New sections
edit- Anatta
- Anicca
- Buddha-dhatu ("Buddha-Principle", "Buddha-nature")
- Buddhism
- Buddhism after the Buddha
- Buddhism and reality
- Buddhist religious philosophy and branches
- Dukkha
- Footnotes
- Meditation
- Practices of Buddhism
- Principal schools of Buddhist philosophy
- References
- References and Links
- Refuge in The Three Jewels
- Related modern concepts
- Related systems and religions
- The Three Marks of Existence
- Vegetarianism
Removed sections
edit- History of the Schools
- Modern Asia
- The Three Vehicles
Buddhism and the West
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Early contact | |
Alexander the Great | |
Hellenism | |
Menander | |
1800s | 19th century |
Arthur Schopenhauer details | |
Theosophical Society | |
Buddhist Society, London | |
Max Müller | |
Buddhist flag | |
Buddhism in America link | |
Hermann Hesse | |
Jack Kerouac | |
"decline of traditional Western beliefs (see Christianity)" | "more methodical path to happiness than Christianity ... spiritual bankruptcy" |
Nepal, India, Tibet | |
Tibetan lamas | |
Korean and Vietnam wars | |
IMS | |
Zen | |
"continuous evolution of the practice" | |
"to create a new form of non-sectarian Buddhist practice" | Shambhala Buddhism details |
Lama Surya Das | |
Jesus as a bodhisattva |
Buddhism in the modern world
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Albert Einstein quote | |
230-500 million | 230-700 million |
dominant schools by country | |
"exotic and progressive ... familiar and part of the establishment" |
Introduction
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Siddhartha Gautama in Pali | |
"originated in India" | "[Buddha] lived in northern India" |
"spread throughout Asia, etc.", specific countries | "spread into... [regions of Asia] and Eastern Europe" |
unusual among world religions | "what is religion?" |
"does not involve the worship of gods" | "some Buddhist schools associate with them via ritual" |
"does not deny the existence of gods or other higher beings" | "does not deny the existence of supernatural beings" |
supernatural beings also in samsara | |
Dhammapada quote | |
708 million followers | |
two main branches | |
Pali canon vs. Mahayana sutras | |
definition of sutra | |
different vinayas | |
Mahayana vs. Hinayana | |
division by language | |
Vajrayana | |
Zen/Chan | |
"The aim of these practices is to put an end to suffering and achieve enlightenment" | "The aim of Buddhist practice is to end [samsara]... by awakening the practitioner to the realization of true reality, the achievement of liberation" |
nirvana defined as "extinguishing" | nirvana defined as "liberation" |
"For the Buddha, the key to liberation was mental purity and correct understanding" | "To [end the cycle], one should purify and train the mind and act according to the laws of karma" |
definition of karma | |
Mahayana viewpoint: "Eventually... the conditioned realm of karma needs to be transcended altogether" | |
Great Perfection | |
sila, prajna | |
varieties of meditation | |
"Buddhists use such techniques to gain insight" |
Origins
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"Legend has it" | "there are many different stories" |
Siddartha Gautama in Devanagari, Pali, and pronunciation | |
Shakyamuni | |
specific Theravada legend | |
6th century BCE | 566 BCE |
Suddhodana a chief, not a king | |
Maya's dream | |
Siddhartha's birth | |
"He immediately took seven steps toward each quarter of heaven..." | |
Maya passed away shortly after giving birth | |
"escorted by his attendant Channa" | |
"for uncounted aeons" | "since beginningless time" |
"It is said that he stole out of the house in the dead of night" | |
asceticism in Jainism | |
"He became a skeleton covered with skin, surviving on a single grain of rice per day, and practiced holding his breath." | |
"Perhaps [meditation] would provide an alternative to the dead end of self-mortification?" | |
"[the Bodhi tree], under which he would be shaded [from the sun]" | |
"This new way of practicing" | "He developed a new way of meditating" |
"[six years since he began his quest] in search of a solution to an end of suffering [he attained enlightenment]" | |
Bihar | |
Ayacana Sutta | |
near Benares | |
first sermon and first sangha | |
"Historically speaking, there are questions about this story." | |
"there are other stories of his life which do not exactly match" | "In other versions of his life story" |
