Studies of Religion Textbook

8/10/2019 Studies of Religion Textbook

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Chapter outcomes

In this chapter, students:

outline the cultural and historical context in whichBuddhism began

examine the principal events in the Buddhaslife and explain why the Buddha is the model ofBuddhist life

describe the early formation of the sangha withinthe rst ve years and identify the importance of therst two councils in the development of Buddhism

outline the unique features of the major schoolsof Buddhism

investigate the principal teachings of Buddhism

identify the importance of the Tripitaka, the Lotus ofthe Good Law and the Tibetan Book of the Dead, andexamine extracts from these sacred texts and writingsthat demonstrate the principal beliefs of Buddhism

outline the principal ethical teachings in Buddhismand describe their importance in the life ofadherents

outline puja as celebrated in the home.


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Chapter 2: Buddhism

IntroductionBuddhism is a living world religion that has appearedin many different forms since it began some time duringthe sixth to fth centuries BCE in north-eastern India.Originally a response to the demands of different culturalgroups in India, it spread rapidly throughout Asia andabsorbed cultural and religious elements from a variety ofcultures. In this way, Buddhism became the very vibrantand rich religious movement it remains today.

Buddhism has always been successful in adapting to newcultures because people can practise it in many differentways, and on many different levels. Each level or way ofpractice gives meaning to the person and leads to a particularlifestylemonks or nuns, laypeople, even those who simplypractise a form of Buddhist meditation and are vegetarians(many Australians would fall into the last category).

While the Western understanding of Buddhism ischaracterised by a preference for some of its philosophicaltraditions, this is only one aspect of a complex religion.Buddhism is extremely richwe need to be aware of thetension between its various forms throughout history andthe tendency to simplify it doctrinally. Buddhism can

be approached from many differentperspectives. To fully understandBuddhism we need to recognise itsdifferent levelsboth intellectualand popularwhich contain a series

of highly intellectualised beliefs andritual practices, an assembly of monks/nuns and a formally recognised bodyof laypeople.

Originating in India, Buddhismhad spread to Sri Lanka within twocenturies. By the beginning of theCommon Era it had moved into Chinaand Burma (Myanmar), and expandedfrom these countries into the rest ofAsia. Buddhisms successful expansionis due to its ability to adapt itself tocultural and political conditions quitedifferent from those of its country oforigin. This means that any attemptto dene Buddhismeither as aphilosophy or as a set of practices andlifestyle optionsis bound to fail if itdoes not consider the richness of thesemany Buddhisms.

Despite its wide variety of forms and practices, and itsseparation into the two large schools (or branches)Theravada and MahayanaBuddhism has a number ofbasic features that are recognisable throughout its historyand across its geographical spread. Though seeminglyabstract, the Four Noble Truths provide the foundationof these basic teachings. These truths can be found, nomatter how indirectly, in all Buddhist teachings that haveevolved since the Buddhas lifetime.

1 Maintain a list in your personal workbook whereyou summarise the meanings of the key terms,concepts and ideas discussed in this chapter.

2 Create and maintain a media clippings le to dowith Buddhism and/or Buddhists over the courseof this chapter. Where relevant, include namesand descriptions of websites on these topics. Atthe conclusion of the chapter, you will analyse your le and compare the medias presentationwith what you have learnt in your study ofBuddhism.

Extension

Buddhist teacher Vidy Jayasinha at a Buddhist meditation centre in Point Clare,New South Wales


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18 Living Religion Fourth Edition

2.1 Origins

Historical and cultural origin

Glossary austerities Severe acts or practices that usually

require someone to abstain from ordeprive themselves of something.

Buddha A formal title that literally meansawakened. The Buddhas family namewas Siddhartha Gautama. He was alsocalled Shakyamuni, the sage of theShakas (the Shakas were the clan intowhich he was born).

doctrine Collective teachings (adjective: doctrinal).

enlightenment The state in which the true nature ofexistence is known both intuitively andintellectually.

Hinduism The other prominent religion of Indiaduring the Buddha s time.

sangha Name for the assembly of monks andnuns living in a given geographical area.

shramanas Wandering holy men searching forenlightenment and performingausterities such as fasting.

yogins Holy men who focus on the performanceof intensive meditational and ritualpractice for long periods.

It is hard to pinpoint the beginning of a religion becausethis incorrectly assumes we can dene religion in contrastto other cultural institutions. Nor can we assume thatthe beginning of a religion begins with the life of itsfounder, as the founder might not have been aware ofcreating a new religion. But as a set of teachings andpractices different from the existing varieties of Hinduism ,Buddhism began as a religion some time during the life of

the Buddha , who lived in either the sixth or fth centuryBCE. Its beginning is dated about six weeks after the daythe Buddha achieved enlightenment (530/527 BCE).At this time, at Sarnath, a Deer Park near Benares inIndia, ve men with whom he had practised religiousausterities , and who were also on the religious quest forenlightenment, agreed to accept the path the Buddha hadpursued to success. Through what became a formal processof ordination, they were converted as the rst monks.

The Buddha then began a wandering life that lasted forforty-ve years until he died at the age of eighty-one.During this time he converted many people as bothmonks or nuns and lay Buddhists, adopted a conspicuouslydifferent clothing style from other holy men, and

oversaw much property and wealth being granted to thesangha of monks and nuns he had set up. This meansthat in terms of doctrine , physical appearance of itsfollowers and institutional support, Buddhism began todevelop a somewhat different identity from the otherreligious movements of the time. Although it would bea few hundred years before this identity became easilyrecognised, it is these distinctive features that allow us todescribe it as a separate religion.

Buddhism originated during an era that was characterisedby economic plenty. Whereas the prior sociopoliticalsituation had been one of tribal societies and smallkingdoms, this period saw the emergence, consolidationand growth of large, centralised states, each ruled bya king with the help of a developing bureaucracy andwell-organised army. Urbanisation had been occurringsteadily for at least a century. Literary sources conrmthat what subsequently became the four classes of Hindusociety were beginning to take shape as reference pointsfor measuring social status.

Religious life during the Buddhas time was dominatedby practices that were centred on gift exchange ritualsanimal sacrices and plant offeringsdesigned tomanipulate multiple gods. These rituals were either largescale, requiring heavy nancial outlay and time or, morecommonly, small rituals performed by the eldest male of thehousehold over an open re. The philosophies underlyingthis form of religious life were to acquire material wealth onearth and to be reborn in heaven after death.

Yet alongside this was a new wave of thinking thatfocused on searching within the person, rather than inthe outside world, to nd what was considered to bethe absolute truth. Many different groups of people andcharismatic individuals taught various forms of these ideasand engaged in meditational practices. Some performed

dramatic bodily austeritiesincluding severe fasting,or remaining in one place for days without movingtodemonstrate their abhorrence toward the material world.We might call them holy men (they usually were men),ascetics or spiritual guides, but in the language of the timethey were called shramanas . Some of these people weremagicians, some were rogues, but others were serious andlearned philosophers and well-practised yogins.

Shramanas made a point of wandering from place toplace, often wearing very striking garments or no clothes


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at all, and taking every opportunity to communicatetheir teachings to anyone who would listen. Theyoffered a whole series of teachings about the nature ofthe soul, the certainty of rebirth across many lives, theuselessness of ritual, the benets of bodily austerities

and the ineffectiveness of the gods to inuence humandestiny. They argued that the material and the internal orpsychological world produced only frustration, rebirth andworld-weariness, but if the soul was discovered and knownintuitively, it was possible to escape from this potentiallyendless round of unsatisfactory rebirths.

The Buddha was one such charismatic individual andBuddhism arose as one of these movements. But whilemost of the others fell away, the Buddha was able to attracta following and, importantly, to institutionalise it in such away that it was able to ourish following his own death.

It is often said that the rise of the shramana movement,and therefore of Buddhism, was caused by the signicantsocioeconomic changes that occurred in the century before(and continued during) the Buddhas life. But why wouldreligious movements so passionate about denying the valueof the material world arise in times of economic plenty?

This mystery becomes even more signicant when yourealise that the doctrine of dukkha, inadequately translatedas unsatisfactoriness (see pages 289), is one of the centraldoctrines of early Buddhist teaching. It is as if the kind ofanxiety about existence indicated by this term reected adeep dissatisfaction among the shramana groups towards

the world around them. All held the view that existencewas unsatisfactory, but this could not have been becauseof the economic conditions they lived under. One possibleexplanation is that there might have been a high rate ofdisease in the area of north-eastern India where the Buddhalived, making death unpredictable, frequent and highlyvisible. In this situation, it would be rational to developworld-denying beliefs where the religious quest centred ontranscending the possibilities of (repeated) death.

1 In point form, clarify the characteristics ofreligious life in the Buddhas time.

2 Describe the signicance of holy men in ancientIndia in the Buddhas time.

3 What was the shramana movement and whatview did shramanas hold about existence?

4 Prepare a chart to outline the historical andcultural context in which Buddhism began.

Review

The Buddhalife andenlightenment

Glossary buddhahood The view that all beings have within them

the potentiality to become a Buddha andpossess enlightening knowledge.

dhamma The complete body of the teachings( dharma ) of the Buddha or any other teacher.

