Part 1: Buddhism
Part 2: Hinduism
Theme: How religions adapt and change
Lesson 13
Part 1: Buddhism
Lesson 13
ID & SIG
• Buddhism in China, Buddhism in India,
Chan Buddhism, dharma, Dunhuang, Four
Noble Truths, Mahayana Buddhism,
nirvana, Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)
Early Buddhism in India
• Founded by Siddhartha Gautama (born
about 563 B.C.)
• According to legend, Gautama was raised
in a pampered lifestyle but then he
encountered an old man, a sick man, a
corpse, and a monk
– Gautama was impressed by the monk and
himself determined to take up an ascetic,
wandering life to help him understand the
phenomenon of suffering
Siddhartha Gautama
• About 534 B. C., Gautama
left his family to take up the
existence of a holy man
• Intense meditation and
extreme asceticism did not
enlighten him sufficiently
• One day he resolved to sit
under a large bo tree until
he understood the problem
of suffering
• For 49 days he withstood
various temptations and
threats from demons and
finally received
enlightenment
– Thus Gautama became
the Buddha– “the
enlightened one”
The Buddha by Odilon Redon
Buddhist Doctrine
• Buddha announced
his doctrine publicly at
the Deer Park of
Sarnath in 528 B.C.
• Delivered the
“Turning of the Wheel
of Law” sermon which
marked the beginning
of Buddha’s quest to
promulgate the law of
righteousness
Dhamekha Stupa is believed to
mark the place of Buddha’s first
sermon
Four Noble Truths
• All life involves suffering
• Desire is the cause of suffering
• Elimination of desire brings an end to
suffering
• A disciplined life in accordance with the
Noble Eightfold Path brings the elimination
of desire
Noble Eightfold Path
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Right belief
Right resolve
Right speech
Right behavior
Right occupation
Right effort
Right
contemplation
• Right meditation
• Lead a balanced
and moderate life
• Reject both the
devotion to luxury
often found in
human society
and the regimes of
extreme
asceticism favored
by hermits
Dharma
• Taken together, the
teachings of the Four
Noble Truths and the
Noble Eightfold Path
constitute dharma,
the basic doctrine
shared by all
Buddhists
6th Century Buddha sitting on a lotus
blossom which symbolizes purity and
strength because it is able to thrive
and grow even in murky water
The Middle Path or Moderate Way
• Avoid extremes– either an overt pursuit of
passionate worldly desire or extreme
asceticism
• Live a moderate lifestyle characterized by
quiet contemplation, thoughtful reflection,
and disciplined self-control
– Reduces desire for material goods and other
worldly attractions
– Eventually results in detachment from the
world itself
Nirvana
• Living this
lifestyle will lead
to personal
salvation–
escape from the
cycle of
incarnation and
the attainment of
nirvana
– Nirvana is the
state of perfect
spiritual
independence
The Wheel of Dharma symbolizes
samsara, the continuous cycle of birth, life,
and death. One is liberated from this
endless cycle of rebirth when nirvana is
achieved.
