Buddhism

Founder

Siddharta Guatama“The Buddha”

(The Enlightened One; He Who is Awake)

563-483 B.C.

A Religion of Transformation of

Consciousness

Before we get to Buddhism

We must go back to the focus question for the course: ‘How should we live?’ and ‘What is happiness?’

Ethics asks the question: How should we live? Each thinker we examine will tell us

that we should live so as to achieve happiness.

But each thinker will define happiness his/her own way

Each will also discuss what it means to be human

Buddhism in a “Nutshell”

Has 307 million followers worldwide Founded in southern Nepal in the 5th

and 6th centuries B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama

He achieved enlightenment through meditation

He then gathered together a community of monks to carry on his teachings

Buddhism in a ‘Nutshell” cont.

According to Buddha, meditation, and the practice of good religious and moral behavior can lead to Nirvana (the state of enlightenment)

However, before achieving Nirvana one is subject to repeated lifetimes that are good or bad depending on one’s actions (karma)

Buddhism in a ‘Nutshell” cont.

Existence, for the Buddhists, is a realm of suffering

What causes suffering? Desire and the belief in the importance of ones self

Achievement of Nirvana ends suffering Nirvana is achieved only by meditation and

by following the path of righteousness in action, thought and attitude

Background Information

The Life of Buddha

The Legendary Life Born at Lumbini, at the border of India and

Nepal Was a Hindu, but he became disenchanted

with this way of thought because he did not feel that it dealt practically with what he saw as the ultimate human disease: the desire for life.

His goal was to end the suffering of human beings.

Legendary Life, cont.: Was the son of a king Wise old brahmin predicted that he would

become either an emperor or a Buddha Father protected him from exposure to any

suffering Married at 16 and had a son Lived a sheltered life of luxury Legend had it that one event changed his life

The event:

One day he journeyed to a small town, and he saw four things that changed his life:

An old man

A terminally ill man

A funeral procession

An old wandering monk who

seemed content

Significance: He took the first three things to be the

three guises of human suffering:– Aging– illness– the sadness/suffering caused by the loss

of a loved one.

He realized that this is what awaits all of us, whether you are the son of a king or a peasant!!!

A few years later he left his family. He worked with brahmins, practiced trance meditation and became an ascetic. This also gave him no peace; he was still obsessed with the problem of human suffering.

One day when he was sitting under a fig tree

Through meditation, he came to the following

realization:

The truth of life revolves around the concept of suffering

The wheel of reincarnation is the wheel of suffering

The goal of life is to escape the wheel

How?

Representation of the Wheel of Life

We must see the desire for life as a disease. To cure this disease, we must stop this desire. The Hindu answer was not practical. We can not give up our egos. We must lead a virtuous life if we are to escape reincarnation.

Siddhartha’s reflections led to the four Noble Truths and the Eight-Fold Path

The Four Nobel Truths:

Existence involves suffering Suffering is caused by the selfish

craving for life This craving can be destroyed It can be destroyed by the eightfold path

The Eight-Fold Path Right

Understanding/Belief Right Intent/thought Right Speech Right Conduct/Action

Right Livelihood Right Effort Right Mindfulness Right

Meditation/Concentration

Right Belief/Understanding

To see things as they are and to accept the Four Noble Truths as True

In His Words

“And what is right belief ? It is the knowledge of the existence of suffering, the knowledge of the origin of suffering, the knowledge of the cessation of suffering, and the knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of suffering.”

Right Intent/thought Commitment to ethical and

psychological improvement Must intend to try to control your

desires Must intend goodwill toward all (intend

to try to eliminate anger and envy) Must intend to do no harm and to

practice compassion

In His Words

“And what is right thought? It is resolve to free one’s thoughts of delusion, greed, and anger, to renounce sensual pleasures, it is the effort and resolve to have malice towards none, and the effort and resolve to have compassion for all living creatures.”

Right Speech

No lying, no slander, no gossip, no negative emotive labels, no stereotypes, no rumors, no cursing, no idle chatter

In His Words

“And what is right speech? To abstain from falsehood, to abstain from slander, to abstain from harsh language, and to abstain from malicious gossip.”

Right Conduct/Behavior

Your actions affect your psychological state

No killing (including suicide), no stealing, no fraud, no deceitfulness, no dishonesty, no disrespect to others and their property

Must be compassionate and loving toward all, including nature

In His Words

“And what is right behavior? To abstain from destroying life, to abstain from taking that which is not given one, and to abstain from immorality.”

