BUDDHISM
Founder:
Siddhartha Gautama
(563-483 BCE), who
was, according to
legend, a prince in
India.
Buddha is a title
meaning
enlightened one.
...birth old age, death.
sorrow, misery, grief,
and despair, for the
extinction of which
in the present life
I am prescribing...
The Buddha’s Reformation of Hindu
Dharma
In Hinduism, the eternal self (atman) seeks
liberation from samsara by means of ritual
performance, or self-mortification, or
realization of the identity of atman with
Brahman.
The Buddha rejects ritual, rejects the Vedas
and the Upanishads, condemns Atman is
Brahman as too intellectual. He rejects the
caste system and bases salvation on a strict
code of personal behavior and religious
insight.
The 12 Acts of the Buddha
1. Waiting in
Tushita Heaven.
Prior to its human
birth, the life that
was to become the
Buddha, existed in
the divine realm of
Tushita. (the sated),
a blissful but
impermanent state.
2. Growing in the
womb of Mayadevi.
Queen Mayadevi
dreams that a white,
six-tusked elephant
entered her womb.
She knew an
auspicious and
powerful son was
coming.
Siddhartha is Born
3. Final human birth.
In a grove of sal trees,
her son emerged
painlessly from her side.
Siddhartha, “Object
Achieved," took 7 steps
in each direction and
proclaimed: I alone in
the world am the
honored one. Mayadevi
dies a few days later,
and is reborn as a
goddess.
Marks on Siddhartha’s
body indicated his
destiny for great earthly
power. A soothsayer
warns that he would
seek spiritual
sovereignty instead if
he realized that worldly
power was subject to
decay.
4. Intellectual and
physical training.
The Legend of Siddhartha
5. Marriage and
sensuality. His Dad
provides a wife, 3
palaces, and 40,000
dancing girls.
At age 29 Gautama
slips outside the
compound and sees:
The four sights:
An old man (old
age)
A diseased man
(disease)
A corpse (death)
A serene monk
(potential for
liberation).
6. The Great Renunciation
Siddhartha leaves his wife and son in pursuit
of a higher dharma, the search for
enlightenment (bhodi) and Nirvana
(emancipation). 7. Self denial: Followed
current gurus, mastered their dharma,
attained Samadhi, but still felt unsatisfied.
Mastered ascetic techniques, became
emaciated. Realized a healthy body is
necessary to pursue wisdom. Advocates a
middle path between sensual indulgence and
self-denial.
Attaining Enlightenment
8. March to the
center. Finds the
Bodhi tree, sits.
9. Overcoming
Mara. The lord of
samsara attempts to
defeat Siddhartha
with fear, hate, and
lust. The earth is
my witness.
10. Attaining
enlightenment. Saw his
former lives, saw the
entire space-time
continuum. Saw the
universality of suffering.
Relinquished desire,
desirelessness, and
indifference. Now is
birth and death
finished!
Teaching and Final Nirvana
11. Teaching: Siddhartha, now become the Buddha,
decided it was useless to teach others. The King of
the gods asks him to teach those “with little dust on
their eyes.” For 45 years, expounds on his first
sermon, The Wheel Sutra.
12. Final Nirvana: Ill from some bad alms food,
gathers disciples, What was to be done has been
done. Now, be your own refuges and your own
lights. All things made of parts will drop apart. Work
out your liberation diligently. The Buddha then
attained final Nirvana, he “went out” as the candle’s
flame goes out.
The New Dharma
Retains belief in
karma: every action
bears fruit, good
actions bring good
fruit, bad actions
bad fruit. He adds
that intention is
more important than
the action itself.
Samsara: cycle of
birth and rebirth: all
sentient beings
undergo repeated
rebirth. Karma
determines the next
stage of existence
that one’s
predispositions will
occupy.
The Five Stages of Existence
1. Denizen of Hell (pit
of coals)
2. Animal (pit of
excrement)
3. Hungry Ghost (tree
with little shade.
4. Human (shady tree)
5. Deity, higher spirit
(palace)
Dharma: Law, Doctrine. Four Noble
Truths
I. Noble Truth of
sorrow/suffering.