Buddhism’s Popularity in India
• Did not recognize social distinctions based on
caste
– Appealed strongly to members of lower castes
• Did not demand rigorous asceticism
• Popular with merchants who used Buddhist
monasteries as inns
• Taught in vernacular language to reach a
popular audience
• Holy sites and shrines facilitated pilgrimages
Buddhist Organization
• Organization proved efficient in spreading
Buddhism and winning converts
– Most highly motivated converts joined
monastic communities
– Pious lay supporters provided the
monasteries with land, buildings, finances,
and materials
– The monks spent much of their time
preaching
Monasteries
• Early Indian education
was informal, mostly
involving just a sage and
his students
• Buddhists organized
monasteries and began
offering regular
instruction and
established educational
institutions
• Most famous monastery
was at Nalanda
Ruins of monastery at
Nalanda
Developments within Buddhism
• Between the 3rd Century B.C. and the 1st
Century A.D., three new developments in
Buddhist thought and practice reduced
obligations of believers, opened new
avenues to salvation, and brought
explosive popularity to the faith
– Nature of Buddha
– Notion of boddhisatva
– Appeal to the wealthy
Nature of Buddha
• Buddha had not considered himself divine,
but some of his followers began to worship
him as a god
• This gave Buddhism a devotional focus
that helped converts channel their spiritual
energies and identify more closely with the
faith
Boddhisatvas
• Boddhisatvas (“an enlightened being”)
were individuals who had reached spiritual
perfection and merited the reward of
nirvana, but intentionally delayed their
entry in order to help others who were still
struggling
– Served as a source of inspiration and
examples of spiritual excellence
Appeal to the Wealthy
• Monasteries began to
accept gifts from
wealthy individuals
and consider them
acts of generosity that
merited salvation
• Now wealthy
individuals could
enjoy the comforts of
the world and still
ensure their salvation
Mahayana Buddhism
• These innovations opened the way for larger
numbers of people so the faith was called
Mahayana (“the greater vehicle” which could
carry people to salvation)
• The old doctrine became known as Hinayana
(“the lesser vehicle”)
• Mahayana Buddhism spread rapidly throughout
India, largely because of educational institutions
that promoted the faith
Establishment of Buddhism in
China
• Buddhist merchants visited China as early
as the 2nd Century B.C. but made little
headway against Confucianism
• With the demise of the Han Dynasty,
Confucianism suffered a loss of credibility
– The purpose of Confucianism was to maintain
public order and provide honest, effective
government
– In the age of warlords and nomadic invasions,
Confucianism appeared to have failed
Establishment of Buddhism
• Originally Buddhism
took root in the oases
along the trade routes
• By the 4th Century
A.D., a sizeable
Buddhist community
had emerged at
Dunhuang in western
China
– At Dunhuang two
branches of the Silk
Road join together
Dunhuang
• Between 600 and 1000
A.D., Buddhists built
hundreds of cave temples
around Dunhuang
depicting scenes of
Buddha
• Assembled libraries of
religious literature
• Supported missionaries
which spread Buddhism
throughout China
Boddhisattva Avalokitesvara,
south wall, Cave 45
Buddhism in China
• Buddhism attracted Chinese because of its high
standards of morality, its intellectual
sophistication, and its promise of salvation
• Buddhists monasteries became important
elements of the local economies
– Monasteries became sizeable estates due to
contributions of wealthy converts
– Cultivated lands extensively and distributed a portion
of the harvest in times of drought, famine, or other
hardship
Buddhism in China
• In some ways, Buddhism posed a challenge to
Chinese cultural and social traditions
– Buddhist morality encouraged serious Buddhists to
follow a celibate, monastic lifestyle
– Chinese morality centered on the family unit and
obligations of filial piety
• It strongly encouraged procreation so that new
generations could venerate family ancestors
• Buddhism was also seen as economically
harmful because the monasteries did not pay
taxes and suspicious because of its foreign
origin
Buddhism and Daoism
• To alleviate the tension, Buddhist
missionaries tried to tailor their message
to Chinese audiences
– They explained Buddhist concepts in familiar
Chinese vocabulary, particularly Daoism
– Continued to encourage monasteries and
celibacies but also reaffirmed the validity of
family life
• Taught that one son in the monastery would bring
salvation to ten generations of his kin
Chan Buddhism
• The result was a Buddhism with
Chinese characteristics
• The most popular school of
Buddhism in China was Chan
