Introduction to Buddhist Sacred Literature

1
Introduction to Buddhist Sacred Literature
2

• Siddharta Gautama
• 563-483BC
• Life of a prince
• Married with a son
• Four Passing Sights
• Sick
• Elderly
• Corpse
• Ascetic
• Meditative Training
• Life as an Ascetic
• Middle Path
• BUT Legend of the Buddha Shayamuni (sage from
  the tribe of Shakyas) a bit more detailed!

3
Dharma

• Four Noble Truths
• All life is suffering Dukkha
• Cause of Suffering is craving/attachment to
  something
• Cure is Nirvana snuffing out
• Nirvana not a place, a condition in the here
  now
• Noble Eightfold Path achieved by mastering
• Right views, right intent, right speech, right
  conduct, right vocation, right effort, right
  mindfulness, right concentration
• Aka Middle Way/Path between indulgence in
  pleasure and harsh asceticism

4
Additional Key Teachings

• Principle of Dependent Origination
• Everything arises in orderly fashion from prior
  cause and conditions
• Grounded in karma
• Conflicts with idea of a first act by a divine
  Creator
• Impermanence (Anicca)
• All arises from prior causes
• All eventually fades away
• Anatman no soul
• Removed attachment to fictitious self
• Person made of bundle of aggregates( body,
  feeling, perception, impulse, consciousness)
• Questions what goes into rebirth? What achieves
  Nirvana? What survives death after Nirvana?

5
Main Branches of Buddhism

• Theravada Way of the Elders
• Mahayana Great Vehicle
• Vijrayana (Tibetan Buddhism)

6

• Pali Canon, the T(r)ipitaka three baskets
• Oldest Canon from Theravada
• Oral tradition into Pali language 1st BC
• Vinaya Pitaka (Discipline Basket)
• Includes rules for monks and nuns
• Sutta Pitaka (Discourse Basket)
• Includes Dhammapada, Jatakas
• Abhidhamma Pitaka (Special Teaching Basket)
• Metaphysical teachings