Chapter 2 Victimization and Criminal Behavior
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Transcript Chapter 2 Victimization and Criminal Behavior
Buddha’s Heroic Journey
Divine Birth – Mother’s dream
Call to Adventure – The Four Sights
Tests and Trials – Mara
Boon - Teachings
Early Life of the Buddha
Born as Siddhartha Gautama around 563 BCE at Lumbini Grove,
northern India
Born into a royal family
Married princess Yashodhara when he was nineteen
Shielded by his family from difficulties of life outside the court
Life focused on pleasure
Centers of Early Buddhism
Four Sights
Upon managing to temporarily leave the court, Siddhartha saw four
things that surprised him:
a old man
a sick man
a corpse
a wandering ascetic
Siddhartha sets out
Disturbed by the Four Sights, Prince Siddhartha escaped the court
and took up ascetic practices
After taking ascetic practices to their extreme, he sat under a tree at
Bodhgaya with new resolve to understand the nature of suffering
Some Buddhist accounts present this as time when demons assailed
Siddhartha, trying to defeat him in his efforts at insight
Demon Mara tests Siddhartha
Three temptations
1. There’s trouble at home
2. Voluptuous women dance around him
3. Mara summons host of demons
Enlightenment and Teaching *
Siddhartha, sitting unperturbed under the Bodhi tree, finally gains
insight into the nature of suffering and becomes the Buddha, i.e., the
Enlightened One
With his new insight, the Buddha set out to instruct others
Encountering ascetics at Deer Park near Benares, the Buddha
began what would become a forty-five career as a teacher
Bodhgaya, India
Fire Sermon
Delivered as his second sermon
Explains the Four Noble Truths
Nirvana, a state of “No-being” beyond all
desire
Becomes the Buddha, the Enlightened One
The Buddha Addressing Monks at Sarnath
Boon: A Philosophical System
Buddha preaches/teaches
Caste system is abandoned in the sangha
Arhats (disciples) begin to missionize
Monasteries proliferate in India
Women are allowed to enter the order
Lives for another 45 years, respected for his wisdom and
compassion
Teachings
Four Noble Truths
The Middle Way
The Noble Eightfold Path
Nirvana
No individual soul (no self to be reborn)
No Creator God
Four Noble Truths
Fundamental to the Buddha’s teachings is the doctrine of
the Four Noble Truths:
all life is characterized by suffering
suffering is the result of or misguided desire (attachment)
to eliminate misguided desire is to eliminate suffering
(detachment)
the method for eliminating suffering is the “Eightfold Path”
Middle Way *
The Buddha had known two extremes of religious practice
the worldly rituals of Hinduism
the extreme privation of asceticism
He posited a compromise between these two as the appropriate
stance for religious practice
Noble Eightfold Path
Right view: correct insight into the nature of suffering
Right aim: correct resolve in overcoming suffering
Right speech: truthful speech that reflects Buddhist knowledge
Right action: ethical behavior and discipline
Right living: a livelihood that isn’t in conflict with Buddhist ethical
commitments
Right effort: disciplining the mind
Right mindfulness: remaining focused on appropriate understandings
of self and suffering
Right concentration: progression through successive stages of
NIRVANA
Extinction
Cessation of consciousness
Bliss
Release from the cycle of existence
Psychological state
State of mind
NOT heaven
Samsara, Karma *
The Buddha agreed with samsara only in the fact that birth followed
death. Release from suffering was achieved through the Four Noble
Truths.
The Buddha reinterpreted karma to focus particularly on the states of
mind of the individual. Grasping, desires and intentions bind humans
to an impermanent world.
When these things cease, humans pass over to Nirvana.
KARMA – Buddhist view
Primarily psychological
Grasping, desires and intentions bind the
psychological processes
There is a consequence for every thought and
deed
Impulses from an individual’s life carry over into
another life. (yet, there is no self to be reborn)
Skandhas *
There is no permanent self rather it is the appearance of self
generated by skandhas
Senses
mind
perceptions
impulses
consciousness
As opposed to Hindu thought, Buddha taught that there was no
eternal self that continues through reincarnation.
Those who seek permanence suffer for no self exists.
Regarding Metaphysical Questions *
The Buddha disregarded broader metaphysical questions, remaining
focused instead on the practical concerns of suffering and its
alleviation
No creator god
Buddhist Scripture
Extensive writings exist that pertain to a variety of understandings of
the Buddha’s life and teachings
Tripitaka, or “three-fold basket,” is an early set of scriptures
composed in Pali
rules for Buddhist monks
collections of what are regarded as the Buddha’s sayings, in
addition to stories, poems and songs about the Buddha and what
some regard as the Buddha’s former lives
Further systematic development of ideas
Buddhist Scripture (cont.)
Following the Buddha’s death, some accounts describe the gathering
of his followers in a series of councils to decide controversies that
had arisen
First council shortly after the death of the Buddha, establishing
the Tripitika
Second and third council a hundred years later to settle questions
regarding rules for monks and questions of orthodoxy.
Councils continued to be held to decide on points of faith and
practice.
