Chapter 5: Buddhism
RELS 110: World Religions
Time Line: The “axial
age” in India





1500 BCE: Rig Veda
1000-500: Upanishads
6th Century: Jainism
5th Century: Buddhism
400BCE-200CE: Ramayana
A variety of traditions,
some Brahmanic,
some non-Brahmanic
These two are antiBrahmanic: rites are
of no effect.
 The “axial age” wasn’t just in India, but
also Greece, Israel, Persia, China.
Slide 2.
Hindu teachings
adopted by Buddhism
•
•
•
•
•
Slide 4.
Saṃsāra
Reincarnation
Karma
Moksha
Ascetic practice?
Brahmanic practices
rejected by Buddhism
Ritual
Violent taking of animal life
(sacrifice)
Slide 5.
The Buddha’s
hagiography
• 100’s of versions of the legends, in 4-5
languages.
• What really happened?
• It’s hard to tell, but the outline rings true:
• Born, grew up, renounced pleasures, searched,
awakened, liberated, taught, founded a
monastic order, died.
• The foundational teachings of the Buddha
are probably authentic.
Slide 6.
Hagiographa of “the”
Buddha
• The Śākyas ruled a
kingdom in the foothills
of the Himalayas
• Father: King
Śuddhodana
• Mother: Queen
Mahamaya
• Dies shortly after
childbirth
• Prince Siddhārtha is
born
Slide 7.
Legends of Siddharta’s
infancy
• Mother had him on the
road, holding onto a tree,
born out of her side
(=ultrapure).
• Various deities appear
• Can walk when born,
lotuses appear in his
footsteps, can talk.
• "Supreme am I in the world.
Greatest am I in the world.
Noblest am I in the world.
This is my last birth. Never
shall I be reborn."
• Still: what he is is a
mystery.
Slide 8.
Legends of Siddharta’s
youth
•
•
•
•
A sage interpret these signs. He will be either:
1. Great world ruler – king says “sounds good to me!”
2. World renouncer – give up ties to this world
How do you suppose the king reacted?
•
like “any” parent who hears their child doesn’t want to be a
doctor or lawyer, but rather a religious studies major.
The king wants to steer his son right – builds
pleasure palaces and age-appropriate diversions.
He thinks he is happy.
Slide 9.
Legends of Siddharta’s
infancy (4:37-10)
1.
What do
accounts say about the
origins and early life of
the founder of
Buddhism?
2.
What happened
to Siddhartha Gautama
when he was twentynine years old, and why
was it significant to
Buddhism?
3.
What truth did
Siddhartha Gautama
learn from his
meditation and ascetic
practice?
4.
Why does
Buddhism follow the
Middle Way and what
does that mean?
5.
What is the key
mood of Buddhist
enlightenment?
The Four Sights
• Sick man
• At some point everyone falls
sick eventually, even you!
• Old man
• Is there any way to avoid it?
No. Even you.
• Dead man on a funeral
pyre
• The end result of old age &
illness. Everyone must pass.
• A renunciant
• Life beyond senses
• Money can’t buy escape
from this life not worth
living.
Slide 11.
Siddhartha’s response
• So he gives up his
worldly estate, wife,
son, etc. to find the
right path.
• He seeks those who
have given up this
worldliness, & studies
under each of them.
• He masters each, up
to extreme asceticism
Slide 12.
The Middle Way
• He hears a tuned
instrument and
realizes:
• Too low: doesn’t play
• Too high: string breaks
• He recognizes the
middle way
between extremes.
Slide 13.
Nirvāna / Nibbāna
• Through
meditation, attains
Nibbana
• Is now the
“Buddha”
• What now?
Slide 14.
Teachings
• His teachings are called
the Dharma / Dhamma =
the truth / righteousness /
right action
• Setting in Motion the
Wheel of Truth
• AKA the Deer Park Sermon
Slide 15.
The Four Noble Truths
1. Life is Dukkha
2. The origin of dukkha is trishnā
3. The cessation of dukkha comes by
cessation of desire
4. The means of ending desire is the Noble
8-Fold Path
Slide 16.
