Buddhism
From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy focusing on the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni (Siddhārtha Gautama), who probably lived in the 5th century BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the ancient Indian sub-continent in the five centuries following the Buddha's death, and propagated into Central, Southeast, and East Asia over the next two millennia. Today, Buddhism is divided primarily into three traditions: Theravāda (Sanskrit: Sthaviravāda), Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna. Buddhism continues to attract followers worldwide, and, with around 350 million followers, it is considered a major world religion.
When used in a generic sense, a Buddha is generally considered to be a person who discovers the true nature of reality through years of spiritual cultivation, investigation of the various religious practices of his time, and meditation. This transformational discovery is called bodhi - literally, "Awakening" (more commonly called "Enlightenment"). Any person who has become awakened from the "sleep of ignorance" by directly realizing the true nature of reality is called a Buddha. Śākyamuni is said to have been only the latest of many of these; there were other Buddhas before him and there will be others in the future. According to the Buddha, any person can follow his example and become enlightened through the study of his words "Dharma" and putting them into practice, by leading a virtuous, moral life, and purifying his mind. In general, the aim of Buddhist practice is to end all kinds of suffering in life. To achieve this state, adherents seek to purify and train the mind by following the Noble Eightfold Path, or the Middle Way, and eventually to gain true knowledge of reality and thus secure the ending (nirodha) of ignorance and of unhappiness and the attainment of liberation: moksha or Nirvana (Pāli nibbāna).
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Gautama the Buddha
According to all Buddhist traditions, the Buddha of the present age, called Siddhārtha (Sanskrit) or Siddhattha (Pāli) of the Gautama (Pāli: Gotama) gotra or clan, was born in the grove of Lumbinī near the town of Kapilavastu (Pāli: Kapilavatthu), the capital of the kingdom (mahājanapada) of the Śākyas (Pāli: Sakyas). Lumbinī and the Śākya realm were known to have been in the north, adjacent to the kingdom of Kośala and the republic of the Koliyas along the Ganges, separated from Koliya by the river Rohiṇī. The exact location of Lumbinī is fixed in what is now south central Nepal by a pillar inscription of King Aśoka from the 3rd century BCE commemorating the Buddha's birth. Despite weighty evidence for this location, Mr. Chandrabhanu Patel of the Orissa Museum has claimed that the birthplace was actually in Orissa state, hundreds of miles to the southeast.
Siddhārtha's father was Śuddhodana (Pāli: Suddhodana), then the chieftain (rājā) of the Śākyas. Traditions state that the Buddha's mother died at his birth or a few days later. The legend says that the seer Asita predicted shortly after his birth that Siddhārtha would become either a great king or a great holy man; because of this, the king tried to make sure that Siddhārtha never had any cause for dissatisfaction with his life, as such dissatisfaction might lead him to follow a spiritual path. Nevertheless, at the age of 29, he came across what has become known as the Four Passing Sights: an old crippled man, a sick man, a decaying corpse, and finally a wandering holy man. These four sights led him to the realization that birth, old age, sickness and death come to everyone. He decided to abandon his worldly life, leaving behind his privileges, rank, caste, and his wife and child, to take up the life of a wandering holy man in search of the answer to the problems of birth, old age, pain, sickness, and death.
Siddhārtha pursued the path of the śramaṇa and meditation with two Brahmin hermits, and, although he quickly achieved high levels of meditative consciousness (dhyāna, Pāli jhāna), he was still not satisfied with the results. Siddhārtha then began his training in the ascetic life and practicing vigorous techniques of physical and mental austerity. Siddhārtha proved quite adept at these practices, and was able to surpass his teachers. However, he found no answer to his questions. Leaving behind established teachers, he and a small group of close companions set out to take their austerities even further. After six years of ascetism, and nearly starving himself to death without any profit, Siddhārtha began to reconsider his path. He then remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's plowing; he had fallen into a naturally concentrated and focused state in which he felt a blissful and refreshing feeling and time seemed to stand still.
After discarding asceticism and concentrating on meditation, Siddhārtha discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way – a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. To strengthen his body, he accepted a little buttermilk from a passing goatherd. Then, sitting under a pipal tree, now known as the Bodhi tree, he vowed never to arise until he had found the Truth. At the age of 35, he attained Enlightenment and became a Buddha. He preached his first sermon in Sarnath a place very near Vārāṇasī (Benares) in North India.
For the remaining 45 years of his life, Buddha Gautama traveled in the Gangetic Plain of northeastern India, teaching his doctrine and discipline to all – from nobles to outcaste street sweepers, including adherents of many different schools and teachers. The Buddha founded the two saṅghas (monastic communities) of monks and of nuns, which continued to expound his teaching after his death.
Doctrines
Numerous distinct groups have developed since the passing of Gautama Buddha, with diverse teachings that vary widely in practice, philosophical emphasis, and culture. However, there are certain doctrines which are common to the majority of schools and traditions in Buddhism.
Dependent Origination
The enlightenment (Bodhi) of the Buddha was simultaneously his liberation from suffering and his insight into the nature of reality. The widely accepted doctrine of dependent origination states that any phenomenon ‘exists’ only because of the ‘existence’ of other phenomena in a complex web of cause and effect. For sentient beings, this amounts to a never-ending cycle of rebirth (saṃsāra) according to the law of karma (Pāli: kamma) and vipāka. Because all things are thus conditioned and transient (anitya, Pāli anicca), they have no real, independent identity (anātman, Pāli anatta) and so do not truly ‘exist’, although to ordinary minds they do appear to exist. All phenomena are thus fundamentally insubstantial and empty (śūnya'). Wise human beings, who possess "insight into the knowledge of how things are" (yathā-bhūta-ñāṇa-dassana, Sanskrit yathābhūtajñanadarśana), renounce attachment and clinging which cause suffering (duḥkha, Pāli dukkha), transform the energy of desire into awareness and understanding, and eventually attain nirvāṇa.
The Four Noble Truths
The Buddha taught that life was dissatisfactory because of craving, but that this condition was curable by following the Noble Eightfold Path (Sanskrit: Āryo 'ṣṭāṅgo Mārgaḥ , Pāli: Ariyo Aṭṭhaṅgiko Maggo). This teaching is called the Catvāry Āryasatyāni (Pali: Cattāri Ariyasaccāni), the "Four Noble Truths".
- duḥkha (Pāli: dukkha) "suffering": All worldly life is unsatisfactory, disjointed, containing suffering.
- samudaya "arising (of suffering)": There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or desire (tṛṣṇā, Pāli taṇhā) rooted in ignorance (avidyā).
- nirodha "cessation (of suffering)": There is an end of suffering, which is nirvāṇa (Pāli: nibbāna).
- mārga (Pāli: magga) "path (to cessation)": There is a path that leads out of suffering, known as the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Four Noble Truths was the topic of the first sermon given by the Buddha after his enlightenment, which was given to the ascetics with whom he had practiced austerities.
The Noble Eightfold Path
The Noble Eightfold Path is the way to the cessation of suffering, the fourth part of the Four Noble Truths. In order to fully understand the noble truths and investigate whether they were in fact true, Buddha recommended that a certain path be followed which consists of:
- Right View - Realizing the Four Noble Truths (samyag-dṛṣṭi, sammā-diṭṭhi)
- Right Intention - Commitment to mental and Ethical growth in moderation (samyak-saṃkalpa, sammā-saṅkappa)
- Right Speech - One speaks in a non hurtful, not exaggerated, truthful way (samyag-vāc, sammā-vācā)
- Right Action - Wholesome action, avoiding action that would hurt others (samyak-karmānta, sammā-kammanta)
- Right Work - Ones job does not hurt oneself or others; directly or indirectly (weapon maker, drug dealer, etc.) (samyag-ājīva, sammā-ājīva}
- Right Effort - One makes an effort to improve (samyag-vyāyāma, sammā-vāyāma)
- Right Mindfulness - Mental ability to see things for what they are with clear consciousness (samyak-smṛti, sammā-sati)
- Right Concentration - State where one reaches enlightenment and the ego has disappeared (samyak-samādhi, sammā-samādhi)
The word samyak means "turned to one point or against each other, universus or adversus; whole, entire, all; correct, right, true." [1] There are a number of ways to interpret the Eightfold Path. On one hand, the Noble Eightfold Path is spoken of as being a progressive series of stages through which the practitioner moves, the culmination of one leading to the beginning of another, whereas others see it as the states of the 'Path' as requiring simultaneous development. It is also common to categorise into prajñā (Pāli paññā, wisdom), śīla (Pāli sīla, virtuous behaviour) and samādhi (concentration).
