buddhism and basic concept

8/7/2019 Buddhism and basic concept

1/36

BUDDHISMBUDDHISM

IntroductionIntroductionandand

Basic ConceptsBasic Concepts


2/36

22

Presentation byPresentation byKaikyo Sara Roby

Zen Buddhist Monk

Vitas Chaplain

Inpatient Unit Team 164

Broward

Ft. Lauderdale, July 2008


3/36

33


4/36

44

AAbout Buddhismbout Buddhism

AAbout Buddhabout Buddha

TThe Four Sightshe Four Sights

BBuddhas teachings: The Four Noble Truthsuddhas teachings: The Four Noble Truths

TThe Eightfold Pathhe Eightfold Path

TThe Three Jewels or Refugeshe Three Jewels or Refuges TThe Five Precepts & the Ten Preceptshe Five Precepts & the Ten Precepts

TThe Buddhism Schoolshe Buddhism Schools

BBasic and Important concepts in Buddhismasic and Important concepts in Buddhism

DDeath and Dying from the Buddhist perspectiveeath and Dying from the Buddhist perspective

BBibliographyibliography

Open dialogue based on questions fromOpen dialogue based on questions fromparticipantsparticipants


5/36

55

About BuddhismBuddhism is created as an answer to the question of what is the

cause of entanglement of beings in the cycle of existence (Samsara)and how to free oneself from it.

The heart of the historical Buddha teachings can be summarized as

follows:

Life is impermanence

Life is without essence

Life is characterized by suffering

These three marks of existence are the beginning of the Buddhist

path.

The suffering of existence is created by craving and ignorance.

Through clearing away craving and ignorance, liberation ofS

amsaracan be attained.

The entanglement of beings in the cycle of existence is explained in

Buddhism by the chain of conditioned arising (karma). The

termination of the cycle is tantamount to the realization ofnirvana.

The way to this can be summarized in terms of:


6/36

66

The Four Nobles Truths

The Eightfold path

Training in discipline and morality

Meditation

Wisdom and insight


7/36

77

About BuddhaBuddha (literally meaning awakened one, enlighten).

A person who has achieved the enlightenment which leads to the

release of the cycle of existence (Samsara) and has thereby attained

complete liberation (Nirvana). After death, he/she, will not be reborn

again.The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, was born in 563B.C.,

son of a prince of the Shakyas clan, in a small kingdom in the foothills

of the Himalayas, today Nepal. His first name was Siddhartha and his

family name Gautama. That is why he is sometimes called by the

name of Gautama Buddha. After is enlightenment, the Buddha taught

for about forty-five years, dying at the age of eighty (483B.C.)The historical Buddha is not the first and only Buddha. In early texts,

six others Buddhas or enlighten ones who preceded him are already

mentioned, as well as Buddha's to come.


8/36

88


9/36

99

The Four Sights

It is said that four sights cause Siddhartha Gautama

determination to start his quest for the truth:

The sight of an old person

The sight of a sick person

The sight of a corpse

The sight of a mendicant or holy man


10/36

1010

Buddhas Teachings :

The Four Noble Truths

The truth of suffering

The truth of the origin of suffering

The truth of the cessation of suffering

The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering


11/36

1111

The last Noble Truth:

The Path to the Cessation of Suffering

gives origin to the so-called

Eightfold Path:

I. Right view

II. Right resolve

III. Right speech

IV. Right conduct

V. Right livelihood

VI. Right effort

VII. Right meditation

VIII. Wisdom


12/36

1212

The Three Jewels or Refuges

To Take Refuge in the Three Treasures or Jewelsis to make a commitment to live a life as a Buddhist.

This commitment is expressed when one takes the

vows as a Bodhisattva and or as a Nun orMonk:

I take Refuge in

The Buddha (the Buddha nature present in all life

manifestation)

The Dharma (the cosmic law, the great norm)

The Sangha (the community of nuns and monks)


13/36

1313

This commitment :

to live a Buddhist lifecan be summarized in this popular verse:

Not to do evil

To cultivate good

To purify ones mind

As oppose to the three poisons:

Greed, craving or desire

Aversion or hatred

Ignorance or delusion


14/36

1414

The Five Precepts. Heart of Ethical

Practice

Rules that identify the aspirations of a Buddhist.

