From Hinduism to Buddhism
Freedom of the individual against the
caste system of India
Summary
• 1) Review of Hinduism
– Panentheism
• 2) Rise of Buddhism
– History of relation of Hinduism and Buddhism
• 3) Main ideas of Buddhism
– 4 Noble Truths
1) Republican conception of
reincarnation
• Individual creates his own environment in
Greek and Indian Republics
– Hence Plato’s story of the soldier Er on
reincarnation: we choose our own lot in life.
• Hence Hindu Advaita Vedanta: we determine
our karma
– through our ignorance of our true nature as divine
beings (Maya)
– Or through our awareness of our role in the divine
play (Lila)
Brahman as the Essence of the World
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I am the fresh taste of the water; I
The silver of the moon, the gold o’ the sun,
The word of worship in the Veds, the thrill
That passeth in the ether, and the strength
Of man’s shed seed. I am the good sweet smell
Of the moistened earth, I am the fire’s red light,
The vital air moving in all which moves,
The holiness of hallowed souls, the root
Undying, whence hath sprung whatever is . . .
Combine Pantheism and Monotheism:
Panentheism
“In Me are all existences contained,
Not I in them!” (Bhagavad Gita)
• 1) Pantheism: God is everything; everything is God
• Animism of early hunter gatherers
• 2) Monotheism: there is one God, separate from the
world He/She creates.
• 3) Combine 1 and 2: Panentheism:
– 1) the world is the emanation of God
– 2) yet God also remains the conscious Unity in all expressions:
Matter, Life, Mind, and Spirit
– = evolution of God from non-God back to God: God’s experience
of being God
Emanationism
“They comprehend not, the Unheavenly,
How Souls go forth from Me; nor how they come
Back to Me.”
• 1) Soul (Aspect, Part of Brahman) goes forth into
forgetfulness: devolution of spirit into matter)
• 2) => Karmic existence in samsara (illusion of time
and space)
• 3) Return to consciousness of inner divinity
(moksha). Sat-Chit-Ananda or “bliss consciousness of
being”
– Can be attained “even now”: evolution of spirit in matter
Neo-Kinship and the unity of God and
the World
• 1) Ancient kinship > animism
– =>pantheism
– Hinduism absorbs animistic hunter-gatherers
• 2) Evolution of polytheism (=> avatars) and
monotheism does not reject animism
• > 3) Panentheism (“Pan” = all; “hen” = one)
• Compare to Akhenaton, Zoroaster: other forms of
animistic monotheism: dualistic (there is
something outside of God)
• But Brahman is non-dualistic: unity of both Day
and Night, Light and Dark, Good and Evil
– Like the Dao
East and West
• Panentheism
– Non-dual (“advaita,” no separation) unity of God and
world
– expresses continuity with early beliefs of kinship
society (neo-kinship)
• Monotheism of the West and Middle East:
– God is above and outside of nature (separation of God
and world)
– in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
– reflects legalistic break from ancient kinship
Path to True Self
• Krishna is a conscious “avatar” because
Krishna realizes his true being as Brahman
• Ordinary human (Arjuna) fails to understand
this
• Hence Arjuna is caught up in cycle of birth and
death (Samsara) and Illusion (Maya)
• To find peace/joy/bliss: find your real Self
• This is God’s own experience of being God
in/as you (your true self, Atman)
2) Hinduism and Buddhism: Two Entwined
Paths in Indian History
• (1) Hinduism reflects the Caste System
– Individual is a member of a neo-kinship (caste) system
• (2) Buddhism rejects the Caste System
– Freedom of the individual from caste oppression
• (3) Hinduism learns from Buddhism:
– What is the true meaning of caste?
• (4) Buddhism learns from Hinduism:
– Spiritual kinship, compassion for others: from Theravada to
Mahayana Buddhism
Origin of Buddhism
• The monks were “intellectually and spiritually
free. Decisions were made through group
discussion, perpetuating the pattern of the
early republics of the north Indian hills.”
Spodek 282
Buddha and Caste
• Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 BCE)
– Father: Kshatria warrior of a republican tribe, the Shakyas
– Hence: “Shakyamuni Buddha” (see images p. 240, 294: not
Chai Shen, Chinese god of wealth, with round stomach)
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Abandons Kshatria caste duty
Sangha (community of equals)
Dharma – duties, but not caste rules
= Karma and rebirth without caste
What does Buddha look like?