Bodhi
Bodhi (Pāli and Sanskrit. Lit. awakening) is a title given in Buddhism to the specific awakening experience attained by Buddha. Bodhi is most commonly translated into English as enlightenment, however, a more accurate translation is awakening or understanding. After attainment of Bodhi, it is believed one is freed from the cycle of saṃsāra: birth, suffering, death and rebirth. Bodhi is attained only by the accomplishment of the pāramitās (perfections), when the Four Noble Truths are fully grasped, and when all karma has reached cessation. At this moment, all greed (lobha), hatred (doṣa, Pāli dosa), delusion (moha), ignorance (avidyā, Pāli avijjā)), craving (tṛṣṇā, Pāli taṇhā) and false belief in self (ātman, Pāli attā) are extinguished. Bodhi thus includes anātman (Pāli anatta), the absence of ego-centeredness. All schools of Buddhism recognise three types of Bodhi. They are Śrāvakabodhi (Pāli: Sāvakabodhi), Pratyekabodhi (Pāli: Paccekabodhi) and Samyaksambodhi (Pāli: Sammāsambodhi), the perfect enlightenment by which a Bodhisattva becomes a fully enlightened Buddha. The aspiration to attain the state of samyaksambodhi, known as the Bodhisattva ideal is considered as the highest ideal of Buddhism.
Middle Way
The primarily guiding principle of Buddhist practice is the Middle Way which was discovered by Gautama Buddha prior to his enlightenment (bodhi). The Middle Way or Middle Path is often described as the practice of non-extremism; a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and opposing self-mortification. It is also another name for the Noble Eightfold Path, which is often divided into prajñā (Pāli: paññā, "wisdom"), śīla (Pāli: sīla, "morality") and samādhi ("meditative mind").
Refuge in The Three Jewels
- Main articles: Refuge (Buddhism) and Three Jewels
Acknowledging the Four Noble Truths and making the first step in The Noble Eightfold Path requires taking of refuge, as the foundation of one's religious practice, in Buddhism's Three Jewels (also called Three Treasures, Triple Gem, Triratna or Ratna-traya (Sanskrit}, Tiratana (Pali), 三宝, Sānbǎo (Chinese), Sambō or Sampō (Japanese), 삼보, Sambo(Korean).
The Three Jewels are:
- The Buddha: The Awakened One. This is a title for those who attained enlightenment similar to Buddha and helped others to attain it. See also the Tathāgata and Śākyamuni Buddha.
- The Dharma: The teachings or law as expounded by the Buddha. Dharma also means the law of nature based on behavior of a person and its consequences to be experienced (action and reaction).
- The Sangha: The individuals comprising the: noble Sangha , those beings possessing some degree of enlightenment. The term can also apply to the ordinary Sangha (Bhikkhu {{{3|IAST}}}) which refers to the community of people practicing the Dharma, but the refuge properly applies to the.
The Buddha presented himself as a model and beseeched his followers to have faith (śraddhā, Pāli saddhā) in his example of a human who escaped the pain and danger of existence. The Dharma, that is, the teaching of Buddha, offers a refuge by providing guidelines for the alleviation of suffering and the attainment of enlightenment. The Saṅgha, in this sense meaning the group of Buddhists possessing at least some degree of enlightenment, provides a refuge by preserving the authentic teachings of the Buddha and providing further examples that the truth of the Buddha's teachings is attainable.
Many Buddhists believe that there is no otherworldly salvation from one's karma. The suffering caused by the karmic effects of previous thoughts, words and deeds can be alleviated by following the Noble Eightfold Path, although the Buddha of some Mahayana sutras, such as the Lotus Sutra, the Angulimaliya Sutra and the Nirvana Sutra, also teaches that powerful sutras such as the above-named can, through the very act of their being heard or recited, wipe out great swathes of negative karma.
Prajñā (Wisdom)
Main articles: Prajñā, and Paramita
Prajñā (Sanskrit) or paññā (Pāli) means wisdom that is based on a realization of dependent origination, The Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path. Prajñā is the wisdom that is able to extinguish afflictions and bring about bodhi. It is spoken of as the principal means, by its enlightenment, of attaining nirvāṇa, through its revelation of the true nature of all things. Prajñā is also listed as the sixth of the six pāramitās.
In initial stage, prajñā is attained at a conceptual level by means of listening to sermons (dharma talks), reading and sometimes reciting Buddhist texts and engaging in discourse. Gautama Buddha taught dharma to his disciples mainly through the mean of discourse or sermon, many attaining bodhi upon hearing Buddha's discourse. Once the conceptual understanding is attained, it is applied to daily life so that each Buddhist can verify the truth of the Buddha's teaching at a practical level. Lastly, one engages in insight (vipassanā, Sanskrit vipaśyanā) meditation to attain such wisdom at intuitive level. It should be noted that one could theoretically attain bodhi at any point of practice, while listening to a sermon, while conducting business of daily life or while in meditation.
Śīla (Virtuous Behaviour)
Main articles: Sila, Karma in Buddhism and Paramita
Śīla (Sanskrit) or sīla (Pāli) is usually rendered into English as "behavioral discipline", "morality", or ethics. It is often translated as "precept". It is an action that is an intentional effort. It is one of the three practices and the second pāramitā: moral purity of thought, word, and deed. The four conditions of śīla are chastity, calmness, quiet, and extinguishment, i.e. no longer being susceptible to perturbation by the passions.
In Buddhism, the 'Law of karma' is used as an ethical principle, rather than a cosmological explanation for the world. Buddhism distinguishes saṃsāric happiness (birth in the high realms), from the final state of enlightenment: nirvāṇa; so likewise there is saṃsāric good karma, which leads to the high realms (such as the human realm), and then there is liberating karma - which is supremely good.
Therefore the major dichotomy is saṃsāric karma and liberating karma, of which the former is typically divided into the three: good, neutral, and bad (in accordance with the degree of samsaric happiness or suffering that will mature as a consequence). Likewise, liberating karma is divided into three, as there are three types of Buddha into which it may mature.
It is important to distinguish between śīla (moral) and Vinaya (monastic code). Śīla refers to overall principles of ethical behaviour while vinaya is a collection of monastic code. For this reason, vinaya is applicable to monks and nuns while śīla is applicable to all Buddhists, both laypeople and saṅgha members. Lay Buddhists generally undertake at least one of the five precepts (pañcaśīla) which are common to all Buddhist schools. The Five Precepts are not given in the form of commands such as "thou shalt not ...", but are training rules in order to live a better life in which one can meditate well.
- To refrain from taking life.
- To refrain from taking that which is not freely given (stealing).
- To refrain from sensual misconduct (improper sexual behavior, gluttony etc.)
- To refrain from incorrect speech (lying, harsh language, slander, idle chit-chat).
- To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness.
The content of vinaya differs slightly according to different scriptures. And different schools set different standards for the degree of adherence to vinaya. Serious lay people or aspiring monks take an additional three to five ethical precepts. In Vinaya, some of the five precepts are strengthened for monks. For example, the precept pertaining to sexual misconduct becomes a precept of celibacy. In Mahayana Buddhism, there is also a distinctive Vinaya and ethics contained within the Mahayana Brahmajala Sutra (not to be confused with the Pali text of that name) for Bodhisattvas, where, for example, the eating of meat is frowned upon and vegetarianism is actively encouraged (vegetarianism in Buddhism).
Samādhi (Meditative Mind)
Main article Samadhi, Vipassana and Buddhist meditation
In the language of the Noble Eightfold Path, samyaksamādhi is "right concentration". The primary means of cultivating samādhi is meditation. Almost all Buddhist schools agree that the Buddha taught two types of meditation, viz. samatha meditation (Sanskrit: śamatha) and vipassanā meditation (Sanskrit: vipaśyanā). Upon development of samādhi, one's mind becomes purified of defilement, calm, tranquil, and luminous. Once the meditator achieves a strong and powerful concentration (jhāna, Sanskrit dhyāna), his mind is ready to penetrate and gain insight (vipassanā) into the ultimate nature of reality, eventually obtaining release from all suffering. The cultivation of mindfulness is essential to mental concentration, which is needed to achieve insight.
