Buddhism Exam 1
Tantra (gyü)
" Continuum" - Succession (spiritual, biological, royal lineage) - Tantra (text and subject matter) - Mind-stream (continuity of ground Nature of mind-body complex, your Buddha nature), path(taking on the Buddha nature), and fruition(who you already were)) Idea that you have completely perfected nature and need to expel things covering it
Ten virtues and non-virtues
10 non-virtues - Three of body: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct - Three of mind: covetousness, ill-will, wrong views - Four of speech: lying sowing discord, harsh speech, worthless chatter 10 virtues: 1) Renounce killing; protect the lives of others 2) Renounce taking what is not given, Practice generosity 3) Give up sexual misconduct; practice discipline 4) Tell the truth 5) Abandon harsh words; speak pleasantly 6) Give up sowing discord; reconcile disputes 7) Put an end to useless chatter and recite prayers 8) Renounce covetousness; rejoice in the good fortune of others 9) Give up wishing harm to others; cultivate the desire to help them 10) Put an end to wrong views; establish in yourself the true authentic view
Taking refuge (faith, approaches, objects of refuge, practice, precepts, benefits)
Approaches to taking refuge: Faith - Vivid faith: inspiration - encountering representation of Buddhas body, speech, mind, encounters with teacher or spiritual friend - Eager faith: urgency- eagerness to be free of sufferings of lower realms and enjoy the happiness of higher realms, eagerness to engage in + actions, avoid - - Confident faith: total trust in 3 jewels of buddha, dharma, and sangha as the unfalling refuge (dog's tooth story) Motivation - the refuge of lesser beings (ordinary), fear of suffering in 3 lower realms - the refuge of middling beings (Hinayana = lower vehicle), to attain nirvana for ourselves alone (shravakas and prayekabuddhas) - The refuge of great beings (Mahayana= great vehicle), to attain Buddhahood for all beings, who have been our parents How to take refuge: Objects of Refuge - according to basic vehicle (Hinayana) buddha is teacher, dharma is path, Sangha is companions on the way - General method of extraordinary Secret mantra vehicle (general Vajrayana) guru, yidam, dakinis and dharma protectors - Special sublime method of Vajra Essence (nature of subtle body: Vajrayana), channels, energies, essences - Ultimate and infallible refuge in the indestructible natural state (nature of mind: Vajrayana) Wisdom's essential nature: emptiness Wisdom's natural expression: clarity Wisdom's capacity: all-pervasive compassion Practice: - set motivation of bodhicitta (wish to free all beings, Mahayana) - Visualize field of merit (merging of Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana) - Recite formula and postrate - Conclude session by dissolving visualizations into you and all other - Dedicate the merit to the infinity of beings - Remember deities of the refuge constantly to dissolve delusions into clear light Precepts of taking refuge: A) 3 things to be abandoned 1) Buddha: do not take other gods as your refuge 2) Dharma: do not harm others and protect them 3) Sangha: give up friendships with those hostile in Buddha teachings B) 3 things to be done 1) Buddha: venerate images 2) Dharma: venerate scriptures 3) Sangha : venerate symbols of monastic order C) 3 supplementary precepts 1) Consider personal teacher as Jewel of Buddha in person and honor him 2) Consider his/her words as Jewel of Dharma and obey 3) Consider his/her entourage as Jewel of Sangha and respect BENEFITS - plant seed of liberation within oneself - distance self from past negative actions and develop positive ones - support all vows, source of all good qualities -ultimately will lead you to buddhahood - temporarily will secure you protection of gods, fulfil this lifes wishes, and stave off his life's ills - never part from 3 Jewels - Remember them from life to life - Happiness in this life and in lives to come - Begins all practices and protects positive actions from disruption
Deity and Visualization
Tantric - continuous with Mahayana practices of "recollecting Buddha" and invocating visions of Buddhas - Deity is Buddha that occupies center of mandala pure-land - Based on idea of emptiness, compassion, and buddha nature (one has already been deity/buddha) - Goal is to dissolve grasping to ordinary appearances and extend agency of Buddhas