Dhamma is a Pali word based on theSanskrit word dharma . It is used in thischapter unless it occurs as dharma in aname. Buddhist texts were composedin both Sanskrit and Pali and so bothspellings will be found in Buddhistliterature. The meaning is identical inboth cases.

nirvana The state of no suffering, desire or senseof self that results from enlightenment;the extinction of desire.

schismatic A word describing the process wherea group that has come together on thebasis of common belief begins to splitinto different groups.

Figure 2.1.1 The Buddha seated in meditation in the position ofa yogin with two attendants, 82 CE. This sculpture, carved fromred sandstone, comes from the city of Mathura, India. It is anearly example of the Buddha rendered in human form.


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INDIAN

OCEAN

B A N G L

A D E S H

INDIA

LUMBINI

Birthplace of the Buddha 566/563BCE, now located near theNepal-India border north of Gorakhpur. The sacred place,marked by a stone pillar erected by King Ashoka of Indiain 249 BCE, is listed as one of the World Heritage Sites.

SHRAVASTI

In the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,

where, according to legend, the Buddhaperformed a miracle.

KUSHINAGAR

It is here that the Buddha is said to have died

and so attained the final release from the cycleof birth and death. Kushinagar is situated in thenorth Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 51 km fromGorakhpur, and is one of the principal centres ofBuddhist pilgrimage.

VAISHALI

It is here, legend says, that the Buddhas auntMahapajapati made her request to allow womento be ordained as monks. The second great councilwas held here in 386 BCE. Today Vaishali is locatedin Bihar State.

SARNATH

Here, in the Deer Park, the Buddha first proclaimed histeaching (dhamma ) and five of his followers became thefirst monks. It is located near Benares, in the northIndian state of Uttar Pradesh.

RAJGIR

According to legend, it is here the Buddharevealed the Four Noble Truths to a largecrowd of elites. One of the first monasterieswas built here. Rajgir was also the place of

the first council in 486 BCE. Today it is locatedin the Indian state of Bihar.

BODH GAYA

The Buddha reached enlightenment here aftermediating for the whole night under a tree.

It was from here he travelled to Sarnath, nearBenares, to ordain the first five monks.

KAPILAVASTU

The capital city of the Sayka clan to which Siddhartha Gautama, theBuddha, belonged. He spent his childhood here. Today it is in thenorth Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and has many pilgrimage sites.

I N

D I A

N E P A L

N

0 100 200

Kilometres


What we know about the Buddhas life comes from a seriesof biographies that were written several hundred years afterhis deathbiographies that intermingle legend and mythwith more veriable material. The legendary material is veryimportant in telling us how the Buddha was understood bylater Buddhists. It makes it difcult, however, to draw outa detailed and accurate picture of his life. Nor do we knowmuch about him at all until after the age of twenty-ninewhen he left his palatial home to seek enlightenment.

The bare facts are that Siddhartha Gautama was born inLumbini, located in the small state of Shaka in south-eastern Nepal, in 566/563 BCE or perhaps a century later.He was raised in well-to-do circumstances, was married andhad a son at the age of sixteen. At the age of twenty-nine,disillusioned with his life, he abandoned his wife and sonand became a student of various philosophers and yogins. Hebecame expert in certain meditational practices, and studiedmost of the philosophies that were prevalent at that time.

The textual sources, however, indicate that he remainedextremely frustrated at his lack of success in overcomingself-doubt and experiencing what would be called nirvana .

After six years of wandering over the present-day Indianstates of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and experimenting withthe teachings of the so-called six heretical teachers, hearrived at Bodh Gaya, located in Central Bihar. He placedhimself under a tree, resolved he would not get up until heattained enlightenment and meditated for the entire night.He thus experienced a state of psychological relief that

enabled him to be detached from all desire and afrmedthe truth of the new system of thought he had developed.

He no longer directed his thought on to the supra-divineand unconscious spheres his masters had taught him, buton to the mystery of death and rebirth and the suppressionof rebirth in the world of appearances.

E. Lamotte,Histoire du Bouddhisme Indien:des Origines lre Saka, Louvain, 1958, p. 17

Claiming that he was awakened ( buddho), he travelledto Benares, ordained the ve monks and then preachedhis famous sermon called The Turning of the Wheel of theLaw, in which he introduced the Four Noble Truths andthe important teaching of no-self. These provided a cleardoctrinal foundation that distinguished the Buddhistdhamma from all other sets of teachings, and madeavailable a declaration of beliefs that was suitable foruse in teaching the basics of what came to be known asBuddhism. After this, the Buddha spent another forty-veyears moving around north-eastern India (often staying inthe large capital cities) converting people and teaching hisown path to enlightenment.

Beyond this basic data, it is difcult to ll in the details.However, we do know that the Buddha spent muchtime dealing with elitesthose who possessed materialresources, political power and social status. He knewboth Bimbisara and Ajatashatru, kings of the newlyformed great kingdom or state of Magadha. He also put

Figure 2.1.2 Map showing some of the places in the life of the Buddha


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considerable effort into visiting small villageswhere hewas presented as a virtual celebrityin Magadha and theneighbouring state of Koshala. In the villages he preachedthe dhamma and gained nancial and material supportfrom people of all classes of society. It is likely that he also

oversaw the establishment of the rst monasteries in thetwo large cities of Savatthi and Rajgir. We have no ideahow big these were, but we know they were initially usedfor shelter during the rainy season.

Near the end of the Buddhas life, his cousin Devadattaattempted to assassinate him. This attempt was partly dueto schismatic movements that were already developingin the growing Buddhist community. While it wasunsuccessful and the Buddha reconciled with Devadatta, itforeshadowed the many schisms to come.

Did you know?One of the stories about the Buddha says that his father wasa king, and that when the prince (the Buddha) left the palacehe saw a poor man, a sick man, a dead man and a holy man.To the prince, only the holy man seemed truly happy. It wasthis encounter that formed the basis of his philosophy: all lifecontains suffering. Poverty, illness and death challenge all of us.

Figure 2.1.3 An example of a gilded Thai Buddha

In the end, the most important information to takefrom the body of biographical sources is the image of theBuddha that was being taught, the highly social natureof the religion, and the emergence of the sangha. Theimage of the Buddha that was being taught is signicant

because it provides a model of buddhahood one thatis traditionally regarded among the Theravadin schoolas the mandatory path of attainment of buddhahood forall Buddhas.

Refer to pages 247 for a more detailed explanation ofbuddhahood.

1 In your own words, dene the term Buddha.

2 Describe the enlightenment of the Buddha.3 Examine the principal events of the Buddhas

life and prepare a chart to show these events.

4 Clarify what is important about the biographicalsources of the life of the Buddha. Does it matterwhether they are legendary or not?

5 Explain why the Buddha is the model ofBuddhist life.

Review

Go to the web destinations for page 21 to nd outmore about the life of the Buddha. Compare theinformation with what you have learnt about theBuddhas life.

ExtensionW e b D e s t i n a t i o

n

The formation of the sangha

Glossary Ashoka King and ruler of the Mauryan empire

269232 BCE , and prominent supporter ofthe sangha .

Pali The language of Theravada Buddhist texts.

stupa A monument containing relics or othersacred objects.

Vinaya The name given to the collections ofbooks detailing the conduct of monks,and a word denoting correct conduct.


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The rst book of the Vinaya , the ve-volume Book ofConduct, begins with the enlightenment of the Buddhaand describes in general terms the growth of the sangha over the next twelve years. It tells of the conversion, atthe Deer Park in Sarnath, of the ve monks who had

previously rejected the Buddha before he had achievedhis enlightenment. It then presents many anecdotesabout the conversion of prominent lay gures into theBuddhist sangha and the development of an informallay following. This informal lay following would be usedas a permanent base for sustaining the sangha, whicheventually included both monks and nuns, none ofwhom engaged in paid work.

Initially, all of the monks were wanderers who taughtthe Buddhist dhamma and converted people. Many ofthe individual texts found in the Vinaya and some otherPali narrative texts were developed around a frameworkof conversion, indicating how important early Buddhiststhought it was to demonstrate their success at this. Theconversion of Yasa is an excellent example because it alsoillustrates the social tensions that arose when a personbecame a monk.

The conversion of Yasa

Yasa was the son of a wealthy merchant who lived inBenares. On witnessing some dancing girls sleeping

in ungainly poses he became upset and said tohimself, What distress! What afiction! Immediatelyhe left home, aided by some divine beings, and wentstraight to the Deer Park where he met the Buddha.The Buddha intuited by his special psychic powersthat Yasas mind was sufciently prepared andmalleable enough to be able to receive the teachingsof the dhamma . On receiving these teachings, Yasatook the very brief ordination ritual that would allowhim to become a monk.In the meantime, his father came looking for him.He too found the Buddha, received the teachings,became a lay Buddhist and when asked, agreed withthe Buddha that Yasa would not be able to re-enter

lay life, even though Yasas mother was very upsetthat he had become a monk.Next Yasas wife and brother met the Buddha andbecame lay disciples. Then four men, friends ofYasas, became monks, fty of their friends becamemonks and then monks brought in other people fromoutlying areas to receive ordination.

