Dharma: Foundational Doctrines of Buddhism

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Dharma Foundational Doctrines of Buddhism

• Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D.
• AST/REL 260
• Buddhism
• Berea College
• Spring 2006

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ANATMAN AND THE FIVE AGGREGATES

• The self is not a holistic, permanent entity
  (atman)
• Instead, it is a composite, impermanent entity
  (anatman), composed of five skandhas
  (aggregates)
• Physical body (outward, sensory form of self)
• Emotions (raw responses to sensory data)
• Ideas (processed responses to sensory data)
• Biases (orientations produced by sensory data)
• Consciousness (awareness of self and senses)

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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO KARMA AND REBIRTH?

• If there is no permanent self, then what acquires
  karma and is reborn?
• The four-cornered negation (catush-koti) 4
  logical possibilities entailed by any
  proposition  
• It is (e.g., one is reborn ones actions now
  have causal effects later)
• It is not (e.g., one is not reborn no permanent
  self survives death intact)
• It both is and is not (e.g., one is both reborn
  and not reborn)
• It neither is nor is not (e.g., one is neither
  reborn nor not reborn)

• Dualistic (dvaita either/or) vs. nondualistic
  (advaita both/and) thought
• A seed is planted (e.g., one performs an action).
• If various conditions (adequate and timely sun,
  rain, nutrients, weeding) are met, the seed
  germinates a plant (e.g., actions generate
  karma).
• The plant is not the seed (e.g., the karma is not
  the action)
• but the plant is not other than the seed (e.g.,
  the karma is not other than the action)
• the plant is the causal result of the seed
  (e.g., the karma is the moral result of the
  action).

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THE SELF THAT IS NOT A SELF

• An atman (self) has a body, emotions, ideas,
  biases, and consciousness.
• Actually, there is no self (anatman) only an
  assemblage of components.
• In rebirth, conditioned by karma these components
  are removed and rearranged, creating a different
  self (yet not disconnected from this self now).
• Just as one both is and is notoneself from life
  to life, so one neither is nor is not oneself
  from life to life.

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THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH

• Prajña (wisdom)
• Right views
• Right thoughts
• Sila (morality)
• Right speech
• Right action
• Right livelihood
• Samadhi (concentration)
• Right effort
• Right mindfulness
• Right concentration

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THE TWELVE LINKS

• Ignorance gives rise to
• Mental formations, which give rise to
• Consciousness, which gives rise to
• Mind and body, which give rise to
• Senses, which give rise to
• Contact, which gives rise to

• Sensation, which gives rise to
• Craving, which gives rise to
• Attachment, which gives rise to
• Becoming, which gives rise to
• Birth, which gives rise to
• Suffering (duhkha)

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CONSEQUENCES OF NIRVANA

• The self is interdependent and impermanent
• There is no basis for ego
• Realizing the truth of anatman entails
• Awakening to suffering
• Compassion in suffering
• Liberation from suffering
• One who seeks to realize this truth takes the
  Three Refuges
• The Buddha (the teacher)
• The Dharma (the teaching)
• The Sangha (the taught)

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