Transcript Unit 2 The Bible is a Primary Source of Christian Belief

Unit 1.3
Buddhism
Section 1.2 Buddhism
Read Chapter 6 on Buddhsm in Exploring the Religions
of our World pages 117-137.
 It has been said that, “as Judaism is to Christianity,
so is Hinduism is to Buddhism” because Buddhism
finds its roots in Hinduism.
 Buddhism is defined as the “middle way of wisdom
and compassion”
 It is a 2500 year old tradition that began in India
and spread and diversified throughout the Far
East
 A philosophy, religion, and spiritual practice
followed by more than 300 million people
 Based on the teachings of the Buddha
 The founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, was
born of the warrior caste in India in 563 B.C.E.
 Raised in great luxury to be a king.
 Empathy for the suffering of others; at age 29
rejected the life of luxury to seek enlightenment
and the solution to suffering.
 Followed a strict ascetic lifestyle for six years.
 Rejected this extreme, sat in meditation, achieved
Nirvana – an awakening to the truth about life,
becoming a Buddha, the “Awakened One” at the
age of 35.
 Spent the remaining 45 years of his life teaching
others how to achieve the peace of mind he had
achieved.
 The “Three Jewels” of Buddhism
 Buddha – the teacher
 Dharma – the teachings
 Sangha – the community
 The Four Noble Truths
1.Life is Filled with Suffering: Humans sleep
away their lives in senseless and self-centered
preoccupations; this self-centeredness only leads
both physical and mental suffering. All life is
impermanent so there is “no self.”
2.The Cause of Suffering is Desire: Humans are
so focused on ourselves; we constantly want
things that are impermanent in life. These ignorant
cravings are the source of suffering.
3. To Cease Suffering One Must Cease Desiring:
Suffering ceases when we free ourselves of the
bondage of desires and cravings and stop
believing that our individual self is real. This is to
achieve Nirvana (which is the only thing that is
real) which is freedom form samsara ( the
suffering cycle of death and rebirth). This truth is
not a belief, it is an action.
4. The Path to the End of Suffering is the Noble
Eightfold Path: This is the Middle Way between
indulgence and self denial. The Noble Eightfold
Path is the moral standard of Buddhism.
 The Eightfold Path
Wisdom
1. Right Understanding – know the truth
2. Right Thought – resist self-centeredness
 Ethical Conduct
3. Right Speech – refrain from unkind, negative
speech
4. Right Conduct – live morally
5. Right Livelihood – work for the good of
others
 Mental Discipline
6. Right Effort – replace ones bad thoughts with
good ones
7. Right Mindfulness – one must be aware of
every mental and physical action they are doing
8. Right Concentration – practice the discipline
of meditation
 Nirvana: The Result of the Eightfold Path
Although Buddha’s immediate goal was to
eliminate the cause of suffering, his ultimate goal
was to become liberated from the cycle of death
and rebirth. This was to be accomplished by
teaching how we can cease craving and thereby
eliminate our attachment to and beliefs in the
existence of the illusory self (that is, the self tied to
existence here on earth).
 When we are successful in eliminating such
attachment, then the effects of karma cease to
matter because all is seen for what it is – no
longer are we tied to the longings of the earth. At
that moment, the moment of enlightenment, the
person achieves the state of nirvana – the ultimate
goal of the Buddhist, and Buddhism’s equivalent of
salvation or heaven.
 Wheel of Samsara
The Wheel of Life, otherwise
called the Cycle of Samsara
(material existence) explains this
process of death and rebirth. In
the very center, there is a rooster
chasing a pig chasing a snake
chasing the rooster -- craving,
hatred, and ignorance. Around
that are people ascending the
white semicircle of life, and others
descending the black semicircle of
death. The greatest portion of the
Wheel is devoted to
representations of the six realms -the realm of the gods, the realm of
the titans, the realm of humans,
the realm of animals, the realm of
the hungry ghosts, and the realm
of demons -- each realm looked
over by its own boddhisattva. The
outermost circle is the 12 steps of
dependent origination.
