Sources of Authority - foundations of the Buddha Flashcards
1
Q
how to write buddhism essays
A
- 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
2
Q
why is Buddhism a western term
A
- means religion of the buddha
- a person who has woken up to the truth about life
3
Q
what does dharma mean
A
- truth, teaching
4
Q
why is buddhism unique
A
- 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
5
Q
why is there diversity in buddhism
A
- no creed, centralised authority or ties with one particular nationality or culture
- adapted over time and doesnt demand sole allegience
6
Q
how does the buddha describe his teachings as a raft
A
- 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
7
Q
background of buddhism
A
- 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
8
Q
different schools in buddhism
A
- 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
9
Q
what happened after the buddha died
A
- his teachings spread from sarnath and bodh-gaya after death in 400 bc
- groups split to different beliefs and practices into 2 major schools
10
Q
origin of theravada buddhists
A
- 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
11
Q
origin of mahayana buddhists
A
- india, sanskrit
- saw the buddha as a glorified transcendent being
- ultimate achievement was to have Buddhahood
- call T ‘hinayana’, insult
12
Q
theravada buddhist characteristics and teachings
A
- 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
13
Q
mahayana buddhism characterstics and teachings
A
- 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
14
Q
ideas shares by T and M buddhists
A
- 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
15
Q
summary of different ideas of the buddha
A
- 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)
16
Q
summary of the buddha’s biography
A
- birth and key events
- 4 sights
- ascetic life
- travels and enlightenment
- teaching ministry
- death and paranirvana
17
Q
Buddhas birth and key events
A
- 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
18
Q
the 4 sights and significant
A
- 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
19
Q
the ascetic life
A
- 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
20
Q
travels and enlightenment
A
- 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
21
Q
teaching ministry
A
- 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
- controversy: 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
22
Q
death and parinirvana
A
- 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
