Buddhism (An Overview from >Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education<, Chapter Four >>>>> World Religions)

Buddhism 

 

1.  The Life of Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 B. C. [BCE])

 

The story goes that there lived in the sixth century B.C. (BCE) a good but naïve young prince in a northern kingdom of India who one day in his early twenties ventured for the first time beyond the palatial luxury that he had known all of his life.  No one in the palace was truly elderly, so he gasped when he saw an old and withered man walking along his traveled road.  He as also taken aback when he lit upon an assemblage tending to an infirm person, for he had also never witnessed illness.  Most stunned, though, was he of all when he asked a passersby what was happening in the passage of a funeral procession, because nobody he had ever known and loved had died.

 

This prince, Siddhartha Gautama, was deeply troubled in confronting the reality of old age, sickness, and death.  He pondered for many days and then knew what he must do.  One evening while his wife and child were sleeping, he kissed them gently before leaving the palace.  He went on horseback

with his attendant Ananda strolling alongside.  In time they came to the river running not far from the palace;  thereupon, Siddhartha, dismounted, shed his royal robes, and put on the garb of a sannyasin.

He then bid Ananda goodbye and went thenceforth on a fateful physical and intensely spiritual journey.

 

In five years of personal trial, Siddhartha tried all of the prevailing ways toward spiritual liberation.  At one point he lived the existence of the extreme ascetic, denying his bodily needs until he was so emaciated that one could have touched his stomach and felt his back. But, alas, this proved no more spiritually liberating than any of the other exertions he had tried, so he when he came to what would become known as the Bodhi Tree, he sat down, physically exhausted and spiritually in turmoil.  He meditated for day upon day, until he finally experience moksha, with accompanying revelations of revolutionary importance. 

 

The revelations came to be known as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

 

2.  The Four Noble Truths

 

Meditating under the Boddhi Tree (Tree of Wisdom), Siddhartha had a transformative four-part recognition of the principles underpinning existence.  These are the Four Noble Truths as follows:

 

1)  Life is suffering.

2)  The cause of suffering is desire.

3)  The way to end suffering is to end desire.

4)  The way to end desire is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path.

 

3.  Noble Eightfold Path

                               

That Noble Eightfold Path is given as paramount moral imperatives in logical order, as follows:

 

1)  Right Understanding;

2)  Right Thought;

3)  Right Speech;

4)  Right Action;

5)  Right Occupation;

6)  Right Effort;

7)  Right Mindfulness;

8)  Right Meditation.

                                               

Thus does one have one of the world’s most elegantly succinct statements of life’s reality and the key components of morality.  Upon attaining these insights, Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha (Enlightened One).  He deferred entrance into nirvana upon achieving moksha so that he could continue his travels, now with the purpose of conveying his startling revelations to others.

 

The Buddha did not seek deification, nor did he speak of God.  But adherents of his teaching did in time develop practices of puja in demonstration of bhakti, demonstrating the reverence in which the Buddha was held.  And given, the propensity of people on their earthly sojourn to seek assurance of salvation, strains of Buddhism developed that featured devotional practices thought to lead the faithful into a paradise in the hereafter.

 

Buddhism reached its pinnacle in India during the reign of the Mauryan Dynasty king, Asoka.  Asoka’s personal history and dilemmas resembled the story of Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita.   But Asoka’s abhorrence of violence after victory in warfare convinced him that he could not thenceforth take a human life, and that in fact all life as sacred.  Throughout his kingdom, he placed pillars proclaiming the essential tenets of Buddhism and the nonviolent (ahimsa) life representing the ideal for both Hindus and Buddhists.  (Extending ahimsa to animals leads both Hindus and Buddhists to exalt vegetarianism as the most moral dietary practice---  and Hindus, considering cows sacred, would never eat beef).  

