Religion Paper
student.x
buddhism_ii_211-236_4.pptBuddhism II
Pages 211-237
5 Precepts
- Avoid killing
- Avoid stealing
- Avoid lying
- Avoid sexual misconduct
- Avoid intoxicants (alcohol, drugs, etc.)
The last two intersect. One is much more likely to commit sexual misconduct when under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Be aware of national trends that are coming to victims’ defense around the issue of date rape, especially on college campuses.
Note: As many as 1/3 of all women are victims of sexual assault in some form.
Right speech
- One only says things that they know are true.
- Also, one avoids gossip even if you know it’s true.
- Gossip causes harm. It’s entertainment at another’s expense. It invites judgment and exclusion.
- How does one speak about others in ways that invite compassion, humility and social healing?
- Right speech is anchored in ahimsa – the concept of non-harming.
No Self
- This teaching is in synchronicity with the Pauline idea that “It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives within me” (Galatians 2:19).
- We “sin” from a place of self importance – to gratify our own ego.
- Goal is to avoid being reactive from a place of self importance. Can one see beyond one’s ego? Goal is to be non-reactive, and to understand.
- The point here is to emphasize impermanence and non-attachment, especially as how they relate to the nature of emotions. See that emotions will rise and fall, and remember no to be attached to an emotion (“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself”).
Impermanence
- For instance with anger, treat it as a mother treats a crying baby.
- Rather than ignore it – which will lead to tension to a point of an emotional explosion - pay attention to it. Pick up the baby, so to speak, and hold it.
- Look into the anger, and try and gain insight into its source. Sift through the narrative and give others the benefit of the doubt.
- Be aware of self importance, and try and see the other’s position. Avoid right and wrong, and instead aim for harmony and deeper understanding.
The middle path
- Avoid two pitfalls:
- 1. I am right and you are wrong
- 2. You are right and I am wrong
- Instead, seek understanding of both perceptions and focus on the causes and conditions of reality.
- The goal should be seeking truth(s), and it shouldn’t be to win the argument or to be right.
Buddhism and Western Psychology
- Overlap in the area of self understanding
- “Play the tape forward”
- See the relationship between greed and ignorance: “If I had _____ (sex,power,possessions), I’d be happy.” Really?
- One meditates in order to gain insight.
- One goes to therapy to gain deeper understanding of how one’s past conditions one’s present condition.
- Both are interested in how to deal with adversity through deeper understanding, and offer tips on how to live a more harmonious life.
Dhammapada
- Huge emphasis on how one thinks, how one sees the world and the self.
- Your mind creates your world.
- Happiness follows from a skilled mind
- If your mind is plagued with raging passions, your life will be filled with hedonism. Can you tame those passions by thinking about them with deep insight?
- If you hold onto grudges, the world becomes a terrible place. If you let go, you are free.
“We read the world wrong and then say it has deceived us.” Rabindranath Tagore
- Those who have known the valuable as valuable, and the worthless as worthless: they attain the valuable.
- What is valuable, and what is worthless?
- Why do some get it wrong?
- What are the illusions in our society?
- Many problems stem from the pursuit of false pleasures – immediately positive effects but problematic long term results.
- Sukha is lasting happiness, ease and comfort.
Dhammapada continued
- Just as rain doesn’t penetrate a well thatched house, so passion fails to enter a well-cultivated mind.
- How one thinks determines how one acts.
- Can you see through illusions?
- Temporary gain for long term loss
- What brings temporary sacrifice & long term gain?
- Knowing the ‘right’ is insufficient. One must act in accordance with right teaching.
The spiritual fruits of the path
- Really, this is about liberation from one’s cravings. How are you when you don’t get your way?
- Ignatius would use the words interior freedom or indifference.
- One needs freedom in order to be happy – an ability to deal with life given all the imperfections and uncertainties.
- Life will not always go our way. Are we capable of dealing with the vicissitudes of life?
How you see the world
- Mano – represents how one perceives reality
- How do you tell stories about your world, and are those stories congruent with reality?
- This raises a key aspect of Buddhism, which is how pivotal one’s own mind is in whether liberation or salvation is possible. It’s up to you, ultimately. The Sangha helps, as does venerating the Buddha and studying the dharma* but in the end we must save ourselves.
