Sources of Authority - foundations of the Buddha

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