Buddhism is a religion and a philosophy
encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices,
largely based on teachings attributed to
Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the
Buddha (
Pali/
Sanskrit "the awakened one"). The Buddha lived and
taught in the northeastern
Indian
subcontinent sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He
is recognized by adherents as an
awakened
teacher who shared his insights to help
sentient beings end
suffering, achieve
nirvana,
and escape what is seen as a
cycle of suffering and
rebirth. Buddhism is traditionally conceived as a
path of liberation attained through
insight into the ultimate nature of reality.
Two major branches of Buddhism are recognized:
Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and
Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle").
Theravada,
the oldest surviving branch, has a widespread following in Sri Lanka
and Southeast Asia,
and Mahayana is found throughout East Asia
and includes the traditions of Pure Land,
Zen, Nichiren
Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism,
Shingon, Tendai and
Shinnyo-en. In some
classifications, a third branch,
Vajrayana, is recognized, although many see this
as an offshoot of the Mahayana. While Buddhism remains most popular
within Asia, both branches are now found throughout the world.
Various sources put the number of Buddhists in the world at between
230 million and 500 million.
Buddhist schools vary significantly in the exact nature of the path
of liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings
and
scriptures, and especially their
respective practices. The foundation of Buddhist practice is based
on taking
refuge in the
Three Jewels: the Buddha, the
Dharma (the teachings), and the
Sangha (the community). Other practices may include
renunciation,
meditation, cultivation of
mindfulness and wisdom, study of scriptures,
physical exercises,
devotion and ceremonies, or invocation of
bodhisattvas.
Life of the Buddha
Conventional narratives on the Buddha's life such as the following,
draw heavily on Theravada
Tipitaka scriptures. Later texts, such as the Mahayana
Lalitavistara Sutra,
give different accounts.
According
to the conventional narrative, the Buddha was born in Ancient India, in the city of Lumbini
, around the
year 563 BCE, and raised in Kapilavastu
; both in modern-day Nepal
.
Shortly after Siddhartha's birth, a wise man visited the young
prince's father,
King Śuddhodana,
and prophesied that Siddhartha would either become a great king or
a holy man, depending on whether he saw what life was like outside
the palace walls.
Śuddhodana was determined to see his son become a king so he
prevented him from leaving the palace grounds. But at age 29,
despite his father's efforts, Siddhartha ventured beyond the palace
several times. In a series of encounters - known in Buddhist
literature as the
Four sights - he
learned of the suffering of ordinary people, encountering an old
man, a sick man, a corpse and, finally, an
ascetic holy man, apparently
content and at peace with the world. These experiences prompted
Gautama eventually to abandon royal life and take up a spiritual
quest.
Gautama first attempted an extreme ascetic life and almost starved
himself to death in the process. But, after accepting milk and rice
from a village girl in a pivotal moment, he changed his approach.
He concluded that extreme ascetic practices, such as prolonged
fasting, breath-holding, and exposure to pain, brought little
spiritual benefit. He saw them as forms of self-hatred that were
therefore counterproductive. He abandoned asceticism, concentrating
instead on
anapanasati meditation, through which he discovered what
Buddhists call the
Middle Way: a path of
moderation between the extremes of self-indulgence and
self-mortification.
Gautama was now determined to complete his spiritual quest.
So, at the
age of 35, he famously sat in meditation under a sacred fig tree, also known as the Bodhi tree, in the town of Bodh Gaya
, India
, and vowed
not to rise before achieving enlightenment. After many days, he finally
awakened to the ultimate nature of reality, thereby
liberating himself from the
cycle
of suffering and rebirth, and arose as a
fully enlightened being. Soon thereafter he
attracted a band of followers and instituted a
monastic order.
Now as the
Buddha, he spent the rest of his life teaching the path of awakening he discovered,
travelling throughout the northeastern part of the Indian
subcontinent, and died at the age of 80 (483 BCE) in Kushinagar
, India
.Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified
claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept
that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order but do not
consistently accept the details in his biographies.
According to author Michael Carrithers, a widely published expert on Buddhism, while there are good reasons to doubt the traditional account, "the outline of the life must be true: birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death."
Buddhist concepts
Life and the world
Karma: Cause and Effect
Karma (from
Sanskrit: action, work) is the force that drives
Samsāra, the cycle of
suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skillful (
Pāli:
kusala) and bad, unskillful (Pāli:
akusala) actions produce "seeds" in the mind which come to
fruition either in this life or in a
subsequent rebirth. The avoidance of unwholesome actions and the
cultivation of positive actions is called
Śīla (from Sanskrit: ethical
conduct).
In Buddhism, Karma specifically refers to those actions (of body,
speech, and mind) that spring from mental intent (
cetana),
and which bring about a consequence (or fruit,
phala) or result (
vipāka). Every time a person acts there is
some quality of intention at the base of the mind and it is that
quality rather than the outward appearance of the action that
determines its effect.
In Theravada Buddhism there can be no divine salvation or
forgiveness for one's
Karma, since it is a
purely impersonal process that is a part of the make up of the
universe. Some Mahayana traditions however hold different views.
For example, the texts of certain
Sutras (such as the
Lotus Sutra, the
Angulimaliya Sutra and the
Nirvana Sutra) claim that
reciting or merely hearing their texts can expunge great swathes of
negative Karma. In like fashion, some forms of Buddhism (e.g.
East-Asian tantric Buddhism) regard the recitation of mantras as a
means for cutting off previous negative karma. Similarly, the
Japanese
Pure Land teacher
Genshin taught that
Buddha
Amitabha has the power to destroy the Karma that would
otherwise bind one in
Saṃsāra.
Rebirth
Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession
of lifetimes as one of many possible forms of sentient life, each
running from conception to death. It is important to note, however,
that Buddhism rejects concepts of a permanent self or an
unchanging, eternal
soul, as it is called in
Christianity or even
Hinduism. As there ultimately is no such thing as a
self (
anatta) according to Buddhism,
rebirth in subsequent existences must rather be understood as the
continuation of a dynamic, ever-changing process of "dependent
arising" (
Pratītyasamutpāda)
determined by the laws of cause and effect (
Karma) rather than that of one being, "jumping" from
one existence to the next.
Each rebirth takes place within one of five realms, according to
Theravadins, or
six according to other
schools. These are further subdivided into 31 planes of existence:
- Naraka beings: those who live
in one of many Narakas (Hells)
- Animals: sharing some space
with humans, but considered another type of life
- Preta: sometimes sharing some
space with humans, but invisible to most people; an important
variety is the hungry ghost
- Human beings: one of
the realms of rebirth in which attaining Nirvana is possible
- Asuras: variously
translated as lowly deities, demons, titans, antigods; not
recognized by Theravada (Mahavihara) tradition as a separate
realm.
- Devas including
Brahmas: variously translated as
gods, deities, spirits, angels, or left untranslated
Rebirths in some of the higher heavens, known as the
Śuddhāvāsa
Worlds (Pure Abodes), can be attained only by
anāgāmis (non-returners). Rebirths in
the
arupa-dhatu
(formless realms) can be attained only by those who can meditate on
the
arupa-jhānas.
According to East Asian and
Tibetan
Buddhism, there is an
intermediate state
(Tib.
Bardo) between one life and the next. The orthodox
Theravada commentorial position rejects this; however there are
passages in the
Samyutta
Nikaya of the
Pali Canon (the
collection of texts on which the Theravada tradition is based),
that seem to lend support to the idea that the Buddha taught of an
intermediate stage between one life and the next.
The Cycle of Saṃsāra
Sentient beings crave pleasure and are averse to pain from birth to
death. In being controlled by these attitudes, they perpetuate the
cycle of conditioned existence and suffering (Saṃsāra), and produce
the causes and conditions of the next rebirth after death. Each
rebirth repeats this process in an involuntary cycle, which
Buddhists strive to end by eradicating these causes and conditions,
applying the methods laid out by the Buddhists.
Suffering: causes and solution
The Four Noble Truths
According to the
Pali Tipitaka, the
Four Noble Truths were the first teaching of
Gautama Buddha after attaining Nirvana. They
are sometimes considered as containing the essence of the Buddha's
teachings and are presented in the manner of a medical diagnosis
and remedial prescription – a style common at that time:
- Life as we know it ultimately is or leads to
suffering/uneasiness (dukkha) in one
way or another.
- Suffering is caused by craving or
attachments to worldly pleasures of all kinds. This is often
expressed as a deluded clinging to a certain sense of existence, to
selfhood, or to the things or phenomena that we consider the cause
of happiness or unhappiness.
- Suffering ends when craving ends, when one is freed from
desire. This is achieved by
eliminating all delusion, thereby reaching a liberated state of
Enlightenment (bodhi);
- Reaching this liberated state is achieved by following the
path laid out by the
Buddha.
Described by early Western scholars, and taught as an introduction
to Buddhism by some contemporary Mahayana teachers (e.g., the
Dalai Lama).
According to other interpretations by Buddhist teachers and
scholars, lately recognized by some Western non-Buddhist scholars,
the "truths" do not represent mere statements, but are categories
or aspects that most worldly phenomena fall into, grouped in two:
- Suffering and causes of suffering
- Cessation and the paths towards liberation from suffering.
Thus, according to the Macmillan
Encyclopedia of Buddhism
they are
- "The noble truth that is suffering"
- "The noble truth that is the arising of suffering"
- "The noble truth that is the end of suffering"
- "The noble truth that is the way leading to the end of
suffering"
The early teaching and the traditional Theravada understanding is
that the Four Noble Truths are an advanced teaching for those who
are ready for them. The Mahayana position is that they are a
preliminary teaching for people not yet ready for the higher and
more expansive Mahayana teachings. They are little known in the Far
East.
The Noble Eightfold Path
The Noble Eightfold Path, the fourth of the Buddha's
Noble Truths, is the way to the cessation
of suffering (
dukkha). It has eight sections, each
starting with the word
samyak (Sanskrit, meaning
correctly,
properly, or
well, frequently
translated into English as
right), and presented in three
groups (NB: Pāli transliterations appear in brackets after Sanskrit
ones):
- Prajñā is the wisdom
that purifies the mind, allowing it to attain spiritual insight
into the true nature of all things. It includes:
- (Pāli ditthi): viewing reality as it is, not just as
it appears to be.
- (sankappa): intention of renunciation, freedom and
harmlessness.
- Śīla is the ethics or morality, or
abstention from unwholesome deeds. It includes:
- (vāca): speaking in a truthful and non-hurtful
way
- (kammanta): acting in a non-harmful way
- (ājīva): a non-harmful livelihood
- Samādhi is the mental
discipline required to develop mastery over one’s own mind. This is
done through the practice of various contemplative and meditative
practices, and includes:
- (vāyāma): making an effort to improve
- (sati): awareness to see things for what they are with
clear consciousness, being aware of the present reality within
oneself, without any craving or aversion
- (samādhi): correct meditation or concentration,
explained as the first four dhyānas
The practice of the Eightfold Path is understood in two ways, as
requiring either simultaneous development (all eight items
practiced in parallel), or as a progressive series of stages
through which the practitioner moves, the culmination of one
leading to the beginning of another.
In the early sources (the four main
Nikayas) the Eightfold Path is not generally
taught to laypeople, and it is little known in the Far East.