From I. B. Horner, Book of the Discipline , Part IV,Luzac, London, 1971, pp. 1129

This is a summary of a longer narrative that explains Yasadisgust with the material world (the original impulse forhim seeking ordination), but also focuses on his motherand father trying to prevent him from becoming a monk.This and other accounts in a number of Buddhist texts

tell us that there was a high level of concern among thefamilies of those (often very young) men who took theBuddhas path at the level of the monk. Taking such apath meant a complete break with their own families,although the monks were not prevented from visitingthem. The account also tells us that initially the sangha grew virtually by word of mouth.

Mahapajapatis requestAt rst the Buddha allowed only men to be ordained, eventhough he was approached three times by Mahapajapati,his aunt, to let women be ordained as nuns. It was only

after the Buddhas cousin Ananda intervened that herelented at Mahapajapatis third request and a femalesangha was established. Even then he predicted thatallowing women to enter the sangha would weaken theentire sangha, eventually leading to its decline after500 years. The view was that women could never beas spiritually developed as men. But the sangha of nunshas survived to the present day in various forms, andeventually entire handbooks of rules designed specicallyfor nuns were produced.

Figure 2.1.4 Monks quarters at the Sunnataram ForestMonastery at Bundanoon, New South Wales. It is a TheravadaBuddhist monastery in the Thai forest tradition and wasestablished in July 1990.

It is likely there were Buddhist monks in the large citiesof north-eastern India by the time of the Buddhas death.Certainly at the council at Rajgir held straight afterhis death (see page 23), the proceedings had to wait


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until a number of monks arrived from distant places.Still we cannot accurately know how geographicallywidespread the sangha was at this time, nor the numberof its members. The early Pali texts consistently mentionthat the Buddha was accompanied by either 500 or

1250 monks during his travels through north-easternIndia. These gures must have been exaggerationstheresources needed to feed this number of wanderers wouldsimply not have been available. What is more signicantthan the numbers is the attempt to show that the sangha was growing constantly, and that the monks and nunswere being provided with resources by an increasinglylarge lay following.

Very little is known about the development of thesangha in the period between the death of the Buddha(486/483 BCE) and the ascension of Ashoka to the throneof Magadha (269 BCE). It did develop during this time,however, because two councils were held to discussdoctrinal differences, and Ashoka himself, in one of hisofcial edicts (proclamations), warned the sangha againstschismatic activity. This implies it had increased in sizeand that schismswhich had been apparent almost sincethe beginning of the Buddhas preaching activitywerecontinuing to occur. Beyond this we know almostnothing about the growth of Buddhism up until Ashokasreignarchaeological evidence is unclear, and thetexts are difcult to date. It is likely that the number ofBuddhists remained small, and they were restricted to thegeographical area where the Buddha himself had travelled.

Ashoka is a signicant person considered inChapter 10, pages 2301.

After Ashokas reign, Buddhism expanded dramatically.This can easily be measured by the huge number ofBuddhist archaeological remains (including stupas ,funerary monuments and monasteries) that can be datedfrom between 200 BCE and 400 CE, and the large body ofregulations governing the behaviour of monks that wasrecorded in several sets of Vinaya literature.

Vinaya , the monastic code of conduct, is dealt with indetail on page 37.

The early councilsThere were at least four councils held within the rst600 years of Indian Buddhism. The rst three were byfar the most important, with two in particular beinginstrumental in furthering the schisms in the Buddhistsangha that eventually led to the development of the

Theravada and Mahayana schools (see pages 247). Ourknowledge of the councils is based on texts that were allwritten centuries after they were held. This means that thedoctrinal conicts that characterised the second and thirdcouncils are extremely difcult to unravel.

The council at Rajgir486/483 BCEThe rst council was held at Rajgir (then known asRajagriha) immediately after the Buddhas death. Itinvolved a full recitation of the Discourses of the Buddha(the Suttapitaka and the Vinaya, as both then existed), inwhat was probably an attempt to distinguish what was theauthentic word of the Buddha from what was not. Whateveractually happened, the brief reports of this council showthat there was already concern about purifying aberrantteachings from those that were regarded as genuine. Eachsubsequent Buddhist school always claimed it possessed the

true essence of the Buddhas teachings.Important as this council was for establishing the Buddhasteachings, the second one was more important still.

The council at Vaishali386 BCESchisms were strongly evident in the second council, heldat Vaishali, where disputes over both doctrine and therules of monkish conduct were aired.

Ten areas of dispute

The ten areas of dispute at the second council atVaishali were: 1 Carrying salt in an animal horn 2 Taking food past noon 3 Travelling to one village to eat after already

having eaten in one village 4 Holding several assemblies of the sangha 5 Conrming sangha business in an incomplete

assembly 6 Citing habit as the authority for violations of

monastic procedures 7 Drinking milk whey after meals 8 Drinking unfermented wine 9 Using a mat with fringes10 Accepting gold and silver

These areas of dispute relate to the interpretation of howmonks should conduct themselves and are specicallydirected at gluttony, ostentatious behaviour and the


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Chapter 2: Buddhism

TheravadaThe rst school was Theravada Buddhism. Its expressionsare found today in Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar),Cambodia and Thailand. The earliest available teachingsof the Buddha, which are in the Pali Canon, belong to theTheravada. It is the most orthodox school of Buddhism.

For more information on the Pali Canon seepages 334.

The teaching of the Buddha is very plainabstainfrom all kinds of evil, to accumulate all that is good topurify the mind. This can be accomplished by the ThreeTrainings: the development of ethical conduct, meditationand insight. The Theravada philosophy is that all worldlyphenomena are subject to three characteristics:

they are impermanent and transient they are unsatisfactory and there is nothing in them

that can be called ones own, nothing substantial,nothing permanent

all compounded things (those things in a personsmind, rather than those external to the mind) aremade up of two elementsthe material and thenon-material.

The focus of Theravada has always been on the Buddhaas an individual who attained enlightenment, and on theindividual attainment of enlightenment by the monk

(arahant ). It maintains a sharp division between monk/nun and layperson. The Buddha is a model for what canbe achieved by other individuals. But while the Buddhaachieved enlightenment on his own, Theravadins requireassistance from the wise members of the sangha. Andalthough the Buddha might have been treated like a godby his lay followers, Theravada literature downplays thisview of the Buddha.

MahayanaMahayana Buddhism is now found over most of Asia,but it is most prominent in Tibet, China and Japan.For Mahayanists, the Buddha is always treated as atranscendent, god-like gureone who can leave hisblissful state of nirvana to re-enter the external world tohelp other beings in whatever way seems appropriate.A related belief concerns the gure of the bodhisattva and the distinctive pathway to enlightening knowledge(bodhi ) associated with this.

Figure 2.1.5 Bodhisattva Manjusri, India, 800850 CE. Scholarshave identied Manjusri as the oldest and most signicantmythic bodhisattva in the Mahayana tradition.

Early Mahayanists took pains to criticise what theyconsidered to be Theravada. In the early Mahayanaliterature, the Theravada tendency is named Hinayanaor lesser vehicle, where hina is a derogatory termtheopposite of the maha or great, which was used to describewhat became Mahayana. The same literature accuses theTheravada arahant of fearing the world of samsara , and ofbeing preoccupied with their own enlightenment to thedetriment of helping those who cannot become monks ornuns, and so cannot enter the Noble Eightfold Path (seepage 32). In short, it implies they are selsh. In contrast,Mahayana, while including the arahant as a possiblepathway to nirvana, shifts its emphasis to the bodhisattva, agure whose path to nirvana requires them to help othersescape from samsara, and to help them within samsara.


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The three fundamental themes developed in theMahayana literature are:

the bodhisattva

the emptiness of all phenomena

that all humans possess within them the potentialityfor buddhahood.

Figure 2.1.6 Tibetan painting depicting an unidentied bodhisattva with various bodhisattvas , deities and holy men,from Lhasa, 17801880, paper mounted on silk

The bodhisattva role is conceived as a pathway toenlightenment, but it differs from nirvana in that theattainment of enlightening knowledge is all importantand the bodhisattvas complete withdrawal from samsara is played down. The bodhisattva path assumes that everyindividual has the potential to attain buddhahood. Itprescribes ten stages involving the attainment of sixperfections, each centred on the giving of something.The gure of the bodhisattva, and the path itself, requirethe aspiring bodhisattva to take vows that they will take allsentient beings to enlightenment. In practice, this putsgreat emphasis on self-sacrice and unselshness, bothspiritual and material. When a bodhisattva is enlightened,they can continue to live in the world or after death inany number of heavens, with the qualication that theycan always reappear when called upon by their devotees.This is why bodhisattvas became such important culticgures in all countries where Mahayana Buddhismhas ourished.

