BUDDHIST TRADITIONS

Answers to questions that plague us all

OUT OF HINDUISM

• WAS IT A REACTION TO HINDUISM? – ITS PERVERSIONS?– ITS AUTHORITY? had become hereditary, secretive,

institutional– ITS RITUALISM? mechanical for obtaining results– ITS SPECULATION? caught in minutia; nature of self,

world, divine– ITS TRADITION? lost its aliveness (insistence on

Sanskrit)– ITS MYSTERY? magic, occult– ITS IDEA OF GRACE ? universe good to the removal

or responsibility• karma or fatalism; resignation to wheel vs effort

OR…

• We will see…………

SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA

• SAKYAMUNI (“wise one of the muni tribe”)• TATHAGATA(“one who has thus come”) • The BUDDHA (“theAwakened”) • -BORN 563 BCE NEPAL• -PRINCELY EXISTENCE (KSHATRIYA)• -WELL BORN HANSOME, STATELY• - LUXURY, WEALTH, DANCING GIRLS (KAMA)• -MODEL WIFE YASHODHARA QUEEN OF

HEAVEN– BEAUTIFUL SON AND DESTINED FOR FAME AND POWER

(ARTHA)

• -HEIR TO THRONE (DHARMA)• - but SHELTERED BY FATHER

THE FOUR PASSING SIGHTS

• In late 20’s A GROWING DISCONTENT (there must be something more!)

• (Campbell’s HERO’S CALL)

• THE LEGEND OF THE FOUR PASSING SIGHTS -he leaves the palace seeing…

• 1. OLD AGE

• 2. DISEASE

• 3. CORPSE

ANICCA

• Thru MEDITATION upon these we learn:• THE REALITY OF SUFFERING!• Youth is fleeting suffering• Health is fleeting suffering• LIFE is fleeting! suffering• THE WHOLE WORLD IS FLEETING

PASSING,TRANSITORY, IMPERMANENT

• LIFE IS A STREAM

• *ALL IS ANICCA =IMPERMANENCE– TRANSITORY, PASSING, FLEETING, EPHEMERAL

THE FOURTH PASSING SIGHT

• Leaves the palace a final time seeing…

• MENDICANT MONK – shaven head, robe, bowl, ascetic- world removed

• From this LEARN HOPE , POSSIBILITY

• THERE IS SOMETHING MORE!– Release from suffering

• And he vows to achieve it

THE GREAT GOING FORTH

• INTO THE WOODS (DESERT)• THE SEARCH FOR ENLIGHTENMENT • THE TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRITUAL OVER THE

WORLDLY • THE SEARCH• -SOLITUDE – lonely forest dweller “How hard the

life of the forest dweller. To rejoice in solitude. Verily the silent groves bear heavily upon the monk who has not yet won fixity of mind”

• -2 HINDU MASTERS – a RAJA AND A JNANA• -A BAND OF ASCETICS

– Fasting 6 grains of rice/1 fruit/1 seed 1 grain– Breath training brought only weakness, sick, near death

• “If you tighten the string too much it will break; Too loose it will not play”

THE MIDDLE WAY

• EXTREME COMFORT NOT THE WAY• EXTREME DISCOMFORT ACETICISM NOT THE WAY• THE MIDDLE WAY• Concept of a RATIONED LIFE – body given what

needed combined with vigorous deep thought and mystic concentration can lead to liberation

• the vow - seated upon the IMMOVEABLE SPOT UNDER BODHI tree with vow to achieve enlightenment

• -experiences MARA'S TEMPTATIONS –god of death who sends forth

• -Daughters – DISCONTENT, DESIRE, DELIGHT

The Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, India

THERE WILL BE SOME WHO UNDERSTAND

• GAUTAUMA UNMOVED (having emptied himself)• Touches the earth asking the earth to bear witness to his

vow• With deepening meditation perceives previous lifetimes• Previous lives of all , death and rebirth• Ultimate nature of the universe, radiance of true being• SAT ROOTED IN RAPTURE 49 DAYS• MARA TRIED ONE MORE TEMPTATION • - “WHO WOULD UNDERSTAND?• -HOW COULD THIS REVELATION BE TRANSMITTED• -HOW SHOW WHAT CAN ONLY BE FOUND• -HOW TEACH WHAT CAN ONLY BE LEARNED• -WHY BOTHER?• -WHY NOT WASH ONES HANDS AND SLIP OUT INTO…

NIRVANA• (the extinguishing eternal bliss liberation from samsara)• Buddha’s answer THERE WILL BE SOME WHO UNDERSTAND

THE 3 JEWELS OF BUDDHISM: p.255

• 1. the BUDDHA turns back to the worlds in COMPASSION– FOUNDS an ORDER OF MONKS –

• 2. the SANGA – THE COMMUNITY• -CHALLENGES THE DEADNESS OF BRAHMIN SOCIETY• -PROVIDES PREACHING AND PRIVATE COUSELLING• -PERIOD OF WITHDRAWAL AND RETURN (CREATIVITY)• -meditate 3 times a day 3 months a year

• 3. THE DHARMA- the teachings, the truth– vs ethical duty and service of Hinduism

• “I take refuge in the Buddha,… Dharma, ….Sangha”• After breaking from rapture walked into DEER PARK in holy city

– Of Veranase Benares –• preached the FIRST SERMON (q.v.)• disclosing the Keys

the FIRST SERMON

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS FROM REFLECTIONS ON FOUR PASSING SIGHTS

