BUDDHIST TRADITIONS
Answers to questions that plague
us all
OUT OF HINDUISM
• WAS IT A REACTION TO HINDUISM?
– ITS PERVERSIONS?
– ITS AUTHORITY? had become hereditary, secretive,
institutional
– ITS RITUALISM? mechanical for obtaining results
– ITS SPECULATION? caught in minutia; nature of self,
world, divine
– ITS TRADITION? lost its aliveness (insistence on
Sanskrit)
– ITS MYSTERY? magic, occult
– ITS IDEA OF GRACE ? universe good to the removal
or responsibility
• karma or fatalism; resignation to wheel vs effort
OR…
• We will see…………
SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA
• SAKYAMUNI (“wise one of the muni tribe”)
• TATHAGATA(“one who has thus come”)
• The BUDDHA (“theAwakened”)
•
-BORN 563 BCE NEPAL
•
-PRINCELY EXISTENCE (KSHATRIYA)
•
-WELL BORN HANSOME, STATELY
•
- LUXURY, WEALTH, DANCING GIRLS (KAMA)
•
-MODEL WIFE YASHODHARA QUEEN OF
HEAVEN
– BEAUTIFUL SON AND DESTINED FOR FAME AND POWER
(ARTHA)
•
•
-HEIR TO THRONE (DHARMA)
- but SHELTERED BY FATHER
THE FOUR PASSING SIGHTS
• In late 20’s A GROWING DISCONTENT
(there must be something more!)
• (Campbell’s HERO’S CALL)
• THE LEGEND OF THE FOUR PASSING
SIGHTS -he leaves the palace seeing…
•
1. OLD AGE
•
2. DISEASE
•
3. CORPSE
ANICCA
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thru MEDITATION upon these we learn:
THE REALITY OF SUFFERING!
Youth is fleeting  suffering
Health is fleeting  suffering
LIFE is fleeting!  suffering
THE WHOLE WORLD IS FLEETING
PASSING,TRANSITORY, IMPERMANENT
• LIFE IS A STREAM
• *ALL IS ANICCA =IMPERMANENCE
– TRANSITORY, PASSING, FLEETING, EPHEMERAL
THE FOURTH
PASSING SIGHT
• Leaves the palace a final time seeing…
• MENDICANT MONK – shaven head, robe,
bowl, ascetic- world removed
• From this LEARN HOPE , POSSIBILITY
• THERE IS SOMETHING MORE!
– Release from suffering
• And he vows to achieve it
THE GREAT GOING FORTH
• INTO THE WOODS (DESERT)
•
THE SEARCH FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
•
THE TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRITUAL OVER THE
WORLDLY
• THE SEARCH
•
-SOLITUDE – lonely forest dweller “How hard the
life of the forest dweller. To rejoice in solitude. Verily the
silent groves bear heavily upon the monk who has not
yet won fixity of mind”
•
-2 HINDU MASTERS – a RAJA AND A JNANA
•
-A BAND OF ASCETICS
– Fasting 6 grains of rice/1 fruit/1 seed 1 grain
– Breath training  brought only weakness, sick, near death
• “If you tighten the string too much it will break; Too loose
it will not play”
THE MIDDLE WAY
• EXTREME COMFORT NOT THE WAY
• EXTREME DISCOMFORT ACETICISM NOT THE WAY
• THE MIDDLE WAY
•
Concept of a RATIONED LIFE – body given what
needed combined with vigorous deep thought and mystic
concentration can lead to liberation
•
the vow - seated upon the IMMOVEABLE SPOT
UNDER BODHI tree with vow to achieve enlightenment
•
-experiences MARA'S TEMPTATIONS –god of
death who sends forth
•
-Daughters – DISCONTENT, DESIRE, DELIGHT
The Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya,
India
THERE WILL BE SOME WHO
UNDERSTAND
• GAUTAUMA UNMOVED (having emptied himself)
•
Touches the earth asking the earth to bear witness to his vow
•
With deepening meditation perceives previous lifetimes
•
Previous lives of all , death and rebirth
•
Ultimate nature of the universe, radiance of true being
• SAT ROOTED IN RAPTURE 49 DAYS
• MARA TRIED ONE MORE TEMPTATION
•
- “WHO WOULD UNDERSTAND?
•
-HOW COULD THIS REVELATION BE TRANSMITTED
•
-HOW SHOW WHAT CAN ONLY BE FOUND
•
-HOW TEACH WHAT CAN ONLY BE LEARNED
•
-WHY BOTHER?
•
-WHY NOT WASH ONES HANDS AND SLIP OUT INTO…
NIRVANA
•
(the extinguishing eternal bliss liberation from samsara)
• Buddha’s answer THERE WILL BE SOME WHO UNDERSTAND
THE 3 JEWELS OF BUDDHISM:
p.255
• 1. the BUDDHA turns back to the worlds in COMPASSION
– FOUNDS an ORDER OF MONKS –
• 2. the SANGA – THE COMMUNITY
•
-CHALLENGES THE DEADNESS OF BRAHMIN SOCIETY
•
-PROVIDES PREACHING AND PRIVATE COUSELLING
•
-PERIOD OF WITHDRAWAL AND RETURN (CREATIVITY)
•
-meditate 3 times a day 3 months a year
• 3. THE DHARMA- the teachings, the truth
– vs ethical duty and service of Hinduism
• “I take refuge in the Buddha,… Dharma, ….Sangha”
• After breaking from rapture walked into DEER PARK in holy city
–
Of Veranase Benares –
• preached the FIRST
• disclosing the Keys
SERMON
(q.v.)
the FIRST SERMON
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
FROM REFLECTIONS ON FOUR PASSING SIGHTS
• The First Noble Truth - there is SUFFERING
•
•
LIFE IS DUKKHA (SUFFERING)
“ Only at quite rare moments have I felt really glad
to be alive; I could not but feel with a sympathy full of
regret all the pain that I saw around me, not only that of
men, but of the whole world of creation” Albert
Schweitzer
• -LIFE A STYPICALLY LIVED IS UNFULFILLING/
INSECURE
• - EVEN ENJOYMENT IS SUPERFICIAL/FLEETING
• “MOST MEN LIVE LIVES OF QUIET DESPIRATION”
Thoreau
The First Noble Truth cont.