The teaching of the emptiness of all phenomena probablyexisted in embryonic form in the Buddhas teachings.It was systematised by the great second century CE philosopher Nagarjuna. He declared that when theelements that make up perceived objects are examined,

they are really no more than mental phenomena andhave no true existence. He argued that even the mostbasic Buddhist concepts such as karma and dhamma werconcepts whose interdependence rested on their presencewithin a web of language.

While Nagarjunas teachings remain difcult tounderstand, his ideas became enormously inuential inmost later schools of Mahayana Buddhism.

From the practical point of view of gaining liberation, Nagarjunas ideas had one fundamental implicationthatbuddhahood was potentially available to everyone if only

they knew how to nd it. One way was meditation on theteachings of Nagarjuna, another was by simply seeing and

Figure 2.1.7 The ninth century Zen master Hotei pointing tothe full moon (original Japanese woodblock print, 1888). Thefull moon is a symbol of ultimate truth. The nger pointing atthe moon is a favourite Zen image that indicates the need todistinguish reality from its symbolsfor example, ultimate truthfrom its descriptions in words.


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realising this truth through a ash of insight. Sometimesthis ash of insight could be provoked by the hearing of aparticular verse ( koan), a practice that became famouslyassociated with the Chinese Chan school of Buddhismand its Japanese equivalent, Zen.

Koans

A koan is a problem or riddle, often involving aparadox, which has no solution. A number of koans have become fairly well known, such as: What is thesound of one hand clapping? Others include: How do you get a goose out of a bottle without

breaking the bottle or injuring the goose? Two monks were observing a ag apping in the

wind. They began to argue about whether the

wind or the ag was moving. Hui-Nng said, It isyour mind that is moving.

A monk asked Joshu, Why did Bodhidharmacome to China? Joshu said, The oak tree inthe garden.

A pupil would be given a verse containing anapparent riddle. But no matter how much the pupilmight try to solve it, resolution only occurred whenthe pupil realised that there was no solution. Thisled them to step completely outside of their normalthought patterns and then discover the emptiness ofall phenomenabreaking them away from habitualbehaviour that was keeping them in samsara .

For a committed Mahayanist, the point of mostactivity is to access this already existent state ofenlightenment, which is somewhat concealed by themass of information in the mind, especially emotionalmaterial.

VajrayanaOut of Mahayana came the more mystically inclinedVajrayana. It probably started in north India, butwas widely developed in Tibet after the eleventhcentury. Vajrayana gave rise to a whole set of literary

developments. It built on the teachings of emptinessand the idea of potential buddhahood, asserting thatenlightening knowledge could be spontaneously attainedby visualising Buddhas and other divine gures under theguidance of a teacher. Students would be initiated intohigher levels of knowledge and given verses to recite thatshould not be divulged to non-initiates. It is the recitationof such verses and the visualisation of the images of thosealready enlightened that brings forth the enlighteningknowledge.

Then he should make the wrathful hand-gesture anddivulge the symbolic gesture of Being-Vajra . He causes(the pupil) to recite a vajra -verse of his choice pertainingto intuitive knowledge of the Mahayana. Thus it pervadeshim, and as soon as it does so, divine wisdom becomesmanifest. By means of that wisdom he knows the thoughtsof others; he knows all events in past, present and future;his heart is conrmed in the teaching of all Buddhas; allsufferings are ended; all fear is dispersed; he is invulnerableto all beings

Extract from pp. 6372 of theSarvatathagatatatattvasamgraha , translated in

D. Snellgrove, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: IndianBuddhists and their Tibetan Successors, 1987,

Serindia Publications, London, p. 218

1 In your own words, dene buddhahood.2 Explain the meaning of bodhisattva.

3 Which school of Buddhism is seen as the mostorthodox?

4 To which school of Buddhism does Zen belong?

5 How would you explain what a koan is?

6 In point form, outline the unique features ofeach of Theravada, Mahayana and VajrayanaBuddhism.

7 Construct a chart to show where the main

schools of Buddhism are found.

Review

1 Go the web destinations for page 27 to nd outmore about the different schools of Buddhism.Outline the common ground betweenTheravada and Mahayana Buddhism.

2 Choose four topics and use these to distinguish differences between Theravada and Mahayana

Buddhism.3 Make a table to compare and contrast what the

three different schools of Buddhism have incommon and where they differ.


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2.2 Principal teachings

Did you know?Teachings or beliefs? From a Buddhist point of view, the wordbelief has a rather negative ring to itit means trust in ideaswhose truth one has not personally experienced. Beliefs areknown in Buddhism as views. The Buddhist approach isthat one should know for oneself through deep exploration ofones human potential, which was the Buddhas experience.The Buddha taught his own followers not to believe even hisown teachings, but to test them and discover for themselveswhether they were true, just as a jeweller tests gold to makesure it is genuine.

The Three Jewelsthe Buddha,dhamma and sanghaThe ideals at the heart of Buddhism are collectivelyknown as the Three Jewels:

the Buddha refers to the historical Buddha and to theideal of buddhahood that is open to all

dhamma signies the totality of the Buddhas teachings

the sangha, in its broadest sense, means all theBuddhists in the world and those of the past and thefuture.

At the centre of the Buddhas dhamma lies his diagnosisof the human condition. This is given as a rather brief setof propositions that accurately describe the condition ofall so-called sentient beings, which includes animals andgods as well as humans. These propositions are called theFour Noble Truths.

The Four Noble Truths depend on a more fundamentaland seemingly simple view of the constancy of change.

This is expressed by the idea that whatever is of a natureto rise up, all that is of a nature to stop, and that arelation of interdependence between things always exists.Simple as this seems, the task for someone who aspires toenlightenment is to understand existence itself, and notjust as one particular interpretation of perceived realityamong many others.

From this insight comes the understanding that allexistence is movement, an idea often expressed bythe technical term samsara. This term is impossible to

translate literally into English in any meaningful sense,but roughly means the run-around or the whirl ofexistence. When eshed out with details from the texts,samsara brings with it the idea of culturally (and self-)determined wants, the gaining of which lead to a desire

for other goals and the quest for continued existence insamsara to achieve these further desires. Both resistance tothe ongoing circle of change and the decision to ow withit (in the belief one can inuence its direction) lead todissatisfactiona dissatisfaction the Buddha regarded asbeing inevitable. The Buddha adopted the Sanskrit wordduhkha (Pali dukkha) for this dissatisfaction, which is oftenmisleadingly translated as suffering.

Figure 2.2.1 A contemporary image of the Three Jewels bySuzanne Martino

How is the artist explaining the Three Jewels?RESPOND

The Four Noble TruthsThe truths can be dened in these words:

there exists dukkha

there is the arising of dukkha

there is the cessation of dukkha

there is the path leading to the cessation of dukkha.

Often presented as simple formulas, the truths are bestunderstood by Buddhist intellectuals and highly educatedmonks. For the majority of lay Buddhists these truthsare known but are too remote from their daily lives. Butthey do lie at the heart of the Buddhas vision of thenature of existence, and to that extent inform all laterdevelopments in Buddhist philosophy and scholarship.They can be depicted in a more accessible manner inBuddhist art, especially in Tibetan and Chinese art wherethe so-called Wheel of Life, a metaphor for samsara, wasoften the subject of paintings.


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Chapter 2: Buddhism

The directness of the truths allows them to be analysed indifferent ways. For instance, the rst and third truths canbe regarded as contradicting each other because if the rstasserts the presence of dukkha, the third asserts its absence.Similarly, the second truth explains the process of the

arising of dukkha, the fourth the process for its reversal.This conforms with the basic assumption that things riseand things fall in a consistent and interdependent manner.That an individuals immersion in dukkha can occur over avery large number of lives gives much more weight to thepossibilities of coping with it. If one experienced dukkha over only one birth, one could conceivably cope with it,but its ongoing presence induces a kind of world-wearinessin those who are subject to it.

Figure 2.2.2 The footprints of the Buddha. This limestone panelis from the Great Stupa at Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, India,1 BCE . In the early period of Buddhist sculpture, the Buddhawas not represented as a human gure, but through symbols.In the centre of each foot is a dharmachakra (Wheel of the Law/ Life). On the heels are tritatnas representing the Three Jewelsof Buddhism.

The First Noble TruthIn dening the continual presence of dukkha, the rst truthexplains the Buddhas view of existence as having threebasic characteristics, called the three marks of existence.Each of these marks can be understood in an existentialsense, in a more pointed lifestyle sense and in artistic form.

The three marks of existence1 Dukkha asserts that existence is always and ultimately

unsatisfying at its deepest level of comprehension.

2 Anicca is the idea that everything is in a state of

constant ux. Such impermanence can be seen aroundus constantly by mere observation, whether this is inthe seasons or the changes in our own bodies. Themind, itself in a continuous process of change, is anobserver of all the other changes going on around it.The Second Noble Truth (see below) actually proposesa sophisticated twelve-linked chain of elementsthat underlies and drives all change occurring in anindividuals life, but at the same time explains themechanism whereby this occurs. Where this becomesfundamental for individuals is in the attitude they taketowards it.