 

The highpoint of Buddhism reached during the reign of King Asoka would never be matched, and in time the much older Hindu faith kept its hold on the religious lives of most Indians.  Buddhism, though, would prove enormously appealing beyond India, with two schools (major divisions of Buddhism) having great and enduring impact on the peoples of Southeast and East Asia.

 

3.  The Major Divisions of Buddhism

 

a. Theravada Buddhism

 

Theravada (Doctrine of the Elders) Buddhism is the school of the religion that held most firmly to the original teachings of the Buddha, focusing less on salvation and deification of certain beings than on the religious practice of pious monks.  Theravada Buddhism dominates the religious lives of many people in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and the Southeast Asian nations that we now know as Thailand, Burma, Laos, and Cambodia---  although religious practice in the latter three nations has undergone challenges presented by political turmoil.

 

Theravada Buddhism exalts the life of the monk.  Considered the ideal life, few people are able to sustain the monastic discipline that the mendicant life entails.  Many young men do live for a time as monks, but most return to secular life and the practice of monetarily remunerative occupations.  For those who cannot sustain the monastic life (which, by tradition, means all women), the best alternative is to show reverence of monks and the temples wherein they dwell.  Thus, contributing materially to the gilding and general beautification of Buddhist temples is considered a major way that the faithful may accumulate merit.  Feeding and in all ways materially supporting Theravada monks is also considered an act accruing merit for future incarnations. 

 

Thus do orange-robed monks go forth in the morning to beg for their food and daily necessities, and accordingly do the faithful fill their bowls and baskets.  In accord with the Buddhist concepts of samsara and karma (retained from the Hindu tradition), the Theravada faithful aspire to ascend through various incarnations to increasingly more exalted life forms, until their amalgamations of good deeds leads them to the life of the monk.   Only monks are likely to experience moksha, which for Theravada Buddhists means recognition of the Four Noble Truths and living in accordance with the Noble Eightfold Path, thus creating the meditative context in which liberation from the Karmic Wheel is possible and nirvana may be attained.

 

Elsewhere, in East Asia (Vietnam, China, Korea, and Japan), Buddhism takes generally less monk-focused, more salvation-oriented forms collectively known as Mahayana (Greater Vehicle).

 

b.  Mahayana Buddhism

                                    

The deified spiritual being of religious focus in Mahayana Buddhism is the bodhisattva, one who has attained Enlightenment and therefore achieved moksha, but then paused before entering nirvana (as did Siddhartha Gautama) so as to lead others into higher spiritual awareness.  Bodhisattvas have in fact been essentially deified and in many cases are considered to offer salvation to people who in their prevailing earthly sojourn would never be able to attain salvation, much less liberation of the meditative sort, on their own.

 

Especially important sects and bodhisattvas, of the Mahayana school of Buddhism are given as follows:

 

Pure Land Buddhism      (Qingtu [Chinese];  Chingdo [Japanese])

 

Pure Land Buddhism originated in China and now has numerous temple complexes and offshoot sects in that country and in Japan.   Two Bodhisattvas are highly important to adherents of Pure Land:

               

Amitabha   >>>>>    This is the Sanskrit term for the bodhisattva known in Chinese as Amitofo and in Japanese as Amida.  The terms mean “Buddha of Infinite Light.”  Amitabha rules the Pure Land of the Western Paradise, where he glows with a golden light while sitting not on a conventional throne, but rather on a lotus,  Believers chant the name of Amitabha regularly, pray to him, and conduct rituals in his honor.  By doing these things, or even by appealing to his compassion as they near death, devotees seek to avoid samsara, gain release from the Karmic Wheel, and go to dwell with Amitabha in the Pure Land.  Once in the the Pure Land, everyone attains nirvana, so that the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is permanently terminated.  The chief text of Pure Land Buddhism is the Lotus Sutra, which stresses that Amitabha is the one true way to salvation and nirvana.