The Noble Eightfold
Path Learning scriptures;
1.Right
2.Right
3.Right
4.Right
5.Right
6.Right
7.Right
8.Right
knowledge building
wisdom; communal
norms
view / understanding
thought / intention
speech
Your position in the world;
actions
virtuous action / living; no
livelihood
destruction / torment of life
effort
mindfulness
Applying meditative
concentration
techniques / practices
Slide 17.
Paths of Wisdom
1. Right viewing reality as it is, not just as it
appears to be
2. Right intention (renunciation, freedom,
harmlessness)
Slide 18.
Paths of Morality
3. Right speaking: truthful and not harmful
4. Right acting: non-harmful
5. Right livelihood: non-harmful
Slide 19.
Paths of Mental
Discipline
6. Right effort: to clear and calm the mind
7. Right awareness: to see things for what
they are with clear consciousness, being
aware of the present reality within
oneself, without any craving or aversion
8. Right concentration or meditation
Slide 20.
The Five
Remembrances
• I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way
to escape growing old.
• I am of the nature to have ill-health. There is no
way to escape having ill health.
• I am of the nature to die. There is no way to
escape death.
• All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of
the nature to change. There is no way to escape
being separated from them.
• My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot
escape the consequences of my actions. My
actions are the ground on which I stand.
Slide 21.
Some possible exam
questions
•
•
•
Briefly outline the key events in Siddhartha’s life
before he became known as the Buddha. What
experiences in his early life helped him to formulate
the idea of a “Middle Way?”
Explain the concept of dukkha and its role in
Buddhist teaching.
List the steps on the Noble Eightfold Path and note
briefly what each step involves.
Slide 22.
The Five Precepts
•
•
•
•
•
no
no
no
no
no
killing,
stealing,
sexual misconduct,
lying, and
use of intoxicants.
Slide 23.
Buddhism Video
(8-12=4 min)
3.What truth did
Siddhartha
Gautama learn
from his
meditation and
ascetic practice?
4.Why does
Buddhism follow
the Middle Way
and what does
that mean?
5.What is the key
mood of
Buddhist
enlightenment?
6.What is the
significance of
the Deer Park
Sermon?
7.What are
Buddha’s Four
Noble Truths?
8.What are the
precepts of the
Noble Eightfold
Path?
9.What is karma?
10.What is the
connection
between karma
and
reincarnation?
Buddhism Video
(12-20=8 min)
3.What truth did
Siddhartha
Gautama learn
from his
meditation and
ascetic practice?
4.Why does
Buddhism follow
the Middle Way
and what does
that mean?
5.What is the key
mood of
Buddhist
enlightenment?
6.What is the
significance of
the Deer Park
Sermon?
7.What are
Buddha’s Four
Noble Truths?
8.What are the
precepts of the
Noble Eightfold
Path?
9.What is karma?
10.What is the
connection
between karma
and
reincarnation?
The Three Jewels
• “I take refuge in the Buddha;
• I take refuge in the Dharma;
• I take refuge in the Sangha.”
Slide 26.
Dharma
• The Buddha is the teacher, the awakened
one;
• the sangha is the Buddhist community,
particularly Buddhist monks and nuns.
• What is the dharma?
• “form”?
• “duty”?
• Teachings
Slide 27.
The three characteristics
of existence
1. Dukkha
2. Anicca / Anitya: Impermanence
3. Anatman / anatta : not-self / no-self
Slide 28.
Anicca
• All things undergo constant change and
cause constant change in other things
• Nothing has a fixed state
• Your sense of self is in constant flux
• The only true existent thing is Nirvana
Slide 29.
Dependent Co-Arising
• nothing is permanent, everything is always
changing.
• Everything is dependent on everything else.
• no one underlying reality from which
different things derive.
• When this is, that is
This arising, that arises
When this is not, that is not
This ceasing, that ceases
Slide 30.