Samatha Meditation starts from being mindful to an object or idea, which is expanded to one's body, mind and entire surroundings, leading to a state of total concentration and tranquility (jhāna) There are many variations in the style of meditation, from sitting cross-legged or kneeling to chanting or walking. The most common method of meditation is to concentrate on one's breath, because this practice can lead to both samatha and vipassana. In Buddhist practice, it is said that while samatha meditation can calm the mind, only vipassanā meditation can reveal how the mind was disturbed to start with, which is what leads to jñāna (Pāli ñāṇa knowledge) vijñāna (Pāli viññāṇa awareness), prajñā (Pāli paññā pure understanding) and thus can lead to nirvāṇa (Pāli nibbāna).
Buddhism after the Buddha
- Main articles: History of Buddhism and Buddhist councils
During his lifetime, Buddha specifically refused to answer certain questions known as avyākṛta (Pāli: avyākata, "unexplained"). These are (1) Whether the world is eternal or not; (2) Whether the world is infinite or not; (3) Whether the body and the soul are one and the same or not; (4) Whether the tathāgata exists after death, or not, or both does and does not, or neither does nor does not. In the Culla-Māluṅkyovāda-sutta, the Buddha, using an analogy of being shot by a poisoned arrow and asking about its origin and construction, indicated to Māluṅkyāputta that such speculative questions are ultimately unprofitable. [2]
In another occasion, the Buddha, without giving specific elaboration, stated that minor Vinaya rules can be amended by the Saṅgha. He further diverged from ancient Brahmin tradition by allowing monks and nuns not just to preach in the language of the area they happened to be in, but to recite the Dharma in the local language as well.
Soon after the parinirvāṇa (Pāli: parinibbāna, "complete extinguishment") of the Buddha, the first Buddhist council was held. As with any ancient Indian tradition, transmission of teaching was done orally. The primary purpose of the assembly was to collectively recite the teaching to ensure that no errors occur in oral transmission. In the first council, Ānanda, the Buddha's personal attendant was called upon to recite the discourses (sūtras, Pāli suttas) of the Buddha. Upāli, another disciple, recited the monastic rules (Vinaya).
Early Buddhism
- Main articles: The Second Buddhist Council and Early Buddhist schools
As the Saṅgha gradually grew over the next century disputes arose upon subtle points of discipline, e.g., the right to carry salt in a container. A second council (traditionally 100 years after the Buddha's death) was held to resolve the points at dispute. The result was not a resolution but a schism (saṅghabheda): on the one side the Sthaviras, or "Elders", whose name implies an authoritative elite group, and on the other side the Mahāsāṅghikas, the party "of the Great Saṅgha", implying a majority position. The fortunate survival of accounts from both sides of the dispute reveals disparate traditions; the Sthaviras claimed that the Mahāsāṅghikas were trying to dilute the Vinaya by ignoring certain rules; the Mahāsāṅghikas argued that the Sthaviras were trying to expand the Vinaya by illegitimately introducing new rules not sanctioned by the Buddha; they may also have challenged what they perceived to be excessive claims or inhumanly high criteria for Arhatship. Both parties, therefore, appealed to tradition (Janice J. Nattier and Charles S. Prebish, 1977. Mahāsāṅghika Origins: the beginnings of Buddhist sectarianism in History of Religions, Vol. 16, pp. 237-272). The Sthaviras gave rise to several schools, one of which was the Theravāda school.
This split occurred wholly within the traditions of Early Buddhism, at a time when the Mahāyāna movement either did not exist at all, or only existed as a current of thought not yet identified with a separate school. It was also solely concerned with questions of discipline, and foreshadowed the later splintering of both the Sthavira and Mahāsāṅghika Saṅghas into as many as thirty different "schools". Each "school" was characterized by a slightly different Vinaya; doctrinal differences among these schools only developed subsequent to the arising of differences in discipline.
The Sthavira-Mahāsāṅghika split has, therefore, nothing at all to do with the constrasts, posited by scholars, between "Northern and Southern Buddhism", or between "Mahāyāna and Theravāda", or even the traditional Mahāyāna contrast between Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna. Other than as an adumbration of schisms within the Saṅgha in general, it has no relevance for present-day Buddhism. Of the approximately thirty Vinayas that existed in the ancient and medieval Saṅgha, three have survived to the present day: the Vibhajyavāda Vinaya, used by the Theravādins; the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, used by Mahāyāna Buddhists in China, Vietnam, and Korea (Vinaya is not generally observed in Japan); and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, used by Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhists in Tibet. All three of these Vinayas descend directly from the Sthavira Vinaya, not from the Mahāsāṅghika Vinaya, which although partially extant, is not actually followed by any living bhikṣus.
Following the schisms, each Saṅgha started to accumulate an Abhidharma, a collection of philosophical commentaries on the discourse of the Buddha. It is not known whether such commentaries existed from the time of the Buddha. However, as Buddhism spread and came in contact with different religious orders, it became increasingly necessary to engage and debate the Dharma and formalize the teachings of the Buddha in a more systematic manner. As each sect developed different collections of Abhidharma, what began as disciplinary differences between the Saṅghas evolved into doctrinal differences as well. These sects of Buddhism are referred to as Nikāya (section) in the modern Theravāda tradition and Hīnayāna (lesser vehicle) sects in the Mahāyāna tradition. Some modern academics also refer it as Abhidhamma Buddhism.
Buddhism spread slowly in India until the time of the Maurya king Aśoka, who was a public supporter of the religion. The support of Aśoka and his descendants led to the construction of Buddhist religious memorials (stūpas) and to efforts to spread Buddhism throughout the enlarged Maurya empire and even into neighboring lands – particularly to the Iranian-speaking regions of Afghanistan and Central Asia, beyond the Mauryas' northwest border, and to the island of Sri Lanka south of India. These two missions, in opposite directions, would ultimately lead, in the first case to the spread of Buddhism into China, and in the second case, to the emergence of Theravāda Buddhism and its spread from Sri Lanka to the coastal lands of Southeast Asia.
This period marks the first spread of Buddhism beyond India. According to the edicts of Aśoka, emissaries were sent to various countries west of India in order to spread "Dhamma". particularly in eastern provinces of the neighboring Seleucid Empire, and possibly even farther to Hellenistic kingdoms of the Mediterranean. This led, centuries later, to the emergence of Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs in the Greco-Bactrian Kingdoms, and to the development of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhāra. During this period Buddhism was exposed to a variety of influences, from Persian and Greek civilization, and from changing trends in non-Buddhist Indian religions – themselves influenced by Buddhism.
Establishment of Theravāda Buddhism (Southern Tradition)
In addition to the Edicts of Aśoka, Buddhist annals compiled at a later date offer a history of the Aśokan and post-Aśokan period. Among these annals are the Dīpavaṃsa, the Mahāvaṃsa, and the Samantapāsādika of the south Indian Vibhajjavāda (Sanskrit: Vibhajyavāda) saṅgha, beside the Divyāvadāna and the Avadānaśataka from the northern Sarvāstivāda (Pāli: Sabbatthivāda) saṅgha. According to the accounts of the Vibhajjavāda, Aśoka convened a third Buddhist council (c. 250 BCE), whose purpose was to produce a definitive text of the Buddha's words. The result, according to the Vibhajjavādins, was the compilation of the version of the Tripiṭaka (Pāli: Tipiṭaka) found in the Pāli Canon.
The council also saw the formation of the saṅgha of the Vibhajjavāda ("school of analytical discourse") out of various schools of the Sthaviravāda lineage. Vibhajjavādins claim that the first step to insight has to be achieved by the aspirant's experience, critical investigation, and reasoning instead of by blind faith. The Theravāda school claims that the Sarvāstivada and the Dharmaguptaka schools were rejected by the council, although according to other sources the Dharmaguptaka school is classified as one of the Vibhajyavādin schools. However, these schools became influential in northwestern India and Central Asia and, since their teaching is found among the scriptures preserved by the Mahāyāna schools, they may have had some formative influence on the Mahāyāna. The Sarvāstivadins have not preserved an independent tradition about the Third Council.
It was long believed in Theravāda tradition that the Pāli language is equivalent to Māgadhī, the eastern dialect of the kingdom of Magadha spoken by the Buddha. However, linguistic comparisons of the Edicts of Aśoka and the language of the Pāli canon show strong differences between the Māgadhī of the Edicts (characterized by such changes as r → l, masculine nominative singular of a-stems in -e, etc.) and Pāli. The greatest similarity to Pāli is found in a dialectal variant of the Edicts written on a rock near Girnar in Gujarat.
According to Theravāda accounts, the Vibhajjavāda version of the Tripiṭaka was introduced to Sri Lanka by Mahinda (Sanskrit: Mahendra), one of the sons of Aśoka.