• The First Noble Truth - there is SUFFERING• LIFE IS DUKKHA (SUFFERING)• “ Only at quite rare moments have I felt really

glad to be alive; I could not but feel with a sympathy full of regret all the pain that I saw around me, not only that of men, but of the whole world of creation” Albert Schweitzer

• -LIFE A STYPICALLY LIVED IS UNFULFILLING/ INSECURE

• - EVEN ENJOYMENT IS SUPERFICIAL/FLEETING• “MOST MEN LIVE LIVES OF QUIET DESPIRATION”

Thoreau

The First Noble Truth cont.• A.) There are obvious examples

• the pleasures of one are the pains of another• the pains of another disturb one’s own

contentment

• B.) The pleasures we do enjoy bring with them: • AN ATTACHMENT TO THE OBJECT/ ACTIVITY ENJOYED• AN ANXIETY AT THE INEVITABILITY OF SEPERATION FROM

OBJ/ACT

• C.) the pleasure we do enjoy does not diminish the drive for that pleasure but rather increases it

• D.) grasping (clinging) at life’s pleasures increases the suffering

1 The First Noble Truth cont• SIX MOMENTS OF GLARINGLY APPARENT:

– BIRTH– SICKNESS– FEAR OF AGE OR DECAY– FEAR OF DEATH– ATTACHMENT TO WHAT ONE LIKES– SEPERATION FROM WHAT ONE LOVES

• THIS PAIN FELT IN THE 5 SKANDAS (LIFE COMPONENT GROUPINGS)– BODY– SENSATIONS– THOUGHTS– FEELINGS– CONSCIOUSNESS

• ENERGY BUNDLES (THE SUM OF WHAT WE CONSIDER LIFE TO BE)

• More below• REBIRTH AND KARMA HERE!!!!

The First Noble Truth cont.• In sum The First Noble Truth then • there is SUFFERING, LIFE IS SUFFERING• DUKKHA• DUKKHA – IS THE PAIN THAT COLORS

FINTE EXISTENCE– LIFE IN THE CONDITION IT HAS GOTTEN ITSELF

IS “DISLOCATED” – LIFE IS OUT OF HARMONY (NEEDS REPAIR)

• TO HEAL OR ALLEVIATE THIS PAIN WE NEED TO KNOW THE CAUSE

The Second Noble Truth: SUFFERING IS CAUSED

• SUFFERING IS CAUSED– THE CAUSE IS – 1.) TANHA (CRAVING) and…– 2.) AVIDYA ( IGNORANCE) IGNORANCE OF

• ANICCA AND• ANATTA (MORE IN A MOMENT)

• 1.) SUFFERING ORIGINATES IN CRAVING– A.) CRAVING WHAT ONE CANNOT HAVE or…– B.) CRAVING TO AVOID WHAT CANNOT BE AVOIDED– C.) DEEPER SENSE OF CRAVING IS TO BE OR HAVE A

SELF• TWO FACTORS INVOLVED

• 1.) EXISTENCE OF CERTAIN OBJECTIVE FACTORS IN WORLD• 2.) EXISTENCE OF A SELF

– THERE IS NO SUFFERING UNTIL THESE OBJECTIVE FACTORS ARE RELATED TO A SELF

THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH cont. ANATTA or (ANATMAN)

• IT IS THE CRAVING OF A SELF THAT GIVES RISE TO SUFFERING• WHAT IS THIS SELF THAT IS CRAVED??• Analysis of the self gives us PROCESSES

– 5 SKANDAS • BODY PROCESSES• SENSATIONS• PERCEPTIONS• IMPULSES• CONSCIOUSNESS

• BEYOND THESE NOTHING MORE and so…• THERE IS NO ( enduring) THING WE CAN CALL “THE SELF”

– THERE IS NO SELF or in Sanskrit ANATTA or (ANATMAN)– THAT THERE IS A SELF AS SOMETHING MORE TO WHICH THESE

5 PROCESSES BELONG IS A FICTION – A FICTION CREATED BY:• 2.) IGNORANT CRAVING ( AVIDYA)

• *OR ANOTHER WAY TO SAY THIS IS “NO SOUL” or no permanent, unchanging, independent self

THREE MARKS OF EXISTENCE

• THUSFAR WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE

• THREE MARKS (CHARACTERISTICS) OF EXISTENCE:– DUKKHA - suffering– ANATTA – no self– ANICCA - impermanence

• (REMEMBER - ANICCA FROM MEDITATION ON THE 4 PASSING SIGHTS)

• ***********************

The Third Noble Truth: SUFFERING CAN BE ELIMINATED

• Because suffering is caused… • BY EXTINGUISHING THE CAUSE OF

SUFFERING, SUFFERING CAN BE EXTINGUISHED (nirvana = “extinguished”p253)– As we have seen, we assume that in addition to

bodily and mental activity there is an “i”, a self– It is to this ego self that the doctrine of anatta refers– so it is IN OVERCOMING ATTACHMENT TO THE “I”

THAT RELEASE FROM SUFFERING IS FOUND !

• “Life being One, all that tends to separate one from another causes Suffering. Our duty is to understand our fellows as extensions of ourselves fellow facets of the same reality”

I DO NOT EXIST…• … AS A SUBSTANCE INDEPENDENT OF THE

PROCESSES THAT CONSTITUTE ME.

