Buddhism
Siddhartha Gautama Sakyamuni the Buddha (563-483 BCE)
born in northeastern India, slopes of Himalayas; Nepal
Royal parents: father, king; mother, queen Mahamaya
Jataka legends (550): birth of the Buddha
White elephant & lotus flower story
Virgin birth & immaculate conception
wise men predict:
Gautama will become either a great monarch (if he remains in the household stage of life)
or a spiritual saviour of mankind, (if he heads for the forest stage)
They warn Gautama’s father of the 4 signs of existence:
1.decrepit old man
2.diseased man
3.dead man
4. wandering monk
Gautama’s father shelters him in a pleasure palace
life of ease and pleasure, marriage, son, wealth, etc. (the American dream!)
But at age 29, Gautama goes outside the palace one day for a chariot ride, and there he witnessed the 4 signs....
immediated disillusionment with his life and life in general
Leaves wife and baby and household life for the forest
6 years of extreme asceticism to reach an understanding of life (& the 4 signs)
without success
returns to the world: age 35
concludes: neither a life or luxury & pleasure nor a life of renunciation will achieve understanding and enlightenment.
This is THE MIDDLE WAY
The Buddha = the awakened one/ enlightened one
Gautama sat under the Bo tree determined to achieve enlightenment
The Bo tree = where Gautama was enlightened
Temptations of Kama and Mara
pleasures and fear & death
nirvana now ... final temptation
Bodhi = enlightenment arrived!
49 days under the Bo tree: legends of his having to decide whether to take Nirvana now or return with compassion to help others, some of who might understand.
After this Enlightenment he travelled to the Benares, where he delivered his first sermon to his five former forest friends: the sermon at the Deer Park.
Here he taught the essence of what he had learned under the bo tree:
The 4 Noble Truths
the Noble Eightfold Path
Buddha was, like Jesus, a reformer of Hinduism
denied the authority of the Priests
of the Vedas
denied the Caste system
Buddha as a physician:
Humanity the patient
The Four Noble Truths:
the human condtion = dukkha
the cause = tanha (egoism / desires)
the prognosis = tanha can be overcome
the treatment = the Noble Eightfold Path
Eightfold Path
first: Right associations... preliminary step
yoke the wild elephant to the tame
1.Right Knowledge
2.Right Aspiration
3.Right speech:
truth & charity
ontological importance of speech, not just the moral import of it.
4.Right behavior
don’t kill
don’t steal
dont lie
don’t drink intoxicating beverages
don’t be unchaste
5.Right Livelihood
6.Right effort ... the will power to endure
7.Right mindfulness:
mind in control, not the senses, etc.
continuous alertness
self examination
all we are is a result of what we have thought
8.Right absorption: like raja yoga
Salvation : Nirvana
Nirvana, like Brahman, is indescribable
Nirvana is Reality
Nirvana is the storehouse of consciousness
Compare with Hinduism’s moksha:
it is release from dukkha while moksha is release from Maya
these concepts leave room for a wide variety of interpretations and practices to develop.
Two schools of Buddhism:
Theravada Buddhism ... (Hinayana; small raft)
emphasizes the historical nature of the Buddha
humanism
smaller collection of Scriptures, in Pali
conservative, scholastic, austere
discipline to strive for Nirvana for the individual
the arhat ideal ... the seeker for Nirvana
Mahayana Buddhism (large raft)
emphasizes the spiritual nature of the Buddha
more philosophical and psychological
e.g. Zen Buddhism
Many scriptures to choose from, in many languages
compassion ... the Boddhisattva ideal ... to achieve Nirvana for the all.
also, gradually becomes more of a popular movement,
reintroducing gods, magic, myths and rituals into the popular worship of the Buddha.
e.g. the Soko Gakkai (the value creation society in America)
chanting : Nom Myoho Renge Kyo
the scroll: the gohonzon ... with names from the Lotus Sutra (based on Nichiren sect within Japanese Buddhism, 1222-1282)