Buddhism and Its Spread Along the Silk Road

Buddhism:philosophymoral code

for some a religious faith originated 2,500 years ago in Indiaoffers a diagnosis of the suffering of mankind and provides a formula for individuals to resolve that suffering. offers a moral code based on compassion and non-violence, and through meditation a way to achieve spiritual insight. Buddhism provides a path to reach a deeper understanding of the nature of reality. Although it directs us inwards, Buddhism offers a practical way to connect with everyday life and with others. Today, an estimated 500 million people follow one of the many varieties of Buddhism.

The Buddha• Despite opposition, the Buddha founded an order of monks.• for nine months each year, he walked the roads of India, to towns,

villages and cities, teaching to whoever would listen. • For the remaining three months of every year, corresponding to the

wet season, he retreated from public life with his monks.• Unlike the Brahmin priests, he would teach in the local dialects, • and spoke to all castes, even those at the lowest levels, as well as

to both men and women. • While controversial, his words appealed to both beggars and kings.

The Buddha• After the Enlightenment (i.e. following the revelation of the Four Noble

Truths), the Buddha walked over one hundred miles to India’s holy city of Benares.

– In a deer park near the city, he preached his first sermon to the five followers who had previously renounced him. This sermon formed the basis of his teaching from then on. He spoke about The Four Noble Truths.

• In his book "Old Path, White Clouds" , Thich Nhat Hanh tells the story of the Buddha. The Buddha says "my teaching is not a dogma or a doctrine, but no doubt some people will take it as such." The Buddha goes on to say "I must state clearly that my teaching is a method to experience reality and not reality itself, just as a finger pointing at the moon is not the moon itself. A thinking person makes use of the finger to see the moon. A person who only looks at the finger and mistakes it for the moon will never see the real moon."

The Buddha

• The Buddha accepted many men as followers.

• He even accepted some from the lowest caste, called the Untouchables (unprecedented)

• angered many people who suggested that this would disrupt the existing order of the society.

The Buddha

• After his father, the king died, his aunt asked the Buddha to allow her to become a nun in the Buddhist order. – The Buddha first refused saying that it was not yet time for

women to become nuns. – She then shaved her head, put on the orange robes of a monk,

and, together with fifty other women, went again to the Buddha. • After discussing the situation with his advisors, the Buddha allowed

the women to join, although they were subject to an additional set of rules.

– This was a most revolutionary idea for this era, as women had low status in the community.

– Henceforth, the Buddhist philosophy was open to all, rich and poor, men and women of all levels of society, and all were equal in the community.

The Buddha

• The Buddha never set himself up as an authority figure, nor did he set up an infrastructure or proposed high rank for himself.

• He denied any divinity and emphasized that all people are equal.

• His personality was a combination of dignity and friendliness, wisdom and kindliness. He had both a cool and logical mind and a warm heart. In debate, he was courteous and had a strong sense of irony.

The Buddha

• The Buddha himself wrote nothing; during the Buddha’s life, no written records were made of his teaching. His teaching was communicated entirely orally and the details we have today are from the writings many years after his death.

• When he was about to die, at the age of eighty, he lay down on his right side, and urged his followers to ask him questions. At this point, however, they were all silent. Then he spoke his final words, which were: "All component things decay, work on your own salvation with diligence."

• Then he passed into a state which is called Parinirvana, and where he completed the process he had begun under the Bodhi tree many years before.

Buddha

• By the time of Buddha's death at the age of 80 he had become a famous and respected figure and had allies and supporters among rich and poor.

Buddhism• Obviously, there was a need to continue the teaching after he died,

and five hundred of the more senior monks met at a council to decide how this would happen. The council lasted seven months, and this determined how the teaching would continue.

• In 484 BC, seven days after the Buddha's death at Kushinagara (modern Kasia), his body was cremated and the relics were divided equally among eight clans. Each of these built a sacred cairn over the relics, a form of memorial known in India as a stupa.

• Not long after the Buddha's death, the followers gathered at Rajagriha for the first general council. The second council was held in Vaishali one hundred years after the death of Buddha. The third one is said to be held in Pataliputra in the time of the Mauryan king Ashoka.

Buddhism

• The Buddha in fact defined three main characteristics of existence, which include suffering, impermanence and the concept of no unique self.

Suffering

• Suffering, as defined before, comes from life, as sickness, loneliness, old age, or just a general feeling of life not being what it should.

Impermanence• Part of the problem is, that we wish life to be permanent when all

existence is impermanent, everything is subject to continuous change. Birth and death are part of that process of change.