No God
• Implications of
dependent co-arising:
•
•
no Creator of the universe
no unifying essence behind
all reality
• Buddha like “God”
•
•
•
infinite, merciful, all knowing,
etc.
became these
Anyone can become this
Being religious and
following dhamma has
nothing to do with the
dogma that the world is
eternal; and it has nothing
to do with the other
dogma that the world is
not eternal. For whether
the world is eternal or
otherwise, birth, old age,
death, sorrow, pain,
misery, grief, and despair
exist. I am concerned with
the extinction of these.
Slide 31.
No Self (Anatta)
• also no self
• no enduring individual nature or character.
Slide 32.
The Five Skandhas
• self is collection of elements.
• come together for a time
• five elements, or skandhas:
•
•
•
•
•
physical body,
senses,
perceptions,
responses, and
consciousness.
• “You” exist as temporary combination
• always changing
• self has no real ongoing existence
Slide 33.
Nirvana
• “enlightenment”, but literally “blown out”
• the recognition of the Buddhist truths
• recognizing your ultimate unreality is key
to nirvana.
• Ineffable
Slide 34.
Recap: What to
remember so far
• karma & reincarnation, like Hindus
• Middle Way
• Turning of the Wheel of Truth
• 4 noble truths
•
•
origin of suffering how to end iy
eightfold path to attain enlightenment.
• “take refuge” in the Buddha, Dharma (teaching), and
Sangha (Buddhist community).
• dependent co-arising: all things are interdependent
• ultimately no self & no God.
• nirvana, or enlightenment from freeing self from desires,
•
becomes an arhat “enlightened being”.
Slide 35.
Sangha / Samgha
• Four-fold division
• The lay community – non-monastic, not
priests, monks, nuns. Gets married, has jobs,
carries:
• The monastic sangha (monks and nuns) –
give up marriage, families, possessions. In
theory, are just trying to achieve Nirvana.
Slide 36.
Parinirvana
• final nirvana. Is the Buddha:
•
•
Gone and unattainable? Or
Gone yet available / accessible?
•
It’s nothing, but if it makes you
feel better, bury me as a king.
Burned
buried with relics
elaborate funeral
bones collected
Many followers wanted to claim
the relics.
eight-way partitioning of the bones
• What to do with Buddha’s
body?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Slide 37.
Relics of the Buddha
• Tradition: King
Ashoka
• divided bones into 84,000
parts
• distributed throughout
Buddhist lands
• commissioned the carving
of a number of pillars.
• engraved with an
important Buddhist saying.
• placed throughout India.
• Some still stand over 2200
years later.
Slide 38.
Stupas
• relics usually in stupas
• earliest Buddhist
architecture.
• variety of shapes and styles
• Pyramidal, with dome and
spire.
• Relics in spire
• 84,000 bits of bone ran out;
clay tablets used instead:
• “The Tathagata has
explained the cause of all
things that arise from a
cause. The great renunciate
has also explained their
cessation.”
Slide 39.
Oral Transmission
• 1st council:
authoritative version
of the Buddha’s
teachings
• unwritten for four
hundred years
• No follower heard all
his sermons.
• Various versions
were passed down
Slide 40.
The Spread of
Buddhism
• Buddhism spread ever
farther from its
birthplace in northern
India (what is now
southern Nepal).
• It grew in central and
western India, to the
northwest to what is now
Pakistan, and to
southeast Asia, where
Indian influence was
already well entrenched.
Slide 41.
King Ashoka
• powerful monarch
• Maghada (northern
India)
• 250 BCE.
• spread Buddhism
beyond where the
Buddha taught.
• Conquered lands
• converted to Buddhism.
Slide 42.
Ashoka’s conversion
• genuine conversion
• renounced violence
• spreading teachings
of the Buddha
Slide 43.
Ashoka’s Inscriptions
• Ashoka called
himself King
Piyadasi
Slide 44.