• WE SAY BODY OR HABITS BELONG TO A SELF YET IT IS CLEAR THAT THIS IS SIMPLY A WAY OF SPEAKING AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE EVIDENCE THAT THERE EXIST A SELF BEYOND A GROUP OF PROCESSES.

• THESE PROCESSES CAUSE SUFFERING ONLY BECAUSE OF A WRONG ATTITUDE (IGNORANCE) TOWARD THEM, AN ATTITUDE THAT MISTAKES THEM FOR SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT THEY ARE (PROCESSES)

The Fourth Noble Truth:THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

• THE WAY TO EXTINGUISH THE CAUSE OF TANHA AND AVIDYA IS

• THE EIGHTFOLD PATH– The middle way

» The moral, ethical standard of Buddhism» Morality- right speech, action and livelihood» Meditation-right effort, mindfulness,

concentration» Wisdom (prajna)-right views, intention

The Four Noble Truths summ.

• 1. Life means suffering.(dukkha)– To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not

perfect and neither is the world we live in

• 2. The origin of suffering is attachment. – The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things

and the ignorance thereof. (tanha and avidya)

• 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.– The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha.

Nirodha means extinguishing all forms of clinging and attachment.

• 4. The path to the cessation of suffering is the Eightfold path.

– It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence (hedonism) and excessive self-mortification (asceticism); and it leads to the end of the cycle of rebirth. The path to the end of suffering can extend over many lifetimes, throughout which every individual rebirth is subject to karmic conditioning. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and its effects will disappear gradually, as progress is made on the path.

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH: Wisdom

• RIGHT VIEWS or Understanding – to make up your mind– to fully know the FOUR TRUTHS– to be convinced in a way out CONVICTION

• RIGHT Thought or resolve– to make up your heart– To resolve to renounce the world yet do no

harm– Singleness of mind – RESOLUTION

Morality

• RIGHT SPEECH– speak the truth only– abstain from slander and gossip– AWARENESS of what our talk reveals- motives, charity

• RIGHT ACTS (CONDUCT) – tied in with KARMA– FIVE PRECEPTS –no killing, stealing, lying, no unchaste

behavior, no intoxicants– monks/nuns- no eat afternoon, no watch dancing, no ornament

or perfume, No hi or soft bed, no gold/silver

• RIGHT LIVELIHOOD – progress impossible if work goes against

Concentrationor meditation

• RIGHT EFFORT – struggle, long slow steady striving– resolve

• RIGHT MINDFULNESS – correct understanding, removal of ignorance– recognition of what is body, mind, feelings,

sensations, consciousness– awareness of EVERY action

• RIGHT CONCENTRATION – meditation, inward serenity– Usually single-point

NIRVANA

• BUDDHIST (ultimate) LIFE'S GOAL• NIRVANA• SIMILAR TO MOKSHA BUT LITERALLY TO

EXTINGUISH, BLOW OUT

• WHAT IS EXTINGUISHED?– THE BOUNDARIES OF FINITE SELF– FLAME OF PRIVATE DESIRES CONSUMED RESULT BOUNDLESS LIFE

•• FOR THE BUDDHA NIRVANA IS

– " INCOMPREHENSIBLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNUTTERABLE– AFTER WE ELIMINATE EVERY ASPECT OF THE ONLY

CONSCIOUSNESS WE HAVE EVER KNOWN HOW CAN WE SPEAK OF WHAT IS LEFT

NIRVANA

• Buddha to Disciple NAGASENA – “ IS THERE WIND?”

• Nagasena, : “Of course”

• Buddha, “show it to me

• Nagasena, “impossible”

• Buddha, “even so, sir, nirvana exists - beyond thought, beyond feeling, beyond mind, beyond all.”

So since beyond all…

• A more pragmatic goal..

• Well-Being – thru ritual and merit-making

• Cultivation of morals- merit-making

• And then Nirvana seeking – thru meditation

Four Good Deeds

• Make self happy along with mother, father, children, family friends….

• Make self (and those others) secure with whatever “wealth” and manner necessary

• Make the five fold offerings to relatives, guests, departed hungry ghosts, king and gods (devata)

• Make offering of gifts to all recluses and Brahmins to such that deserve…

EXPERIMENTS• PICTURES - anicca / anatta

– What remains the same?

• CANDLE FLAME- anicca / anatta / nirvana– are you aware of it ? – What was it? Where did it go?

• CANDLE PASS – anatta / anicca / samsara– Original? Where is it? What is it? / Where did it go?

• FOOD COLOR DROP- anicca – What is happening?

• STOP IT! - tanha dukkha– but you really liked that design. How did it feel?

• PICK ANOTHER you like better- tanha dukkha– Make yours into that other using what you have. You must!

• POUR ALL IN ONE - samsara/ karma– Retrieve your original. You really want to! Again Tanha dukkha– Draw out a glass. What does it contain? How karma /samsara?

• SHAVE HEAD - anicca/ anatta dukkha?– Ok now put it back! I was really attached to it. No really.

• No dukkha! I realize all impermanent (anicca). No ego! No self!

A GOD?

