BuddhismI am awake

BuddhismSiddhrtha Gautama (approx 563 BC483 BC)Siddhartha he who achieves his aim Son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maha Maya of NepalIf he remained with the world, he would unify India and become Universal KingIf he forsook the world,he would become a world redeemerLived the life of luxury as a prince (kshatriya caste)Shielded from religion and human suffering to help him become a great kingMarried at 16 to Yasodhara; had son RahulaAge 29 left the palace to meet his peopleHis father removed the sick, old, dying, and infirm from sight

BuddhismThe Four Passing SightsOne day Siddhartha passed an old manDecrepit, broken-toothed, gray-haired, crooked, and tremblingLearned the fact of old ageSecond day encountered a diseased manLearned the fact of sufferingThird day encountered a corpseLearned the fact of deathLife is subject to age and death. Where is the realm of life in which there is neither age nor deathFourth day met a monkLearned the life of withdrawal from the world

BuddhismThe Great DepartureLeft his palace, wife, and son in the middle of the night on horsebackChanged clothes, shaved his headSpent next 6 years in solitude as a forest-dwellerSought out Hindu masters to teach him philosophyLearned all the yogis could teach himJoined band of aestheticsAlmost died of starvationThe Middle WaySat under the Bo Tree vowing not to rise without enlightenment

BuddhismEnlightenmentUnder the Bo Tree, he was tempted by the Evil OneFirst with desire (3 voluptuous women)Second with death (hurricanes, rains, and flaming rocks)Third challenged his right to not pass into NirvanaEarth responded I bear you witnessSiddhartha experienced the Great Awakening, was lost in rapture for 49 days, and arose the BuddhaTempted one last time with reason. Who will understand the truth as profound as that which the Buddha had laid hold of?Almost succeeded, but Buddha responded There will be some who will understand.

BuddhismBuddha preached religion devoid of six aspectsDevoid of Authority (institution and individual)Devoid of ritualDevoid of speculation Devoid of traditionDevoid of graceDevoid of the supernatural

Personal experience is the test of truth

Buddhism4 Noble TruthsLife is dukkha (suffering)Dukkha is caused by Tanha (desire)Desire for private fulfillment To overcome dukkha one must eliminate tanhaselflessness is freedomThe cure to overcoming tanha is the Eightfold Path

BuddhismThe Eightfold PathRight view (all things suffer)Right intention (renunciation, goodwill, nonviolence)Right speech (lies, slander, offensive words, idle talk)Right action (no theft, no promiscuity, do no harm) Right livelihood (profession w/o weapons, living beings, the dead, intoxicants)Right effort (prevent and abandon vice; arouse and maintain virtue)Right mindfulness (clear perception of body, feeling, mind, and phenomenon)Right concentration (meditation)

BuddhismNirvana Nirvana means "to extinguish,"a state of bliss or peace, and this state may be experienced in life, or it may be entered into at deathoneness with the AbsoluteENLIGHTENMENTBuddha is not a deity; not God; not divineRefutation of the existence of a creator has been seen as a key point in distinguishing Buddhist from non-Buddhist views

BuddhismThree Rafts for Crossing the RiverTheravda -the way of the eldersrelatively conservative, and generally closest to early BuddhismSri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Burma,Thailandover 100 million worldwideEnlightenment is individualMahayana -the great vehicleBhutan,China,Korea, Japan,Tibet,Vietnam, Nepal, Taiwan, MongoliaUnlike Theravada, Mahayana is for the massesBuddha as divine saviour (prayer and devotion)Bodhisattva those who have attained enlightenment but refuse Nirvana until all sentient beings are awake

BuddhismVajrayna or Tibetan Buddhism -mysticsNirvana can be achieved in this lifetimeDalai Lama - the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people

BuddhismTextsBuddhism has no single central text that is universally referred to by all traditionsPli Tipitaka (central to Theravda Buddhism)Vinaya Pitaka - disciplinary rules for the Buddhist monks and nuns, and explanations of why and how these rules were institutedSutta Pitaka - the teaching of Gautama Buddha. Abhidhamma Pitaka - explanation of the Gautama Buddha's teachings. Mahayana sutrasthe Buddha's deeper, more advanced doctrines, reserved for those who follow the bodhisattva pathApprox 600 sutras designed for different types of persons and different levels of spiritual understandingFor the Theravadins, the Mahayana sutras are works of poetic fiction, not the words of the Buddha