• A.) There are obvious examples
• the pleasures of one are the pains of another
• the pains of another disturb one’s own
contentment
• B.) The pleasures we do enjoy bring with them:
• AN ATTACHMENT TO THE OBJECT/ ACTIVITY ENJOYED
• AN ANXIETY AT THE INEVITABILITY OF SEPERATION FROM
OBJ/ACT
• C.) the pleasure we do enjoy does not diminish the drive
for that pleasure but rather increases it
• D.) grasping (clinging) at life’s pleasures increases the
suffering
1 The First Noble Truth cont
• SIX MOMENTS OF GLARINGLY APPARENT:
–
–
–
–
–
–
BIRTH
SICKNESS
FEAR OF AGE OR DECAY
FEAR OF DEATH
ATTACHMENT TO WHAT ONE LIKES
SEPERATION FROM WHAT ONE LOVES
• THIS PAIN FELT IN THE 5 SKANDAS (LIFE COMPONENT
GROUPINGS)
–
–
–
–
–
BODY
SENSATIONS
THOUGHTS
FEELINGS
CONSCIOUSNESS
• ENERGY BUNDLES (THE SUM OF WHAT WE CONSIDER LIFE
TO BE)
•
More below
•
REBIRTH AND KARMA HERE!!!!
The First Noble Truth cont.
•
•
•
•
In sum The First Noble Truth then
there is SUFFERING, LIFE IS SUFFERING
DUKKHA
DUKKHA – IS THE PAIN THAT COLORS
FINTE EXISTENCE
– LIFE IN THE CONDITION IT HAS GOTTEN ITSELF
IS “DISLOCATED”
– LIFE IS OUT OF HARMONY (NEEDS REPAIR)
• TO HEAL OR ALLEVIATE THIS PAIN WE
NEED TO KNOW THE CAUSE
The Second Noble Truth:
SUFFERING IS CAUSED
• SUFFERING IS CAUSED
– THE CAUSE IS
– 1.) TANHA (CRAVING) and…
– 2.) AVIDYA ( IGNORANCE) IGNORANCE OF
• ANICCA AND
• ANATTA
(MORE IN A MOMENT)
• 1.) SUFFERING ORIGINATES IN CRAVING
– A.) CRAVING WHAT ONE CANNOT HAVE or…
– B.) CRAVING TO AVOID WHAT CANNOT BE AVOIDED
– C.) DEEPER SENSE OF CRAVING IS TO BE OR HAVE A
SELF
• TWO FACTORS INVOLVED
• 1.) EXISTENCE OF CERTAIN OBJECTIVE FACTORS IN WORLD
• 2.) EXISTENCE OF A SELF
– THERE IS NO SUFFERING UNTIL THESE OBJECTIVE
FACTORS ARE RELATED TO A SELF
cont.
ANATTA or (ANATMAN)
THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH
•
IT IS THE CRAVING OF A SELF THAT GIVES RISE TO SUFFERING
• WHAT IS THIS SELF THAT IS CRAVED??
• Analysis of the self gives us PROCESSES
–
5 SKANDAS
•
•
•
•
•
BODY PROCESSES
SENSATIONS
PERCEPTIONS
IMPULSES
CONSCIOUSNESS
• BEYOND THESE NOTHING MORE and so…
• THERE IS NO ( enduring) THING WE CAN CALL “THE SELF”
– THERE IS NO SELF or in Sanskrit ANATTA or (ANATMAN)
– THAT THERE IS A SELF AS SOMETHING MORE TO WHICH THESE
5 PROCESSES BELONG IS A FICTION – A FICTION CREATED BY:
• 2.) IGNORANT CRAVING ( AVIDYA)
• *OR ANOTHER WAY TO SAY THIS IS “NO SOUL” or no
permanent, unchanging, independent self
THREE MARKS OF EXISTENCE
• THUSFAR WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE
• THREE MARKS (CHARACTERISTICS)
OF EXISTENCE:
– DUKKHA - suffering
– ANATTA – no self
– ANICCA - impermanence
• (REMEMBER - ANICCA FROM MEDITATION ON
THE 4 PASSING SIGHTS)
•
***********************
The Third Noble Truth:
SUFFERING CAN BE ELIMINATED
• Because suffering is caused…
• BY EXTINGUISHING THE CAUSE OF
SUFFERING, SUFFERING CAN BE
EXTINGUISHED (nirvana = “extinguished”p253)
– As we have seen, we assume that in addition to
bodily and mental activity there is an “i”, a self
– It is to this ego self that the doctrine of anatta refers
– so it is IN OVERCOMING ATTACHMENT TO THE “I”
THAT RELEASE FROM SUFFERING IS FOUND !
• “Life being One, all that tends to separate one
from another causes Suffering. Our duty is to
understand our fellows as extensions of
ourselves fellow facets of the same reality”
I DO NOT EXIST…
• … AS A SUBSTANCE INDEPENDENT OF THE
PROCESSES THAT CONSTITUTE ME.
• WE SAY BODY OR HABITS BELONG TO A
SELF YET IT IS CLEAR THAT THIS IS SIMPLY
A WAY OF SPEAKING AND DOES NOT
CONSTITUTE EVIDENCE THAT THERE EXIST
A SELF BEYOND A GROUP OF PROCESSES.