Right Livelihood Must earn your living in a righteous and

moral way No dealing in weapons No dealing in life (including the slaughtering

of animals, slave trade and prostitution) No working in meat production and

butchering No dealing in drugs and intoxicants You must not violate the principles of right

speech and action

In His Words

“And what is right livelihood? It is abandoning an occupation that follows the wrong Way and keeping to an occupation that follows the true Way.”

Right Effort Prerequisite for the other parts of the path Must make the mental effort to rid yourself

of unwholesome thoughts and to keep wholesome thoughts

Must make the mental effort not to allow any additional unwholesome thoughts to arise and must make the effort to make more wholesome thoughts arise

In His Words

“And what is right effort? It is present whenever a person purposes, resolves, strenuously endeavors, applies the mind, and exerts the will so that evil and censurable qualities not yet arisen may not arise, that those already arisen may be abandoned, that meritorious qualities not yet arisen may arise, and that meritorious qualities already arisen may be preserved, retained, increased and be perfected.”

Right Mindfulness/Attentiveness

The ability to see how things and situations affect you

You are mindful of your body, your emotional state, your mental state

You are mindful of how certain situations affect your body, your emotional state and your mental state

As Socrates said, you know yourself

In His Words “And what is right attentiveness? Whenever a

person has got rid of lust and grief and lives, with respect to the body, observant of the body with strenuous, clearly conscious, attentive awareness; with respect to the sensations, observant of sensations, with strenuous, clearly conscious, attentive awareness; with respect to perceptions, observant of perceptions, with strenuous, clearly conscious, attentive awareness; with respect to the mind, observant of the activities of the mind with strenuous, clearly conscious, attentive awareness.”

Right Meditation

You go through the various stages of meditation gradually until you reach the highest level, which is an experience of no divisions

In His Words “And what is right meditation? In meditation I have

taught the gradual cessation of activity and attachment to the world. A person, achieving isolation from sensual pleasures and from censurable traits, and still exercising reasoning, still exercising reflection, enters upon the first level of meditation, which is produced by isolation and characterized by joy and happiness; for one who has entered the first level of meditation the voice

has ceased.”

The Actual Life The only point of difference among

scholars is whether or not Buddha was the son of a king. Many scholars believe that he was the son of a peasant, and so was born into one of the lower castes

We really do not know

In sum, according to Buddhism:

There is no self, no ego, no permanent individual personality.

Rather, what we have is simply a faculty of awareness.

However, it is not practical to tell people to give up their egos

You should, rather, encourage them to follow the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-Fold Path

After His Meditation Under the Fig Tree:

He traveled and met five ascetics He talked to them about the Middle Way and the Four Noble

Truths They converted to his way of thinking and became his

disciples To convert, they took the Three Refuges or Three Jewels I take refuge in the Buddha I take refuge in the dharma (Buddha’s teachings) I take refuge in the samgha (the order of monks)

His Life Represents The great potential of human life

The Life of His Monks Was Governed by Prohibitions:

No taking life No taking what is not given No sexual misconduct No lying No intoxicants No eating after noon No watching or participating in dancing, singing or shows No adorning oneself with garlands, ointments or perfumes No sleeping on a soft bed No handling of money

These prohibitions were to be practiced, not only by his monks, but by the laity.

Buddha’s Life, cont. His ministry lasted forty-five years Died from eating tainted food

What About Us?

The Middle Way

The Middle Way An attitude An attitude whereby we seek to find an equilibrium

between all extremes/opposites It is an attitude whereby we give up the attachment

to these extremes Whether those opposites are the desire for life and

the desire for death; self-indulgence or asceticism; attachment to the senses or the desire to completely detach oneself from the senses

We must find a balance that includes both opposites

The Middle Way, cont. This ‘balance’ is a different path that

leads, not to an extreme, but to the middle

It is a middle way that leads “to the appeasing of all ill, and yet it is free from happiness and joy.”

Implications?

How Do We Achieve the “Middle Way?”

By Following the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-Fold Path

The Four Noble Truths The Truth of Suffering or Misery:

Existence involves suffering The Truth of the Cause: Suffering

is caused by the selfish craving for life The Truth of Cessation: This

craving can be destroyed if its causes, desire and ignorance are removed

The Four Noble Truths, cont.

The Truth of the Way: It can be destroyed by following the Middle Way ( the Eightfold Path), which is the middle between the extremes of asceticism and indulgence

What Can We Learn From the Eight-Fold Path?

We must believe and intend the right things We must carry out these intentions in the

community in which we live We must turn our minds to higher things and

practice meditation on the ultimate nature of reality

Finally, we will perceive ultimate reality and know the correct belief concerning all things