Buddhism Everything that arises also passes away so
Buddhism “Everything that arises also passes away, so strive for what has not arisen. ” - Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama 566 -486 BCE or 484 -404 BCE • Born in Kapilavatthu (near modern day Lumbini, on the border of Nepal and India) • Siddhartha was a prince and his father a king (or feudal lord) • Lived a sheltered life of luxury and wealth.
The Four Passing Sights • The intent of Gautama’s father was to shield him from contact with old age, sickness, and death. But he was unsuccessful. • Venturing outside the palace walls, Gautama first encountered an old man, then – on a second journey - a diseased person, on a third ride a corpse, and finally – on a fourth journey, a monk with a shaven head who had renounced the world in search of freedom. • Gautama thereby came initially to know the conditions of old age, sickness, and death, and the possibility of transcending the suffering associated with these conditions of life.
Two Quests The Ignoble Quest The Noble Quest
The Ignoble Quest
A person who is What are like liablethings to sickness, sorrow, this? old age, and Transient Things death attaches to Material Possessions things liable to the same.
The Noble Quest
A person who is liable to sickness, sorrow, old age, and death, having seen the danger in this, seeks the unailing, sorrowless, unaging, and deathless. This unsurpassed escape from bondage is nibbana (nirvana).
Embarking upon the noble quest, at age 29 Siddhartha Gautama began studying meditational techniques under well-known teachers Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta.
Mastering Meditation • Under his gurus, Gautama experientially entered higher levels of consciousness as part of the discipline of raja yoga, first the level of consciousness called “no-thingness” and then the level of consciousness called “neither perception nor non-perception. ” • His gurus acknowledged in each case that, having achieved these higher states of consciousness, Gautama had realized the same truth as his gurus. • “So you know the Dhamma that I know, and I know the Dhamma that you know. As I am, so you are; as you are, so am I. ” – Alara Kalama
Despite his meditation mastery, after many years Siddhartha still felt unsatisfied.
“This dhamma (teaching) does not lead to aversion, nor to dispassion, nor to cessation, nor to calmness, nor to higher knowledge, nor to awakening, nor to nibbana. . So I turned away from and abandoned this dhamma, having not attained enough by this dhamma. ” Buddha, Discourse on the Noble Quest
Siddhartha joined a group of ascetics and practiced various forms of self-denial. At times he ate only six grains of rice a day. He nearly dies. He thereby learned the futility of practicing selfdenial. He still felt unsatisfied.
• Gautama’s journey brings him to Gaya in northeast India, where he sits to meditate under a ficus tree (the Bo Tree) to meditate. – Kama – god of desire – tempts Gautama with sensual pleasure. – Mara – Lord of Death – subjects Gautama to physical threats, e. g. , intense wind, rain, flaming rocks. – Mara retreats after Gautama touches the earth and it trembles with a powerful earthquake.
• Red blossoms fall from the Bo Tree and Gautama has three realizations in the course of the night: (1) His many past lives (2) The law of karma linking all past lives (3) The law of dependent arising: “everything that arises also passes away. ” • Gautama became the Buddha - the awakened one
“So – being myself liable to birth…old age…sickness…death…sorrow…imp urity…, I attained nibbana…the unborn…the unaging…the unailing…the deathless…the sorrowless…the morally pure, unsurpassed security from bondage. The knowledge and vision arose in me: ‘My liberation is unshakable. This is the last birth. There is now no
The Buddha taught his fundamental insights throughout the Ganges Valley for the next 45 years. 1. Three Marks of Existence Anicca (Impermanence) Anatta (No Self) Dukkha (Lack of Satisfaction) 2. The Four Noble Truths 3. Nirvana and the Eightfold Path
“The Dart of Painful Feeling” • Human persons experience two kinds of feelings: bodily feelings and mental feelings. Unpleasant Bodily Feeling => Aversion => Painful Mental Feeling • The painful “mental feeling” arises in the form of sorrow, lament, and grief, born out of aversion to painful bodily feeling. This is dukkka – suffering or lack of satisfaction. It is a mental response to what is unpleasant. • This arises because delight in sensual pleasure is sought as the escape from unpleasant bodily feeling. “The uninstructed worldling does not know any escape from painful feeling other than sensual pleasure” (Bodi, p. 31).
Attachment and Detachment • Pleasant and unpleasant bodily feelings are temporary – they arise and then pass away. Attachment to them, whether aversion to the unpleasant or craving for the pleasant, leads to dukkha (lack of satisfaction). • The “instructed noble disciple, ” by contrast, having understood the origin and passing away of bodily feelings, is not attached. There is no aversion. Hence, he does not experience the painful mental feeling and is thereby free from dukkha. • Dukkha is thus born as a particular mental response to bodily sensation.
“Vicissitudes of Life” • The world turns by eight conditions: gain/loss, fame/disrepute, praise/blame, pleasure/pain. Dualities. • The uninstructed worldling does not understand that these conditions are inescapable and also impermanent (anicca). “He does not know them as they really are” (Bodi, p. 33). • The uninstructed worldling becomes attached to the dualities: elated when he encounters gain, fame, praise, pleasure, and dejected when he encounters loss, disrepute, blame, and plain. • “Being thus involved in likes and dislikes, he will not be freed from birth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair; he will not be freed from suffering” (Bodi, p. 33)
Some Fast Facts on Buddhism
The Three Schools of Buddhism Theravada (South Asian Buddhism) Mahayana (East Asian Buddhism) Vajrayana (Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia)
Three Principal Historical Periods • 5 th – 1 st Century BCE: Early Indian Buddhism, origins of Theravada • 1 st Century CE: Mahayana emerges and spreads to Southeast and East Asia. • 5 th Century CE: Origin of Vajrayana and spread of Buddhism to the Himalayan region.
Buddhist Scriptures The Pali Canon Includes Tipitaka consists of three parts (monastic rules, discourses, supplementary doctrines) Chinese Canon A variety of different topics, including histories of different Buddhas, parables, ritual manuals, and spells. The Tibetan Canon Tipitaka, hymns of praise, commentaries on Buddha sermons, and various technical treatises on topics as diverse as logic and medicine.
Early Buddhist Discourses Selections from the “Discourse Basket” of the Tipitaka
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