Class 6

Compare with the Triratna in Jainism

1.The Buddha

2.The Dharma or his Teaching

3.The Saṅgha or Community

Taking refuge in these three things three times is a common way of becoming a Buddhist

566-486 BCE

(traditional date)

c. 480-c. 400 BCE

(modern scholars)

3

Son of a king

Kṣatriya, son of a king

Saw sickness, old age, death, then an ascetic

Left home at 29, leaving wife and newborn son

Sought liberation for 6 years (2 meditation teachers then extreme asceticism like Mahāvīra)

Taught for 45 years after achieving nirvāṇa

Achieved parinirvāṇa at the age of 80 probably around 400 BCE (480-400 BCE)

Buddha

Examples: The Historical Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, later Śākyamuni Dipaṃkara

Achieve Awakening through own efforts (caveats), teach “Fully and Completely Awakened One” (samyak-sambuddha / sammā-

sambuddha)A

rhat (arahant) / śrāvaka-buddha / sāvaka-buddha “Accomplished One (or “Hearer”) “One Who Awakened as a Disciple”; need the Dharma of a Buddha Ex. The Buddha’s immediate disciples, Sariputra, Maudgalyana, Ananda

pratyeka-buddha/ pacceka-buddha

“Solitary Buddha” Achieves Enlightenment through own efforts but do not teach Possibly an attempt to integrate other religious figures or traditions into

Buddhism

5

'Turning the Wheel of the Teaching'

First SermonNo narrative in the version in EB

Other versions such as the ‘Turning the Wheel of Dharma’ from Lalitavistara

Narratively richAssumption – texts become more detailed as time goes on

Who to teach the Dharma to?

Two previous teachers are dead

Meets another mendicant

Remarks on the appearance of the BuddhaQuestions the Buddha then dismissively leaves him

Five ascetics – Deer Park at Sarnath

Dismiss him at first b/c he abandoned austerities Kauṇḍinya does not agree; he becomes an Arhat first Involuntarily prepare a seat for him based on his

majesty Automatically they become monks instantaneously Prepare a bath for him

Gives the Dharmacakrapravartana Sūtra

Miraculous signs manifest – earthquakes, devas attend

At Sarnath (Benares) with the five ascetics that the Buddha previously practiced extreme austerities with

Three Topics:

The Middle Way The Four Noble Truths The Noble Eightfold

Path

Result: One of the five ascetics, (Skt. Kauṇḍinya, Pali Kondañña), achieved Awakening and becomes a “Worthy One” or “One Who Has Awakened As a Disciple” (Skt. arhat, Pali arahant)

WORLDLY SENSUAL PLEASURES

PAINFUL SELF-MORTIFICATION

Four Noble Truths

1. The Nature of Suffering (Dukkha)

2. Suffering's Origin (Samudaya)

3. Suffering's Cessation (Nirodha)

4. The Way (Marga) Leading to the Cessation of Suffering

“Now, monks, what is the Noble Truth of suffering? Just this: Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering. Involvement with what is unpleasant is suffering. Also, not getting what one wants and strives for is suffering. And form… feeling… perception… karmic constituents are suffering…”

1. The suffering of suffering (dukkha-dukkha) – the obvious sufferings of pain, illness, old age, death, bereavement

2. The suffering of alternation or change (viparinama-dukkha) - the less obvious suffering caused by change (things are impermanent (Skt. anitya, Pali anicca)):

Why is this painful?

a. violated expectations

b. the failure of happy moments to last

3. The suffering of formations (sankhara-dukkha) – a subtle form of suffering arising as a reaction to qualities of conditioned things, unstable and unreliable conditions

“And what is the [second] Noble Truth of the origination of suffering? It is the thirst for further existence, which comes along with pleasure and passion and brings passing enjoyment here and there.”

Craving – Skt. tṛṣṇā, Pali taṇhā; literally ‘thirst’

Craving can lead to attachment (upādāna); lit. ‘fuel’

1.Sensual pleasures – impermanent, fleetingI. Tendency to increaseII. Never satisfied or content with what it

hasIII. Always looking for new objects to satisfy

itself2.Craving for becoming – for fame or even immortality; belief in an eternal soul

3.Craving for extermination – become depressed and long not to exist, wishing I had never been born or that death will be the final end

Delusion or ignorance (moha, avidyā/avijjā) – boar

Dislike or hatred (dveṣa/dosa) – snake

Desire or greed (rāga, lobha) – rooster

Suffering is caused by karma and the kleśas (‘fire’ or ‘poisons’ but better ‘mental afflications’ or ‘negative mental states’)Karma is actually intention (cetanā) and its imprintsIgnorance lies at the root of desire and dislikeIgnorance is without beginning and the cause of the other two mental afflictions

Desire, hatred, and delusion: these combine and interact and manifest in different ways and result in dukkha

Path to nirvana is by Cultivating their opposites:

Desire or greed --- GenerosityDislike or hatred --- Friendliness or Loving-kindness

Delusion or ignorance --- Wisdom

And what is the [third] Noble Truth of the cessation of suffering? It is this: the destruction without remainder of this very thirst for further existence, which comes along with pleasure and passion, bringing enjoyment here and there. It is without passion. It is cessation, forsaking, abandoning, renunciation.”