Rise of Mahāyāna Buddhism (Northern Tradition)
The Mahāyāna as a distinct movement began around the 1st century BCE in the area around the Kuṣāṇa Empire (now an area within Pakistan) before it was transmitted in a highly evolved form to China in the 2nd century CE. On one side, Mahāyāna was a movement of lay Buddhists focused around stūpa devotion. Pictures within the wall of a stūpa representing the story of the Buddha and his previous reincarnation as a bodisattva were used to preach Buddhism to the masses.<ref>This concept, promoted by Hirakawa Akira, has been disputed by other scholars such as Gregory Schopen.</ref> The Saṅgha, at the same time, became increasingly fragmented both in terms of Abhidharma and Vinaya practice. This led to a widening distance between the laity and Saṅgha. The Mahāyāna movement, on the other hand, was ecumenical, reflecting a wide range of influence from various sects. Monks representing different philosophical orientations could live in the same Saṅgha as long as they practiced the same Vinaya. Still, in terms of Abhidharma, the Sarvāstivāda school (which had been rejected by the 3rd council, according to the Theravāda tradition) and the Dharmaguptaka school, both of which were widespread in the Kuṣāṇa Empire, seem to have had major influence. Moreover, those who believe that Mahāyāna sūtras were composed during this period speculate that the process of reshuffling of sūtras according to various Abhidharma eventually led to editing which made the composition of new Mahāyāna sūtras possible.
Around 100 CE, the Kuṣāṇa emperor Kaniṣka convened the fourth Buddhist council and is usually associated with the formal rise of Mahāyāna Buddhism. This council is not recognised by Theravāda line of Buddhism. This council did not simply rely on the original Tripiṭaka in the third council. Instead, a set of new scriptures, mostly notably, the Lotus Sūtra, an early version of the Heart Sūtra and the Amitābha Sūtra were approved, as well as fundamental principles of doctrine based around the concept of salvation for the masses (hence Mahāyāna "great vehicle") and the concept of Buddhas and bodhisattva who embody transcendent Buddha-nature who strive to achieve such goal. The new scriptures were written in Sanskrit. From that point on, and in the space of a few centuries, Mahāyāna would flourish and spread in the East from India to Southeast Asia, and towards the north to Central Asia, China, Korea, and finally to Japan in 538 CE.
Emergence of the Vajrayāna
Mahāyāna Buddhism received significant theoretical grounding from Nāgārjuna (c.150 - 250 CE), arguably the most influential scholar within the Mahāyāna tradition. From studying his writings, it is clear that Nāgārjuna was conversant with both the Nikāya (Hīnayāna) philosophies and the emerging Mahāyāna tradition. He made explicit references to Mahāyāna texts, but his philosophy was argued within the parameters set out by the Tripiṭaka sūtras. Completely repudiating the then-dominant Sarvāstivāda school, which argued for the existence of dharmas (factors of existence) in past, present, and future, Nāgārjuna asserted that the nature of the dharmas (hence the enlightenment) to be śūnya (void or empty), bringing together other key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anātman (no-self) and pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination). His school of thought is known as the Madhyamaka.
After the end of the Kuṣāṇas, Buddhism flourished in India during the dynasty of the Guptas (4th – 6th century). Mahāyāna centres of learning were established, the most important one being the Nālandā University in north-eastern India. Sarvāstivāda teaching, which was criticized by Nāgārjuna was reformulated by scholars such as Vasubandhu and Asaṅga and were incorporated into the Yogācāra (Sanskrit: yoga practice) school. While the Madhyamaka school asserted that there is no ultimately real thing, the Yogācāra school asserts that only the mind is ultimately existent. These two schools of thought, in opposition or synthesis, form the basis of subsequent Mahāyāna theology.
There are differing views as to just when Vajrayāna and its tantric practice started. In the Tibetan tradition, it is claimed that the historical Śākyamuni Buddha taught tantra, but as these are esoteric teachings, they were written down long after the Buddha's other teachings. The earliest texts appeared around the early 4th century. Nālandā University became a center for the development of Vajrayāna theory and continued as the source of leading-edge Vajrayāna practices up through the 11th century. These practices, scriptures and theory were transmitted to China, Tibet, Indochina and Southeast Asia. China generally received Indian transmission up to the 11th century including tantric practice, while a vast amount of what is considered to be Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayāna) stems from the late (9th-12th century) Nālandā tradition.
Decline of Buddhism in India and Central Asia
Buddhism was established in the northern regions of India and Central Asian, and kingdoms with Buddhist rulers such as Menander I and Kaniska. Under the rule of tolerant or even sympathetic Greco-Bactrian and Iranian Achaemenid kings, Buddhism flourished. The rulers of the Kushāna Empire adopted Buddhism, and it continued to thrive in the region under the rule of the Turk-Shāhīs.
Buddhism was briefly prosecuted under the Zorastrian priest-king Kirder who saw the syncretism resulting from the Buddhist influence that led to the rise of a Buddha-Mazda divinity as a heresy.
The Hinayana traditions first spread among the Turkic tribes before combining with the Mahayana forms during the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. to cover modern-day Pakistan, Kashmir, Afghanistan, eastern and coastal Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. These were the ancient states of Gandhara, Bactria, Parthia and Sogdia from where it spread to China. Among the first of these Turkic tribes to adopt Buddhism was the Turki-Shahi who adopted Buddhism as early as the 3rd century BC. It was not, however, the exclusive faith of this region. There were also Zoroastrians, Hindus, Nestorian Christians, Jews, Manichaeans, and followers of shamanism, Tengrism, and other indigenous, nonorganized systems of belief.
However, from the 1st Century BCE on, Hindu dynasties had achieved preeminence elsewhere in India. Even in regions of Buddhist predominance, such as the northwest (Pañjāb) and the lower Gangetic plain (Uttar Pradesh and Bengal), the Indian caste system and other characteristics of Hinduism were found. In political contests between Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms, Buddhist rulers were gradually replaced by Hindu ones. By the 4th to 5th century Buddhism was already in decline in northern India, even though it was achieving multiple successes in Central Asia and along the Silk Road as far as China.
The independent Buddhist states of Central Asia were weakened in the 6th century following the invasion of the White Huns. Subsequently, Buddhist regions in Central Asia came either under the sway of the Persian Sāsānids or the Hindō-Shāhī dynasty. When the Muslim Arabs overthrew the Sāsānids they encountered Buddhists in the eastern provinces of the Persian Empire. They called them by the Persian name of butparast, literally meaning "buddha-worshipper", although the term has come to be used generally for any religion in which cult images play a role. Several high officials of the Abbāsid Caliphate, notably the Barmakids, were descended from these East Iranian Buddhists.
When Muhammad ibn Qāsim led the invasion of Sindh at the mouth of the Indus river, he was aided by some Buddhists in his campaign against their Hindu overlord, Rājā Dahir. Relations with later Arab rulers such as the Saffarids and Samanids were more difficult; Buddhist monasteries and stūpas were not exempt from looting under Arab rule. Buddhist commentators would remark upon these events as a comeuppance for the Brahmins while lamenting the effects of Muslim military expeditions on themselves.
Western Central Asia was under the control of first Arab and then Persian Muslims from the 8th century CE on. The Central Asian regions at this point became caught up in political squabbles as the Shahis, Umayyads, Tang dynasty, Khitans, Tibetans, Qarakhanids and other Turkic tribes vied over control of the area.
After the disintegration of the Abbāsid Caliphate, the Muslim Turks rose to prominence among the Persian emirates that emerged in Central Asia and Afghanistan. In the 10th century CE, one of them, Mahmūd of Ghaznī, defeated the Hindō-Shāhīs and finally brought the region firmly under Muslim rule through Afghanistan and the Pañjāb. He demolished monasteries alongside temples during his raid across north-western India but left those within his domains and Afghanistan alone and al-Biruni recorded Buddha as a prophet "burxan".
The originally pagan Turkic tribes who lived in western Central Asia converted to Islām as they came to be increasingly influenced by Persian culture. As the Turkic tribes of Central Asia battled for control of land, similarly an ideological battle waged within them as Sufis, faced with an increasing hostile environment in Arabia, moved to Transoxania and found fertile ground here for converts among the Buddhist and non-Buddhist Turkic tribes alike. Buddhism persisted, together with Christianity, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, and shamanism in areas to the east (modern Xinjiang) for several centuries, which did not become overwhelmingly Muslim until the 15th century CE; however, under the two-pronged onslaught Buddhism waned and over time Central Asia gradually became predominantly Muslim.