Middle Way
An important guiding principle of Buddhist practice is the
Middle Way, which is said to have been discovered
by
Gautama Buddha prior to his
enlightenment (
bodhi). The
Middle
Way or
Middle Path has several definitions:
- The practice of non-extremism: a path of moderation away from
the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification
- The middle ground between certain metaphysical views (e.g., that things ultimately
either do or do not exist)
- An explanation of Nirvana
(perfect enlightenment), a state wherein it becomes clear that all
dualities apparent in the world are delusory (see Seongcheol)
- Another term for emptiness, the ultimate nature of all
phenomena (in the Mahayana branch), lack of
inherent existence, which avoids the extremes of permanence and
nihilism or inherent existence and nothingness
The nature of reality
Buddhist scholars have produced a remarkable quantity of
intellectual theories, philosophies and world view concepts (see,
e.g.,
Abhidharma, Buddhist philosophy and
Reality in Buddhism). Some schools of
Buddhism discourage doctrinal study, some regard it as essential,
but most regard it as having a place, at least for some people at
some stages. The concept of Liberation (
Nirvana), the goal of the Buddhist path, is
closely related to the correct perception of reality. In awakening
to the true nature of the self and all phenomena one is liberated
from the cycle of suffering (
Dukkha)
and involuntary rebirths (
Samsara).
Impermanence, suffering and non-self
Impermanence is one of
the
Three Marks of Existence. The term expresses the
Buddhist notion that all
compounded or
conditioned phenomena (things and experiences) are inconstant,
unsteady, and impermanent. Everything we can experience through our
senses is made up of parts, and its existence is dependent on
external conditions. Everything is in constant flux, and so
conditions and the thing itself are constantly changing. Things are
constantly coming into being, and ceasing to be. Nothing
lasts.
According to the impermanence doctrine, human life embodies this
flux in the aging process, the cycle of rebirth (
samsara), and in any experience of loss. The
doctrine further asserts that because things are impermanent,
attachment to them is futile and leads to suffering (
dukkha).
Suffering or
Dukkha (Pāli दुक्ख; Sanskrit दुःख ;
according to grammatical tradition derived from "uneasy", but
according to
Monier-Williams more
likely a
Prakritized form of "unsteady,
disquieted") is a central concept in Buddhism, the word roughly
corresponding to a number of terms in English including
suffering,
pain,
unsatisfactoriness, sorrow, affliction,
anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort,
anguish,
stress,
misery, and
frustration.
Although
dukkha is often translated as "suffering", its
philosophical meaning is more analogous to "disquietude" as in the
condition of being disturbed. As such, "suffering" is too narrow a
translation with "negative emotional connotations" (Jeffrey Po),
which can give the impression that the Buddhist view is one of
pessimism, but Buddhism is neither
pessimistic nor optimistic, but realistic. Thus in English-language
Buddhist literature
dukkha is often left untranslated, so
as to encompass its full range of meaning.
Anatta (Pāli) or
anātman (Sanskrit) refers to the notion of "not-self". In
Indian philosophy, the concept of a self is called
ātman (that is, "
soul" or metaphysical self), which
refers to an unchanging, permanent essence conceived by virtue of
existence. This concept and the related concept of
Brahman, the Vedantic
monistic
ideal, which was regarded as an ultimate
ātman for all beings, were
indispensable for Brahminical metaphysics, logic, and science; for
all apparent things there had to be an underlying and persistent
reality, akin to a
Platonic form.
Buddhists reject all these concepts of
ātman, emphasizing
not permanence, but changeability. Therefore all concepts of a
substantial Self are incorrect and formed in the realm of
ignorance.
In the
Nikayas, anatta is
not meant as a metaphysical assertion, but as an approach for
gaining release from suffering. In fact, the Buddha rejected both
of the metaphysical assertions "I have a Self" and "I have no Self"
as
ontological views that bind one to
suffering. By analyzing the constantly changing physical and mental
constituents (
skandhas) of a
person or object, the practitioner comes to the conclusion that
neither the respective parts nor the person as a whole comprise a
Self.
Dependent arising
The doctrine of
pratītyasamutpāda (Sanskrit; Pali:
paticcasamuppāda; Tibetan:
rten.cing.'brel.bar.'byung.ba; Chinese: 緣起), often
translated as "Dependent Arising," is an important part of Buddhist
metaphysics. It states that phenomena arise together in a mutually
interdependent web of cause and effect. It is variously rendered
into English as "dependent origination", "conditioned genesis",
"dependent co-arising", "interdependent arising", or
"contingency".
The best-known application of the concept of
Pratītyasamutpāda is the scheme of
Twelve Nidānas (from Pāli
nidāna "cause, foundation, source or origin"), which
explain the continuation of the cycle of suffering and rebirth
(
Samsara) in detail.
The
Twelve Nidānas describe a
causal connection between the subsequent characteristics/conditions
of cyclic existence, each giving rise to the next:
- Avidyā: ignorance, specifically spiritual
- Saṃskāras: literally formations, explained as
referring to Karma.
- Vijñāna: consciousness, specifically
discriminative
- Nāmarūpa: literally name and form, referring to mind
and body
- Ṣaḍāyatana: the six sense bases: eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body and mind-organ
- Sparśa: variously translated contact, impression,
stimulation (by a sense object)
- Vedanā: usually translated feeling: this is the
"hedonic tone", i.e. whether something is pleasant, unpleasant or
neutral
- Tṛṣṇā: literally thirst, but in Buddhism nearly always
used to mean craving
- Upādāna: clinging or grasping; the word also means
fuel, which feeds the continuing cycle of rebirth
- Bhava: literally being (existence) or becoming. (The
Theravada explains this as having two meanings: karma,
which produces a new existence, and the existence itself.)
- Jāti: literally birth, but life is understood as
starting at conception
- Jarāmaraṇa: (old age and death) and also
śokaparidevaduḥkhadaurmanasyopāyāsa (sorrow, lamentation,
pain, sadness, and misery)
Sentient beings always suffer throughout
samsara, until they free themselves from this
suffering by attaining
Nirvana. Then the
absence of the first
Nidāna, ignorance, leads to the
absence of the others.
Emptiness
Mahāyāna Buddhism received
significant theoretical grounding from
Nāgārjuna (perhaps c. 150–250 CE), arguably the
most influential scholar within the Mahāyāna tradition. Nāgārjuna's
primary contribution to
Buddhist
philosophy was the systematic exposition of the concept of
śūnyatā, or
"emptiness," widely attested in the
Prajñāpāramitā
sutras which were emergent in his era. The concept of emptiness
brings together other key Buddhist doctrines, particularly
anatta (no-self) and
pratītyasamutpāda
(dependent origination), to refute the metaphysics of
Sarvastivada and
Sautrantika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). For
Nāgārjuna, as for the Buddha in the early texts, it is not merely
sentient beings that are empty of
ātman; all phenomena
(
dharmas)
are without any
svabhāva,
literally "own-nature" or "self-nature", and thus without any
underlying essence; they are
empty of being independent;
thus the heterodox theories of
svabhava circulating at the
time were refuted on the basis of the doctrines of early Buddhism.
Nāgārjuna's school of thought is known as the
Mādhyamaka. Some of the writings attributed
to Nāgārjuna made explicit references to Mahāyāna texts, but his
philosophy was argued within the parameters set out by the
agamas. He may have arrived at his
positions from a desire to achieve a consistent
exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in
the Canon. In the eyes of Nāgārjuna the
Buddha was not merely a forerunner, but the very
founder of the Mādhyamaka system.
Sarvāstivāda teachings, which
were criticized by Nāgārjuna, were reformulated by scholars such as
Vasubandhu and
and
were adapted into the
Yogācāra (Sanskrit:
yoga practice) school. While the Mādhyamaka school held that
asserting the existence or non-existence of any ultimately real
thing was inappropriate, some exponents of Yogācāra asserted that
the mind and only the mind is ultimately real (
cittamatra). Not all Yogācārins asserted
that mind was truly existent; Vasubandhu and Asanga in particular
did not. These two schools of thought, in opposition or synthesis,
form the basis of subsequent Mahāyāna metaphysics in the
Indo-Tibetan tradition.
Besides emptiness (
śūnyatā), Mahāyāna schools often place emphasis on
the notions of perfected spiritual insight (
prajñāpāramitā) and
Buddha-nature (
tathāgatagarbha). According to the
tathāgatagarbha sutras, the Buddha revealed the reality of
the deathless Buddha-nature (
tathāgatagarbha - which means
'Buddha embryo' or 'Buddha-matrix'), which is said to be inherent
in all
sentient beings
and enables them all eventually to reach complete enlightenment,
i.e.
Buddhahood. Buddha-nature is stated
in the Mahāyāna
Angulimaliya Sutra and
Mahaparinirvana Sutra
not to be
śūnya, but to be replete with eternal
Buddhic virtues. In the
tathāgatagarbha sutras the Buddha
is portrayed proclaiming that the teaching of the
tathāgatagarbha constitutes the "absolutely final
culmination" of his
Dharma—the highest presentation of
truth (other sūtras make similar statements about other teachings)
and it has traditionally been regarded as the highest teaching in
East Asian Buddhism. However, in modern China all doctrines are
regarded as equally valid. The Mahāyāna can also on occasion
communicate a vision of the Buddha or
Dharma which amounts to
mysticism and gives expression to a form of
mentalist
panentheism (
God in Buddhism).
Speculation versus direct experience: Buddhist
epistemology
Decisive in distinguishing Buddhism from other schools of
Indian philosophy is the issue of
epistemological justification (from
epistemology, ). While all
schools of
Indian logic recognize
various sets of valid justifications for knowledge, or
pramana, Buddhism recognizes a smaller set than
do the others. All accept
perception and
inference, for example, but for some
schools of Buddhism the received textual tradition is an equally
valid epistemological category.
According to the
scriptures, during his
lifetime the Buddha remained silent when asked several
metaphysical questions. These regarded issues
such as whether the universe is eternal or non-eternal (or whether
it is finite or infinite), the unity or separation of the body and
the
self, the complete inexistence
of a person after
nirvana and death, and others. One
explanation for this silence is that such questions distract from
activity that is practical to realizing
enlightenment and bring about the danger of
substituting the experience of liberation by conceptual
understanding of the doctrine or by religious faith. Another
explanation is that both affirmative and negative positions
regarding these questions are based on attachment to and
misunderstanding of the
aggregates and
senses. That is, when one sees these things for what they are, the
idea of forming positions on such metaphysical questions simply
does not occur to one. Another closely related explanation is that
reality is
devoid of designations, or
empty, and therefore language itself is
a priori inadequate.
Thus, the Buddha's silence does not indicate
misology or disdain for philosophy. Rather, it
indicates that he viewed these questions as not leading to true
knowledge.
Dependent
arising is, according to some , one of the Buddha's great
contributions to philosophy, and provides a framework for analysis
of reality that is not based on
metaphysical assumptions regarding existence or
non-existence, but instead on direct cognition of phenomena as they
are presented to the mind. This informs and supports the Buddhist
approach to liberation via ethical and meditative training known as
the
Noble Eightfold Path.
The Buddha of the earliest Buddhists texts describes
Dharma (in the sense of
truth) as "beyond reasoning", or "transcending logic", in
the sense that reasoning is a subjectively introduced aspect of the
way humans perceive things, and the conceptual framework which
underpins it is a part of the cognitive process, rather than a
feature of things as they really are. "Beyond reasoning" means in
this context penetrating the nature of reasoning from the inside,
and removing the causes for experiencing any future
stress as a result of it, rather than functioning
outside of the system as a whole.