• if by that you mean PERSONAL … NO . personality requires definition

• But a MYSTICAL godhead …– " unborn, uncreated, unformed– “Yet permanent, imperishable, ageless,

deathless power, bliss, eternal, incomprehensible”

• BUDDHISM IS UNIQUE IN ITS FOCUS ON THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THE HUMAN - NOT ON A DIVINITY

COMPARED TO HINDUISM

• ANATTA vs atman of Hinduism – NO SELF, NO SOUL

• ATTA (or atman) WOULD MEAN – 1. SUBSTANCE OF CONSTANT – 2. IDENTITY

• SAMSARA -REINCARNATION ACCEPTED BUT IMAGE OF A FLAME PASSED– ONLY CONNECTION CAUSAL NOT SUBSTANTIVE

• DHARMA – the truth, the teaching• KARMA – over

KARMA

• ACCEPTANCE OF KARMA SUCH THAT TRANSMIGRATION ALONG THESE LINES

• 1. CHAIN OF CAUSATION - threads each life from preceding- yet freewill

• 2. LAWFULNESS- present state the product of prior acts - free to shape destiny

• 3. CAUSAL CONNECTEDNESS - but not of substance rather ideas, feelings, impressions, streams of consciousness (Tibetans=mind)

KARMA

• ANALOGY - THE LIKES AND DISLIKES OF MY MIND NOT ACCIDENTAL

• -HAVE A LINEAGE• -ADDED TO CULTURAL ATTITUDES THESE

FORM MENTAL HABITS "CRAVINGS" TENDENCIES THO WHICH I CAN STILL CHANGE (thru heart/mind)– (Acquiring a concern for social justice from my parents did not

mean that a substance leapt from their head to mine)

• BASIC DENIAL OF EVERY SORT OF SUBSTANCE ANICCA – TRANSITORINESS OF EVERYTHING FINITE - CHANGE FLUX

NIRVANA

• “As a dream vanishes upon awakening, as a star defers to the morning sun,

• As the dew drop slips into the shining sea or the dew drop opens to receive the sea itself

• The individual awareness is eclipsed in the blazing light of total awareness"

Buddhism• 1. What is the human condition?• To be caught in samsara: the endless cycle of existence, characterized by maya

(delusion), tanha (craving) and• hatred/aversion, leading to dukkha (suffering or unsatisfactoriness).• 2. Where are we going?• • To a favourable or unfavourable rebirth after death• • To Enlightenment through entering nirvana/nibbana• • To Buddhahood• • To Bodhisattvahood (Mahayana Buddhism)• 3. How do we get there?• We achieve Enlightenment by:• • acknowledging the Three Jewels: Buddha, dharma/dhamma, and sangha, by joining

the sangha• • accepting the Four Noble Truths• • following the Middle Way/Eightfold Path• • following the precepts consistent with a lay or monastic way of life• • following the path of the bodhisattva• • developing wisdom and compassion

Continued History

Samsara { ~~~~~ } nirvana

• need a RAFT – VEHICLE - YANA

QUESTIONS THAT DIVIDE

• WHY DO RELIGIONS SPLIT?• 3 QUESTIONS THAT DIVIDE• 1. ARE PEOPLE INDEPENDENT OR

INTERDEPENDENT?• Relationship to others? Individual or social?• 2. RELATIONSHIP TO UNIVERSE? Benevolent

(grace) or indifferent (hostile)?• 3. RELATIONSHIP OF HEART TO HEAD?

WISDOM TO COMPASSION?

FIRST COUNCIL

• to maintain the purity of the Dharma (unwritten true teachings of the Buddha)

• one year after Buddha’s passing 483BCE

• 500 MONKS gather

• Result TRIPITAKA– The “three baskets” (Sanskrit) or event. the– Pali canon (Pali language)

SECOND COUNCIL

• LIBERAL MONKS – sought relaxation of discipline

• Store salt, eat later, palm wine, silver/gold

– Would lead to SPLIT• Sthaviras Theravadins• Mahasanghikas Mahayana

THIRD COUNCIL p. 239

• King Ashoka third cent. BCE• Buddhist convert morality & pacifism• Patron and promoter stupas (relics),

monasteries , universities – Also of Jainism and Hinduism

• Purify and missionize (Egypt, Syria, China)

• Which would eventually save Buddhism (along with work of Gupta dynasty) because of 5th cent. Hun and 12c. MUSLIM invasion

BEYOND INDIAnot as simple as this…we will discuss

• BUDDHISM- THERAVADA (hinayana)• -• -• MAHAYANA - VAJRAYANA (Tibet)• -• - (seated

meditation)• (dhyana sanskrit) CH'AN ( China )

[TAOIST/CONF influence - next ]• ZEN (Japan, Korea) (zazen)

THERAVADA

• HINAYANA - LITTLE VEHICLE OR• THERAVADA ( elders)• AUTHORITATIVE SCRIPTURE ( P. 247)• Pali Canon Tripitaka -3 baskets• Words of the historical Buddha• Vinaya Pitaka – rules codes for monks, life of B.• Sutra Pitaka – discourses of Siddhartha, morality• Abidharma P. – psychological teachings of Buddha• Also the Jataka Tales

• Dhammapada see 248 text

THERAVADA• - individual• - no help from universe• - spiritual wisdom• - sanga• - Arhat worthy one• - Buddha supreme sage• - speculation useless• - meditation, invocation• - conservative adherence to original Pali texts• - So. Asia Burma, Thai, camb, srilanka – the southern school• - entire Buddh society envisioned• Vipissana meditation – insight meditation• Rise and fall of the abdomen in breathing• Let all else pass thru• Ritual ,veneration of relics, images – we will explore