Initiation
Tantric - modeled after royal coronation - ripens people into proper vessels for realization (plants the seed of realization) by resonating with subtle body - initiates into lineage and authorizes people to practice specific body of teachings - confers "blessings" (healing)
Mudra
Tantric - Hand or body positions that represent a deity's qualities - sometimes serve as shorthand for extended actions
Mantra
Tantric - specialized language formulas with power to act - "seed mantra" and longer formulas -"life-force" of Buddha's awakened minds - Efficacy rooted in wisdom/compassion of Buddhas and the subtle body of beings
Protectors (mundane and transmundane)
Tantric , on mandala Mundane protectors - of the 3 orientations you use this for pragmatic orientations - if people come to your village to attack call on mundane protectors Tansmundane protectors - for Buddhist practices - if someone interfering with practice, call on these people First had mundane protectors, recognized that they also had importance in protecting the dharma. Then they were placed on the outer wring of images representing the dharma and transmundane protectors arose. Happened when Buddhism entered india and Tibet. Now have mix of both types of protectors
Tantric view of the body
Tantric view of the body, to understand it need to know how body is conceived off in Nikaya and Mahayana - you should live humble life, body is important thing to focus on, could be distraction, obstacle Tantric views - microcosm or macrocosm - body is considered reflection of the world - heart is main region legs are 4 continents - vehicle to enlightenment
What are the differences and similarities between the vehicles of sutra and tantra?
Causal vehicle of sutra - taking the cause of awakening as path of practice - dwells on duality - fewer methods (6 perfections) - safer and tamer - slower (3 incalculable eons) Fruitional vehicle of tantra - taking the result of awakening as path practice - cuts to non-duality - many more methods, sometimes radical methods - more dangerous and volatile - faster (this body, this lifetime)
The difference between Nikaya Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism and Hinayana
"Primitive" Nikaya Buddhism (400BCE-50CE) Early Dharma and Sangha after the Buddha - Many groups one tradition - Sangha split over strictness of Vinaya rules and formed many unique groups that are the Nikaya - We only know about two Nikayas - Monastic specialists and their lay supporters - Goal was liberation from samsara as an Arhat, not complete awakening as a buddha - Primary teaching were 4 noble truths, 8-fold path, 12 links of dependent origination, among others - Developed rich Abhidharma reflections from lists in sutras - Each Nikaya had its own "three section" cannon of Sutra, Vinaya, and Abhidharma Theravada Buddhism - sub-section of the Sthavira Nikaya of Sri Lanka - Legendary arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka around 300BCE and eventually became dominant there - Developed under 5th c. CE monk Buddhaghosa of Sri Lankan Mahavihara sub-sect (promoted Pali language in Buddhist scripture, translated them into Pali, composed commentary to form closed "Pali Canon" - Conservative Mahavihara school wins out by royal decree - Spreads to southeast Asia Hinayana (lesser vehicle) - View: selflessness of a person (not emptiness of all phenomena), - Meditation: dependent origination (not emptiness suffused with compassion) - Conduct: vows of individual liberation (individual ethic) for one lifetime, not bodhisattva vow (universal ethic) to practice 6 perfections over 3 incalculable eons, - Goal: Arhat (liberation) quickly for oneself, not Buddha (omniscience) over long duration for all
Avalokiteshvara
- Bodhisattva of compassion - the most famous bodhisattva - Mahayna sutras present him as the disciple of the Buddha - The Dalai Lama is considering to be his emanation
Sangha
- Buddhist community, a wandering community - stationary during summer rainy season - first nun was Buddha's stepmother Prajapati - Ananda was instrumental in formation of nun's order - Prophecy of Dharma's decline - Fourfold community of monk's and nuns, laymen and laywomen - Sangha splits over
Yama: Lord of death