Most Buddhists agree that, to a greater or lesser extent, words are
inadequate to describe the goal of the Buddhist path, but
concerning the usefulness of words in the path itself, schools
differ radically.
In the Mahayana
Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha
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-nature. The
tantra entitled
the "All-Creating King" (
Kunjed
Gyalpo Tantra, a scripture of Tibetan Buddhism) also
emphasizes how Buddhist truth lies beyond the range of
discursive/verbal thought and is ultimately mysterious. The Supreme
Buddha, Samantabhadra, states there: "The mind of perfect purity
... is beyond thinking and inexplicable ...." Also later, the
famous Indian Buddhist practitioner (
yogi) and teacher,
mahasiddha Tilopa
discouraged any intellectual activity in his
six words of advice.
Professor C. D. Sebastian describes the nature of enlightenment
according to one Mahayana text:
"
Bodhi is the final goal of a
Bodhisattva's career and it is indicated by such
words as
buddha-jnana (knowledge of Buddha),
sarvjnata (omniscience),
sarvakarajnata (the
quality of knowing things as they are), ... and
acintyam
jnanam (inconceivable knowledge) ...
Bodhi is pure
universal and immediate knowledge, which extends over all time, all
universes, all beings and elements, conditioned and unconditioned.
It is absolute and identical with Reality and thus it is
Tathata. Bodhi is
immaculate and non-conceptual, and it, being not an outer object,
cannot be understood by discursive thought. It has neither
beginning, nor middle nor end and it is indivisbile. It is non-dual
(
advayam)... The only possible way to comprehend it is
through
samadhi by the yogin"
The early texts, in contrast, contain explicit repudiations of
attributing omniscience to the Buddha. Furthermore, the non-duality
ascribed to the nature of enlightenment in the early texts is not
ontological.
Mahayana often adopts a pragmatic concept of truth: doctrines are
"true" in the sense of being spiritually beneficial. In modern
Chinese Buddhism, all doctrinal traditions are regarded as equally
valid.
Theravāda promotes the concept of
Vibhajjavada (Pāli), literally "Teaching
of Analysis". This doctrine says that insight must come from the
aspirant's experience, critical investigation, and reasoning
instead of by blind faith. As the Buddha said according to the
canonical scriptures:
Liberation
Nirvana
Nirvana (Sanskrit; Pali
Nibbana) means "cessation", "extinction" (of
craving and
ignorance and
therefore
suffering and the cycle of
involuntary rebirths
Samsara),
"extinguished", "quieted", "calmed"; it is also known as
"Awakening" or "Enlightenment" in the West. Buddhists believe that
anybody who has achieved
nirvana is in fact a
Buddha.
Bodhi (Pāli and Sanskrit, in
devanagari: बॊधि) is a term applied to the
experience of Awakening of
arahants. Bodhi literally means
"awakening", but is more commonly referred to as "enlightenment".
In
Early Buddhism,
bodhi
carried a meaning synonymous to
nirvana, using only some different metaphors to
describe the experience, which implies the extinction of
raga (greed, craving),
dosa (hate, aversion) and
moha (delusion). In the later school of
Mahayana Buddhism, the status of
nirvana was downgraded in some scriptures, coming to refer
only to the extinction of greed and hate, implying that delusion
was still present in one who attained
nirvana, and that
one needed to attain
bodhi to eradicate delusion:
Therefore, according to Mahayana Buddhism, the
arahant has attained only
nirvana,
thus still being subject to delusion, while the
bodhisattva not only achieves
nirvana but full liberation from delusion as well. He thus
attains
bodhi and becomes a
buddha. In
Theravada Buddhism,
bodhi and
nirvana carry the same meaning, that of being freed from
greed, hate and delusion.
The term
parinirvana is also
encountered in Buddhism, and this generally refers to the complete
nirvana attained by the
arhat at the moment of
death, when the physical body expires.
Buddhas
Theravada
In Theravada doctrine, a person may awaken from the "sleep of
ignorance" by directly realizing the true nature of
reality; such people are called
arahants and occasionally
buddhas. After numerous lifetimes of spiritual striving,
they have reached the end of the cycle of rebirth, no longer
reincarnating as human, animal, ghost, or other being. The
commentaries to the Pali Canon classify these awakened beings into
three types:
- Sammasambuddha, usually just
called Buddha, who discovers the truth by himself and teaches the
path to awakening to others
- Paccekabuddha, who
discovers the truth by himself but lacks the skill to teach
others
- Savakabuddha, who receive
the truth directly or indirectly from a Sammasambuddha
Bodhi and
nirvana carry the same meaning, that of
being freed from craving, hate, and delusion. In attaining
bodhi, the
arahant has overcome these obstacles.
As a further distinction, the extinction of only hatred and greed
(in the sensory context) with some residue of delusion, is called
anagami.
Mahayana
In the
Mahayana, the Buddha tends not to be
viewed as merely human, but as the earthly projection of a
beginningless and endless, omnipresent being (see
Dharmakaya) beyond the range and reach of
thought. Moreover, in certain Mahayana sutras, the Buddha, Dharma
and Sangha are viewed essentially as One: all three are seen as the
eternal Buddha himself.
Celestial Buddhas are individuals who no longer exist on the
material plane of existence, but who still aid in the enlightenment
of all beings.
Nirvana came to refer only to the extinction of greed and hate,
implying that delusion was still present in one who attained
Nirvana. Bodhi became a higher attainment that eradicates delusion
entirely. Thus, the
Arahant attains
Nirvana but not Bodhi, thus still being subject to delusion, while
the
Buddha attains Bodhi.
The method of self-exertion or "self-power" – without reliance on
an external force or being – stands in contrast to another major
form of Buddhism,
Pure Land,
which is characterised by utmost trust in the salvific
"other-power" of
Amitabha Buddha. Pure Land
Buddhism is a very widespread and perhaps the most faith-orientated
manifestation of Buddhism and centres upon the conviction that
faith in Amitabha Buddha and the chanting of homage to his name
will liberate one at death into the "happy land" (安樂) or "pure
land" (淨土) of Amitabha Buddha. This Buddhic realm is variously
construed as a foretaste of Nirvana, or as essentially Nirvana
itself. The great vow of Amitabha Buddha to rescue all beings from
samsaric suffering is viewed within Pure Land Buddhism as
universally efficacious, if only one has faith in the power of that
vow or chants his name.
Nearly all Chinese Buddhists accept that the chances of attaining
sufficient enlightenment by one's own efforts are very slim, so
that Pure Land practice is essential as an "insurance policy" even
if one practises something else.
Buddha eras
Buddhists believe
Gautama Buddha was
the first to achieve enlightenment in this Buddha era and is
therefore credited with the establishment of Buddhism. A Buddha era
is the stretch of history during which people remember and practice
the teachings of the earliest
known Buddha. This Buddha
era will end when all the knowledge, evidence and teachings of
Gautama Buddha have vanished. This belief therefore maintains that
many Buddha eras have started and ended throughout the course of
human existence. The Gautama Buddha, then, is
the Buddha of
this era, who taught directly or indirectly to all other
Buddhas in it (see types of Buddhas).
In addition, Mahayana Buddhists believe there are innumerable other
Buddhas in other universes. A Theravada commentary says that
Buddhas arise one at a time in this world element, and not at all
in others.
The idea of the decline and gradual disappearance of the teaching
has been influential in East Asian Buddhism. Pure Land Buddhism
holds that it has declined to the point where few, if any, are
capable of following the path, so most or all must rely on the
power of the Buddha Amitabha. Zen and Nichiren traditionally hold
that most are incapable of following the "complicated" paths of
some other schools and present what they view as a simple practice
instead.
Bodhisattvas
Mahayana Buddhism puts great emphasis and, in fact, encourages
anybody to follow the path of a
Bodhisattva.
Bodhisattva means either "enlightened
(
bodhi) existence (
sattva)" or "enlightenment-being" or, given the
variant Sanskrit spelling
satva rather than
sattva, "heroic-minded one (
satva)
for enlightenment (
bodhi)". Another
translation is "Wisdom-Being".
The various divisions of Buddhism understand the word Bodhisattva
in different ways. Theravada and some Mahayana sources consider a
Bodhisattva as someone on the path to Buddhahood, while other
Mahayana sources speak of Bodhisattvas renouncing Buddhahood, but
especially in Mahayana Buddhism, it mainly refers to a being that
compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save
others. So the Bodhisattva is a person who already has a
considerable degree of enlightenment and seeks to use their wisdom
to help other sentient beings to become liberated themselves.
While Theravada regards it as an option, Mahayana encourages
everyone to follow a Bodhisattva path and to take the
Bodhisattva vows. With these vows, one
makes the promise to work for the complete enlightenment of all
sentient beings.
A famous saying by the 8th-century Indian Buddhist scholar-saint
Shantideva, which the
14th Dalai Lama often cites as his favourite
verse, summarizes the Bodhisattva's intention (
Bodhicitta) as follows: "For as long as space
endures, and for as long as living beings remain, until then may I
too abide to dispel the misery of the world."
According to the Mahayana, a Bodhisattva practices in the six
perfections:
giving,
morality,
patience,
joyous effort,
concentration and
wisdom.
Practice
Devotion
Devotion is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists.
Devotional practices include bowing, offerings, pilgrimage, and
chanting. In Pure Land Buddhism, devotion to the Buddha Amitabha is
the main practice. In Nichiren Buddhism, devotion to the Lotus
Sutra is the main practice.
Refuge in the Three Jewels
Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires
taking refuge in the Three Jewels (
Sanskrit:
tri-ratna,
Pāli:
ti-ratana) as the foundation of
one's religious practice. The practice of taking refuge on behalf
of young or even unborn children is mentioned in the
Majjhima Nikaya, recognized by most
scholars as an early text (cf.
Infant
baptism). Tibetan Buddhism sometimes adds a fourth refuge, in
the
lama. In Mahayana, the person who
chooses the
bodhisattva path
makes a vow or pledge, considered the ultimate expression of
compassion. In Mahayana, too, the Three Jewels are perceived as
possessed of an eternal and unchanging essence and as having an
irreversible effect: "The Three Jewels have the quality of
excellence. Just as real jewels never change their faculty and
goodness, whether praised or reviled, so are the Three Jewels
(Refuges), because they have an eternal and immutable essence.
These Three Jewels bring a fruition that is changeless, for once
one has reached Buddhahood, there is no possibility of falling back
to suffering."
The Three Jewels are:
- The Buddha. This is a title for those who
have attained Nirvana. See also the Tathāgata and Gautama
Buddha. The Buddha could also be represented as a concept
instead of a specific person: the perfect wisdom that understands
Dharma and sees reality in its true form. In Mahayana
Buddhism, the Buddha can be viewed as the supreme Refuge: "Buddha
is the Unique Absolute Refuge. Buddha is the Imperishable, Eternal,
Indestructible and Absolute Refuge."
- The Dharma. The
teachings or law of nature as expounded by the Gautama Buddha. It
can also, especially in Mahayana, connote the ultimate and
sustaining Reality which is inseparable from the Buddha.
- The Sangha. Those who have
attained to any of the Four
stages of enlightenment, or simply the congregation of monastic practitioners.
