Christianity
• Human Person
– Eternal, enduring, substantial soul
• Final Destination
– Heaven or Hell: Final
Judgment
• Method to Achieving Goal
– Accepting of revealed doctrinal Truths of Bible:
Love of God, Neighbor,
Self
Buddhism
• Human Person
– Illusionary, temporary collection of 6 aggregates, empty: marked by Annica
(impermanence), and dukkha (suffering)
• Final Destination
– Nirvana: an extinguishing of consciousness: non-existent union with the All
• Method to Achieving Goal
– Achieve wisdom through meditation and nonattachment

• Began in Northern India (Nepal) around 530 BCE
• A reaction to Hinduism
– Polytheism
– Corruption of the caste system
• Buddhism stems from "Buddha", meaning he who is awake, who
"woke up“, “the Awakened One”

• Born in Nepal (566-486 BCE)
• Born to King Suddhodhana and
Queen Mahamaya
• Tradition: Siddhartha’s father given prophecy: son would be mighty ruler
OR enlightened ascetic leading others to enlightenment

• Father driven to make sure his son would become his successor
• Refused to expose Siddhartha to life’s miseries
• Sid eventually married (16) and had a son

• While on a pleasure excursion, Siddhartha notices an 1) an old man; 2) a diseased man; 3) burial of corpse; 4) wandering ascetic or holy man
• Sid questions servant, Channa, who exposes Sid to the truths and realities of life denied him
• Sid is reduced to tears and suffering

• Sid finally feels the pains of life and develops huge compassion for all humans
• Sees wandering ascetic and wonders
• Should he abandon…
• Luxury?
• Power?
• Family?

• At 29, leaves everything to become a
‘forest dweller’
• Joined five other ascetics
• For six years; slept on ground, ate only enough to live

• Assumption: embrace the physical, lose soul
• Deny body: save soul; very dualistic
Body Spirit
Spirit Body

• Sid. realized an unhealthy body not conducive to spiritual development
Spirit Body

• Sitting under a fig tree (Bo Tree, from
“bodhi”: wisdom )
• Experiences enlightenment; sees true nature of his existence
• Buddha rejects Hindu teaching of
Atman (the eternal, True-Self);
• develops doctrine of No-Self, or
Anatman

• Anatman: idea that nothing has a permanent, unchanging character.
• Everything in constant state of flux or change (no-self)
• More one realizes no-self, the more connected, the more interrelated you become to all others, and all things.
• Doctrine of the Middle Way, or Middle
Path is key to achieving no-self
• Essentially a psychological training and discipline of mind and body

• Realized his existence was a temporary collection of mental and physical sensations
• Experienced pleasure when needs were met; pain when they were not
• Practice of mindfulness: a self-analysis
• rather than subduing his sensory or mental experiences, simply sat and watched them arise and fall

C. The Dharma (Teaching:
Doctrines)
• Four Noble Truths
• Eightfold Path
• Five Precepts
• Three Marks of Existence
• Nirvana

• 1) Dukkha: reality of suffering: dis-ease of life
• 2) Tanha : desire, or attachment, as root cause of Dukkha
• 3) Nirodha : ending of suffering is possible
• 4)
Magga (the cure) The Eightfold Path is the Path to Enlightenment

• Not very strict categories: *Main idea is that the inner life influences the outer life
• 1.) Morality: moral action brings about good Meditation
• 2) Meditation: brings about wisdom
• 3) Wisdom: gives rise to right moral actions

2. The Eightfold Path: A Course of
Treatment for Life’s ills
1. Right Intentions
2. Right Speech
3. Right Views
4. Right Conduct
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Meditation

• How might the Eightfold Path be categorized by these three practices?
• Morality: Meditation: Wisdom:

Buddhist Morality: All lay Buddhists
( Sangha, or community ) are to refrain from…
• Destroying life
• Stealing
• Sexual misconduct: monastics abstain
• Untrue, deceitful speech
• Using intoxicants

• Dukkha (suffering)
–Life has become disordered
• Anicca (impermanence)
–The realization of change
• Anatta (no-self)
–Since all things change, including the Self, there cannot be a permanent Self

Nirvana : literally to “ blow out”…the flames of desire
• possible to achieve in this lifetime
• Selfish desire brings bad karma , keeping individual in samsara
• A bodhisattva (Buddha in the making): enlightened teacher who vows to lead all others to enlightenment: key ethic of compassion

• Temples: (Therevadas)
– places of communal meditation and offerings
– Monks perform religious rites
– Stupas: relics of Buddha or his followers
– Mahayana temples: images of many other enlightened individuals (buddhas)
• Pagodas: large stupas: :usually decorated domes

• Lumbini Gardens
– Birth of Siddartha
• Bodh Gaya
– Bodhi tree where Buddha achieved enlightenment
• Sarnath
– Deer Park where the Buddha gave first sermon
• Kushinara
– Traditional death of the Buddha

1. Mahayana a. Vajrayana / Tibetan b.
Ch’an / Zen
2. Hinayana / Theravada

Theravadan Monks atop a monastery

Mahayana Monks

• “Vehicle of the Diamond”
• Dates back to 200 CE in Tibet
• Has an official hierarchy: lamas “teachers”
• Dalai Lama “ocean of wisdom”
• Goal is to fight selfish desires by focusing on good desires
– Mantras : monotonous, hypnotic, repeated phrases
– Mudras : choreographed hand movements
– Mandalas and thangkas : artistic symbols used to excite the senses

The Dalai Lama…the 14 th reincarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avilokiteshvara