buddhism - sources of authority (buddha, dukkha/MOS, PC)

Question 1

how to write buddhism essays

Answer 1

• key words and defintions
• concepts found in scripture/buddhas teachings
• concept taught by other key buddhist scholars
• concept as understood by different buddhist schools (M + T)
• concept as experienced by different types of buddhist followers, laity and sangha

Question 2

why is Buddhism a western term

Answer 2

• means religion of the buddha
• a person who has woken up to the truth about life

Question 3

what does dharma mean

Answer 3

• truth, teaching

Question 4

why is buddhism unique

Answer 4

• not based upon belief in a personal God but on human experience and human potential like other world religions
• counted as a religion as it puts forward a goal for human life

Question 5

why is there diversity in buddhism

Answer 5

• no creed, centralised authority or ties with one particular nationality or culture
• adapted over time and doesnt demand sole allegience

Question 6

how does the buddha describe his teachings as a raft

Answer 6

• a raft that serves to carry a person from one side of a dangerous river to another but has served its purpose and should be left behind
• dharma is something to be left behind not to be taken
• religion should be tried out to see if it works –> better person or reaching a spiritual goal

Question 7

background of buddhism

Answer 7

• no god
• wesak, festival
• sacred texts: tripitaka, pali canon, sutras
• followers are buddhists
• founder: siddattha gotama the buddha
• place of worship: vihara, temple
• language of sacred texts, Sanskrit and pali
• mahayana and theravada
• japan, china, sri lanka, tibet
• 2500 years ago, BC

Question 8

different schools in buddhism

Answer 8

• called divisions as denominations is abrahamic and western
• THERAVADA: living tradition that claims descent from early buddhism (pali) (p)
• MAHAYANA: newer version of buddhism practiced (sanskrit) (s)
• Vajrayana: mahayana philosophy and esoteric ideas

Question 9

what happened after the buddha died

Answer 9

• his teachings spread from sarnath and bodh-gaya after death in 400 bc
• groups split to different beliefs and practices into 2 major schools

Question 10

origin of theravada buddhists

Answer 10

• pali canon wrote in 80 BC –> 320 years after his death, is it reliable?
• emporer asoka converts and runs empire according to B principles
• sends missionaries to spread message

Question 11

origin of mahayana buddhists

Answer 11

• india, sanskrit
• saw the buddha as a glorified transcendent being
• ultimate achievement was to have Buddhahood
• call T ‘hinayana’, insult

Question 12

theravada buddhist characteristics and teachings

Answer 12

• seen as the classical buddhism
• sri lanka, thailand, burma etc
• conservative, og traditions and texts
• pali canon in (p)
  rituals honour the buddha
• buddha is a man like us and we are called to achieve enlightment by his teachings
• self reliance: individual resp to get to nirvana as buddhahood is not realistic in one lifetime
• emphasises renunciation, monacsticism
• goal is to escape samsara (cycle) before realising nirvana
• practical philosophy –> analysing existence as a series of dhammas, psychological analysis
  high degree of uniformity, little adaptation

Question 13

mahayana buddhism characterstics and teachings

Answer 13

• diverse, the great vehicle
• china, japan, tibet, korea, vietnam, nepal
• many philosophies
• buddha has a glorious and heavenly form
• a collection of many schools of thought
• many sutras in sanskrit, mostly from india
• buddha: ultimate reality in the universe and everyone
• buddhahood is key: enlightenment for all, not just yourself (bodhisattva for the sake of others) –> enlightenment and nirvana is not the goal
• multiverse larger than T: many world systems
• mahayana scriptures: accepted as buddhas words only by M; anyone who speaks from the complete reality insight speaks the Bs words
• teachings can be adapted to circumstance and what helps make the most spiritual progression

Question 14

ideas shares by T and M buddhists

Answer 14

• little animosity between the two due to teachings of tolerance
• no ultimate, personal creator, no evidence for it and evidence is usually against an all loving all powerful god (eg POE), minor Gods instead

Question 15

summary of different ideas of the buddha

Answer 15

• historical B: Siddhartha Gautama (s), SHAKYAMUNI B, of the S clan
• referred to in texts as Bhagavat = lord
• refers to himself as Tathagata B ‘one who has come and will not return’ after enlightenment
• sammasambuddha: perfect Buddha who needed no teaching to gain Nirvana
• tathagata Garbha = buddha seed, potentiality in all of us to become Buddha (M and T)