MAHAYANA • SECOND COUNCIL• LIBERAL MONKS

– sought relaxation of discipline– Would lead to SPLIT

• BIG VEHICLE– to encompass everyone

• AUTHORITATIVE SCRIPTURE– OWN VERSION OF TRIPITAKA– And the popular LOTUS SUTRA

– Enlightenment for ALL

– bodhisattva ideal compassion

• And the PERFECTION OF WISDOM– How to transcend ordinary realities of paradox

MAHAYANA• - ALL LIFE UNDIVIDED / INTERCONNECTED YET IN FLUX

(ANICCA)• - GRACE TOWARDS GOAL• - UNIVERSE IS COMPASSIONATE• - A LAITY, BODHISATTVA, BUDDHA SAVIOR –a universal

principle• - ELABORATE COSMOLOGIES/ METAPHYSICS • - 4 great bodhisattva vows (NEXT)• -COMPASSION ( karuna)

- emphasis on meditative process and SUNYATA ( emptiness)

• A DEEP APPRECIATION OF WHICH FREES US FROM SUFFERING CAUSED BY OUR EGOS, ATTACHMENTS

DESIRES)• - SUPPLICATION/ PETITION- to previous Bodhisattvas,

Avalokitesvara, KuanYin• - LIBERAL INTERPRETATION• - KOREA/ JAPAN/ CHINA ( CH'AN, ZEN) TIBET AS VAJRAYANA

Buddhist Ritual Practices• Householders and monastics- taking the

precepts, merit making, establishing and worshiping stupas, establishing and worshiping images, festivals, pilgrimages and arranging for life-cycle rituals

• Ordained monastics- ordination, begging rounds, rituals, healings, funerals

• Mahayana developments- boddhisattva vows, feeding hungry ghosts, life-cycle rites and death rites

Refer to…

• Readings and references regarding puja and worship as assigned….

• Readings and references regarding Stupas as assigned…

• Readings and references regarding images as assigned…

Sacred Time- Puja• Monastery or home or…• Before image of Buddha (or ancestors)

• Gratitude• Respect (remove shoes, bowing and prostration, hands)

• Prayers and chanting• Three Jewels• Five Precepts

• Offerings• Flowers impermanence• Fruit what good conduct brings• Water purity• Incense what good conduct brings• Candle removal of ignorance

• The upholder of the Dharma Flower, As a reward, knows all at once. The countless Buddhas in the ten directions, Adorned with the marks of a hundred blessings, Speak the Dharma for living beings. He hears it all and can receive and hold it. He ponders limitless meanings And speaks limitless Dharmas, too, Without a mistake or omission from beginning to end, Because he upholds the Dharma Flower. He completely knows the marks of all Dharmas, And recognizes their meaningful sequence. Knowing the names and words, He expounds on them as he understands them. What this person says Is all the Dharma of former Buddhas. And because he expounds on this Dharma, He is fearless in the assembly. The one who upholds the Dharma Flower Has a pure mind like this. Although he has not yet attained to no-outflows, He already has such marks as these. This person, upholding the Sutra, Dwells securely on rare ground, And all living beings Delight in him, cherish and revere him. He can, with a thousand myriads of kinds Of skillful, clever words, Speak the Dharma in detail, Because he upholds the Dharma Flower.

Four Vows

• Beings are numberless, I vow to save themDesires are inexhaustible, I vow to end themDharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter themBuddha's way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it.

VAJRAYANA - THE DIAMOND SCEPTER

• -PERSECUTED NOW BUT HAD SURVIVED IN ITS ORIGINAL STATE in TIBET

• - TURNS FIRE OF DESIRE IN ON ITSELF (tantrism)• - A HARNESSING OF SENSUAL ENERGIES

-from BON (pern) shamanistic • SCRIPTURE• As above but add TANTRIC texts• TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD• HEART SUTRA– Sunyata based on anicca &dependent

origination Nagarjuna• Padmasambhava• Milarepa• MANDALAS• MUDRAS• MANTRAS• LAMAS-hierarchy of gurus • clergy line of succession from AValokitshvara – Buddha of

Compassion• divined thru various methods

Om Mani Padme Hum

• Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer), Om Mani Padme Hum, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Viewing the written form of the mantra is said to have the same effect -- it is often carved into stones,

Om Mani Padme Hum

• “Buddha of great compassion, hold me fast in your compassion. From time without beginning, beings have wandered in samsara, Undergoing unendurable suffering. They have no other protector than you. Please bless them that they may achieve the omniscient state of buddhahood. “

Meditation

• All sects of Buddhism

• Last of Three categories (trainings) of 8 fold path

• Heightened awareness, increased concentration, wisdom, insight

• Generally two types:– Mindfulness of breath– Loving kindness

Festivals• major

– Life of Buddha• Visakha “Buddha Day” – 1st full moon of May

» Birth, enlightenment, death of Buddha (Theravada)» Mahayana celebrate these on 3 sep days

– Life of Sangha• Rains retreat – monsoons sent all home power

• Minor– Seasons– Dependent on country, region

• Death rituals – most important

Sacred Places/ Spaces p. 265

• Monasteries/ temples – esp Theravada• images of buddhas and bodhisattvas (mahayana)

• Stupas q. v.

• Places of pilgrimage– Lumbini gardens– Bodh gaya– Sarnath– Kushinara

The Little Buddha

• The Little Buddha (1994) • Director: Bernardo Bertolucci• Story by Bernardo Bertolucci• Screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer and Mark Peploe• In this film, the search for the re-incarnation of a Tibetan

Lama crisscrosses with the telling of the story of the historical Buddha’s life from conception to Enlightenment.

