Buddhism

Buddhism is the ____ largest religion.

4th

where is the largest amount of Buddhists?

Asia

What percentage of the world is Buddhism?

6.9%

Life of the Buddha

 “Buddha” is a title; The Awakened One

 Siddhartha Gautama; the “historical Buddha”

 Prince of the Shakya people in India (c. 6th – 4th centuries BCE)

• Prophecy of being a great ruler or teacher

 Sheltered from suffering by father, the King

 The “Great Renunciation”

 Meets his people with charioteer, Channa

 Encounters disease, death, sleep of female servants

 Inspired to become an ascetic

 Exchanges robes and long hair for monk’s robes

 Studies under various masters; exceeding them

 Nearly starves

 From Asceticism to Meditation

 Resolves to walk the “Middle Path”

 Between self-indulgence and mortification

 The Bodhi Tree

 Temptations of Mara

 Karma and Samsara

 Attachment and Fear, Pain

 Nirvana, i.e., “blowing out”

or “extinguishing”

ascetic

someone who renounces all earthly pleasures and comforts (ex. monks)

The first if the four noble truths

Dukka: all life is suffering

Concepts

 Annitya (“impermanence”)

 Anatman (“non-self”)

The “Eightfold Path”

 1) Right View (4 Noble Truths, Karma, Rebirth)

 2) Right Intention (to live non-sensually, non-

violently)

 3) Right Speech

 4) Right Conduct

 5) Right Livelihood (trad. Begging)

 6) Right Effort (Guard against sensual thoughts)

 7) Right Mindfulness (of impermanence)

 8) Right Concentration (or “Samadhi” – Meditation)

Life of the Buddha

 Founding of the Sangha

 The Pali Canon(s) – only written in 29 BCE

Indian Dharmic Religion

 Internal Reforms; Splits

 Writing of Upanishads

 Cross-pollination

• some text is in Pali or sanskrit (languages)

A Missionary Religion

 Esp. amongst lower Castes (“Varnas”)

 Contemporary examples; “Dalit Buddhist Movement”

Ashoka the Great

 Mauryan Empire (India), 3rd Century BCE

 “Ashoka’s Hell” (Apocryphal)

 Conversion

 Spread of Buddhism from China to Sri Lanka

Theravada Buddhism

 “School of the Elders”

 Oldest extant school

 S.E. Asia and Sri Lanka

 Focus of Monastic Discipline; Monastic/ Lay distinction

 Most resistant to supernaturalism

• Ex: The Donkey in Lion’s Skin

 Jataka (past lives) tale.

 Buddha and Kokalika

 Don’t say more than you know

 Parallel to Aesop’s Fable, “A silent donkey is considered wise”

Mahayana Buddhism

 “Great Vehicle”

 Esp. China, Korea, Japan,

Vietnam

 De-emphasizes Monastic/

Lay distinction

 “Bodhisattva” postponing

Nirvana out of compassion

to others.

 More open to

supernaturalism;

Omniscience of Buddha,

Devas

• Ex: The Lotus Sutra

   Parable of the Burning House

   Doctrine of “Expedient Means” (Upaya)

Zen Buddhism

 Esp. in Japan

 Mahayana and Chinese Taoist origins.

 Emphasis on Impermanence, Transience, Non-judgment

• Ex: The Tea Ceremony

 Wabi-Sabi (“transience-imperfection”)

upaya

expedient means, little white lies

Vajrayana Buddhism

• “Diamond” or “Thunderbolt” Vehicle

   Esp. Tibet

   Faster path to Nirvana; Bypass many reincarnations

   “Ritual Reversal” (sex, blood, alcohol, semen); Deity meditation

   More “Upaya”

• Ex: The Phurba

 Convert the 3 “Scorpion” poisons of Delusion, Greed, and

Violence

 “Wrathful” weapon used in exorcisms, meditation

Gyatso

 Buddhist Monk

 Founded “New Kadampa

Tradition”

 A Variant of Tibetan

Buddhism

 Expanded Rapidly in the

West, Controversy

Gyatso- Buddha

 “The awakened one”

 Not one, but many in the past and future. The Historical Buddha

 Buddha Shakyamuni --

Shakya (his royal family);

muni (“able one”)

Gyatso- The Birth of Buddha

 Child came from Heaven, (a

pure and powerful being)

 Descended from heaven as

a white elephant into the

womb of his mother.