Question 16

summary of the buddha’s biography

Answer 16

• birth and key events
• 4 sights
• ascetic life
• travels and enlightenment
• teaching ministry
• death and paranirvana

Question 17

Buddhas birth and key events

Answer 17

• brought up in luxury, no suffering
• born to king and queen
• queen maya had a dream that he would descend from heaven
• married at 16
• did he descend or was it normal –> historical vs cosmic
• miraculous birth recounted –> 8 steps and lotus flowers, speaking from birth, mythical elements
• hindu priest –> said he would grow up to be a great emperor or a holy man

Question 18

the 4 sights and significant

Answer 18

• pali canon
• outside palace
• aged, suffering, dead and holy
• S realised there is no permeance and death and suffering is intrinsic
• lost vanity of life and health
• renounced pleasure in his life and seeks the solution to sickness, old age and death –> DETATCHMENT
• left life sheltered from suffering, on the night his son was born

Question 19

the ascetic life

Answer 19

• belief that these practices could set the eternal soul free from the confines of the material body into eternal peace
• Kalama and ramaputta: B learned advanced med states –> ‘nothingness’
• first discussed ideas of rebirth, karma and release with these teachers
• extreme asceticism: harsh treatment of the body gives liberation of the soul
• B learned self control, control of the soul but renounced it with a meal of milk rice
• psychological preparation of mind and body connection

Question 20

travels and enlightenment

Answer 20

• sat under a tree and spent night in meditation and gained insight into the nature of human existence and actually realised his goal of perfect peace
• mara (the evil one) tempted him to give up –> personification of his fears, doubts and desires to return to worldly pleausures
• B had enough self control to conquer these temptations from his experience
• successfully gained 4 stages of jnana in buddhist meditation
• then superknowledges: past experiences of past lives, ‘heavenly eye’ clairvoyance to see all beings coming and passing away in all realms of existence –> law of karma, and perfect wisdom
• knowledge gained in enlightenment: knowledge of suffering and the cessation of it
• his move to nirvana is unknown by unenlightened ones –> perfect peace without suffering, not described in words

Question 21

teaching ministry

Answer 21

• first disciples were lay men who took refuge in the buddha and offered him food as they past by him when he first became enlightened
• didnt want to teach initially as he believed no one would understand what he could not explain but indian god Brahma insisted
• taught ascetics in deer park (DP sermon) about 4 noble truths and all 5 became enlightened right after teaching –> knowledge and liberation, but became arhats as they were not sammasamBudhha
• had followers from all backgrounds, disregarded caste etc
• monastic sangha: spread B message and become Enlightened –> B made rules for them in the Vinaya, had to be revised as problems arised (eg limits on meditation as it led monks to take their own lives)
• B returned home and displayed psychic abilities –> jets of fire and water flowing from his limbs
• aunt mahapajapati became first nun after much persuasion: B was reluctant to ordain women, later monk prejudice?
• demonstrated upaya: Nanda and lust for women as motivation for meditation but desires faded
• taught in parables, blind men and elephant (religious teaching disputes), jataka tales
• social action: refusing to preach until a peasant was fed, monastic rules for helping sick as he had to help a deceased monk who was abandoned
• had opps: women claimed he raped and killed a nun and got another pregnant
• criticsed other sects: brahmins, jains, ajivakas and materialists –> their disregard of moral behvaiour, karma or their disbelief in impermanence

Question 22

death and parinirvana

Answer 22

• became ill at 80 after a meal of sweet pig –> compassionate as he did not blame the man who gave him the meal
• died in an obscure place –> kusinara, humility and desire for people to hear the message rather than fuss about him
• appointed the dhamma as his successor
• went into deep meditation and died in 4th jhana of peace and calm –> parinirvana of final passing into nirvana
• bones of B became relics given to lay people –> important for sangha not to be attatched to this
• birth place, englightenment, first sermon and death place became pilgrimage sites

Question 23

theravadin understanding of the Buddha

Answer 23

• HISTORICAL: 2500 years ago, siddhartha Gautama
• was a human, Shakyamuni buddha
• tathagata B, will not return –> not a god, passed into nirvana
• 32 marks of existence, extraordinary
• did not appoint a successor, left only the dhamma –> ‘he who sees the dhamma sees me’ sutta pitta
• ‘buddha gives us a map to nirvana, we must get ourselves there’ denise cush –> 8 fold path, 5 precepts for Sangha and laiety