Rock Edict #1
Beloved-of-the-Gods, King
Formerly, in the kitchen of
Piyadasi, has caused this
Beloved-of-the-Gods, King
Dhamma edict to be written. Piyadasi, hundreds of
Here (in my domain) no living thousands of animals were
beings are to be slaughtered orkilled every day to make curry.
offered in sacrifice. Nor should But now with the writing of
festivals be held, for Beloved- this Dhamma edict only three
of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi,
creatures, two peacocks and a
sees much to object to in such deer are killed, and the deer
festivals, although there are
not always. And in time, not
some festivals that Beloved-of- even these three creatures will
the-Gods, King Piyadasi, does be killed.
approve of.
Slide 45.
Rock Edict #9
Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi,
speaks thus: In times of sickness, for
the marriage of sons and daughters, at
the birth of children, before embarking
on a journey, on these and other
occasions, people perform various
ceremonies. Women in particular
perform many vulgar and worthless
ceremonies. These types of ceremonies
can be performed by all means, but
they bear little fruit. What does bear
great fruit, however, is the ceremony of
the Dhamma. This involves proper
behavior towards servants and
employees, respect for teachers,
restraint towards living beings, and
generosity towards ascetics and
Brahmans. These and other things
constitute the ceremony of the
Dhamma. Therefore a father, a son, a
brother, a master, a friend, a
companion, and even a neighbor should
say: "This is good, this is the ceremony
that should be performed until its
purpose is fulfilled, this I shall do."
Other ceremonies are of doubtful fruit,
for they may achieve their purpose, or
they may not, and even if they do, it is
only in this world. But the ceremony of
the Dhamma is timeless. Even if it does
not achieve its purpose in this world, it
produces great merit in the next,
whereas if it does achieve its purpose in
this world, one gets great merit both
here and there through the ceremony of
the Dhamma.
Slide 48.
Aśoka and the
Councils
• Ashoka convened
third Buddhist
council.
• council decided to
send missionaries
• Thailand
• Burma
• Sri Lanka (son
Mahendra)
Slide 50.
Schools of Buddhism
• core of shared beliefs and practices
• variety of schools of Buddhism
• first 400 years, dominated by monastic
orders.
• lay Buddhists (3 jewels; 5 precepts) had
little voice
Slide 51.
The tripitika (tipitika):
the 3 baskets
• beginning of the 1st C. CE
• sutras written down
• Pali Canon attributed to the Buddha:
1. The Sutra (sutta) Pitaka
• discourse basket
2. The Vinaya Pitaka
• discipline basket
3. Abhidharma
• reflections on the Buddha’s teaching
Slide 52.
Two “Schools” of
Buddhism
•
•
Mahayana / non-Mahayana
Pre-Mahayana:
1. Sthaviravāda / Theravāda
2. Mahasanghika
• Split: Hinayana (“the lesser vehicle”) and
Mahayana (“the greater vehicle”)
Slide 53.
At the Dawn of the
First Century CE
• split signals end of era
• Before: monastic life, oral teachings
• After: diverse, adapting to new lands
Slide 54.
Theravada Buddhism
•
•
•
•
“the way of the elders”
one branch of monastic Buddhism
thrived in first 400 years
most influential in Sri Lanka and
Indonesia
• deliberately conservative
Slide 55.
Theravada Buddhism’s
Ideal
• Goal: Not to be Buddha, but
• attain Enlightenment: be an Arhant /
Arhat
• Dhammapada chapter 7
• experienced Nirvana
• in “balanced detachment,” free of desire,
hatred & delusion / ignorance.
• feel not mental anguish.
• dynamic teachers, strong personalities.
• no self, yet live in the world
Slide 56.
Theravada Buddhism’s
Ideal
• used to be easier to get Enlightenment
•
•
•
•
Now: harder
Dharma will disappear.
new Buddha will appear.
Rumours: someone is close to being an
Arhant!
• Too hard; people stop trying
• accumulate merit instead
Slide 57.
Laypeople in
Theravada Buddhism
• Instead, laypeople
• accumulate merit
• Hope for rebirth as a monk,
• Then attain nirvana
Slide 58.
Women in Theravada
Buddhism
• Buddha grudgingly created women’s
monastic order
• With different rules
• almost died out, eventually made a
comeback
• Nuns subordinated to monks.