In 1215 Genghis Khan conquered Afghanistan and his horde devasted the local population indiscriminately; in 1227 after his death his conquest was divided and Chagatai established the Chagatai Khanate and his Argun reestablished Buddhism as the state religion. He was succeeded by his brother and then his son Ghazan in 1295 who converted and reverted the state religion to Islam and after his reign little mention of Buddhism can be found in Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Buddhists retained power in parts of northern India, in Kaśmīr and especially in Bengal, where the Buddhist Pāla kings ruled from the 8th-12th centuries CE. These last Buddhist strongholds played an important role in the evolution of the Vajrayāna and the transmission of that form of Buddhism to Tibet before they collapsed under a ferocious assault from the Hindu Sena dynasty.
Elsewhere in India, Buddhism suffered from pressure by Hindu dynasties, such as the increasingly powerful Rajputs, as well competition from a Hinduism that had gained ideological coherence and emotional vigor from such movements as Vedānta philosophy and Bhakti devotionalism. One symptom of increased Hindu confidence with regard to Buddhism was the identification of the Buddha as an avatāra of the Hindu god Viṣṇu – an identification which contradicted basic Buddhist understandings about the nature of a Buddha and of nirvāṇa.
In 1193, only a few decades after the fall of the Pāla kingdom, Muḥammad Khiljī destroyed Nālandā, the great Buddhist university. Khiljī was one of the generals of Qutbuddīn Aybak, a subject of the Afghan Ghurids but soon to become the monarch of a Muslim sultanate at Delhi. Khiljī's march across northern India caused a precipitous decline in the fortunes of Indian Buddhism, as he destroyed Buddhist walled monasteries fortified by the Sena kings (which he thought were cities), killed the monks and burned their libraries.
After the Mongol invasions of Islamic lands across Central Asia, many Sufis also found themselves fleeing towards the newly established Islamic lands in India around the environs of Bengal. Here their influence, caste attitudes towards Buddhists, previous familiarity with Buddhism, lack of Buddhist political power or social structure along with Hinduism's revival movements such as Advaita and the rise of the syncretic bhakti movement, all contributed to a significant realignment of beliefs relegating Buddhism in India to the peripheries.
By the 13th century CE, Buddhism had become a marginal religion in central India; without a monastic infrastructure, Buddhism could not easily maintain its identity, and many Buddhists, especially in Bengal, were converted to Islām, Hinduism or left for the Himalayan foothills. In Kaśmīr Buddhism remained a significant religion down to the early 15th century, when it was displaced by Islām and Hinduism, except among the Tibetan peoples of Ladakh.
Elements of Buddhism have remained within India to the current day: the Bauls of Bengal have a syncretic set of practices with strong emphasis on many Buddhist concepts. Other areas of India have never parted from Buddhism, including Ladakh and other Himalayan regions with a primarily Tibetan population. The Newars of Nepal also retain a form of Buddhism that differs from the Buddhism of Tibet.
Major sects
Buddhist schools are usually divided into two main branches: Theravāda Buddhism and Mahāyāna Buddhism. Vajrayāna is sometimes named as a third, but is more commonly considered a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism.
Mahāyāna Buddhists sometimes refer to all forms of non-Mahāyāna Buddhism, past and present, including the Theravāda school, as members of the Hīnayāna grouping. This term, which literally means "the inferior vehicle", tends to relate to those Buddhists who were deemed by Mahayanists to have rather narrow aspirations: instead of vowing (as the Mahayanists ideally did) to strive for the liberation both of themselves and all other sentient beings from samsara, the "Hinayanists" were viewed as being excessively concerned with their own individual release into Nirvana. The term, "Hinayana", is now widely regarded as unhappily derogatory and inaccurate (at least in reference to the Theravada). However, it is actually used by the Mahayana Buddha himself (e.g. in the Lotus Sutra - although, of course, not with specific reference to Theravada) and does accurately label a polemical category that existed in the minds of Mahāyāna Buddhists, and all attempts to find a less denigratory label have had their difficulty. Among the terms that have been used as substitutes for "Hīnayāna" are the following:
- Theravāda – This term properly refers to only one school among many non-Mahāyāna schools that once existed, many of which espoused philosophical notions contrary to those of the Theravādins. It would be altogether inaccurate to refer to such Buddhists as the Sarvāstivādins as Theravādins. Some scholars, such as Dr. Walpola Rahula, have pointed out that there was small contact between early Mahāyānists and Theravādins, and have suggested that the term "Hīnayāna" was never intended to include the Theravāda. Judging by the content of Mahāyāna polemic, it seems certain that other sects of northern India were the primary targets of the "Hīnayāna" critique.
- Early Buddhism – This term properly covers all the schools, primarily distinguished by Vinaya, that existed before the emergence of the Mahāyāna. Although all of these schools would be regarded by Mahāyānists as "Hīnayāna", it suggests the restriction of these schools to a certain "early" period of time, and is not appropriately used as a term for contemporary schools.
- Eighteen Schools (or Twenty Schools) – This term faces the same objections as "Early Buddhism", being historically oriented and furthermore numerically inexact.
- Southern Buddhism – This geographical designation is appropriately applied to the Theravāda, whose centers in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia are south of the original centers of Buddhist activity in the Gangetic plain. However, most of the schools critiqued as "Hīnayāna" existed in northern India and in parts of Central Asia northwest of India.
- Pāli Buddhism – This term only applies to the Theravāda, whose scriptures (the Pāli canon) are in the Pāli language. The other "Hīnayāna" schools wrote either in Sanskrit, in other Prakrits (notably Gāndhārī) or in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, a mixed language with both Sanskrit and Prakrit elements.
- Śrāvakayāna Buddhism – This term, referring to the "śrāvakas" or hearers who followed the Buddha and sought arhatship, originates from within Mahāyāna Buddhism. It faces some of the same objections as "Hīnayāna", though it is less obviously derogatory. However, it does not refer to any actual school but to a hypothetical tendency or intention to be found in the individual; one might be a member of a Mahāyāna school, but be personally following a Śrāvakayāna path. Furthermore, it contrasts with "Bodhisattvayāna" and, if used for the Theravāda school, would incorrectly imply that the Theravādins did not teach a Bodhisattva path. Such a path is indeed taught in the Pāli canon, though it may be less emphasized than in Mahāyāna writings.
- Nikāya Buddhism – This recently invented term was intended to cover the same ground as Hīnayāna, referring to the nikāyas or "schools" into which Buddhism was split by the beginning of the Common Era. As such it may be critiqued in the same manner as "Early Buddhism" or "Eighteen Schools". It also may be interpreted as "Buddhism following the Nikāyas", the five primary divisions of the Tipiṭaka. However, this term is only used among the Theravāda; other schools used the term Āgamas. Four out of five of the Pāli Nikāyas have corresponding Āgamas in the Chinese Tripiṭaka, while parts of the fifth are scattered in other places, making it possible that Chinese Buddhism might be unintentionally classed as "Nikāya Buddhism".
Another way of categorizing Buddhist schools follows the major languages of the extant Buddhist canons, which exist in Pāli, Tibetan (also found in Mongollian translation, and Chinese collections, along with some texts that still exist in Sanskrit and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. This is a useful division for practical purposes, but does not necessarily correspond to philosophical or doctrinal divisions.
Despite the differences, there are common threads to almost all Buddhist branches:
- All accept Śākyamuni Buddha as their teacher.
- All accept the Middle Way, Dependent origination, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.
- All accept that both the members of the laity and of the saṅgha can pursue the path toward enlightenment (bodhi).
- All accept three types of Buddha and consider the Bodhisattva ideal as the highest {This is disputed by a few scholars of the Theravādin tradition}.
Theravāda
Theravāda is Pāli for "the Doctrine of the Elders" (from Sanskrit sthavira, Pāli thera, "old person"). The Theravāda school bases its practice and doctrine exclusively on the Pāli canon. The sutta (Sanskrit: sūtra) collections and Vinaya texts of the Pāli canon (and the corresponding texts in other versions of the Tripiṭaka), are generally considered by modern scholars to be the earliest written Buddhist literature, and they are accepted as authentic in every branch of Buddhism. Theravāda is the only surviving representative of the historical Nikāya branch of Buddhism. Nikāya Buddhism and consequently Theravāda are referred, especially in polemical contexts, by some Mahāyāna Buddhists as Hīnayāna or "inferior vehicle". This non-neutral usage is now considered unacceptable in scholarly writing. Theravāda is primarily practiced today in Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia as well as portions of China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. The aim of Theravāda Buddhism is to achieve nibbāna (Sanskrit: nirvāṇa) or liberation from rebirth.