3 Anatta asserts the absence of an individual selfwhatthe Buddha called non-self. Buddhists and scholarsalike have still not been able to determine preciselywhat the Buddha meant when he referred to thenon-self. Did it refer to the absence of a self thatexisted beyond the uctuations of the mind and theongoing rebirths caused by karma? Was it somethingexisting beyond the personality? These questionshave never been answered with universal agreement.To accept anatta one has to accept that there isnothing that separates the self from every other part ofexistence. Attachment to the idea of a permanent self,however, is much easier to accept than attachment tosomething impermanent.

The Second Noble TruthThe Second Noble Truth explains the arising of dukkha by describing the workings of the forces causing a personto be reborn across two or possibly three lives, dependingon how the meaning of the chain is understood. If theFirst Noble Truth explains the exact circumstance ofexistence as it occurs at any given time, the Second

Noble Truth explains what it is that drives any givenindividual being through this existence. This explanationis absolutely essential given the Buddhist emphasis onprocess, which is demonstrated in the related doctrines ofkarma and rebirth. But the same truth is also fundamentalin explaining how rebirth can occur in the absence of apermanent self, the existence of which is rejected rmly inthe First Noble Truth.

So the Second Noble Truth denes the nature of theperson and the psychological forces that give rise to theindividuals wish for continued existence, along with theactions that produce karmic results and are necessary forthis continued existence.


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Chapter 2: Buddhism

Because karma establishes reactions that are seen onlywithin the world around us and because of the continuityit establishes from life to life, it appears very much likesamsara, where one life ows into another, as if echoingthe ow suggested in the word samsara.

This continuity is best understood in the sense thatintentions to act in a given life will ripen in a later life,at the same time as new actions are being proposed, theeffects of which will themselves ripen in a subsequentlife. Thus, an actionclassied as good, bad or neutralperformed in one life will produce its effect in another life,but need not have a direct continuity with other actionsperformed in that life, which will ripen in a still later life.

1 Recall the Three Jewels.2 Identify the three marks of existence.

3 Write one sentence for each of the followingwords to clarify your understanding of theconcepts: dukkha, anicca, anatta , samsara, karma.

4 In graphic form, demonstrate that you recognisethe connection between samsara and karma.

Review

1 In groups, discuss what it means to describe aperson as having no self. Do people actuallythink in terms of having a self or not, or is thissimply taken for granted by everyone? Shareyour ideas with other groups.

2 If you had to describe yourself in terms of theBuddhist non-self doctrine, how would youdo so?

3 Review the components of the bhavacakra (page 30). The words in the rst column areabstract; those in the second column describe

highly graphic images. Assess whether theimages accurately bring out what is expressed inthe abstract words.

4 Do an internet search to nd and download alarge image of a bhavacakra. Can you identifyeach of the twelve components in it?

Extension

The Third Noble TruthThe Third Noble Truth simply asserts the cessation ofdukkha, a condition the Buddha called nirvana. This wordhas been imported into English to indicate the higheststate a person can achieve. Like so many Buddhist terms,it is impossible to translate exactly. Literally, it meansblowing out and Buddhist texts describe it using onlysimiles and metaphors such as coolness and the othershore. However, it can be paraphrased as indicating thecomplete absence of desire within the mind. That is, thedeepest psychological components found in the chainof dependent originationcraving and graspingareabsent, allowing a person to remain in complete control ofthemselves and to extinguish entirely the forces producingkarma and rebirth.

To understand nirvana fully we need to be aware of itsthree-fold interrelated dimensions:

a person who has utterly eradicated desire, thefundamental cause of rebirth, and therefore, karma

a perfect knowledge of dukkha and an absence of itfor the person who has attained nirvana, even if itcontinues to exist as the dominant quality for otherhumans

the eradication of that special form of ignorancepreventing individuals from realising the true nature ofexistence as demonstrated in the Four Noble Truths.

Among other things, the enlightened being will knowintuitively their own karma, and the karma of others.

Each of these could be said to be accompaniments ofnirvana, but nirvana should never be regarded as a kind ofobjective state that is attained by following a particularprogram of spiritual exercises. Nirvana can be attainedeither through a ash of insight, sometimes inducedby a special oral teaching given by a Buddha or, morecommonly, by following a distinctive path called the

Noble Eightfold Path, which is laid down in the Fourth Noble Truth.

The Fourth Noble TruthThe Fourth Noble Truth is the practice of Buddhismthe

Noble Eightfold Path.


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Chapter 2: Buddhism

1 In your own words, dene nirvana and, in oneparagraph, outline its importance in Buddhism.

2 Identify the Four Noble Truths and describe their signicance.

3 Explain how the Noble Eightfold Pathsummarises the practice of Buddhism.

Review

1 Go to the web destinations for page 33 for anexplanation of the teachings of Buddhism. Whatfurther understandings of these teachings does

the website provide?2 Prepare an outline for a ten-minute talk on

samsara, karma and nirvana.


n

2.3 Sacred textsand writings

Glossary canon The collection of texts recognised as

having authority.Pali The language of Theravada Buddhism.

Pali is closely related to Sanskrit andmany words are similar in the twolanguages.

Sanskrit The classical language of India. sutra A Buddhist scripture, said to be Buddhas

words.

We cannot denitely trace any one text directly back tothe Buddha himself. But the Buddha is depicted as thespeaker in most of the enormous amount of literature thathas come down to us in at least twenty different languagesand in genres ranging from philosophy to grammar,medicine to ritual, biography to poetry. It is reasonablycertain that this literature dates from the middle of thethird century BCE, because certain Pali texts are mentionedin the inscriptions of King Ashoka. No doubt a body of

texts comprising the sayings of the Buddha were beingrecorded and transmitted during his own lifetime, butanything we say about them is simply speculation.

TripitakaThe Tripitaka or The Three Baskets refers to the oldestcomplete Buddhist canon , the Pali Canon. It wascomposed in Pali, a language that was used primarily bymonks and possibly for trade purposes as well.

Figure 2.3.1 Carved on 81 340 wood blocks in 1251, the Korean Tis housed in the library (Changgyong-gak) at Haein-sa.

Did you know?There are complete canons in Sanskrit , Tibetan, Chinese,Japanese, Mongolian, Manchu and Korean. Some of thesehave hundreds of volumes and not even one is known inits entirety by any single person. In addition, there are largebodies of post-canonical literature that are still importantbut do not have the same status within the tradition as thecanonical literature.

The Pali Canon, the authoritative body of texts forTheravada Buddhists, is the best known by Westernersit was brought to the West earlier than the others and isone of the shortest (approximately thirty-ve volumes).Evidence from Sri Lanka suggests it existed by the mid-rst century BCE. It is divided into three sections:

Sutta Pitakacomprises of sermons of the Buddhaand some other material, and is sub-divided into vefurther sections

Vinaya Pitakaincludes the complete rules regulatingthe behaviour of monks, many anecdotes surroundingthese rules, and biographical data about the Buddha

Abhidhammapitakadiscusses the basic elements ofexistence and other metaphysical material from theBuddhas sermons.


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Of these, the third section is really only of interest tomonks devoted to philosophical study, the second is inpart memorised by monks who must know by heart therules of conduct, and parts of the rst are known by both

monks and laypeople. The rst is the most popular becauseit contains the actual teachings of the Buddha largelyin what is said to be the Buddhas own words. Amongthe texts it contains is the Dhammapada, a collection ofsayings offering a summary of the Buddhas teachings forthe layperson.

Nobody should ever associate with anything that ispleasant or unpleasant. Not seeing pleasant things is pain.So too is seeing unpleasant things.

Therefore, do not deal with what is pleasant as loss ofwhat is pleasant is bad. The person who has neither what

is pleasant or unpleasant is not bound.In a person whose thoughts are churned, whose passionsare strong, who looks for what is pleasant, cravingincreases massively. He certainly makes his bondagevery strong.

He who dwells in quieting his thoughts, always reecting,dwells on what is not pleasant, he will certainly remove,he will certainly cut the bonds of death.

But he who delights in stilling his thoughts and alwaysmeditates on what is not auspicious he cuts the bondsof death.

A person without wisdom has no meditation, nor does aperson who is not meditating have wisdom. The personin whom meditation and wisdom are present is closeto nirvana .

These are pithy and easily remembered. However, theircomposition in Pali means only educated monks wouldhave been capable of understanding them. Today the fewPali verses recited by laypeople are not really understood,and vernacular texts (those written in the local language)are most widely used.

Other canons are not organised as systematically as theTheravadin Pali Canon, though most contain similarkinds of material with notable additions. This means thereis not a distinctive Mahayana canon. There are thousands

of Mahayana texts, some extremely obscure and scarcelyknown, others quite famous. Apart from the so-calledPerfection of Wisdom literature (1 BCE4 CE), which gaverise to a large body of texts, the Mahayana texts wereproduced on an individual basis. One of the earliest ofsuch texts is the Saddharmapundarika or the Lotus of theGood Law.

