Buddhism

Siddartha Gautama

The Buddha before he “wakes up”

Shakyamuni Buddha

The Buddha who we commonly think of as “Buddha”

• Siddartha Gautama

• Not the only Buddha/one to wake up

Buddha

Means awake

Queen Maya

Buddha’s mom in some stories of his birth

• She had dreams of Siddartha riding on a white elephant—-people knew he was important

• Had a completely painless childbirth

• Dragons came down to bathe him after he was born

• Seven steps after birth and says “this will be my last incarnation"

Four Passing Sights

• Father was not a religious man, but knew Siddartha was important

  • Never let him leave the palace

  • Never had a meal that wasn’t a feast

  • Was served by the most beautiful women and dancing girls

  • Wanted to treat him like the future king he would become

• Siddartha married at a very young age (estimated 12) and had a son

• In his early 20s, he left the palace for the first time

First Passing Sight

Sickness

• Saw a sick person throwing up on the side of the road

Second Passing Sight

Old Age

• Saw an elderly person for the first time

Third Passing Sight

Death

• Saw a human corpse beating eaten by birds

Fourth Passing Sight

Sadhus (Monks)

• Goes to talk to them about the “real world” since he had been so sheltered by his parents

• Then leaves home to become a monk and learn more about the world

Bodhi Tree

• After practicing raja yoga and only eating three beans a day while trying to reach moksha, Siddartha quits his journey as a Sadhu to eat a good meal and try something different

Where Siddartha sits to meditate and where he is tempted three times by an evil god

• Outside of Patna

• Sat there for 40 days

Mara

Evil god who tempted Siddartha three times

First Temptation

• End of the world —- war, cataclysm

  • He is surrounded by war

Second Temptation

• Mara sends his three naked daughters to dance around Siddartha

  • Siddartha ignores them and reaches down and touches the earth—-he has become a god

    • All of the meteors turn to flower petals and cover the Earth

Third Temptation

• Mara comes down and tells Siddartha, now the Buddha, to live with the other gods

  • Says he was going to stay in the world to wake up the sleepers

Posture

Buddha said, “Slouch now, slouch forever”

• If you slouch, you will come back (not the goal)

• There is a proper way to sit

• Imagine your feet are two inches under the floor and you have strings attached to your shoulders and head, gently holding you up

• Religious ramifications for not sitting up straight

  • How will you be prepared for what comes next if you cannot sit right now?

Breathing

• The religiously correct way is through your nose

• Never through your mouth

• Monitor it

  • Slows your heart rate down

  • The goal is to be able to practice the right way without noticing

• Hold a feather up to your nose and mouth and if it moves, you need to work more

Withdrawal of Senses

Concentration, Meditation, and Samadhi

Concentration

• Try to block out the entire world

• “The mind is like a drunken monkey” — nonstop craziness

Meditation

Being able to quiet your mind (shut it off) to think about nothing (or just one thing)

Samadhi

• Being in control of your mind so that you and the world can become one

  • You can change the world by changing yourself; you and the world are one

Eight Fold Path of Buddhism

Similar to yoga, which Buddha practiced

The Buddhist Wheel

Buddhists believe that the Noble Eight-Fold path of discipline is the way to nirvana

1. Right Views—-Knowing and understanding the Four Noble Truths

2. Right Thoughts—-Caring for others and being unselfish

3. Right Speech—-Telling the truth; speaking kindly and wisely

4. Right Action—-Not to harm others, steal, or cheat

5. Right Livelihood—-Working to the best of your ability and being in a job that does not harm others

6. Right Effort—-Working hard to keep to the Eight-Fold Path

7. Right Mindfulness—-…

8. Right Concentration—-Peaceful state of mind gained from following the Path

Right Mindfulness

• Seventh on the Buddhist Wheel—-Being aware of the effects of thoughts and actions

  • “Community of Mindfulness”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Founder of the Community of Mindfulness in the west 

• From Vietnam

• Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by MLK

• Wondered “how can busy Americans learn to be happy and live in the present?”

  • Busy Eating, Mindful Childrearing, Mindful Walking

Bhikku

• What Buddha calls his followers instead of Sadhus

• Means “nurse”

Buddha’s First Sermon

• Given at Varanasi

• “Catching the World on Fire”

  • How to wake someone up? Light their butt up

    • The Four Noble Truths

First Noble Truth

The Truth of Suffering

• “All life is suffering” — Buddha’s first sermon

  • Dukkha

  • Suffering could also mean decay (all life is decaying)