• All life, yours, mine, your family and friends, is like a flowing river. While it may appear the same when you look at a river, each moment is different and every view of the river is different. Nothing in nature is what it was the moment before. Every living thing is in a continuous state of flux.

• In our lives, our bodies grow when we are young, and change as we age. Relationships come and go, often because personalities, interests and attitudes change.

• As we live, we take on both positive and negative habits and we cling to ideas which we associate with "our permanent selves". But our permanent self is a myth, and once we learn that, we can look beyond the need to have life stay the same.

No unique self• The most challenging concept for those brought up in a Christian community is the concept of "no

self". Buddhism puts a different emphasis on this, unlike the Christian community which emphasizes the human “soul”.

• While the Buddha saw life continuing after death, he described it more as the lighting of one candle by another, the flame originates at the first flame, but the second is a consequence of the first, and not a unique reproduction of it.

• Essentially, however, he saw us as a collection of body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness.

• While he saw no separate self or ego, he did emphasize the interdependence of all life as well as dependence on what had gone before.

• The concept of no eternal self was also radical in the era in which the Buddha lived. Hinduism, the main religion of India at that time, generally accepted the idea of the eternal self. The body is destroyed but the self lives on. And that was an unchanging identity which was locked in by fate to a particular way of life and determined which caste system you belonged to.

• The Buddha rejected this Hindu concept and taught instead the interconnectedness of life. Each self has no fixed reality, but is a constantly changing self and dependant on changing conditions.

• So each person has a physical body which is dependant on food and warmth, and develops in response to those inputs and to the ageing process. Our feelings change with our mood and our time in life, and as a direct result of perceptions which comes from what we see and hear around us. We make decisions based on our feelings and perceptions and these constitute our mental formations.

No unique self contd.• From these four, body, feelings, perceptions, and mental formations

comes consciousness which is dependant on the other four. And the sum of these is what we refer to as self, so therefore, according to the Buddha, there is no fixed definable self. You are still there, with a personality and feelings, and with tremendous possibility for change, and not locked in to some rigid fate, because your nature is built on change.

• In fact, the Buddha took a middle way on the definition of self. He saw the self as dependant on everything that had gone before, and constantly changing in response to an interconnecting and changing reality. While we are not permanent and fixed entities, we are certainly part on the on-going reality.

• Once this is understood, once interconnectedness becomes part of the way of seeing the world, then suffering arises from the personal concept of an independent self.

Buddhism

• Buddhism promotes the principle of equality of all living beings

and respect for all life.

The Four Noble Truths

• The Four Noble Truths revolve around the logical process of seeing life, seeing all actions, not as we wish to see them, but as they really are.

• The first truth is that life always incorporates suffering or Dukkha as it was called then. – Dukkha has a broader meaning than suffering. It can be the

feeling you experience when you encounter pain, old age, sickness, loss, or separation from loved ones, but it can also represent a general unsatisfied feeling. "What, monks, is the truth of suffering? Birth is suffering, decay, sickness and death are suffering. To be separated from what you like is suffering. To want something and not get it is suffering. In short, the human personality, liable as it is to clinging and attachment, brings suffering."

The Four Noble Truths

• The second noble truth is that suffering in its broad sense, comes from desire, and specifically, desire for meeting our expectations and for self-fulfillment as we see it. By desiring for ourselves rather than the whole, we will always have suffering.

• In the same way that a child wants a new toy and then, having achieved that, will long for yet another, we seek fulfilment of our desire, to then move on to another. All the time, our lives are only temporarily satisfied.

The Four Noble Truths

• But Buddhism is a positive philosophy, and the next two noble truths give us an optimistic message.

• The third noble truth tells us that if our attachment to desire ends, so too will the suffering. Specifically, if we change our perception and reduce our attachment to desire, suffering will also reduce. This is not intended to lead to a cancellation of the zest for life, but to an understanding of the nature of life and to controlling those desires which come from that lack of understanding.

The Four Noble Truths

• The fourth noble truth shows the way to the ending of suffering. The Buddha said that the way to cease suffering is to follow the middle way, the Noble Eightfold path. This provides the guidelines for day to day living. There is some analogy here with the Ten Commandments in Christianity, but the eightfold path is meant as a guideline rather than a strict rule.

The Eightfold Path

• The Buddha reached this middle way after himself living the extremes of life. In his early years, he was surrounded by luxury, given access to all pleasures available at that time. In his search, he lived the opposite life, one where he deprived himself of even the essentials, and faced death. The Noble Eightfold path leads to a way, which embraces life and is neither indulgent nor austere.