Lotus of the Good Law Possibly dating from the rst century BCE, Lotus of theGood Law is one of the earliest texts that reveals clear

Mahayanist tendencies of a kind that allow this stream ofBuddhism to be distinguished from Hinayana. Composedin Sanskrit (it was quickly reworked into vernacularlanguages)as opposed to the Pali of the Theravadinsit contains twenty-eight chapters. Many of the chaptersgive an anecdote illustrating how the Buddha, oftenin disguise, has rescued an individual or a family groupfrom a disastrous situation, usually by using unorthodoxmeans. Each plot is really a metaphor for the Buddhasenlightening role, where he explicitly helps people escapefrom a difcult situation.

The stories, when told in the vernacular, are accessible

to a large audience because of the lively plots and theparticular aspects of the Buddha being depicted. Aboveall, the Buddha is portrayed as saving other individualswho are either incapable of saving themselves or needan initial helping hand. This emphasis ts perfectly withthe image of the Buddha as bodhisattva, where emphasisis always placed on helping other sentient beings attainliberation (or helping them escape from any otherdistressful situation) rather than just attaining liberationfor oneself. This is an area where one of the maindifferences between Theravada and Mahayana is obvious.

Figure 2.3.2 Section of illustrated scroll of the Lotus Sutra , thirteenth century Japan


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Chapter 2: Buddhism

For the Theravadins, the Buddha is regarded as a historicalbeing who, by his own efforts, attained nirvana. He issignicant, principally, as an example to others to followthe same path. In contrast, for Mahayanists, the Buddha ofthe Lotus of the Good LawSutra though enlightenedis

not satised just to achieve this state, but also makes greatefforts to bring other beings to liberation. As such he isvirtually given the status of a godin fact, some of thenames used for him appear to have been taken over fromHindu gods. He is no longer the rather austere or sterngure of the Theravadin texts.

The Tathagata who is endowed with knowledge, strength,self-condencethe distinctive characteristics and theteachings of a Buddhais very strong by virtue of hismagical powers, is the father of the world and has gainedthe highest perfection in the knowledge of skilful means.He has great compassion, his mind is entirely wearied,and he is benevolent and compassionate. He springs up inthis triple worldwhich is like a dwelling whose roof hasdecayed and is burning due to a huge mass of depressionand painin order to instigate the unsurpassed perfectknowledge and liberate beings from passion, hatredand delusion.

Saddharmapundarikasutra , p. 53

Note!Tathagata is a term the Buddha used about himselfas an individual who has brought an end to sufferingand has reached nirvana .

The imagery in the many stories in the Lotus Sutra isdramatic and colourful, with the Buddha appearing ina range of different guises to trick, cajole and push theunenlightened people out of a state of ignorance onto thepath towards enlightenment. However, this is not regardedas deception. Instead it is described by the technical termupayakausalya or skilful means.

The Lord of the world performs a difcult task when he

displays his skilful means, taming his sons of low interest.When he has tamed them, he gives them knowledge.

Saddharmapundarikasutra , p. 82, vs. 49

This justies the Buddhas capacity to use virtually anymeans to extract individuals out of samsara in the samemanner as a father uses all sorts of devices to entice hischildren out of a burning house at a time when they donot realise the seriousness of the re (the tale told in thethird book of the Lotus Sutra). The analogy is explained

by seeing the Buddha as the father and his sons asunenlightened people.

Because it is so obviously about the Buddha as saviour,the Lotus Sutra very quickly became a central text ofMahayana Buddhism and remains arguably the mostimportant Buddhist text in Japan today, as it was inmedieval Japan. It is because it is both positive andnegative in its outlook towards received Buddhist ideasthat it is considered such an important text in thedevelopment of the Mahayanist movement.

Tibetan Book of the Dead Many texts have been of great importance for Buddhistsin a variety of Asian countries. There are at least twoseparate (although related) canons in Tibetan coveringthe entire genre of Buddhist texts. The Tibetan Book of theDead (a title given by W. Evans Wentz for the rst Englishtranslation of the text) or Great Liberation upon Hearing inthe Bardo (Bar-do thos-grol chen-mo) has been well knownin the West following its rst translation into Englishin 1927.

Figure 2.3.3 Illustration from a copy of the Tibetan Book of the Dead


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It is primarily a collection of funeral liturgies anddescriptions of funerary rituals pertaining in part to anyintermediate state between death and rebirth, namedbar-do in Tibetana stage where the consciousness ofthe deceased can be reborn either into samsara or into

some enlightened state. Though deriving from Sanskrittexts composed in the mid-fth century, the idea of anintermediate state between birth and death and death andbirth gave rise to considerable speculation in Tibet. It ledto a variety of different views covering at least four kindsof intermediate states, which were expressed in a largebody of literature.

Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo wasrediscovered (composed from an earlier source) in thelate fourteenth century in south-eastern Tibet. Withina few centuries it had become the standard text usedin performing funerary rituals that involved disposal ofthe body and the transferral of the consciousness of thedeceased from one state into another. The intermediatestate was always regarded as a potentially dangerouscondition because the soul was wanderingit couldeasily go the wrong way and could be subject to attackfrom evil forces.

The aim of all the manuals dealing with the soulduring the intermediate stage was to provide expiation(atonement) rituals for purifying it from evil acts (whichproduced bad karma) performed in the past and to guideit to an appropriate new body or back to samsara in afavourable body.

In basic terms, the bardo ritual is a plea for the puricationof the sins of the departed, for release from the perilouspathways of the bardo, and for auspicious rebirth amongone of the three higher destinies (human, demigod, orgod). The prescribed texts that accompany these rites,such as those included in the Peaceful and WrathfulDeities and the Liberation upon Hearing , ritually recreatethe circumstances of the deceaseds journey through thebardo after death and invoke the image of buddhas andbodhisattvas coming down to lead the departed alongthe path:

When the time has come to go alone and without friends,may the compassionate ones [buddhas and bodhisattvas ]provide refuge to so-and-so [name of the deceased] whohas no refuge. Protect her, defend her, be a refuge from thegreat darkness of the bardo, turn her away from the greatstorms of karma , provide comfort from the great fear andterror of the Lord of Death, deliver her from the long andperilous pathway of the bardo.

Bryan J. Cuevas, The Hidden History of the TibetanBook of the Dead, 2003, OUP, New York, p. 74

1 In point form, clarify what the Pali Canon is.

2 Construct a chart that shows the three major

sacred texts of Buddhism. Include the languagein which they were written, their approximatedate of origin and a brief outline of the contentof each.

3 In one paragraph for each, explain :

a how the Buddha of the Lotus Sutra differsfrom the Buddha of the Pali texts

b how the Tibetan Book of the Dead differs fromTripitaka and the Lotus of the Good Law.

4 Identify the importance of Buddhism in thethree texts mentioned.

5 Examine the extracts provided from each ofthese three collections of writing and summarise how they demonstrate the principal teachings ofBuddhism.

Review

1 Investigate and write a one-paragraph summaryabout the symbolism of the lotus ower.

2 Go to the web destinations for page 36 to learnmore about the Buddhist Scriptures and readthem online.

3 Use the internet to nd a multimediapresentation on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.Write a twenty-line review of the presentation.

ExtensionW e b D e s t i n a t


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1 In one paragraph, demonstrate that youunderstand the purpose of the Vinaya.

2 Recall what the Buddha says will result frompoor morality.

3 Explain the relationship between the FivePrecepts and the Vinaya.

4 Outline the principal ethical teachings inBuddhism.

5 Write a half-page summary to describe theimportance of the ethical teachings in the lifeof Buddhists.

Review

1 Go to the web destinations for page 38 to ndout more about the Vinaya. Prepare a summaryof three of the rules.

2 From your research, demonstrate how thepurpose of Vinaya is put into practice.

3 Interview a practising Buddhist about how theyput into practice Buddhist ethics in everyday lifein Australia.

4 Many Buddhist centres and organisationsalso perform a social welfare role for theircommunity. Go to the web destinations forpage 38 to investigate such a centre. Evaluate whether their social welfare role is an extensionof Buddhist ethical teachings found in theclassical texts.


n

2.5 Personal devotionin the home

Lay Buddhists may participate in rituals at a monastery,shrine or temple where monks/nuns lead them inveneration of the Buddha. In essence, however, Buddhismis a private religious tradition and most Buddhist devotiontakes place in the home.

Puja

Glossary puja Worship; the Buddhist ritual that honours

the Buddha, a god or goddess as adivine guest, usually in a temple, but itcan also be a domestic ritual.

Buddhist worship that takes place in the home is notforeshadowed in the early Buddhist texts and is likely tohave been a later development. Many Buddhist homeswill contain small shrines holding pictures or images ofthe Buddha or of a prominent living monk, a Buddhistholy man or a bodhisattva. These can be quite simple orvery elaborate. For example, in some Tibetan houses thereare entire rooms set aside as the focus of worship and, inaddition to candles, owers and incense, they containimages of the Buddha and bodhisattvas and brightlycoloured paintings on silk.