Question 24

Mahayanan understanding of the Buddha

Answer 24

• he has a ‘glorious and heavenly form’ –> cosmic buddha
• there are multiple buddhas and bodhisattvas who return to help people reach enlightenment
• vairocana Buddha eg

Question 25

M and T shared understanding of the Buddha

Answer 25

• sammasambuddha, taught himself through his experiential wisdom –> 4 sights, luxury vs ascetism
• ‘I have myself found the way, whom shall I call teacher?’
• place of refuge: ‘I go to the Buddha for refuge’
• account of his life can be seen as a haiography: idealised version of his life –> mythical and inspires us to be like him
• he is an archetype for all divisions as he is a central source of wisdom

Question 26

different names of the buddha

Answer 26

• shakyamuni: of the shakyamuni clan
• tathagata: the one who has come and will not return again
• sammasambuddha: didnt need to be taught to reach enlightenment

Question 27

different meanings of the buddha

Answer 27

• historical: human being like ourselves, cush (T)
• symbolic buddha: he who sees the dhamma sees me (pc) –> he becomes the teachings, can follow his life to learn the teachings, given himself a different ontology
• cosmic buddha: other world systems and other buddhas, cush (M)

Question 28

different status of the buddha

Answer 28

• an ordinary man, ‘not god, cannot be contacted’ cush
• T: an extraordinary man, 32 marks of existence of a great being –> basis of early rep of the buddha from the pali canon (thighs like a royal stag)
• semi divine man, being that can be contacted but not god (M)

Question 29

different functions

Answer 29

• a role model
• an archetype
• a teacher - ‘ given us a map but we need to get there ourselves’
• a refuge - buddha, dhamma, sangha
• constant source of wisdom - available in glorious spiritual and heavenly form, cush vs no longer personally accessible to us, gethin –> PC is source of wisdom

Question 30

why are there differences within buddhism

Answer 30

• culture
• time between life and records
• interpretations
• schools
• laity vs sangha

Question 31

buddha-ology in T tradition

Answer 31

• support historical and symbolic buddha –> represents potentiality for enlightenment even if Sid did not reach it historically
• pali C is words of B
• belief PC has been uncorrupted and has leg due to its origin
• way to enlightenment is buddha’s words (buddhavacana)

Question 32

buddha-ology in M tradition

Answer 32

• anyone can be a buddha, historical
• sid is not the only buddha
• many possible buddhas
• symbolic buddha now provides the model for historical buddha

Question 33

why is the buddha a source of wisdom

Answer 33

• knowledge and is wise
• beyond practical wisdom –> self knowledge, interconnectedness, judgement and compassion, existence
• enlightenment, no help, not revelation
• renunciation
• self transcendence (past life)
• experiential, self knowledge (4 sights, ascetic, luxury)
• cause and effect, know how to make decision
• ascetics become instantly enlightened after B teached them showing his is skillful and wise

Question 34

scholars on the buddha as a teacher

Answer 34

• ‘the buddha is dead…it is the responsibility of each individual to sort out his or her own help’ cush
• ‘the buddha gives us a map to nirvana, we must get ourselves there’ cush
• ‘it is vital to not forget that he is one of us’
• ‘the buddha’s teaching is meant not only for monks in monasteries but also for ordinary men and women at home, living with their families’ Rahula

Question 35

why is the buddha a source of authority

Answer 35

• he is a role model and the first
• has wisdom
• 32 marks of existence of an exceptional being
• he is the dhamma

Question 36

why is the buddha a rolemodel for T Buddhists

Answer 36

• sammasambuddha, highest form of buddha hood and brought the teaching so others can reach enlightenment
• tathagata buddha: beyond dukka (suffering)
• role model as he as authority as a spiritually advanced being
• he is a principle as he is the dhamma
• narrative of B life is meaningful and his authority comes from the dhamma –> historical buddha existing is not important concerning the truth of the dhamma
• can lead a person to nirvana irrespective of shakyamuni buddha –> B emphasised the practical purpose of his teachings, and that they should not be clinged to ‘for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of holding on to’

