
#REDIRECT Buddhism
#REDIRECT Buddhism
[[image:Buddha_lantau.jpg|thumb|218px|right|Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living.]] Buddhism is a religion and Buddhist philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Gautama Buddha, who lived between approximately 560s BCE and 483 BCE. Originating in India, Buddhism gradually spread throughout Asia to Central Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Southeast Asia, as well as the East Asian countries of China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan. Buddhism teaches followers to perform good and wholesome actions, to avoid bad and harmful actions, and to purify and train the mind. The aim of these practices is to end the suffering of cyclic existence, samsara, by awakening the practitioner to the realization of true reality, the achievement of Nirvana and Buddhahood. Buddhist morality is underpinned by the principles of harmlessness and moderation. Mental training focuses on moral discipline (''sila''), meditative concentration (''samadhi''), and wisdom (''prajna''). While Buddhism does not deny the existence of supernatural beings (indeed, many are discussed in Buddhist scripture), it does not ascribe power for creation, salvation or judgement to them. Like humans, they are regarded as having the power to affect worldly events, and so some Buddhist schools associate with them via ritual. == What is a Buddha? == ''Buddha'' is a word in ancient India languages including Pali and Sanskrit which means "one who has awakened". It is derived from the verbal root "budh", meaning "to awaken" or "to be enlightened", and "to comprehend". The word "Buddha" denotes not just a single religious teacher who lived in a particular epoch, but a type of person, of which there have been infinite ones throughout the course of cosmic time. (As an analogy, the term "American President" refers not just to one person, but to everyone who has ever held the office of American presidency.) The Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, then, is simply one member in the spiritual lineage of Buddhas, which stretches back into beginningless past and forward into the distant horizons of the future. Gautama, who is referred to by Buddhists as ''Shakyamuni Buddha'', did not claim any divine status for himself, nor did he assert that he was inspired by a god or gods. A Buddha is anyone who has fully awakened to the true nature of existence, liberated from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth and has achieved omniscience. (Buddhas are not Omnipotence, like the god of Judaism, Christianity or Islam.) Anyone can free themselves from suffering as Gautama did, regardless of age, gender, or caste. The principles by which a person can be led to enlightenment are known as the Buddhadharma, or simply the Dharma, meaning (in this context) "law, doctrine, or truth". ==Origins== As with any history so old, there are many different stories of how the Buddha to be, Siddhartha Gautama (Sanskrit; in Pali, ''Siddhattha Gotama'') made his way to enlightenment. Here is one: Legend has it that he was born around the 6th century BCE. His birthplace is said to be Lumbini in the Shākya state, one of a small group of old Hindu oligarchic republics, in what is now Nepal. His father was a (Hindu) king, and Siddhārtha lived in luxury, being spared all hardship. The legends say that a seer predicted shortly after his birth, that Siddhartha would become either a great king or a great holy man; because of this, the king tried to make sure that Siddhartha never had any cause for dissatisfaction with his life, as that might drive him toward a spiritual path. Nevertheless, at the age of 29, he came across what has become known as the Four Passing Sights: an old crippled man, a sick man, a decaying corpse, and finally a wandering holy man. These ''four sights'' led him to the realization that birth, old age, sickness and death come to everyone, not only once but repeated for life after life in succession since beginningless time. He decided to abandon his worldly life, leaving behind his wife, child and rank, etc. to take up the life of a wandering holy man in search of the answer to the problem of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Indian holy men (''sādhus''), in those days just as today, often engaged in a variety of ascetic practices designed to "mortify" the flesh. It was thought that by enduring pain and suffering, the atman (Sanskrit; Pāli: atta) or "soul" became free from the cycle of rebirth with its pain and sorrow. Siddhārtha proved adept at these practices, and was able to surpass his teachers. However, he found no answer to his problem and, leaving behind his teachers, he and a small group of companions set out to take their austerities even further. After nearly starving himself to death with no success (some sources claim that he nearly drowned), Siddhārtha began to reconsider his path. Then he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's plowing, and he had fallen into a naturally concentrated and focused state in which time seemed to stand still, and which was blissful and refreshing. [[Image:Temple_of_tooth.jpg|thumb|right|The temple of the Tooth, in Kandy, Sri Lanka, which is said to contain Buddha's tooth]] Taking a little buttermilk from a passing goatherd, he found a large tree (now called the Bodhi tree) and set to meditation. He developed a new way of