The taking of refuge in the Three Jewels of the Buddha,the dhamma and the sangha is a brief ritual that canbe performed in private or in public by laypeople. It isextremely popular because of its simplicity. It reafrms apersons commitment to the Buddhist path and is usuallydone before an image of the Buddha, either in a house orin a temple. Even if a Buddhist layperson knows no otherformula or prayer, they will know how to take refuge. Thisis normally done with a few offerings and possibly bodilyprostration and is completed within a few minutes.

Flowers and lights are especially important in thehousehold puja . Flowers are placed in front of the BuddhaThey are bathed with special water and when they areblooming they are symbolic of the Buddhas attainment ofenlightenment. This verse is sometimes recited:

This mass of owers endowed with colour, fragrance, andquality I offer at the lotus-like feet of the King of Sages. Iworship the Buddha with these owers: by the merit ofthis may I attain freedom. Even as these owers do fade,so does my body come to destruction.

Oil lamps are also important because they symbolise theremoval of ignorance. These are set on the altar and theame represents the Buddhas capacity as the disperser oflight. However, for most lay Buddhists, the main aims ofthis and the other forms of puja are to acquire good karm(merit) and prevent evil inuences from entering theirhouse.


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Summarise

For each chapter outcome, build your ownsummary notes that draw from:

work in class and at home this student book other print and media sources the internet additional resources at Pearson Places.

1 Propose three reasons to explain the decline ofBuddhism in India.

2 Check your list of key terms, concepts and ideasfrom this chapter and ensure that it is clear andcomplete.

3 Go to the web destinations for page 40 and visitthe websites of three Buddhist organisations inAustralia. See how often the terms included inyour list of key terms, concepts and ideas appear.Assess whether these organisations are primarilyfor Buddhists or non-Buddhists.

4 You have to give a ten-minute talk onBuddhism. Prepare an outline for your talk.

What would your priority bethe teachingsof Buddhism or the living-out of Buddhism?Propose reasons for your decision.

5 Check that your media le is up to date. DoBuddhists and Buddhism have a media prole?How much of your material relates to theteachings of Buddhism, the religious practices ofBuddhism, and how much relates to a Buddhismpractised by Westerners? Summarise yourndings.


ConclusionBuddhism continues to thrive throughout the worldexcept, paradoxically, in India, the land where it began.Since its discovery by the West in the eighteenth century,

it has sometimes not been considered a religion becauseof the apparent absence of a creator god. Even if this isso, the actual practice of Buddhists over the past 2000years and the method of approaching the Buddha, thebodhisattvas and various Buddhist deities function likesimilar practices in other religions.

Today Buddhism remains a vibrant, growing religion,expanding in virtually every country where it is found.Throughout its history, Buddhism has demonstrated that itis capable of adapting to social and cultural change. Theseabilities to adapt and expand have been characteristicof Buddhism in all societies to which it was introduced.

It has been so adaptable that in most countries where ithas a history, we speak of a particular form of Buddhismas being (for example) Chinese, Japanese, Indian or evenAmerican.


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Chapter outcomes

In this chapter, students:

outline the cultural and historical context in whichChristianity began

examine the principal events of Jesus life andexplain why Jesus is the model for Christian life

describe the early development of Christianity afterthe death of Jesus

outline the unique features of the major variantsof Christianity

investigate the principal beliefs of Christianity

identify the importance of the Bible in Christianityand examine extracts from the Bible thatdemonstrate the principal beliefs of Christianity

outline the principal ethical teachings ofChristianity and describe their importance in thelife of adherents

describe the different types of personal prayerfor Christians.


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Introduction

Christianity is the name given to a religion based on therst century CE life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.The followers of Jesus claimed that he was the JewishMessiah , the long awaited deliverer sent to the peopleof Israel by God to bring hope and salvation . Duringthat rst century, the followers of Jesus broke away

from Judaism, and what we now know as Christianityspread throughout the regions controlled by the RomanEmpire and established itself as a tradition separatefrom Judaism. Early Christianity was centred on thelife, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as toldthrough the writers of the gospels and the work of theearly missionaries . Christianitys Jewish heritage wasfundamental to the major text for Christianitythe Bible.

Right from its very beginnings in Jerusalem, Christianityhas been profoundly inuenced by various events.

Christianity suffered many early persecutions, but by381 CE it had been conrmed as the central religion of theRoman Empire. The collapse of the Roman Empire and itseventual division into the Eastern and Western Empiresbrought more conict, and by the eleventh century theChristian Church had become the Church of the West

the Roman Churchand the Church of the EasttheOrthodox Church. The sixteenth century brought moredivision with the Reformation in Europe and in England.All these events produced the variants of Christianity thatwe know today.

Throughout its entire history, Christianity hasdemonstrated a great capacity to adapt to the signs of thetimes and to renew itself accordingly. Today Christianityin all its variants is the largest of the worlds organisedreligions. There are about 2 billion Christians in the world

Thousands of Christians walked the streets of Melbourne (21 March 2008) visiting churches of various denominations in commemorationof Jesus Christs sufferings and death.

Glossary Bible The Bible comprises the Jewish Scriptures

or Torah (the Old Testament) and theChristian Scriptures (the New Testament).

gospel(s) The stories of the life and teachings ofJesus Christ, usually referring to the rstfour books of the Christian Scripturesthe

Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.Messiah Translation of a Hebrew word meaning

Anointed One. Its Greek equivalent in theNew Testament is Christ.

missionaries Those sent out to spread the gospel .salvation In general, the belief that human beings

require deliverance. In Christianity, theprocess or state where one is redeemedby Jesus Christ from the power of sin, eviland death.

Torah The Pentateuch or rst ve books of theJewish Bible . Elsewhere it can refer to thewhole body of traditional Jewish teaching,including the Oral Law.


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Chapter 3: Christianity

The Jewish contextChristianity began in Judea where Jerusalem was themain religious and economic centre. Jerusalem containedthe Temple, the principal place of Jewish worship, where

priests offered sacrices to their God as well as performingother rituals.

For the Jewish people, it was the story of their Exodus that held them together and gave meaning and directionto their life. Their beliefs had survived all the sufferingsof the domination and oppression of the Egyptians,Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians, but they could notsurvive Greek persecution without being modied. TheGreeks, after the time of Alexander the Great, weredetermined to destroy Judaism as a religious tradition.The oppression of Greek rule gave rise to expectationsof the future intervention of Godevil was so present

that a new Moses, a deliverer, had to be imminent.

Jewish groups at the time of Jesus

Pharisees

The Pharisees were progressive and are the spiritualfathers of modern Judaism. They held closely tothe Torah but also believed that it was open tointerpretation within reason. They maintained that anafterlife existed and that God punished the wicked

and rewarded the righteous in the world to come.They also believed in a Messiah who would heraldan era of world peace.

Sadducees

The Sadducees were elitists and supported aJewish monarchy, but they were also liberal in theirwillingness to incorporate Greek ideas into theirlivessomething the Pharisees opposed. Theyinsisted on a literal interpretation of Jewish scripture.They disappeared as a group after 70 CE .

Essenes

The Essenes emerged out of disgust with the othertwo groups. This sect believed the others hadcorrupted the city and the Temple. They moved outof Jerusalem and lived a monastic life in the desert,adopting strict dietary laws and a commitment tocelibacy. The Essenes are particularly interesting toscholars because they are believed to be an offshootof the group that lived in Qumran, near the Dead Sea.

today, which is about 33 per cent of the global population.Christianity is the major religion in Europe, North andSouth America and Australasia. In Australias 2006Census, about 63 per cent of the population13.5 millionpeoplestated an afliation with Christianity.

1 Maintain a list in your personal workbook whereyou summarise the meanings of the key terms,concepts and ideas discussed in this chapter.

2 Create and maintain a media clippings le todo with Christianity and/or Christians over thecourse of this chapter. Where relevant, includenames and descriptions of websites on thesetopics. At the conclusion of the chapter, you

will analyse your le and compare the mediaspresentation with what you have learnt in yourstudy of Christianity.

Extension

3.1 Origins

Glossary Exodus Greek word for exit, and used to

describe the escape of the children ofIsrael from Egypt under the leadershipof Moses.

Jewish The name given to the people of Israelafter their exile in Babylon; the survivorswere mainly from the tribe of Judah.

Judea Part of a mountainous area (now dividedbetween Israel and Palestine) thatthe Jewish people believe has beenpromised to them by God.

prophets Inspired teachers, revealers orinterpreters.

Roman Two thousand years ago, RomeEmpire controlled all the land surrounding the

Mediterranean Sea, including Judea . TheRomans spoke Latin but Greek was alsoimportant.

sects Groups of people with a commoninterest; factions.


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Figure 3.1.1 The rst page of three on the rst of seventeenstrips of leather that make up the Qumran Qb Isaiah scroll.

These manuscripts help us to understand the ideas that werecurrent at the time of Jesus. Qumran is the only archaeologicalsite that matches the Roman historian Plinys description of theEssenes settlement.

When the Roman Empire gained almost complete controlover Judea in 64 BCE, religious and political tensions arose.The Jews worried that their God, Yahweh, had abandonedthem and various political and religious groups looked fora way to free Judea from Roman control. Some of them

hoped that a Messiah would come, a man like King David,who would lead an independent Judea. This idea of adeliverer of political and religious freedom is often foundin the later Torah when prophets such as Elijah and Isaiahspoke of the arrival of a saviour.

