Part 1: Buddhism Part 2: Hinduism

Theme: How religions adapt and change

Lesson 13

Part 1: Buddhism

Lesson 13

Early Buddhism in India

• Founded by Siddhartha Gautama (born about 563 B.C.)

• According to legend, Gautama was raised in a pampered lifestyle but then he encountered an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a monk– Gautama was impressed by the monk and

himself determined to take up an ascetic, wandering life to help him understand the phenomenon of suffering

Siddhartha Gautama• About 534 B. C., Gautama

left his family to take up the existence of a holy man

• Intense meditation and extreme asceticism did not enlighten him sufficiently

• One day he resolved to sit under a large bo tree until he understood the problem of suffering

• For 49 days he withstood various temptations and threats from demons and finally received enlightenment– Thus Gautama became

the Buddha– “the enlightened one”

The Buddha by Odilon Redon

Buddhist Doctrine

• Buddha announced his doctrine publicly at the Deer Park of Sarnath in 528 B.C.

• Delivered the “Turning of the Wheel of Law” sermon which marked the beginning of Buddha’s quest to promulgate the law of righteousness Dhamekha Stupa is believed to

mark the place of Buddha’s first sermon

Four Noble Truths

• All life involves suffering

• Desire is the cause of suffering

• Elimination of desire brings an end to suffering

• A disciplined life in accordance with the Noble Eightfold Path brings the elimination of desire

Noble Eightfold Path

• Lead a balanced and moderate life

• Reject both the devotion to luxury often found in human society and the regimes of extreme asceticism favored by hermits

• Right belief• Right resolve• Right speech• Right behavior• Right occupation• Right effort• Right

contemplation• Right meditation

Dharma

• Taken together, the teachings of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path constitute dharma, the basic doctrine shared by all Buddhists

6th Century Buddha sitting on a lotus blossom which symbolizes purity and strength because it is able to thrive

and grow even in murky water

The Middle Path or Moderate Way

• Avoid extremes– either an overt pursuit of passionate worldly desire or extreme asceticism

• Live a moderate lifestyle characterized by quiet contemplation, thoughtful reflection, and disciplined self-control– Reduces desire for material goods and other

worldly attractions– Eventually results in detachment from the

world itself

Nirvana

• Living this lifestyle will lead to personal salvation– escape from the cycle of incarnation and the attainment of nirvana– Nirvana is the

state of perfect spiritual independence

The Wheel of Dharma symbolizes samsara, the continuous cycle of birth, life,

and death. One is liberated from this endless cycle of rebirth when nirvana is

achieved.

Buddhism’s Popularity in India

• Did not recognize social distinctions based on caste – Appealed strongly to members of lower castes

• Did not demand rigorous asceticism• Popular with merchants who used Buddhist

monasteries as inns• Taught in vernacular language to reach a

popular audience• Holy sites and shrines facilitated pilgrimages

Buddhist Organization

• Organization proved efficient in spreading Buddhism and winning converts– Most highly motivated converts joined

monastic communities– Pious lay supporters provided the

monasteries with land, buildings, finances, and materials

– The monks spent much of their time preaching

Monasteries

• Early Indian education was informal, mostly involving just a sage and his students

• Buddhists organized monasteries and began offering regular instruction and established educational institutions

• Most famous monastery was at Nalanda Ruins of monastery at

Nalanda

Developments within Buddhism

• Between the 3rd Century B.C. and the 1st Century A.D., three new developments in Buddhist thought and practice reduced obligations of believers, opened new avenues to salvation, and brought explosive popularity to the faith– Nature of Buddha– Notion of boddhisatva– Appeal to the wealthy

Nature of Buddha

• Buddha had not considered himself divine, but some of his followers began to worship him as a god

• This gave Buddhism a devotional focus that helped converts channel their spiritual energies and identify more closely with the faith

Boddhisatvas

• Boddhisatvas (“an enlightened being”) were individuals who had reached spiritual perfection and merited the reward of nirvana, but intentionally delayed their entry in order to help others who were still struggling– Served as a source of inspiration and

examples of spiritual excellence

Appeal to the Wealthy

• Monasteries began to accept gifts from wealthy individuals and consider them acts of generosity that merited salvation

• Now wealthy individuals could enjoy the comforts of the world and still ensure their salvation

Mahayana Buddhism

• These innovations opened the way for larger numbers of people so the faith was called Mahayana (“the greater vehicle” which could carry people to salvation)

• The old doctrine became known as Hinayana (“the lesser vehicle”)

• Mahayana Buddhism spread rapidly throughout India, largely because of educational institutions that promoted the faith

Establishment of Buddhism in China

• Buddhist merchants visited China as early as the 2nd Century B.C. but made little headway against Confucianism