Mahāyāna
The Mahāyāna (Sanskrit: "Great Vehicle") branch emphasizes infinite, universal compassion (maha-karuna), or bodhicitta - the selfless, ultra-altruistic quest of the Bodhisattva to attain the "Awakened Mind" (bodhicitta) of Buddhahood so as to have the fullest possible knowledge of how most effectively to lead all sentient beings into Nirvana. Huge emphasis is also often placed on the notion of Emptiness (shunyata). This concept can be understood either as the lack of a conceptually apprehensible, fixed nature or substance to phenomena and Buddhic Truth, or as the inherent emptiness of all that is worldly, nescient, conditioned, impure and painful (the absence of which negativities characterises blissful Reality). The Mahayana can also on occasion communicate a vision of the Buddha or Dharma which amounts to mysticism and can indeed give expression to a form of mentalist pantheism or panentheism (God in Buddhism).
In addition to the Nikāya scriptures, which are viewed as valid but only provisional or basic, Mahāyāna schools recognize all or part of a genre of scriptures (some of which encourage the greatest possible veneration of those sutras as supreme spiritual treasures) that were first put into writing around 1 CE. These scriptures were written in some form of Sanskrit, except for a few manuscripts in certain Prakrits, and are concerned with the purpose of achieving Buddhahood by following the path of the bodhisattva over the course of what is often described as countless eons of time. Because of this immense timeframe, some Mahāyāna schools accept the idea of working towards rebirth in a Pure Land, from where the attainment of Nirvana is much more swiftly within reach. Generally, the Pure Land is conceived of as a state which is not Awakening itself but which is a highly conducive environment for working toward Awakening.
Some of the particularly venerated Mahayana sutras, such as the Prajna-paramita Sutras, the Lotus Sutra and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, speak of themselves as possessing enormous liberating spiritual power - they are seen as magical spells on a grand scale - and exhort their readers/listeners to pay the greatest obeisance and reverence to those same scriptures, and through such veneration automatically to draw closer to the Buddha and Nirvana/ Awakening. The sutras thus become for Mahayanists a manifestation of the Buddha himself and resonate with his transformative might.
One of the most significant concepts of Mahayana Buddhism, belief in which is strongly encouraged, is that of the prajna-paramita - the utterly perfected insight into the nature of all things: their essential equality, non-duality and tranquility, their ultimate lack (emptiness) of arising and perishing. This is not merely an intellectual recognition; rather, it is a direct perception. And that perception takes its rise from initial belief or faith in such doctrines. In the Prajna-Paramita of 18,000 Lines, the Buddha confirms to his great student, Subhuti, how the Bodhisattva does not doubt or disbelieve such teachings when he hears them, but has faith in them (see Faith in Buddhism):
"... the Bodhisattva, the great being who, when the deep perfection of wisdom [= prajna-paramita, perfected spiritual insight]] is being taught, on hearing it will not hesitate, or doubt, or be stupefied, [but will know], 'so it is as the Tathagata has taught', and will listen to it in greater detail ... this son of good family belonging to the Bodhisattva-vehicle will, as one who resolutely believes in this perfection of wisdom as taught by the Tathagata, stand in irreversibility [i.e. will never spiritually regress]. For even merely to hear of the perfection of wisdom achieves much for the Bodhisttvas, the great beings, how much more [will be achieved] by those who resolutely believe in it, who, having believed, will stand in Thusness [ = Reality], and progess to Thusness, and who thereafter will stand firmly in the knowledge of all modes [ i.e. will attain omniscience]." (The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom, tr. by Edward Conze, California, 1975, pp. 465-466).
Native Mahāyāna Buddhism is practiced today in China, Japan, Korea, and most of Vietnam. The Buddhism practiced in Tibet, the Himalayan regions, and Mongolia is also Mahāyāna in origin, but will be discussed below under the heading of Vajrayāna.
Some of the sects of the Mahāyāna include the various schools and traditions within Chan/Zen and Pure Land, two of the major forms of present-day Mahāyāna. Another way to look at the variation within the Mahāyāna is from the perspective of local cultural interpretations, viz. Chinese Buddhism, Korean Buddhism, Japanese Buddhism, and Vietnamese Buddhism.
Mahāyāna Buddhism shows a great deal of doctrinal variation and development over time, and even more variation in terms of practice. While there is much agreement on general principles, there is disagreement over which texts are more authoritative and which practices are best suited for the current times, although a number of major Mahayana sutras purporting to issue from the Buddha himself (such as the Lotus Sutra and the Nirvana Sutra) are themselves in no doubt that they are to be regarded as of utmost importance and highest Buddhic authority.
Mention has already been made of the "prajna-paramita" doctrine. Another highly important, and complementary, teaching within Mahāyāna Buddhism is the concept of Buddha-nature (Sanskrit:Buddhadhātu, the essential Buddha Principle existing within and without all sentient beings). In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Buddha, transcending his mere physical form, is viewed as a boundless, beginningless and endless being, present in all times and all places, yet beyond the reach of logic or mundane conceptualisation. He is regarded as the very embodiment of ungraspable and eternal yet realisable Dharma - ultimate Truth or Awakened Mind (bodhi). In essence, all perfect Buddhas are seen by Mahāyāna Buddhism as one in nature - all are salvational channels or vessels of Dharma (cosmic Truth). They are the very Dharmakaya (body/mind of ultimate Reality).
The doctrines of the Buddha in certain Mahāyāna sutras purport to provide a set of final, definitive and ultimate (nītārtha) teachings – doctrines indicated by the Buddha not to be provisional in nature, but stated to be of the highest Truth ( a claim rejected, however, by the Theravādins) – on the immanence of a hidden, deep-seated reality within all sentient beings which is linked to the eternality of the Buddha and Nirvāna. This immanent yet transcendent essence is variously called, in the key sutras which expound it, the buddhadhātu or the Tathāgatagarbha (Sanskrit: "Tathagata Matrix"). This buddhadhātu is empty of all that is un-knowing, changeful, painful, impermanent and impure. In the Nirvāṇasūtra, the Buddha calls the buddhadhātu the "True Self" to distinguish it from the "false" worldly self. It is no less than the uncreated, uncompounded, immaculate, immortal, all-knowing, radiantly shining Principle of blissful Buddhahood: the very Dharmakāya (Chinese: 法身). This buddhadhātu, inherent in all beings, can never be destroyed or harmed, and yet is concealed from view by a mass of obscuring mental and moral taints within the mind-stream of the individual being. Once the buddhadhātu is finally seen and known by the faithful Buddhist practitioner, it has the power to transform that practitioner into a Buddha. The doctrine of the buddhadhātu or tathāgatagarbha is stated by the Buddha of the Nirvāna Sūtra to be the "absolutely final culmination" of his Mahāyāna Dharma, and scoffing denial of its reality is presented by this and other Tathagatagarbha sutras as potentially unleashing very negative karmic consequences upon those who deny it or disparage it. By contrast, faith in the Tathagatagarbha's reality and a vigorous striving to perceive its inner presence is hailed as of the highest spiritual and soteriological value.
Vajrayāna
The Vajrayāna or "Diamond Vehicle" (also referred to as Mantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Tantric Buddhism, or esoteric Buddhism) shares the basic concepts of Mahāyāna, but also includes a vast array of spiritual techniques designed to enhance Buddhist practice. Vajrayāna Buddhism exists today in the form of two major sub-schools: Tibetan Buddhism and Shingon Buddhism. One component of the Vajrayāna is harnessing psycho-physical energy as a means of developing profoundly powerful states of concentration and awareness. These profound states are in turn to be used as an efficient path to Buddhahood. Using these techniques, it is claimed that a practitioner can achieve Buddhahood in one lifetime, or even as little as three years. In addition to the Theravāda and Mahāyāna scriptures, Vajrayāna Buddhists recognise a large body of texts that include the Buddhist Tantras. Native Vajrayāna is practiced today mainly in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, Kalmykia, Siberia, areas of India, and – in the Shingon (Zhènyān, 真言) and Tendai schools – in China and Japan.
Intellectualism and Buddhist worldview
In his lifetime, Gautama Buddha had not answered several philosophical questions. On issues like whether the world is eternal or non-eternal, finite or infinite, unity or separation of the body and the soul, complete inexistence of a person after nirvana and then death, nature of the Supreme Truth, etc, the Buddha had remained silent. Commentators explain that such questions distract from practical activity for realizing enlightenment.