As well as these tensions, Jewish religious character andspiritual unity was splintered by a variety of sects. Therewas no central Jewish authority; rather, religiously active

Jews organised themselves into different groups.

It was into this world that Jesus, a Jew, camehisfollowers recognised him as the Messiah. At rst, thiscommunity of followers was a sect within Judaism, but bythe end of the rst century CE it had become the separatereligion of Christianity.

1 In your own words, dene Messiah.

2 Recall the main Jewish groups of Jesus time.

3Prepare a chart to

outline the historical context

in which Christianity began. Note the waysGreeks, Romans and Jews might have inuencedthe origins of Christianity.

Review

1 Go to the web destinations for page 44 to ndout more about Qumran and the Dead SeaScrolls. Present a three-paragraph report onyour ndings.

2 The Sadducees and the Pharisees representedthe religious people of Jesus day. In the gospelsthere are many references to Jesus conict withthem. Why was Jesus so critical of them? (seeMt 23; Mk 8:1121, 12:140; Lk 7:3650)


Note!You will need a copy of the New Testament for

the next two sections.


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What we know about Jesus comes almost exclusivelyfrom the Christian gospels. While all four gospels tell of

Jesus ministry and the last three years of his life, only theGospels of Matthew and Luke tell us of Jesus birth andearly years. These infancy narratives are really myths and

were written to place Jesus ministry in a strongly Jewishcontext. Matthew and Luke wanted to explain that Jesuswas born in Bethlehem, as some of the Jews expected thatthe Messiah would be born in that city, the birthplace ofDavid (c. 900 BCE), the rst king of Israel and a Messiahgure.

The story of Jesus birth about 6 BCE near the end of thereign of Herod the Great (374 BCE) tells of an angel whovisited his mother, Mary, and predicted her son would bethe son of God (Lk 1:2638; Mt 1:1825). The wise menor Magi were also said to be present soon after his birth.These were star worshippers from the Persian religionZoroastrianism who had long predicted the birth of a

chosen man from the womb of a virgin.While there is no evidence that Jesus familyed to Egypt because King Herod orderedthe male babies of Bethlehem killed, itlinks Jesus story with that of the EgyptianPharaoh.

Luke stresses that the practices of Judaismwere part of the daily life of Jesus family.

Jesus was circumcised and named eight daysafter his birth (Lk 1:21). At the requiredtime, Jesus was taken up to Jerusalem andbrought to the Temple to do for him whatwas customary under the law (Lk 2:22). Weread in Luke that every year the family wentto Jerusalem for the festival of Passover and that they were there when Jesus wastwelve years old, the age for Bar Mitzvah (Lk 2:4143).

Apart from the annual journeys to Jerusalem, Jesus spent the rst thirty yearsof his life in the obscure town of Nazarethin southern Galilee. Jesus is described as

a carpenter (Mk 6:3), although this termrefers generally to any artisan working withhard materials. There is no more about

Jesus life until the event that heralded thebeginning of his ministryhis baptism by

John the Baptist when Jesus came fromGalilee to John at the Jordan (Mt 3:13;Mk 1:9; Lk 3:21; Jn 1:2934). Jesus wasthirty years of age.

Figure 3.1.2 Palestine in the rst century CE

Jesus Christ

Glossary baptism A religious act of purication by water,

from the Greek word baptizo , immerse.For Christians, it marks their receptioninto the Christian community.

Bar Mitzvah Coming-of-age ceremony for Jewishboys.

gentiles General term for non-Jewish people.

myths Spiritual or religious ideas expressedin human terms.

Passover The Jewish festival that celebrates theExodus from Egypt.

Sabbath The Jewish day of rest and religious( Shabbat ) observance. It begins at sunset on Friday and ends on Saturday at nightfall.

Sea of Galilee

JUDEAand

SAMARIA

DECAPOLIS

GALILEE

ROMAN

SYRIA

PROVINCESidon ABILENE

PEREA

D e a d S e a

BethlehemJerusalem

Joppa (Jaffa)

Bethany

Caesarea

Ptolemais

Tyre

Abita

Damascus

Caesarea Philippi

(Mediterranean Sea)

Tiberias

Capernaum

0 10 20 30 40 50

Kilometres

GALILEE

Bethsaida

Tiberias

Capernaum

Nain

NazarethSepphoris Cana

(Kefr Kenna)

Cana(Kh. Qana)

Gennesaret

H ill o f M o r e

h

0 5 10 15 20Kilometres

Sea

of Galilee

OF

N

Relief (metres)

2000500200sea levelunder sea level

The Great Sea

QumranJericho


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Principal events of Jesus lifeAccording to the gospels, after Jesus baptism he began histhree years of ministry not in the great Galilean cities suchas Tiberias and Sepphoris, but as a wandering preacherand healer in the villages among the ordinary people(Lk 8:1921, 9:5761, 11:2728; especially Mt 19:1012).He returned to his home town after a preaching tour butwas rejected:

[Jesus] left that place and came to his hometown, andhis disciples followed him. On the Sabbath he began toteach in the synagogue, and many who heard him wereastounded. They said, Where did this man get all this?What is this wisdom that has been given him? Then

Jesus said to them, Prophets are not without honour,except in their hometown, and among their own kin, andin their own house. And he could do no deed of powerthere, except that he laid his hands on a few sick peopleand cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Mk 6:16a

Jesus ministry eventually took him to Jerusalem where hewas arrested and brought before Pontius Pilate, the Romanemperors representative, who sentenced him to deathby crucixion.

The public ministry of JesusAfter his baptism by John, the gospels tell us Jesus beganhis ministry in Galilee (Mt 4:1219; Mk 1:1415; Lk41:415). John the Baptist had been arrested and Jesus left

Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum. At rst hismessage was the same as JohnsRepent, for the kingdomof heaven has comebut as he gathered followers, Jesusshifted his message more to the joy of salvation for thosewho heard Gods message.

The followers of Jesus remained at rst a small groupwithin early Judaism. Jesus called his disciples to sharein his teaching and healing ministry (Mt 10) and chosetwelve in particular, perhaps to mirror the twelve tribesof Israel (Lk 22:30). Although the Twelve Apostles, asthey are called, were all male, it is important to rememberthat Jesus, unlike other rabbis (teachers) of his time, calledwomen disciples. Indeed, women continued to exerciseleadership roles in the earliest church communities(see page 50).

Jesus addressed his message to the Jewshis language,imagery and ideas are decidedly Jewish, particularly hisfavourite expression kingdom (or reign) of God(Mk 2:15; Mt 4:17)and the Jewish people, to whomhis ministry was directed, understood what he was saying.

Jesus encouraged his listeners to move beyond the strict

legalism of his day and look for motives for actions. Thosewho saw the Messiah as a new kinga David who wouldunite them and battle against the oppressorsweredisappointed: Jesus didnt seem interested in gatheringbattalions. Those who saw Judaism as offering salvation

only to those who strictly kept the Law of Moses weredisappointed: Jesus was saying that all were welcome intothe kingdom. He stated that he had come to full the lawof Judaism and mixed freely with those considered sinnersand outcasts (Mt 5:17; Mk 2:1516).

His favourite form of teaching was the parable, amysterious saying designed to tease the minds of hisaudience, to knock his hearers off balance, unmask anyfalse security and open peoples eyes, ears and hearts tothe Kingdom of God (Mk 2:1517; Mt 11:29). Jesusparables turned everything upside down. The rich ate withthe poor; the lepers, the blind, the possessed, the lameall seemed to be welcome in the kingdom. Those whohad difculty were the ones who insisted on the letterof the law as the most important qualication for entryto the kingdom. Jesus also worked miracles: healing thesick, casting out demons, showing power over nature andeven raising the dead (Mk 4:3541, 5:2230; Jn 11:144).

Jesus soon came into conict with Jewish and Romanauthorities.

Did you know?In the Christian Scriptures, the term parable can includeproverbs (Lk 4:23), wisdom sayings (Lk 5:3639), allegories(Mk 12:111) and the more familiar narrative parables(Lk 18:914). Parables usually contain an introductory formulasuch as it is like, the kingdom of heaven is like, or to whatshall I compare.

On the Sunday of the last week of his life, whatChristians now celebrate as Holy Week, Jesus made atriumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mk 11:111)PalmSunday. He visited the Temple and overturned the stallsof the moneychangers and those who sold offerings forsacrice (Mk 11:1516). He then entered into a series ofarguments with the Pharisees and Sadducees about payingtaxes and life after death (Mk 12:1340). After celebratingPassover with his disciplesthe Last SupperJesus wasarrested and brought to trial before Pontius Pilate, theRoman Procurator.

Jesus was sentenced to death and crucied on Friday(Mk 15:2141; Mt 4550)Good Friday. He wasburied hastily on Friday evening so as not to contravenethe Sabbath. When some women came on Sunday


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Figure 3.1.3 Christ Dining in Young

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