• Not Cai Shen, the Chinese god of wealth
• Film: Little Buddha, with Keanu Reeves
1 Early Buddhism
• Challenges external religion of Brahmins:
– Late Vedic religion: Ritualistic, beliefs or dogmas are
stressed;
• Buddhism focuses on personal experience
– Buddha studies Vedanta philosophy of Upanishads
– Rejects caste rules
– Rejects worship of polytheistic gods and ritual
practices
– Recreates republican spirit after demise of republics
and against hierarchy
• =Challenge to Hinduism (compare Confucianism
and Daoism)
2 Hinduism evolves
• Vedanta philosophical doctrines turn Vedic
religion into philosophy (compare to Plato)
– Rejects polytheism: one God in all things
– Gods are manifestations of one Brahman
• Bhakti personal devotion
• Experience of God—not just belief and rituals
• Buddha is incorporated into Hindu system
3 Buddhism evolves
• Mahayana separates from individualistic Theravada
(Hinayana)
• Buddhism becomes a social religion
• Doctrine of the Bodhisattva
– e.g., Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama—incarnation of
Avalokitesvara, Bodhisattva of Compassion
• Final goal of world history: salvation of all humanity
– =“soteriological” religion
– Like Hindu vision of a return of all to the Source
4 Final outcome
• Buddhism dies out in India; is destroyed.
– What’s the difference?
– Muslim state,1000-1200, attacks Buddhism as
polytheistic/atheistic
• Buddhism is strongly established in Southeast
Asia, China, Japan, Tibet
3) Basic ideas of Buddhism
• 1) Against worship of polytheistic gods
– The gods too need enlightenment
– (Recall Socrates on the gods)
• 2) No “self” (anatman)= no permanent ego
– Denies reality of the “little self” or ego
• 3) Universal interconnection of all things
(“dependent origination”)
– = Go with the flow
Basic ideas continued
• 4) Karma > rebirth > spiritual progress > liberation
– Of individual in Theravada
– Of all humanity in Mahayana
• 5) “Buddha nature” is in all individuals
– = the higher part of ourselves, our true self. We are all
potential Buddhas (enlightened ones)
– “If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha.” (Lin Chi, 9th
century)
• 6) Four Noble Truths
• 7) Middle Way
First Noble Truth
• Life is “suffering” (Dukkha)
• 1st Dukkha: childbirth, sickness, old age and
death
• 2nd Dukkha: difficulty of changing
circumstances: impermanence of things
• 3rd Dukkha: impermanence of self (ego)
– Five Skandas of Buddhist psychology
Five Skandas (Conglomerations)
• 1) A conglomeration of form
– Changes in our physical characteristics: strength,
height, weight, etc.
• 2) a conglomeration of of feelings or
sensations;
– 6 senses (includes sensual mind)
• 3) a conglomeration of perceptions
– Our likes and dislikes
• 4) a conglomeration of intentionalities or
willings; (decisions, goals)
– > conflicting karmic consequences
• 5) a conglomeration of consciousnesses:
– vary with the senses
2nd Noble Truth: Cause of Dukkhas
• “Tanhi”: attachment, craving, clinging
• We cling to things: try to make the
impermanent permanent
– Money, romance, career, slim/muscular figure
– TV commercials
– What is valuable is outside us; = we are worthless
• Different from natural desires
3rd Noble Truth: Release from Tanhi:
Go with the flow
• = We cause our own suffering
• By changing our minds we release ourselves
from dukkhas
• Overcome dualistic view of world:
– observe, allow the changes
• > peace, “Nirvana”: Buddha nature
Universal interconnectedness
• Nagarjuna: “dependent origination” or
universal interaction:
– we are one with the universe
– atonement for bad karma is at-one-ness
• Recall history of animism
– The inner spirit or Buddha self is not separate
from nature, from the world around us.
4th Noble Truth: the Eightfold Path
• 1. Training in wisdom:
– right views, understanding
– right mindedness
• 2. Training in practical life and ethics:
– right speech,
– right action,
– right livelihood
• 3. Training in meditation:
– right effort
– right attentiveness
– right concentration
Middle way
• Live a normal life, between extremes
– Of sensuous indulgence
– And religious denial
• Without clinging or attachment
Origin of Zen Buddhism
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Buddha gives a “silent sermon”
He holds up a flower and says nothing
The monks stare at him, uncomfortably
One of his monks, Mahakasyapa, suddenly
smiles
– He is enlightened
• His smile was handed down to 28 successive
masters of “Zen”
Jewel in the Lotus