• Theoretically, all 4 groups share quest for
nirvana.
• Use same methods--primarily meditation
Slide 59.
Worship of the Buddha
• Images, from 1st C. CE
• Legends described features
• Gestures
• Phases of his life: ascetic, parinirvana
• Worship of Buddha using images
• Temple: given flowers, incense, food, money
• Pilgrimages to images or stupas
• Stupas circumambulated
Slide 63.
Festivals
• vary throughout Asia
• Typically:
•
•
•
•
•
visit local temple or monastery
Offer food to monks
renew commitment to the Five Precepts
listen to Dharma talks.
gain merit:
• donate to poor
• circumambulate stupa
Slide 64.
Vesak
• most important festival
• day of his enlightenment
• Theravada: also birth, enlightenment, and
death.
• Vajrayana: four distinct days for conception,
birth, enlightenment, and death
• Vesak celebrated
• visits to temples,
• offerings to images of Buddha,
• release of imprisoned birds and animals.
Slide 65.
Vesak in Sri Lanka
The monsoon season
• Rains make travel difficult
• young men temporarily ordain as monks
• a rite of passage into adulthood.
• At end, laypeople offer new robes and
supplies to monks and nuns.
Slide 68.
Magha Puja Day
1.Some Buddhists
celebrate Magha Puja
Day to commemorate
the Buddha’s teaching
to 1,250 arhants after
he had given his first
sermon at Sarnath.
Festival of the Tooth in Sri Lanka
1.Local and national
Buddhist celebrations
may involve honoring
Buddha relics.
Buddhism ends in
India
• Reasons
• Political – lack of support
• Hindus incorporated the Buddha: incarnation
of Vishnu
• Hindus don’t accept doctrine of “no-self”
• Continues in Sri Lanka
• Revival (a few million since 1948)
Slide 71.
Video: Buddhism 20-30
1.What are the four
Great Unlimitables?
2.What is the cause
of suffering in
Buddhist thought?
How can suffering
be eliminated?
3.What does the
Lotus flower
symbolize and
suggest about the
spirit of Buddhism
in the Mahayanist
sect?
4.What does the
story of Buddha’s
death say about his
ultimate beliefs and
his integrity of
spirit?
5.How do the
Theravada
Buddhists differ
from the Mahayana
Buddhists in belief?
Possible exam questions
using today’s material
• Explain the main differences between
Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism.
• Describe in a few sentences:
• Bodhisattva
• Upaya
Slide 73.
Mahayana Buddhism
• Origins uncertain –
over 6 centuries
• “Dharma wheel 2nd
turning”
• 1st was Buddha’s Deer
Park sermon
• New sutras
produced. How?
•
•
Buddha entered
Paranirvana, still accessible.
OR sutras are timeless;
monks can discover them
Slide 74.
Mahayana compared
to Theravada
1. New concepts of world & Buddha
2. Extreme emptiness: “no self”
3. Ideal: Bodhisattvas
Slide 75.
1. Mahayana Buddhology
& Cosmology
• What/who the Buddha is & the world is
• Presented forcefully in the Lotus Sutra
Slide 76.
Trikāya: The Three
Body Doctrine.
•
•
Theravada Buddha: left his dharma as a guide.
Mahayana Buddha: universal principle in 3 aspects, essences, or bodies.
Slide 77.
2. Mahayana doctrine
of Shunya (emptiness)
• Dependent causation
• no independent origin
• no eternal reality
•  world of death and
rebirth is empty of
inherent existence.
• Shunya / Shunyata
• An extension of no-self. A
radical extension
• critique of Abhidharma
texts
•
•
Four Noble Truths are empty
nirvana, too
Slide 78.
Nagarjuna
• relatively early 150-250
CE, started a school
called Madhyamika.
• Wrote Prajana-Paramita
– The perfection of
wisdom sutra.
• Core doctrine: The “new”
Middle Way between
existence and non.
•
Emptiness lies between
existence and non-existence.
• Maya: illusion
Slide 79.
