Buddhism History And Society Flashcards
Pure Land Buddhism
Based on devotion to the Amida Buddha
Taking refuge in Amida and being fully devoted leads to rebirth in the Pure Land, from where it is possible to gain
enlightenment.
Analysis of Pure Land Buddhism from a Buddhist angle
Pure Land has been accused of being some kind of ‘short cut’ or ‘easy’ form of Buddhism, as it does not rely on meditation and self discipline.
Devotion to Amida Buddha seems at odds with the teachings of the Shakyamuni Buddha that people should not become attached to one being.
Universal enlightenment
Belief that everyone can be reborn in the Pure Land
This fits in with the Mahayana belief that all share Buddhanature and therefore all are capable of enlightenment.
Zen - Eisai
Brought Ch’an practices into the traditional Tendai Buddhism of Japan.
He introduced the Rinzai form of Zen which focuses on interpreting koans.
Zen - Dogen
Brought further Ch’an practices to develop the Soto Zen methods.
Dogen gained enlightenment working with his Chinese master who could trace the line of teachers back to the Shakyamuni Buddha in a direct line of transmission.
Soto Zen focuses on Zazen, sitting meditation, which brought the art of contemplation back into Japanese Buddhism.
Nichiren Buddhism
He was very critical of both the Pure Land and Zen schools of Buddhism and wanted to focus purely on the Lotus Sutra, which he saw as the essence of Buddhism.
He argued that Pure Land Buddhists had rejected the Shakyamuni Buddha in favour of worshipping the imaginary Amida, and Zen Buddhists only focused on the earthly aspects of the Buddha and not his heavenly aspects.
He also condemned Zen Buddhists for rejecting scripture which could bring the truth of the Buddha’s teaching.
Honen
Popularised the practice of nembutsu and wrote teachings focused on sincere and simple faith in Amida as the only means to awakening, rejecting all other Buddhist practices as pointless.
The nembutsu encompasses all other practices
Shinran
He founded True Pure Land Buddhism. He dreamed that Avalokiteshvara told him to marry and taught that then there is no point in monastic life, celibacy, struggle and meditation because devotion to Amida is most important. People should give up these pointless attempts at ‘self-power’ and should not try to gain knowledge of Buddhism.
Buddhists should marry and have families.
Buddhist society of Britain
Allan Bennett returned from the Buddhist country where he was ordained as a monk to teach in the UK and formed the Buddhist Society of Britain
Christmas Humphreys, who, in the 1940s and 50s, developed the Buddhist Society along more Zen lines, focusing on meditation.
370 New Kadampa Tradition Centres
53 centres for the Triratna community
Reasons for Buddhist diversity
Forms of heritage Buddhism in Britain are closely linked to Britain’s colonial heritage – e.g. Burma, Sri Lanka and India.
Wider patterns of economic migration have added to the numbers of heritage Buddhists in the UK.
Convert Buddhism
Modern convert Buddhists are often looking for a more ‘western’ presentation of the religion which focuses more on mindfulness and psychological awareness and less on ritual and religiosity.
The New Kadampa Tradition
Only follow the first 5 precepts plus 5 new ones: ‘I will practise contentment, reduce my desire for worldly pleasures, abandon engaging in meaningless activities, maintain commitments of refuge, and practice the three trainings of pure moral discipline, concentration and wisdom.’
The Triratna Order
‘Seeks to identify the ‘essence’ of Buddhism and teach it in a Western context and manner’ (Harvey), leaving behind the cultural trappings of other forms of Buddhism
Practices focus on mindfulness meditation and metta-bhavana.
Heritage Buddhists
Mainly immigrants and the children of immigrants from China, Japan,Vietnam, Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka
They brought with them a range of Buddhist traditions often associated with the tradition of their place of origin
Heritage Buddhist teens
Heritage Buddhist teenagers focused on practice such as keeping the 5 Precepts whereas convert Buddhists described Buddhism more in terms of what you believe and how you think: ‘it is your awareness that makes you Buddhist… It is a state of mind.’
Both groups hoped for world peace and heritage Buddhists also had hopes for the environment.
