Buddhism

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Some Facts

• 360 million members

• 4th largest religion in world

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• By the first century it had reached China.

• From there it traveled to Korea and on to Japan and also Tibet around 600 A.D.

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The “Three Jewels” of Buddhism

Buddha – the teacher

Dharma – the teachings

Sangha – the community

First Jewel of Buddhism

• The life of the Buddha

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Siddhartha Gautama

• Born in the family of King Shuddhodana • Dates about 566 B.C. – 483 B.C. • Northern India (Now Nepal) • Member of the Shakya Tribe • Clan name: Gautama • Given name: Siddhartha

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Rich Tradition of Stories

• “Birth Tales”

• Birth surrounded by miraculous signs indicating that he would become a

chakravartin or “turner of the wheel”

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The Wheel of Dharma

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In his early 30’s

• Traveled outside the palace

• Saw 4 sights

• A sick person • An old person

• A corpse • An ascetic

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Path of Renunciation

• Began with severe fasting and self-discipline

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Unproductive

• Ascetic path unproductive

• Began following the

• “Middle Path”

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Middle Path

• Nothing in excess

• Avoiding the extremes of self-denial and self-indulgence

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The Future Buddha

• Sat down under the Bodhi Tree

• After withstanding temptations from Mara

• Intense meditation

• Woke up to the truth

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Became a Buddha

• The Awakened One

• From the dream of ignorance

• His wisdom blossomed like a flower

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Lotus Flower Symbol

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Nirvana

• Ultimate goal of Buddhism

• “to extinguish”

• “to blow out”

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Nirvana

• To understand the causes of suffering and “blown them out”

• No longer suffers from the ignorance and desire that feed the fire of death and rebirth

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Traveled extensively

• Throughout northern India and Nepal

• Had many followers

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Parinirvana

• Died at about 80 years old

• After long and productive teaching career

• Lay down between two trees and passed gently from the realm of death and rebirth

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The 2nd Jewel of Buddhism

• The Buddha’s Dharma

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Buddhist Sacred Writings

• Tripitaka

• “Three Baskets”

• Rules of Monastic Discipline • Dharma Teachings

• Commentaries on Dharma

• Solo Texts for Theravada Buddhism 22

Mahayana Sacred Writings

• Mahayana Buddhism reveres the Tripitaka as a sacred text

• but adds to it the “Sutras”

• which reflect distinctively Mahayana concepts

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The Lotus Sutra

• The most significant of the Mahayana Sutras. • Emphasizes the importance of becoming a

boddhisatva and realizing one's buddha-nature.

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The Heart Sutra

• It describes

• the 5 Skandhas (elements of human nature), • Emptiness • Nirvana • Ultimate reality.

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Pure Land Sutra

• It tells the story of Amitabha Buddha

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The 4 Noble Truths

• 1. All life is suffering

• 2. The cause of suffering is desire

• 3. If there is no desire there will be no suffering

• 4. Liberation from desires requires following the 8-fold path

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1st Noble Truth

• 1. All life is suffering

• “The Truth of Suffering”

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3 Types of Suffering

• 1. Dukkha Suffering

• 2. Viparinama Suffering

• 3. Samkhara Suffering

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Dukkha Suffering

• Physical or mental suffering or pain

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Viparinama Suffering

• Suffering due to change

• Even the most pleasurable things cause suffering when they pass away

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Smakhara Suffering

• Suffering due to conditioned states

• Pleasurable things can cause pain even in the midst of the pleasure, if the pleasure is based upon an illusion about the nature of the object or about the nature of the self

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Car Example

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Dukkha

• If you get into an accident

• Physical suffering / pain

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Viparinama

• The suffering you experience as you watch it go thru a New England winter and get scratched, bumped, and destroyed by the snow and salt

• It wears out!

• Psychological suffering / pain

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Smakhara

• The suffering you experience as you think there is something in your sense of self that will be enhanced by your attachment to the car

• You may appear rich • Enhances your self esteem • Suffering of illusion

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People Example

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Dukkha

• People can cause us pain (physically)

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Viparinama

• People can cause us pain when they changed (don’t loves us anymore, grow up)

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Smakhara

• People can cause us pain from what they expect of us, project unrealistic expectations upon us (parents, spouses)

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3 Marks of Suffering

• 1. Everything is suffering

• 2. Everything is Impermanent

• 3. Nothing has any self or independent identity

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What does no self mean?

• There is no permanent identity to continue from one moment to the next

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Human Personality

• 1. Matter • 2. Feeling or Sensation • 3. Perception • 4. Mental Formation or Thought • 5. Consciousness

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Only momentary

• But they group together to give the illusion of permanence

• Like the flow of a river or the flame of a candle

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What is reborn?

• The stream or flame of desire • Because of the causal continuity between

moments in the flame we assume something permanent

• But I am not the “same” person from one

moment to the next

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Doctrine of Suffering Not Pessimistic

• It is simply realistic to accept that the human personality and all of reality are constantly changing

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• The cause of suffering is not change

• But the human desire to hold on to things and prevent them from changing

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Positive Perspective

• If everything is changing

• It is possible for everything to become new

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The Path of Nirvana

• If there is no self,

• there is no longer any reason to be attached to

• all the things that keep us in the cycle of samsara

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2nd Noble Truth

• 2. The cause of suffering is desire

• The origin of suffering is explained by a causal sequence known as the 12 fold chain of dependent causes

• (pa-tic-ca sam-mul-pad-da)

