Buddhist Teaching

World ReligionsChapter 4Lecture 2

Most Buddhists revere Gautama Buddha

But it is his teachings that are core of Buddhist belief and practice

Dharma

The collection of Buddhist teaching is called the Dharma.

The challenge of understanding Buddhist teaching

Is that they presuppose a deep experience of meditation.

Buddha himself seemed to think that only a few would fit for the task.

Buddhist teaching does has a simple aspect –

These are the reflections of a human being – and are not dependent on divine revelation.

It does not depend heavily on faith – but on gained wisdom and practice

Although Buddhism shares many ideas with Hinduism

Much of the Buddha’s teaching was a response to what he saw as the excesses of Hindu religion in his day.

Some similarities:

1) Cosmology – Both religions share the idea that the universe is eternal, and that time is cyclical. The universe is created and destroyed over and over.

For Buddhists, the Gautama is not the first or last Buddha

He is one among many.

2) Samsara

Both traditions believe in the “wheel of rebirth”, and that people can only escape once they have achieved enlightenment – moksha in Hinduism and nirvana in Buddhism.

Nirvana means literallyTo blow out, as a candle is extinguished.

Buddha’s reactions to the Hinduism of his day were prompted by

His rejection of Brahmin rituals and speculative theology – which he thought were useless for attaining enlightenment.

He also rejected the class system.

Anyone was welcome to join his community.

While the priests kept the sacred texts secret in Sanskrit,

Buddha made sure his teachings were available in the Pali – a local dialect spoken by the common people.

The teachings of the Buddha

Focus on the predicament of individuals and their destiny.

The Buddha searched deep inside himself

And what he found may be confusing for us at first

In his exploration into the realm of the self

he realized that there is no self.

The self does not exist.

The core of the Buddha’s discovery

Is that the reality of existence is change.

Hinduism sees that at the deepest level of the human

Is the Atman – the presence of the eternal Brahman

Three Marks of ExistenceRather than finding the Atman within, the Buddha

discovered the no-self. This is called Anatta.

The essence of Buddhism

Is that there is no essence.

Anicca

Refers to the impermanence of all things.

“You can never enter the same river twice.”

All things are always changing,

And even though they appear to be real and changeless, they are not.

Dukkha

Which means “suffering”.This is the result of

anatta and anicca.

Karma

Buddhist and Hindu understanding of karma are generally the same.

Since Buddhism does not hold there is an eternal Atman

They use the analogy of a flame passing from candle to candle – the life is different but the energy is the same. The energy is what is transferred.

One’s life is entirely determined by karma – by the energy that is passed on from the moral decisions made in a previous life.

Because karma is so important

Morality is key for Buddhists.

Moral life requires following the Five Precepts:

1) Do not take life

2) Do not take what is not given

3) Do not engage in sensuous misconduct

4) Do not use false speech

5) Do not drink intoxicants

These five apply to all Buddhists

And the following apply to monks and nuns:

• Do not eat after noon• Do not watch dancing or

shows• Do not use garlands,

perfumes, or ornaments• Do not use a high or soft

bed• Do not accept gold or

silver

Buddhist morality emphasizes intention

The degree of immorality of an action depends on the intention of the actor, and not the outcome.

Right intention is primary.

The Four Noble Truths

During the Third Watch of the night of his enlightenment, Gautama perceived the 4 Noble Truths.

1) To live is to suffer

2) Suffering is caused by desire

3) Suffering can be brought to a cessation

4) The solution to suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path

The Diagnosis

The name of the first noble truth is dukkha

Translated as suffering, or frustration, or dislocation, or discomfort

The Buddha taught that all of life is suffused with dukkha

Birth, old age, disease, and death are filled with suffering

But also experiences of joy

Because they are not lasting and will never be as good as they could be

Joy always leaves us longing for more

And it is our attachment to this that causes us to suffer.

We suffer because when we don’t have these things we are disappointed and we are hurt.

Dukkha seems to be unavoidable

Because all of life is finite and changing

There is nothing enduring that we can hold on to

Buddha moves from the diagnosis of the problem

To the cause of the problem – tanha – which is translated as desire, or thirst, or craving.

How can one avoid desiring things for oneself?

Happiness? Success? A family? Are these wrong?

Buddha taught that the desire for these things will cause suffering,

And that individuals cannot avoid desiring these things, because this is what it means to be an individual.

But recall what the Buddha taught about individuality:

The self does not exist.

While we are attached to doing things for ourselves, we will suffer.

Why are you unhappy?

Because 99.9 per cent

Of everything you think,

And of everything you do,

Is for yourself –

And there isn’t one. - Wei Wu Wei

Is Buddha pessimistic?

Or merely realistic?

Buddha believes that there is a cure for this – that suffering and desire can be rooted out…

His prognosis is the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Noble Eightfold Path

Is very comprehensive – covers all the aspects of life – because suffering covers all the aspects of life.

1) Right views2) Right intentions3) Right speech4) Right conduct5) Right livelihood6) Right effort7) Right mindfulness8) Right meditation

The first two deal with wisdom

Right Views means seeing things as they really are. One must integrate the 4 Noble Truths.

If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this

sheet of paper.Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make

paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to

exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of

paper cannot be here either. - Thich Nhat Hanh

Right Intentions

Means to abandon evil attitudes like greed, hatred, and revenge, and to develop good attitudes like generosity, friendship, and insight.

One must renounce all desire, seek good will, and avoid anger, and develop compassion for all things

The next three deal with action

Right speech means to only use speech that heals and is compassionate. One must avoid all lying, all gossip, all abusive and idle talk.

Right conduct

To live morally by obeying the 5 precepts. This means to act honestly and kindly, to respect other’s possessions, and to keep sexual relationships from being harmful.

Right Livelihood

One cannot earn a living from things that harm other humans and living beings – selling weapons, liquor, being a butcher, or being a soldier.

The last three have to do with mental practice

Right effort means the energy that guides one’s life. One must control and focus one’s energy, senses, and keep alert.

Right Mindfulness

To be in complete control of one’s mental faculty. To be aware of how we think, how we judge, and to strive to be mindful always of our thoughts. To see without judging.

Right meditation

The practice of meditation that leads one to a point of prefect tranquility – when the individual self has been abandoned.

The goal is nirvana.

Buddhists look forward to the final experience of nirvana

When one is freed from this existence, like the Buddha.

But it is possible to live in this existence as an awakened “saint”,

An arhat.

The arhat has fully let go of the individual self,

And is free to act with compassion toward all things in the world.

The Buddha did not say whether or not there was life after death

The most we can say is that nirvana is the complete cessation of suffering, and is absolute peace.