Final Terms Flashcards
What is abhiseka?
- an anointment ritual that student into a particular tantric deity practice or “sadhana”
- must receive transmission from a guru
- must also make special tantric samaya vows or commitments to maintain appropriate conduct and respect the bond with the guru
Who is Amitabha and what is he used for?
- he is one of the first, and most important Buddhas in “Pure Land Buddhism,” even though his heaven is not the only pure land
- By having faith in Amitabha, intending to be reborn in his pure land, and invoking his name with complete confidence, one is guaranteed rebirth there
- Throughout East Asia, deathbed visualization practices/descents of Amitabaha are depicted and the Japanese “raigo” depiction is an aid for dying people tp visualize Amitabha
- nianfu/nenbutsu is the term for reciting the name of Amitabha
What is ānāpānasati?
- breath mindfulness (breathing exercises)
- there are 16 stages of ānāpānasati that cycle through all four objects of mindfulness (body, sensations, mind, dhammas)
What is Anātman (non-self)?
- the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying substance that can be called the soul.
- Instead, the individual is compounded of five factors (skandhas) that are constantly changing and these factors by themselves cannot constitute a whole being so there is no self
Who is Avalokiteśvara? What is its name in Chinese and Japanese? What is the difference between Theravada and Mahayana in considering this figure?
- Bodhisattva of compassion: the very fabric of reality that responds compassionately and is given personal expression by: Avalokitesvara (Sanskrit), also known as: “Beholder of the Worlds Cries”
- Chinese: Guanyin/Kwan Yin, Japanese: Kannon
- In China, Avalokiteshvara/Kuan Yin has female manifestations, and male manifestations with effeminate features
- While philosophically separate, Theravada in practice recognizes this Bodhisattva, but denies its identity with “Mahayana”
- “Thousand hands” represent Nirmanakaya manifestations
What is Bodhicitta? What does it mean literally?
- it is: 1) a spontaneous wish to attain enlightenment motivated by great compassion for all sentient beings 2) a falling away of the attachment to the illusion of an inherently existing self.
- Bodhi means “awakening” or “enlightenment”. Citta derives from the Sanskrit root cit, and means “that which is conscious” (i.e., mind or consciousness). Bodhicitta may be translated as “awakening mind” or “mind of enlightenment
- Marks the beginning of the Bodhisattva path in Mahayana Buddhism
What is a Bodhisattva-mahasattva? What are the three levels of its existence?
*A Bodhisattva who has reached at least the 8th stage of the Bodhisattva path. They are popular objects of devotion and called upon for aid. Having not reached parinirvana they are seen as more accessible than Buddhas. But in practice, people don’t really distinguish between them.
So, Bodhisattva-mahasattva is a technical term to emphasize that they are not full Buddhas, but greater than other bodhisattvas who don’t yet have “heavenly” status and can’t be called upon for help.
*Three levels:
1) Dharmakaya (pure dharma body) unmanifested absolute mode
2) Sambhogakaya (enjoyment body) heavenly mode: Most Bodhisattvas live here
3) Nirmanakaya (transformation body) as manifested avatars: they are really present in the human world (ex. Gautama Buddha)
What is Buddhānusmṛti? How does it differ from nianfo/nembutsu?
- pre-Mahayana meditative practice: “recollection of the Buddha” or “Buddha-mindfulness”
- different from nianfo/nembutsu (calling on Amitabha and other Buddhas) because it is just a meditative practice, doesn’t carry the expectation of salvation by a Buddha’s power
What is a Buddha-field (buddha-kṣetra)?
*In an eon where the Buddha is present; a Buddha field is manifested and created by a Buddha– a Buddha Realm built by Buddha and contains many world systems
What is the difference between Conventional (saṁvṛti) and Ultimate (paramārtha)? How do Nagarjuna and the Madhyamika take this even further?
- Distinction first found in pre-Mahayana abhidharma, where “conventional” refers to “person, tree” etc., the labels our mind place on things, whereas the “ultimate” refers to the clusters of dharmas (in humans/psychology, “skhandas” of which these things are made up.
- They say, even the dharmas are just conventional reality. Ultimately, they too are empty of any inherent existence. To treat them as the “building blocks” of reality is to falsely attribute independent existence/unchanging permanence to them.
What do “Crosscurrents” from the study of Korean Buddhism refer to? Give an example.
*Refers to instances where Korean Buddhists, often seen as recipients of Chinese currents of Mahayana, themselves exert a influence on how the Mahayana is understood in China and the rest of East Asia.
*Example: Wonhyo.
He developed a grand synthesis of all known teachings. The key was in his commentary on Awakening of Fatih in the Mahayana (Dasheng Qixin Lun) which became a standard and foundational interpretation for all of East Asia.
*Another example: Vajrasamadhi-sutra was long revered as a foundational text in Chinese Chan and seen as scriptural backing for the synthetic teachings of the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana. Long thought to be of Chinese origin, recently discovered to be Korean.
What is deity yoga and its two stages?
- a practice of Vajrayana Buddhism involving identification with a chosen deity through visualisations and rituals, and the realisation of emptiness. According to the Tibetan scholar Tsongkhapa, deity yoga is what separates Buddhist Tantra practice from the practice of other Buddhist schools.
