Buddhism

Question 1

Demographics

Answer 1

“Buddhism has been the single most important civilizing influence in the Eastern World”

• Half a billion adherents
• fourth largest religion
• Smaller than Hinduism but more global and more missionary oriented
• Different kinds of Buddhism
  
  • Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana Buddhists call their religion “DHARMA”
    *similar to the way we use the word ‘gospel’

Question 2

Buddhism vs. Jainism

Answer 2

Origin in India, 6th century BCE, a little after the birth of Jainism

• Similarities:
  
  • ​Their founders’ lives
  • Rejection of the Vedic texts and of the ritual religion of the Brahmins Teachings
  • written in Pali (dialect) rather than official Sanskrit
  • Refutation of the caste system
• Key Difference:
  Buddhism was against the extreme ‘ascetic’ ideal of the Jains instead presenting itself as the ‘middle-way’

Question 3

Life of the Enlightened One

Answer 3

Siddharta Gautama

• From the Shakya clan in the Kshatriya caste, also known as Shakyamuni
• Great prophesies upon his birth:
  
  • sages said he would be a great Monarch of India or an enlightened one
• Father was fearful he would choose a religious life and forgo his political destiny
• He kept him ‘safe’ within the enclosures of the palace
• Siddhartha eventuallly saw the FOUR PASSING SIGHTS
  
  • Old age, Sickness, Death, and An ascetic monk

Question 4

From Siddhartha to Buddha

Answer 4

• Deep distress and crisis
• Dissatisfaction with the ascetic life (almost led to his death) pursued for six years
• Bodh-gaya:
  Siddharta’s resolve Opposition, insight and higher form of consciousness Nirvana and parinirvana
• The Buddha’s temptation:
  live in seclusion
  He did not yield 45 years of teaching

Question 5

The Buddha’s Life

Answer 5

• Meeting with his ascetic companions and the first speech:
  “setting in motion of the wheel of the dharma”
• Birth of the Sangha (monastic order)
• The 3 JEWELS, a first confession of faith:
• “Refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha”
• Ananda, model cousin-disciple Foster-mother as founder of the order of nuns Death at 80: spoiled food or natural causes?

Question 6

The Four Noble Truths

Answer 6

1. Life is suffering
   Pessimism or intrinsic power?
2. Craving causes suffering
   Attachment: possessive desire of permanence
   The enemy of the good is the better
3. Suffering can cease
4. Through the Eight-fold Middle Path

*A physician’s approach: Problem (suffering), source (craving), fact that it can be extinguished, how to extinguish it

Question 7

Teachings of the Buddha

Answer 7

• Salvation as self-effort and self-discipline
• Practical rather than metaphysical concern
  (the nature & causes of suffering rather than the gods)
• The chain of dependent origination
  (12 cause- effect links)
• Impermanence of life
  Rebirth without transmigration

Question 8

The Birth of Theraveda

Answer 8

• Fixing of the canon after the Buddha’s death
• TRIPITAKA: the three baskets (monastic rules, the teachings of the Buddha, doctrinal supplement)
• Schisms: Theravada (teaching of the elders) as a conservative group
• Spread of Buddhism through conversion of Indian Emperor Ashoka (273-232)
• Theravada as a primarily monastic non-theistic religion or philosophy
• Earliest existing form of Buddhism predominant in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos

Question 9

Mahayana Buddhism

Answer 9

Mahayana
The great vehicle

Theological developments:

1. Increased divinization of the Buddha
2. Multiplication of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
3. Devotional literature based on the view that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are sources of merit for one’s salvation
4. The LOTUS SUTRA as a key Mahayana scripture
5. Increased focus on emptiness of things: Sunyata

With these developments Buddhism reached greater missionary success

Question 10

Mahayana Beliefs

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

Answer 10

Acceptance of savior beings who provide assurance

1. Buddhas:
   
   • Those who have achieved parinirvana after their human experience (like Siddharta) can’t be reached through prayer, but devotion to them increases merit
   • Those who have achieved nirvana in heaven (having never taken human form) are ‘contemplative Buddhas’ or Tathagatas. They postpone parinirvana to minister to our needs
   • At least 5 Tathagatas. One solar Buddha and one for each cardinal direction.
   • The Buddha of the West is especially significant, his name is AMIDA or AMITABHA (China) He presides over the Western Paradise, land of bliss or Pure Land, where Nirvana is guaranteed
   • He benevolently confers merits for salvation to those who have faith in him
   • In China and Japan he receives greater devotion than Siddharta himself
2. Bodhisattvas:
   
   • They have taken human form, have come to earth, and have achieved nirvana (like Siddharta under the fig tree)
   • Yet, they have postponed parinirvana out of compassion for humanity.
   • They dwell in heaven but can come to earth in different forms if they will
   • Maitreya: a future Buddha/Bodhisattva who will come when the Dharma will have been forgotten
   • Everyone should take the vow to be a bodhisattva

Question 11

Popular Bodhisattvas

Answer 11

Maitreya: one who is yet to come Budai as one of its incarnations (laughing Buddha) Avalokita: divine compassion Mother goddess (China), Dalai Lama (Tibet) Jizo (Japan): protector of children

Question 12

Mahayana Philosophies

Answer 12

• SUNYATA – the doctrine of emptiness (by Nagarjuna)
  
  • Everything is empty of identity or of permanence
  • Everything is interrelated and in constant flux
  • Nothing is fully self-sufficient or independent
• The positive side of this equation is that what is empty does not have a compelling ability to cause suffering
• Nirvana is not something added to free one from samsara, it is simply samsara rightly viewed and understood

Question 13

Mahayana Schools of Thought
Japan

Answer 13

• Pure Land (Amidism): emphasis on faith
  
  • Jodo Shinshu (true pure land) predestination, World-affirming, no asceticism, celibacy
• Zen: emphasis on personal effort, zazen
  
  1. Wear down the intellect with impossible problems
  2. A gradual process of enlightenment (analyzing, categorizing, reason are big obstacles)
• Nichiren: Japanese with emphasis on sociopolitical activism and Lotus Sutra
• Soka Gakkai: modern lay Buddhist group of the Nichiren school. Humanistic activism, missionary oriented

Question 14

Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism

Answer 14

• The esoteric tradition built on Tantras (magical and spell-making manuals), also present in Hinduism
• Certain sacred knowledge can only be transmitted directly from teacher to student
• Mantras (Om Mani Padme Hum), Mandalas (Concentric circles), Mudras (Hand signs)
• Pujas and prayer wheels
• Reincarnation of Dollai Lama

Question 15

Meditation

The Buddhist Practice

Answer 15

Mindfulness, awareness, and attention to the here and now.