• With the demise of the Han Dynasty, Confucianism suffered a loss of credibility– The purpose of Confucianism was to maintain

public order and provide honest, effective government

– In the age of warlords and nomadic invasions, Confucianism appeared to have failed

Establishment of Buddhism

• Originally Buddhism took root in the oases along the trade routes

• By the 4th Century A.D., a sizeable Buddhist community had emerged at Dunhuang in western China– At Dunhuang two

branches of the Silk Road join together

Dunhuang

• Between 600 and 1000 A.D., Buddhists built hundreds of cave temples around Dunhuang depicting scenes of Buddha

• Assembled libraries of religious literature

• Supported missionaries which spread Buddhism throughout China

Boddhisattva Avalokitesvara, south wall, Cave 45

Buddhism in China

• Buddhism attracted Chinese because of its high standards of morality, its intellectual sophistication, and its promise of salvation

• Buddhists monasteries became important elements of the local economies– Monasteries became sizeable estates due to

contributions of wealthy converts– Cultivated lands extensively and distributed a portion

of the harvest in times of drought, famine, or other hardship

Buddhism in China

• In some ways, Buddhism posed a challenge to Chinese cultural and social traditions– Buddhist morality encouraged serious Buddhists to

follow a celibate, monastic lifestyle– Chinese morality centered on the family unit and

obligations of filial piety• It strongly encouraged procreation so that new

generations could venerate family ancestors• Buddhism was also seen as economically

harmful because the monasteries did not pay taxes and suspicious because of its foreign origin

Buddhism and Daoism

• To alleviate the tension, Buddhist missionaries tried to tailor their message to Chinese audiences– They explained Buddhist concepts in familiar

Chinese vocabulary, particularly Daoism– Continued to encourage monasteries and

celibacies but also reaffirmed the validity of family life

• Taught that one son in the monastery would bring salvation to ten generations of his kin

Chan Buddhism• The result was a Buddhism with

Chinese characteristics• The most popular school of

Buddhism in China was Chan (Zen in Japanese)– Deemphasized written texts

and instead focused on intuition and sudden flashes of insight in the search for spiritual enlightenment (like Daoists)

• Xuanzang and other pilgrims traveled to India to visit the holy places and returned to expand Buddhism’s popularity in China

Xuanzang

Hostility

• Daoists resented Buddhism’s encroachment on their following

• Confucians objected to Buddhism’s exaltation of celibacy and condemned Buddhist monasteries as wasteful and unproductive burdens on society

• Tang emperors ordered the closure of monasteries but the measure was not thoroughly implemented

• Buddhism maintained its popularity

Buddha from the mid-Tang Dynasty (712-781)

Buddhism and Confucianism

• Song emperors did not persecute Buddhists, but they actively supported native Chinese cultural traditions in order to limit the influence of foreign religions– Contributed particularly to the Confucians

• Song Confucians found much to admire in Buddhism and became influenced by it– The result was called neo-Confucianism which

rejected Buddhism as a faith but adapted Buddhist themes and reasoning to Confucian interests and values

Part 2: Hinduism

Lesson 13

Hinduism

• While Buddhism was growing and evolving in China, Hinduism gradually displaced Buddhism as the most popular religion in India

• Like Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism experienced changes in doctrine and practices to more effectively address the interests and needs of ordinary people

Roots of Hinduism: The Vedas• The Vedas (“Wisdom”) were

collections of prayers and hymns of the Indo-European Aryans who migrated into India around 1500 B.C.– Reflect the knowledge that

priests needed to carry out their functions

• The Aryans developed a social structure with sharp distinctions between individuals and groups according to the occupations and roles in society– These distinctions became

the basis of the caste system

– Brahmins (priests) were at the top of the caste system

Fanciful depiction of the Indo-Aryans entering India

Roots of Hinduism: The Vedas

• The Vedas required ritual sacrifices by which the Aryans hoped to win favor of the gods– Gods required constant attention– Proper honor for the gods required households to

have brahmins perform no less than five sacrifices per day

– As time passed, many Aryans, to include the brahmins became dissatisfied with the sacrificial cults of the Vedas, viewing them as sterile rituals rather than genuine means of communicating with the gods

– Sought something to satisfy their spiritual longings

Roots of Hinduism: The Dravidians

• Beginning about 800 B.C., many individuals retreated into the forests of the Ganges Valley, lived as hermits, and contemplated on the relationships between human beings, the world, and the gods

• They drew inspiration from the Dravidians who believed human souls took on new physical forms after the death of their bodily hosts– Transmigration and

reincarnation: An individual soul could depart one body at death and become associated with another body through a new birth

