Buddhism: A

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Buddhism A Philosophical Introduction
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Buddhism An Introduction

• The Buddha
• Buddha and 6th-Century Brahmanism
• The Three Jewels
• Four Noble Truths
• Eightfold Path
• Two (Main) Vehicles
• The Bodhisattva
• Zen
• Tibetan Buddhism
• Two Buddhist Creeds
• Buddhism in America

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The Buddha

• Siddhartha Gautama of the Sakyas
• ca. 563-483 BCE
• Wife Yasodhara Son Rahula
• The Four Passing Sights
• Six years of asceticism and seeking
• The Bodhi Tree
• The Temptation (Mara)
• Kama--the God of Desire
• Hurricanes, torrential rain, etc.
• What right do you have?
• Enlightenment
• One more question (from Mara)
• How can anyone understand?
• Dies from food poisoning?

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Buddhisms Challenge to 6th-cent. Brahmanism (as described by Huston Smith) Buddhisms Challenge to 6th-cent. Brahmanism (as described by Huston Smith) Buddhisms Challenge to 6th-cent. Brahmanism (as described by Huston Smith)
Authority Hereditary and exploitative (provenance of Brahmins) Buddha preached a religion devoid of authority
Ritual Rituals became mechanical means of achieving miraculous results Buddha preached a religion devoid of ritual
Speculation Lost its experiential basis hairsplitting Buddha preached a religion that skirted speculation
Tradition Dead weight e.g., insistence on continued use of Sanskrit Buddha preached a religion devoid of tradition
Grace Read in ways that undercut responsibility and/or led to fatalism Buddha preached a religion of tremendous self-effort
Mystery Devolved into mystery-mongering, mystification, obsessions with the occult/fantastic Buddha preached a religion devoid of the supernatural
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The Three Jewels

• Buddha (The Awakened One)
• Dharma (The Teachings)
• Sangha (The Community)
• also The Three Refuges

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The Four Noble Truths

• Life is Duhkha (Suffering, dissatisfaction,
  wobbly wheel for grocery cart) pain, change,
  being
• Tanha/trishna (craving, desire) binds us to
  suffering
• There is a way out of this (nirvana)
• This way is the Eightfold Path

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The Eightfold Path

• Right View
• Right Thought
• Right Speech
• Right Action

• Right Livelihood
• Right Effort
• Right Mindfulness
• Right Concentration

samma right,
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Annatta/Anatta/Anatman

• Skandhas
• form/material composition
• sensing/feeling
• perception(s)
• mental formations/thought processes
• consciousness/Consciousness

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Two Main Vehicles
THERAVADA (HINAYANA)--ELDERS MAHAYANA (Reformers)
Human beings are emancipated by self-effort, without supernatural aid Human aspirations are supported by divine powers and the grace they bestow
Key virtue is wisdom Key virtue is compassion
Attainment requires constant commitment, and is primarily for monks and nuns Religious practice is relevant to life in the world, and therefore to lay people
Ideal the Arhat who remains in nirvana after death Ideal the bodhisattva
Buddha a saint, supreme teacher, and inspirer Buddha a savior
Minimizes metaphysics Elaborates metaphysics
Minimizes ritual Emphasizes ritual.
Practice centers on meditation. Includes petitionary prayer.


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The Bodhisattva

• In Theravada Buddhism, the bodhisattva is seen as
  seeking enlightenment so that, once awakened, he
  or she may efficiently aid other beings with the
  expertise of supreme wisdom.
• Gautama Buddhas previous life experience as a
  bodhisattva before Buddhahood are recorded in the
  texts of the jataka.
• Lay Buddhists of Theravada seek inspiration in
  Gautama's skill as a good layman in these texts,
  which account not only his historical life, but
  many previous lives.
• When Gautama Buddha referred to himself in his
  pre-Buddha existence, he spoke in terms of "when
  I was still a Bodhisattva".
• The only currently active bodhisattva described
  in the Pali Canon is the future Buddha Maitreya.
  The Theravada tradition, i.e., the Pali Canon,
  speaks of no other bodhisattvas than these.

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The Bodhisattva (cont.)