• THESE PROCESSES CAUSE SUFFERING
ONLY BECAUSE OF A WRONG ATTITUDE
(IGNORANCE) TOWARD THEM, AN ATTITUDE
THAT MISTAKES THEM FOR SOMETHING
OTHER THAN WHAT THEY ARE
(PROCESSES)
The Fourth Noble Truth:
THE EIGHTFOLD PATH
• THE WAY TO EXTINGUISH THE CAUSE
OF TANHA AND AVIDYA IS
•
THE EIGHTFOLD PATH
– The middle way
» The moral, ethical standard of Buddhism
» Morality- right speech, action and livelihood
» Meditation-right effort, mindfulness,
concentration
» Wisdom (prajna)-right views, intention
The Four Noble Truths summ.
• 1. Life means suffering.(dukkha)
– To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not
perfect and neither is the world we live in
• 2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
– The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things
and the ignorance thereof. (tanha and avidya)
• 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
– The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha.
Nirodha means extinguishing all forms of clinging and
attachment.
• 4. The path to the cessation of suffering is
the Eightfold path.
– It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive
self-indulgence (hedonism) and excessive self-mortification
(asceticism); and it leads to the end of the cycle of rebirth. The
path to the end of suffering can extend over many lifetimes,
throughout which every individual rebirth is subject to karmic
conditioning. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and its effects will
disappear gradually, as progress is made on the path.
THE EIGHTFOLD PATH:
Wisdom
• RIGHT VIEWS or Understanding – to
make up your mind
– to fully know the FOUR TRUTHS
– to be convinced in a way out CONVICTION
• RIGHT Thought or resolve
– to make up your heart
– To resolve to renounce the world yet do no
harm
– Singleness of mind – RESOLUTION
Morality
• RIGHT SPEECH
– speak the truth only
– abstain from slander and gossip
– AWARENESS of what our talk reveals- motives, charity
• RIGHT ACTS (CONDUCT)
– tied in with KARMA
– FIVE PRECEPTS –no killing, stealing, lying, no unchaste
behavior, no intoxicants
– monks/nuns- no eat afternoon, no watch dancing, no ornament
or perfume, No hi or soft bed, no gold/silver
• RIGHT LIVELIHOOD – progress impossible if work goes
against
Concentration
or meditation
• RIGHT EFFORT
– struggle, long slow steady striving
– resolve
• RIGHT MINDFULNESS
– correct understanding, removal of ignorance
– recognition of what is body, mind, feelings,
sensations, consciousness
– awareness of EVERY action
• RIGHT CONCENTRATION
– meditation, inward serenity
– Usually single-point
NIRVANA
• BUDDHIST (ultimate) LIFE'S GOAL
•
 NIRVANA
• SIMILAR TO MOKSHA BUT LITERALLY TO
EXTINGUISH, BLOW OUT
• WHAT IS EXTINGUISHED?
– THE BOUNDARIES OF FINITE SELF
– FLAME OF PRIVATE DESIRES CONSUMED
– RESULT BOUNDLESS LIFE
•
• FOR THE BUDDHA NIRVANA IS
– " INCOMPREHENSIBLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNUTTERABLE
– AFTER WE ELIMINATE EVERY ASPECT OF THE ONLY
CONSCIOUSNESS WE HAVE EVER KNOWN HOW CAN WE
SPEAK OF WHAT IS LEFT
NIRVANA
• Buddha to Disciple NAGASENA
– “ IS THERE WIND?”
•
•
•
•
Nagasena, : “Of course”
Buddha, “show it to me
Nagasena, “impossible”
Buddha, “even so, sir, nirvana exists beyond thought, beyond feeling, beyond
mind, beyond all.”
So since beyond all…
•
•
•
•
A more pragmatic goal..
Well-Being – thru ritual and merit-making
Cultivation of morals- merit-making
And then Nirvana seeking – thru
meditation
Four Good Deeds
• Make self happy along with mother, father,
children, family friends….
• Make self (and those others) secure with
whatever “wealth” and manner necessary
• Make the five fold offerings to relatives,
guests, departed hungry ghosts, king and
gods (devata)
• Make offering of gifts to all recluses and
Brahmins to such that deserve…
EXPERIMENTS
• PICTURES - anicca / anatta
– What remains the same?
• CANDLE FLAME- anicca / anatta / nirvana
– are you aware of it ?
– What was it? Where did it go?
• CANDLE PASS – anatta / anicca / samsara
– Original? Where is it? What is it? / Where did it go?
• FOOD COLOR DROP- anicca
– What is happening?
• STOP IT! - tanha  dukkha
– but you really liked that design. How did it feel?
• PICK ANOTHER you like better- tanha  dukkha
– Make yours into that other using what you have. You must!
• POUR ALL IN ONE - samsara/ karma
– Retrieve your original. You really want to! Again Tanha  dukkha
– Draw out a glass. What does it contain? How karma /samsara?
• SHAVE HEAD - anicca/ anatta  dukkha?
– Ok now put it back! I was really attached to it. No really.
• No dukkha! I realize all impermanent (anicca). No ego!
No self!
A GOD?