According to the scriptures, Gautama Buddha presented himself as a
model. The Dharma offers a refuge by providing guidelines for the
alleviation of suffering and the attainment of Nirvana. The Sangha
is considered to provide a refuge by preserving the authentic
teachings of the Buddha and providing further examples that the
truth of the Buddha's teachings is attainable.
Buddhist ethics
Śīla (Sanskrit) or
sīla
(Pāli) is usually translated into English as "virtuous behavior",
"morality", "ethics" or "precept". It is an action committed
through the body, speech, or mind, and involves an intentional
effort. It is one of the
three practices (
sila,
samadhi, and
panya) and the second
pāramitā. It refers to moral purity of
thought, word, and deed. The four conditions of
śīla are
chastity, calmness, quiet, and extinguishment.
Śīla is the foundation of
Samadhi/Bhāvana
(Meditative cultivation) or mind cultivation. Keeping the precepts
promotes not only the peace of mind of the cultivator, which is
internal, but also peace in the community, which is external.
According to the Law of Karma, keeping the precepts are meritorious
and it acts as causes which would bring about peaceful and happy
effects. Keeping these precepts keeps the cultivator from rebirth
in the four woeful realms of existence.
Śīla refers to overall principles of ethical behavior.
There are several levels of
sila, which correspond to
"basic morality" (
five precepts),
"basic morality with asceticism" (
eight
precepts), "novice monkhood" (
ten
precepts) and "monkhood" (
Vinaya
or
Patimokkha). Lay people
generally undertake to live by the five precepts, which are common
to all Buddhist schools. If they wish, they can choose to undertake
the
eight precepts, which add basic
asceticism.
The five precepts are training rules in order to live a better life
in which one is happy, without worries, and can meditate well:
- To refrain from taking life (non-violence towards sentient life forms)
- To refrain from taking that which is not given (not committing
theft)
- To refrain from sensual (including sexual) misconduct
- To refrain from lying (speaking truth always)
- To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness (specifically, drugs and
alcohol)
The precepts are not formulated as imperatives, but as training
rules that laypeople undertake voluntarily to facilitate practice.
In Buddhist thought, the cultivation of
dana and ethical conduct will themselves
refine consciousness to such a level that rebirth in one of the
lower heavens is likely, even if there is no further Buddhist
practice. There is nothing improper or un-Buddhist about limiting
one's aims to this level of attainment.
In the
eight precepts, the third
precept on sexual misconduct is made more strict, and becomes a
precept of
celibacy. The three additional
precepts are:
- 6. To refrain from eating at the wrong time (only eat from
sunrise to noon)
- 7. To refrain from dancing and playing music, wearing jewelry
and cosmetics, attending shows and other performances
- 8. To refrain from using high or luxurious seats and
bedding
Monastic life
Vinaya is the specific moral code for monks
and nuns. It includes the
Patimokkha, a
set of 227 rules for monks in the Theravadin recension. The precise
content of the
vinayapitaka (scriptures
on Vinaya) differ slightly according to different schools, and
different schools or subschools set different standards for the
degree of adherence to Vinaya.
Novice-monks
use the
ten precepts, which are the
basic precepts for monastics.
Regarding the monastic rules, the Buddha constantly reminds his
hearers that it is the spirit that counts. On the other hand, the
rules themselves are designed to assure a satisfying life, and
provide a perfect springboard for the higher attainments. Monastics
are instructed by the Buddha to live as "islands unto themselves".
In this sense, living life as the vinaya prescribes it is, as one
scholar puts it: "more than merely a means to an end: it is very
nearly the end in itself."
In Eastern 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 (see
vegetarianism in Buddhism).
In Japan, this has almost completely displaced the monastic vinaya,
and allows clergy to marry.
Meditation
Buddhist meditation is fundamentally concerned with two themes:
transforming the mind and using it to explore itself and other
phenomena. According to Theravada Buddhism the Buddha taught two
types of meditation,
samatha
meditation (Sanskrit:
śamatha) and
vipassanā meditation (Sanskrit:
vipaśyanā). In Chinese Buddhism, these exist (translated
chih kuan), but Chan (Zen) meditation is more popular.
According to Peter Harvey, whenever Buddhism has been healthy, not
only monks, nuns, and married lamas, but also more committed lay
people have practiced meditation. According to Routledge's
Encyclopedia of Buddhism, in contrast, throughout most of Buddhist
history before modern times, serious meditation by lay people has
been unusual. The evidence of the early texts suggests that at the
time of the Buddha, many male and female lay practitioners did
practice meditation, some even to the point of proficiency in all
eight
jhānas (see the next section regarding
these).
Samādhi (meditative cultivation): samatha meditation
In the language of the Noble Eightfold Path,
samyaksamādhi
is "right concentration". The primary means of cultivating
samādhi is meditation. 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 ध्यान
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 of 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 (
anapanasati), 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 knowledge (
jñāna; Pāli ) and
understanding (
prajñā Pāli
paññā), and thus can lead to
nirvāṇa (Pāli
nibbāna). When one is in jhana, all defilements are
suppressed temporarily. Only understanding (
prajñā or
vipassana) eradicates the defilements completely. Jhanas
are also states which
Arahants
abide in order to rest.
In Theravāda
In Theravāda Buddhism, the cause of human existence and suffering
is identified as craving, which carries with it the various
defilements. These various defilements are traditionally summed up
as greed, hatred and delusion. These are believed to be deeply
rooted afflictions of the mind that create suffering and stress. In
order to be free from suffering and stress, these defilements need
to be permanently uprooted through internal investigation,
analyzing, experiencing, and understanding of the true nature of
those defilements by using
jhāna, a technique which is
part of the Noble Eightfold Path. It will then lead the meditator
to realize the Four Noble Truths, Enlightenment and
Nibbana. Nibbana is the ultimate goal of
Theravadins.
Prajñā (Wisdom): vipassana meditation
Prajñā (Sanskrit) or
paññā (Pāli) means wisdom
that is based on a realization of
dependent origination, The Four Noble
Truths and the
three marks of
existence.
Prajñā is the wisdom that is able to
extinguish afflictions and bring about
bodhi. It is spoken
of as the principal means of attaining , through its revelation of
the true nature of all things as
dukkha (unsatisfactoriness),
anicca (impermanence) and
anatta (not-self).
Prajñā is also
listed as the sixth of the six
pāramitās of the Mahayana.
Initially,
prajñā is attained at a conceptual level by
means of listening to sermons (dharma talks), reading, studying,
and sometimes reciting Buddhist texts and engaging in 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. Notably, one could in
theory attain Nirvana at any point of practice, whether deep in
meditation, listening to a sermon, conducting the business of one's
daily life, or any other activity.
Zen
Zen Buddhism (禅), pronounced
Ch'an in Chinese or
Zen in Japanese (derived from the Sanskrit term
dhyana, meaning "meditation") is a form of Buddhism that
became popular in China and Japan and that lays special emphasis on
meditation. Zen places less emphasis on scriptures than some other
forms of Buddhism and prefers to focus on direct spiritual
breakthroughs to truth.
Zen Buddhism is divided into two main schools:
Rinzai (臨済宗) and
Soto (曹洞宗), the
former greatly favouring the use in meditation on the
koan (公案, a meditative riddle or puzzle) as a device
for spiritual break-through, and the latter (while certainly
employing koans) focusing more on
shikantaza or "just
sitting".
Zen Buddhist teaching is often full of paradox, in order to loosen
the grip of the ego and to facilitate the penetration into the
realm of the True Self or Formless Self, which is equated with the
Buddha himself. According to Zen master, Kosho Uchiyama, when
thoughts and fixation on the little 'I' are transcended, an
Awakening to a universal, non-dual Self occurs: ' When we let go of
thoughts and wake up to the reality of life that is working beyond
them, we discover the Self that is living universal non-dual life
(before the separation into two) that pervades all living creatures
and all existence.'. Thinking and thought must therefore not be
allowed to confine and bind one. Nevertheless, Zen does not neglect
the scriptures.
Vajrayana and Tantra
Though based upon Mahayana, Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism is one of the
schools that practice
Vajrayāna
or "Diamond Vehicle" (also referred to as Mantrayāna, Tantrayāna,
Tantric Buddhism, or
esoteric Buddhism). It accepts all the basic
concepts of Mahāyāna, but also includes a vast array of spiritual
and physical techniques designed to enhance Buddhist practice.
Tantric Buddhism is largely concerned with ritual and meditative
practices. One component of the Vajrayāna is harnessing
psycho-physical energy through ritual, visualization, physical
exercises, and meditation as a means of developing the mind. Using
these techniques, it is claimed that a practitioner can achieve
Buddhahood in one lifetime, or even as little as three years. In
the Tibetan tradition, these practices can include
sexual yoga, though only for some very advanced
practitioners.
History
Philosophical roots
Historically, the roots of Buddhism lie in the religious thought of
Ancient India during the second half
of the first millennium BC. That was a period of social and
religious turmoil, as there was significant discontent with the
sacrifices and rituals of
Vedic
Brahmanism. It was challenged by numerous new
ascetic religious and philosophical groups and
teachings that broke with the Brahmanic tradition and rejected the
authority of the
Vedas and the
Brahmans. These groups, whose members were known as
shramanas, were a continuation of a
non-Vedic strand of Indian thought distinct from Indo-Aryan
Brahmanism. Scholars have reasons to believe that ideas such as
samsara, karma (in the sense of the influence of morality on
rebirth), and
moksha originated in the
shramanas, and were later adopted by
Brahmin orthodoxy. At the same time, they
were influenced by, and in some respects continued, earlier
philosophical thought within the Vedic tradition as reflected e.g.
in the
Upanishads. These movements
included, besides Buddhism, various
skeptics
(such as
Sanjaya
Belatthiputta),
atomists (such as
Pakudha Kaccayana),
materialists (such as
Ajita Kesakambali),
antinomians (such as
Purana Kassapa); the most important ones in
the 5th century BC were the
Ajivikas, who
emphasized the rule of fate, the
Lokayata
(
materialists), the
Ajnanas (
agnostics) and the
Jains, who stressed that the soul must be
freed from matter. Many of these new movements shared the same
conceptual vocabulary -
atman (“Self"),
buddha ("awakened one”),
dhamma (“rule” or “law”),
karma
(“action”),
nirvana (“extinguishing”),
samsara (“eternal recurrence”) and
yoga (“spiritual practice”). The shramanas rejected the
Veda, and the authority of the brahmans, who claimed to be in
possession of revealed truths not knowable by any ordinary human
means; moreover, they declared that the entire Brahmanical system
was fraudulent: a conspiracy of the brahmans to enrich themselves
by charging exorbitant fees for the performance of bogus rites and
the giving of futile advice. A particular criticism of the Buddha's
was Vedic animal sacrifice. Their leaders, including Buddha, were
often known as
śramaṇa. The Buddha declared
that priests reciting the Vedas were like blind leading the blind.
According to him, those priests who had memorized the Vedas really
knew nothing. He also mocked the Vedic "
hymn of the cosmic man". He declared that the
primary goal of Upanishadic thought, the
Atman, was in fact non-existent,, and,
having explained that Brahminical attempts to achieve liberation at
death were futile, proposed his new idea of liberation in
life.
At the same time, the traditional Brahminical religion itself
gradually underwent profound changes, transforming it into what is
recognized as early
Hinduism. In
particular, the brahmans thus developed "philosophical systems of
their own, meeting the new ideas with adaptations of their
doctrines".