- Driven by Karma - Yama paintings of wheel of existence, he is holding huge wheel. - signifies principle of karma or impermanence, judges dead and presides over purgatories Five skulls: 5 aggregates Third eye: wisdom of understanding impermanence Tiger skin: fearlessness Four limbs: represent suffering of birth, old age, sickness, and death
Emptiness
- Mahayana idea - Not an absence of everything, absence of singular, independent, and permanent aspect to any person or thing, notion of non-self extended into all things) - realizing fixed stable unitary entity in all things
Dharma
- Teaching or religion of the Buddha - Is reality, the same whether Buddha realizes it or not - Is also a message pointing to reality - Sutra (discourses) and vinaya (behavioral rules) - new teachings must accord with sutras and vinaya - all that is well-said is Dharma - competing claims and interpretations - Formation of three sections (tripitaka) a) Sutra (discourses) b) Vinaya (behavioral code) Abhidharma (scholastic treatises)
Degenerate age
- begins 1,500 years after Buddha Shakyamuni's passing - referring to now - human customs and conditions deteriorating - afflictions increasing - time: disease, famine, and strife increasing - lifespan shortening - views becoming coarser (less people learning buddhist teachings)
Perfection of Wisdom (prajnaparamita)
- early Mahayana sutra - Teaching on emptiness, bodhisattvas and pure lands - Perfection of Wisdom; Mother of all Buddhas because buddhas born through their realization of wisdom
Intrinsic (basic) purity
- emptiness/dependable arising with a core of compassion - Buddhanature (fundamental nature of mind) - Mind-only (manifestations of consciousness)
Role of women in tantra
- from inauspicious temptressess to sublime goddesses - female Buddhas enter the center of the mandala - many female deities (dakinis) feature prominently - embody source of wisdom and great bliss - women are both teachers and practitioners - highly sought as consorts for sexual yoga
Tantric view of negative mental states
- homeopathic perspective on mental afflictions - sexual desire and bliss utilized in the service of awakening - aggression utilized in the service of awakening Focuses on non distinctions (doesn't matter if it is good or bad, dark or light) - make use of your anger, use your desire, meditate on it, and use it to go toward enlightenment, does not see negativity as such as a bad thing to be avoided, can be utilized
Tantric secrecy
- restricted to intitiates - use of indirect or symbolic forms of language - access strictly controlled by elite specialists
The three realms (desire, form and formless, including Mount Sumeru, the four continents...)
1) Desire realm (kamadhatu) - Mount Sumeru, the 4 continents, the 7 mountain ranges, the 7 oceans, and the sun and moon - Jambudvipa (our home, the southern continent) 2) Form realm (rupadhatu) - heavenly realms, that you are born into through meditative progress - reached by deepening concentration to the level that you no longer need to be reborn into the desire realm 3) Formless realm (arupadhatu) - would have no place in a purely physical cosmology, as none of the beings inhabiting it has either shape or location; and correspondingly, the realm has no location either. - enjoy fruits of good karma and accomplishments - Bodhisattvas not reborn here
Three bodies of a Buddha (dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya)
1) Dharmakaya "The body of reality" (enlightened awareness of all Buddhas) 2) Sambhogakaya "The body of bliss" (luminous energy body) 3) Nirmanakaya "emanation body" (material body), human and non human
Three roots
1) Lama/Guru 2) Yidam Dieties 3) Dakinis and Dharma protectors
Two Truths
1) Ultimate truth: emptiness: the 6 realms are empty of inherent existence, like an illusion or a dream 2) Conventional/relative truth: the 6 realms exist conventionally/ relationally, the illusion functions with a certain internal logic, karma works
Three Jewels
1) buddha 2) dharma 3) sangha
The twelve links of dependent origination
