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Encountering Buddhism: The Middle Path to Liberation

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1. Explain the meaning of Buddhism and related terms

2. Summarize how Buddhism was founded and developed into what it is today

3. Outline the essential Buddhist teachings 4. State the main ethical precepts of Buddhism

for both monastics and laypeople 5. Discuss the way Buddhists worship and

meditate 6. State the main features of Buddhist life around

the world today, especially in North America

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The Name “Buddhism”

• Founded by Siddhartha Gautama who became the Buddha • Buddha: “Enlightened One” ➖ Applies to all who attain enlightenment

• Buddhism: Religion of enlightenment • Teaches that anyone

can become enlightened

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Gautama’s Road to Enlightenment

• Born into the royal Shakya clan in southern Nepal, Gautama’s early life was comfortable and affluent • Married Princess Yashodhara at the age of

sixteen and had a son • Four passing sights

• Gautama’s encounter with old age, sickness, death, and an ascetic

• Provoked him to renounce his wealth, kingdom, and family to seek answers and devise the Middle Path overtime

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Achieving Enlightenment

• Gautama attained enlightenment after long meditation under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya • Gained complete knowledge of himself and

his past lives • Postponed entrance into nirvana to help

others find liberation • Was called Tathagata ➖ Tathagata: One who

has gone to enlightenment

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Achieving Enlightenment (continued 1)

• The Buddha taught throughout northeastern India for forty-five years • Shared the Four Noble Truths and the Noble

Eightfold Path • Established an order of monks called the

sangha • Asked people to take refuge in the Buddha,

his dharma (teaching), and the sangha • Also known as the Three Refuges

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Achieving Enlightenment (continued 2)

• The Buddhist movement thrived with the support of kings and merchants

• The Buddha passed through several levels of meditative trance before he achieved parinirvana • Refused to appoint a successor • Monks met in Rajagrha after his death ➖ Finalized and formally recited the

monastic rules (Vinaya) and the teachings of the Buddha

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India, Sri Lanka, and Theravada

• Diversity arose at the second Buddhist council around 375 B.C.E. • One group advocated change while the

traditional Theravada strictly followed to the earliest practices of Buddhism ➖ Theravada was belittled as Hinayana,

“the small vehicle” Buddhists ➖ Of the eighteen different Theravadin

groups, only the Sri Lankan Theravada survives today

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India, Sri Lanka, and Theravada (continued)

• In the 3rd century B.C.E., the Indian ruler Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire devoted himself to spread Buddhism • Erected thousands of pillars bearing the

Buddha’s teachings • Built monasteries and schools of higher

learning • Sent monks and his own children as

missionaries all over India and south Asia

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Fourth Buddhist Council

• Convened in Sri Lanka in the first century B.C.E. • All sutras (scriptures) were recorded in Pali • Tipitaka: Three Baskets, the main internal

divisions of the canon ➖ Vinaya Pitaka - Monastic rules ➖ Sutta Pitaka - Buddha’s teachings ➖ Abhidamma Pitaka - Higher teachings for

monks • Sri Lankan monks saved the Theravada

branch from extinction

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The Rise of Mahayana

• Mahayana: “Large vehicle” branch of Buddhism found today in China, Japan, and Tibet • Monks of the Great Sangha promoted

expansion of Buddhism to include laity • Adapted to indigenous religions

• Doctrine of Trikaya was developed • Trikaya: Three bodies of the Buddha ➖ Historical Buddha, heavenly buddhas, and

Buddhist teachings

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The Rise of Mahayana (continued)

• Placed importance on bodhisattva • Bodhisattva: One who comes very close to

achieving full Buddha nature but postpones it to help others

• Local divinities, spirits, and heroes of other religions were reinterpreted as bodhisattvas

• Buddhist groups in China and Japan • The Pure Land School of Buddhism • Ch’an in China (Japanese name - Zen)

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Ch’an or Zen

• Brought to China by Bodhidharma around 520 C.E.

• Silent transmission of teachings about enlightenment • Focuses on developing the immediate

awareness of the Buddha mind through meditation on emptiness ➖ Koan: Zen riddle used to reach

non-rational enlightenment ➖ Zazen: Prolonged seated meditation

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Ch’an or Zen (continued)

• Known for rejecting the written word and its rough physical tactics

• Pure Land group became popular among Japan’s lower classes in 900 C.E. • Ch’an was adopted by the

Samurai warrior class and renamed Zen in the 1200s ➖ Branches - Rinzai and

Soto

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Nichiren

• Monk who lived from 1222 to 1282 • Believed that the Lotus Sutra contained

everything Buddhists needed • Intolerant to other forms of Buddhism • Nichiren School is highly popular in Japan

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Tibet and the Diamond Vehicle

• Tibetan legend • In 700s C.E., Indian Tantric monk Rinpoché

defeated Tibetan demons and made them protectors of Tibetan Buddhism

• Tibetan Buddhism has elements of the native Bön religion • Developed into four main schools • Dalai Lama: Ocean of wisdom ➖ Head of the Gelug School of Tibetan

Buddhism

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Tibet and the Diamond Vehicle (continued)

• Vajrayana: Diamond Vehicle • Formal name for Tibetan Buddhism

• Features • Many divinities and demons • Incarnation of a bodhisattva in the whole

line of Dalai Lamas • Use of prayer wheels, prayer flags, religious

pictures made of colored sand, and oracles • Unusual scriptures such as the “Tibetan

