandhas
• The skandhas don’t suggest that we are nothing but
that we are nothing permanent. There is nothing
about us that does not change and therefore no
unchanging cosmic self or soul that moves from one
body to another in reincarnation. On the middle
path, we are, by our elements between nothingness
and eternity without being either. Once we realize
that we are a mutable bunch of elements or
attributes, we accept that we are without self, and
this makes it easier to act selflessly and follow the 8fold path.
The Middle Way
-The Middle way is the path
between extremes. It is neither
extreme selfausterity/mortification of the flesh
nor is it total self-indulgence.
-After 60 of his followers, or
disciples, become enlightened,
the Buddha sends them out to
share the path with others,
working for others’ well-being.
Eightfold Path:
1 - Right Understanding
2 - Right Thought
3 - Right Speech
4 - Right Action
5 - Right Livelihood
6 - Right Effort
7 - Right Mindfulness
8 - Right Concentration) which leads to the
Cessation of Suffering.
45 Years of the
Buddha’s teachings
• Buddha teaches for 45 years,
and sangha spreads Buddha’s
teachings.
Buddha’s death
• In Kusinigara,
Buddha eats spoiled
food and becomes ill.
But he reminds his
followers that his
death is another
opportunity for them
to think about their
task of becoming
awakened.
• “With the light of perfect wisdom, illuminate the
darkness of ignorance. Subject to decay are all
conditioned things. Strive on with diligence.”
Buddha’s death
• At around 80 years
old, the Buddha’s
health is failing.
Some say the
Buddha eats spoiled
food and becomes ill.
• At Kusinara
(Kushnigara), the
Buddha lies down
between two sala
trees his body gives
up its life, the trees
bloom and the earth
shakes, and a funeral
pyre bursts into
flames
3 Turnings of the Wheel of
the Dharma
1) 4 Noble Truths set in motion in Sarnath
2) Emptiness: Set in motion in Bihar and given
in the Wisdom sutras
3) Buddha nature:Practical differentiation of
how things exist
Enlightenment and Dharma
The Dharma is meant to assist us on our path
to enlightenment, like a guide.
Enlightenment is neither existence nor nonexistence. It is an awakening to something
entirely beyond our typical consciousness
What is Enlightenment?
• We reach enlightenment when we are rid of all
desires and attachments and therefore awakened to
the ignorance that is our suffering. Specifically we
overcome the “5 fetters”: craving for life in the
physical realm, craving for life in a nonphysical
realm, pride, restlessness, and ignorance. Once
someone reaches enlightenment, they will no longer
be reincarnated when they die. Buddhists have long
speculated on questions about nirvana.
Nirvana
Nirvana literally means a “blowing out.” It is
the notion of a blowing out of the suffering of
being attached to the things in the world.
Nirvana, however, is not a goal. If it were a
goal, that would imply desire and the ego.
You must turn to the self in order to see that
the self is not there. The self does not exist.
Sutras
Sutra: a preaching of the Buddha that has
been recorded either in oral memory or in
written documents.
Prajnaparamita are the earliest Mahayana
scriptures. These were written in Sanskrit
around 100 B.C.E. Sutras are believed to be
the Buddha’s own words and teachings.
Themes in the dharma
Wisdom and Compassion
Ascent and Descent: movement towards
wisdom and negation of existence but also
affirm the reality of everyday life and the
particularity of ourselves and other beings.
The early sangha

The early sangha was already a time in which
there were various and sometimes competing
understandings of the Dharma Individual
sanghas have autonomy; and could promote
their particular understanding of the Dharma.
This combination of autonomy and lack of
consensus among the entirety of the sangha
gave rise to pluralism in Buddhism from the
early stages of its development--a diversity of
tradition that continues today.
Becoming a World Religion
Flourishing under the ruler Ashoka
in the 3rd century BCE
-supports efforts to establish
monasteries throughout his empire
-suggests that everyone can live a life in
accordance with the Dharma, even if not to
the extent of the monastics
-supports missionary activity

The Great Schism
Mahayana Buddhism splits from Theravada
 Mahayana expand the sangha to all Buddhist
practitioners, not just the monastics.
Everyone has the potential to become
enlightened.
 Theravada (dubbed Hinayana or “lesser
vehicle” by the Mahayana “greater vehicle”)
becomes known as the way of the elders.
 The notion of “vehicles” refers to “vehicles”
for enlightenment.

Theravada
Theravada is the way of the elders,
meaning it is the more traditional
Buddhist school of thought
 It tends to adhere to the teachings of
Buddha more literally and strictly
 The path to enlightenment is that of the
arhat.

Mahayana
The arhat achieves a limited nirvana.
 The greater vehicle or path to
enlightenment is that of the bodhisattva
(“future Buddha”). The intention to
achieve buddhahood is called bodhicitta.

Mahayana

Prajñāpāramitā: Wisdom sutras of
Nagarjuna, who also founds Madhyamika,
involves a philosophy on the perfection of
insight and wisdom by focusing on the
emptiness or no-thing-ness of all categories.
These are the earliest sutras specific to
Mahayana schools of Buddhism. The Wisdom
sutras and this teaching on emptiness is
associated with the second turning of the
wheel of the Dharma.
Mahayana continued

Several schools of thought develop out of Mahayana’s doctrinal
differences that lead to the split from Theravada.
◦ Madhyamaka:founded by Nagarjuna and based on his Wisdom Sutras
which focus on emptiness/nothingness, even emptiness of Buddhist
categories
◦ Consciousness-Only (Cittamatra): spiritual transformation occurs
within human consciousness. This school is the 3rd turning of the wheel
of the Dharma and based on practical description of how the religious
path works which leads to a focus on meditation or yoga practice
(Yogacara)
◦ Buddha-Nature: Nir.vana is inseparable from samsara
◦ Pure Land: celestial paradises created by bodhisattvas to provide the
conditions for enlightenment; associated with the Amida/Amitahba
Buddha
◦ Meditation School (Ch’an in China, or Zen in Japan): recitation of koans
(“cases”) or seemingly paradoxical statements that could lead to
awakenings and wisdom, and even to nirvana.
◦ Thunderbolt Vehicle (Vajrayana)/Tantric Buddhism: commune with a
celestial Buddha through human body and mind.
The Lotus Sutra
Many ideas the bodhisattva are in the Lotus
Sutra (100CE): Lotus sutra suggests that the
Shakyamuni Buddha is merely the
embodiment of a universal Buddha who
remains to serve humanity in the cosmos
until all are enlightened.
 This understanding of the Buddha is that
Buddha is a celestial being that can manifest
in multiple forms at any time in order to aid
others in their spiritual journey.