The Eightfold Path

• The eightfold path, although referred to as steps on a path, is not meant as a sequential learning process, but as eight aspects of life, all of which are to be integrated in every day life. Thus the environment is created to move closer to the Buddhist path.

• The eightfold path is at the heart of the middle way, which turns from extremes, and encourages us to seek the simple approach.

The Eightfold Path• No doubt all of you are aware of the moral codes in other religious

groups such as Christianity, the Jews, and Muslims. While there is a degree of correspondence across these groups, the interpretation of the code in each philosophy is different. In the example of the Ten Commandments, there is an authoritarian feeling of decree, of a direct order that these be fulfilled.

• In Buddhism, the eightfold path is meant as a guideline, to be considered, to be contemplated, and to be taken on when, and only when each step is fully accepted as part of the life you seek. Buddhism never asks for blind faith, it seeks to promote learning and a process of self-discovery.

• The meaning of Right has several aspects, and includes an ethical, and a balanced, or middle way. When things go "right", we often experience a special feeling inside which confirms that this is the correct decision or action.

The Eightfold Path

• The First Step: Right Understanding:– AKA Right View.– relates to seeing the world and everything in it as it

really is, not as we believe it to be or want it to be. Just as you may read the directions on a map, and then make the journey, studying, reading and examining the information is important, but only the preparation for the journey. At a deeper level, direct personal experience will then lead us to Right Understanding.

The Eightfold Path

• The second step: Right Intent. – This is the step where we become committed to the path. Right

Understanding shows us what life really is and what life’s problems are composed of, Right Intent urges us to decide what our heart wants.

– Right Intent must come from the heart and involves recognizing the equality of all life and compassion for all that life, beginning with yourself.

– Right Intent means persistence and a passion for the journey. Setting out to climb a high mountain means you must understand the lay of the land and the pitfalls, the other team members, and the equipment you need. This is similar to Right Understanding. But you will only climb the mountain if you really want to and have a passion for the climb. This is Right Intent. The mountain we climb here is our journey though life.

The Eightfold Path

• To summarize, Right Understanding will eliminate ignorance. With Right Intent and correct understanding, we then remove desire, which in turn causes the suffering defined in the Four Noble Truths.

The Eightfold Path• The Third Step: Right Speech.

– Teaches not to underestimate the power of the spoken word and to avoid feelings of regret often following words said in haste, the disappointment associated with harsh criticism, whether justified or not, etc. Rather, this truth encourages its proponents to speak kind words of encouragement as these are likely to elicit good feelings in others.

• Right speech involves recognition of the truth, and also an awareness of the impact of idle gossip and of repeating rumors.

• Communicating thoughtfully helps to unite others, and can heal dissention.

• Followers of this truth resolve never to speak unkindly, or in anger, as well as to preserve a spirit of consideration and to evolve/move closer to everyday compassionate living.

The Eightfold Path

• The Fourth Step: Right Action – recognizes the need to take the ethical approach in

life, to consider others and the world we live in. This includes not taking what is not given to us, and having respect for the agreements we make both in our private and business lives.

– encompasses the five precepts which were given by the Buddha, not to kill, steal, lie, to avoid sexual misconduct, and not to take drugs or other intoxicants.

– includes a whole approach to the environment, with Right Action being taken whenever possible to safeguard the world for future generations.

The Eightfold Path• The Fifth Step: Right Livelihood• Based on the belief/assumption that if your work has a lack of respect for

life, then it will be a barrier to progress on the spiritual path. • Certain types of work were discouraged by the Buddha

– those where you deal in harmful drugs and intoxicants (liquor store)– those dealing in weapons (gun shop)– and those harmful to animal or human life (butcher shop)– In his time, the Buddha also discouraged the slave trade, which dealt in human

workers. – The Buddha was also against the practice of fortune telling as this made

assumptions about a fixed future, where his teaching stresses that the future is created by what we do today.

• Right Livelihood also implies that a Buddhist who is able, will undertake some work, either as part of a Buddhist community, or in the workplace, or, alternatively, do home based or community service. Many communities of monks ensure that each member has daily chores, which remind him of this step on the Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path

• The Sixth Step: Right Effort (ie the right attitude)– cultivating an enthusiasm, a positive attitude in a

balanced way. Like the strings of a musical instrument, the amount of effort should not be too tense or too impatient, as well as not too slack or too laid back. Right Effort should produce an attitude of steady and cheerful determination.