10 Stages or 10
perfections
• First 6, in Lotus Sutra, equivalent to Theravadin list of ten stages
• Dāna paramita: generosity, giving of oneself
• Śīla paramita : virtue, morality, discipline, proper conduct
• Kṣānti (kshanti) paramita : patience, tolerance, forbearance,
acceptance, endurance
• Vīrya paramita : energy, diligence, vigor, effort
• Dhyāna paramita : one-pointed concentration, contemplation
• Prajñā paramita : wisdom, insight
• Four more added in Ten Stages (Dasabhumika) Sutra:
• 7. Upāya paramita: skillful means
• 8. Praṇidhāna (pranidhana) paramita: vow, resolution,
aspiration, determination
• 9. Bala paramita: spiritual power
• 10. Jñāna paramita: knowledge
Slide 81.
Two notable
perfections
• Stage 6: Prajñā paramita: perfection of
wisdom – same status as an arhat – they could take
enlightenment there (early retirement?)
• Stage 7: Upāya paramita: beyond samsara;
the Bohdisattva is now a heavenly being who projects
a form of him/herself to help others.
• (between Nirvana and here).
• Don’t get distracted by stage 6 and think you’ve arrived.
• They can send themselves to help those who call on them. Like
saints in Catholicism.
Slide 82.
Upaya-kaushalya:
skilful means.
• tripitika was 1st turning;
• 2nd is Mahayana
Slide 83.
Skilful means as
trickery
• Tell people partial truths
to get them on the right
path.
• Lotus sutra: the simile of
the burning house
•
•
To explain upaya (why not
turn it twice the first time?)
You are those kids; Arhatship
is the toys.
• Another story:
•
•
Nanda – I won’t join the
monastery – no wine, women,
and song.
You want wine, women, &
song? Get to heaven – there’s
lots of it there.
Slide 84.
Lotus Sutra
• skillful means, the seventh paramita
• one of the first sutras to use the term Mahāyāna or "Great
Vehicle“
• the Buddha is eternal. who He achieved nirvana eons ago,
but chose to remain in samsara to teach Dharma over and
over
• even after the Parinirvana of a Buddha, he is still real and
can communicate with the world
• Buddhas are immortal.
• emptiness (śūnyatā) is not the ultimate goal of the
Bodhisattva; there is more (but what that is is not
explained)
• there are an infinite number of Buddhas
• the universe includes realms of gods, devas, dragons and
other mythological beings. Buddhas teach them all.
Slide 85.
Parables in the Lotus
Sutra
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
3: The Burning House
4: The Prodigal Son
5: The Medicinal Herbs
7: The Phantom City
8: The Gem in the Jacket
14: The Gem in the King's Top-Knot
16: The Excellent Physician
Slide 86.
2. Bodhisattva:
Enlightenment being
• Goal: full Buddha.
• difference between arhat & Buddha?
• Bodhisattva vows:
• achieve full Buddhahood
• unlimited compassion
• Why compassion?
• reaction to Theravada.
• arhats selfish
• vow itself gives merit
• to help beings towards enlightenment, uses
• Upaya – skilful means
• compassion, and
• wisdom.
Slide 87.
Merit-sharing
• Bodhisattvas have
so much merit they
don’t need it all.
• can’t give you
enlightenment
• can burn off your karma.
• Saviour figures
• Buddha-fields, or
Buddha-realms
• common requests: be
born in the aura
(heaven-like)
Slide 88.
Some popular
Bodhisattvas
• Maitreya – when
Gotama’s teaching
dies out, Maitreya will
come.
Slide 89.
Some popular
Bodhisattvas
• Manjushri – popular
among monastics
• flaming sword in right
hand: wisdom
• scripture on flower in
left hand:
Prajnaparamita,
Slide 90.
Some popular
Bodhisattvas
• Avalositeshvara – the
Bodhisattva of
compassion
• Becomes a she – Kuan-yin in
China and Kwannon /
Kannon
Slide 91.
This-worldly. In this world
and covered with it.
Slide 92.
Is the religion
becoming theistic?
• The cult of
Bodhisattvas is
upaya – not
ultimate truth
• It gives people reason to
remain Buddhist
Slide 93.