Question 37

things that show the Buddha is a role model

Answer 37

• he avoided suffering not because he was a cosmic being, but because he was a man who learned –> he is like us (T)
• No leader can effectively create a movement without being a role model
• he gives down to earth pragmatic advice: Sigolavada sutta - ‘take care of your family, respect listen and obey your parents’
• B made no claim to divinity –> affirmed the potential of humanity to reach enlightenment through tremendous effort of heart and mind
• models virtues in jataka tales
• he started from a place of ignorance and through life he found the middle way –> he admits when he is wrong and is able to change his mind (seen with rejection of asceticism)
• dhamma is still relevant as suffering is still a problem and dhamma is universal
• critical of brahmin tradition that says nobility comes from birth –> social justice
• his existence as a historical figure does not determine the strength of the dhamma, his significance transcends this as an archetype for all Buddhists
• deer park sermon: teachings are so powerful they helped 5 immediately reach enlightenment

Question 38

things that show the buddha isnt a role model

Answer 38

• inaccessible as the life of a prince and then as an ascetic is not viable/understandable by most
• buddha stresses about the importance of working things out alone, following him not encouraged?
• all buddhas in M tradition are role models, undermine Shakyamuni ?
• great renunciation of wife and son, rolemodel? –> doesnt represent family values of a religious founder
• self absorbed in life? didnt want to teach until urged by a god –> Bodhisattvas are better role models, enlightenment for all is their goal not just themselves (M)
• Bs take refuge in him as a place of saftey and security –> Buddha is more than a role model
• can we trust stories? myths and legends can be written in to make shak B look better

Question 39

what is upaya + scholar

Answer 39

• skill in means
• knowledge on what to do in a situation

Theravada: Buddhas skill in shaping teaching to be appropriate to his audience so they can understand the dhamma (beginners, jataka tales vs advanced)

• mahayana: activity tha helps others realise enlightenment
• buddhas teachings are provisional to enlightenment –> M see T as a skill in means to get to enlightenment

John hick: his life is the teaching (dhamma)

Question 40

buddhas teaching style and upaya

Answer 40

• socrates and jesus blend
• similies, metaphors, parables
• remembering deeper truth

Question 41

buddhas parables and upaya

Answer 41

• saft: dharma should be abandoned if not needed, no attachment
• kisa gotami: needed experience
• poison arrow: do not concern yourself with metaphysics as it does not lead to cessation of suffering –> thich Nhat hanh and Rupert Getwin

Question 42

adaptation of teaching as upaya

Answer 42

• teachers willingness to adapt the interests, needs and level of understanding of others to communicate to them
• flexibility and sympathy
• buddha: adapted speech and appearance to be better able teach the dhamma to different people
• monks and nuns should learn the foreign languages of the people they are living with

Question 43

importance of critical thinking

Answer 43

• “when you know through your own experience that certain things are wrong and unwholesome, do not lead to calm and happiness and are not beneficial, then give them up” Buddha
• B: only accept his teaching only having examined it for themselves and not out of reverence for him
• need to understand the consequences first

Question 44

john hick and skill in means in religion

Answer 44

• presupposes that a teacher knows some truth which is to be communicated to others so that they may come to see it for themselves
• skilful means are the devices in which teachers uses to do this
• Buddha in PC: skilful questions, parables and stories, uses particular individuals or group and adapts teachings to their karmic state

Question 45

sigala and skill in means

Answer 45

• sigala promised to worship 6 directions as his father asked on his death bed
• B didnt criticise or condemn but asked him to modify it slightly –> see people he were in relationships with as equivalent to directions and worship them by treating them with kindness respect and love

Question 46

kisa gotami and skill in means

Answer 46

• lost only child and became desperate to find someone to help her
• buddha said he could help if she brought white mustard seeds from any family who didnt have death
• she realised that this did not exist –> buddha comforted her and preached to her the truth
• awakened and entered the first stage of enlightenment
• B uses skill in means to help her have experience of grief –> death is life

Question 47

parable of the poison arrow and skill in means

Answer 47

• about the 14 unanswerable questions –> questions of the cosmos do not remove suffering, origin of existence is not the point
• not answering q: upaya, asking the questions wrongly
• the questions are irrelevant (or he doesnt know)
• dhamma is to pull out the arrow youve been shot with instead of contemplating its nature –> rejects the metaphysical
• thich nhat hanh: dont waste time in metaphysical speculation, problem of liberation remains the same, speculation brings us no closer to the truth
• rupert gethin: buddha wanted to keep these matters open, since these questions do not contribute to the cessation fo suffering, their purpose is pulled into question in human life (undermines meta thinking)