Idyllic representation of the Dravidians before the arrival of

the Indo-Aryans

Roots of Hinduism: The Upanishads

• Aryan and Dravidian values began to blend

• The Upanishads were Indian reflections and dialogues from around 800-400 B.C. that reflected basic Hindu concepts– Upanishads means “a sitting in front of” and

refers to the practice of disciples gathering before a sage for discussion of religious issues

Roots of Hinduism: The Upanishads

• Upanishads taught that appearances are deceiving, that individual human beings are not separate and autonomous creatures– Instead, each person participates in a larger cosmic

order and forms a small part of a universal soul (Brahman)

• The physical world is a theater of change instability, and illusion

• The Brahman is an external, unchanging, permanent foundation of all things that exist– the only genuine reality

Roots of Hinduism: The Upanishads

• Individuals souls were born into the physical world not once, but many times

• Souls appear most often as humans, but sometimes as animals, plants, or other vegetable matter

• The highest goal of the individual soul is to escape this cycle of birth and rebirth and enter into permanent union with Brahman

Roots of Hinduism: Teachings of the Upanishads

• Samsara– Upon death, individual souls go temporarily to the

World of the Fathers and then return in new incarnation

• Karma– “Now as a man is like this or like that, according as he

acts and according as he behaves, so will he be: a man of good acts will become good, a man of bad acts, bad. He becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds.”

• Brhadaranyaka Upanishad

Roots of Hinduism: Teachings of the Upanishads

• Mosksha– The goal (escaping the

cycle of rebirth)– A deep, dreamless sleep

that came with permanent liberation from physical incarnation

– Obtained by asceticism and meditation

• Separation from the physical world to merge with Brahman

Shiva: The Lord of Yoga meditating on Mount Kailasa in

the Himalayas

The Emergence of Popular Hinduism

• Bhagavad Gita– Short poem finalized around 400 A.D. which

represented the new Hindu ethical teaching that promised salvation to those who participated actively in the world and met their caste responsibilities

• Contrast with the Upanishads that taught that individuals could escape the cycle of incarnation only through renunciation and detachment from the world

The Emergence of Popular Hinduism

• Bhagavad Gita and other new teachings made life easier for the lay classes

• Individuals should meet their responsibilities in a detached fashion without striving for reward or recognition

• Perform your duties faithfully, concentrating on your actions alone, with no thought of the consequences

Four Principal Aims of Human Life

• Dharma– Obedience to religious and moral laws

• Artha– The pursuit of economic well-being and honest

prosperity• Kama

– The enjoyment of social, physical, and sexual pleasure

• Moksha– The salvation of the soul

• A proper balance of dharma, artha, and kama would help an individual attain moksha

Popularity Spreads

• As devotional Hinduism evolved and became increasingly distinct from the Upanishads and the brahmins, its appeal spread across Indian society

• Hinduism gradually displaced Buddhism as the most popular religion in India

• Buddhist monks began to confine themselves to their monasteries rather than actively seeking to spread their message

Major World ReligionsSource: About, Inc

http://christianity.about.com/library/weekly/blreligiontop.htm

Religion Members

Christianity 2 BillionIslam 1.2 Billion Hinduism 785 Million Buddhism 360 Million Judaism 17 Million Sikhism 16 MillionBaha‘i 5 MillionConfucianism 5 MillionJainism 4 MillionShintoism 3 MillionWicca .7 MillionZoroastrianism .2 Million

Religion Today in China and India

• China is officially atheist. – The CIA World

Factbook estimates Daoists, Buddhists, and Muslims make up 1%-2% of China’s population and Christians make up 3%-4%

– Population of 1,330,044,544

• The CIA World Factbook reports India is – 81.3% Hindu – 12% Muslim – 2.3% Christian – 1.9% Sikh – 2.5% other groups

including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi

Distribution of Buddhists TodaySource: http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_buddhist.html

Country %

Thailand 95Cambodia 90Myanmar 88Bhutan 75Sri Lanka 70Tibet 65Laos 60Vietnam 55Japan 50Macau 45Taiwan 43

Country Numberof

Buddhists

China 102,000,000Japan 89,650,000Thailand 55,480,000Vietnam 49,690,000Myanmar 41,610,000Sri Lanka 12,540,000South Korea 10,920,000Taiwan 9,150,000Cambodia 9,130,000India 7,000,000

Buddhism Today: the Dalai Lama

• Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th Dalai Lama– His followers consider him a

living Buddha, the incarnation of the Buddha of Compassion

• Unsuccessfully tried to protect Tibet’s rights after China invaded– Ultimately fled to Dharamsala,

India where he currently leads Tibet’s government in exile

– Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989

• In 2007 China made it illegal for the Dalai Lama to reincarnate without government permission!

Next

• Judaism and Christianity