• In Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva has the
  compassionate determination to aid all beings on
  their quest for the highest state of development,
  full enlightenment of a Buddha.
• Remaining in this world of uncontrolled rebirth
  (samsara) this individual has taken the
  bodhisattva vows not to pass into nirvana until
  all other beings have likewise achieved
  enlightenment.
• In brief, simply imagine the Bodhisattva as
  saying, "If I know how to swim, and even one
  other being cannot, then I will remain behind in
  this world to assist them until they know how to
  save themselves from drowning".
• According to many traditions within Mahayana
  Buddhism, on his or her way to becoming a Buddha,
  the bodhisattva proceeds through ten, or
  sometimes fourteen, stages or bhumi.
• Various traditions within Buddhism believe in
  certain specific bodhisattvas. Some bodhisattvas
  appear across traditions, but due to language
  barriers may be seen as separate entities. For
  example, Tibetan Buddhists believe in Chenrezig,
  who is Avalokitesvara in India, Kuan Yin (other
  spellings Guan Yin, Kwan Yin, Quan Yin) in
  China, and Kannon in Japan.

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Zen (Chan) Buddhism

• Bodhidharma (ca. 500 C.E.)
• Zen characteristics are non-dualism,
  completeness, immediacy, authenticity,
• activeness, everydayness, selflessness,
  dedication, spontaneity
• zazen, koans, satori

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satori (example?)

• Ztt! I entered. I lost the boundary of my
  physical body. I had my skin, of course, but I
  felt I was standing in the center of the cosmos.
  I saw people coming toward me, but all were the
  same man. all were myself. I had never known
  this world before. I had believed that I was
  created, but now I must change my opinion I was
  never created I was the cosmos. No individual
  existed. (Zen Notes 1.5, p. 1)

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zazen
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koan

• What is the sound of one hand (clapping)?
• Whats true meditation? Its to make it
  all--coughing, swallowing, gestures, motion,
  stillness, words, action, good and evil, success
  and shame, win and lose, right and wrong--into on
  single koan. --Hakuin (1686-1769)

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Koan
MUDDY ROAD Tanzen and Ekido were once traveling
together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was
still falling.Coming around the bend, they met a
lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to
cross the intersection. "Come on girl", said
Tanzen at once. Lifting her in his arms, he
carried her over the mud.Ekido did not speak
again until that night when they reached a
lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain
himself. "We monks don't go near females," he
told Tanzen, "especially not young and lovely
ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that? "I
left the girl there," said Tanzen. "Are you still
carrying her?"
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Koan
A monk told Joshu, "I have just entered the
monastery. Please teach me. Joshu asked, "Have
you eaten your rice porridge?The monk replied, "I
have eaten. Joshu said, "Then you had better
wash your bowl. At that moment the monk was
enlightened.
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Koan
One day Akbar drew a line with his royal hand on
the floor of the open court and told his wise men
that if they wanted to keep their jobs they must
make the line shorter without touching any part
of it. Wise man after wise man approached and
stood staring at the puzzle, but they were unable
to solve the problem. Finally Birbal stepped
forward and drew a longer line next to the first
one, without touching the first line.Everyone in
the court look at it and agreed. The first line
was definitely shorter.
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Koan
A university student asked Gasan, "have you ever
read the Christian Bible? "No, read it to me,"
said Gasan.The student opened the Bible and read
from St. Matthew "And why take ye thought for
raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how
they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin,
and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all
his glory was not arrayed like one of these...
Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the
morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Gasan said "Whoever uttered those words
I consider an enlightened man. "The student
continued reading "Ask and it shall be given to
you, see and ye shall find, knock and it shall be
opened for you. For everyone that asketh
receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to
him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Gasan
remarked "That is excellent. Whoever said that
is not far from Buddhahood."
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Asked what Zen training leads to, a Western
student who had been practicing for seven years
in Kyoto answered, No paranormal experiences
that I can detect. but you wake up in the
morning and the world seems so beautiful you can
hardly stand it. (Quoted in Smith, World
Religions, p. 93)
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Tibetan (Vajrayana) Buddhism

• Distinctive practices that enable one to reach
  nirvana in a single lifetime
• Tantric
• Mantras, Mudras (hand gestures), Mandalas
• Dalai Lama

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A Sand Mandala
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Mudras
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The Dalai Lama is not accurately likened to the
pope, for it is not his prerogative to define
doctrine. Even more misleading is the
designation god-King, for though temporal and
spiritual authority do converge in him, neither
of those powers define his essential function.
The function is to incarnate on earth the
celestial principle of which compassion or mercy
is the defining feature. The Dalai Lama is the
bodhisattva who in India was known as
Avalokiteshvara, in China as the Goddess of
Mercy, Kwan Yin, and in Japan as Kannon. As
Chenrezig (his Tibetan name) he has for the last
several centuries incarnated himself for the
empowerment and regeneration of the Tibetan
tradition. Through his person--a single person
who has thus far assumed fourteen successive
incarnations--there flows an uninterrupted
current of spiritual influence,
characteristically compassionate in its flavor. .
. The Dalai Lama is a receiving station toward
which the compassion-principle of Buddhism in all
its cosmic amplitude is continuously channeled,
to radiate thence to the Tibetan people most
directly, but by extension to all sentient
beings. (Smith, World Religions, pp. 143-44)
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Buddhism in the West Fundamental Buddhistic
BeliefsColonel H.S. Olcott, Founding President
of the Theosophical Society, 1891