• if by that you mean PERSONAL … NO .
personality requires definition
• But a MYSTICAL godhead …
– " unborn, uncreated, unformed
– “Yet permanent, imperishable, ageless,
deathless power, bliss, eternal,
incomprehensible”
• BUDDHISM IS UNIQUE IN ITS FOCUS
ON THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF
THE HUMAN - NOT ON A DIVINITY
COMPARED TO HINDUISM
• ANATTA
vs
atman of Hinduism
– NO SELF, NO SOUL
• ATTA (or atman) WOULD MEAN
– 1. SUBSTANCE OF CONSTANT
– 2. IDENTITY
• SAMSARA -REINCARNATION ACCEPTED
BUT IMAGE OF A FLAME PASSED
– ONLY CONNECTION CAUSAL NOT SUBSTANTIVE
• DHARMA – the truth, the teaching
• KARMA – over
KARMA
• ACCEPTANCE OF KARMA SUCH THAT
TRANSMIGRATION ALONG THESE LINES
•
1. CHAIN OF CAUSATION - threads each
life from preceding- yet freewill
•
2. LAWFULNESS- present state the product
of prior acts - free to shape destiny
•
3. CAUSAL CONNECTEDNESS - but not of
substance rather ideas, feelings, impressions,
streams of consciousness (Tibetans=mind)
KARMA
• ANALOGY - THE LIKES AND DISLIKES OF MY MIND
NOT ACCIDENTAL
•
-HAVE A LINEAGE
•
-ADDED TO CULTURAL ATTITUDES THESE
FORM MENTAL HABITS "CRAVINGS" TENDENCIES
THO WHICH I CAN STILL CHANGE (thru heart/mind)
– (Acquiring a concern for social justice from my parents did not
mean that a substance leapt from their head to mine)
• BASIC DENIAL OF EVERY SORT OF SUBSTANCE 
ANICCA
– TRANSITORINESS OF EVERYTHING FINITE - CHANGE FLUX
NIRVANA
• “As a dream vanishes
upon awakening, as a
star defers to the morning
sun,
• As the dew drop slips into
the shining sea or the
dew drop opens to
receive the sea itself
• The individual awareness
is eclipsed in the blazing
light of total awareness"
Buddhism
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1. What is the human condition?
To be caught in samsara: the endless cycle of existence, characterized by maya
(delusion), tanha (craving) and
hatred/aversion, leading to dukkha (suffering or unsatisfactoriness).
2. Where are we going?
• To a favourable or unfavourable rebirth after death
• To Enlightenment through entering nirvana/nibbana
• To Buddhahood
• To Bodhisattvahood (Mahayana Buddhism)
3. How do we get there?
We achieve Enlightenment by:
• acknowledging the Three Jewels: Buddha, dharma/dhamma, and sangha, by joining
the sangha
• accepting the Four Noble Truths
• following the Middle Way/Eightfold Path
• following the precepts consistent with a lay or monastic way of life
• following the path of the bodhisattva
• developing wisdom and compassion
Continued
History
Samsara { ~~~~~ } nirvana
•
need a RAFT – VEHICLE - YANA
QUESTIONS THAT DIVIDE
• WHY DO RELIGIONS SPLIT?
•
3 QUESTIONS THAT DIVIDE
• 1. ARE PEOPLE INDEPENDENT OR
INTERDEPENDENT?
•
Relationship to others? Individual or social?
• 2. RELATIONSHIP TO UNIVERSE? Benevolent
(grace) or indifferent (hostile)?
• 3. RELATIONSHIP OF HEART TO HEAD?
WISDOM TO COMPASSION?
FIRST COUNCIL
• to maintain the purity of the Dharma
(unwritten true teachings of the Buddha)
• one year after Buddha’s passing 483BCE
• 500 MONKS gather
• Result  TRIPITAKA
– The “three baskets” (Sanskrit) or event. the
– Pali canon (Pali language)
SECOND COUNCIL
• LIBERAL MONKS
– sought relaxation of discipline
• Store salt, eat later, palm wine, silver/gold
– Would lead to SPLIT
• Sthaviras  Theravadins
• Mahasanghikas  Mahayana
THIRD COUNCIL p. 239
•
•
•
King Ashoka third cent. BCE
Buddhist convert morality & pacifism
Patron and promoter  stupas (relics),
monasteries , universities
– Also of Jainism and Hinduism
•
•
Purify and missionize (Egypt, Syria, China)
Which would eventually save Buddhism
(along with work of Gupta dynasty) because of
5th cent. Hun and 12c. MUSLIM invasion
BEYOND INDIA
not as simple as this…we will discuss
• BUDDHISM- THERAVADA (hinayana)
•
•
•
 MAHAYANA - VAJRAYANA (Tibet)
•
•
(seated meditation)
• (dhyana sanskrit)  CH'AN ( China )
[TAOIST/CONF influence - next ]
•
 ZEN (Japan, Korea) (zazen)
THERAVADA
• HINAYANA - LITTLE VEHICLE OR
• THERAVADA ( elders)
•
AUTHORITATIVE SCRIPTURE ( P. 247)
•
Pali Canon Tripitaka -3 baskets
•
Words of the historical Buddha
•
Vinaya Pitaka – rules codes for monks, life of B.