• The mingling of the traditional story of the Buddha with the search for a Lama’s reincarnation sets the overall plot firmly in the context of Mahayana (Great Vessel) Buddhism generally and of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism in particular. The biography of Siddhartha is common to all Buddhists but the overall plot draws much on the particularity of Tibetan Buddhism

Some Questions/Tasks• Note the Stupa, beautifully photographed, during the Kathmandu

sequences. Look up the origin and purpose of Stupas. • From your knowledge of Buddhist teaching and of the differences between

Theravada and Mahayana, do you think that this retelling of the Buddha’s story is colored by the latter’s beliefs, or not?

• Note the references to everything in the universe being the effect of a cause, and Lama Norbu's comment about the Buddha being beyond 'cause' after his enlightenment. How would you describe nirvana?.

• Note several references to the concept that we are all, in essence, 'one'; for example, as Siddhartha explains why he must leave the palace despite his love for his wife and newborn son.

• What special ability, or abhuna did the Buddha gain as a result of his enlightenment. Lama Norbu explains this to the children after the enlightenment sequence.

• Listen for Lama Norbu's reply to Dean when, at the Dharma center in Seattle, he calls the story of the Buddha's life a nice myth. Are stories only 'true' if they really happened?

• What else did you learn about Tibetan culture from the film? • Some of the ritual is impressive and interesting to watch. Note the offerings

in front of the images in the monastery and look up what Mahayana Buddhists place before their (3 items) rupas and what Theravada place before theirs (usually 7 or 8 items).

Stupa

• Stupa is actually Sanskrit for "pile" as in a heap that gradually accumulates when each visitor to a grave leaves a small stone.  All over the ancient world we find that the tombs of great individuals were covered in stones so that a tel, hill or cairn is eventually the result.  The erecting of a ready-made cairn is certainly a related practice. A pagoda refers to the same type of monument form of a stepped tower Stupa usually signifies a domed memorial that normally contains relics and offerings

ZEN BUDDHISM• [sour patch - 1st thing tht comes to mind]

• ZEN - A living in the moment with full knowingDelusion in world (truman)

practice, practice--> knowing-->reenter world

• BUDDHISM- THERAVADA (hinayana)• -• -• MAHAYANA - VAJRAYANA (Tibet)• -• - (seated meditation)• (dhyana sanskrit) CH'AN ( China ) [ TAOIST influence -

next ]• ZEN (Japan, Korea) (zazen)

• ALL TRACE ROOTS TO GAUTAMA HIMSELF

ZEN BUDDHISM

• KOAN

• puzzle, riddle, problem not to be solved but to be lived with

• to frustrate the logical mind and move us beyond logic to

• AN INTUITIVE OR IMMEDIATE EXPERIENTIAL RESPONSE

logical, rational vs. koans • Voiceless it cries, Wingless it

flutters Toothless it bites mouthless mutters

• The root tops the trunk of this backward thing that grows in the winter

and dies in the spring

• You must keep this after giving this

• you break it when you name it

• If you meet a man on the way greet him with neither words nor silence Now tell me how you will greet him.

• The wind was flapping a temple flag 2 monks argue: one saying the flag was moving the other the wind was moving Master:"It is neither the flag or wind moving It is your mind that is moving”

• Man hanging from tree by mouth A visitor asks What is meaning of Bodhi-dharma coming from West? He must meet the questioners need How should he answer?

ZEN BUDDHISM

• Influence of zen seen in art (sumie) • poetry (haiku)• martial arts• archery• landscaping• flower arranging• tea ceremony• harmony , respect, clarity, calm insight , empty

space• RESEARCH AND REPORT • HOW DOES _________ EXPRESS THE SPIRIT

OF ZEN?

ZEN BUDDHISM

• HAIKU• esp. haiku master MATSUO BASHO• in Japanese formal 3 lines: • the first contains five syllables,• the second seven

the third five

• in English need not conform to this but us. 3 short lines in which an image presented in a clear direct way

• immediacy of experience BANG!• often juxtaposition, contrast• often seasonal but • NEVER similies, metaphor or rhyme• reread, think, hone, live with it! sharpen the image

MATSUO BASHO

ZEN BUDDHISM

• A LOOKING BEYOND PHILOSOPHIC SPECULATION TO A HIGHER, MORE SUBTLE TEACHING

• A DIRECT SEEING INTO UNDIVIDED REALITY• (direct experience of the truth beyond

thoughts/words)• yet to suggest that it is an experience that a

"subject" is capable of having is to use terms which contradict zen

• the emphasis: the emptiness of all constructions we place on the undivided flow of reality -

• things and self and nirvana and samsara can only be directly experienced

ZEN BUDDHISM

• THE FLOWER SERMON (qv)• THE BUDDHA HELD UP ONLY A

GOLDEN LOTUS BLOSSOM AT THE BACK OF THE PACK ONLY KASHYAPA SMILED, AND SO WAS NAMED SUCCESSOR ( indian succession)

• INSIGHT TRANSMITTED THRU 28 PATRIARCHS

• Until CARRIED TO CHINA IN 520CE BY BODHIDHARMA (the 28th)

Flower Sermon• the origins of Zen Buddhism are ascribed to what is rendered in

English as the Flower Sermon, in which Śākyamuni Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) transmitted direct prajñā (wisdom) to the disciple Mahākāśyapa.