• Buddhists are taught to show the same tolerance,
  forbearance, and brotherly love to all men,
  without distinction and an unswerving kindness
  towards the members of the animal kingdom.?
• The Universe was evolved, not created and it
  functions according to law, not according to the
  caprice of any God.?
• The truths upon which Buddhism is founded are
  natural. They have, we believe, been taught in
  successive kalpas, or world periods, by certain
  illuminated beings called Buddhas, the name
  Buddha meaning "enlightened.
• The fourth teacher in the present kalpa was Sakya
  Muni, or Gautama Buddha, who was born in a royal
  family in India about 2,500 years ago. He is an
  historical personage and his name was Siddhartha
  Gautama.?
• Sakya Muni taught that ignorance produces desire,
  unsatisfied desire is the cause of rebirth, and
  rebirth the cause of sorrow. To get rid of
  sorrow, therefore, it is necessary to escape
  rebirth to escape rebirth, it is necessary to
  extinguish desire and to extinguish desire, it
  is necessary to destroy ignorance.?
• Ignorance fosters the belief that rebirth is a
  necessary thing. When ignorance is destroyed the
  worthlessness of every such rebirth, considered
  as an end in itself, is perceived, as well as the
  paramount need of adopting a course of life by
  which the necessity for such repeated births can
  be abolished. Ignorance also begets the illusive
  and illogical idea that there is only one
  existence for man, and the other illusion that
  this one life is followed by states of
  unchangeable pleasure or torment.?

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Fundamental Buddhistic Beliefs(cont.)

• The dispersion of all this ignorance can be
  attained by the persevering practice of an
  all-embracing altruism in conduct, development of
  intelligence, wisdom in thought, and destruction
  of desire for the lower personal pleasures.?
• The desire to live being the cause of rebirth,
  when that is extinguished rebirths cease and the
  perfected individual attains by meditation that
  highest state of peace called nirvana.?
• Sakya Muni taught that ignorance can be dispelled
  and sorrow removed by the knowledge of the four
  Nobel Truths, viz?1 . The miseries of
  existence?2. The cause productive of misery
  which is the desire?ever renewed of satisfying
  oneself without being able ever to secure that
  end?3.The destruction of that desire, or the
  estranging of ?oneself from it?4. The means of
  obtaining this destruction of desire. ?The means
  which he pointed out is called the Noble
  Eightfold Path, viz Right Belief Right Thought
  Right Speech Right Action Right Means of
  Livelihood Right Exertion Right
  RemembranceRight Meditation.?
• Right Meditation leads to spiritual
  enlightenment, or the development of that
  Buddha-like faculty which is latent in every man.?

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Fundamental Buddhistic Beliefs(cont.)

• The essence of Buddhism summed up by the
  Tathagata (Buddha) himself is?To cease from all
  sin, ?To get virtue,?To purify the heart?
• The universe is subject to a natural causation
  known as "karma". The merits and demerits of a
  being in past existences determine his condition
  in the present one. Each man, therefore, has
  prepared the causes of the effects which he now
  experiences.?
• The obstacles to the attainment of good karma may
  be removed by the observance of the following
  precepts, which are embraced in the moral code of
  Buddhism, viz (1) Kill not (2) Steal not (3)
  Indulge in no forbidden sexual pleasure (4) Lie
  not (5) Take no intoxicating or stupefying drug
  or liquor. Five other precepts, which need not
  here be enumerated, should be observed by those
  who would attain more quickly than the average
  layman the release from misery and rebirth,?
• Buddhism discourages superstitious credulity
  Gautama Buddha taught it to be the duty of a
  parent to have his child educated in science and
  literature. He also taught that no one should
  believe what is spoken by any sage, written in
  any book, or affirmed by a tradition, unless it
  accord with reason.?

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Buddhism in the WestTwelve Principles of
Buddhism

• (click here)

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Buddhism in America

• An Architect and Zen
• Nen in Maryland
• Soka University
• Tibetan New Year
• Thich Nhat Hanh