Intro to
Buddhism
TOPIC:
Mahâyâna Buddhism
“Great Vehicle”
Buddha—Dharma—Sangha
Sangha:
Monasticism still supported, yet the
bodhisattva ideal supports laity more
Buddha:
More metaphysical and cosmological
conceptualization…
Mahayana Buddha Conception…
CONTINUITIES WITH ALL SCHOOLS
* Existence of Other Buddhas
Dipankara and Maitreya
* Bodhisattvas
(jātakas)
* Buddha teaching to his Audiences
* Compassionate Decision to Teach
Future Shakyamuni makes vow
before previous Buddha,
Dipankara
Compassionate Decision to Teach
the Dharma
Metaphysical
Buddhology
“Buddha-verse”
THREE “BODIES” OF
THE BUDDHAVERSE:
Dharma-kaya
Sambhoga-kaya
Nirmana-kaya
MAHAYANA COSMOS EXPRESSED IN STUPAS
Gyantse, Tibet
Lotus Sutra
• Past Buddhas teach
universal doctrine
• “welling up from the
earth of stupas”
Textual drama of “stupas emerging from
the earth…”
… and a Buddha Prabhutaratna sitting next to Shakyamuni, fulfilling a
vow of certifying the proper teaching of the Lotus Sutra.
Did the Buddha Lie? “Burning House” Parable
Buddha as “Rain Cloud” that nourishes individuals at all
levels using his “skillful means” (upaya)
Buddha as physician: “Dies” at spiritual charade
to encourage beings to take their mortality seriously
Kathmandu, Nepal
Borobodur
Mahāyāna Scholastic Dharma:
Many Developments, vast textual scholarship
Elite Mahāyāna Philosophies:
1. Doctrine of Madhyamaka School
Shunyatā and Two/3-Truths
2. Yogācāra School
3. Buddha Nature Theory School
Mahāyāna Practice:
Visualization Meditation
1. Doctrines of Madhyamaka School
Opposed to the Nikaya Schools’ Scholastic Abhidharma analysis
of reality in terms of “dharma”
vs.
Prajñā-paramita
Shunyatā and Two/3-Truths
TEXTS:
1. अ
Prajñā-paramita Sutra
2. Prajñā-paramita Heart Sutra
3. Vajrachedika Prajñā-paramita Sutra
4. 1008 Verse Prajñā-paramita Sutra
Madhyamaka
NEW “MIDDLE WAY”: nihilists vs. Real (of Abhidharmists)
WORDS ARE “SAMSARIC” THE BEST WE CAN SAY, if we must speak (and we must) is
that REALITY has “Tathata” [SUCHNESS]
“Silence of the Buddha” as key teaching
YES: Conventional Truth vs. Ultimate Truth
NAGARJUNA is a brave De-Construtivist
who reduced all asserted “truths” to ultimate falsity…depending on the “web of assumptions
and conventions”
UP vs. DOWN
INSIDE vs. OUTSIDE
….even vs. Buddhist formulations… SUCH
AS NIRVANA vs SAMSARA
All Utterance is falsity; based on conceptual assumptions
Prajna sees Shunyā quality
of all reality “Reality Beyond Categories”
NO-THING-NESS (SHUNYĀ) EMPTINESS :
Seeing Reality clearly cannot be “thing-based”
Purpose of Philosophy:
Demonstrate the need for complete
NON-ATTACHMENT, even to our thoughts
(legitimating meditation as only possible means
of seeking truth beyond conceptualization)
All Utterance is falsity; based on conceptual assumptions
TWO
OR 3
Levels of Truth:
• Conventional
Discourse (for self and world)
• Ultimate Discourse
(skillful, undoing attachment)
E.g HEART SUTRA
• [Silence]
AKA
“
“
Nagarjuna:
As students read the alphabet,
So the Buddha taught his disciples
The doctrines they could comprehend:
To some he taught the doctrine to
turn away from doing evil….
To some he taught
The teaching of acquiring merit.
Provisional doctrines based upon duality.
But to some he taught doctrines based upon non-duality
Though to some who are timid this is frightening
To others it is profound:
Having the essence of emptiness and compassion
The true method for achieving enlightenment.
Earliest Texts:
Prajna-paramita
PERFECTION OF PRAJNA / INSIGHT
HEART SUTRA
is
ONE OF THE SHORTEST
Points:
• Deconstructive Process of Mind is goal of zero-based
critique (shunyata)
• Language is “samsaric”, encoding desire, ignorance of
the world; nothing stands alone, independent of other
“things” for meaning
• True spiritual advance is made when we stop relying on
the mediation of any symbols between “us” and “world”
• Philosophy demonstrates the superiority of silence;
mastering reality without mediation
• How?????
Consider:
Nowhere
Consider:
Nothingness
Read the Heart Sutra
HEART SUTRA
GATE GATE
PARA GATE
PARASAMGATE
BODHI
SVAHA
NOTE: Mantra Recitation
• ALSO in the LOTUS SUTRA
• Indian theory of sacred sound as primordial,
connective with reality, transformative
• Recitation rituals as useful/effective
• Mundane and Supramundane uses: key to
Mahayana popularity and meditation across
northern Asia
Mind Creates the World
Mahayana School II:
Cittamatra
(“Consciousness Only”)
• Karma and karmic fruition is all in
consciousness
• “Idealism”: only thought is real; material
universe is all unreal
• Mind/consciousness as inherently zestful,
creative, loving, wise… but…
“poisoned” by ignorance and desire
Nine Forms of Consciousness in Cittamatra Theory
Yogācāra
•
Other name for school, “Yoga-acāra,”
points to school’s re-emphasis
on yoga practices
as key to purifying the mind
• great exponent was Asanga (350 CE)
Mahayana School III:
Buddha-Nature School
(“Tathagata-garbha”)
If
Nirvana=Samsara,
then nirvana
pervades samsara
All beings and
points in the
universe are
connected and
buddha-suffused
Bodhisattva Ideal:
Vow to postpone one’s own final parinirvana until
all other beings are established on the path
To reach Buddhahood should be the goal of all
beings
Bodhisattvas as human or divinity
Manjushri
Celestial Bodhisattvas
Avalokiteshvara
(China: Kwan Yin)
(Japan: Kannon)
Buddha on forehead
1008-arm Kwan Yin/Kannon
in East Asia:
Mi-lo Fo [Fu-ture Buddha]
Maitreya, the Next Human Buddha
Mahayana Meditation
• Visualization and Mantra Recitation used
to train and transform the mind
• “Buddha nature” in all things, most
potently in forms of bodhisattvas
Avalokiteshvara
Identification with
Body/Speech/Mind of an
Enlightened being leads to
one’s own spiritual
transformation
Mantra:
“Om Mani Padme Hum”