– In order to produce Right Effort, clear and honest thoughts should be welcomed, and feelings of jealousy and anger left behind. Right Effort equates to positive thinking, followed by focused action.

The Eightfold Path• The Seventh Step: Right Mindfulness (i.e. unclutter your mind)

Right Mindfulness means being aware of the moment, and being focused in that moment. When we travel somewhere, we are hearing noises, seeing buildings, trees, advertising, feeling the movement, thinking of those we left behind, thinking of our destination. So it is with most moments of our lives.

– Right Mindfulness asks us to be aware of the journey at that moment, and to be clear and undistracted at that moment. Right Mindfulness is closely linked with meditation and forms the basis of meditation.

• Right Mindfulness is not an attempt to exclude the world, in fact, the opposite. Right Mindfulness asks us to be aware of the moment, and of our actions at that moment. By being aware, we are able to see how old patterns and habits control us. In this awareness, we may see how fears of possible futures limit our present actions.

• Requires one to concentrate on his/her actions and to observe his/her thoughts.• Sometimes you may be absorbed in what you are doing. Music, art, sports can trigger

these moments. Have you ever done anything where your mind is only with that activity. At that moment, you are mindful, and the Buddha showed how to integrate that awareness into our everyday lives.

The Eightfold Path• The Eighth Step: Right Concentration • Once the mind is uncluttered, it may then be concentrated to achieve

whatever is desired. Right Concentration is turning the mind to focus on an object, such as a flower, or a lit candle, or a concept such as loving compassion. This forms the next part of the meditation process.

• Right concentration implies that we select worthy directions for the concentration of the mind, although everything in nature, beautiful and ugly, may be useful for concentration. At deeper levels, no object or concept may be necessary for further development.

• The benefits of Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration are significant as they teach the mind to see things, not as we are conditioned to seeing them, but as they really are. At the same time, they also lead to a feeling of calm and peace with the world. By being in the moment and being able to concentrate effectively, a sense of joy in the moment is felt. Release from the control of past pains and future mind games takes us closer to freedom from suffering.

The Three Jewels

• Despite the differences in the varieties of Buddhism, there are always the same three cornerstones which are called the Three Jewels. These are the Buddha, the Dharma which is the teaching of the Buddha, and the Sangha, which is the community who follow the teaching.

The Three Jewels

• The first jewel is the Buddha. To take refuge in the Buddha is not to hide in the safety of a powerful being. Refuge in this situation is more like moving to a new perspective, to a new awareness of the possibility within us all. By taking refuge in the Buddha, we align ourselves with the ability to become a Buddha ourselves, to seek the capacity to be awakened to what the Buddha experienced. This precious jewel reminds us to find our own Buddha nature.

The Three Jewels

• The Dharma, the teaching of the Buddha is based on the Four Noble Truths and this is symbolised by the wheel (Mendala). Originally, the Sangha was the monastic community and this was later to include all those following the Buddhist path.

• The Dharma is the path which follows the teaching of the Buddha, and which will ultimately lead to awakening. The Dharma teaches us compassion for ourselves and others through an understanding of The Four Noble Truths and leads to a release from fear and ignorance. The path involves embracing the teaching of the Buddha and applying that understanding to everyday life. The Dharma is called the second jewel.

The Wheel (Mendala)

The Three Jewels

• The Sangha comprises those who come together in any size group to study, discuss, practice meditation with a desire to help and be helped by that group. The Buddha saw that the interaction with others who are on the path as being essential for practice. He saw this as being important for ordained monks as well as those of the general community. The Sangha is the third precious jewel.

• In the original teaching and in current Theravada communities, the Sangha refers only to the monks, nuns and other ordained teachers. The concept of Sangha is more broadly interpreted in many Mahayana and Western groups to include all those who embrace the Dharma as a community.

The Five Precepts• Just as the Three Jewels forms the simple framework for the

transmission of the Buddhist philosophy, the Five Precepts are the basic ethical guidelines for the followers of the philosophy.

• The Five Precepts are not an absolute rigid set of rules, but provide a practical basis for good, ethical living which will produce the right environment in which to seek out our own truths.

• As always, the Buddha was compassionate and pragmatic, and recommended these rather than dogmatically insisting that these five precepts were essential. But there is considerable good sense in each precept and by living with them every day, the way is then clear to be able to focus on the personal search for enlightened understanding.

The Five Precepts

• The first precept is that of not intentionally killing living beings – The primary goal of this precept is to develop

concern for the safety and welfare of others and to have compassion for all living things.

