Buddha

Question 1

Buddha Key Terms

Answer 1

• Buddha = awaken one (one of the three je–wels) buddhatva = Buddhahood (the state of being a Buddha)
• √budh = to wake up
• bodhi = awakening
• bodhi-sattva = being [dedicated to] Awakening
• Titles assumed by Buddhas: Bhagavant (Lord), Jina (Victor), Tathāgata (Thus-Gone)

Question 2

Buddhist “Saints”

Answer 2

™samyaksaṃbuddha, Complete and Perfect Buddha èdiscover and teach the Dharma
™ (pratyekabuddha, solitary Buddha)
™arhant, worthy one

Question 3

Names of Buddha

Answer 3

• Gautama / Gotama (lineage name)
• Siddhārtha / Siddhattha (who has achieved his aim)
• Śākyamuni (sage of the Śākya clan)

Question 4

Uncertainty of Biography

Answer 4

™ No sources that can be dated safely to his time.
Ø When exactly the Buddha lived is a mystery, but ca. 480–400 is the most common
hypothesis.
™ Earliest sources are not concerned with all the details of his life. Ø Anexampleofwhatwedon’tknow:thenameofhismother.
Māyā : A Middle Indic word corresponding to Sanskrit Mātā, “mother”
™ Huge diversity of later sources, each giving a different version of the main events of the Buddha’s life.

Question 5

Biography specifics

Answer 5

™ Narratives about events in the–Buddha’s life have clustered around places in which his presence was believed to be enduring (pilgrimage feed into biography)
™ A “complete” biography of the Buddha includes the account of his earlier lives.
Ø “Biography” is not a universal genre.
™ No written account of the Buddha’s life, from birth to death, before the 2nd century CE
™ The first full sequence of events might have been created in stone by artists, in visual narratives featuring on stūpas.

Question 6

2 biography “trends” in early canonical scriptures

Answer 6

1. Exceptional man, subject to hu–man limitations (suffers & dies; is not omniscient), whose charisma does not depend on his physical attributes (disregard for his own body).
2. Exceptional being on the following accounts:
   ™ Supernatural abilities and powers (featured, for instance, in the narratives of conversion; ability to sustain his life)
   ™ Omniscience (full omniscience will come later)
   ™ Physical attributes (endowed with the characteristics of the great men)
   ™ Biography dotted by supernatural manifestations (miraculous birth, earthquakes marking all major events in his life)

Question 7

later two models

Answer 7

Indian studies in west “exploded in 19th cent): 2 Models according to Silk:
- Model 1
Previous Lives (Jātakas) Miraculous Birth
High spiritual attainments
(Renunciation)
(Awakening) Teaching Nirvana

Model 2
Birth
Sheltered life of luxury
Encounter with “suffering”
Renunciation
Battles with temptation Awakening
Teaching
Nirvana

Question 8

Jātakas - stories of Buddhas past lives:

Answer 8

• long process of many lives
• last life is very important, very merituous life
• in folk literature as animals i.e. as hare

Question 9

Main events in Buddhas last life:

Answer 9

1. Birth
2. Awakening
3. First Sermon
4. Nirvāṇa

Question 10

4 sights

Answer 10

1.Illperson -—(sickne–ss)
2. Aged person — (old age)
3. Corpse — (death) Ø Personal crisis.
Ø Experiences the 1st stage of meditation ____________________
4. Mendicant — (a way out) Ø Renunciation

Question 11

Reluctance to teach

Answer 11

• Gethin (p. 24): B said: the dharma I found is profound, hard to see, hard to understand,[…] but this generation takes delight in attachment”
• two gods come down to convince him to teach
• he starts with he previous co-searchers

Question 12

first sermon

Answer 12

Ø The four noble truth and the noble Eightfold path
Ø Conversion of the first four disciples and ordination as monks (bhikṣus)

Question 13

turning of the wheel

Answer 13

™ The first sermon at Sarnath (setting the dharma wheel in motion)
™ By extension, 45 years of wandering, teaching and
performing miracles, until the parinirvāṇa.
Ø Conversions
Ø Growth of the community and the need for rules: starting of the sangha