Religion second paper
roozdf51w
religion_201_mohammed.pptBoth Hinduism and Buddhism affirm the reality of samsara. Explain the basic meaning of this term and also its companion term, moksha. Offer examples to illustrate the ways that Hindus, on the one hand, and Buddhists, on the other, put the basic beliefs of samsara and moksha into action (e.g., rituals or worship practices or meditative techniques). Discussing these examples, explain the similarities and differences involved in how these two Indian traditions enact the basic beliefs they hold in common.
3 pages, typed and double-spaced. Due Thursday, December 1st.
Hinayana: the lesser vehicle; the vehicle of method (includes the Theravada tradition, dominant in countries of south Asia).
Mahayana: the greater vehicle; the vehicle of emptiness (shunyata). Most forms of Buddhism are technically Mahayana.
Vajrayana: the diamond vehicle; a vehicle of passion or direct energy (Tibetan Buddhism - tantra).
The lives of monks and nuns are taken to exemplify the accumulation of merit.
Laypersons are believed to accumulate merit by the giving of alms.
Worship also takes the form of ritualized prostration toward idols and stupas.
A bodhisattva is a being who has achieved enlightenment but chooses to be reborn, either in a transcendent realm from which they may transfer merit to living beings, or in samsara itself in order to help other beings achieve their own enlightenment, nirvana. Bodhisattvas are sometimes spoken of as “once-returners,” beings who are on the threshold of enlightenment and have only one round of samsara left before attaining their moksha.
There are a number of bodhisattvas to whom devotional worship and prayers are directed (e.g.: Maitreya, the future Buddha). These beings have quasi-divine status and are invoked as salvational figures.
Community festivals and holidays celebrate the work of bodhisattvas.
Basic meaning: emptiness
(alternatively: openness).
Experience of truth transcends conceptual understanding.
Anything, even the dharma, can become an object of craving and put to use by ego.
To resist this, all things must be seen as fundamentally empty of essence.
The Heart Sutra:
“form is emptiness; emptiness is form”
Vajra means diamond. A diamond can cut through anything, including all those illusions that hinder a clear consciousness of reality. Insight comes in a flash, like the light reflected by the facets of a jewel, or like the sudden illumination of a dark landscape by lightning (Vajra also means thunder). Vajrayana Buddhism includes Tantric practices, the realization of nirvana within samsara.
- Practice of meditation includes the chanting of mantras intended to break down our normal mode of consciousness.
- Mandalas are used to focus the mind on the higher states of consciousness within us.
- Realization of the inner light, the jewel in the lotus of our heart, is the goal.
- Mandalas are visual images used in meditation to focus the mind.
- They are images of wholeness, both cosmic and psychic. In meditation on the mandala an individual uses it as a kind of map, a map of consciousness, with which to find one’s way from the perimeter to the center, which symbolizes enlightened being.
- Mandalas are found mainly in Vajrayana Buddhism.
Dhyana is the word we translate as meditation. It is one of the six paramitas, the perfections attained by the Bodhisattva.
Samadhi is the word we translate as “concentration.” This is the eighth step on the eight-fold noble path, and so developing samadhi is essential to practicing Buddhism. This is where meditation comes into play for Buddhists. There are two main methods of meditation practiced in Buddhism:
Samatha: This is mindfulness meditation, in which concentration upon a specific object (like one’s own breathing) is sharpened along with the development of a calm and tranquil attitude.
Vipasyana or Vipassana: This is insight meditation, in which realization of the true nature of oneself and the world is sought. It is through the practice of vispasyana meditation that one would come to see the truth of the four noble truths, the reality of dependent origination, the unreality or emptiness of the self (anatta), and ultimately realize one’s own liberation, the thought of enlightenment.
Generally speaking, samatha is practiced as a preparation for vipasyana. The calming effect of focused concentration opens a space in which the true nature of reality can appear.
Became more common with rise of Mahayana tradition (100 b.c.e - 100 c.e.)
Theravada worship focused on stupas and non-human symbols of enlightenment such as the lotus flower and an eight-spoked wheel representing the eight-fold noble path.
Mahayana worship of bodhisattvas contributed to the introduction of more images of the Buddha.
dhyana: sanskrit for meditation
Ch’an: Chinese for “dhyana”
Zen: Japanese for “ch’an”
“If you want to be no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas, then never look for something outside yourselves. The clean pure light in a moment of your mind - that is the essence body of the Buddha lodged within.” (Lin-chi)
Samadhi: meditative concentration; focused tranquility
Satori: sudden enlightenment
In the Ch’an (Zen) school of Buddhism, the realization of enlightenment can come in an instant. This moment of insight can be occasioned by anything, including paradoxical sayings or questions (koans) or physical blows.
An implication of this is that samadhi can be found in any and all activities.
The Koan, or “public case” is a paradoxical statement which disrupts our ordinary mode of thought, thus allowing the thought of enlightenment to enter our mind.
Koans are mainly used in Rinzai Zen.
What is the sound of one hand clapping?
Zazen means “sitting meditation.”
It involves total concentration of body and mind in an upright cross-legged position.
Zazen is practiced mainly in Soto Zen .
