Joseph Campbell’s Lecture on Buddhism

Joseph Campbell (1904 -1987) was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience. His philosophy is often summarized by his phrase: "Follow your bliss."

Joseph Campbell was born and raised in New York in an upper middle class Roman Catholic family. As a child, Campbell became fascinated with Native American culture after his father took him to see the AmericanMuseum of Natural History in New York where he saw on display featured collections of Native American artifacts. This led to Campbell's lifelong passion for myth and to his study of and mapping of the cohesive threads in mythology that appeared to exist among even disparate human cultures.

At DartmouthCollege he studied biology and mathematics, but decided that he preferred the humanities. He transferred to ColumbiaUniversity, where he received his B.A. in English literature in 1925 and M.A. in Medieval literature in 1927. Campbell was also an accomplished athlete, receiving awards in track and field events. For a time, he was among the fastest half-mile runners in the world. In 1972 Campbell retired from SarahLawrenceCollege, after having taught there for 38 years.

According to Joseph Campbell:

  1. What is the difference between a World Religion and an Ethnic Religion?
  1. What are the three world religions?
  1. Compared to Christianity, Buddhism is a ______religion.
  1. The Sanskrit root “Bodh” means:
  1. “Buddha” means:
  1. What does Joseph Campbell mean by “The essence of the doctrine is rendered in the legendary life of the teacher”?
  1. The Legend doesn’t matter whether it is ______or ______because it has nothing to do with fact; it has to do with the “rendition in symbolic forms of the sense of the doctrine.”
  1. What prediction did the sages and astrologists make about the Buddha when he was born?
  1. What did the Buddha’s kingly father do to make sure the Buddha would be a world monarch?
  1. How old was the Buddha when he became curious about leaving the Palace?
  1. What did Buddha see on his first journey out?
  1. What did he see on the second trip?
  1. What did he see on the third trip?
  1. What affect did these sights have on him?
  1. What did the Buddha see on his final trip out of the Palace?
  1. What decision does the Buddha make after seeing the final person?
  1. What is Buddha breaking by leaving the Palace, his wife and child?
  1. What does Buddha realize after spending time with the teachers and ascetics?
  1. What is the symbolic significance of the bowl going upstream?
  1. On a tanget, Campbell tells a Hindu creation story of the Being of Beings saying “I”.
  2. What are the first and second emotions the Being of Beings feels?
  3. How does this story relate to the concept of “my other half” or “my soul mate”
  1. What is meant by “the immovable spot” ?
  1. What are the two forms of the tempter?
  1. What are the three things by which we are bound?
  1. What happened when the Buddha touched the earth?
  1. What is the first doctrine of Buddhism?
  1. What does the Buddha teach and what is it called?
  1. Why is Buddhism called a “yana”?
  1. What are the first three of the four noble truths?
  1. What does nirvana mean?

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