Transcript Making Sense of Ch’an

Introduction to
Buddhism
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Lecture One ( 10th Jan.,2008)
Dr. Robert C L Law
Buddhist Lodge of Laity
January, 2008.
Not some existential questions
• Who am I ?
• Who are you ?
Much about this course
• Why English ?
• An outline of the basic teachings of
Buddhism
• Common misunderstandings about
Buddhism
• Apparent contradictions in the teachings of
different schools of Buddhism.
• Buddhism in everyday life
Difficulties with Buddhism (I)
• Language – Problem with Classical Chinese
translations of scriptures.
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Pali
Siddhattha Gotama
Nibbana
Kamma
Dukkha
Sanskrit
Siddhartha Gautama
Nirvana
Karma
Dukkha
Difficulties with Buddhism (II)
• Language – Problem with Classical Chinese
translations of scriptures.
• Buddhist doctrines --- e.g. no-self difficult
to grasp .
• Doctrinal differences between various
buddhist schools leading to confusion .
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Course Outline
• History of Buddhism and its development
• Basic Doctrines :
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Four Noble Truth ( 四 聖 諦)
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Five Aggregates ( 五 蘊)
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Three Dharma Seal ( 三 法 印)
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Dependent Origination (緣起法)
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Karma , Rebirth (業,輪迴)
• Buddhist Meditation
Brief history of Buddhism in India
• Buddhism originated in India. It not only played a
predominant role at one time in India, but also
spread to countries outside India. Nowadays,
Buddhism is the world’s fourth largest religion -- it
is estimated that about six per cent of the world’s
population are Buddhists, making a total of 350
million followers .
• However, the number of Buddhists in India
constitutes to only about 1% of its total population
(99% is believers in Hinduism).
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Period
Development
1
3000-600 BC
史前印度
Prehistory (3000-700 BC)
--Background to Buddhism
2
6th century BC
The Buddha’s time
3
5th-4th century BC
Early Buddhism 早期佛教
4
4th-3rd century BC
Sectarian Buddhism部派佛教時期
5
3d century BC
Fourth Council of Aloka Cave and appearance of
Theravada Buddhism
6
1st century BC
Fourth Council of of Kashmir and appearance of
Mahayana Buddhism大乘佛教
7
8th century AD
Appearance of Tartaric Buddhism 密乘
8
9th-12th century
Buddhism lost its dominant position in India in the
record of ancient Chinese travellers
9
12th-13th century
The disappearance of Buddhism佛教的衰微
19th century--
Revival ?
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2. Life of the Buddha
• The Buddha is a historical person. His personal name was Siddhattha,
and family name Gotama. He lived in North India in the 6th century
BC. His farther, Suddhodana, was the ruler of the kingdom of the
Skyas (in modern Nepal). His mother was queen My.
The Life of the Buddha
• Born around 483 BC (?) in what is now
Nepal
• Local community Sakyas ( thus Sakyamuni ,
the Sage of the Sakays) , a prince(?)
• Mythology : born from armpit ?
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virgin conception?
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have a son?
Luxurious life in palace
• The king had three royal palaces built for the prince. The
first was built from perfumed wood. It was warm in the
winter season. The second was built of cool marble, to be
used during summer. The third was built of brick for the
rainy season.
• To make life even more pleasant, the king created beautiful
parks with lovely pools where swans and fish swam and
lotus flowers bloomed.
Four sights
Old man
Sick person
• In his youth he was
distressed by
unavoidable problems
of human beings such
as aging, illness, life
and death and he
deeply thought over
such problems.
Dead body
Wanding holy man
RENUNCIATION
• When he was
confronted with the
reality of life and the
suffering of mankind,
he decided to find the
solution - the way out
of this universal
suffering. He left his
kingdom and became
an ascetic in search of
truth at the age of 29.
Six years of
rigorous ascetic
practices
• He practised the
most severe hardship,
e.g. sleeping on a
bed of thorns, eating
only a grain of wheat
and a sesame seed
each day.
Ascetic life
Meditation—key to his enlightenment
The Long Struggle
• Finally, he sat under the Bodhi tree for forty-nine days. He was
determined to discover the source of all pain and suffering in the
world.
• As the morning star appeared in the eastern sky, he became an
enlightened one, a Buddha. What he realized was Dependent
Origination (Cause and effect) 緣起法.
Enlightenment at
Buddha-Gaya
• One evening, seated under
the Bodhi tree, at BuddhaGaya (near Gaya in
modern Bihar), at the age
of 35, Gotama became the
‘Enlightened One’. It
means after fully
understanding Dependent
Origination and the Four
Noble Truths, he became a
wise person. Nothing
could make him unhappy.
Helping suffering people
• From that day on, for 45
years, he taught all classes
of men and women - kings
and peasants, Brahmins
and outcasts, bankers and
beggars, holy men and
robbers - without making
the slightest distinction
between them, and the
way he preached was open
to all men and women who
were ready to understand
and to follow it.
Significances of his life story
1. Like tax, sickness/death is a fact of life that one
must face, sooner or later . The Buddha realised
it at the age of 29 ( How about you ?)
2. Middle Path between sensory indulgence and
extreme asceticism
3. Meditation/ Introspection---- key to
enlightenment.
4. He taught for 45 years over an area of several
hundred miles. Different people must have heard
him differently.
Significance (Cont’d)
• The Buddha was a human being like you and me.
• He claimed no inspiration from any god or external power.
He attributed all his realization, attainments and
achievements to human endeavour and human
intelligence.