Chinese Buddhism
(Mahayana)
• Preview:
• Buddhism entered China
in the first century CE.
• Chinese Buddhism is
characterized by a
blending of native
Chinese religions
(especially Taoism) and
Indian Buddhism.
Slide 94.
Chinese adaptation of
Buddhist ideas
• Language: Very
different types of
writing systems.
• No-self
• Incompatible with
ancestor worship
• Xenophobia –
anything foreign or
other was
barbarian, to be
rejected.
Slide 95.
Buddhism encounters
Confucianism
• Monasticism: 5 key relationships cannot
be established in a monastery.
• You are no longer under your father
• Therefore incompatible with Confucianism
• No context for beggars in China.
Slide 96.
Buddhism encounters
Daoism
• Both enjoyed riddles
• Ultimately diverged
regarding the Buddha
& the Dao
• Was seen as a threat.
• Claimed that the
Buddha was actually
Laozi.
• No-self incompatible
with the quest for
immortality.
Slide 97.
Chinese Buddhism
cultural/religious synthesis
• Buddhist
missionaries used
Upaya (skill in
means)
• teach according to the
circumstances to get them
on the path…
• Become a monk for the
benefit of the ancestors
(who are in various hells).
• Respect  for monastic
superiors.
• Meditation linked to
longevity.
Slide 98.
Schools of Chinese and
Japanese Buddhism
• Some schools come from India; others
are native Chinese.
•
•
•
•
Chan = Zen in Japan
Pure Land (Amitabha)
Lotus School
Flower Garland School
Slide 100.
Chan Buddhism
• (Zen in Japan)
• began in 520 CE
•
•
Bodhidharma came to China
return Chinese Buddhism to
meditation.
• Chan = special
transmission of the
dharma
•
•
not through words.
teacher leads student directly
toward the human mind
through meditation.
•
transmits ‘truth’ through an
immediate experience passed on
from master to disciple
Slide 101.
Chan Buddhist
techniques
• variety of techniques to
help the student “stop
the mad mind” :
• riddles and humour
•
•
•
•
•
Koans: Unanswerable
“riddles” used in Zen
training
total silence
gentle scoldings
slaps in the face
expulsion from the
monastery.
• To prevent attachments to
one’s self.
Slide 102.
1. Tian tai (“Lotus
School”)
• Extremely popular.
• Of the 1000’s of sutras, all claiming to be
the words of the Buddha, some contradict
the others.
• This must be upaya. Some are more true
than others.
• There are 5 periods of Buddha’s teaching.
• The Lotus Sutra is the truest of all – the
core of everything important.
Slide 103.
Pure Land Buddhism
•
•
•
•
•
•
Slide 105.
Pure Land is the Chinese Jingtu,
from Sanskrit sakhavati: an ideal
Buddhist paradise, in which it is
easier to understand.
Amitabha – an Indian Buddha
Created this ‘buddha-field’ beyond
space & time.
Avalokiteshvara, his disciple –
Bodhisattva (male)  Guanyin
(female) in China  Kannon in
Japan.
Becomes a goddess of mercy –
very this-worldly.
Chanting the names (Buddha’s &
Bodhisattva’s) & using prayer
beads guarantees anyone’s rebirth
into the buddha-field.
Fusing of Chan & Pure
Land
•
•
•
•
Chan: meditative
Pure Land: ritual
Chanting becomes an act of meditation
Visualisation (borrowed from Daoism) of
Pure Land
Slide 106.
Chinese Mingling of
Daoism into Buddhism
• A folk tradition absorbed into Buddhism
• Indian Bodhisattva Maitreya (a messianic
figure) will descend from his heaven, when
the present dharma dies out, to turn the
wheel again
• Claimants sparked many political rebellions
over the years.
• By the 15th century, this cult was
transformed into the hemp bag monk, Pu-tai
Hoshang.
Slide 107.
Bag monk: incarnation
of Maitreya
• Budai
• Chubby fellow with a
sack, laughing.
• Collects objects &
distributes them to
kids in the next
village.