1) ignorance - not knowing 4 noble truths and 8 fold bath - perceiving process of 6 elements to be lasting, independent, unitary 2) formations - actions of body, speech, and mind driven by desire, aversion, and delusion with respect to objects - dependent nature of reality, giving rise to afflictions, we act on afflictions 3) consciousness - 6 cognitions of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind - faculty to observe phenomena 4) name and form - Name: 4 immaterial aggregates of feeling, recognition, volitions, conscious awareness - Form- the material aggregate of form 5) 6 sense spheres - eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind 6) contact - convergence of faculties, cognitions, and objects 7) feeling 8) craving 9) grasping - intensification of craving 10) becoming - existence of realms 11) birth 12) decay and death -Everything depends on other causes and conditions - this is the nature of reality whether or not buddha appears to tell us so a) Objective Dependent origination - Causes: sprout comes from seed, leaf from sprout, ect - Conditions: earth, warmth, wind, ect The process is the nature of reality: not created by itself, by another, by a god.. - The process is free of extremes: not permanent, not discontinuous, nothing is transferred, small causes can produce great results, there is an affinity between cause and effect b) Subjective aspect is the 12 links
Three turnings of the wheel of Dharma
1st) 4 Noble Truths, Adhidharma (lesser vehicle) - beginning of material 2nd) Perfection of Wisdom, Middle way - last class - everything ultimately empty of any fixed/stable existence, illusion to see things as fixed 3rd) Yogacara, path and Buddha Nature - full Buddhist path in light of emptiness
Maitreya
2 contexts 1) Nikaya Buddhism - aeons, previous Buddha, present Buddha, Future Buddha - Maitreya is the future Buddha 2) Mahayana Buddhism - he has manifestation in enjoyment body, is becoming present int he pure land - you can do practice to get to his pure land in this aeon - Is the bodhisattva now in Tushita heaven and he will be the Buddha of the next aeon
Refuge tree (field of merit)
3 Jewels: exoteric level (Hinayana and Mahayana) 1) buddha 2) dharma 3) sangha 3 roots: esoteric level (Vajrayana) 1) Lama (spiritual friend, introduces you to Dharma) 2) Yidam Deities (deity you see in practice) 3) Dakinis and Dharma protectors (deities we cant see but help us when we need it) - Surrounded by all beings of three worlds and six realms of existence
Three orientations of Tibetan Buddhism (bodhi, karmic, and pragmatic) and how Tibetan Buddhism integrates them
3 aims you have in your life, most common or separate one is pragmatic concern for pragmatic orientation (lowest level), - Higher level is karmic concern for next life, create merit - Bodhi orientation: you want to reach enlightenment, and get of samsara, orientation toward enlightenment 1) Bodhi orientation (aim for awakening) 2) Karmic orientation (aim for better conditions in this life) 3) most common or separate one is pragmatic concern for pragmatic orientation (lowest level), to attain nirvana for ourselves alone
Six Realms of Existence
3 upper 1) God Realm (deva) - born there from virtuous deeds - long living - only pleasure - distracted and do not think of Dharma - suffer from death and rebirth in lower realm 2) Demi-God realm(asura) - pleasure and abundance comparable to gods - jealously fight with gods for more resources - suffer from constant fighting and jealousy 3) Human Realm (manusya) - 3 sufferings: pain, change, conditionality - birth, aging, sickness, and death - not getting what one does not want - best opportunity to practice dharma 3 lower 4) Animal realm - absorbed by fear - prey on each other - domestic animals are exploited by humans, - slaughtered for food, skin... 5) Hungry-ghost realm - suffer from extreme hunger and thirst - huge bellies and long thin necks 6) Hell realm 18 hells: 8 hot, 8 cold, neighboring hells, ephemeral hells
Precious human birth (eight freedoms and ten advantages) What makes being human best?
8 freedoms: 1) hell being, 2) hungry ghost being, 3) animal, 4) god, 5) barbarian, 6) having wrong views, 7) born when theres no buddha, 8) born deaf and mute 10 advantages: 5 individual advantages 1) born human 2) in central place 3) with all faculties 4) without conflicting lifestyle 5) with faith in dharma 5 circumstantial advantages 1) a buddha has appeared 2) he has preached the dharma 3) his teaching still exists 4) we an and choose to follow it 5) there are spiritual teachers What makes being human best? - force of action is stronger, freedoms and advantages to practice Dharma are possible, freedoms and advantages are themselves the result of previous actions
Karma (action): cause and effect (in general, four causes of a complete action, fruition...) Does the theory of karma allow for freewill?