The Five Precepts

• The second precept is to take only what has been given. This is broader than not stealing, as it means returning borrowed items, and not taking unfair advantage even when it is still within the laws of the country. This means that you develop a sense of fair play, and generosity towards others.

The Five Precepts

• The third precept often talks about sexual misconduct, but may also be interpreted as not misusing the senses. As the strongest drive after the survival instinct, the sexual drive will dominate our lives and cause much suffering unless directed wisely and skilfully. Living to excess, and in particular excessive eating, also causes grief. This precept encourages us to be content with more simple lives.

The Five Precepts

• In the fourth precept we are encouraged not to speak falsely, not to lie, slander, misrepresent or to gossip maliciously. This teaches us to speak truthfully and kindly and to have positive motives when we approach a discussion.

The Five Precepts

• The fifth precept is most important for today’s affluent Western society, and that is to avoid intoxicants. This includes alcohol, unnecessary drugs, and stimulants such as tobacco and caffeine. This precept is important to develop rational thinking and will allow the development of inner clarity needed for mindfulness.

Stupas• Style of architecture unique to Indian culture• The development of Buddhism along the Silk

Road resulted in proliferation of stupas, monestaries, grottoes, and vishanas

• With the spread of Islam into the regions around the Silk Road, many of the stupas and temples were destroyed or left abandoned in the desert.

• There are three main types of Buddhist architecture:

– the teaching hall– the residence– a stupa

• usually round • originally shaped like an upturned bell• Sometimes these are solid, with no entrance, but

most have a central chamber.

• The stupa was based on burial mounds which were built in India before the time of Buddha, 2,500 years ago. Stupas were built to house the remains of the Buddha which were divided and given to different regions. From that time on, the stupa has been an important Buddhist structure.

Stupas• The stupas built in India were usually

heavily carved/decorated. • Traditionally, the main body of a stupa is

always hemispherical in shape, with a square shape on top of that, with a round cone shape leading up to a traditional umbrella, and above this is usually a pointed top.

• In Nepal, eyes are added on the square section to represent the all seeing Buddha. Some cultures say that the stupa shape itself represents the body of the seated Buddha.

• In the eighth century, King Sailendra of Indonesia sponsored the building of Borobodur, an enormous monument which incorporates numerous small stupas, leading up to one larger stupa at the highest point. In Tibet, the structure is called a chorten, in Sri Lanka they are referred to as a dagoba and are less decorated, and in China and Japan, the style changed and is called a pagoda.

Yungang Caves

• cave temples hold the most unique position in the development of Buddhist architecture. • The Buddhists' devotion was deeply reflected by the wall paintings of its rock-cut caves. • From Gandhara, Bamyin, Kumtura, Kizil, to Bezeklik, and Dunhuang, the Buddhist artists, with arduous labor ,

created the most impressive wall paintings of cave temples dedicated to the Buddha, his saints, and his legend.• They present us an astonishing pageant of local societies with kings, queens, knights, ladies, monks and artists. • Aside from their artistic values, those cave temples provide us with an immense amount of historical information. • The portraits of Kizil donors with light complexions, blue eyes, and blond or reddish hair teach us they are more

Indo-European than Mongol in appearance. • The processions of Uighur prince and princess from Dunhuang illustrate how Uighurs dressed in the 9th

century. • It is from these wall paintings that we can have a glance at the lives and cultures of these fascinating but

vanished ancient peoples.

Central Asian Art

• It is impossible to talk about Buddhism without mentioning its profound impact on the development of Central Asian art.

• It is through those artworks that a fusion of eastern and western cultures was demonstrated.

• The art of Buddhism left the world the most powerful and enduring monuments along the Silk Road, and among them, some of the most precious Buddhist sculptures, paintings and murals.

• Furthermore the contact with the Hellenized Gandharan culture resulted in the development of a new art form

• (The Gandharan style).

Gandhara Buddha Image• the Buddha statue, sometimes

referred as a Buddha image. • Before Buddhism reached Gandhara

in the 3rd century BC, there had been no representation of the Buddha,

• it was in the Gandharan culture that the use of Buddha images had begun.

• The earliest Buddha images resembled the Greek god Apollo.

• It has been suggested by the scholars that the earliest Buddha images in Gandhara were created by the local Greeks who carried their classic artistic conception and Indianized it by transforming it into the figure of the Greek-featured Buddha,

• dressed in a toga and • seated in the yoga pose.