(Zen in Japanese)
– Deemphasized written texts
and instead focused on
intuition and sudden flashes
of insight in the search for
spiritual enlightenment (like
Daoists)
• Xuanzang and other pilgrims
traveled to India to visit the holy
places and returned to expand
Buddhism’s popularity in China
Xuanzang
Hostility
• Daoists resented Buddhism’s
encroachment on their
following
• Confucians objected to
Buddhism’s exaltation of
celibacy and condemned
Buddhist monasteries as
wasteful and unproductive
burdens on society
• Tang emperors ordered the
closure of monasteries but the
measure was not thoroughly
implemented
• Buddhism maintained its
popularity
Buddha from the mid-Tang
Dynasty (712-781)
Buddhism and Confucianism
• Song emperors did not persecute Buddhists, but
they actively supported native Chinese cultural
traditions in order to limit the influence of foreign
religions
– Contributed particularly to the Confucians
• Song Confucians found much to admire in
Buddhism and became influenced by it
– The result was called neo-Confucianism which
rejected Buddhism as a faith but adapted Buddhist
themes and reasoning to Confucian interests and
values
Part 2: Hinduism
Lesson 13
ID & SIG
• Bhagavad Gita, moksha, reincarnation,
Upanishads, Vedas
Hinduism
• While Buddhism was growing and evolving
in China, Hinduism gradually displaced
Buddhism as the most popular religion in
India
• Like Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism
experienced changes in doctrine and
practices to more effectively address the
interests and needs of ordinary people
Roots of Hinduism: The Vedas
• The Vedas (“Wisdom”) were
collections of prayers and
hymns of the Indo-European
Aryans who migrated into India
around 1500 B.C.
– Reflect the knowledge that
priests needed to carry out
their functions
• The Aryans developed a social
structure with sharp
distinctions between
individuals and groups
according to the occupations
and roles in society
– These distinctions became
the basis of the caste
system
– Brahmins (priests) were at
the top of the caste system
Fanciful depiction of the IndoAryans entering India
Roots of Hinduism: The Vedas
• The Vedas required ritual sacrifices by which the
Aryans hoped to win favor of the gods
– Gods required constant attention
– Proper honor for the gods required households to
have brahmins perform no less than five sacrifices
per day
– As time passed, many Aryans, to include the
brahmins became dissatisfied with the sacrificial cults
of the Vedas, viewing them as sterile rituals rather
than genuine means of communicating with the gods
– Sought something to satisfy their spiritual longings
Roots of Hinduism: The Dravidians
• Beginning about 800 B.C.,
many individuals retreated into
the forests of the Ganges
Valley, lived as hermits, and
contemplated on the
relationships between human
beings, the world, and the
gods
• They drew inspiration from the
Dravidians who believed
human souls took on new
physical forms after the death
of their bodily hosts
– Transmigration and
reincarnation: An individual
soul could depart one body
at death and become
associated with another
body through a new birth
Idyllic representation of the
Dravidians before the arrival of
the Indo-Aryans
Roots of Hinduism: The
Upanishads
• Aryan and Dravidian values began to
blend
• The Upanishads were Indian reflections
and dialogues from around 800-400 B.C.
that reflected basic Hindu concepts
– Upanishads means “a sitting in front of” and
refers to the practice of disciples gathering
before a sage for discussion of religious
issues
Roots of Hinduism: The
Upanishads
• Upanishads taught that appearances are
deceiving, that individual human beings are not
separate and autonomous creatures
– Instead, each person participates in a larger cosmic
order and forms a small part of a universal soul
(Brahman)
• The physical world is a theater of change
instability, and illusion
• The Brahman is an external, unchanging,
permanent foundation of all things that exist– the
only genuine reality
Roots of Hinduism: The
Upanishads
• Individuals souls were born into the
physical world not once, but many times
• Souls appear most often as humans, but
sometimes as animals, plants, or other
vegetable matter
• The highest goal of the individual soul is to
escape this cycle of birth and rebirth and
enter into permanent union with Brahman
Roots of Hinduism: Teachings of
the Upanishads
• Samsara
– Upon death, individual souls go temporarily to the
World of the Fathers and then return in new
incarnation
• Karma
– “Now as a man is like this or like that, according as he
acts and according as he behaves, so will he be: a
man of good acts will become good, a man of bad
acts, bad. He becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by
bad deeds.”
