pt 3

First, what is the nature of the human condition?

Answer: The Four Noble Truths

Schism, or division

Around 350 B.C.E. a council was held. 'Council of Pāṭaliputra', that the 'Great Schism' between the 'Elders' (Sthaviras) and the 'Great Assembly' (Mahāsāṃghikas) Arhat vs. Buddha (Buddha superior) Buddha: supernatural qualities and and cosmic compassion; or Buddha: more like a perfect human. New rules for monks (vinaya)

Great Schism

Around 350 B.C.E. a further council was held at Pāṭaliputra which was to have a profound ef- fect upon the later tradition. It was at this council, known to modern scholars as the 'Council of Pāṭaliputra', that the 'Great Schism' between the 'Elders' (Sthaviras) and the 'Great Assembly' (Mahāsāṃghikas) Arhat vs. Buddha (Buddha superior) Buddha: supernatural qualities and and cosmic compassion; or Buddha: more like a perfect human. New rules for monks (vinaya)

sangha after the Buddha died

Buddha: "No successor, since I never considered myself to be the leader of the sangha." The monks should be self-reliant and hold fast to the Dharma, and the Vinaya (the monastic rules) as their teacher. No need for a head or patriarch, and no central institution charged with determining orthodoxy.

Stupa

Burial mound Site of pilgrimage Mark of the Buddha Holy place

The Six Realms

Deities (Devas) Humans Demi-Gods, Warriors Beasts, animals Hells, Hell Realm Starving, Hungry Ghosts

Life is dukkha

Dukkha = suffering & general unsatisfactoriness of life.

Gautama's Search for Enlightenment

Intense meditation, extreme asceticism 49 days of meditation under bo tree to finally achieve enlightenment Attained title Buddha: "the enlightened one"

The Truth of Arising (samudaya)

It is this thirst or craving (tṛṣṇā) which gives rise to rebirth, which is bound up with passionate delight and which seeks fresh pleasure now here and now there in the form of (1) thirst for sen- sual pleasure, (2) thirst for existence, and (3) thirst for non-existence

Sramana = a person who abandons the conventional obligations of social life.

Sramana groups were common around 500 BCE. They rejected the Vedic tradition and wandered free of social ties, debating the ideas expressed in the Upanishads. Roughly similar to some early Greek philosophers and mystics. Outbreaks of disease in urban centers along trade routes may have been a factor in encouraging these groups and in their focus on liberation from suffering.

Emperor Asoka

The Mauryan dynasty ruled from 324-184 B.C. Asoka, the great emperor, 268 B.C. Edicts proclaim Asoka's policy of rule by Dharma (righteousness) and his belief in the virtues of kindness, tolerance and upright conduct as the means to the happiness and wellbeing of his subjects both here and in the afterlife.

Buddhist scriptures

The Tripiṭaka or 'three baskets' is the name for the Buddhist canon of scriptures; a threefold collection of sacred texts: The Sūtra Piṭaka or 'Basket of Discourses' containing the teachings and sermons of the Buddha The Vinaya Piṭaka or 'Basket of Monastic Discipline' containing the history and rules of the sangha The Abhidharma Piṭaka or 'Basket of Higher Teachings' containing scholastic commentary analyzing the Buddha's teachings.

Dependent Origination

The doctrine of dependent origination is a fundamental Buddhist teaching on causation. It holds that all phenomena arise in dependence on causes and conditions, and as a consequence lack intrinsic being of their own. The doctrine is expressed in its simplest form in the Sanskrit phrase idaṃ sati ayaṃ bhavati ('when this exists, that arises').

Two main groups

Theravada, the "Elders"(Sthaviras): represented older more orthodox teachings that could be traced directly back to the Buddha Mahāsāṃghikas: more popular. As Buddhism spread throughout India, many schools developed (up to 18 different groups) over the first four hundred years: doctrinal differences and regional variants. Coming of the Mahayana

Moksa: "Liberation"

Ultimate release from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth The shedding of the "worldly" atman and dualistic view of Brahman/atman in favor of a realization of one's essential unity with Brahman Characterized by a state of pure consciousness, pure bliss Depending on the school of Hinduism, moksa is viewed differently Uniting with the ineffable and formless One OR Uniting with a personal God (Ishvara) in a perfected state

5 main sramana groups

buddhists jains fatalists materialists skeptics

Original Buddhism

empirical (direct validation) scientific (causal laws) pragmatic (focus on problem solving) therapeutic (how to end suffering) psychological (not metaphysical) egalitarian directed to individuals (work out your own salvation with diligence)

First Sermon

in the Deer Park

Parinirvana

no unresolved karma; no rebirth in the 6 realms of samsara; liberation His final nirvana (parinirvana) took place at his death at age 80.

Buddhism originated as a sramana movement. Sramana = a person who abandons the conventional obligations of social life.

sramana movement

Arhat (arhant):

this is a saint, or "worthy one", who has become enlightened.