Life is characterized
by birth, disease,
death, contact with
unpleasant things,
separation from
pleasant things,
unfulfilled wishes.
Contact with a pleasant
person or thing is
pleasurable. When
such contact becomes
impossible, suffering
and sadness results.
But if you have no
attachment to that
person or thing, that is
freedom/liberation.
Whatever is
impermanent is dukkha.
Samudaya: the Arising of
Dukkha
Noble truth of the arising of sorrow. It is this
thirst (tanha) which produces re-existence
and re-becoming, and which is bound up with
passionate greed.... Thirst for sensepleasures, thirst for existence and becoming,
thirst for nonexistence.
The origin of this “thirst” is the false idea of
self. Selfish craving for and attachment to
pleasure, wealth, power, ideas, opinions, and
beliefs, generates karma and keeps one
bound to samsara.
Nirodha: The Cessation of
Dukkha
Third noble truth:
there is
emancipation,
liberation, freedom
from suffering. to
eliminate dukkha,
one must eliminate
the “thirst” that is its
source. Nirvana, the
extinction of thirst.
Freedom from conceit,
destruction of thirst, the
uprooting of
attachment, Nibbana.
The extinction of desire,
the extinction of hatred,
the extinction of
illusion.
Annihilation of the false
idea of “self.”
Magga: The Path
IV. Noble truth of the
way that leads to the
stopping of suffering:
the eightfold path.
Following the 8-fold
path leads to the
perfection of Ethical
conduct, Mental
discipline, and Wisdom.
Right views (intuitive
insight: seeing things as
they really are,
awareness of the triple
truth- all existence is
suffering and
impermanent, there is
no permanent self or
soul).
Wisdom
Right thought.
Selfless renunciation
or detachment,
thoughts of love and
non-violence
directed to all living
things.
Ill-will, hatred,
violence, result from
lack of wisdom.
Ethical conduct
(Sila), based on
universal love and
compassion for all
living beings. Moral
perfection requires
the equal
development of
wisdom and
compassion.
Moral Conduct
Right SpeechTruthfulness, no
slander, profanity,
abusive speech, or idle
talk.
Right Conduct- avoid
killing, lying, stealing,
sexual misconduct,
intoxicants.
Right Livelihoodbutcher, tanner,
astrologer, psychic
(forbidden jobs).
5 Precepts
To abstain from taking
life
To abstain from taking
what is not given
To abstain from sensuous
misconduct
To abstain from false
speech
To abstain from
intoxicants as tending to
cloud the mind.
Mental Discipline
Right Effort- the
energetic will to
prevent evil thoughts
and to produce good
thoughts.
Right MindfulnessTo be attentive to
bodily activities,
mental states,
feelings. Awareness
of their nature,
arising, and
disappearing.
We are always giving our
attention to something.
Appropriate attention is to
dwell fully in the present
moment
When we are mindful, we
can see and listen deeply,
and the fruits are always
understanding, acceptance,
love, and the desire to
relieve suffering and bring
joy. (Thich Nhat Hanh)
Right Concentration
Right concentration leads to the four stages
of Dhyana. First, discard passionate desires
and unwholesome thoughts. Next, suppress
intellectual activity, develop tranquility and
‘one-pointedness’ of mind. Third, feeling of
joy disappears, leaving happiness and
equanimity. Finally, all sensations disappear,
pure equanimity and mindfulness remain.
Two Schools of Buddhism
Theravada (way of the elders, called
Hinayana-lesser vehicle-by the later school).
Goal- Nirvana without residue. Sage- Arhant,
an enlightened being, attains Nirvana and
escapes samsara. Nirvana (lit.) to blow out,
to be extinguished like the flame of a candle
(transcendence, not annihilation). Seems to
require that one become a monk in order to
attain enlightenment.
Mahayana Buddhism (1 BCE)
Greater vehicle: Goal- Nirvana with
residue. Sage- Bodhisattva, a being
destined for enlightenment. Achieves
Nirvana but chooses to remain in
samsara to help other sentient beings
reach enlightenment. Has a storehouse
of good karma to transfer to others.