In numerous Mahayana sutras and Tantras, the Buddha stresses that Dharma (Truth) and the Buddha himself in their ultimate modus cannot truly be understood with the ordinary rational mind or logic: both Buddha and Reality (ultimately One) transcend all worldly concepts. The "prajna-paramita" sutras have this as one of their major themes. What is urged is study, mental and moral self-cultivation, and veneration of the sutras, which are as fingers pointing to the moon of Truth, but then to let go of ratiocination and to experience direct entry into Liberation itself. The Buddha in the self-styled "Uttara-Tantra", the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, insists that, while pondering upon Dharma is vital, one must then relinquish fixation on words and letters, as these are utterly divorced from Liberation and the Buddha. The Tantra entitled the "All-Creating King" (Kunjed Gyalpo Tantra) also emphasises how Buddhic Truth lies beyond the range of thought and is ultimately mysterious. The Supreme Buddha, Samantabhadra, states there:
"The mind of perfect purity [i.e. the Awakened Mind of Buddha] ... is beyond thinking and inexplicable ... It dwells in the self-perfected bliss which is deedless and self-perfected ... I am the best path of liberation. It is a path, subtle and difficult to understand, which is non-speculative and beyond thinking ... It cannot be captured in words ... It is firm, difficult to comprehend, and totally inexplicable." (The Sovereign All-Creating Mind tr. by E.K. Neumaier-Dargyay, pp. 111-112).
Also later, the famous Indian Buddhist yogi and teacher mahasiddha Tilopa discouraged any intellectual activity in his 6 words of advice.
Buddhist missionaries, however, often faced philosophical questions from other religions whose answers they themselves did not know. For those, who have attachment to intellectualism, Buddhist scholars developed an enormous amount of intellectual theories, philosophies and worldview concepts. See e.g. Abhidharma, Buddhist philosophy and Reality in Buddhism.
Buddhist texts
Buddhist scriptures and other texts exist in great variety. Different schools of Buddhism place varying levels of value on them. Some schools venerate certain texts as religious objects in themselves, while others take a more scholastic approach. The Buddhist canon of scripture is known in Sanskrit as the Tripitaka and in Pāli as the Tipitaka. These terms literally mean "three baskets" and refer to the three main divisions of the canon, which are:
- The Vinaya Piṭaka, containing disciplinary rules for the Saṅghas of Buddhist monks and nuns, as well as a range of other texts including explanations of why and how rules were instituted, supporting material, and doctrinal clarification.
- The Sūtra Piṭaka (Pāli: Sutta Piṭaka), contains the actual discourses of the Buddha.
- The Abhidharma Piṭaka (Pāli: Abhidhamma Piṭaka) contains commentaries or systematic expositions of the Buddha's teachings.
Soon after the death of the Buddha, the first Buddhist council was held; a monk named Mahākāśyapa (Pāli: Mahākassapa) presided. The goal of the council was to record the Buddha's sayings – sūtras (Sanskrit) or suttas (Pāli) – and codify monastic rules (Vinaya). Ānanda, the Buddha's personal attendant, was called upon to recite the discourses of the Buddha, and Upāli, another disciple, recited the rules of the Vinaya. These became the basis of the Tripiṭaka. However, this record was initially transmitted orally in form of chanting, and was committed to text in a much later period. Both the sūtras and the Vinaya of every Buddhist school contain a wide variety of elements including discourses on the Dharma, commentaries on other teachings, cosmological and cosmogonical texts, stories of the Buddha's previous lives, and lists relating to various subjects.
The Theravāda and other Nikāya schools believe that the texts of their canon contain the actual words of the Buddha. The Theravāda canon, also known as the Pāli Canon after the language it was written in, contains some four million words. Other texts, such as the Mahāyāna sūtras, are also considered to be the word of the Buddha, but were transmitted either in secret, via lineages of mythical beings (such as the nāgas), or came directly from other Buddhas or bodhisattvas. Some six hundred Mahāyāna sutras have survived in Sanskrit or in Chinese or Tibetan translations.
The followers of Theravāda Buddhism take the scriptures known as the Pāli Canon as definitive and authoritative, while the followers of Mahāyāna Buddhism base their faith and philosophy primarily on the Mahāyāna sūtras and their own versions of the Vinaya. The Pāli suttas, along with other, closely-related scriptures, are known to the other schools as the āgamas. Whereas the Theravādins adhere solely to the āgamas and their commentaries, the adherents of Mahāyāna accept both the agamas and the Mahāyāna sūtras as authentic and valid teachings of the Buddha, designed for different types of persons and different levels of spiritual penetration. For the Theravādins, however, the Mahayana sūtras are works of poetic fiction, not the words of the Buddha himself. The Theravadins are confident that the agamas represent the full and final statement by the Buddha of his Dhamma - and nothing more is truly needed beyond that. Anything added which claims to be the word of the Buddha and yet is not found in the Nikayas or their scholastic commentaries is treated with extreme caution if not outright rejection by Theravada. For the Mahāyānists, in contrast, the āgamas do indeed contain basic, foundational, and, therefore, relatively weighty pronouncements of the Buddha, but in their view, the Mahāyāna sutras articulate the Buddha's higher, more advanced and deeper doctrines, reserved for those who follow the exalted bodhisattva path. That path is built upon the motivation to achieve not only personal liberation, but Buddhahood itself in order to know how best to liberate all living beings from unhappiness. Hence the name Mahāyāna (lit., the Great Vehicle), which has room for both the general masses of sentient beings and those who are more developed. The "Great" of "Maha-yana" is indeed typical of much of this version of Buddhism - from the physical bigness (lengthiness) of some of the Mahayana sutras and the vastness of the Bodhisattva vow (to strive for all future time to help free other persons and creatures from pain), to the numbers of beings who are sought to be saved (infinitudes), to the (in some sutras and Tantras) final attainment of the Buddha's "Great Self" (mahatman) in the sphere of "Great Nirvana" (mahanirvana). For the Theravadins, however, this alleged "greatness" proclaimed by some Mahayana sutras does not necessarily equate to "true".
Present state of Buddhism
Estimates of the number of Buddhists vary between 230 million and 500 million, with 350 million being the most commonly cited figure. [3] Theravāda Buddhism, using Pāli as its scriptural language, is the dominant form of Buddhism in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and India. The forms of Mahāyāna Buddhism that use scriptures in Chinese are dominant in most of China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam as well as the Chinese communities around the world especially within Indochina and Southeast Asia as well as in the West. Vajrayāna Buddhism, using the Tibetan language, is found in Tibet and the surrounding area of India, Mongolia, Nepal, China and the Russian Federation. Denmark, Greece and the Russian Federation are the first European countries to recognize Buddhism as an official religion.
At the present time, the teachings of all three branches of Buddhism have spread throughout the world, and Buddhist texts are increasingly translated into local languages. While in the West, Buddhism is often seen as exotic and progressive, in the East, Buddhism is regarded as familiar and part of the establishment. Buddhists in Asia are frequently well organised and well funded. In a number of countries, it is recognised as an official religion and receives state support. In the West, Buddhism is recognised as one of the growing spiritual influences. (see Buddhism in the West)
See also Buddhism by country
Buddhist art
Buddhist art originated in the Indian subcontinent in the centuries following the life of the historical Gautama Buddha in the 6th to 5th century BCE, before evolving through its contact with other cultures and its diffusion through the rest of Asia and the world.
A first, essentially Indian, aniconic phase (avoiding direct representations of the Buddha), was followed from around the 1st century CE by an iconic phase (with direct representations of the Buddha). From that time, Buddhist art diversified and evolved as it adapted to the new countries where the faith was expanding. It developed to the north through Central Asia and into Eastern Asia to form the Northern branch of Buddhist art, and to the east as far as Southeast Asia to form the Southern branch of Buddhist art. In India, Buddhist art flourished and even influenced the development of Hindu art, until Buddhism almost disappeared around the 10th century with the expansion of Hinduism and Islam.
Buddhist architecture
Buddhist religious architecture most notably developed in the South Asia in the third century BCE.
Two types of structures are associated with early Buddhism: stupas and viharas. The initial function of a stupa was the veneration and safe-guarding of the relics of the Buddha. The earliest existing example of a stupa is in Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh). In accordance with changes in religious practice, stupas were gradually incorporated into chaitya-grihas (stupa halls). These reached their highpoint in the first century BCE, exemplified by the cave complexes of Ajanta and Ellora (Maharashtra). Viharas were developed to accommodate the growing and increasingly formalised Buddhist monasticism. An existing example is at Nālandā, (Bihar).