- *The dharma’s value is in living in accordance with it. Knowing it simply isn’t sufficient.
Hungry Ghost or “Preta”
- …is when someone’s appetite is such that they are never satisfied.
- A hungry ghost has a thin, long neck and a large stomach.
- No matter how much they consume, they forever remain hungry.
- Goal: develop a wide neck and a small stomach for even when you consume a little, you are satisfied. Attitude determines happiness, not amount of possessions.
Present moment; only moment
- One of the key emphases in Buddhism
- Happiness is only possible in the present moment.
- If you want to understand the past, look at how one lives in the present. If you want to understand the future, look in the present to see how one lives.
- Additionally, we cannot always trust our memories, so how true is our past? On the same note, the future doesn’t exist as we imagine it so why bother with the projections.
- Best to simply remain in the present moment.
Lotus Nirvana Teaching
- Near the end of his life he taught this.
- Anybody who recited the Buddha’s name even once planted a seed in their consciousness that in the future would result in Buddhahood.
- Upon hearing this, 5,000 irate disciples stormed out in protest, thinking that all their efforts were unfairly equal to one who took one small step.
- The Buddha thought these childish monks were selfish, and were far from having the boundless, giving heart of the dharma.
- Even small acts can yield massive returns.
The Metta Sutta
- Desire universal flourishing for all beings.
- One must be gentle and humble; self importance has no place on this path.
- Live simply. Materialism hinders growth.
- Radiate a boundless love throughout the whole universe.
- Don’t cling to views, nor sensual desires.
- Equanimity is all about freedom, and mustn’t be understood as listless apathy or emotional disengagement from the world.
- When one has equanimity, one is more able to engage others lovingly (devoid of selfishness).
- True love is anchored in the desire for the other to flourish, and certainly isn’t about how she/he makes ME feel.
- Integrate “Understanding” into one’s notion of love, and make it less about emotions. Paying attention to each day (present moment mindset) allows for one to continue to deepen one’s love for another by furthering one’s understanding of the constantly changing partner.
Key teachings
- May all beings be happy
- This idea connects us with everything. It creates a key common ground, linking all people together- an interpretive lens through which to view all interactions benevolently.
- “As a mother would risk her own life to protect her only child, cultivate this same boundless heart for all beings.”
- Huge focus on service, too. This shrinks the ego to its proper size
Non attachment
- One shouldn’t even be attached to the idea of non-attachment.
- You are already enlightened; you just don’t know it.
- Seeking nirvana as though it were something out there is exactly what keeps one from Nirvana.
- Before you are enlightened, a mountain is a mountain; a river a river; and a tree a tree. Once you are enlightened, a mountain is a mountain; a river a river, and a tree is a tree.
- Or, “There is nothing to be attained.”
- There is fullness in emptiness and emptiness in fullness.
- The spiritual life is all about self-emptying, not filling yourself with this or that.
Buddhist teachings cont.
- 3 poisons
- Greed – all about the ego and can never be fully satisfied
- Anger – you want to harm the other; see the other as separate; filled with illusion and hatred
- Delusion – far from the truth, you are lost in a separate narrative that makes reality far from you. With a wrong map, you cannot find the destination.
Suffering: The 2 Arrows
- There are two types of suffering: avoidable and unavoidable. We cannot stop the arrows in life for we cannot control others. But we can control whether we get struck by a second arrow, which is the arrow that comes from how we react to the first arrow. Do we cultivate hatred, non-acceptance when we are struck by an arrow or do we accept, move on, learn, and utilize compassion and thus avoid the second arrow?
Guan Yi – the boddhisattva of compassion. Notice the many arms (helping others, action oriented, not something strictly cerebral).
Mount Potala is their Lourdes.
There are stupas (temples) devoted to her.
Vocabulary
- Satori – immediate awakening, an ‘aha’ moment
- Koan – a riddle of sorts that gets one out of linear thinking in hopes of fostering a mystical, deeper understanding of the world
- Sutta – teaching
- Metta – loving kindness
- 84,000 paths to the dharma
- Avalokiteshvara – the boddhisattva of listening