• Brhadaranyaka Upanishad
Roots of Hinduism: Teachings of
the Upanishads
• Mosksha
– The goal (escaping the
cycle of rebirth)
– A deep, dreamless sleep
that came with
permanent liberation from
physical incarnation
– Obtained by asceticism
and meditation
• Separation from the
physical world to
merge with Brahman
Shiva: The Lord of Yoga
meditating on Mount Kailasa in
the Himalayas
The Emergence of Popular
Hinduism
• Bhagavad Gita
– Short poem finalized around 400 A.D. which
represented the new Hindu ethical teaching that
promised salvation to those who participated actively
in the world and met their caste responsibilities
– “Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by
devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme
goal in life. Do your work with the welfare of others
always in mind.”
• Contrast with the Upanishads that taught that individuals
could escape the cycle of incarnation only through
renunciation and detachment from the world
The Emergence of Popular
Hinduism
• Bhagavad Gita and other new teachings
made life easier for the lay classes
• Individuals should meet their
responsibilities in a detached fashion
without striving for reward or recognition
• Perform your duties faithfully,
concentrating on your actions alone, with
no thought of the consequences
Four Principal Aims of Human Life
• Dharma
– Obedience to religious and moral laws
• Artha
– The pursuit of economic well-being and honest
prosperity
• Kama
– The enjoyment of social, physical, and sexual
pleasure
• Moksha
– The salvation of the soul
• A proper balance of dharma, artha, and kama would help
an individual attain moksha
Popularity Spreads
• As devotional Hinduism evolved and became
increasingly distinct from the Upanishads and
the brahmins, its appeal spread across Indian
society
• Hinduism gradually displaced Buddhism as the
most popular religion in India
• Buddhist monks began to confine themselves to
their monasteries rather than actively seeking to
spread their message
Major World Religions
Source: About, Inc
http://christianity.about.com/library/weekly/blreligiontop.htm
Religion
Members
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Buddhism
Judaism
Sikhism
Baha‘i
Confucianism
Jainism
Shintoism
Wicca
Zoroastrianism
2 Billion
1.2 Billion
785 Million
360 Million
17 Million
16 Million
5 Million
5 Million
4 Million
3 Million
.7 Million
.2 Million
Religion Today in China and India
• China is officially
atheist.
– The CIA World
Factbook estimates
Daoists, Buddhists,
and Muslims make up
1%-2% of China’s
population and
Christians make up
3%-4%
– Population of
1,330,044,544
• The CIA World
Factbook reports
India is
–
–
–
–
–
81.3% Hindu
12% Muslim
2.3% Christian
1.9% Sikh
2.5% other groups
including Buddhist,
Jain, Parsi
Distribution of Buddhists Today
Source: http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_buddhist.html
Country
%
Country
Number
of Buddhists
Thailand
Cambodia
Myanmar
Bhutan
Sri Lanka
Tibet
Laos
Vietnam
Japan
Macau
Taiwan
95
90
88
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
43
China
Japan
Thailand
Vietnam
Myanmar
Sri Lanka
South Korea
Taiwan
Cambodia
India
102,000,000
89,650,000
55,480,000
49,690,000
41,610,000
12,540,000
10,920,000
9,150,000
9,130,000
7,000,000
Buddhism Today: the Dalai Lama
• Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th Dalai
Lama
– His followers consider him a
living Buddha, the incarnation
of the Buddha of Compassion
• Unsuccessfully tried to protect
Tibet’s rights after China
invaded
– Ultimately fled to Dharamsala,
India where he currently leads
Tibet’s government in exile
– Won the Nobel Peace Prize in
1989
• In 2007 China made it illegal
for the Dalai Lama to
reincarnate without
government permission!
Next
• Judaism and
Christianity