• The Flower Sermon was wordless, encapsulating ineffable tathātā: it comprised the purity of direct communication wherein Śākyamuni proffered a white flower to the sangha, amongst whom there was no realization except Mahākāśyapa, who smiled. According to a tradition first attested to in 1036, the smile signified Mahākāśyapa's direct cognition, and Śākyamuni affirmed this by saying:

• I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvana, the true form of the formless, the subtle [D]harma [G]ate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa.[1]

• Thus, a way within Buddhism developed which concentrated on direct experience rather than on rational creeds, doctrinal scholasticism, intellectualism and analysis

ZEN BUDDHISM

• Bodhidharma - 9 years gazing at a wall• a special transmission outside of scriptures

no dependence on words or letters• direct pointing at the essence of man

(experiential, Practice) • usually translated "soul" or ground of being but

"one's original face"• seeing into one's own nature and Buddhahood• sitting meditation practice, practice• sudden enlightenment - character of zen satori• wisdom beyond words

Bodhidharma

ZEN BUDDHISM

• TO JAPAN IN 12TH CENTURY- Dogen

• Soto School– • gradual practice• sanzen

Rinzai

• monk Myōan Eisai, following his return from China in 1191. Eisai is thus usually credited with the transmission of Rinzai to Japan.

• Rinzai – sudden satori sanzen=dokusan)

Dokusan / sanzen

• Dokusan, or private instruction, provides an opportunity for Zen students to work directly with a teacher in a confidential, face-to-face setting

• The student may ask questions concerning practice or may just sit for a few minutes with the teacher, saying nothing. The teacher may test the student or inquire about the student's practice by asking questions as well.

ZEN BUDDHISM

• TRADITION VIA SUCCESSION OF TEACHERS

• TRAINING VIA ZAZEN ( seated meditation)

• KOAN ( riddle or problem )• SANZEN ( consultation concerning progress)

[dokusan]• No separation btwn meditation and

enlightenment. • Zen discipline a seeking to realize the Unity of

dhyana & prajna in all one's acts• THE GOAL - BREAKTHROUGH• ALL LIFE IS ZEN!!!

SATORI ( kensho)

• Satori roughly translates into individual Enlightenment, or a flash of sudden awareness. Satori is as well an intuitive experience. The feeling of Satori is that of infinite space. A brief experience of Enlightenment is sometimes called Kensho. Semantically, Kensho and Satori have virtually the same meaning

• The only way that one can "attain" Satori is through personal experience. The traditional way of achieving Satori, and the most typical way taught to Zen students in the west --- but NOT the only way --- is through the use of Koans

• Another method is meditation. Satori can be brought about through Zazen meditation

ZEN BUDDHISM

• SATORI ( kensho) freedom from thought, ego, pure experience

• a FLASH OF INSIGHT ("kick in the eye")• to infuse the temporal with the eternal • and to have these more frequently, to move to it

freely• BEINGS AMAZINGNESS MUST BE DIRECTLY

REALIZED• Not our awareness but more accurately Being's

awareness of Itself in us. The whole world is aware of Itself in me!!

ZEN BUDDHISM

• STORY OF TRANSMISSION in China • Emperor Wu "What merit have I earned?"

None. These like shadows• Impure motives, they are like shadows following

a person.• "What has merit?" • Pure knowing, wonderful and perfect, essence of

which is• EMPTINESS.• "Who stands before me?" I don't know.• Story of Hung Jen (5th)--> to Hui Neng (6th)

q.v.****

Story of Hung Jen (5th)--> to Hui Neng (6th)• In time, Hongren was approaching his end, and needed to secure the

succession of the entire Zen patriarchy. Favourite to succeed was the head monk, Shen xiu (Jp: Jinshū, 606?-706). Hongren set a task: in order to be considered for the succession, candidates must present their understanding in a poem. Shen xiu wrote his poem on a corridor wall:

• The body is a Bodhi tree,the mind a standing mirror bright.At all times polish it diligently,and let no dust alight.

• Hui neng heard this poem (remember, he could not read), and immediately realised that the poet had not seen the fundamental nature.

• Bodhi is fundamentally without any tree;The bright mirror is also not a stand.Since all is void,Where can the dust alight?

• Master Hongren saw this response and went to see Huineng while the latter was pounding rice. "Is the rice ready?" asked Hongren in his inscrutable way (and one that would not give the game away to other monks and servants around no doubt). "The rice has been ready for a long time: it only awaits sieving," replied Huineng

ZEN BUDDHISM

• STEPPING INTO ZEN IS LIKE STEPPING THRU THE LOOKING GLASS

• A WORLD OF PARADOX, CONTRADICTION, NONSEQUITUR, CONUNDRUM

• "HAVE YOU HAD YOUR BREAKFAST YET? THEN WASH YOUR BOWL"

ZEN BUDDHISM

• The universe shows no signs of being the completely rational structure we would feel at home in.

• philosophers Kant and Hume, Nagarjuna, Shankara

• mathematics, science, Heissenberg's Uncertainty principle

• limitations of reason • geometry not one thing linear -circular• Yet we proceed as if reason were an

adequate guide.

ZEN BUDDHISM

• We know we exist in this moment yet plan for full achievement in future.

• no future lies only in the understanding• no past only in memory• Wholeness and completeness of life only in present

moment.• Zen not a withdrawal from the world of

matter to an inner world of spirit• Zen not allow for such dualism or division• The world of which we are intellectually conscious is a

world represented from only one perspective:• the world of lower discriminatory consciousness.• It should be recognized for what it is; the result of

intellectual differentiation.