•
Sutra Pitaka – discourses of Siddhartha, morality
•
Abidharma P. – psychological teachings of Buddha
•
Also the Jataka Tales
• Dhammapada see 248 text
THERAVADA
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
- individual
- no help from universe
- spiritual wisdom
- sanga
- Arhat worthy one
- Buddha supreme sage
- speculation useless
- meditation, invocation
- conservative adherence to original Pali texts
- So. Asia Burma, Thai, camb, srilanka – the southern school
- entire Buddh society envisioned
Vipissana meditation – insight meditation
Rise and fall of the abdomen in breathing
Let all else pass thru
Ritual ,veneration of relics, images – we will explore
MAHAYANA
• SECOND COUNCIL
• LIBERAL MONKS
– sought relaxation of discipline
– Would lead to SPLIT
• BIG VEHICLE
– to encompass everyone
• AUTHORITATIVE SCRIPTURE
– OWN VERSION OF TRIPITAKA
– And the popular LOTUS SUTRA
– Enlightenment for ALL
– bodhisattva ideal compassion
• And the PERFECTION OF WISDOM
– How to transcend ordinary realities of paradox
MAHAYANA
• - ALL LIFE UNDIVIDED / INTERCONNECTED YET IN FLUX
(ANICCA)
•
- GRACE TOWARDS GOAL
•
- UNIVERSE IS COMPASSIONATE
• - A LAITY, BODHISATTVA, BUDDHA SAVIOR –a universal
principle
• - ELABORATE COSMOLOGIES/ METAPHYSICS
• - 4 great bodhisattva vows (NEXT)
•
-COMPASSION ( karuna)
- emphasis on meditative process and SUNYATA ( emptiness)
• A DEEP APPRECIATION OF WHICH FREES US FROM
SUFFERING CAUSED BY OUR EGOS, ATTACHMENTS
DESIRES)
•
- SUPPLICATION/ PETITION- to previous Bodhisattvas,
Avalokitesvara, KuanYin
•
- LIBERAL INTERPRETATION
• - KOREA/ JAPAN/ CHINA ( CH'AN, ZEN) TIBET AS
•  VAJRAYANA
Buddhist Ritual Practices
• Householders and monastics- taking the
precepts, merit making, establishing and
worshiping stupas, establishing and
worshiping images, festivals, pilgrimages
and arranging for life-cycle rituals
• Ordained monastics- ordination, begging
rounds, rituals, healings, funerals
• Mahayana developments- boddhisattva
vows, feeding hungry ghosts, life-cycle rites
and death rites
Refer to…
• Readings and references regarding puja
and worship as assigned….
• Readings and references regarding
Stupas as assigned…
• Readings and references regarding
images as assigned…
Sacred Time- Puja
• Monastery or home or…
• Before image of Buddha (or ancestors)
• Gratitude
• Respect (remove shoes, bowing and prostration, hands)
• Prayers and chanting
• Three Jewels
• Five Precepts
• Offerings
•
•
•
•
•
Flowers impermanence
Fruit  what good conduct brings
Water  purity
Incense  what good conduct brings
Candle  removal of ignorance
•
The upholder of the Dharma Flower,
As a reward, knows all at once.
The countless Buddhas in the ten directions,
Adorned with the marks of a hundred blessings,
Speak the Dharma for living beings.
He hears it all and can receive and hold it.
He ponders limitless meanings
And speaks limitless Dharmas, too,
Without a mistake or omission from beginning to end,
Because he upholds the Dharma Flower.
He completely knows the marks of all Dharmas,
And recognizes their meaningful sequence.
Knowing the names and words,
He expounds on them as he understands them.
What this person says
Is all the Dharma of former Buddhas.
And because he expounds on this Dharma,
He is fearless in the assembly.
The one who upholds the Dharma Flower
Has a pure mind like this.
Although he has not yet attained to no-outflows,
He already has such marks as these.
This person, upholding the Sutra,
Dwells securely on rare ground,
And all living beings
Delight in him, cherish and revere him.
He can, with a thousand myriads of kinds
Of skillful, clever words,
Speak the Dharma in detail,
Because he upholds the Dharma Flower.
Four Vows
• Beings are numberless, I vow to save
them
Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to end
them
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to
enter them
Buddha's way is unsurpassable, I vow to
become it.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
VAJRAYANA - THE DIAMOND
SCEPTER
-PERSECUTED NOW BUT HAD SURVIVED IN ITS
ORIGINAL STATE in TIBET
- TURNS FIRE OF DESIRE IN ON ITSELF (tantrism)
- A HARNESSING OF SENSUAL ENERGIES
-from BON (pern) shamanistic
SCRIPTURE
As above but add TANTRIC texts
TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
HEART SUTRA– Sunyata based on anicca &dependent
origination
Nagarjuna
Padmasambhava
Milarepa
MANDALAS
MUDRAS
MANTRAS
LAMAS-hierarchy of gurus
clergy line of succession from AValokitshvara – Buddha of
Compassion
divined thru various methods
Om Mani Padme Hum
• Tibetan Buddhists believe
that saying the mantra
(prayer), Om Mani
Padme Hum, out loud or
silently to oneself,
invokes the powerful
benevolent attention and
blessings of Chenrezig,
the embodiment of
compassion. Viewing the
written form of the mantra
is said to have the same
effect -- it is often carved
into stones,
Om Mani Padme Hum
• “Buddha of great
compassion, hold me fast
in your compassion. From
time without beginning,
beings have wandered in
samsara, Undergoing
unendurable suffering.
They have no other
protector than you.
Please bless them that
they may achieve the
omniscient state of
buddhahood. “
Meditation
• All sects of Buddhism
• Last of Three categories (trainings) of 8
fold path
• Heightened awareness, increased
concentration, wisdom, insight
• Generally two types:
– Mindfulness of breath
– Loving kindness
Festivals
• major
– Life of Buddha
• Visakha “Buddha Day” – 1st full moon of May
» Birth, enlightenment, death of Buddha (Theravada)
» Mahayana celebrate these on 3 sep days
– Life of Sangha
• Rains retreat – monsoons sent all home power
• Minor
– Seasons
– Dependent on country, region
• Death rituals – most important
Sacred Places/ Spaces p. 265
• Monasteries/ temples – esp Theravada
• images of buddhas and bodhisattvas (mahayana)
• Stupas q. v.
• Places of pilgrimage
– Lumbini gardens
– Bodh gaya
– Sarnath
– Kushinara
The Little Buddha
•
•
•
•
•
The Little Buddha (1994)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Story by Bernardo Bertolucci
Screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer and Mark Peploe
In this film, the search for the re-incarnation of a Tibetan
Lama crisscrosses with the telling of the story of the
historical Buddha’s life from conception to
Enlightenment.