Question 48

the lotus sutra

Answer 48

• not recognised by T, but roots in T
• acclaimed, only taught to some
• teaches of M view of T Buddhism –> T is skill in means, and so is the PC

Question 49

describe the lotus sutra

Answer 49

• wealthy man and children = humanity and bodhisattva, cosmic buddha
• children would not flee burning house, absorbed in game = attachment stops us from leaving suffering/samsara (link to 4 sights), dharma is the way to get out of the burning house
• wealthy man had practical way to save us: upaya, preaches T Buddhism first so people can access M and the sutras
• 3 carts ‘goats, deer, oxen’ = 3 lesser vehicles, T buddhism to save them from suffering
• children come out and see greater cart –> greater vehicle, M buddhism

Question 50

difference between T and M upaya, and issue raised

Answer 50

• M belief is that everything TB teaches and the PC is upaya, and MB and the sutras is the true way
• TB is therefore foundational but not the right teaching, B teaches so people can understand foundationally and then
• when the B was teaching T, did he lie? or is the Lotus Sutra propaganda as only they endorse it? or was this upaya?

Question 51

3 vehicles in the lotus S significance

Answer 51

• sravakayana: yana of the arhat who had been taught the dhamma of the buddha and is apart of the monastic sangha, typical T path
• Pratyekabuddhayāna: yana of the solitary b, outside sangha and not taught the dhamma, avoids companionship
• bodhisattva-yana: someone who models approach on historical Buddha’s, leads to the attainment of perfect buddha hood or the realisation of tathagatagarbha (buddha within) –> rebirths, paramitas and bodhicitta (awakened mind)

Question 52

the foundation of the dhamma

Answer 52

• ‘all i teach is suffering and the cessation of suffering - buddha
• 3 fires poisons, greed, hatred, ignorance –> aim is to extinguish or cease suffering and attain nirvana

Question 53

3 truths of human life

Answer 53

• annica: impermanence, nothing lasts forever
• dukkha: all life is suffering, we suffer because we want things to last forever, and we do not understand
• anatta: no fixed permanent unchanging self/soul
• links to 4 sights, B realises that all life is suffering and death is inevitable –> impermanence
• asceticism vs luxury: suffering, no happiness, not just destitution –> asceticism implies that there is a soul to release but there is no such thing

Question 54

4 noble truths

Answer 54

1. all life is suffering (dukkha)
2. cause of suffering is craving/greed
3. end of suffering is eliminating craving
4. cessation - 8 fold path

• wapola rahula described B as a doctor who diagnoses the problem and gives a solution

Question 55

dukkha as a concept

Answer 55

• in B view dukkha can occur even in a happy moment as the experience/moment is impermanent
• dukkha is a scale and can range from annoyance to agony
• dukkha-dukkha: pain and unpleasant experience, doesnt account for pleasure and happiness
• viparinama-dukkha: pleasant experiences are impermanent causing frustration, leads to craving when the source of pleasure does not exist anymore
• sankhara-dukkha: insubstantiality, things do not meet our expectations, disatisfaction –> existential-dukkha

Question 56

diversity of dukkha and dukkha in formations

Answer 56

• major and minor dukkha –> ‘slowly fading and quickly fading’ PC
• cessation of craving ceases dukkha, until it is effortless to do good naturally

formations
- everything in sansara is made up of component parts and will eventually fall back into these parts, leading to suffering –> everything will die? due to the cycle, leading to dukkha

Question 57

deer park sermon and dukkha

Answer 57

• ‘birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, sorrow, lamentation, pain grief and despair are dukkha’
• all life is suffering explained to ascetics in first sermon

Question 58

dukkha as a raging fire

Answer 58

• ‘the all is aflame.. aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion’

Question 59

is dukkha pessimistic

Answer 59

• Bs reject this as they claim their religion is realistic –> few lives are not touched by sorrow (physical, mental etc) and the first noble truth is telling the truth of life, only sounds negative because there is a natural inclination to suppress the unpleasant realities of life –> keown and prebish
• keown: translation as suffering, and the first noble truth makes it seem to those new to the religion that the B thought life was ‘constant agony’

Question 60

background to buddhist texts

Answer 60

• 4 councils: decide rules for monks, tripitaka = 3 bowls/baskets
• seen as the buddhavacana –> transferred orally by arhats, enlightened monks with perfect memory (?)
• canonical texts: dalai lam, thich nhat hanh
• mahayana sutras: authenticity checked due to their adherence to vinaya, dukkha, annata
• pali canon: vinaya, sutta, abhidhamma