• Man is his own master, and he has the power to liberate
himself from all bondage through his own effort and
intelligence. The Buddha says, “You should do your work,
for the Buddha only teaches the way”.
• The Buddha is only a teacher, who discovered and
showed the Path to Liberation, Nibbana. We all need to
tread the Path ourselves.
Brief history of Early Buddhism
1. The First Council –3 months after the
Buddha passed away --- 500 monks
gather to recite the teachings(sutta) and
precepts (vinaya)
2. The Second Council– 100
years ,attended by 700 monks
rejection (?) of the Mhasangikas
3. The Third Council
•Reign of Indian Emperor Asoka (272231) who converted and established the
Buddha's Dharma on a national level for
the first time in Buddhist history.
•He ruled from Burma to Iran and from
Nepal to South India
• In the 3rd Century B.C. during the time of Emperor Asoka,
the Third Council was held at Pataliputra under the
patronage of Emperor Asoka about 200 -250 years after
the Parinirvana of the Buddha.
• (1) Main points of the Third Council:
– At this Council the differences were not confined to the
Vinaya but were also connected with the differences of
opinion concerning doctrines among the bhikkhus of
different sects.
– At the end of this Council, the President of the Council,
Moggaliputta Tissa, compiled a book called the
Kathavatthu 論事 refuting the heretical, false views
and theories held by some sects. The teaching approved
and accepted by this Council was known as Theravada.
– The Abhidhamma Pitaka was included at this Council.
(2) Impact:
--The modern Pali Tipitaka were now essentially
complete.
The 4th Buddhist Council of Kashmir
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After 250 BC, the Sarvastivadin (who had been
rejected by the 3rd council, according to the Theravada
tradition) and the Dharmaguptaka schools became quite
influential in northwestern India and Central Asia, up to
the time of the Kushan Empire in the first centuries of
the common era.
Main points:
(1) The 4th Buddhist Council was held under royal patron of
King Kaniska around 100 AD in Kashmir.
(2) Kanishka gathered 500 monks headed by Vasumitra, to compile
the vast commentary known as the Mahā-Vibhāshā ("Great
Exegesis"), an extensive compendium and reference work on a
portion of the Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma.
Usually associated with the risk of Mahayana Buddhism
Appearance of the term “Mahayana”
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Between the 1st century BCE to the 1st
century CE, the two terms Mahayana(大乘).
and Hinayana (小乘)appeared in the
Saddharma Pundarika Sutra (or the Sutra of
the Lotus of the Good Law) 妙法蓮花經.
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After the 1st century CE, the Mahayanists
took a definite stand and only then the terms
of Mahayana and Hinayana were introduced.
Hinayana and Theravada
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We must not confuse Hinayana with Theravada
because the terms are not synonymous.
Theravada Buddhism went to Sri Lanka during the 3rd
century BCE when there was no Mahayana at all.
Hinayana sects developed in India and had an
existence independent of the form of Buddhism
existing in Sri Lanka.
Today there is no Hinayana sect in existence
anywhere in the world. Therefore, in 1950 the World
Fellowship of Buddhists inaugurated in Colombo
unanimously decided that the term Hinayana should
be dropped when referring to Buddhism existing
today in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos,
etc.
Formation of Mahayana
Buddhism(大乘彿教)
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About the 2nd century CE, Mahayana became
clearly defined.
Nagarjuna —The "Second Buddha”
Beginnings of Mahayana Buddhism (200 CE).
Composition of Prajnaparamita literature.
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Legend reports that Nagarjuna (ca.150-250 CE) was the
person preordained by the Buddha to recover and
explicate the Perfection of Wisdom texts. The first of
these texts was the 'Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000
Lines'.
The Heart Sutra (心經)
Beginning of tantric teaching
(8th century) 密宗
• From around the 4th century CE, Vajrayana
(Tantrayana) Buddhism started to develop in India
as part of the Mahayana tradition.
• The central practices of tantra include visualizations
intended to foster cognitive reorientation, the use of
prayers (mantra) to Buddhas that are intended to
facilitate the transformation of the meditator into a
fully enlightened Buddha, and often elaborate rituals.
• It was introduced into Tibet during the 8th century.
7.
Table for Buddhist Schools and
Sects in India (5th-7th centuries CE)
Name of Chinese
Pilgrim
Estimated Buddhist Schools
Faxian
One orthodox School & 96 heretic
schools in the middle Kingdom.
Xuanzang
18 orthodox schools
Yijing
4 schools & 18-sub sects
Divided into 4 groups of Nikayas
Northern School
北傳
Chinese Buddhism
漢語系佛教
Mahayana Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
藏語系佛教
Southern School
南傳
Pali Buddhism
巴利語系佛教
Theravada Buddhism
What Tongue did the Buddha speak?
• Sanskrit ---the official language for 2000
years
• Prakrits---- Local dialects--- Magadhi
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Pali
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Modern Hindi
• Religious transmission ---oral
Where do the sutta(sutras) come
from?
• Theravada (南傳)version----direct descend
from the Buddha
• Mahayana(大乘) version---- teachings
hidden and discovered later when people
are enlightened enough to hear it .
• Esoteric(密宗) version----- secret teachings
not lightly disclosed to the uninitiated.
Difficulties with Buddhism( IV)
• 6. Is the sould one thing and the body
another ?
• 7. Does the Tathagata exist after death?
• 8. Does he not exist after death ?
• 9. Does he both ( at the same time) exist and
not exist after death ?
• 10. Does he both (at the same time) not
exist and not not-exist ?