Sects develop - Two Major Vehicles *
One of the splits that developed among Buddhists was between two
major traditions
Theravada Buddhists regarded the Buddha as an exemplary
human being who provided a model for ultimate religious
transformation through self-application
Devotees focus on monastic life
Maitreya, the Buddha to come
Salvation is through dedicated self-effort rather than intervention
of deity.
Two Major Vehicles cont’d *
Mahayana Buddhists regarded the Buddha in more cosmic, god-
like terms. Furthermore, human beings were regarded as aided in
their spiritual development and well-being by bodhisattvas, beings
who - though capable of Nirvana - remained active in the world
out of compassion for the suffering of others
Believe in liberated heavenly beings who assist humans–
bodhisattvas
Salvation is not solely a matter of personal discipline but is
assisted by various deities.
Conversion of Asoka – 3rd century BCE
Northern Indian ruler devoted to conquest
Attracted to Buddhist teachings
Abandoned warfare and built temples
Sent missionaries throughout India, to Asia, Africa, Europe and Sri
Lanka, Burma
Buddhism enters China, Korea, Japan and Tibet *
By 1st century BCE, Mahayana and Theravada
sects had entered China
From Korea, Buddhism spread to Japan in 6th - 8th
centuries CE
14th century: political implications: Mongol chieftain
awarded Tibet to the Dalai Lama
Buddhism in China
Mahayana Buddhism developed in new directions in imperial China
Tian Tai attempted to consolidate seemingly conflicting Buddhist
doctrines into a single system that recognized one scripture, the
Lotus Sutra, as the pinnacle and clearest exposition of Buddhist
thought.
Hua Yen, like Tian Tai, attempted to consolidate all Buddhist
teachings; this school, however, placed the Flower Garland Sutra
at the pinnacle of Buddhist doctrines. It emphasized the
interpenetration of all things.
Buddhism in China (cont.) *
Jingtu or Pure Land Buddhism posited that the bodhisattva
Amitabha would compassionately intervene in the lives of human
beings and transport them after death to a paradise, or Pure Land
Chan, brought to China from India by Bodhidharma, emphasized
the practice of meditation in the achievement of enlightenment
Guanyin (Kwan Yin), Goddess of Mercy
Bodhisattva who assists Amitabha in Chinese Pure
Land doctrine
Madonna of the East
Carries a vial of compassion which she pours on
the world (to aid in the elimination of suffering)
Buddhism in Tibet
In seventh century CE, Tibetan ruler Srong Tsan Gampo married two
Buddhist wives from abroad, bringing Buddhism into Tibet for the first time
In the following century, Indian Buddhist teacher Shantarakshita brought
Buddhism to Tibet in a more systematic fashion
Occult and tantric forms of Buddhism prevailed in Tibet; various schools
emerged, including:
Nyingmapa, old-school Buddhists who embraced trantic practices found
in Hinduism
Gelugpa, protest movement against Nyingmapa’s laxity and sexual
abuses. Advocated celibacy and vegetarianism.
Gelugpa lama seen as reincarnated shortly after death. Elaborate
search rituals results in new lama.
The Present Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a part of the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan
Buddhism.
Buddhism in the West
In addition to waves of Asian migration to the U.S. beginning in the
nineteenth century, non-Asians have also taken an interest in
Buddhism - particularly during the 1960s.
Nichiren Shoshu Sokagakkai had been an example of organized
forays by Buddhists into America. Similar to its counterpart in Japan.
Salvation through chanting
Today, a wide range of Buddhist traditions that developed throughout
Asia are evidenced in the American landscape
Worldview
Absolute – belief in gods was not essential to release from suffering.
Theravadins deny deities but Mahayanists believe they are essential.
World – alleviation of suffering meant detachment from the world.
The problem for humans was suffering produced by ignorance of the
impermanence of the world. The solution was knowledge using the
Four Noble Truths.
There was no life after death, though something carries over.
Worldview
Community ethics includes the symbiotic relationship between
monastics and laity; the latter are expected to abstain from
theft
intoxication
inappropriate speech
injury to others
A strong concern for an end-time of history is not widespread in
Buddhist materials, although some Mahayana Buddhists anticipate
the appearance of the next Buddha to incarnate: Maitreya
Worldview (cont.)
The eight-spoked wheel is a symbol used to suggest the Noble
Eightfold Path
Some Buddhist laity recite a vow of refuge in three things:
the Buddha
the Dharma, i.e., Buddhist teachings
the Sangha, i.e., the community of Buddhists (or, more
specifically, monks and nuns)
In some parts of Asia, young laymen take on the role of a Buddhist
monk for a finite period of time
Worldview (cont.)
Buddhism, in a wide variety of environments, has coexisted with
other forms of religious practice; it has even elicited an interest in
active dialogue and engagement, as was pursued by the late
Catholic monk Thomas Merton
Women and Buddhism
Although Mahayana Buddhism has allowed for the ordination of
women as nuns, they’ve held a second-class status relative to monks
non-Asian women who have converted to Buddhism, such as
Tsultrim Allione and Jiyu Kennett Roshi, have introduced innovations
in the possible roles for women leaders in Buddhism