"country of Magadha where he was born" | "state of Shakya where he was born" |
Suddhodana not a king redux | |
influence of Jain culture | |
penances | |
Jainism well established by time of Buddhist writings | |
24 previous Buddhas identical to Jain Tirthankaras | |
dialogues between Gautama Buddha and Niganthas | |
Prakrit terminology shared between Jainism and Buddhism | |
familiar terms | |
appeal to a broad audience | |
see also Earliest Buddhism |
Other principles and practices
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karma is not an excuse for treating the less fortunate poorly | |
unsatisfactory nature of Ishvara | |
problem of evil | |
"it is better to call Buddhism agnostic" | |
"Karma had taken the place of God in Theravada" | |
"the Buddha himself is venerated like God in Mahayana" |
Relations with other faiths
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"Some Hindus (primarily in the northern regions of India)" | |
Vishnu details | |
Astika vs. Nastika | |
syncretism/ecumenicism | |
Shinto is Japanese | |
Jainism | |
Taoism | |
Confucianism/Neo-Confucianism | |
Confucian ancestor worship |
Scriptures
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open source canon | |
anyone may become enlightened | |
"it is also possible for new authoritative sermons to be delivered" | |
Abhidhamma in Sanskrit | |
other Abhidhammas among the Eighteen Schools, distinct from the Theravadin version | |
"Mahayana canon" | "Mahayana corpus of sutras" |
The Five Precepts
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five precepts ↔ training rules | |
"Laypeople generally undertake five precepts." | "Laypeople generally undertake (at least one of) five precepts." |
commandments vs. precepts | |
rationale for first precept | |
uniqueness of and rationale for fifth precept | |
generality of precepts | |
The Scripture of Brahma's Net | |
background of third precept | |
"monks and nuns of most countries [observe the patimokkha]" | "monks and nuns of the Theravada school [observe the patimokkha]" |
The Four Noble Truths
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"The Buddha's teaching at his first sermon was that of the four noble truths." | "The Buddha taught that life was dissatisfactory because of craving, but that this condition was curable by following the Noble Eightfold Path. This teaching is called the Four Noble Truths..." |
emphasis on experiential verification rather than faith | |
Noble Eightfold Path ↔ Three Trainings | |
craving causes suffering | |
Pratitya-samutpada → karma | |
Twelve Links | |
only nirvana can end samsara | |
note on translation |
The Noble Eightfold Path
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"without right understanding it would not be possible to really develop the other limbs of the path" | |
"from very early on Buddhism took it as a basic premise that ignorance or misunderstanding was the result[?] of all evils" | |
"The Eightfold Path essentially consists of meditation, following the precepts, and cultivating the positive converse of the precepts..." | |
Threefold Path/Three Trainings | |
sila |
The Three Marks of Existence
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dharma seals: anatta, anicca, dukkha | subsections |
What is a Buddha?
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buddha in Devanagari and pronunciation | |
"not just a single religious leader" | "not just the historical Buddha Shakyamuni" |
"...lineage of Buddhas, which stretches back into the dim recesses of the past and forward into the distant horizons of the future" | "...lineage of Buddhas, which is thought to extend beyond history into the past and into the indefinite future" |
godhood in Mahayana sutras | |
"He claimed to be ... a teacher to guide those who choose to listen." | "He is instead dharma ... made manifest." |
"A Buddha is any human being who..." | "A Buddha is anyone who..." |
"fully awakened, ... transformed [beyond samsara by insight], ... and enabled to help others achieve the same enlightenment" | "fully awakened, ... liberated [from samsara], ... eradicated all negative qualites and developed all positive qualities, possibly including omniscience" |
Buddhas do not claim omnipotence; contrast with the Abrahamic God | |
Mahayana asserts animals can achieve enlightenment | |
past lives of Gautama Buddha | |
Tathagatagarbha Doctrine | |
solitary buddhas | |
Gautama Buddha persuaded by Indra to teach |