Buddhism

1. Buddhism Sanskrit “Budh” – to awake

2. Life of Siddhartha Gautama • Mix of fact and legends – miraculous birth, Jataka tales • Born 563 B.C. in North India • Son of powerful nobleman • Prophecy at birth – Conqueror or Redeemer. • Luxurious Upbringing. Wife and son.

3. “Four Passing Sights” • Old Age • Disease • Death • Renunciation • At 29, Siddhartha renounces worldly life. • The “Great Going Forth.”

4. Six Year Quest • Studied with raja and jnana yogis  Later, incorporated Hindu teachings • Joined Ascetics  Starvation led to doctrine of Middle Way.  None of these disciplines brought enlightenment

5. The Bodhi Tree • Finally, sat under “Bo tree” (bodhi = “enlightenment). • “The Immovable Spot.” Siddhartha vowed to not leave until enlightened. • Sensing breakthrough, Mara sent tortures and temptations. 9th Century Bengali-Indian Statue

6. 10th Century Chinese Silk Painting

7. 2nd/3rd Century CE Gandharan Relief

8. The Sacred Boddhi tree in 2004 CE. The tree is a descendant of the actual tree under which Buddha reached enlightenment.

9. SiddharthaBecomesBuddha Achieves Nirvana. -- Freedom from suffering and samsara -- “blossoming of wisdom” “Ten thousand galaxies shuddered in awe as lotuses bloomed on every tree, turning the entire universe into a bouquet of flowers set whirling through the air.” Rooted in bliss for 49 days to “Immovable Spot.”

10. Buddha’s Work • Resists temptation to rest in Nirvana • Instead travels Northern India teaching, begging, meditating, counseling. • Founds order of monks and nuns. Sangha. • Dies at age of 80.

11. 1st Sermon at Deer Park • 5 ascetics • “First Turn of the Wheel of the Dharma” • “Dharma” in Buddhism = law, doctrine

12. Flower Sermon

13. Basic Beliefs The Four Noble Truths • existence is suffering ( dukhka - dislocation) • suffering is caused by craving ( tanha - thirst) • there is a cessation of suffering (nirvana – blowing out, as of a flame) • there is a path to the cessation of suffering: the "eightfold path“

14. Basic Practices The Eightfold path • right views • right resolve • right speech • right action  (Five precepts: Do not kill, steal, lie, be unchaste or become intoxicated.) • right livelihood • right effort • right mindfulness • right concentration Also implied: right association

15. Differences with Hinduism • Rejected traditions and authority – Ridiculed Brahmins, castes, Vedas, traditions. “Be lamps unto yourselves.” • “Noble Silence” – Avoids “thicket of theorizing” about God/gods. • Annica – “Impermanence” is essential nature of reality • Anatman – central teaching of non-self • no independently existent, unchangeable self, or Atman, can be found • All phenomena subject to inevitable decay and cessation

16. Shared Heritage with Hinduism • Belief in Karma, some form of reincarnation. • Emphasis on self-discipline and taming the mind. “Like a fish out of water, thrown on dry ground, this mind thrashes about…” The Buddha “Restless the mind is, so strongly shaken in the grip of the senses, truly I think the wind is no wilder.” Arjuna

17. Rebirth • Different than in Hinduism: no Atman to move from body to body • The self is made up of skandas or ‘skeins.’ Picture each person as a bundle of strings. These are the five aggregates: - Matter - Sensation - Perception - Ideas - Consciousness • These diverse energies, insofar as they remain attached to world, continue after death, but not in any unified ‘Self.’ • Metaphor: Burnt cloth continues as smoke, ash, heat.

18. Anatman Explained Since we are all • a composite or combination of diverse strands (skandas), • inextricably interconnected (Dep Orig’n), • and absolutely impermanent (annica)…  the “Self” is an illusion. Not only false, this notion is the source of our suffering

19. Cosmology: Dependent Origination • Universe is all one, and everything depends on everything else. • Metaphor: Indra’s Net (Imagine an infinite spiderweb with drops of dew, each reflecting one another) “A piece of bread contains a cloud. Without a cloud, the wheat cannot grow. So when you eat the piece of bread, you eat the cloud, you eat the sunshine, you eat the minerals, time, space, everything.” Thich Nhat Hanh, Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers.

20. Nirvana • Sanskrit literally “to extinguish” (a flame.) • Buddha himself refused to provide “preview.” • Arhat – A “worthy one” who has reached Nirvana. • All identification with finite experience disappears – the “dewdrop slips into the ocean.” • Most “religious” feature of Buddhism.

21. Buddhist History After Buddha’s death, Buddhism splits into two major schools by 1st Century B.C.E. Boddhidharma, Indian Monk who spread Buddhism to China and founded Zen Buddhism (Mahayana)

22. Mahayana – “The Big Raft” - Bigger: 200 million today. Practiced in China, Taiwan, Korea, Tibet, Vietnam, Japan - Attempt to make Buddhism accessible to lay people, not only monks. - Embraced folk religions, innovations, added Sutras to the Pali Canon. - Inspired by Buddha’s compassion  ideal of the boddhisattva: One who returns to work for enlightenment of all sentient beings. - Buddha as cosmic being and object of worship - Spread to China. Advantage: downplayed social/political message, focused on spiritual

23. Theravada – “The Way of the Elders.” • 100 million. Practiced today in Sri Lanka and most of Southeast Asia (Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand.) • Political vision of Buddhism focused on sangha. Prospered in countries receptive to this vision. • Loyal to Pali Canon -- original teachings of Buddha -- attainment of Nirvana, monkhood. Suspicious of innovation.  Unlike Mahayana, has remained unified for 2,500 years.