Indian Buddhism
The history of Indian Buddhism may be divided into the following
five periods:
- Early Buddhism (occasionally called Pre-sectarian Buddhism)
- Nikaya Buddhism or Sectarian
Buddhism: The period of the Early
Buddhist schools
- Early Mahayana Buddhism
- Later Mahayana Buddhism
- Esoteric Buddhism (also called Vajrayana Buddhism)
Pre-sectarian Buddhism
Pre-sectarian Buddhism is the earliest phase of Buddhism,
recognized by nearly all scholars. Its main scriptures are the
Vinaya Pitaka and the four principal
Nikayas or
Agamas.
Certain basic teachings appear in many places throughout the early
texts, so most scholars conclude that Gautama Buddha must have
taught something similar to the following:
Some scholars disagree, and have proposed many other
theories.
Early Buddhist schools
According to the scriptures, soon after the
(from Sanskrit: "highest extinguishment") of
Gautama 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 teachings to
ensure that no errors occurred in oral transmission. In the first
council,
Ānanda, a cousin of the Buddha and
his personal attendant, was called upon to recite the discourses
(
sūtras, Pāli
suttas) of the Buddha, and,
according to some sources, the
abhidhamma.
Upāli, another
disciple, recited the monastic rules (
vinaya). Scholars regard the traditional
accounts of the council as greatly exaggerated if not entirely
fictitious.
According to most scholars, at some period after the Second Council
the
Sangha began to break into separate factions. The
various accounts differ as to when the actual schisms occurred.
According to the
Dipavamsa of the
Pāli tradition, they started immediately after the Second Council,
the Puggalavada tradition places it in 137 AN, the
Sarvastivada tradition of
Vasumitra says it was in the time of Asoka and the
Mahasanghika tradition places it much
later, nearly 100 BCE.
The root schism was between the
Sthaviras
and the
Mahāsāṅghikas. The fortunate
survival of accounts from both sides of the dispute reveals
disparate traditions. The Sthavira group offers two quite distinct
reasons for the schism. The Dipavamsa of the Theravāda says that
the losing party in the Second Council dispute broke away in
protest and formed the Mahasanghika. This contradicts the
Mahasanghikas' own
vinaya, which shows them as on the
same, winning side. The Mahāsāṅghikas argued that the Sthaviras
were trying to expand the
vinaya and may also have
challenged what they perceived to be excessive claims or inhumanly
high criteria for
arhatship. Both parties,
therefore, appealed to tradition.
The Sthaviras gave rise to several schools, one of which was the
Theravāda school. Originally, these schisms were caused by disputes
over vinaya, and monks following different schools of thought seem
to have lived happily together in the same monasteries, but
eventually, by about 100 CE if not earlier, schisms were being
caused by doctrinal disagreements too.
Following (or leading up to) the schisms, each Saṅgha started to
accumulate an
Abhidharma, a detailed
scholastic reworking of doctrinal material appearing in the
Suttas, according to schematic
classifications. These Abhidharma texts do not contain systematic
philosophical treatises, but summaries or numerical lists. Scholars
generally date these texts to around the 3rd century BCE, 100 to
200 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore the seven
Abhidharma works are generally claimed not to represent the words
of the Buddha himself, but those of disciples and great scholars.
Every school had its own version of the Adhidharma, with different
theories and different texts. The different Adhidharmas of the
various schools did not agree with each other. Scholars disagree on
whether the Mahasanghika school had an Abhidhamma Pitaka or
not.
Early Mahayana Buddhism
The period of Early Mahayana Buddhism concerns the origins of
Mahayana and the contents of early
Mahayana Sutras. The development of the
various
Early Buddhist
Schools and the arising of Mahayana were not always
consecutive. For example, the early schools continued to exist
alongside Mahayana.
Origins of Mahayana
The commonly expressed misconception that Mahayana started as a
lay-inspired movement is based on a selective reading of a very
tiny sample of extant Mahayana Sutra literature. Currently scholars
have moved away from this limited corpus, and have started to
examine early Mahayana literature, which is very ascetic and
expounds the ideal of the monks' life in the forest. A scholarly
consensus about the origin of the Mahayana has not yet been
reached, but it has been suggested that when Mahayana became
popular, in the 5th century CE, it had become something it had
previously objected to: a landed monastic institution with a lay
orientation. Prior to this, the movement may well have been either
a marginalized ascetic group of monks living in the forest, or a
group of conservatives embedded in mainstream, socially engaged
early Buddhist monasteries.
Most scholars conclude that Mahayana remained a marginal movement
until the 5th century AD.
Earliest Mahayana Sutras
The earliest Mahayana Sutras are called the
Proto-Mahayana Sutras such as the
Ajitasena Sutra which contains a
mixture of Mahayana and pre-Mahayana ideas. It occurs in a world
where monasticism is the norm, which is typical of the Pali Suttas;
there is none of the usual antagonism towards the followers of the
Early Buddhist Schools or the notion of Arahantship, which is
typical of many Mahayana Sutras such as the White Lotus, or
Vimalakirti Nirdesha. However, the sutra also has an Arahant seeing
all the Buddha fields, it is said that reciting the name of the
sutra will save beings from suffering and the hell realms, and a
meditative practice is described which allows the practitioner to
see with the eyes of a Buddha, and to receive teachings from them
that are very much typical of Mahayana Sutras. Some early Mahayana
Sutras are
Ratnagunasamcayagatha and the
Astasaharika.
Some scholars contend that the Mahayana sutras were mainly composed
in the south of India, and that later the activity of writing
additional scriptures was continued in the east and north of
India.
Late Mahayana Buddhism
During the period of Late Mahayana Buddhism, four major types of
thought developed:
Madhyamaka,
Yogacara,
Tathagatagarbha, and
Buddhist Logic as the last and
most recent. In India, the two main philosophical schools of the
Mahayana were the Madhyamaka and the later Yogacara. According to
Dan Lusthaus, Madhyamaka and Yogacara have a great deal in common,
and the commonality stems from early Buddhism. There were no great
Indian teachers associated with tathagatagarbha thought.
Vajrayana (Esoteric Buddhism)
Scholarly research concerning
Esoteric
Buddhism is still in its early stages and has a number of
problems which make research difficult:
- Vajrayana Buddhism was influenced by Hinduism, and therefore the research has to include
research on Hinduism as well.
- The scriptures of Vajrayana have not yet been put in any kind
of order.
- Ritual has to be examined as well, not just doctrine.
The early development of Buddhism
Buddhism may have spread only slowly in India until the time of the
Mauryan emperor
Ashoka, who was a public supporter of the religion.
The
support of Aśoka and his descendants led to the construction of
more stūpas (Buddhist religious memorials) 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 known spread of Buddhism beyond India.
According
to the edicts of Aśoka, emissaries
were sent to various countries west of India in order to spread
Buddhism (Dharma), particularly in eastern provinces of the
neighboring Seleucid Empire, and
even farther to Hellenistic
kingdoms of the Mediterranean
. This led, a century later, to the emergence
of Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs in the
Indo-Greek Kingdom, 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. It is a matter of
disagreement among scholars whether or not these emissaries were
accompanied by Buddhist missionaries.
The
Theravada school spread south from India in the 3rd century BC, to
Sri Lanka and Thailand
and Burma
and later
also Indonesia
. The Dharmagupta school spread (also in 3rd
century BC) north to Kashmir
, Gandhara
and Bactria (Afghanistan). In the 2nd century AD, Mahayana
Sutras spread from that general area to China, and then to Korea
and Japan, and were translated into Chinese.
During the Indian
period of Esoteric Buddhism (from 8th century onwards), Buddhism
spread from India to Tibet and Mongolia
.
Buddhism today
By the late Middle Ages, Buddhism had become virtually extinct in
India, and although it continued to exist in surrounding countries,
its influence was no longer expanding. It is now again gaining
strength in India and elsewhere. Estimates of the number of
Buddhist followers by scholars range from 230 million to 500
million, with most around 350 million. Most scholars classify
similar numbers of people under a category they call "Chinese folk"
or "traditional" religion, an amalgam of various traditions that
includes Buddhism. One Buddhist organization claims the total could
be as much as 1.691 billion.
Formal membership varies between communities, but basic lay
adherence is often defined in terms of a traditional formula in
which the practitioner takes refuge in The
Three Jewels: the
Buddha, the
Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha),
and the
Sangha (the Buddhist
community).
Estimates are uncertain for several reasons:
- difficulties in defining who counts as a Buddhist;
- syncretism among the Eastern religions. Buddhism is practiced
by adherents alongside many other religious traditions- including
Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto,
traditional religions,
shamanism, and animism- throughout East and Southeast Asia.
- difficulties in estimating the number of Buddhists who do not
have congregational memberships and often do not participate in
public ceremonies;
- official policies on religion in several historically Buddhist
countries that make accurate assessments of religious adherence
more difficult; most notably China, Vietnam and North Korea. In many current and
former Communist governments in Asia, government policies may
discourage adherents from reporting their religious identity, or
may encourage official counts to underestimate religious
adherence.
According to one analysis, Buddhism is the fourth-largest
religion in the world behind
Christianity,
Islam and
Hinduism. The monks' order (
Sangha), which began during the lifetime of the
Buddha, is among the oldest organizations on earth.
- Theravāda Buddhism,
using Pāli as its scriptural language, is
the dominant form of Buddhism in Cambodia
, Laos
, Thailand
, Sri
Lanka
, and Burma
. The
Dalit Buddhist movement in
India (inspired by B. R. Ambedkar)
also practices Theravada. Approximately 124 million adherents.
- East
Asian forms of Mahayana Buddhism that use
scriptures in Chinese are dominant
in most of China, Japan, Korea
, Taiwan
, Singapore
and Vietnam
as well as within Chinese and Japanese communities
within Indochina, Southeast Asia and the West. Approximately
185 million adherents.
- Tibetan
Buddhism is found in Tibet, Bhutan
, Mongolia
, surrounding areas in India, China
, Nepal
, and the
Russian
Federation
. Approximately 20 million adherents.
Most Buddhist groups in the West are at least nominally affiliated
with one of these three traditions.
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 traditional. Buddhists in Asia
are frequently well organized and well funded. In a number of
countries, it is recognized as an official religion and receives
state support. In the
West,
Buddhism is recognized as one of the growing spiritual influences.
Modern influences increasingly lead to
new forms of Buddhism that significantly
depart from traditional beliefs and practices.
Overall there is an overwhelming diversity of recent forms of
Buddhism.
Schools and traditions
Buddhists generally classify themselves as either
Theravada or
Mahayana.
This classification is also used by some scholars and is the one
ordinarily used in the English language. An alternative scheme used
by some scholars divides Buddhism into the following three
traditions or geographical or cultural areas:
Theravada,
East
Asian Buddhism and
Tibetan
Buddhism.
Some scholars use other schemes. Buddhists themselves have a
variety of other schemes.
Hinayana
(literally "lesser vehicle") is used by Mahayana followers to name
the family of early philosophical schools and traditions from which
contemporary Theravada emerged, but as this term is rooted in the
Mahayana viewpoint and can be considered derogatory, a variety of
other terms are increasingly used instead, including
Śrāvakayāna, Nikaya Buddhism, early Buddhist
schools, sectarian Buddhism, conservative Buddhism, mainstream
Buddhism and non-Mahayana Buddhism.