 Taken painlessly out of her

side; Blessed by the Gods

Brahma and Indra.

 Given the name

“Siddhartha”

Gyatso- Parallels to Christian Mythos

 Divine Fatherhood, Human Mother

 Immaculate Conception and Virgin Birth

Gyatso- SIDDHARTHA AS A CHILD

 Knew 64 languages with

their own alphabets.

 Didn’t need to study.

 Excellent at mathematics,

martial arts, archery, all the

traditional arts.

 Shot an arrow through “five

iron tigers and seven trees

before disappearing into the

earth!”

Gyatso- ESCAPING FATHER’S KINGDOM

 Seeks full enlightenment

 Only way to help those suffering constant rebirths

 Used “miracle powers” to put palace guards to sleep

Gyatso- BECOMING A PENITENT

MONK

 Threw his cut off hair into the

sky, caught by the gods of the

Lands of the Thirty-three

Heavens.

 Was given saffron robes by

one of the gods, gave his royal

robes in return.

 Thusly ordained himself as a

monk.

Gyatso- Demonic Temptation

 Devaputra Mara

 2 Sorts of “Temptations” to

quit Meditation

 Fire and Weapons (turned

into harmless whirlwind of

flowers)

 Beautiful Women

 Achieved Buddhahood

 Knew everything

 Elicited “peaceful and

virtuous states of minds”

in wild animals

Gyatso- AUTHORITY OF THE

BUDDHA

 Buddha had 84,000

teachings, both basic and

advanced.

 Gyatso: “Dharma” means

“Protection”

Batchelor

 British Author, Scholar of

Buddhism

 Ordained novice monk in

1974

 Meditation Leader

 “Agnostic Buddhism”

Batchelor- Pragmatism

“Poisoned Arrow” Parable (Buddha)

Batchelor-Buddhism as Religion?

 wat (Thailand); gompa (Tibet)

 Nuns, Monks, theologies, schisms, reforms, “churches”

Batchelor- The Buddha’s own

“agnosticism”

 “Silent” on all questions of

metaphysics.

 Did not use the word

“God”

 Did not appoint a spiritual

successor.

Batchelor- SENSIBLE MODERATION

 Advocated a practical “Middle Path”: Between Indulgence and

Mortification

 Only after 500 years, considered a “quasi-divine figure”; Metaphysics

becomes important.

Batchelor- T.H. Huxley (“Darwin’s

Bulldog”)

Definition of “agnosticism”:

 POSITIVE: “Follow your

reason as far as it will take

you.”

 NEGATIVE: “Do not pretend

that conclusions are certain

which are not demonstrated

or demonstrable.”

Batchelor- “Method” not “Belief System”

 Batchelor: The Buddha gave

us no set of facts to believe

it. Only a method.

 Dharma = Practice

Batchelor-DHARMA METHOD

 Starts by facing up to “the

primacy of anguish”

 “Anguish” comes from craving

PERMANENCE in a changing,

unreliable IMPERMANENT

world.

 Only thing certain in life: We die.

 Empirical “CONFRONTATION,”

not religious “CONSOLATION”

 (Promise of a better afterlife for

doing good deeds, reciting

mantras, or chanting the name of

Buddha.)

Batchelor- NOT KNOWING

Where does this method lead?

 1) “There is neither

something nor nothing at the

core of ourselves.”

 2) An “intense perplexity that

leaves the certainty-seeking

mind nowhere to rest.”