Buddhist temples were developed rather later and outside the South Asia, where Buddhism gradually declined from the early centuries CE onwards, though an early example is that of the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar.
Buddhist music
Buddhist music prominently includes Honkyoku, Buddhist chant, and Shomyo. Honkyoku are the pieces of shakuhachiyoku for enlightenment and alms as early as the 13th century.
Buddhist chant is the chant used in or inspired by Buddhism, including many genres in many cultures. It includes:
- Repetition of the name of Amitābha in Pure Land Buddhism.
- Shomyo in Japanese Tendai and Shingon Buddhism.
- Throat singing in Tibetan Buddhist chant.
Musical chanting, most often in Tibetan or Sanskrit, is an integral part of the religion. These chants are complex, often recitations of sacred texts or in celebration of various festivals. Yang chanting, performed without metrical timing, is accompanied by resonant drums and low, sustained syllables.
Shomyo (声明) is a style of Japanese Buddhist chant; mainly in the Tendai and Shingon sects. There are two styles: ryokyoku and rikkyoku, described as difficult and easy to remember, respectively.
Buddhist cuisine
Buddhist cuisine is a kind of cuisine mainly for the believers of Buddhism. It is known as zhāi cài (zhāi means "purification" or "discipline", cai means "cuisine" or "vegetable") in China, and shōjin ryōri (shōjin means "devotion", ryōri means "cuisine") in Japan, and by many other names in other countries. Due to the understanding of animals as conscious and suffering beings, many Buddhists do not kill animals and many also do not eat meat (other than that from those who died naturally, and from species where the consumption of brethren is not troubling to the still living). Certain major Mahayana sutras show the Buddha forcefully denouncing meat-consumption and advocating vegetarianism (vegetarianism in Buddhism). Some Mahāyāna Buddhists in China and Vietnam also avoid eating strong-smelling plants such as onion, garlic, chives, shallot, and leek, and refer to these as wu hun (五葷, 'Five Spices'). Buddhist vegetarian chefs have become extremely creative in imitating meat using prepared wheat gluten, also known as "seitan" or "wheat meat", soy (such as tofu or tempeh), agar, and other plant products. Some of their recipes are the oldest and most-refined meat analogues in the world.
Comparative Study
Buddhism is a fertile ground for comparative studies with different beliefs, philosophy, science, history, and various other aspects of Buddhism. In term of doctrine, dependent origination is Buddhism's primary contribution to metaphysics. This has wide-ranging implication in terms of theology, philosophy, and science. On the other hand, Buddhist emphasis on the Middle way not only provides a unique guideline for ethics but it has also allowed Buddhism to peacefully coexist with various local beliefs, customs, and institutions in adopted countries for most of its history.
List of Buddhism related topics in comparative studies
- Buddhadharma and other Indian Dharmas (Buddhism and other dharma-related brief)
- Buddhism and Eastern teaching (Buddhism and East Asian teaching)
- God in Buddhism (Buddhism and monotheism)
- Buddhist philosophy (Buddhism and Western philosophy)
- Buddhist Ethics (Buddhism and ethics)
- Buddhism and science (Buddhism and science)
- Buddhism and Schism [4]
See also
- Basic Points Unifying the Theravada and the Mahayana
- Buddhist terms and concepts
- List of Buddhist topics
- List of Buddhists
References
- Coogan, Michael D. (ed.) The Illustrated Guide to World Religions Oxford University Press 2003 ISBN 1-84483-125-6
- Thom Brooks, 'Better Luck Next Time: A comparative analysis of Socrates and Mahayana Buddhism on reincarnation', Journal of Indian Philosophy and Religion 10 (2005): 1-25.
- K. Sri DhammanandaWhat Buddhists Believe Buddhist Mission Society of Malaysia ISBN 9834007127.
- Gethin, Rupert Foundations of Buddhism Oxford University Press 1998 ISBN 0192892231
- Gunaratana, Bhante Henepola Mindfulness in Plain English Wisdom Publications 2002 ISBN 0861713214 Also available on-line: [5] [6] [7]
- Lowenstein, Tom The vision of the Buddha Duncan Baird Publishers 1996 ISBN 1903296919
- Thich Nhat Hanh The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching Broadway Books 1974 ISBN 0767903692.
- Thurman, Robert A. F. (translator) Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: Mahayana Scripture Pennsylvania State University Press 1976 ISBN 0271006013
- Walpola Rahula What the Buddha Taught Grove Press 1974 ISBN 0802130313.
- Kenneth White The Role of Bodhicitta in Buddhist Enlightenment Including a Translation into English of Bodhicitta-sastra, Benkemmitsu-nikyoron, and Sammaya-kaijo The Edwin Mellen Press 2005 ISBN 0773459855.
- Yamamoto, Kosho (translation), revised and edited by Dr. Tony Page The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra Nirvana Publications 1999-2000
- Yin Shun, Yeung H. Wing (translator) The Way to Buddhahood: Instructions from a Modern Chinese Master Wisdom Publications 1998 ISBN 0861711335.
- Sinha, H.P. Bhāratīya Darshan kī rūprekhā (Features of Indian Philosophy) Motilal Banarasidas Publishers 1993 ISBN 8120821440
Notes
- <noinclude>Using ref/note tags is not the only way to do footnotes. Some people prefer to use Cite.php. Cite.php has many advantages, but the use of it is not mandatory. You can use the Ref converter to replace ref/note tags with the newer Cite.php style. If you are interested in the discussion, please see the Footnotes talk page.
Sarvabuddhavishayavatarajñanalokalamkarasutra as cited by Elías Capriles in The Four Schools of Buddhist Philosophy: Clear Discrimination of Views Pointing at the Definitive Meaning. The Four Philosophical Schools of the Sutrayana Traditionally Taught in Tibet with Reference to the Dzogchen Teachings. Published on the Web.
- <noinclude>Using ref/note tags is not the only way to do footnotes. Some people prefer to use Cite.php. Cite.php has many advantages, but the use of it is not mandatory. You can use the Ref converter to replace ref/note tags with the newer Cite.php style. If you are interested in the discussion, please see the Footnotes talk page.
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Dream Yoga And The Practice Of Natural Light. Edited and introduced by Michael Katz, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, NY, ISBN 1−55939−007−7, p. 42
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Dr. A. Berzin. Alaya and Impure Appearance-Making
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Elías Capriles. Buddhism and Dzogchen: the Doctrine of the Buddha and the Supreme Vehicle of Tibetan Buddhism. Part 1 - Buddhism: a Dzogchen Outlook. Published on the Web.
- <noinclude>Using ref/note tags is not the only way to do footnotes. Some people prefer to use Cite.php. Cite.php has many advantages, but the use of it is not mandatory. You can use the Ref converter to replace ref/note tags with the newer Cite.php style. If you are interested in the discussion, please see the Footnotes talk page.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Refuge: An Introduction to the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha. Third edition, revised, 2001
External links
- International home page of the organizations which offer courses in Vipassana Meditation in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin as taught by S.N. Goenka
- About Buddhism - the Teachings of Buddha
- Buddhism Portal for the Milton Keynes area (UK)
- E-Sangha Buddhism Portal
- His Holiness The Dalai Lama teachings on Buddhism
- Hongaku Jodo, a major American movement of Pure Land Buddhism
- Access to Insight Readings in Theravada Buddhism.
- Ashoka the eDharma university Very high-quality online courses.
- BuddhaNet
- BuddhaChat.org - A Buddhist's learning community.
- Buddhism.about.com
- Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library: the Internet guide.
- DharmaNet
- Encyclopedia of Religion Buddhism article
- Essentials of Buddhism
- Photographic & Tactile exhibition by Doug Blane at The Open University 2006
- ReligionFacts.com on Buddhism facts, glossary, timeline and articles.
- Tathagatagarbha Buddhism five of the main "tathagatagarbha" sutras in full (or in part)
- "Nirvana Sutra Buddhism": full text and discussion of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra
- Journal of Global Buddhism by Charles S. Prebish, Pennsylvania State University (USA) and Martin Baumann, University of Lucerne (Switzerland)
- The Appeal of Buddhism in the West by Radhika Abeysekera
- Zen Guide: Comprehensive Guide to Zen and Buddhism Principles, Practice Guides, Active Discussion Forum, Organization Directory, full text of key Sutras and other books.