Actions(Karma) the principle of cause and effect - actions create samsara, intentions drive actions - negative deeds lead to non-meritorious results - positive deeds lead to meritorious results Causes: 10 non-virtues - Three of body: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct - Three of mind: covetousness, ill-will, wrong views - Four of speech: lying sowing discord, harsh speech, worthless chatter 4 elements to have full karmic effect: 1) basis 2) intention 3) execution 4) completion Effects: - full ripened effect: type (hated->hell, desire->hungry-ghost, delusion-> animal), Intensity (strong->hell...) - Effect similar to cause (action similar to cause ie. enjoying repeating act, experience similar to cause: experience done to oneself0 - Conditioning effect (environmental conditions, like if you were born somewhere that fostered your hatred) - Proliferating effect (strong tendencies) 4 types of action and intentions: 1) action that look - and are- 2) action that look + and are + 3) Action that look - and are + 4) action that look + and are - Does the theory of karma allow for freewill? - Yes, because you have the free will to choose to practice Dharma, and to choose the extent to which you practice it - Freedoms and advantages are themselves the result of previous actions
Buddha Nature
All Beings have Buddha Nature. 2 models 1) We are already Buddhas, but our Buddha Nature is covered by obscurations, like a gold statue covered by mud 2) We have the potential of a Buddha that can be cultivated into Buddhahood, like a seed can grow into a plant
Bodhicitta (relative and ultimate)
Aspiration to become awakened for the benefit of all beings and its culminating realization 1) Relative Intention hierarchy - King (in front, becomes awakened and brings everyone else) - Boatman (you're together) - Shepherd (you're behind, wait for other beings to become awakened before you can) Application of intention 2) Ultimate emptiness (absence of singular, independent, and permanent aspect to any person or any thing) Most famous Bodhisattva is Avalokitesvara of compassion, - Mahayana = disciple of the Buddha
Great eon and its four "moments" (eons)
Basic unit of time (great aeon ie. mahakalpa) composed of 4 "moments" (kalpas) 1) Formation of 20 intermediate aeons: - formation of "receptacle" and the descent of higher beings into coarser existence 2) Duration: 20 intermediate aeons - lifespan of humans decreases from 80,000 years to 10 years and then increases from 10 years to 80,000 years n each intermediate aeon - 7 day purge between each intermediate aeon (by fire, then water, then wind) 3) Dissolution: 20 intermediate aeons 4) Vacuity: 20 intermediate aeons Good bright aeons (kalpa) and bad dark aeons (kalpa) - good have buddha bad have no buddha
The Wheel of Existence
Bhavacakra - Symbolic for samsara 1) Hub 3 poisons - Pig: delusion (confusing impermanence with permanent, suffering with pleasure) - Bird: attachment - Snake: aversion (anger) 2) Second layer Karma - Light half - moving up to higher realms, doing positive things - Dark half - opposite 3) 3rd layer: 6 realms of samsara - 3 upper realms: god realm, demi-god realm, human realm - 3 lower realms: animal, hungry-ghost, hell realm 4) Outer rim: twelve links 5) figure holding wheel: yama, impermanence 6) Moon: liberation 7) Buddha pointing to moon: liberation is possible
Sadhana practice
Controlling Death and Rebirth Prerequisites: renunciation, bodhicitta, understanding emptiness, initiation "means of accomplishment" for cutting uncontrolled death and rebirth Transforming ordinary death, intermediate state (bar do), and rebirth into awakened experience of buddha During the process of your practice you will have the aim of the deity coming form outside into your body and dissolve your body or from heart region fill up your body Idea is that you become one or not different from deity Often done on long retreat
Mandala (macrocosm, mesocosm and microcosm)