Not commandments, but prescriptions for treating the

human condition and an antidote to the three poisons:

greed, aversion and ignorance.

I undertake to observe the precept to abstain from harming living beings

abstain from taking things not freely given

abstaining from sexual misconduct

abstain from false speech

abstain from intoxicating drinks and drugs causingheedlessness


15/36

1515

The Ten Precepts

Applied to the monastic life and lay peopleunattached to families

Precepts are followed by nuns and monks

They are added to the five preceding precepts


16/36

1616

I undertake to observe the precept to

VI. abstain from taking untimely meals

VII. abstain from dancing, music, singing andwatching grotesque mime

VIII. abstain from the use of garlands, perfumes and

personal adornments

IX. abstain from the use of high seats

X. abstain from accepting gold or silver


17/36

1717

The Buddhist SchoolsThe Buddhist SchoolsLike other religious traditions, Buddhism has divided into variousLike other religious traditions, Buddhism has divided into various

branches over its history. Two main Schools:branches over its history. Two main Schools:

yy HinayanaHinayanayy CalledCalled SmallSmall VehicleVehicle

asas wellwell TheravadaTheravada ororWayWay ofof thethe EldersElders ofofthethe OrderOrder..

yy ItIt hashas developeddeveloped ininsouthwardsouthward IndiaIndia::

yy SriSri Lanka,Lanka, Thailand,Thailand,Burma,Burma, CambodiaCambodiaandand LaosLaos..

yy MahayanaMahayanayy CalledCalled GreatGreat VehicleVehicle..

yy DevelopedDeveloped throughthrough Nepal,Nepal,China,China, Tibet,Tibet, Japan,Japan, KoreaKoreaandand VietnamVietnam


18/36

1818

Hinayana and Mahayana are both rooted in

the basic teachings of the historical BuddhaShakyamuni, but they stress different aspects

of those teachings.

While Hinayana seeks

the liberation of the individual, the follower of

the Mahayana seeks to attain enlightenment

for the sake of the welfare of all beings.


19/36

1919


20/36

2020

Basic and Important

concepts in

Buddhism


21/36

2121

CCompassionompassion

IInfinite love. Compassion arises out of attainingnfinite love. Compassion arises out of attaining

conscious and unconscious awareness aboutconscious and unconscious awareness about

our already existent Buddha nature.our already existent Buddha nature.

Compassion manifests itself in many differentCompassion manifests itself in many different

ways, depending on the circumstances. Itways, depending on the circumstances. It

includes without distinction the entire Universeincludes without distinction the entire Universe

and it is expressed in our daily life throughand it is expressed in our daily life through

actions, thoughts, speech, and hearing, givingactions, thoughts, speech, and hearing, givingand receiving.and receiving.

Being one with the world.Being one with the world.


22/36

2222

Dharma

(Sanskrit). Is the CosmicLaw, the great norm

underlying our world.

Above all, the law of karmicallyconditioned rebirth.

The Dharma is considered as the teaching of the

Buddha expressing the universal truth. It existed

before the birth of the historical Buddha, who is no

more than a manifestation of it.


23/36

2323

Emptiness

Central notion of the Mahayana Buddhism or Great

Vehicle School.

Void of essence, impermanent, empty of self-

nature.


24/36

2424

Ego

In Buddhism the concept of Ego is use in the sense of

consciousness of ones self. It is seen as composed of

factors without no real fundamental nature, leading to

an illusory world. The concept of an ego arises when

dichotomizing intellect is confused into presupposing adualism between I and no-I(or other). As a result, we

think and act as though we are entities separated from

everything else, against a world that lies outside of us.

Ego dominates the mind, it attacks everything that

threatens its dominance and is attracted to everythingthat seems to extend its power.


25/36

2525

RebirthSince the time of ripening of our actions generallyexceeds a lifespan, the effect of actions is necessarily

one or more rebirths, which togetherconstitute the

cycle of existence (Samsara)

Samsara(Sanskrit). The cycle of existence. A succession of

rebirths that a being goes through within the various

modes of existence until it has attained liberation and

entered nirvana.


