World Religions: Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama (his life, how he became Buddha)

  • Before: He was born into a position of power, he lived a life of luxury and got married and had a son

  • After: He gave up his lavished lifestyle, he participated in physical fasting and lived the middle way(avoiding extremes on the path to enlightenment and in one's view of reality)

Four Passing Sights:

  • Old man

  • Diseased man

  • A Corpse

  • Religious ascetic

  • The old man, the diseased man and the corpse all represent suffering, while the religious ascetic represents overcoming the suffering

How does Buddhism differ from Hinduism

  • A fundamental distinction lies in their views on the self: Hinduism is based on the concept of atman (an eternal soul or self) and Brahman (the universal, eternal reality), while Buddhism rejects the existence of a permanent, unchanging self (anatman or not-self) and denies the concept of a creator God or Brahman

Marks of Existence

  • Anicca (Impermanence): existence is always changing

  • Anatta (Non-self): there is no permanent, unchanging, independent entity that can be called the "self" or "soul".

  • Dukkha (Suffering): result of Anicca and Anatta

Reincarnation and Karma in Buddhism

  • Reincarnation: a transference of energy, not of eternal self

  • Karma: moral cause and effect, transfers (not self) when a person dies and causes rebirth

Four Noble Truths

  • To live if to experience suffering

  • Suffering is caused by desire

  • Suffering can be brought to cessation

  • The solution to suffering is the eightfold path

Eightfold Path

  • Guide for meditation

  • Ongoing practices

  • Right View: understanding the four noble truths

  • Right Intention: resolving and renouncing worldly attachments

  • Right Speech: refraining from lying

  • Right Action: avoid killing, stealing and sexual misconduct

  • Right Livelihood: earning a living without engaging in trades that harm others

  • Right Effort: preventing unwholesome states from arising, abandoning those that have arisen, and cultivating wholesome states.

  • Right Mindfulness: being fully aware of one's body, feelings, mind, and phenomena

  • Right Concentration: develops one-pointedness of mind and supports deeper insight and liberation

Five Precepts

  • Abstaining from taking a life

  • Refrain from taking what is not given

  • No sexual misconduct

  • Abstaining from false speech

  • Prohibits the use of intoxicants

Nirvana/ Enlightenment

  • Impossible to fully describe—only understood when its experienced

  • Buddha didn’t say—only that a “cessation of suffering” occurs

Three Rafts of Buddhism

  • Thervada (Way of the Elders): focuses primarily on the teachings of Buddhism

  • Mahayana (The Great Vehicle): largest form of Buddhism, focuses on Buddah as a divine savior

  • Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism): the vehicle of the diamond (name for the Buddha’s diamond scepter), harnessing the energies of desire and turning it against itself

Zen Buddhism

Goals and Zen Buddhism

  • to see into the nature of one’s own being

  • True nature is hidden beneath thoughts, personality, and emotion

  • Experience is essential; explaining Zen fully is impossible

Difference between Rinzai Zen and Soto Zen

  • Rinzai Zen: emphasizes koan practice—investigating paradoxical questions or statements—as a means to achieve sudden enlightenment, often involving intense, direct confrontation with the teacher, such as shouting or physical gestures to disrupt habitual thinking

  • Soto Zen: centers on shikantaza, or "just sitting," a practice grounded in the belief that enlightenment is already inherent and does not require striving; it focuses on the continuous, non-goal-oriented act of sitting meditation

Koan

  • A verbal puzzle meant to defy logical thinking

  • Primarily mean of bringing enlightenment

Zen Buddhism monastic practices

  • Open to men and women

  • Zazen practiced for hours daily

  • Sleepy monks are struck with and ‘encouragement stick’

  • Physical work is central—it prevents dullness of mind

  • Eating, meditation, and sleeping take place on rectangular mats