 Major Beliefs in Buddhism
 Rebirth (reincarnation) results from attachments
(karma)
 Nirvana is a peaceful, detached state of mind
 Achieving Nirvana means escape from the cycle
of rebirth
 Once Gautama Buddha died, after 80 years of life
in this world, having achieved Nirvana and
teaching multitudes his way of life, he ceased to
exist as a distinct being
 Buddhism is non-theistic: Buddha is not the
Buddhist God – he is just a revered teacher
 How does Buddhism differ from Hinduism?
 Buddhism rejects…
 Authority of the ancient Vedic texts
 The Vedic caste system
 The Vedic and Hindu deities
 The efficacy of Vedic worship and ritual
 The concept of Brahman
Buddhist Sacred Scriptures:
 Tripitaka – means the “Three Baskets” - the Pali
Cannon
 Vinaya – means
“discipline” - rules for
monastic life
 Sutta – means
“discourse” - sermons of
the Buddha
 Abhidhamma – means
“teachings”
 The Spread of Buddhism
 Within two centuries after the Buddha died,
Buddhism began to spread north and east into
Asia
 By 13th century Buddhism had disappeared from
India
 Schools of Buddhism - Theravada
 The “Way of the Elders” (a.k.a.: the “small
vehicle”)
 Oldest school of Buddhism
 Found in southern Asia (Sri Lanka, Burma,
Thailand, etc.)
 Monasticism is the ideal life for achieving Nirvana
 A “do-it-yourself” approach to enlightenment
 Focus on wisdom and meditation
 Goal is to become a Buddha
 Fairly unified in belief & practice (some cultural
differences)
 Theravada
 Schools of Buddhism - Mahayana
 The “Great Vehicle”
 Developed first century C.E.
 Found in Northern Asia (China, Japan, etc.)
 Lay Buddhism – Buddhism “for the masses”
 Devotional – seek guidance from Bodhisattvas
(“wise beings”) & heavenly Buddhas
 Focus on compassion
 Goal is to become a bodhisattva and assist
others toward enlightenment (the “Bodhisattva
Ideal”)
 Mahayana
 Schools of Buddhism - Tibetan
 Vajrayana – the “Diamond Vehicle”
 Developed 7th century C.E.
 A mix of Theravada & Mahayana:
 Rituals (Tantra):
 Mantras (chanting)
 Mandalas & Thankas (symbolic images)
 Mudras (hand gestures)
 Bodhisattvas, including living Lamas (Dalai
Lama)
 Meditation, monasticism, wisdom &
compassion
 Tibetan
 Schools of Buddhism – Zen
 The “meditation” school:
 Lay and monastic
 Seeks sudden enlightenment through meditation,
arriving at emptiness
 Use of meditation masters
 Koans (paradoxical riddles to confound reason)
 Beauty, arts & aesthetics – gardens, archery, the
tea ceremony, calligraphy, etc.
 Zen
 Buddhism in the West
 Over the past two centuries, especially since the
later half of the 20th century, Buddhism has made
inroads into the Western world through…
 Immigration of Asian peoples who have brought
their diverse forms of Buddhism to the West
 Western followers who tend to adopt meditation
practices and the philosophy rather than more
devotional forms of Buddhism
 Many such western followers remain within their
own faith traditions, finding Buddhism to be a
complement to rather than in conflict with other
religions
 The Dalai Lama
 Today’s Dalai
Lama is the
14th
reincarnation of
one of the
original
Bodhisattvas.
He is the exiled
religious and
political leader
of Tibet.
Student Homework
Read Chapter 6 on Buddhism in
Exploring the Religions of our World
pages 117 -137.
Then complete the following questions for
next class.
Pg. 123 1-5
Pg. 128 1-3, 5
Pg. 131 2-3
Pg. 135 1-2
Answers for Buddhism Questions from your textbook
Exploring the Religions of our World.