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Wheel of Becoming Center circle animals representing lust, hatred

and delusion dove = passion snake = hatred pig = stupidity/delusion Second circle left- fate of those with good karma right- fate of those with bad karma Third circle six spheres of existence/destinies from

the gods to hell (originally five destinies; increased to six in Tibetan Buddhism)

hells animals ghosts gods human beings rebel gods (Tibetan addition) Outer circle- 12 fold chain of causation –chain of

cause and effect Demon grasping wheel is Mara, representing

death and impermanence (the whole is swallowed by impermanence)

Most important links

• Ignorance leads to desire

• Desire leads to the birth of selfish actions

• Selfish actions leads to more actions

• Hence the Wheel of Samsara

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Advertisements

• Think of the illusion these ads foster • The desires they try to arouse • What these desires lead to

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Again

• Think of the illusion these ads foster • The desires they try to arouse • And what these desires lead to

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Fundamental Ignorance

• That “I” constitutes a permanent ego that needs to be fed by new and desirable experiences or objects

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3rd Noble Truth

• 3. If there is no desire there will be no suffering

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• Cultivate an awareness of no-self • Strip away the desires that feed the fire of

samsara,

• Eventually the fire will burn out

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• This is not easy

• It may take many lifetimes

• But it is possible for anyone to achieve

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Nirvana

• “To Extinguish”

• “To Blow Out”

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What are we blowing out?

• Desire

• Ignorance

• The self

• Life Itself

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Nirvana and Parinirvana

• Nirvana The Moment of Awakening

• Parinirvana

• When the fire of the personality is finally extinguished

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• These two moments are also called

• “Nirvana with residues”

• “Nirvana without residues”

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• During his lifetime the Buddha exemplified many characteristics we would consider quite

positive

• Peaceful • Wise

• Unattached • Free

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4th Noble Truth

• 4. Liberation from desires requires following the 8-fold path

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The 8-Fold Path • Right understanding

• Right thought • Right speech • Right action

• Right livelihood • Right effort

• Right mindfulness • Right concentration

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3 Sections

• Wisdom (Prajana)

• Moral Conduct (Sila)

• Mental Concentration (Samadhi)

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Wisdom (Prajana)

1. Right understanding • Four Noble truths • Includes doctrines such as impermanence and

no-self

2. Right thought

cultivating virtues, such as love and selflessness

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Moral Conduct (Sila)

3. Right speech • Telling the truth, speaking kindly

4. Right action • E.g. five moral precepts

5. Right livelihood • Occupations which avoid doing harm but rather

promote well- being • Butcher / prostitution / weapons sales

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4. Right Action

• Buddhist laypeople are expected to observe 5 moral precepts:

• No killing • No stealing

• No lying • No abusing sex

• No drinking intoxicants

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4. Right Action

• Buddhist Monks

• They cannot eat after noon • They can’t sleep on soft beds

• They can’t handle gold and silver

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Mental Concentration 6. Right effort

• Developing a will that develops right states of mind

• Towards wholesome states • Preventing unwholesome states

7. Right mindfulness • Awareness of states of being- mind,

thoughts, feelings

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Mental Concentration (cont)

8. Right contemplation • To attain by direct experience the higher

states of awareness • Penetrate reality directly • At this point we achieve Nirvana

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Karma

• Following these practices produces good karma

• Creates detachment that eventually leads to awakening

• Not following them produces bad karma 83

The Bodhisattva Ideal

• Mahayana Buddhism

• “Great Vehicle”

• Reform movement in the Indian Buddhist community in the early Centuries A.D.

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• There are two major schools of Buddhist thought:

• Mahayana and Theravada (or Hinayana).

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Mahayana Buddhism

• The Mahayana school rose to prominence in India around the 1st century A.D., after splitting from the Theravada.

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Theravada Buddhism

• Theravada Buddhism emphasizes strict personal meditation and the monastic path to Enlightenment.

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• The Mahayana sect, in contrast, promises spiritual liberation to both monks and laity, while encouraging the Bodhisattva ideal of saving all sentient beings from life’s sufferings.

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Buddha v. Bodhisattva

• A Buddha is an individual who has achieved Enlightenment and is free from reincarnation,

• Such as the Buddha or the Amitabha Buddha.

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• A Bodhisattva is a person who has achieved Enlightenment or Buddhahood,

• But has delayed Parinirvana and vowed to return to the samsara world to aid all sentient beings on their paths to Buddhahood.

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The Bodhisattva Ideal

While the Mahayana tradition acknowledges the validity of the arhant path,

it holds as its own ideal figure the bodhisattva. The word bodhisattva means "enlightened

essence", or "enlightened being".

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Emptiness: Sunyata

• "Emptiness" or "Voidness", Nothing has independent existence 1. Identity

2. Meaning

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Identity

• This is because everything is

• inter-related and mutually dependent

• Nothing is wholly self-sufficient or

independent

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Example: Parts of a Car

• What is a

• Tire • Steering wheel • Brakes • Windows • etc

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• Their identity is in relationship to the totality of a “car”

• They have no meaning outside of their relationship to other things

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• But what is a car?

• Its identity is in relationship to totality of our society

• (roads, bridges, people, etc.)

• None of which has any independent meaning

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• All things are in a state of constant flux

• where energy and information are forever flowing throughout the natural world

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Samsara = Nirvana

• In other words,

• nirvāna is simply samsāra rightly experienced in light of a proper understanding of the emptiness of all things

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Modern Science • According to modern science

• The distance between the nucleus of the atom and the electrons that revolve around it is like

• A an orange in the middle of a football stadium (the Nucleus)

• And a grape in the upper most stands (the Electron)

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• Things are essentially made of empty space

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3rd Jewel of Buddhism

• The Buddhist Community • Sangha

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