- involves two stages, the generation stage and the completion stage. In the generation stage, one dissolves the mundane world and visualizes one’s chosen deity (yidam), its mandala and companion deities, resulting in identification with this divine reality.[2] In the completion stage, one dissolves the visualization of and identification with the yidam in the realization of sunyata or emptiness. Completion stage practices can also include subtle body energy practices
What is Dhāraṇī?
- the syllables of a dharani are seen to manifest some sacred power or deity. They can be chanted for protection or other ritual purposes. They’re like mantras except specific to Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, unlike mantras which go back to Hinduism.
- Some scholars believe them to have originated as mnemonic devices which summarized the contents of a text.
What do the Five Skandhas mean? What are they? How do the skandhas refute the idea of a “being or individual”, and complement the anatta doctrine of Buddhism which asserts that all things and beings are without self?
- means “heaps, aggregates, collections, groupings”
- The five aggregates or heaps are: form (or matter or body) (rupa), sensations (or feelings, received from form) (vedana), perceptions (samjna), mental activity or formations (sankhara), and consciousness (vijnana)
- The five skandhas (or ‘aggregates’ or ‘bundles’) are the things that constitute a person. The first one is material form (our body), the second is feelings, etc. Since they are multiple, then not one of them can be said to make up the self. Thus, if you break down the self into these constituent parts, no one ’thing’ is left. In other words, we are constituted of a variety of factors. It does not mean that we don’t exist truly, but just that there is no irreducible, permanent, self underlying these five ‘aggregates’.
What is Gandhāra? Where is it? Why is it important to Buddhism?
*currently situated in modern-day northern Pakistan, in the Peshawar valley and Potohar plateau, and extending to Jalalabad district of modern-day Afghanistan
*The region was a major center for Greco-Buddhism under the Indo-Greeks and Gandharan Buddhism under later dynasties. It was also a central location for the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and East Asia
Buddhism thrived until 8th or 9th centuries, when Islam first began to gain sway in the region.
What is a guru?
- The guru concept has thrived in Vajrayāna Buddhism, where the tantric guru is considered a figure to worship and whose instructions should never be violated
- Anybody can be a guru, doesn’t have to be a monk. Anyone who can transmit abhisheka
What is Jodo Shinshū? Who founded it? What is its connection to the Lotus Sutra?
- Shinran: founder of Jodo Shinsu (True Pure Land) aka Shin Buddhism, also studied Tendai at Mt. Hiei and became a disciple of Honen, though with a more spiritually radical interpretation of salvation by faith (in Amida) alone, not by works. “If a good man can enter the Pure Land, how much more so an evil man.”
- Shinran concluded that individual effort could not rectify karma, left monasticism, took a wife, created a great deal of controversy.
- Jodo Shinshu or True Pure Land Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. Considered the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan.
- The lotus sutra says that there’s only one way to enlightenment, the bodhisattva path. This was important to Mahayana, and Jodo Shinsu is a pure land school, which is a kind of Mahayana. Chinese Tientai, which became Japanese Tendai, considered the lotus sutra to be the most important text. Shinran studied Tendai before founding Jodo Shinsu, so it makes sense that he would reinterpret the lotus sutra, and he just redefines the bodhisattva path and ultimate enlightenment as birth in the pure land
Who is Kukai? What is Shingon?
- Kūkai, also known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi, 774–835, was a Japanese Buddhist monk, civil servant, scholar, poet, and artist who founded the Shingon or “True Word” school of Buddhism
- Commoner who excelled in elite school, became recognized as smartest person in Japan
What is the Lotus Sūtra and the “Single Vehicle” (Ekayāna)? What are its teachings?
*Summary: According to this parable, a fire broke out in the house of a wealthy man, while his children were still playing inside. The wealthy man shouted at his children to flee, but they were absorbed in their game and did not heed his warning, endangering their lives. Then, their father devised a way to save them. He told them that he had bought three different carts and asked them to come out and play with them. The children, ran out of the house eager to play with the new toys they heard about. When they met their father, he offered them a jewelled cart pulled by white bullocks.
In this parable, the father is the Buddha and the children represent sentient beings attached to samsara. The three carts mentioned firstly, represent the three vehicles of Hinayana Buddhism. The jewelled cart he finally offered to his children, represents the ultimate teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, which lead to perfect Buddhahood.”
*Teachings: 1) One vehicle, many skillful means: There’s only one path to enlightenment and its the one that benefits all beings. 2) All beings have the potential of becoming the Buddha: The Lotus Sūtra is also significant because it reveals that women, evil people and even animals have the potential to become Buddhas.3) The nature of the Buddha: the idea that the Buddha is an eternal entity, who achieved nirvana eons ago, but remains in the world to help teach beings the Dharma time and again
What is Mahāvairocana Tantra? What are the three stages of the system of practice?
- The Mahāvairocana Tantra is the first true Buddhist tantra, the earliest comprehensive manual of tantric Buddhism; an important Vajrayana Buddhist text.
- preliminary, application, and accomplishment.