The path for becoming a bodhisattva is
open to all, even the worst sinner.
Anatman (No Self)
A sentient being is
merely a composite of
five aggregates in a
state of flux: body,
sensations, perceptions,
volitions, consciousness.
This combination gives
rise to the illusion of
self, which in turn
produces craving, tying
one to samsara.
The human
condition- sorrowful,
transient, soulless
entities.
Buddhist ethics: not
to commit evil, to do
good, to purify one’s
mind. An act is evil
if it brings harm to
oneself or others.
Zen Buddhism (C’han)
Emphasis on meditation, intuitive insight
producing sudden enlightenment (satori).
Scriptures and doctrine are unimportant.
Meditation allows one to discover one’s own
Buddha nature. Become a Buddha just as
you are. Absence of rational thought,
employs questions and answers, koansillogical utterances (the sound of one hand
clapping). Legendary founder- Bodhidharma.
Zen Schools
Northern schoolenlightenment
comes gradually.
Absolute quietude
must be attained,
erroneous thoughts
eliminated, for the
pure mind to arise.
Southern schooladvocates sudden
enlightenment. Rejects
pure mind/false mind
distinction. The
Buddha-mind is
everywhere, so
anything at any time
may occasion its
realization.
Illogical Zen
To realize one’s Buddha nature, one must
transcend the limits of mere affirmation and
denial. Empty handed I go, and behold the
spade is in my hands...
Accordingly, Zen masters advocate: the
absence of thought, forgetting our feelings,
letting the mind take its own course.
Zazen
The human tongue is
not an adequate organ
for expressing the
deepest truths of Zen;
[which] cannot be made
the subject of logical
exposition; they are to
be experienced in the
inmost soul when they
become for the first
time intelligible.
Zen…most strongly and
persistently insists on an inner
spiritual experience. It does not
attach any intrinsic importance
to the sacred sutras or their
exegeses by the wise….
Personal experience is strongly
set against authority and
objective revelation, and as the
most practical method of
attaining enlightenment the
followers of Zen propose
Dhyana, known as zazen in
Japan. (D.T. Suzuki)
Undetermined Questions
Buddha calls certain
questions undetermined
and claims that knowing
the answers is not
necessary for
enlightenment. The
attempt to answer them
will hinder one’s quest
for liberation. Is the
world eternal? Is it
infinite?
Is the soul identical with
the body? Does the
Tathagata (enlightened
being) exist after
death?
Buddhism as skillful
means the raft of the
dharma is for carrying
over, not for retaining.
The dharma consists of
provisional teachings,
that adapt and change
with time.
Upaya (Skilful Means)
Buddhism as skillful
means the raft of
the dharma is for
carrying over, not
for retaining. The
dharma consists of
provisional
teachings, that
adapt and change
with time.
The indescribable
ultimate reality,
Dharmakaya, or the
Buddha nature, is
manifested to
human
consciousness in
different forms,
Amida Buddha,
Nibbana, sunnyata.
References
Armstrong, K. (2001). Buddha. New York: Penguin
Armstrong, K. ( 2007). The great transformation. New
York: Anchor.
Bodhi, B. (Ed.). (2005). In the Buddha’s words. Somerville,
MA: Wisdom Publications Inc.
Conze, E. (ed.). (1959). Buddhist scriptures. New York:
Penguin.
Corless, R.J. (1989). The vision of Buddhism. New York:
Paragon House.
Hanh, T.N. (1995). Living Buddha, living Christ. New York:
Riverhead Books.
References, cont.
Hanh, T.N. (1998). The heart of the Buddha’s teaching.
Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press.
Hanh, T.N. (2001). Anger. New York: Riverhead Books.
Hick, J.H. (1976). Death & eternal life. San Francisco: Harper
and Row.
Hick, J.H. (1995). Disputed questions in theology and the
philosophy of religion. New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press.
LaFleur, W. (1988). Buddhism: a cultural perspective.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Rahula, W. (1959). What the Buddha taught. New York:
Grove Press.