• The mingling of the traditional story of the Buddha with
the search for a Lama’s reincarnation sets the overall
plot firmly in the context of Mahayana (Great Vessel)
Buddhism generally and of Vajrayana (Tibetan)
Buddhism in particular. The biography of Siddhartha is
common to all Buddhists but the overall plot draws much
on the particularity of Tibetan Buddhism
Some Questions/Tasks
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Note the Stupa, beautifully photographed, during the Kathmandu
sequences. Look up the origin and purpose of Stupas.
From your knowledge of Buddhist teaching and of the differences between
Theravada and Mahayana, do you think that this retelling of the Buddha’s
story is colored by the latter’s beliefs, or not?
Note the references to everything in the universe being the effect of a
cause, and Lama Norbu's comment about the Buddha being beyond 'cause'
after his enlightenment. How would you describe nirvana?.
Note several references to the concept that we are all, in essence, 'one'; for
example, as Siddhartha explains why he must leave the palace despite his
love for his wife and newborn son.
What special ability, or abhuna did the Buddha gain as a result of his
enlightenment. Lama Norbu explains this to the children after the
enlightenment sequence.
Listen for Lama Norbu's reply to Dean when, at the Dharma center in
Seattle, he calls the story of the Buddha's life a nice myth. Are stories only
'true' if they really happened?
What else did you learn about Tibetan culture from the film?
Some of the ritual is impressive and interesting to watch. Note the offerings
in front of the images in the monastery and look up what Mahayana
Buddhists place before their (3 items) rupas and what Theravada place
before theirs (usually 7 or 8 items).
Stupa
• Stupa is actually Sanskrit for "pile" as in a heap
that gradually accumulates when each visitor to
a grave leaves a small stone. All over the
ancient world we find that the tombs of great
individuals were covered in stones so that a tel,
hill or cairn is eventually the result. The erecting
of a ready-made cairn is certainly a related
practice. A pagoda refers to the same type of
monument form of a stepped tower Stupa
usually signifies a domed memorial that normally
contains relics and offerings
ZEN BUDDHISM
• [sour patch - 1st thing tht comes to mind]
• ZEN - A living in the moment with full knowing
Delusion in world (truman)
practice, practice--> knowing-->reenter world
• BUDDHISM- THERAVADA (hinayana)
•
•
•
 MAHAYANA - VAJRAYANA (Tibet)
•
•
(seated meditation)
• (dhyana sanskrit)  CH'AN ( China )
[ TAOIST influence - next ]
•
 ZEN (Japan, Korea) (zazen)
• ALL TRACE ROOTS TO GAUTAMA HIMSELF
ZEN BUDDHISM
• KOAN
•
puzzle, riddle, problem not to be solved
but to be lived with
•
to frustrate the logical mind and move
us beyond logic to
•
AN INTUITIVE OR IMMEDIATE
EXPERIENTIAL RESPONSE
logical, rational
• Voiceless it cries, Wingless it
flutters
Toothless it bites
mouthless mutters
• The root tops the trunk
of this backward thing that
grows in the winter
and dies in the spring
• You must keep this after giving
this
• you break it when you name it
vs.
koans
• If you meet a man on the way
greet him with neither words
nor silence
Now tell me how you will greet
him.
• The wind was flapping a
temple flag
2 monks argue: one saying the
flag was moving
the other the wind was moving
Master:"It is neither the flag or
wind moving
It is your mind that is moving”
• Man hanging from tree by
mouth
A visitor asks What is meaning
of Bodhi-dharma coming from
West? He must meet the
questioners need
How should he answer?
ZEN BUDDHISM
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Influence of zen seen in art (sumie)
poetry (haiku)
martial arts
archery
landscaping
flower arranging
tea ceremony
harmony , respect, clarity, calm insight , empty
space
• RESEARCH AND REPORT
• HOW DOES _________ EXPRESS THE SPIRIT
OF ZEN?
ZEN BUDDHISM
•
•
•
•
•
HAIKU
esp. haiku master MATSUO BASHO
in Japanese formal 3 lines:
the first contains five syllables,
the second seven
the third five
• in English need not conform to this but us. 3 short lines
in which an image presented in a clear direct way
•
immediacy of experience BANG!
• often juxtaposition, contrast
• often seasonal but
• NEVER similies, metaphor or rhyme
• reread, think, hone, live with it! sharpen the image
MATSUO BASHO
ZEN BUDDHISM
• A LOOKING BEYOND PHILOSOPHIC
SPECULATION TO A HIGHER, MORE SUBTLE
TEACHING
• A DIRECT SEEING INTO UNDIVIDED REALITY
• (direct experience of the truth beyond
thoughts/words)
• yet to suggest that it is an experience that a
"subject" is capable of having is to use terms
which contradict zen
• the emphasis: the emptiness of all constructions
we place on the undivided flow of reality • things and self and nirvana and samsara can
only be directly experienced
ZEN BUDDHISM
• THE FLOWER SERMON (qv)
•
THE BUDDHA HELD UP ONLY A
GOLDEN LOTUS BLOSSOM AT THE
BACK OF THE PACK ONLY KASHYAPA
SMILED, AND SO WAS NAMED
SUCCESSOR ( indian succession)
• INSIGHT TRANSMITTED THRU 28
PATRIARCHS
• Until CARRIED TO CHINA IN 520CE BY
BODHIDHARMA (the 28th)
Flower Sermon
• the origins of Zen Buddhism are ascribed to what is rendered in
English as the Flower Sermon, in which Śākyamuni Buddha
(Siddhartha Gautama) transmitted direct prajñā (wisdom) to the
disciple Mahākāśyapa.
