Chapter 5 Buddhism Buddha Dharma Sangha Life Teachings of the Buddha the awakened one Siddhartha Gautama Born approximately 500 BCE In the Kshatriya caste warrior king landowner Before he was born his parents went to go see an oracle fortune teller and they said he would be one of two things a warrior king or a spiritual seeker so his father feared the spiritual seeker he kept him in the compound giving him everything he can imagine only surrounding him around the young and healthy in hopes to prevent the oracles fortune The Four Sights the beginning of turning away from his existing life rich protected etc 1 Old man around him were only young and healthy people so he had never seen an old person 2 Sick person grew up in almost a germ free environment so he had never seen anybody sick never been sick 3 Dead person a corpse that had maggots in it because it had been left on the street 4 Spiritual Seeker limited from the compound Left home to seek spiritual truth in traditional methods like a sanyassin Mother died during childbirth The Middle Way After 6 years of strenuous ascetic practices Siddharta Gautama attains the middle way Self denial asceticism mortification and complete renunciation of all things worldly Self indulgence eat drink be merry do what ever feels good Middle Way takes best of both Enlightenment At Bodh Gaya he experiences Supreme Awakening sees previous lives wheel of karmic effects and reincarnation causes of suffering and ways to end suffering Tempted by Mara but begins to teach first with his closes students then throughout Asia The Dharma The core teachings of the Buddha Sacred Texts The Dhammapada Sermon of the Four Noble Truths The Twin Verses On the Self The Three Marks or Seals of Existence 1 Impermanence anicca Nothing is permanent everything changes Existence or non existence depends on a series of causes and effects Dependent Origination mental and physical phenomena are conditioned The world is woven of interconnected threads Thich Nhat Hanh 2 Dukkham also first noble truth There is or life involves suffering unsatisfactory painful frustrating 3 No self There is no separate self What appears as separate and enduring identity is a composite a changing constellation of various influences The individual is a combination of five aggregates the five skandhas bundles heaps The Four Noble Truths 1 Life is frustrating painful unsatisfactory suffering dukkha 2 The is a cause of suffering desires attachment to illusions desires 3 When what causes it ends suffering ends 4 The way or path to end the cause of suffering The noble eightfold path The Five Skandhas aggregates of a person 1 Form Matter 2 Feeling Sensation 3 Perception Cognition 4 5 Consciousness Impulse Mental Formation The Wheel of Life Six Realms of Existence 1 Animals 2 2 Hell Beings 3 Hungry Ghosts 4 Gods 5 Demi Gods 6 Humans The Three Poisons 1 Bird attachment desire clinging antidote is generosity contentment 2 Snake Aversion anger antidote is loving kindness compassion 3 Pig Ignorance delusion antidote is insight right understanding patience wisdom Meditation Samatha calm focus Vipassana insight Zazen just sitting Metta loving kindness The Goal Nivana Cessation Extinguishing blowing out of candle Sangha Sangha order of disciples forms free of caste system Monks bikshus and nuns bikshunis and also lauypeople After Buddha s death no successor just the teachings of Dharma 0Life in simplicity and pursuit of meditation and teaching Buddhist Ethics A skilled mind remorse A mind that is skillful avoids actions that are likely to cause suffering or Rules of moral conduct for Buddhists differs according to whether it applies to the laity or to the monastics Avoiding any action which is likely to be harmful Five Precepts A lay Buddhist should cultivate good conduct by training in what are know as the Five Precepts These are not commandments but are training rules To undertake the training to 1 Avoid taking life 2 Avoid taking things not given 3 Avoid sexual misconduct 4 Refrain from false speech 5 Abstain from substances which cause intoxication and heedlessness The Spread of Buddhism Early Buddhism in India 2 forms of Buddhism Theravada Oldest form the teaching of the elders South East Asia Focus is on Monastic Life and on Meditation Monastic Life Simplicity simple robes few possession no food taken after noon celibacy Depend on lay people alms bowl lay people support monks and nuns merit making Monastery is in center of village life educational center and community identity Temporary monastic vows for young people and on special occasions Devotional Practices Theravada Relatively austere monastic practice but a number of ways to worship for lay people Stupas from indigenous traditions Images of the Buddha and relics often combined with spirit shrines Temples as site of worship and community gathering Mahayana The Greater Vehicle East Asia Focus is on Compassion for other creatures Mahayana the path of compassion and wisdom Importance of experience Practice of compassion and wisdom with goal of liberation of all sentient beings monastics and lay people alike Various set of tools skillful means for awakening Skillful means taking your surroundings and adapting them to the precepts Bodhisattvas Going beyond the goal of individual liberation from suffering Become enlightened dedication to seek enlightenment for the sake of other The Four Great Bodhisattva Vows 1 Being are infinite we vow to save them all 2 Obstructive passions delusions are numberless we vow to end cut 3 The teachings are countless we vow to learn them all 4 Buddhahood supreme awakening is the supreme achievement through them all We vow to attain it Zen Part of Mahayana Mystical mind to mind transmission Strong meditation emphasis Koans Often viewed as austere stark Tibetan Various indigenous pieces Chakras Sexual Union and Colorful Rituals The Triple Gem Buddhists go for refuge Buddha Dharma Maitreya The only bodhisattva recognized by both Theravada and Mahayana non theistic Some may see the Mahayana focus on Bodhisattva as opening the door to veneration of deities but many see the three bodies of the Buddha as symbolic also see Buddha nature Central Feature of Emptiness applied to all things including Buddha Emptiness Sunyata void emptiness Nagarjuna All compound things arise and pass away The world of phenomena samsara is therefore empty of inherent existence In Emptiness there is nothing to cling to to attach to to desire Experience