Not all traditions of Buddhism share the same philosophical
outlook, or treat the same concepts as central. Each tradition,
however, does have its own core concepts, and some comparisons can
be drawn between them.
Mahayana 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.
Despite differences among the Theravada and Mahayana schools there
are, for example according to one Buddhist ecumenical organization,
several
concepts
common to both major Buddhist branches:
- Both accept the Buddha as their
teacher.
- Both accept the Middle way, Dependent origination, the
Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Three marks of existence, in
theory, though in practice these have little or no importance in
some traditions.
- Both accept that members of the laity and of the sangha can pursue the path toward enlightenment
(bodhi).
- Both consider buddhahood to be the highest attainment; however
Theravadins consider the nirvana (nibbana to the Theravadins) attained by arahants as identical to that attained by the
Buddha himself, as there is only one type of nirvana. According to
Theravadins, a buddha is someone who has discovered the path all by
himself and taught it to others.
This is a rough timeline of the development of the different
schools/traditions:
Theravāda
Theravāda ("Doctrine of the Elders", or
"Ancient Doctrine") is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It is
relatively conservative, and
generally closest to early
Buddhism. This school is derived from the
Vibhajjavāda grouping which emerged amongst the
older
Sthavira group at the time of the
Third Buddhist Council (c. 250 BCE). This school gradually declined
on the Indian subcontinent, but its branch in Sri Lanka and South
East Asia continues to survive.
The Theravada school bases its practice and doctrine exclusively on
the
Pāli Canon and its commentaries.
After being orally transmitted for a few centuries, its scriptures,
the Pali Canon, were finally committed to writing in the last
century BCE, in Sri Lanka, at what the Theravada usually reckon as
the fourth council. It is also one of the first Buddhist schools to
commit the complete set of its canon into writing. The
Sutta collections and
Vinaya
texts of the Pāli Canon (and the corresponding texts in other
versions of the
Tripitaka), are generally
considered by modern scholars to be the earliest Buddhist
literature, and they are accepted as authentic in every branch of
Buddhism.
Theravāda
is primarily practiced today in Sri Lanka
, Burma
, Laos
, Thailand
, Cambodia
as well as small portions of China, Vietnam
, Malaysia
and Bangladesh
. It has a growing presence in
Europe and
America.
Mahayana
Mahayana Buddhism flourished in India from the fifth century AD
onwards, during the dynasty of the
Guptas.
Mahāyāna centres of learning were
established, the most important one being the Nālandā
University
in north-eastern India.
Mahayana schools recognize all or part of the
Mahayana Sutras. Some of these sutras became
for Mahayanists a manifestation of the Buddha himself, and faith in
and veneration of those texts are stated in some sutras (e.g. the
Lotus Sutra and the
Mahaparinirvana Sutra) to lay the
foundations for the later attainment of Buddhahood itself.
Native
Mahayana Buddhism is practiced today in China, Japan, Korea
, Singapore
, parts of Russia and most of Vietnam
(also commonly referred to as "Eastern
Buddhism"). The Buddhism practiced in Tibet, the Himalayan
regions, and Mongolia is also Mahayana in origin, but will be
discussed below under the heading of Vajrayana (also commonly
referred to as "Northern Buddhism". There are a variety of strands
in Eastern Buddhism, of which "the Pure Land school of Mahayana is
the most widely practised today.". In most of this area however,
they are fused into a single unified form of Buddhism. In Japan in
particular, they form separate denominations; the five major ones
being:
In Korea, nearly all Buddhists belong to the Chogye school, which
is officially Son (Zen), but with substantial elements from other
traditions.
Vajrayāna
The Vajrayana school of Buddhism spread to China, Mongolia, and
Tibet. In Tibet, Vajrayana has always been a main component of
Tibetan Buddhism, while in China it formed a separate sect.
However, Vajrayana Buddhism became extinct in China but survived in
elements of Japan's Shingon and Tendai sects.
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 passed on orally
first and only written down long after the Buddha's other
teachings. 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 theories 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.
In one of
the first major contemporary academic treatises on the subject,
Fairfield
University
professor Ronald M. Davidson argues that the
rise of Vajrayana was in part a reaction to the changing political
climate in India at the time. With the fall of the
Gupta dynasty, in an increasingly fractious political
environment, institutional Buddhism had difficulty attracting
patronage, and the folk movement led by
siddhas became more prominent. After perhaps two
hundred years, it had begun to get integrated into the monastic
establishment.
Vajrayana combined and developed a variety of elements, a number of
which had already existed for centuries. In addition to the
Mahāyāna scriptures, Vajrayāna Buddhists recognise a large body of
Buddhist Tantras,
some of which are also included in Chinese and Japanese collections
of Buddhist literature, and versions of a few even in the
Pali Canon.
Buddhist texts
Buddhist scriptures and other texts exist in great variety.
Different schools of Buddhism place varying levels of value on
learning the various texts. Some schools venerate certain texts as
religious objects in themselves, while others take a more
scholastic approach. Buddhist scriptures are written in these
languages:
Pāli,
Tibetan,
Mongolian,
Chinese, along with some texts that still
exist in
Sanskrit and
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.
Unlike many religions, Buddhism has no single central text that is
universally referred to by all traditions. However, some scholars
have referred to the
Vinaya Pitaka and
the first four Nikayas of the
Sutta
Pitaka as the common core of all Buddhist traditions. However,
this could be considered misleading, as Mahāyāna considers these
merely a preliminary, and not a core, teaching, the Tibetan
Buddhists have not even translated most of the āgamas, though
theoretically they recognize them, and they play no part in the
religious life of either clergy or laity in China and Japan. Other
scholars say there is no universally accepted common core. The size
and complexity of the Buddhist canons have been seen by some
(including Buddhist social reformer
Babasaheb Ambedkar) as presenting
barriers to the wider understanding of Buddhist philosophy.
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
vinaya. The Pāli sutras,
along with other, closely related scriptures, are known to the
other schools as the
āgamas.
Over the years, various attempts have been made to synthesize a
single Buddhist text that can encompass all of the major principles
of Buddhism. In the
Theravada tradition,
condensed 'study texts' were created that combined popular or
influential scriptures into single volumes that could be studied by
novice monks.
Later in Sri Lanka
, the Dhammapada was
championed as a unifying scripture.
Dwight
Goddard collected a sample of
Buddhist scriptures, with the emphasis on Zen, along with other
classics of
Eastern philosophy,
such as the
Tao Te Ching, into his
'Buddhist Bible' in the 1920s. More recently, Dr.
Babasaheb Ambedkar attempted to create a
single, combined document of Buddhist principles in
"The Buddha and His Dhamma". Other such efforts
have persisted to present day, but currently there is no single
text that represents all Buddhist traditions.
Pāli Tipitaka
The Pāli Tipitaka, which means "three baskets", refers to its three
main:
- The Vinaya Pitaka contains
disciplinary rules for the Buddhist monks and
nuns, as well as explanations of why and how
these rules were instituted, supporting material, and doctrinal
clarification.
- The Sutta Pitaka contains
discourses ascribed to Gautama
Buddha.
- The Abhidhamma Pitaka
contains material often described as systematic expositions of the
Gautama Buddha's teachings.
The Pāli Tipitaka is the only early Tipitaka (Sanskrit:
Tripiṭaka) to survive intact in its original language, but
a number of early schools had their own recensions of the Tipitaka
featuring much of the same material. We have portions of the
Tipitakas of the Sārvāstivāda, Dharmaguptaka, Sammitya,
Mahāsaṅghika, Kāśyapīya, and Mahīśāsaka schools, most of which
survive in Chinese translation only. According to some sources,
some early schools of Buddhism had five or seven pitakas.
According to the scriptures, 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 teachings.
Upāli recited the
vinaya.
Ānanda, the Buddha's personal attendant, was called
upon to recite the dhamma. These became the basis of the Tripitaka.
However, this record was initially transmitted orally in form of
chanting, and was committed to text in the last century BCE. 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 Gautama Buddha's previous lives, and various
other subjects.
Much of the material in the Canon is not specifically "Theravadin",
but is instead the collection of teachings that this school
preserved from the early, non-sectarian body of teachings.
According to Peter Harvey, it contains material which is at odds
with later Theravadin orthodoxy. He states:
The Theravadins, then, may have added texts to
the Canon for some time, but they do not appear to have tampered
with what they already had from an earlier period.
Mahayana Sutras
The
Mahayana sutras are a very broad
genre of Buddhist scriptures that the
Mjlahayana Buddhist tradition holds are original
teachings of
the Buddha. The
adherents of Mahayana accept both the early teachings and the
Mahayana sutras as authentic teachings of Gautama Buddha, and claim
they were designed for different types of persons and different
levels of spiritual understanding.
The Mahayana sutras often claim to articulate the Buddha's deeper,
more advanced doctrines, reserved for those who follow the
bodhisattva path. That path is explained as
being built upon the motivation to liberate all living beings from
unhappiness. Hence the name
Mahāyāna (lit.,
the Great
Vehicle).
According to Mahayana tradition, the Mahayana sutras were
transmitted in secret, came from other Buddhas or
Bodhisattvas, or were preserved in non-human
worlds because human beings at the time couldn't understand
them:
Approximately six hundred Mahayana sutras have survived in Sanskrit
or in
Chinese or
Tibetan translations. In addition, East
Asian Buddhism recognizes some sutras regarded by scholars to be of
Chinese rather than Indian origin.
Generally, scholars conclude that the Mahayana scriptures were
composed from the first century CE onwards: "Large numbers of
Mahayana sutras were being composed in the period between the
beginning of the common era and the fifth century." five centuries
after the historical
Gautama Buddha,
with some of them having their roots in other scriptures, composed
in the first century BCE. It was not until after the fifth century
CE that the Mahayana sutras started to influence the behavior of
mainstream Buddhists in India: "But outside of texts, at least in
India, at exactly the same period, very different—in fact seemingly
older—ideas and aspirations appear to be motivating actual
behavior, and old and established Hinnayana groups appear to be the
only ones that are patronized and supported." These texts were
apparently not universally accepted among Indian Buddhists when
they appeared; the pejorative label '
Hinayana' was applied by Mahayana supporters to
those who rejected the Mahayana sutras.
Only the Theravada school does not include the Mahayana scriptures
in its canon. As the modern Theravada school is descended from a
branch of Buddhism that diverged and established itself in Sri
Lanka prior to the emergence of the Mahayana texts, debate exists
as to whether the Theravada were historically included in the
'hinayana' designation; in the modern era, this label is seen as in
any case derogatory, and generally avoided.
Comparative studies
Buddhism provides many opportunities for comparative study with a
diverse range of subjects. For example,
dependent origination can be considered
one of Buddhism's contributions to metaphysics. Additionally,
Buddhism's emphasis on the
Middle way not
only provides a unique guideline for ethics but has also allowed
Buddhism to peacefully coexist with various differing beliefs,
customs and institutions in countries in which it has resided
throughout its history. Also, Its moral and spiritual parallels
with other systems of thought—for example, with various tenets of
Christianity—have been subjects of close study.
List of Buddhism related topics in comparative studies
See also
Footnotes
- Info on Bodhgaya
- "Buddhism". (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved
November 26, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library
Edition.