Book of the Dead”

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Dalai Lama

• Tenzin Gyatso was identified as reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama • In 1950, he became the 14th Dalai Lama • In 1951, the Communist Chinese invaded

and permanently annexed Tibet ➖ Dalai Lama fled in 1959 to exile in north

India and has regularly met world leaders asking for help for Tibet

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Buddhist Teachings - The Four Noble Truths

All life is suffering

Suffering is caused by desire

To end desire is to end suffering

To end desire, one must follow the Noble Eightfold Path

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Buddhist Teachings - The Noble Eightfold Path

Right understanding Right intention Right speech

Right conduct Right livelihood Right effort

Right mindfulness

Right contemplation

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Buddhist Teachings - Characteristics of Existence

• Outer appearance of all things is constantly changing, but the inner essence does not

Impermanence or anicca

• Unhealthy attachment to things hampers satisfaction and leads to suffering

Suffering or dukkha

• There is no permanent soul or self

No soul or anatta

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General Buddhist Morality

• Sila - Virtuous behavior, morality, ethics, or precept • Percept: Moral command ➖ Action committed in a deed, a word, or in

the mind ➖ Keeping percepts brings peace of mind,

peace with others, and prevents rebirth in hell or as an animal

• General commands - Nonviolence, moderation, and compassion

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Precepts

• Universal percepts • One must not: ➖ Kill sentient

beings ➖ Steal ➖ Commit sexual

immorality ➖ Lie ➖ Drink any

intoxicants

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• Additional percepts • One must not: ➖ Eat between noon

and the following sunrise

➖ Dance, enjoy music, jewelry, or cosmetics

➖ Attend artistic performances

➖ Use luxurious seats and beds

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Precepts and Moral Rules for Monks

• Additional percepts for novice monks • One must not: ➖ Dance, listen to, or engage in

music, singing, or shows ➖ Use things that beautify the

body ➖ Accept money ➖ Use high seats and luxurious beds

• Two hundred additional precepts apply for fully initiated monastics

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Relationship between Monks and Laity and Temples

• Monks and laity live in reciprocal relationship • Each group provides the other with an

opportunity to gain merit • Mahayana and Tibetan temples are

more elaborately decorated in comparison to Theravada temples

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Images of the Buddha

Usually depicted as seated in the lotus meditational position

Eyes are closed or partially closed

Urna, a circular mark on the forehead

Large earlobes

Modestly dressed and healthy, but not overfed

Arms show various mudras

Buddha reclining on the right side symbolizes his entry into nirvana

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Prayer and Meditation

• There is no main deity to receive worship and prayer

• Monastics value meditation • Forms practiced ➖ Trance meditation ➖ Insight meditation

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Protective Rituals

• Recitation of scripture texts called parittas in public to avert collective danger

Theravada

• Use of brief statements of Buddhist teachings and short mantras

Mahayana and Vajrayana

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Funeral Rituals

• Monks bestow blessings, but do not generally perform life-cycle rituals • Visit the dying, because one’s state of mind

while dying influences his or her rebirth • Buddhist funeral practices for leading

monks originated in India • After cremation, ashes and bones are

collected and stupas are built over them • Dead bodies of ordinary monks and

laypeople undergo cremation

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Early Buddhist Immigration to North America

• Late 1800s saw mass immigration of Chinese Buddhists to the west coast of North America • Provoked backlash in the form of

discriminatory laws and practices • Japanese immigrants built cultural

associations and temples • Contact with Buddhism on the East

Coast came through books

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Early Buddhist Immigration to North America (continued)

• Many Japanese Buddhists became Protestant Christians during WWII • Surge of interest in Zen Buddhism after the

war was caused by the migration of Asian Buddhists to the United States ➖ Many Americans traveled to Japan and

began a more serious, committed study of Zen

➖ American troops deployed in Japan were influenced by cultural contact

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Features of the Next Wave of Buddhist Immigration

• Establishing of Tibetan meditation centers in North America

1970s

• Post Vietnam war surge of immigrants from South Vietnam

1975

• Post Pol Pot regime brought a wave of Cambodian refugees

1979

• Rise in celebrity Buddhism shaped the American perception of the religion

1990s

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KEY TERMS

33RELG4 | CH5

• Buddhism • Buddha • Dharmachakra • Middle Path • Shakyamuni • Four Passing Sights • Bodhi Tree • Tathagata • Sangha • Three Refuges • Parinirvana

• Hinayana • Theravada • Sutra • Tipitaka • Mahayana • Trikaya • Bodhisattva • Zen • Koan • Zazen • Dalai Lama

KEY TERMS (continued)

34RELG4 | CH5

• Vajrayana • Lama • Dharma • Karma • Samsara • Nirvana • Four Noble Truths • Noble Eightfold Path • Mindfulness • Three Characteristics

of Existence

• Anicca • Mandala • Dukkha • Anatta • Percept • Mudra • Trance meditation • Insight meditation • Paritta • Mantra • Stupa

SUMMARY

35RELG4 | CH5

• Buddhism is the religion of enlightenment • Gautama Buddha devised the Middle Path

and founded Buddhism • Buddhism aims at complete and definitive

liberation from the painful transience of life

• Buddhism has five universal precepts and places importance on meditation

• Several countries around the world have significant Buddhist populations

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