 

Avalokitesvara   >>>>>   Dwelling with Amitabha in the Pure land, Avolokitesvara

is known in Chinese as Guanyin.  Originally, Avalokitesvara was a male bodhisattva, frequently presented in statuary or in paintings as a 1,000-armed figure---  symbolically demonstrating his ability to extend the opportunity of salvation to many people simultaneously.  This is seen as a typical gesture of compassion on the part of Avalokiteswara, who has an intense empathy for surffering human souls.

 

Guanyin   >>>>>   In China, the male visualization of Avalokitesvara gave way to visualization as a white-robed female figure, typically holding a vase with the dew of compassion in one hand and a lotus flower in another.  Guanyin is Avalokitesvara in essential qualities, dwelling along with Amitofo (Amitabha) in the Western Paradise (Pure Land) and feeling a fervent empathy for the masses.  The many Chinese who make Guanyin there bodhisattva figure of focus chant her name and honor her in prayer and ritual.  There are many temples in China and on Taiwan that feature a statue of Guanyin in the most honored place for worship.

                                               

Maitreya Buddhism   >>>>>   Maitreya Buddhism is so-named for the bodhisattva of focus, the Maitreya Buddha (Milofo in Chinese), whose appellation means “Buddha to Come.”  Maitreya dwells in his Tusita Heaven, vowing to come some day in the manner of a messiah, so as to be with the faithful personally and usher them to his realm of salvation.  In the meantime, Chinese honor Milofo with chants, prayers, and rituals similarly to adherents of other bodhisattvas and trust that he will compassionately save them from samsara even before the promised arrival on earth.

 

Tientai Buddhism   >>>>>  Tientai Buddhism is an entirely Chinese development that spread to Japan, where it is known as Tendai.  Tientai emphasizes a number of sutras (texts offering Buddhist wisdom) for personal study or for receiving exegesis (scholarly textual interpretation) from Tientai masters.  Tientai literature extols the Lotus Sutra as the most exalted of the various compilations of religious reflection, all ranked for their richness of insight.  Masters of Tientai Buddhism are inspired by a mission to reach people at various levels of understanding, carefully moving them from lower levels of religious comprehension, beginning with the lesser ranked texts and concepts to those allowing a grasp of the tenets of the Lotus Sutra.

 

Nichiren Buddhism   >>>>>  Nichiren Buddhism was founded by a Japanese monk of the same name in the 13^th century.  Nichiren became intensely interested in the Tendai school, becoming enthralled with the Lotus Sutra, which he studied carefully for many years.  He distinguished himself from Tendai masters, though, in maintaining that only the Lotus Sutra could lead to salvation and moksha:  He proclaimed that all other forms of Buddhism were false.  He particularly emphasized chanting of the phrase from text of his fascination that goes, “I take refuge in the Lotus of the Wonderful Law Sutra.”  Nichiren spent two years in exile after running afoul of the rulers of the Kamakura Shogunate for threatening opposition if they did not support monks who taught the Lotus Sutra.  But he returned and was cleared from culpable acts in 1274.  After Nichiren died, his following continued to grow, with many revering him as having achieved Enlightenment and moksha for attainment of that exalted state of being that they called Buddhahood.  Nicheren’s persona and teaching have had enduring appeal:  There are in Japan numerous Nichiren devotees and temple complexes;  and numerous current religious movements based on the monk’s ideas. 

 

Zen Buddhism   >>>>>  Zen is the Japanese name for the sect that began in China as Chan (Meditation) Buddhism in the 12^th century, during the Song Dynasty.  Zen Buddhism attracted a very strong following in Japan and became associated with Japanese aesthetic preferences for the simple, pure, natural, and tranquil.  Zen adherents believe that everyone is latently a Buddha, so that if one’s Buddhahood lies every ready for awakening.  Zen masters emphasize long periods of deep meditation for clearing the mind and establishing readiness for maksha;  and direct instruction by master to pupil.  Master-pupil encounters include quizzing of the acolyte by the master in the form of koan, puzzling inquiries such as the famous, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”