- Major Religions Ranked by Size
- U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report
2004. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/ Accessed 20
September 2008.
- Garfinkel, Perry. "Buddha Rising," National Geographic Dec.
2005: 88–109.
- CIA - The World Factbook
- Robinson et al., Buddhist Religions, page xx;
Philosophy East and West, vol 54, ps 269f; Williams,
Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1st ed., 1989, pp. 275f (2nd
ed., 2008, p. 266)
- UNESCO, Lumbini is the birthplace of the Lord Buddha, Gethin
Foundations, p. 19, which states that in the mid-3rd
century BCE the Emperor Ashoka determined that Lumbini was the Buddha's
birthplace and thus installed a pillar there with the inscription:
"... this is where the Buddha, sage of the Śākyas, was born."
- For instance, Gethin Foundations, p. 14, states: "The
earliest Buddhist sources state that the future Buddha was born
Siddhārtha Gautama (Pali Siddhattha Gotama), the son of a local
chieftain—a rājan—in Kapilavastu (Pali Kapilavatthu) what
is now the Indian-Nepalese border." However, Professor Gombrich
(Theravada Buddhism, p. 1) and the old but specialized
study by Edward Thomas, The Life of the Buddha, ascribe
the name Siattha/fitta to later sources.
- The Life of the Buddha: The Four Sights, "On the first
visit he encountered an old man. On the next excursion he
encountered a sick man. On his third excursion, he encountered a
corpse being carried to cremation. Such sights sent home to him the
prevalence of suffering in the world and that he too was subject to
old age, sickness and death. On his fourth excursion, however, he
encountered a holy man, or sadhu, apparently content and at peace
with the world."
- Wild mind Buddhist Meditation, The Buddha's biography: Spiritual Quest and
Awakening
- Keown, Dictionary Of Buddhism, p. 267
- Skilton, Concise, p. 25
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism Vol. 1, p. 352
- Carrithers, Michael. "The Buddha," in the Oxford University
paperback Founders of Faith, 1986, p. 10.
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, using कर्मन् as input
- Journal of Buddhist Ethics: "Zen as a Social Ethics of Responsiveness"
(PDF), T.P. Kasulis, Ohio State
University
- Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 40
- Sanskrit-English, Dictionary, with फल as input
- Dr. Richard K. Payne (ed.), Tantric Buddhism in East
Asia, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2006, p. 74
- Lopez, Story of Buddhism. p. 239
- Lopez, Buddhism. p. 248
- Keown, Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 1996, p.
107
- Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 34
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume Two), p.
711
- The 31 Planes of Existence
(PDF), Ven. Suvanno
Mahathera
- Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 33
- André Bareau, Les Sectes bouddhiques du Petit
Véhicule, École Française d'Extrême-Orient, Saigon, 1955, pp.
212–223: the top of p. 212 says "Voici les thèses des Theravâdin du
Mahâvihâra:" ("Here are the theses of the Theravadins of the
Mahavihara"); then begins a numbered list of doctrines over the
following pages, including on p. 223 "Il n'y a que cinq
(pañca) destinées (gati) ... les Asura
Kâlakañjika ont même couleur (samânavanna), même
nourriture (samânabhoga), mêmes aliments
(samânâhâra), même durée de vie (samânâyuka) que
les Peta avec lesquels ... ils se marient (âvâhavivâham
gacchanti). Quant aux Vepacittiparisa, ils ont même
couleur, même nourriture, mêmes aliments, même durée de vie que les
Dieux, avec lesquels ils se marient." ("There are only five
destinies ... the kalakanjika asuras have the same colour, same
nourishment, same foods, same lifespan as the petas, with whom ...
they marry. As for the Vepacittiparisa, they have the same colour,
same nourishment, same foods, same lifespan as the gods, with whom
they marry.")
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Vol. 1, p.
377
- The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. A Translation of the
Samyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Translator. Wisdom
Publications.
- In what is said in Theravada to be the Buddha's first sermon,
the Dhammacakkappavattana
Sutta, which was given to the five ascetics with whom he
had practiced austerities. He talks about the Middle Way, the noble
eightfold path and the Four Noble Truths.
- See for example: The Four Noble Truths
- Gethin, Foundations, p. 60
- (2004), Volume One, p. 296
- Harvey, Introduction, p. 47
- Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 92
- Eliot, Japanese Buddhism, Edward Arnold, London, 1935,
p. 60
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, with सम्यक् as input
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, with दृष्टि as input
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, with संकल्प as input
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, with वाच् as input
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, with कर्मन् as input
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, with आजीवन as input
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, with व्यायाम as input
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, with स्मृति as input
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, with समाधि as input
- Eliot, Japanese Buddhism, Edward Arnold, London, 1935,
pages 59f
- Kohn, Shambhala, pp. 131, 143
- Jeffrey Po, “Is Buddhism a Pessimistic Way of Life?”
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, The Not-Self Strategy, See Point 3 The
Canon quote Thanissaro Bhikkhu draws attention to is the
Sabbasava Sutta.
- This twelve nidana scheme can be found, for instance,
in multiple discourses in the Samyutta Nikaya's chapter 12,
Nidana Vagga (e.g., see SN 12.2, Thanissaro, 1997a). Other "applications" of
what might be termed "mundane dependent origination" include the
nine-nidana scheme of DN 15 (e.g., Thanissaro, 1997b) and the ten-nidana scheme of
SN 12.65
(e.g., Thanissaro, 1997c). So-called "transcendental
dependent origination" (also involving twelve nidanas) is described
in SN
12.23 (e.g., see Bodhi, 1995). In addition, DN 15 describes an
eleven-nidana scheme (starting with "feeling") that leads to
interpersonal suffering ("the taking up of sticks and knives;
conflicts, quarrels, and disputes; accusations, divisive speech,
and lies").
- Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, page 56
- Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 57
- Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 58
- Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 59
- Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 60
- Christian Lindtner, Master of Wisdom. Dharma
Publishing 1997, p. 324.
- Dan
Lusthaus, "What is and isn't Yogacara"
- Welch, Practice of Chinese Buddhism, Harvard, 1967, p.
395
- The Theravada
commentary on the Nettipakarana, ascribed to Dhammapala, says (Pali
pamāṇa is equivalent to Sanskrit pramāṇa):
"na hi pāḷito aññaṃ pamāṇataraṃ atthi (quoted in
Pali
Text Society edition of the Nettipakarana, 1902, p.
xi) which Nanamoli translates as: "for there is no other criterion
beyond a text" (The Guide, Pali Text Society, 1962, p.
xi
- MN
72 (Thanissaro, 1997). For further discussion of
the context in which these statements was made, see Thanissaro (2004).
- "Experience is ... the path most elaborated in early Buddhism.
The doctrine on the other hand was kept low. The Buddha avoided
doctrinal formulations concerning the final reality as much as
possible in order to prevent his followers from resting content
with minor achievements on the path in which the absence of the
final experience could be substituted by conceptual understanding
of the doctrine or by religious faith, a situation which sometimes
occurs, in both varieties, in the context of Hindu systems of doctrine", Karel Werner,
Mysticism and Indian Spirituality. In Karel Werner, ed.,
The Yogi and the Mystic. Curzon Press, 1989: p. 27.
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "Introduction to the Avyakata Samyutta"
- Gadjin M. Nagao, Madhyamika and Yogachara. Leslie S.
Kawamura, translator, SUNY Press, Albany 1991, pp. 40–41.
- Sue Hamilton, Early Buddhism. Routledge, 2000, page
135.
- Philosophy East and West. Vol. 26, p. 138
- The Sovereign All-Creating Mind tr. by E.K.
Neumaier-Dargyay, pp. 111–112.
- Professor C. D. Sebastian, Metaphysics and Mysticism in
Mahayana Buddhism, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 2005, p.
274)
- A. K.
Warder, Indian Buddhism. Third edition published by
Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 2000, pages 132-133.
- David J. Kalupahana, A History of
Buddhist Philosophy: Continuities and Discontinuities.
University of Hawaii Press, 1992, page 43: [1].
- Alexander Wynne, The Origin of Buddhist Meditation.
2007, page 109.
- Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1989, p.
2
- Kalama Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya III.65
- Spoken
Sanskrit, Dictionary, with निर्वन as input
- raga, Pali-English Dictionary, The Pali Text
Society
- dosa, Pali-English Dictionary, The Pali Text
Society
- moha, Pali-English Dictionary, The Pali Text
Society
- Routledge Encyclopedia of Buddhism. 2007. p. 611
- Access to Insight, a Theravada Buddhist
website, discusses Buddha Eras
- Gautama Buddha discusses tne Maitreya Buddha in the
Tipitaka
- Kogen Mizuno, Essentials of Buddhism, Shunju-sha,
1972, English translation, Kosei, Tokyo, 1996, p. 57
- Dispeller of Delusion. Vol. II. Pali Text Society, p.
184
- Cook, Hua-yen Buddhism, Pennsylvania State University
Press, 1977, p. 110f
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Vol. 1, page
351
- Harvey, p. 170
- Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha, tr. Nanamoli,
rev. Bodhi, Wisdom Publications, 1995, pp. 708f
- Professor C.D. Sebastian, Metaphysics and Mysticism in
Mahayana Buddhism, Sri Satguru Publications, Bibliotheca
Indo-Buddhica Series No. 238, Delhi, 2005, p. 83
- Professor C.D. Sebastian, Metaphysics and Mysticism in
Mahayana Buddhism, Delhi, 2005, p. 82
- Stewart McFarlane in Peter Harvey, ed., Buddhism.
Continuum, 2001, page 187.
- Stewart McFarlane in Peter Harvey, ed., Buddhism.
Continuum, 2001, pages 195-196.
- Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A
Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo.
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, page 89. He is quoting
Carrithers.
- B. Alan Wallace, Contemplative Science. Columbia
University Press, 2007, p. 81.
- Welch, Practice of Chinese Buddhism, Harvard, 1967, p.
396
- Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism. Cambridge
University Press, 1990, page 144.
- Damien Keown, Charles S Prebish, editors, Encyclopedia of
Buddhism. Routledge, 2007. p. 502
- Sarah Shaw, Buddhist Meditation: An Anthology of Texts from
the Pāli Canon. Routledge, 2006, page 13. Shaw also notes that
discourses on meditation are addressed to "bhikkhave," but that in
this context the terms is more generic than simply (male) "monks"
and refers to all practitioners, and that this is confirmed by
Buddhaghosa.
- According to Charles S. Prebish (in his Historical
Dictionary of Buddhism, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1993,
p. 287): "Although a variety of Zen 'schools' developed in Japan,
they all emphasize Zen as a teaching that does not depend on sacred
texts, that provides the potential for direct realization, that the
realization attained is none other than the Buddha nature possessed
by each sentient being ...".
- Prebish comments (op. cit., p. 244): "It presumes that
sitting in meditation itself (i.e. zazen) is an expression of Buddha
nature." The method is to detach the mind from conceptual modes of
thinking and perceive Reality directly. Speaking of Zen in general,
Buddhist scholar Stephen Hodge writes (Zen Masterclass,
Godsfield Press, 2002, pp. 12–13): "... practitioners of Zen
believe that Enlightenment, the awakening of the Buddha-mind or
Buddha-nature, is our natural state, but has been covered over by
layers of negative emotions and distorted thoughts. According to
this view, Enlightenment is not something that we must acquire a
bit at a time, but a state that can occur instantly when we cut
through the dense veil of mental and emotional obscurations."