Stephen Batchelor - Buddhism is atheistic
Batchelor argues that there’s little in Buddhist philosophy that suggests the existence of a personal God
He wants to say goodbye to ‘pie-in-the-sky transcendentalism’ (Nibbana).
He rejects the concepts rebirth and karma
He sees Buddha’s four noble truths to be four challenges to our ordinary way of approaching life.
Ninian Smart - 7 dimensions of religion
Doctrinal
Mythological
Ethical
Ritual
Experiential
Institutional
Material
David Brazier
It has beliefs, rituals, altars, offerings etc
We cannot really say that Buddhism is scientific, science is Buddhistic
Buddhism can accommodate everything that science perceives, but science can only perceive a fraction of what Buddhism encompasses
HOWEVER - Brazier focuses only on Pure Land Buddhism which is unusually religious
Traditional approaches to women - negative aspects
Many Buddhist sources describe female rebirth as relatively unfortunate due to the suffering they have experience in comparison to men e.g. menstruation & childbirth
Some say that only men can become Buddhas and so women should hope for rebirth as a man
In some traditional Asian societies, women are regarded as subservient to men
Traditional approaches to women - positive aspects
Buddha said that it would be unfair to deny women the same chance to make spiritual progress as men
The Buddha ordained his widowed step-mother
Buddhist countries have shown respect for single women
The right to divorce is seen as a core principle, and give women relative equality
Women’s equality in different branches
Thai - influential role outside the home, involved in trading and agriculture
Southern countries - women have been lawyers and doctors
Northern countries - considerable equality of property rights, political involvement
East Asia - until 1945, zen nuns had low status but have now become regarded as equal, Throssel Hole monastery was founded by a woman
The teaching of the Buddha (women) - positives
Mahayana Buddhism sees gender as ‘empty’ - destroyed the grounds for discrimination against women
Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism both teach that women can become Buddhas
Silver coloured woman sutra
No women can ever attain Buddhahood
Means that monks see themselves as superior to women
Leads Buddhists to think that women are not needed on journeys to enlightenment
The story of the dragon king’s daughter
Entered deep mediation almost immediately when she was 8
Men could not believe it
She turns into a man to carry out all the practices of the bodhisattva and people start to believe her/him
Pure Land Buddhism
Women should feel disgust at their female nature
3 objections of obedience for women - father, husband, son - preventing them from enlightenment
A woman’s family duties leave no time or capacity to devote to spiritual development
Ordination of women
Ordination line in Theravada Buddhism had died out in the 11th century - pressure to have children and not be ordained
Since the 1990s it has been revived - number of nuns is increasing
Rita Gross
Buddhism gives a feminist message but the society it is in is patriarchal
In Buddhism most texts have been interpreted in a way that promotes male dominance because it is men who have interpreted them
The main obstacles involved in female rebirth are social rather than spiritual
Kalama Sutta - Buddhism & science
emphasises the priority of experience to gain further knowledge, which is similar to science
rejection of blind faith
Dalai Lama - Buddhism & science
‘If science proves an aspect of Buddhism wrong, Buddhism will change’
Mind and life institute - studies of neuroscience and cognitive science, understanding the mind and meditation
Kalama Sutta - pluralism
analyse everything to find your own truths
trust experience and test the teachings against your experience
Rock edicts of Ashoka
Buddhist teachings recognise the value in other religions
contact between religions is good
‘all religions should reside elsewhere’
treatment of Christians in Japan
prohibited the practice of Christianity, those who refused to obey faced the death penalty
political issues rather than religious
Dalai Lama - pluralism
focus on individual choice
use what you learn to better yourself
do not try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist
Buddha’s conversation with Upali
Buddhists see all teachings as provisional - ‘fingers pointing at the moon, not the moon itself’
Upali wanted to be a disciple but the Buddha didn’t want him to convert so fast - Buddhism should be tested before you commit fully
Sam Harris
new atheist
Buddhism needs rescuing from the Buddhists
Koans - Rinzai Zen
riddles which are designed to bring our mental processes to a dead halt, and allow us to think without the confines of our language
sometimes described as a glimpse of enlightenment