Question 61

the vinaya pitaka

Answer 61

• B rules of conduct for the sangha
• suttavibhanga: 227 rules for monks and 311 for nuns
• khandhaka: rules governing the organisation of the sangha rather than the conduct for individual monks

Question 62

sutta pitaka

Answer 62

• discourses of the buddha and written source of the buddhist dharma
• digha nikaya contains 34 discourses
• majjhima nikaya contains sermon by a female disciple of the buddha showing how women had a place in early buddhism
• contains realisation that others in other ages may have reached liberation without the teachings of buddhism
• topics include types of karma, dharma, generosity, renunciation and the maintenance of parents, duties for a monk etc

Question 63

abhidhamma pitaka

Answer 63

• philosophical treatment of the dharma presented in the suttas of the buddha
• dammasangani: existence into the basic dhammas of which all things are made is analysed –> needed to no impose mental constrictions

Question 64

describe the first buddhist council

Answer 64

• Established to arrive at a consensus on how the teachings of the Buddha could be spread further
• Rules established
• 483 BC after the Buddha’s demise
• Presided over by Monk Mahakassapa
• Main objective was to preserve the Buddha’s teachings
• Ananda: composed the Suttapitaka (Buddha’s teaching) and Upali (monastic code)
• justified: arhats have perfect memory as enlightened beings

Question 65

describe the second buddhist council

Answer 65

• Conducted under patronage of King Kalasoka
• Presided over by Sabakami
• Discussed 10 disputed points under the Vinaypitaka
• First major split happens → Thera (elder) wanted to preserve the teachings of the Buddha in the original spirit and Mahasanghika (great community) interpreted the Buddha’s teachings more liberally
• Perfect memory used to justify reliability

Question 66

describe the third buddhist council

Answer 66

• Conducted under the patronage of Emperor Ashoka
• Beginning of M and T split
• Presided by Mohaliputta
• Purifying Buddhism from opportunistic factions and corruption in the Sangha
• Abhidhamma Pitaka was composed here → almost completion of the modern Pali Tripitaka
• Buddhist missionaries sent to other countries
• Buddhist preached by Emperor Ashoka was Theravadan

Question 67

describe the fourth buddhist council

Answer 67

• Vasumitra and Ashvaghosha presided over the council
• All deliberations in Sanksrit
• Abhidhamma texts translated from Prakrit to Sanskrit
• Led to division of Buddhism into two sects → M and T
• M: idol worship, ritual, Bodhisattvas, Buddha=God, Sanskrit scriptures
• T: original teachings and practices of the Buddha, adhere to Pali scriptures

Question 68

uses of the pali canon

Answer 68

• chanting and meditation by L and S –> remembering texts and their importance of a particular message
• helps meditation as it clears the mind
• ‘does not have intrinsic value, only instrumental authority’ –> means to nirvana, as meditation is how SB achieved
• educated on key concepts, using upaya to help both S and L

Question 69

differences between how T and M use the PC

Answer 69

T
- buddhavacana - words of the B, central source of authority used daily as it encompasses all essential things of B
- learn about historic and symbolic B
- source of PC and he is the teachings –> B appointed no successor, only the word, no contender for leader
- increases its status for monks
- used for education, understanding SB, guide to N!!

M
- entirety is upaya, needed to access the sutras
- sutras have more authority and status as they expand on T ideas (basic truths not ultimate truths)
- PC = lesser vehicle, foundational/roots
- higher teachings of B are believed to be delivered in secret by supernatural beings

Question 70

differences in how the laity and the sangha use the PC

Answer 70

L
- guidebook –> dhammapada (sutta pitaka), J tales and parables are learnt and applied to life
- ‘the ordinary lay buddhist will never have actually read the canonical material’ CUSH
- accessible in learning key concepts (poison arrow parable, 4 noble T, 8FP, 5 precepts –> generating karmic fruitfulness and N!! –> short summary of main principles so they can learn the dhamma and cultivate virtues (ahimsa, dana, generosity) and application
- helps lead to good rebirth

S
- adhere to VP rules and study complex B concepts from the AP –> strict discipline
- maintaining harmony in a community, 227 and 311 rules
- VP scriptures and recite together once a fortnight
- teaches difficult concepts, 5 aggregates
- ‘dhamma, in SP, is conventional teaching and VP is the ultimate teaching’
- helps lead to nirvana