- (Critical Sermons on the Zen Tradition, Hisamatsu
Shin'ichi, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2002, passim)
Commenting on Rinzai Zen and its Chinese founder, Linji, Hisamatsu
states: "Linji indicates our true way of being in such direct
expressions as 'True Person' and 'True Self'. It is independent of
words or letters and transmitted apart from scriptural teaching.
Buddhism doesn't really need scriptures. It is just our direct
awakening to Self ..." (Hisamatsu, op. cit., p. 46).
- Kosho Uchiyama, Opening the Hand of Thought: Approach to
Zen, Penguin Books, New York, 1993, p. 98
- Harvey, Introduction, pp. 165f
- Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1st ed., 1989,
p. 185
- Routledge Encyclopedia of Buddhism, p. 781 .
- Gethin, Sayings of the Buddha, Oxford University
Press, 2008, p. xv
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Buddhism: The foundations of
Buddhism: The cultural context. Accessed 19-07-2009
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Hinduism: History of Hinduism:
The Vedic period (2nd millennium - 7th century BCE; Challenges to
Brahmanism (6th - 2nd century BCE; Early Hinduism (2nd century BCE
- 4th century CE). Accessed 19-07-2009
- Warder, A.K. 2000. Indian Buddhism. P.32
- Y. Masih (2000) In : A Comparative Study of Religions, Motilal
Banarsidass Publ : Delhi, ISBN 8120808150 Page 18. "There is no
evidence to show that Jainism and Buddhism ever subscribed to vedic
sacrifices, vedic deities or caste. They are parallel or native
religions of India and have contributed to much to the growth of
even classical Hinduism of the present times."
- S. Cromwell Crawford, review of L. M. Joshi, Brahmanism,
Buddhism and Hinduism, Philosophy East and West (1972):
"Alongside Brahmanism was the non-Aryan Shramanic culture with its
roots going back to prehistoric times."
- “This confirms that the doctrine of transmigration is non-aryan
and was accepted by non-vedics like Ajivikism, Jainism and
Buddhism. The Indo-aryans have borrowed the theory of re-birth
after coming in contact with the aboriginal inhabitants of India.
Certainly Jainism and non-vedics [..] accepted the doctrine of
rebirth as supreme postulate or article of faith.” Masih, page
37.
- Karel Werner, The Longhaired Sage in The Yogi and
the Mystic. Karel Werner, ed., Curzon Press, 1989, page 34.
"Rahurkar speaks of them as belonging to two distinct 'cultural
strands' ... Wayman also found evidence for two distinct approaches
to the spiritual dimension in ancient India and calls them the
traditions of 'truth and silence.' He traces them particularly in
the older Upanishads, in early Buddhism, and in some later
literature."
- Gavin D. Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge
University - Press : UK ISBN 0521438780 - “The origin and doctrine
of Karma and Samsara are obscure. These concepts were certainly
circulating amongst sramanas, and Jainism and Buddhism developed
specific and sophisticated ideas about the process of
transmigration. It is very possible that the karmas and
reincarnation entered the mainstream brahaminical thought from the
sramana or the renouncer traditions.” Page 86.
- Padmanabh S. Jaini 2001 “Collected Paper on Buddhist Studies”
Motilal Banarsidass Publ 576 pages ISBN 8120817761: "Yajnavalkya’s
reluctance and manner in expounding the doctrine of karma in the
assembly of Janaka (a reluctance not shown on any other occasion)
can perhaps be explained by the assumption that it was, like that
of the transmigration of soul, of non-brahmanical origin. In view
of the fact that this doctrine is emblazoned on almost every page
of sramana scriptures, it is highly probable that it was derived
from them." Page 51.
- Govind Chandra Pande, (1994) Life and Thought of Sankaracarya,
Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 8120811046 : Early Upanishad thinkers like
Yajnavalkya were acquainted with the sramanic thinking and tried to
incorporate these ideals of Karma, Samsara and Moksa into the vedic
thought implying a disparagement of the vedic ritualism and
recognising the mendicancy as an ideal. Page 135.
- "The sudden appearance of this theory [of karma] in a
full-fledged form is likely to be due, as already pointed out, to
an impact of the wandering muni-and-shramana-cult, coming down from the pre-Vedic
non-Aryan time." Kashi Nath Upadhyaya, Early Buddhism and the
Bhagavadgita. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1998, page 76.
- Warder, A.K. 2000. Indian Buddhism. P.30-32
- Warder, A.K. 2000. Indian Buddhism. P.39
- Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. P.33
- Dharmacarini Manishini, Western Buddhist Review.
Accessed at
http://www.westernbuddhistreview.com/vol4/kamma_in_context.html
- Warder, A.K. 2000. Indian Buddhism. P.33
- Walpola
Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, pages 9-10.
- "The brahmin by caste alone, the teacher of the Veda,
is (jokingly) etymologized as the 'non-meditator'
(ajhāyaka). Brahmins who have memorized the three
Vedas (tevijja) really know nothing: it is the
process of achieving Enlightenment - what the Buddha is said to
have achieved in the three watches of that night - which
constitutes the true 'three knowledges.'" R.F. Gombrich in Paul
Williams, ed., "Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies."
Taylor and Francis 2006, page 120.
- Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A
Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo.
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, page 85.
- Richard Francis Gombrich, How Buddhism began: the conditioned
genesis of the early teachings Continuum International Publishing
Group, 1996, pages 38-39
- Michael Carrithers, The Buddha, 1983, pages 41-42. Found in
Founders of Faith, Oxford University Press, 1986.
- Alexander Wynne, The Origin of Buddhist Meditation. Routledge
2007, page 21.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Vedic religion. Accessed
19-07-2009
- Warder, A.K. 2000. Indian Buddhism. P.35
- A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and
edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi,
1993, p. 7
- Mitchell, Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2002, p.
34 & table of contents
- Skorupski, Buddhist Forum, vol I, Heritage,
Delhi/SOAS, London, 1990, p. 5; Journal of the International
Association of Buddhist Studies, vol 21 (1998), part 1, pp. 4,
11
- see also the book Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks,
University of Hawai'i Press, by Dr Gregory Schopen
- Encyclopedia of Religion, Macmillan, New York, sv
Councils, Buddhist
- Journal of the Pāli Text Society, volume XVI, p.
105)
- Janice J. Nattier and Charles S. Prebish, 1977.
Mahāsāṅghika Origins: the beginnings of Buddhist
sectarianism in History of Religions, Vol. 16, pp.
237–272
- Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 74
- "Abhidhamma Pitaka." Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate
Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.
- Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Routledge. p. 485.
- A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and
edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi,
1993, p. 8
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism. 2004, page
494
- ‘The south (of India) was then vigorously creative in producing
Mahayana Sutras’ – AK Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition, 1999,
p. 335.
- Mahayanism in all probability germinated in the south, where
the offshoots of the Mahasanghikas had their centres of activities,
but where it appeared more developed was a place somewhere in the
eastern part of India, a place where the Sarvastivadins were
predominant.' Buddhist Sects in India, Nalinaksha Dutt, Motilal
Banarsidass Publishers (Delhi), 2nd Edition, 1978, p. 243)
- ‘The sudden appearance of large numbers of (Mahayana) teachers
and texts (in North India in the second century AD) would seem to
require some previous preparation and development, and this we can
look for in the South.’ AK Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition,
1999 p. 335.
- A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and
edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi,
1993, p. 8,9
- Peter Harvey, "An Introduction to Buddhism." Cambridge
University Press, 1993, page 95.
- Dan Lusthaus, Buddhist Phenomenology. Routledge, 2002,
pages 236-237.
- Peter Harvey, "An Introduction to Buddhism." Cambridge
University Press, 1993, page 113. "There were no great Indian
teachers associated with this strand of thought."
- A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and
edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi,
1993, p. 9
- Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism, Routledge, 2nd ed, 2006,
page 135
- Carol E. Henderson, Culture and Customs of India.
Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, page 42.
- Joseph B. Tamney in William H. Swatos, editor, Encyclopedia
of Religion and Society. Rowman Altamira, 1998, page 68.
- Chinese Cultural Studies: The Spirits of Chinese
Religion
- Windows on Asia - Chinese Religions
- Religions and Beliefs in China
- SACU Religion in China
- Index-China Chinese Philosophies and
religions
- AskAsia - Buddhism in China
- BUDDHISM AND ITS SPREAD ALONG THE SILK
ROAD
- U.S. Department of States - International Religious
Freedom Report 2006: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and
Macau)
- State Attitudes to Religion (PDF), The Atlas of Religion, Joanne O'Brien
& Martin Palmer, openDemocracy.net
- Center for Religious Freedom - Survey Files
- The Range of Religious Freedom
- Major Branches of Buddhism, Adherents.com,
retrieved on 2008-01-15
- Philosophy East and West, volume 54, page 270
- Keown, Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 1996, page
12
- Smith, Buddhism; Juergensmeyer, Oxford
Handbook.
- (Harvey, 1990); (Gombrich,1984); Gethin (1998), pp. 1–2,
identifies "three broad traditions" as: (1) "The Theravāda
tradition of Sri Lanka and South-East Asia, also sometimes referred
to as 'southern' Buddhism"; (2) "The East Asian tradition of China,
Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, also sometimes referred to as 'eastern'
Buddhism"; and, (3) "The Tibetan tradition, also sometimes referred
to as 'northern' Buddhism."; Robinson & Johnson (1982) divide
their book into two parts: Part One is entitled "The Buddhism of
South Asia" (which pertains to Early Buddhism in India); and, Part
Two is entitled "The Development of Buddhism Outside of India" with
chapters on "The Buddhism of Southeast Asia," "Buddhism in the
Tibetan Culture Area," "East Asian Buddhism" and "Buddhism Comes
West; Penguin handbook of Living Religions, 1984, page
279; Prebish & Keown, Introducing Buddhism, ebook,
Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 2005, printed ed, Harper, 2006
- See e.g. the multi-dimensional classification in
Encyclopedia of Religion, Macmillan, New York, 1987,
volume 2, pages 440ff
- A Comparative Study of the Schools, Tan Swee
Eng
- Gethin, Foundations, page 1
- Clarke & Beyer, The World's Religions, Routledge,
2009, page 86
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), pages
430, 435
- Prebish & Keown, Introducing Buddhism, page
89
- A.K. Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition (2000)
- Eliot, Japanese Buddhism, Edward Arnold, London, 1935,
page 16
- Gethin, Sayings of the Buddha, Oxford University
Press, 2008, page xiv
- Journal of the Pali Text Society, volume XVI, page
114
- Peter Harvey, The Selfless Mind. Curzon Press, 1995,
page 9.
- MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page
494
- Thelema & Buddhism (PDF) in Journal of Thelemic Studies, Vol.
1, No. 1, Autumn 2007, pp. 18-32
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- ; reprinted in Williams, Buddhism, volume I; NB in the
online transcript a little text has been accidentally omitted: in
section 4, between "... none of the other contributions in this
section envisage a date before 420 B.C." and "to 350 B.C." insert
"Akira Hirakawa defends the short chronology and Heinz Bechert
himself sets a range from 400 B.C."
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Bary (ed.), A.L. Bashram, R.N. Dandekar, Peter Hardy, J.B.
Harrison, V. Raghavan, Royal Weiler, and Andrew Yarrow (1958;
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Online
External links