  • Everything is always in a state of change

Dukkha

Suffering

Second Noble Truth

The Truth of the Origin of Suffering

• The cause of suffering is desire

  • When you want something and can’t get it, you suffer

Third Noble Truth

The Truth of Cessation of Suffering

• If you want to get rid of suffering, you need to stop desiring

Fourth Noble Truth

The Truth of the Path

• If you want to get rid of suffering, use the Eight-Fold Path

Spread of Buddhism

• Shakyamuni lives in the region of Magadha during the 6-5th centuries BCE

• Arrives in Sri Lanka about 2nd century BCE

• Introduced in China 1st century CE

• Arrives in Korea in 4th century CE

• Arrives in Japan in 6th century CE

• Decline in India from 7th century CE, disappears in CA 1200

  • Hundus (angry about their military being disbanded) and Muslims (angry about their use of “idols” (Buddha statues)) ran the majority of Buddhists out of India, making it rarely seen there anymore

Emperor Ashoka

Hindu warrior king who then converted to Buddhism

• “Alexander the Great” of India—conquered a cast amount of land

• Established many monasteries/monastery cities teaching people how to be Buddhists

Dhamma Pillars

Pillars erected by Emperor Ashoka apologizing for his military ventures and then promoting the beliefs of Buddhism

• “I apologize for consquering you and taking your people as slaves. I apologize for our military ventures. I have become Buddhist. The army is now disbanded. In commend to you the words of the Buddha … [Four Noble Truths & Eight-Fold Path]”

Theravedan Buddhism

(Hinayana) “Small Raft Buddhism”

• Oldest Buddhist community

• Roman Catholic version of Buddhism (only one version)

• Small Raft — if you want to extinguish desire, you have to do it

  • Small raft fits only you to get across the river

  • Extinguish desire (Nirvana) — putting out a flame (desire)

• Similar to Jainists

• Can be a monk no matter your age, but women cannot be monks

• Pali Canon, Sri Lanka

• Arhats

Mahayana Buddhism

“Large Raft Buddhism”

• If you have too many responsibilities, you will not be able to get your small raft across the river

• Protestant version of Buddhism (many versions)

Bodhisattvas

Person who you follow that will get you where you need to go (large raft across the river)

• Somebody who woke up

• Similar to how Roman Catholics follow priests, nuns, etc. who practice certain rules (no marriage, celibacy) because they can’t

Ranking of Most Godlike to Most Human

Adi-Buddha, Amitabha (Amida Buddha), Avalokeiteshvara, Nagarjuna, Zen Masters

Adi-Buddha

• Their nature manifests in Bodhisattvas—-including Siddartha Gautama 

  • Existed before and after Siddartha

Amitabha (Amida Buddha)

• Responsible for Pure Land Buddhism

  • Created a pure land where people who lived there could reach nirvana in their lifetime

  • Some groups want to get to a heaven to reach nirvana, or an ideal community (where people help each other so they have everything they need)

• “The Buddha of the Infinite Light”

• “The Buddha of the Pure Land of Perfect Bliss”

Avalokeiteshvara

• Bodhisattva of compassion from Japan, many times characterized as a woman 

• Dalai Llama

Dalai Llama

Founder of Tibetan Buddhism, followers thought they were an incarnation of Avalokeiteshvara

• Went to Oxford and got a PhD in psych

  • Many Buddhists are science based, especially today

• Wrote “The Art of Happiness”

  • Live where you are right now, living in the future brings you anxiety, living in the past brings you depression

• Like the pope of Buddhism

Nagarjuna

• Buddhist philosopher

• Lived in a monastery city in India where his philosophical writings became famous

• Writings tried to convince people why they should follow people who are awake

  • Person told him that desiring not to desire makes no sense — “If you were awake it would make complete sense”

Zen Masters

There are no gods in […] Buddhist traditions, just people … […]

Phil Jackson

Most famous Bodhisattva in the US, former NBA player who coached Kobe

• Taught his players to “be where they are” whole on the court, and had them meditate

Syncretic

Two at the same time; following the teachings of two religions simultaneously

• Many East Asian religions

Dependent Origination

We are not one person, but the people around us as well. We are made up of many different parts, including what goes on around you

• When you are caring for others, you are caring for yourself as well

Vajrajana/Tantric/Tibetan Buddhism

“The Way of the Diamond Thunderbolt”

• Similar to Mahayana because of its powerful Bodhisattva

• Anatta, Sartori, Mantras, Mandalas, Mudras

Dalai Llamas

Heads of Vajrajana Buddhism

Anatta

No soul, no self

Sartori

Chan/Zen Practice

Extreme happiness, ecstasy; similar to nirvana, but more intense

• Japanese word and concept

• Not breif, it lasts

• The Buddha nature

• Enlightenment when you become awake

• Being where you are in life and attending (noticing) the beauty that is around you

Diamond Thunderbolt

If you can cut the hardest diamonds (yourself), you can reach sartori 

• There is a big boom, and then you wake up

Mantras

Sacred sounds

• When you are meditating, you say sacred syllables

  • Sacred syllables are very guttural and difficult to master

Mandalas

Sacred images

• Geometrical images that you follow out while you meditate

  • Strengthens the muscles in your eyes for possible weaknesses in vision

• Monks don’t need to see it physically, because they can see it in their mind

Mudras

Sacred movements

• Bodily movements and gestures

  • Being conscious and in control of all your bodily movements

• There are right and wrong ways to move your body (point, walk, etc.)