meditating, which began to bear fruit. His mind became concentrated and pure, and then, six years after he began his quest, he attained Bodhi, and became a Buddha. According to one of the stories in the Āyācana Sutta (''Samyutta Nikaya'' VI.1), a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons, immediately after his Enlightenment the Buddha was wondering whether or not he should teach the Dharma. He was concerned that, as human beings were overpowered by greed, hatred and delusion, they wouldn't be able to see the true Dharma which was subtle, deep and hard to understand. A god, Brahma Sahampati, however, interceded, and asked that he teach the Dharma to the world, as "There will be those who will understand the Dharma". With his great compassion, the Buddha agreed to become a teacher. At the Deer Park near Benares in northern India he set in motion the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the group of five companions with whom he sought for enlightenment before. They, together with Buddha, formed the first sangha, the company of Buddhist monks. In other versions of his life-story, the Buddha leaves home in the "prime of his youth", his parents weeping and wailing all the while. The state of Shākya, where he was born, was an oligarchy republic at that time, so there was no royal family of which to speak. Therefore, it is believed that the Buddha's father was not a king in the sense of an absolute ruler, but rather an influential tribal figure. However, regardless of the details of his early life, the evidence strongly indicates that the Buddha was indeed a historical person living in approximately the same time and place in which he is traditionally placed. It has also been advanced that the influence of Jain culture and philosophy in ancient Bihar gave rise to Buddhism. Buddhist scriptures describe various penances (''tapas'') undertaken by Gautama Siddhartha which appear identical to Jain penances (e.g., cupping the hands to consume alms, plucking of hair, the penance by five fires, etc.). Buddhist writings reflect that Jainism was an already established faith -- rather than a newly founded or reformist one -- by the time Buddha lived. The ''Majjhima Nikaya'' relates instances of Buddha seeking converts from the apparently sizeable ''Nigantha'' (Jain) community. Both philosophies continue to share similar Prakrit terminology for important themes and teachings. (See also Jainism) ==Principles of Buddhism== ===The Three Jewels=== [[Image:Buddha-Footprint.jpeg|thumb|180px|Symbol of the Three Jewels (triratna), surmounted by a Dharma wheel, on a "footprint" of the Buddha, 1st century, Gandhara.]] Buddhists seek refuge in what are often referred to as the ''Three Jewels'', ''Triple Gem'' or ''Triple Jewel''. These are the Buddha, the Dharma (or Dhamma), and the "noble" (Sanskrit: ''arya'') Sangha or community of monks and nuns who have become enlightened. While it is impossible to escape one's karma or the effects caused by previous thoughts, words and deeds, it is possible to avoid the suffering that comes from it by becoming enlightened. In this way, dharma offers a refuge. Dharma, used in the sense of the Buddha's teachings, provides a raft and is thus a temporary refuge while entering and crossing the river. However, the real refuge is on the other side of the river. To one who is seeking to become enlightened, taking refuge constitutes a continuing commitment to pursuing enlightenment and following in the footsteps of the people who have followed the path to enlightenment before. It contains an element of confidence that enlightenment is in fact a refuge, a supreme resort. Many Buddhists take the refuges each day, often more than once in order to remind themselves of what they are doing and to direct their resolve inwardly towards liberation. In all— forms of Buddhism, refuge in the Three Jewels are taken before the Sangha for the first time, as a part of the conversion ritual. However, the personal choice for taking ones' life-path in this direction is more important than any external ritual. It is good to note that in Buddhism, the word "refuge" should often not be taken in the English sense of "hiding" or "escape"; instead, many scholars have said, it ought be thought of as a homecoming, or place of healing, much as a parent's home might be a refuge for someone. This simple misunderstanding has led some Western scholars to conclude that Buddhism is "a religion for sticking one's head in the sand", when most Buddhists would assert quite the opposite. On the other hand, the main goal of Buddhism is to escape from the suffering of cyclic existence. Although Buddhists concur that taking refuge should be undertaken with proper motivation (complete liberation) and an understanding of the objects of refuge, the Indian scholar Atisha identified that in practice there are many different motives found for taking refuge. His idea was to use these different motivations as a key to resolving any apparent conflicts between all the Buddha's teachings without depending upon some form of syncretism that would cause as much confusion as it attempted to alleviate. In the 11th century, ''Lamp for the Path'' by Atisha, and in the subsequent Lamrim tradition as elaborated by the Tibetan master Tsongkhapa, the several motives for refuge are enumerated as follows, typically introduced using the concept of the "scope" (level of motivation) of a practitioner: * Worldly