Religious Studies 232: Introduction to Buddhism

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Religious Studies 232 Introduction to
Buddhism
Week 10

• Instructor
• Justin Whitaker

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Announcements 11/1

• Put your Name and Student ID on the blue book
  (front cover) and on the exam sheet
• Subject RELS 232 Buddhism
• Instructor Whitaker ----- Date
  11/1/06
• Read the instructions on the exam - carefully
• When you finish, put your exam in the blue book
  and bring both up here file according to exam
• BUDDHISM TALK on Monday, Nov. 6, 7pm
• UC room 330, Lama Tsomo, a nun in the Nyingma
  Tibetan Buddhist Tradition will talk (topic to be
  announced)
• A Student Sangha (Group) is forming and will
  host the talk. More info on Friday

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II. Three Historical Phases of Buddhism

• 1. Early Conservative Buddhism---focusing on the
• Developmental Dimension
• 2. The Mahayana Revitalization---focusing on the
• Relational Dimension
• 3. Phase Three Diversity (Pure Land, Zen
  Vajrayana)--- focusing on the
• Technical Dimension

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Principle Schools of Third-Phase Buddhism

• All grow out of the Mahayana movement
• Vajrayana Buddhism, the Tantric Buddhist
  tradition of India Tibet
• Chan or Zen Buddhism, the East Asian school
  centered on meditative practice
• Pure Land Buddhism, the East Asian school
  centered on devotional practice directed
  towards rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitabha
  (Amida) Buddha

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Characteristics of 3rd-Phase Buddhism

• emphasis on the technical aspect of the path,
  on radical powerful techniques
• liberation here and now union of wisdom
  and method
• focus on immediate worldly context concerns
  as the context for enlightenment
• rejection of scholasticism
• Remember 3rd-Phase Buddhism includes
• Vajrayana, Zen, Pure Land Buddhism,
• three different schools of Buddhism

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Tantra in Vajrayana Buddhism

• Sutra thread
• vs.
• Tantra something woven
• Origins of Tantra lie outside of both
• Buddhism and Hinduism
• A system of symbolism and practices that is
• assimilated revalorized
• by Vajrayana Buddhism

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The Vajrayana Buddhism of Tibet

• The Three Vehicles
• Hinayana
• Mahayana
• Vajrayana

Tantra
Sutra-yana Mantra-yana (Tantra-yana)
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Vajrayana Forms of Practice

• Purely Mahayana Forms
• example Bodhisattva Path
• Mahayana Forms with Tantric elements
• example Visualization Practices
• Focused on the Archetypal buddhas bods.
• Use of mantras mandalas
• Tantric Forms (with Buddhist content)
• example Tibetan Book of the Dead practices