Pg. 123
1. Siddhartha Gautama was born into the warrior caste
in India during the sixth century before the Common
Era. He was raised a prince, but upon seeing
suffering on an outing, he gave up his earthly wealth
and family and became an ascetic. One day under a
Bodhi tree, Siddhartha was tempted by Mara, but to
no avail. It was there under the tree that Siddhartha
was enlightened. It was the Middle Way between
asceticism and indulgences that brought moksha.
He articulated his enlightenment in the Four Noble
Truths, of which the fourth is the Noble Eightfold
Path, that is, practices necessary for enlightenment.
He formed a monastic community called the sangha
and preached enlightenment to all who would listen.
2. The First Council attempted to preserve the
Buddha’s teachings through oral recitation to one
another. The Second Council dealt with
questionable practices of some “liberal” monks who
sought a relaxation of monastic discipline. The Third
Council was called by King Ashoka to purify the
sangha of its various irregularities. It was at the
Third Council that the Tipitaka was compiled. King
Kaniska of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) called the
Fourth Council to rectify the problem of the
emergence of various interpretations of Buddhist
scriptures. Monks were assigned to edit the Tipitaka,
making references and remarks for clarification. This
task took twelve years to complete; the final
document is known today as the Pali Canon and is
used by the Theravada branch of Buddhism.
3. King Ashoka was attracted to the Buddhist ideals of
pacifism.
4. Japanese soldiers in particular were attracted to Zen
Buddhism because they were interested in overcoming
the fear of death.
5. The head of Tibetan Buddhist monastic leaders is
known as the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama ruled over
Tibet until Communist Chinese forced the present Dalai
Lama and thousands of his followers to leave Tibet in
1959. He and his followers fled to Northern India and
Nepal where they set up an exiled Tibetan government
in Dharamsala, India. In Tibet, Vajrayana Buddhism, a
branch of Mahayana Buddhism, emerged in the
seventh century CE. Vajrayana Buddhism puts a great
emphasis on the person doing mantras, rituals, and
meditations as a way to strive for enlightenment. In the
fourteenth century Tibetan Buddhists came to believe
that the leaders of heir monasteries were
reincarnations of great bodhisatvas who literally
paused in the door before nirvana to muse over the
suffering of those left behind.
Pg. 128
1. Life is filled with suffering, the cause of suffering is
desire, to cease suffering one must cease desiring,
and the path to the end of suffering is the Noble
Eightfold Path.
2. Right understanding, right thought, right speech,
right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right
mindfulness, and right concentration.
3. The Three Jewels of Buddhism are: 1) “I take refuge
in the Buddha,” 2) “I take refuge in the Dharma,” and
3) “I take refuge in the Sangha.”
5. The Theravada monastic order tends to be much
more traditional than the Mahayana monastic order.
Theravada monks are celibate and provide spiritual
nourishment to the laity. The laity provide physical
nourishment to monks who seek their daily food
through begging at the household of Buddhist
devotees. Mahayana monks abide by the same
rules as Theravada monks. However, they add to
the rules by witnessing about Siddhartha Gautama,
his way of life, and emulating his attitudes of peace
and compassion to others.
Pg. 131
2. A pagoda is a large stupa. While an ordinary stupa
is a simple, small mound, pagodas are large,
elaborately decorated domes.
3. The four major sites of pilgrimage related to the life
of Siddhartha are Lumbini Gardens, the traditional
site of the birth of Siddhartha; Bodhi Gaya, the site of
the Bodhi Tree; Sarnath, the Deer Park where the
Buddha gave his first sermon; and Kushinara, the
traditional place of the death of Siddhartha.
Pg. 135
1. Meditation is important for Buddhists because it is a
means to enlightenment.
2. Mindfulness of Breathing is a meditation that
focuses on one’s breathing. This allows a person to
gain power in concentration and calm as a person.