A Roadmap of Buddhist Traditions C

8/7/2019 A Roadmap of Buddhist Traditions C

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A Roadmap of Buddhist Traditions,Lineages, and Practices

Following Shakyamuni Buddhas passing some 2500 years ago, his teachingsabout how to live a worthwhile human life and train ones mind through

meditation practices spread widely. At one time or another, the Buddhist

world encompassed countries from Japan and China in the east, Sri Lanka

and Indonesia in the south, Afghanistan in the west, and Korea and Mongolia

in the north. The traditions we have today stem from particular teachings

given by the Buddha at various times and places, later influenced by the

characteristics and temperaments of people in the different Buddhist

countries.

In the past, if you were interested in meditation or learning about the

Buddhas teachings (the dharma, in Sanskrit), you simply went to the

monastery nearest your village. Nowadays, thanks to the internet, easy

communications, and travel, we have many choices that can feel confusing

or overwhelming at the beginning. So many lineages! so many foreign

words! This simplified view of the different Buddhist traditions alive todaya

roadmap of sortsmay help.

The Theravada LineageFollowing his enlightenment at Bodhgaya in India, the Buddha first taught at

Sarnath, near modern Varanasi. These teachingscovering topics such as

suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the path to cessation (the Four Noble

Truths); interdependence; self-liberation from suffering; and so on

comprise the First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma.

At one time, more than twenty different schools focused on these teachings,

but today only the Theravada lineage (found in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand,

Lao, Cambodia, and Vietnam) survives as an independent philosophical

school. (Two other lineages survive as the monastic lineages practiced in

Mahayana traditions, but not as independent schools.) These are often

called the Hinayana schools. Literally the word means lesser

understood in the sense that their teachings focus on individuals liberating

themselves from the world of suffering (samsara), which can be contrasted

with other schools that emphasize liberating others.


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The Theravada scriptures (the Tripitaka) are written in the Pali language,

one of many Indian vernaculars of the time, and because Theravada

practitioners naturally do not believe that they are doing anything lesser,

recently scholars have introduced the term Pali Buddhism to distinguish

this school from others called Sanskrit Buddhism because their Tripitakas

were first written in Sanskrit before being translated into local languages.

The Dhammapada, Dhammasangani, and the Visuddhimagga (Path of

Purification) are widely known Pali texts.

Mahayana LineagesIn the Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma, taught at Rajgir in India

and elsewhere, the Buddha emphasized that both people and phenomena

lack any solid, independent existence or self. These are the teachings on

emptiness (shunyata) and form the philosophical basis for the Mahayanaschools. Along with the view of emptiness, these schools emphasize

cultivating an outlook of compassion for all beings and working for the

benefit of others. The term Mahayana means Great Vehicleagain,

great in the sense that compassionate activity to benefit others is of larger

scope than concern only with oneself.

Mahayana lineages spread in Afghanistan, Indonesia, and other countries,

and today are found in Bhutan, China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Tibet,

and Vietnam. TheZen lineages (called Chan in China) ofSoto and Rinzai

are the most widely known Mahayana lineages in the West, but there are

others as well.

The Lotus Sutra, the Lankavatara Sutra, and the Prajnaparamita Sutras are

widely known Mahayana texts.

Vajrayana LineagesDescribing reality as sufferingthe Hinayana viewis true and accurate, but

perhaps incomplete. Describing it as empty is more complete and profound

because it is a more subtle description of how things really arewithoutindependent existence. The teachings of theThird Turning of the Wheel

of Dharma are still more subtle, examining the enlightened essence

(buddha-nature, tathagatagarbha) that is spontaneously present in all

sentient beings. True, all beings lack a self, but they also spontaneously

possess all the qualities of enlightened beings once their confusion is

clarified. Buddha-nature is discussed at length in Mahayana contexts, but


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Why Should Lineage Matter?Shakyamuni Buddha said clearly that his attainment, though from one point

of view an extraordinary achievement, was possible for all human beings

regardless of wealth, position, sex, or caste. Nevertheless, the path of

meditation can be a subtle one, and it is difficult to judge ones progress for

oneself.

Therefore since the time of Shakyamuni himself, Buddhists have placed

great value on lineage: that one fully realized master (a lineage holder)

instructs students who then attain the same understanding, which the

master is in a position to verify. Thus, the experience of the dharma always

remains up-to-date but complete from one generation of practitioners to the

next. All the schools described here trace their lineages back to the Buddha.

Traditionally one does not set oneself up as a teacher, but begins teaching

only after being told to by ones own master. Such authorization by a

lineage holder becomes a guarantee of sorts for students: as long as new

teachers work within the limits of their understanding and the authorization

given by their teachers, the unbroken lineage has been maintained and new

students can trust the quality of their instruction.

Documents

A Roadmap of Buddhist Traditions C