ZEN BUDDHISM

• Mistaking empty constructions for reality itself is the root of the incomplete, fragmented life characterized as dukkha, for it underlies all grasping and clinging. This emptiness can only be "seen" when experienced directly. (Consistent with Mahayana)

• (Congenial to Tao mind )• a resolution of all subject/ object relationships or

opposition in a pure VOID• Void not a negation nor emptiness but• The realization of the emptiness of all limited or

particular realities• An immediate awareness of pure being beyond subj/obj• IS-NESS SUCH-NESS BEING ITSELF

ZEN BUDDHISM

• THE ESSENCE OF ZEN CANNOT BE CAPTURED IN WORDS• AN ACUTE AWARENESS OF LIMITATIONS OF

LANGUAGE/THOUGHT• Language and thought are:• ARTIFICIAL CONTRUCTS • 1) REDUCE PEOPLE & FEELINGS TO STEREOTYPES (TEXT151

Nan-in)• 2) EVEN WHEN ACCURATE DO NOT BECOME THE DESCRIBED

( the menu is not the meal )• 3) OUR HIGHEST, MOST SUBLIME (profound, awe-filling)

EXPERIENCES ELUDE COMPLETELY• language - the dichotomy of opposition (duality)• this/that is/is not• here the emptiness of all constructs we place on the undivided flow

of reality• even nirvana/ samsara empty!! Mistaking these for reality itself is

the root of the fragmented life, dukkha

ZEN BUDDHISM

• FOR ZEN AS FOR MYSTICS / RELIGION (ART) • THE REALM OF PARADOX AND TRANSRATIONAL• THE CENTRAL CONCERN BECOMES THE BREAKING

OF THE LANGUAGE BARRIER• A SPECIAL TRANSMISSION OUTSIDE OF

SCRIPTURES - Bodhidharma• response to a seekers questions often

HO! MU! or A RAIN OF BLOWS•

koan examples!• the highest truths cannot be put into words.• A profound silence, punctuated by a smile or

laugh• May reveal the (inner) transformation wrought by• The enlightenment experience; but no words can

express it

ZEN BUDDHISM• SATORI IS THE FIRST DISCERNMENT• LIFE SEEN AS SO DISTINCTLY GOOD 'CAN HARDLY

STAND IT!"• AN OBJECTIVE OUTLOOK ON RELATIONS WITH

OTHERS: THEIR WELFARE AS IMPORTANT AS OUR OWN

• DUALISMS DISSOLVE ; ONLY AWARENESS (AS OF SUNSET)

• GRATITUDE TOWARDS PAST, RESPONSIBILITY TO PRESENT AND FUTURE

• THE WORLD SEEN IN NEW LIGHT; THINGS SEEN AS THEY ARE IN THEMSELVES

• UNITY; SIMULTANEOUSLY EMPTY ( LINES THAT DIVIDE ERASED) AND FULL (REPLACED BY THOSE THAT CONNECT)

• THE TAPESTRY• My identity not found in separation but rather in oneness.

Not a denial of identity but its highest affirmation.• Discovery of genuine identity in and with the One

ZEN BUDDHISM

• Ordinary things ARE the supreme reality; Zen IS life: cooking, cleaning, studying-whatever one is doing NOW

• A GENERALIZED AGREEABLENESS• BEYOND PREFERENCE AND REJECTION -

sunshine as acceptable as rain• A TRANSCENDING OF DUALISMS• SELF/ OTHER• FINITE/ INFINITE• LIFE/ DEATH• When this realization is achieved fully never again can

one feel that one's death brings an end to life. One has lived from an endless past and one will live into an endless future. At this very moment one partakes of eternal Life- blissful, luminous, pure."

ZEN BUDDHISM

• Not a matter of beliefs, but of doing• ZEN NOT ABOUT THEORIES ABOUT

ENLIGHTENMENT BUT RATHER IN• THE EXPERIENCE OF IT ITSELF• USES DESCRIPTION AND LOGIC WHICH

MAKES SENSE ONLY FROM AN EXPERIENTAL PERSPECTIVE RADICALLY DIFFERENT FROM ORDINARY

• DETERMINED THAT STUDENT ATTAIN THAT EXPERIENCE, NOT TALK ABOUT IT

ZEN BUDDHISM

• ***Zen is seeing completely into one's complete self in the fullness of the immediate experienced moment without mediation of the intellect****

•• Conceptualization is inadequate for

comprehending things as they are because it rests on the arbitrary division of reality into subject / object.

• Zen emphasizes the integrity of the present moment of experience where there is no distinction. - the fullness of the experienced moment w/o mediation of intellect

• Only thru meditation- emptying oneself of all constructions of the mind, can the undivided wholeness of reality be experienced; once experienced cannot be expressed

Kerouac AND BEATS

• Kerouac Reading from Desolation Angels

• p. 4, 17, 20, 24, 27 have draw on board then wipe off all except

• all Void except Shittee outhouse

ZEN BUDDHISM TEST• Test: tell me about Zen.• What is Zen?• Identify:

– Kashyapa– Bodhidharma– Hui Neng– Matsuo Basho– Dogen

• Define:– Zazen, sanzen, koan,

• Differentiate: Soto vs. Rinzai• What is difference btwn satori and nirvana?• Give an example of koan. Explain.• Give an example of haiku. Explain.• What does Zen say of afterlife?• Is Zen a religion?