• A Chinese Santa.
• Associated with
prosperity & children.
Slide 108.
Decline of Buddhism
in China
• The real problem was success.
• Buddhism became wealthy & powerful.
• One earned a good rebirth by giving gifts to the
monastery.
• Monasteries became the largest landholders in
China.
• 845 CE – government raids
• Declared Buddhism a foreign religion.
• 40,000 temples destroyed & plundered.
• 260,000 monks & nuns ordered disrobed.
• Buddhism never regains its stature in China.
Slide 109.
Vajrayana Buddhism in
Tibet
• Buddhism came from
India to Tibet in the 7th
century.
• Vajrayana Buddhism
developed in Tibet in the 8th
century when
Padmasambhava began to
combine native Tibetan
religions and Indian Tantric
Buddhism (especially union
of opposites).
• The leader of Tibetan
Buddhism is the Dalai Lama
Slide 110.
Achieving
enlightenment
• Various images and ritual
practices, including
mantras, mandalas, and
prayer wheels, are used
to help practitioners
achieve enlightenment.
• Vajrayana Buddhists rely
on objects like vajras and
thangkas to guide and
assist their meditation.
• The repetition of mantras,
or sacred phrases, is
central in Vajrayana
Buddhism.
Slide 111.
Vajra
Slide 112.
Mandala
Slide 113.
Thangka
Slide 114.
Vajrayana pantheon
• The Vajrayana pantheon
includes many helper
deities and bodhisattvas
• Tara, the goddess of
compassion, is one of the
most important and popular
deities in the Vajrayana
pantheon.
• The saint Milarepa is said to
have been the first native
Tibetan to achieve
enlightenment.
Slide 115.
Summary: Vajrayana
• developed in Tibet
• Combination: native Tibetan religions & Indian
Tantric Buddhism.
• rely on vajras and thangkas to assist
meditation.
• repetition of mantras (sacred phrases)
• pantheon includes helper deities and
bodhisattvas
• most popular is Tara, goddess of compassion.
• Milarepa: first native Tibetan who achieved
enlightenment
Slide 116.
Buddhism beyond India
20. Who is the Dalai
Lama and how is
he chosen?
21. How did
Buddhism
become
important to
Japanese culture?
22. What is Zen
Buddhism? What
is its primary
goal?
23. What does the
Zen goal of
emptiness
contribute to
attaining
enlightenment?
• Japan is today
home to a greater
variety of types of
Buddhism than any
other country.
Variety in
Japanese
Buddhism
Slide 118.
Origins of Japanese
Buddhism
• brought to Japan in
6th C. CE from
China and Korea.
• At first, for upper
classes
• 12th C. CE: strong role
for the lay Buddhists
begins in Japan
Slide 119.
Shingon Buddhism
• Shingon Buddhism
includes elements
of Vajrayana
Buddhism brought
from Tibet to Japan
via China.
• Chinese: Zhenyan,
“true word”
• Kukai (774-835 CE)
Slide 120.
Zen Buddhism
• Zen Buddhism
flourished in Japan,
especially during
the time of the
samurai warriors.
• The ethos of the
samurai warriors fit well
with the meditational
practices of Zen
Buddhism.
Slide 122.
Nichiren Buddhism
• Founded by a Tendai
monk, Nichiren (12221282 CE).
• Sought one scripture
embodying Buddhist
teaching by itself.
• Lotus Sutra
• Repetitive recitation of
a mantra: “Nam myoho
renge kyo”
• Soka Gakkai
• lay Buddhist organization
• Tina Turner
Slide 123.
Japanese Buddhist
Devotional Practice
• Devotional practices in Japanese Buddhism
are similar to those found in other countries.
• Images of the Buddha are dressed and
adorned, as in the Hindu practice of darshan.
• Small offerings of flowers and incense are made.
• If you go to Japan today, you may also see
offerings of children’s toys.
• This is a recent practice, a ritual gesture
showing concern for the souls of aborted
fetuses.
• Women who have had abortions typically make
the gifts.
Slide 124.