Designs of pure-lands with Buddha's at center, surrounded by other Buddhas - Mediates between multiple levels of existence Macrocosm (cosmos and pureland) Mesocosm (temple, monastery, city, landscape, polity) - galactic polity (tambiah) Microcosm (subtle body and nature of mind) - Used in initiation ritual, consecration (temple, statue...) and daily meditation
The Four Noble Truths
First teaching, 4 truths 1) Truth of SUFFERING (dukha - unease) - pain, change, and conditions (ie. my morning coffee always must end) - The 5 clinging-aggregates (skandhas) - form, feeling, recognition, volitions, conscious awareness - everything is impermanent 2) The truth of the source of suffering (Trishna - craving) rooted ignorance - Craving for objects of senses, existence, and non-existence - Defilement's (klesha) of greed, aversion(not liking them bc they are in the way of you getting what you want), and delusion (misidentifying who you and other people are) 3) Truth of cessation: complete letting go of all cravings "extinguishing" - extinguishing fire of greed, aversion, and delusion - experience of the unconditioned - Buddha continues to act in the world, but with only generosity, friendliness, and wisdom - final nirvana: death 4) Truth of path to cessation: The complete letting go of all cravings - Nirvana
Four layers of Tibetan Buddhism (Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana, folk practices) and how Tibetan Buddhism integrates them
Hinayana ("lesser" vehicle) - Samsara, karma, and liberation worldview - Monastic vows Mahayana (greater vehicle) - cosmic framework - bodhisattva ethic (great compassion) - emptiness of all phenomena - Buddha-nature - Goal is liberation and omniscience for self and all others Varjayana (adamantine(unbreakable) vehicle) - extension of Mahayana (same goal) - Tantric vision and worldview - Intrinsic purity - Guru, devotion, initiation and other ritual contemplative techniques Folk Practices - local spirits, possession, divination, healing, retrieval of "life-force"
Pure-Land
In Mahayana view Liberated into Pure-Land Many Buddhas there
The life of Buddha Shakyamuni and the twelve great deeds
Life Theravada - an ordinary man, trained for multiple lifetimes as bodhisattva, awakened in final lifetime Mahayana/Vajrayana - already awakened long before - final lifetime "awakening" was a performance to emulate 1) Descent from Tushita - Decides where he will live, with who, in what cast - Gods are also bound to the world, subject to it 2) Entering the womb of his mother 3) Birth as a prince - born able to walk, able to make proclamations - queen felt no pain during pregnancy 4) Success in the worldly arts - Success in worldly arts of archery, or whatever is relevant to that area 5) Life in the palace - fancy life, - Father made negative prophecy if Buddha was to become the king , he would renounce the kingdom and become a spiritual figure, so father made him see no suffering, experience no aging, no illness, ect. - Goes out of palace, sees what father is hiding from him - the Four Sights: Old age, illness, death, asceticism (those who choose not to participate in existence, try to solve problem of existence) 6) Departure from home - Decide to face the suffering, can't live in castle knowing this is coming for everyone 7) Practice of austerities - seeks teacher to show him that he can overcome horror of existence, you are bound to suffering, it is being dictated by the habits that you've formed over the course of your life 8) Proceeding to the platform of awakening - renounce austerities and proceed to the middle path between aestheticism and indulgence 9) Defeat of Mara - Mara appears tries to stop him, Mara personified by desire, pride, excessive self orientation in many beings 10) Awakening 11) Turning the wheel of doctrine - devote self to teaching, 1st sermon is this, set in motion new cycle of teaching that would lead countless sentient beings to enlightenment 12) Final nirvana - announced he was dying having final nirvana on date, told his students they have everything they need to know
Mahayana (Great Vehicle) How is Mahayana different from Nikaya Buddhism? What are the commonalities?