• The Flower Sermon was wordless, encapsulating ineffable tathātā: it
comprised the purity of direct communication wherein Śākyamuni
proffered a white flower to the sangha, amongst whom there was no
realization except Mahākāśyapa, who smiled. According to a
tradition first attested to in 1036, the smile signified Mahākāśyapa's
direct cognition, and Śākyamuni affirmed this by saying:
• I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvana, the
true form of the formless, the subtle [D]harma [G]ate that does not
rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the
scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa.[1]
• Thus, a way within Buddhism developed which concentrated on
direct experience rather than on rational creeds, doctrinal
scholasticism, intellectualism and analysis
ZEN BUDDHISM
• Bodhidharma - 9 years gazing at a wall
• a special transmission outside of scriptures
no dependence on words or letters
• direct pointing at the essence of man
(experiential, Practice)
• usually translated "soul" or ground of being but
"one's original face"
• seeing into one's own nature and Buddhahood
• sitting meditation practice, practice
• sudden enlightenment - character of zen satori
• wisdom beyond words
Bodhidharma
ZEN BUDDHISM
• TO JAPAN IN 12TH
CENTURY- Dogen
• Soto School–
• gradual practice
• sanzen
Rinzai
• monk Myōan Eisai,
following his return
from China in 1191.
Eisai is thus usually
credited with the
transmission of Rinzai
to Japan.
• Rinzai – sudden
satori
sanzen=dokusan)
Dokusan / sanzen
• Dokusan, or private
instruction, provides an
opportunity for Zen
students to work directly
with a teacher in a
confidential, face-to-face
setting
• The student may ask
questions concerning
practice or may just sit for
a few minutes with the
teacher, saying nothing.
The teacher may test the
student or inquire about
the student's practice by
asking questions as well.
ZEN BUDDHISM
• TRADITION VIA SUCCESSION OF
TEACHERS
•
TRAINING VIA ZAZEN ( seated meditation)
•
KOAN ( riddle or problem )
• SANZEN ( consultation concerning progress)
[dokusan]
• No separation btwn meditation and
enlightenment.
• Zen discipline a seeking to realize the Unity of
dhyana & prajna in all one's acts
• THE GOAL - BREAKTHROUGH
•
ALL LIFE IS ZEN!!!
SATORI ( kensho)
• Satori roughly translates into individual Enlightenment, or
a flash of sudden awareness. Satori is as well an
intuitive experience. The feeling of Satori is that of
infinite space. A brief experience of Enlightenment is
sometimes called Kensho. Semantically, Kensho and
Satori have virtually the same meaning
• The only way that one can "attain" Satori is through
personal experience. The traditional way of achieving
Satori, and the most typical way taught to Zen students
in the west --- but NOT the only way --- is through the
use of Koans
• Another method is meditation. Satori can be brought
about through Zazen meditation
ZEN BUDDHISM
• SATORI ( kensho) freedom from thought, ego,
pure experience
• a FLASH OF INSIGHT ("kick in the eye")
• to infuse the temporal with the eternal
• and to have these more frequently, to move to it
freely
• BEINGS AMAZINGNESS MUST BE DIRECTLY
REALIZED
• Not our awareness but more accurately Being's
awareness of Itself in us. The whole world is
aware of Itself in me!!
ZEN BUDDHISM
• STORY OF TRANSMISSION in China
• Emperor Wu "What merit have I earned?"
None. These like shadows
• Impure motives, they are like shadows following
a person.
• "What has merit?"
• Pure knowing, wonderful and perfect, essence of
which is
• EMPTINESS.
• "Who stands before me?" I don't know.
• Story of Hung Jen (5th)--> to Hui Neng (6th)
q.v.****
Story of Hung Jen (5th)--> to Hui Neng (6th)
•
In time, Hongren was approaching his end, and needed to secure the
succession of the entire Zen patriarchy. Favourite to succeed was the head
monk, Shen xiu (Jp: Jinshū, 606?-706). Hongren set a task: in order to be
considered for the succession, candidates must present their understanding in
a poem. Shen xiu wrote his poem on a corridor wall:
•
The body is a Bodhi tree,
the mind a standing mirror bright.
At all times polish it diligently,
and let no dust alight.
Hui neng heard this poem (remember, he could not read), and immediately
realised that the poet had not seen the fundamental nature.
•
•
Bodhi is fundamentally without any tree;
The bright mirror is also not a stand.
Since all is void,
Where can the dust alight?
•
Master Hongren saw this response and went to see Huineng while the latter
was pounding rice. "Is the rice ready?" asked Hongren in his inscrutable way
(and one that would not give the game away to other monks and servants
around no doubt). "The rice has been ready for a long time: it only awaits
sieving," replied Huineng
ZEN BUDDHISM
• STEPPING INTO ZEN IS LIKE
STEPPING THRU THE LOOKING GLASS
• A WORLD OF PARADOX,
CONTRADICTION, NONSEQUITUR,
CONUNDRUM
• "HAVE YOU HAD YOUR BREAKFAST
YET? THEN WASH YOUR BOWL"
ZEN BUDDHISM
• The universe shows no signs of being the
completely rational structure we would feel at
home in.
•
philosophers Kant and Hume, Nagarjuna,
Shankara
•
mathematics, science, Heissenberg's
Uncertainty principle
• limitations of reason
•
geometry not one thing linear -circular
• Yet we proceed as if reason were an
adequate guide.
ZEN BUDDHISM
• We know we exist in this moment yet plan for full
achievement in future.
•
no future lies only in the understanding
•
no past  only in memory
• Wholeness and completeness of life only in present
moment.
•
Zen not a withdrawal from the world of matter
to an inner world of spirit
•
Zen not allow for such dualism or division
• The world of which we are intellectually conscious is a
world represented from only one perspective:
•
the world of lower discriminatory consciousness.
