Buddhism

• buddhism

  • a philosophy that is also a religion
  • guideline of how man should consider life and how it should be lived
  • is a reform movement against the state of hindu doctrine and practices at the time
  • they reject the authority of the vedas and brahamanas
  • established a way to human liberation solely through human effort and rejecting supernatural intervention
• buddhism

  • true happiness isnt obtained solely through temple offerings but living a moral life
  • founder is siddharta gautama
  • no concept of god
  • buddha is not god, just an enlightened person
  • does not deny other religion's truth; tries to supplement them
• siddharta gautama

  • born in lumbini nepal
  • born to the royal family of sakyas who are the leaders of the clan shalyas
  • he was then later known as:

  - sakyamuni (sage of sakya tribe)

  - bhagavat (blessed one)

  - tathagata (he who came in the same way)

  - buddha (enlightened one)

  
  

  • reason for suffering: ignorance
• siddharta gautama

  • he married at 16
  • he had a son named rahula which means "fetter" -- law
  • at 29, he secretly left his family in pursuit of spiritual understanding
  • to fulfill the prophecy and preparation for his reign, his father prevented him from ever leaving the palace to avoid him seeing ugliness and suffering
  • he left the palace 4 times, there he had four realizations
• four realizations

  1. old man - nobody can escape old age
  2. sick man - nobody is exempted from sickness
  3. dead man - everyone has their time
  4. ascetic man - religious conquest toward contentment
• at buddha gaya, gautama sat under a fig tree and meditated for 40 days and 40 nights, he was tempted by the devil but in the middle of the night, enlightenment came and he became buddha
• gautama taught for 40 years, and at 80, he entered pari nirvana (perfect nirvana). which is basically just death
• teaching in canon of the sacred scriptures:

  two main forms (language):

  1. pali (chinese ver)
  2. sanskrit (tibetan ver)

  3 parts (which is also called the tripitaka, the triple basket):

  1. sutras - sermons and fables
  2. vinaya - monastic laws
  3. avhidarma - moral and metaphysical treatises
• brahman - person originally is united with; the person accidentally is born into this earthly life, acquiring an atman
• atman - the soul and the whole personal life of the person; individual self
• reincarnation - cycle of birth and rebirth

  • a punishment for failing to live a moral and holy life
  • person continues to be immoral > atman continues to be imprisoned in the body
  • also a purificatory process that will free the soul from impurities and imperfections
• nirvana - sinless, calm sate of mind, destruction of earthly desires, absence of lust, no sorrows

  • when atman is worthy to reunite with brahman
  • state of nothingness
  • literally means "extinction"
• fourfold noble truth

  • reason for suffering in preparation for nirvana
  • this is important if you intend to eliminate life's sufferings

  1. life is suffering
  2. suffering involves a chain of causes
  3. suffering can cease
  4. there is a path that leads to the cessation of suffering
• noble eightfold path

  • buddhist guide to life
  • guideline to how cravings and thirst can be eliminated

  1. right view
  2. right intention
  3. right speech
  4. right action - 5 precepts

  • thou shall not kill
  • thou shall not steal
  • thou shall not lie
  • thou shall not have illicit sexual relations
  • thou shall not take alcoholic drinks

  5. right livelihood

  6. right effort

  7. right concentration

  8. right contemplation
• ahimsa - what every human is obliged to follow

  • virtue of not harming
  • buddhists duty to neighbor
  • can be reduced to 3 essential virtues

  1. maitri - loving kindness
  2. dana - perfected by danaparamita; "giving"
  3. karuna - virtue for person to act to lead others to sanctification
• 2 essential characteristics of good action:

  1. universality
  2. disinterestedness
• zen buddhism

  • zazen - sit meditation
  • kinhin - walk meditation
  • both practiced to achieve satori-- enlightenment
  • satori may even come during ordinary activities; reason why zen has developed many arts, from swordsmanship to flower arranging
• pure land buddhism

  • importance of developing a relationship w buddha
• meditation

  • essential in their devotion to buddha
  • can be done anywhere
  • shrine: stupa
• new year

  • new moon of february
  • new life
  • mistakes symbolically swept away by sweeping the house
• vaishakha festival

  • 8th day, second lunar month
  • a time to remember buddha and his life
  • has a procession
• hana matsuri

  • april 8
  • japanese celebration of buddhas birth
• pirit

  • sri lankan version of warding off evil spirits
  • curing the sick
  • reading a passage for seven days