• Dance as a form of meditation

• There is a sexual aspect to this as well, but it is not commonly taught in the US

China

Where Chan Buddhism is from

Zen Buddhism 

From Japan

• Very old form of Buddhism, some say is was founded by Siddartha Gautama    

First Zen Master/Bodhisattava

Siddartha Gautama

• There was a chain after him, many were his students

Buddha Flower Sermon

“Oh, Buddha, what is the Buddha nature?”

Buddha: Smiles, holds up a flower

• The Buddha nature is happiness (smiling, happiness, sense of beauty (flower), the feeling cannot be put in words)

• Words do not suffice, you have to experience it

Kashyapa

Smiles after the Flower Sermon and becomes the second zen master

Bodhidharma

Fourteenth bodhisattva

• Awake-Teaching

• He comes from Sri Lanka, more Theravedan than Mahayana

• Brought Buddhism to China by walking on water across the ocean, from Sri Lanka to China

• Brought before Emperor Wu

Emperor Wu

Mahayana Buddhist emperor

• Welcomes Bodhidharma to China, tells him they are a Buddhist country, that he has built many monasteries, sponsored many monks, and that he translated many Buddhist texts to Chinese

  • He asks Bodhidharma what merit he had, and Bodhidharma said none

    • Theravedan Buddhism—he was doing no work on himself

  • Gets angry and asks him who he is to say he has no merit, and Bodhidharma says “I know not, sire”

Huike and the Shaolin Temple on Mount Song

• Bodhidharma leaves and goes there where he sits in a cave and meditates while staring at a wall for seven years (some say nine)

  • In one story a student of Bodhidharma waits outside in the cold winter, asking if he could go in. No answer. He then cuts his arm off, goes in, and Bodhidharma says that he is ready now

• Temple where kung fu comes from

Ramakrishna

Bodhisattva who had terrible throat cancer, and he did not feel pain while being probed during treatment because of the meditation he was doing in his mind 

Zazen

Chan/Zen Practice

• When you do this, you lose your name (it is not about you)

• […] masters are extremely strict (smack you if you are slouching or if your mind is somewhere else)

Sanzen

Chan/Zen Practice

• One on one consultations with the zen master where he gets you to try to understand your mind

  • For about an hour once a week

  • Very similar to psychoanalysis

Koans

Chan/Zen Practice

• Nonsensical riddles the zen masters give you—why are you trying to solve things that have no meaning?

Mindfulness Practice

Chan/Zen Practice

• Watercolor Painting

  • More from China; All nature, rarely every will there be people; Sometimes under 20 brushstrokes, perfect brushstrokes

    • Very unlike European paintings

• Tea Ceremony

  • Even the way you take out and care for the pot is important; There is no talking, just a person precisely doing the tea ceremony

• Landscape Gardening

  • Meticulously cared for—no stray leaves anywhere; There is no thinking about anything else; Rock gardens (raking sand, Bonsai trees, etc

D.T. Suzuki

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

• Your body was built for a different world—we have the same bodies that we did 20,000 years ago

• We are the dominant species on Earth because of our mind’s ability to solve problems

  • Our brains like to create problems for ourselves to occupy that portion of our brain (sports, video games, etc.)

• Our brains are making us sick because they keep creating problems for us

Eugene Herrigel

Zen and the Art of Archery

• Greatest archer in the world was a Buddhist/zen monk from Vietnam

• For the first three months, he only did psycho-physical exercises (learning how to sit and breathe); did not shoot an arrow for six months

Robert Pirsig

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

• Man whose life falls apart (wife divorces him, estranged from his kids, loses his job)

• Friend sends him to a zen monk who only wants to talk about what he likes and is disinterested in his problems and the things he hates

  • He likes his motorcycle, so the monk told him to work on his motorcycle, only focusing on it, every day—the man said it saved his life

Busy Eating

One way how busy Americans can learn to be happy and live in the present

• Using your time cooking, only thinking about cooking, and making the meal beautiful

  • Eating slowly, tasting your food

Mindful Childrearing

One way how busy Americans can learn to be happy and live in the present

• When you are with your kids, be with your kids, not somewhere else

  • Many classes on this

  • Real relationships occur in the now when you are with people, but you need to be with them

Mindful Walking

One way how busy Americans can learn to be happy and live in the present

• Going to the park and being where you are, taking in the scenery