• It should be recognized for what it is; the result of
intellectual differentiation.
ZEN BUDDHISM
• Mistaking empty constructions for reality itself is the root
of the incomplete, fragmented life characterized as
dukkha, for it underlies all grasping and clinging. This
emptiness can only be "seen" when experienced directly.
(Consistent with Mahayana)
•
(Congenial to Tao mind )
• a resolution of all subject/ object relationships or
opposition in a pure VOID
•
Void not a negation nor emptiness but
•
The realization of the emptiness of all limited or
particular realities
• An immediate awareness of pure being beyond subj/obj
•
IS-NESS
SUCH-NESS BEING ITSELF
ZEN BUDDHISM
• THE ESSENCE OF ZEN CANNOT BE CAPTURED IN WORDS
• AN ACUTE AWARENESS OF LIMITATIONS OF
LANGUAGE/THOUGHT
• Language and thought are:
• ARTIFICIAL CONTRUCTS
• 1) REDUCE PEOPLE & FEELINGS TO STEREOTYPES (TEXT151
Nan-in)
• 2) EVEN WHEN ACCURATE DO NOT BECOME THE DESCRIBED
( the menu is not the meal )
• 3) OUR HIGHEST, MOST SUBLIME (profound, awe-filling)
EXPERIENCES ELUDE COMPLETELY
• language - the dichotomy of opposition (duality)
•
this/that is/is not
• here the emptiness of all constructs we place on the undivided flow
of reality
• even nirvana/ samsara empty!! Mistaking these for reality itself is the
root of the fragmented life, dukkha
ZEN BUDDHISM
• FOR ZEN AS FOR MYSTICS / RELIGION (ART)
• THE REALM OF PARADOX AND TRANSRATIONAL
• THE CENTRAL CONCERN BECOMES THE
BREAKING OF THE LANGUAGE BARRIER
• A SPECIAL TRANSMISSION OUTSIDE OF
SCRIPTURES - Bodhidharma
• response to a seekers questions often
HO!
MU!
or A RAIN OF BLOWS
•
•
•
•
•
koan examples!
the highest truths cannot be put into words.
A profound silence, punctuated by a smile or laugh
May reveal the (inner) transformation wrought by
The enlightenment experience; but no words can
express it
ZEN BUDDHISM
• SATORI IS THE FIRST DISCERNMENT
• LIFE SEEN AS SO DISTINCTLY GOOD 'CAN HARDLY
STAND IT!"
• AN OBJECTIVE OUTLOOK ON RELATIONS WITH
OTHERS: THEIR WELFARE AS IMPORTANT AS OUR
OWN
• DUALISMS DISSOLVE ; ONLY AWARENESS
(AS OF SUNSET)
• GRATITUDE TOWARDS PAST, RESPONSIBILITY TO
PRESENT AND FUTURE
• THE WORLD SEEN IN NEW LIGHT;
THINGS SEEN AS THEY ARE IN THEMSELVES
• UNITY; SIMULTANEOUSLY EMPTY ( LINES THAT
DIVIDE ERASED) AND FULL (REPLACED BY THOSE
THAT CONNECT)
• THE TAPESTRY
• My identity not found in separation but rather in oneness.
Not a denial of identity but its highest affirmation.
• Discovery of genuine identity in and with the One
ZEN BUDDHISM
• Ordinary things ARE the supreme reality; Zen IS life:
cooking, cleaning, studying-whatever one is doing NOW
• A GENERALIZED AGREEABLENESS
• BEYOND PREFERENCE AND REJECTION sunshine as acceptable as rain
• A TRANSCENDING OF DUALISMS
• SELF/ OTHER
• FINITE/ INFINITE
• LIFE/ DEATH
• When this realization is achieved fully never again can
one feel that one's death brings an end to life. One has
lived from an endless past and one will live into an
endless future. At this very moment one partakes of
eternal Life- blissful, luminous, pure."
ZEN BUDDHISM
• Not a matter of beliefs, but of doing
• ZEN NOT ABOUT THEORIES ABOUT
ENLIGHTENMENT BUT RATHER IN
• THE EXPERIENCE OF IT ITSELF
• USES DESCRIPTION AND LOGIC WHICH
MAKES SENSE ONLY FROM AN
EXPERIENTAL PERSPECTIVE RADICALLY
DIFFERENT FROM ORDINARY
• DETERMINED THAT STUDENT ATTAIN THAT
EXPERIENCE, NOT TALK ABOUT IT
ZEN BUDDHISM
• ***Zen is seeing completely into one's complete self in
the fullness of the immediate experienced moment
without mediation of the intellect****
•
•
Conceptualization is inadequate for comprehending
things as they are because it rests on the arbitrary
division of reality into subject / object.
•
Zen emphasizes the integrity of the present moment
of experience where there is no distinction. - the fullness
of the experienced moment w/o mediation of intellect
•
Only thru meditation- emptying oneself of all
constructions of the mind, can the undivided wholeness
of reality be experienced; once experienced cannot be
expressed
Kerouac AND BEATS
• Kerouac Reading from Desolation Angels
• p. 4, 17, 20, 24, 27 have draw on board
then wipe off all except
• all Void except Shittee outhouse
ZEN BUDDHISM TEST
• Test: tell me about Zen.
• What is Zen?
• Identify:
–
–
–
–
–
Kashyapa
Bodhidharma
Hui Neng
Matsuo Basho
Dogen
• Define:
– Zazen, sanzen, koan,
•
•
•
•
•
•
Differentiate: Soto vs. Rinzai
What is difference btwn satori and nirvana?
Give an example of koan. Explain.
Give an example of haiku. Explain.
What does Zen say of afterlife?
Is Zen a religion?