26/36

2626

Sutra

(Sanskrit). Discourses of the Buddha. The sutras have beenpreserved in Pali andSanskrit as well as in Chinese and Tibetan

translation. Accordingly to the tradition, they derive directly from

the Buddha. The sutras are prose texts; each introduced by the

words Thus have I heard. These words are ascribed to Ananda,

a student of the Buddha. He is supposed to have retained the

discourses of the Buddha in memory and to have recited them at

the first Buddhist Council immediately after the death of the

Buddha. After these introductory words, the circumstances that

occasioned the Buddha to give the discourse are specified, as well

as the place, the time of the year, etc. The introduction follows,

sometimes in the form of a dialogue. The style of the sutras issimple, popular and didactically oriented. They are rich in parables

and allegories. Each sutra constitutes a self sufficient unit.


27/36

2727

Mantra

(Also mantram. Sanskrit). A power-laden syllable or

series of syllables that manifestcertain cosmic forces

and aspects of the Buddhas, sometimes also the nameof a Buddha (i.e. Amitaba-Buddha). Continuous

repetition of mantras is practiced as a form of meditation

in many Buddhist schools. A mantra is defined as a way

of protecting the mind. It also works through sublimationof vibrations itcreates through the sounds developed in

the act of speaking.


28/36

2828

MeditationGeneral term for a multitude of religious practices, often

quite different in method, but all having the same goal: to

bring the consciousness of the practitioner to a state inwhich he can come to an experience of awakening,

liberation, enlightenment. Diligent practice of meditation

in Buddhism leads to a non-dualisticstate of mind in which

the distinction between subject and object having

disappeared, and the practitioner having become one with

the absolute, conventions like time and space are

transcended in an eternal here and now, and the identity

of life and death, phenomenal and essential, Samsara and

Nirvana is experienced. If this experience, in the processof endlessly ongoing spiritual training, can be integrated

into daily life, then finally that stage is reached which

religion refers to as salvation, liberation orcomplete

enlightenment.


29/36

2929

Middle Way

Generally a term for the way of the historical Buddha,

which teaches avoidance of all extremes like

indulgence in the pleasures of the senses, on onehand, and self-mortification and asceticism on the

other. Refrain from choosing between opposing

positions, and in relation to the existence or

nonexistence of all things, treads a middle way.


30/36

3030

Karma

(Sanskrit: action). Universal law ofcause and effect.

The effect of an action, which can be of the nature of

the body, speech, or mind, is not primarily determined

by the act itself but rather particularly by the intentionof the action. It is the intention of the action that

causes a karmiceffect to arise. Only a deed that is

free from desire, hate and delusion is without karmic

effect. Karma provides the situation, not the response

to the situation.


31/36

3131


32/36

3232

Death and Dying

from the Buddhist perspective

At the moment of death our life becomes clear. Deathis our greatest teacherLife is nothing butchanges,

which are little deaths.

Tibetan Lama


33/36

3333

Death and Dying are of particular significance inthe Buddhist worldview: they are part of the cycle

of rebirth, directly connected to birth itself (rather

than being at the other end of lifes events).

It is important to die well, but also to live every

momentas if it were the last. All is impermanence.

Rebirth is a consequence of this impermanence.


34/36

3434


35/36

3535

Bibliography

Eugen Herrigel. The Method of Zen. 1974. Vintage

Books. New York.

Ingrid Fisher-Schreiber (Buddhism), Franz-KarlEhrhard (Tibetan Buddhism), Michael S. Diener

(Zen). The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and

Zen. 1991. Shambala. Boston & London.

Judith L. Lief. Making Friends with Death. A BuddhistGuide to Encountering Mortality. 2001. Shambhala.

Boston & London.


36/36

3636

Malcom D. Eckel. Buddhism. 2002. Oxford University

Press. New York.

Sogyal Rinpoche. The Tibetan Book of Living and

Dying. 1994. HarperSan Francisco. New York

Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Appreciate your Life. Theessence of Zen Practice. 2002. Shambala Classics.

Boston & London.

Taizen Dechimaru, Maestro. ElSutra de la Gran

Sabidura. Comentarios. 1987. Miraguano Ed. Madrid.

Thich Nhat Hanh. No Death, No Fear. Comforting

Wisdom for Life. 2002. Riverhead Books. New York.

buddhism and basic concept

Documents