Intro to Buddhism

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Intro to Buddhism

• TOPIC
• Mahâyâna Buddhism
• Great Vehicle

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BuddhaDharmaSangha

• Sangha
• Monasticism still supported, yet the bodhisattva
  ideal supports laity more
• Buddha
• More metaphysical and cosmological
  conceptualization

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Mahayana Buddha ConceptionCONTINUITIES WITH
ALL SCHOOLS

• Existence of Other Buddhas
• Dipankara and Maitreya
• Bodhisattvas
• (jatakas)
• Buddha teaching to his Audiences
• Compassionate Decision to Teach

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Future Shakyamuni makes vow before previous
Buddha, Dipankara
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Compassionate Decision to Teach the Dharma
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Metaphysical Buddhology
Buddha-verse
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THREE BODIES OF THE BUDDHAVERSEDharma-kaya
Sambhoga-kayaNirmana-kaya
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MAHAYANA COSMOS EXPRESSED IN STUPAS
Gyantse, Tibet
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Lotus Sutra

• Past Buddhas teach universal doctrine
• welling up from the earth of stupas

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Textual drama of stupas emerging from the earth
and a Buddha Prabhutaratna sitting next to
Shakyamuni, fulfilling a vow of certifying the
proper teaching of the Lotus Sutra.
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Did the Buddha Lie? Burning House Parable
Buddha as Rain Cloud that nourishes individuals
at all levels using his skillful means (upaya)
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Buddha as physician Dies at spiritual charade
to encourage beings to take their mortality
seriously
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Kathmandu, Nepal
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Borobodur
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Mahayana Scholastic Dharma Many Developments,
vast textual scholarship

• Elite Mahayana Philosophies
• 1. Doctrine of Madhyamaka School Shunyata and
  Two/3-Truths
• 2. Yogacara School
• 3. Buddha Nature Theory School
• Mahayana Practice
• Visualization Meditation

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1. Doctrines of Madhyamaka School

• Opposed to the Nikaya Schools Scholastic
  Abhidharma analysis of reality in terms of
  dharma
• vs.
• Prajña-paramita
• Shunyata and Two/3-Truths

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TEXTS

• ? Prajña-paramita Sutra
• Prajña-paramita Heart Sutra
• Vajrachedika Prajña-paramita Sutra
• 1008 Verse Prajña-paramita Sutra

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(No Transcript)
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Madhyamaka

• NEW MIDDLE WAY nihilists vs. Real (of
  Abhidharmists)
• WORDS ARE SAMSARIC THE BEST WE CAN SAY, if we
  must speak (and we must) is that REALITY has
  Tathata SUCHNESS
• Silence of the Buddha as key teaching
• YES Conventional Truth vs. Ultimate Truth
• NAGARJUNA is a brave De-Construtivist
• who reduced all asserted truths to ultimate
  falsitydepending on the web of assumptions and
  conventions
• UP vs. DOWN
• INSIDE vs. OUTSIDE
• .even vs. Buddhist formulations SUCH AS NIRVANA
  vs SAMSARA
• All Utterance is falsity based on conceptual
  assumptions

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Prajna sees Shunya quality of all reality
Reality Beyond Categories
NO-THING-NESS (SHUNYA) EMPTINESS Seeing Reality
clearly cannot be thing-based

• Purpose of Philosophy
• Demonstrate the need for complete
• NON-ATTACHMENT, even to our thoughts
• (legitimating meditation as only possible means
• of seeking truth beyond conceptualization)
• All Utterance is falsity based on conceptual
  assumptions

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TWO OR 3 Levels of Truth

• Conventional Discourse (for self and world)
• Ultimate Discourse (skillful, undoing attachment)
• 
  E.g HEART
  SUTRA
• Silence AKA

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Nagarjuna

• As students read the alphabet,So the Buddha
  taught his disciplesThe doctrines they could
  comprehendTo some he taught the doctrine to
  turn away from doing evil.To some he
  taughtThe teaching of acquiring
  merit.Provisional doctrines based upon
  duality.But to some he taught doctrines based
  upon non-dualityThough to some who are timid
  this is frighteningTo others it is
  profoundHaving the essence of emptiness and
  compassionThe true method for achieving
  enlightenment.

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Earliest TextsPrajna-paramitaPERFECTION OF
PRAJNA / INSIGHTHEART SUTRA isONE OF THE
SHORTEST
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Points

• Deconstructive Process of Mind is goal of
  zero-based critique (shunyata)
• Language is samsaric, encoding desire,
  ignorance of the world nothing stands alone,
  independent of other things for meaning
• True spiritual advance is made when we stop
  relying on the mediation of any symbols between
  us and world
• Philosophy demonstrates the superiority of
  silence mastering reality without mediation
• How?????

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Consider

• Nowhere

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Consider

• Nothingness

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Read the Heart Sutra
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HEART SUTRA
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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GATE GATE PARA GATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA
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NOTE Mantra Recitation

• ALSO in the LOTUS SUTRA
• Indian theory of sacred sound as primordial,
  connective with reality, transformative
• Recitation rituals as useful/effective
• Mundane and Supramundane uses key to Mahayana
  popularity and meditation across northern Asia

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Mind Creates the World
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Mahayana School II Cittamatra(Consciousness
Only)

• Karma and karmic fruition is all in consciousness
• Idealism only thought is real material
  universe is all unreal
• Mind/consciousness as inherently zestful,
  creative, loving, wise but
• poisoned by ignorance and desire

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Nine Forms of Consciousness in Cittamatra Theory
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Yogacara

• Other name for school, Yoga-acara, points to
  schools re-emphasis
• on yoga practices
• as key to purifying the mind
• great exponent was Asanga (350 CE)

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Mahayana School III Buddha-Nature
School(Tathagata-garbha)
If NirvanaSamsara, then nirvana pervades
samsara All beings and points in the universe are
connected and buddha-suffused
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Bodhisattva Ideal

• Vow to postpone ones own final parinirvana
  until all other beings are established on the
  path
• To reach Buddhahood should be the goal of
  all beings
• Bodhisattvas as human or divinity

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Manjushri
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Celestial BodhisattvasAvalokiteshvara(China
Kwan Yin)(Japan Kannon)
Buddha on forehead
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(No Transcript)
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1008-arm Kwan Yin/Kannon
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in East Asia Mi-lo Fo Fu-ture Buddha
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Maitreya, the Next Human Buddha
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Mahayana Meditation

• Visualization and Mantra Recitation used to train
  and transform the mind
• Buddha nature in all things, most potently in
  forms of bodhisattvas

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Avalokiteshvara
Identification with Body/Speech/Mind of an
Enlightened being leads to ones own spiritual
transformation Mantra Om Mani Padme Hum