scope: to improve the lot of this life - but this is not a Buddhist motivation. * Low scope: to gain high rebirth and avoid the low realms. * Middle scope: to achieve Nirvana (liberation from rebirth) * High scope: to achieve Buddhahood in order to liberate others from suffering * Highest scope is also sometimes included: to achieve Buddhahood in this life. ''See also: Three Jewels'' ===The Four Noble Truths=== The Buddha taught that life was dissatisfactory because of craving, but that this condition was curable by following the Eightfold Path. This teaching is called the Four Noble Truths: # ''Dukkha'': All worldly life is unsatisfactory, disjointed, containing suffering. # ''Samudaya'': There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or desire (''tanha'') rooted in ignorance. # ''Nirodha'': There is an end of suffering, which is Nirvana. # ''Marga'': There is a path that leads out of suffering, known as the Noble Eightfold Path. ===The Noble Eightfold Path=== ''Main article: Noble Eightfold Path'' In order to fully understand the noble truths and investigate whether they were in fact true, Buddha recommended that a certain lifestyle or path be followed which consists of: #''Right Understanding'' #''Right Thought'' #''Right Speech'' #''Right Action'' #''Right Livelihood'' #''Right Effort'' #''Right Mindfulness'' #''Right Concentration'' Sometimes in the Pali Canon the Eightfold Path is spoken of as being a progressive series of stages which the practitioner moves through, the culmination of one leading to the beginning of another, but it is more usual to view the stages of the 'Path' as requiring simultaneous development. The Eightfold Path essentially consists of meditation, following the precepts, and cultivating the positive converse of the precepts (e.g. benefiting living beings is the converse of the first precept of harmlessness). The Path may also be thought of as a way of developing sila, meaning mental and moral discipline. ===The Five Precepts=== [[Image:Sri_lanka_aukana_buddha_statue.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Buddha statue Aukana, in Sri Lanka ]] Buddhists undertake certain precepts as aids on the path to coming into contact with ultimate reality. Laypeople generally undertake five precepts. The Five Precepts are not given in the form of commands such as "thou shalt not ...", but rather are promises to oneself: "I will (try) to...". The five precepts are: # To refrain from harming living creatures (killing). # To refrain from taking that which is not freely given (stealing). # To refrain from sexual misconduct. # To refrain from incorrect speech (lying, harsh language, slander, idle chit-chat). # To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness. It should be noted that the literal, and possibly original, meaning of the third precept covers more than the now generally standard meaning "sexual misconduct" and actually involves refraining from "wrong indulgence in all sensory pleasures". In some schools of Buddhism, serious lay people or aspiring monks take an additional three to five ethical precepts, and some of the five precepts are strengthened. For example, the precept pertaining to sexual misconduct becomes a precept of celibacy; the fourth precept, which pertains to incorrect speech, is expanded to four: lying, harsh language, slander, and idle chit-chat. Fully ordained monks and nuns of the Theravada school also vow to follow the 227 patimokkha rules. Fully ordained Mahayana monks and nuns follow 348 equivalent rules with an additional set of, generally, 41 bodhisattva vows. ''See also: Pancasila'' and Buddha Statues of Bamiyan === The three marks of conditioned existence === According to the Buddhist tradition, all phenomena (dharma#Dharmas in Buddhist phenomenology) are marked by three characteristics, sometimes referred to as the ''Dharma Seals'': *Anatta (Pāli; Sanskrit: anātman): In Indian philosophy, the concept of a self is called ātman (that is, "Soul#Buddhist_beliefs" or metaphysical self), which refers to an unchanging, permanent essence conceived by virtue of existence. This concept and the related concept of Brahman, the Vedantic monism ideal, which was regarded as an ultimate Atman for all beings, were indispensable for mainstream Indian metaphysics, logic, and science; for all apparent things there had to be an underlying and persistent reality, akin to a Platonic form. The Buddha rejected all concepts of ātman, emphasizing not permanence, but changeability. He taught that all concepts of a substantial personal self were incorrect, and formed in the realm of ignorance. However, in a number of major Mahayana sutras (e.g. the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Tathagatagarbha Sutra, the Srimala Sutra, amongst others), the Buddha is presented as clarifying this teaching and saying that, while the skandhas (constituents of the ordinary body and mind) are not the Self, there does truly exist an eternal, unchanging, blissful Buddha-essence in all sentient beings, which is the uncreated and deathless Buddha-nature ("Buddha-dhatu") or "True Self" of the Buddha himself. This immaculate Buddhic Self (Atman) is in no way to be construed as a mundane, impermanent, suffering "ego", of which it is the diametrical opposite. On the other hand, this Buddha-essence or Buddha-nature is also often explained as the ''potential'' for achieving Buddhahood, rather than an existing phenomenon one