Mahayana - want universal enlightenment as Buddhisattva, - emptiness of all phenomena - pure land of buddhas and bodhisattvas - buddha is supernatural being - length of time to enlightenment is until everyone is enlightened - Vow is Bodhisattva vows Nikaya - want individual enlightenment as Arhat - 1 eon/kalpa has 1 Buddha - believe buddha is human being - length of time to enlightenment is until individual is Commonalities: - Through meditation - take refuge in 3 jewels - exoteric
Yogacara thought
Scripture in Mahayana - Mind creates the realities we live in: an ordinary person does not know the world beyond the versions presented by the mind - Constructive thinkers developing descriptions of reality - 8 consciousnesses (1-6 visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and mental consciousness... 7: defiled mind: organizes, sense data, creates subject/object duality, 8. Storehouse consciousness- stores and matures karmic imprints or seeds - 3 natures 1) Imagined nature: incorrectly comprehending things and giving them permanent selves 2) Dependent nature: comprehending dependent nature of things 3) Perfected nature: eradicate the notion that things are impermanent as a buddha - 3 turnings of the Wheel of Dharma
Middle Way philosophy of Nagarjuna
Scripture in Mahayana Method: deconstructing all assertions about reality Emptiness- everything is empty of self, empty of inherent existence Middle way between eternalism (things have unchanging essence) and nihilism (nothing exists, no karma) Two truths: ultimate and conventional
Tripitaka (Sutra, Vinaya, Abhidharma)
Sutra (discourses) Vinaya (behavior code) Abhidharma (scholarstic treatises)
Guru and Lineage
Tantra - Guru holds lineage that goes back to Buddha - Transmits the blessings of the lineage - Equated with Buddha - Guru Yoga- assimilating the guru's realization - Combination of Biological, spiritual, and royal meanings
Sacred bond (samaya)
Tantra - set of prescriptions and prohibitions given by tantric master to initiates during initiation (do whatever guru says, view guru and "vajra-siblings" as pure) - oath made by initiates to observe those precepts - commitment of observing them - sacred bond formed in the process - bond ensure efficacy of practice - dangerous to break
Subtle body
Tantric - channels (nadi), chakras, winds (prana), and drops (bindu) - karmic wins and wisdom winds - the ride of the mind rides on the steed of the winds Yoga - manipulations of the subtle body can transform consciousness - dissolution of karmic winds into the central channel - preparations for opportunity of death Goal of awakening termed "great bliss" - Subtle body is the nature of bliss - Blissful experiences as stepping-stones to great bliss of awakening
Bodhisattva vow
To work towards achieving Nirvana but willfully deny it; the point is to continue to help others achieve enlightenment; to reenter this world and suffer lifetime after lifetime; willingly suffering for the good of others
The Eight Fold Path
Training mind, speech, and body in wisdom, conduct, and meditation Wisdom (Prajna) - Right view (seeing the four noble truths) - Right intention (desirelessness, friendliness, compassion) Conduct (Shila) - Right speech (refraining from false speech, divisive speech, harmful chatter, sexual misconduct) - Right action (refraining from harming living beings, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct) - Right livelihood (not based on wrong speech and action) Meditation (Samadhi) - Right effort (to prevent unarisen unwholesomeness states, abandon arisen unwholesomeness states, arouse unarisen wholesomeness states, develop arisen wholesomeness states) - Right mindfulness (contemplation of body, feeling, mind, dharma) - Right concentration ( of the four meditative states (dhyana))
Bodhisattva
a person who has attained enlightenment but who has postponed nirvana in order to help others achieve enlightenment
Bodhisattva practice a. Training in the bodhicitta of aspiration b. Training in the bodhictiia of applications (the six perfections) c. What makes the perfections "transcendent"?
a) Training in the bodhicitta of aspiration - equalizing self and others (everyone wants to be happy and avoid suffering) - exchanging self and others: the practice of giving happiness to others and taking their suffering) - considering others more important than oneself: giving all one's merit to others and taking all the ripening of their bad karma and suffering(rid of jealousy) b. Training in the bodhictiia of applications (the six perfections) 1) generosity 2) moral discipline 3) patience 4) diligence 5) concentration 6) wisdom c. What makes the perfections "transcendent"? - Knowing that the three elements of subject, object and action have no intrinsic reality is wisdom.
Samsara
the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth a cycle of existence all characterized by suffering, we are whipped by karma and volitions from the beginning of time but there is no beginning of cycle