Skt. nirvāṇa, Pali nibbāna

“And what is the Noble Truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering? Just this: the Eightfold Noble Path, consisting of right views, right intention, right effort, right action, right livelihood, right speech, right mindfulness, right meditation.”

Based on the Maha-satipatthana Sutta ‘The Great Frames of Reference’

Wisdom (Skt: prajñā, Pāli: paññā)

1. Right view 2. Right

intention

Ethical Conduct (Skt: śīla, Pāli: sīla)

3. Right speech 4. Right action 5. Right

livelihood

Mental Discipline or Concentration (Skt. and Pāli: samādhi)

6. Right effort 7. Right

mindfulness 8. Right

concentration

Seeing the Four Noble Truths

1. Moral law of karma

2. The three characteristics or marks (lakshanas) of existence or of all phenomena1. Impermanent (anitya)2. Suffering (duhkha)3. No-Self (anatman)

3. Suffering

“

And what is right resolve? Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness: This is called right resolve.”

Refraining from false speech

Refraining from divisive speech

Refraining from hurtful speech

Refraining from idle chatter or gossip

Refraining from harming living beings

Refraining from taking what is not given

Refraining from sexual misconduct

Not based on wrong speech and action

1.Business in weapons

2.Business in human beings (slavery and prostitution)

3.Business in meat

4.Business in intoxicants

5.Business in poison

1. To refrain from destroying living beings.

2. To refrain from stealing.

3. To refrain from sexual misconduct

(adultery, rape, etc.).

4. To refrain from false speech (lying).

5. To refrain from intoxicants, which lead to heedlessness.

Sacrifice – redefined by Buddhists

Universalist ethics – one’s worth and character is determined by one’s actions, not one’s varṇa (compare with The Place of the Brahmin in Tradition 41-43)

Buddhism doesn’t reject the class system for lay people, but monks and nuns have the same status (classless, in a sense)

A Bloodless Sacrifice

The Buddha displays knowledge of one of his previous births were he advised a king to attend to his kingdom and offer aid to his subjects to reduce crime

A bloodless sacrifice was conducted with ghee (clarified butter), oil, butter, curds, honey, and molasses, instead of bulls, goats, sheep, chickens, pigs

“Wherever regular family gifts are given to virtuous ascetics, these constitute a sacrifice more fruitful and profitable than that.”

“If anyone provides shelter for the Sangha…”

“…if anyone with a pure heart goes for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma and Sangha…”

“…if anyone with a pure heart undertakes the precepts (five)…”

“A disciple goes forth and practices the moralities…” and becomes an arahant

Result: Kūṭadanta achieves the first stage towards Awakening

The Buddha redefines what an outcaste or untouchable is based on behavior

Note the following verses:

2 (emphasizes nonviolence)

15 (generosity to religious mendicants)

19 (insults the Buddha or his saṅgha or community)

One does not become an outcaste by birth, one does not become a brahmin by birth. It is by deed that one becomes and outcaste, it is by deed that one becomes a brahmin.

Result: the Brahmin Aggika-Brāradvāja becomes a layperson, taking refuge in the Buddha, his Dhamma, and his Sangha

Kaccāna (Katyāyana, the foremost in explaining Dharma among the Buddha’s monks)

“It is just a saying in the world…”

noble = kṣatriya, brahmin = brahmin,

merchant = vaiśya, worker = śūdra

Reputation depends on behavior

Result: King Avantiputta takes refuges in the Buddha, the Dharma, and his Saṅgha as a layperson

Redefines what a brāhmaṇa (brahmin) is by behavior, not birth (verse 396)

Ascetics come under criticism as well (see verse 393-394)

6.I undertake to abstain from eating at the wrong time (the right time is eating once, after sunrise, before noon).

7.I undertake to abstain from singing, dancing, playing music, attending entertainment performances, wearing perfume, and using cosmetics and garlands (decorative accessories).

8.I undertake to abstain from luxurious places for sitting or sleeping.

6)Refrain from taking food at inappropriate times (after noon).

7)Refrain from singing, dancing, playing music or attending entertainment programs (performances).

8)Refrain from wearing perfume, cosmetics and garland (decorative accessories).

9)Refrain from sitting on high chairs and sleeping on luxurious, soft beds.

10)Refrain from accepting money.

Consists of effort to prevent the arising of unwholesome mental states (greed, hatred, delusion)

To prevent unarisen unwholesome statesTo abandon arisen unwholesome states

Effort to arouse non-attachment, loving kindness, and wisdom

To arouse unarisen wholesome statesTo develop arisen wholesome states

Contemplation of the body

Contemplation of feeling

Contemplation of mind

Contemplation of dharmas

Dharma versus dharmas Dharma – Teaching of the Buddha Dharmas – constituent psychophysical components of reality

Practice of the four dhyanas/jhanas “Meditations”

1. One-pointedness

2. Beyond thought

3. Beyond rapture

4. Total equanimity

The Four Noble Truths can be compared to a medical diagnosis

1)Truth of dukkha is like a disease

2)Truth of the origin of the cause is like its cause

3)The truth of the cession of dukkha is like the disease being cured

4)The truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha is like the medicine that brings about the disease’s cure