can grasp onto as being ''me'' or ''self''. It is the opposite of a personalised, samsaric "I" or "mine". The paradox is that as soon as the Buddhist practitioner tries to grasp at this inner Buddha potency and cling to it as though it were his or her ego writ large, it proves elusive. It does not "exist" in the time-space conditioned and finite mode in which mundane things are bodied forth. It is presented by the Buddha in the relevant sutras as ultimately inexplicable, primordially present Reality itself - the living potency for Buddhahood inside all beings. It is finally revealed (in the last of the Buddha's Mahayana sutras, the Nirvana Sutra) not as the circumscribed "non-Self", the clinging ego (which is indeed anatta / anatman), but as the ever-enduring, egoless Great Self or Dharmakaya of the Buddha. :The scriptural evidence of the Nikāyas and Āgamas is ambivalent with regard to the Buddha's reported views on the existence or otherwise of a permanent self (''ātman'' / ''atta''). Though he is clearly reported to have criticized many of the heterodox concepts concerning a eternal personal self and to have denied the existence of an eternal self with regards to any of the constituent elements (''skandha'') of a being, nevertheless he is not reported to have explictly denied the existence of a non-personal, permanent self, contrary to the popular, orthodox view of the Buddha's teachings. Moreover, when the Buddha predicates "''anātman''" (''anatta'') with regards to the constituents of a being, there is an grammatical ambivalence in the use of the term. The most natural interpretation is that he is simply stating that "the constituents are not the self" rather than "the constituents are devoid of self". This ambivalence was to prove troublesome to Buddhists after the Buddha's passing. Some of the major schools of Buddhism which subsequently developed maintained the former interpretation, but other influential schools adopted the latter interpretation and took measures to establish their view as the orthodox Buddhist position. One such proponent of this hard-line "no self" position was the monk Nagasena who appears in the ''Questions of King Milinda'', composed during the period of the Hellenistic Bactrian kingdoms of the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. In this text, Nagasena demonstrates the concept of absolute 'no self' by likening human beings to a chariot and challenges King Milinda to find the essence of the chariot. Nagasena states that just as a chariot is made up of a number of things, none of which are the essence of the chariot in isolation, without the other pieces, similarly no one part of a person is a permanent entity - we can be broken up into five constituents - body, sensations, ideation, mental formations and consciousness, the consciousness being closest to the permanent idea of 'self', but is ever-changing with each new thought according to this viewpoint. :According to some thinkers both in the East and the West, the doctrine of "non-Self", may imply that Buddhism is a form of nihilism or something similar. However, as thinkers like Nagarjuna have clearly pointed out, Buddhism is not simply a rejection of the concept of existence (or of meaning, etc.) but of the hard and fast distinction between existence and nonexistence, or rather between ''being'' and ''nothingness''. Phenomena are not independent from causes and conditions, and do not exist as as isolated things like we perceive them to be. Philosophers such as Nagarjuna stress that the lack of a permanent, unchanging, substantial self in beings and things does not mean that they do not experience growth and decay on the relative level. But on the ultimate level of analysis, one cannot distinguish an object from its causes and conditions, or even object and subject. (This is an idea appearing relatively recently in Western science.)Buddhism thus has much more in common with Western empiricism, pragmatism, and anti-foundationalism than with nihilism. *Anicca (Pāli; Sanskrit: anitya): All ''compounded phenomena'' (things and experiences) are inconstant, unsteady, and impermanent. (Practically) everything is made up of parts, and is dependent on the right conditions for its existence. Everything is in constant flux, and so conditions and the ''thing'' itself are constantly changing. Things are constantly coming into being, and ceasing to be. Nothing lasts. *Dukkha (Pāli; Sanskrit: duḥkha): Because we fail to truly grasp the first two conditions, we suffer. We desire lasting satisfaction and happiness, but look for it amongst constantly changing phenomena. We perceive a self, and act to enhance that self by pursuing pleasure, and seek to prolong pleasure when the self too is a fleeting phenomenon. It is by realizing (not merely understanding intellectually, but making real in one's experience) the three marks of conditioned existence that one develops Prajna, which is the antidote to the ignorance that lies at the root of all suffering. ''See also: three marks of existence'' === Buddha-dhatu ("Buddha-Principle", ''Buddha-nature'') === The Buddha's Mahayana doctrines contain a set of "ultimate" (''nitartha'') teachings on the immanence of a hidden core Reality within all sentient beings which is linked to the eternality of the Buddha and Nirvana. This immanent yet transcendent essence is variously called, in the key tathagatagarbha sutras which expound it, the Buddha-dhatu ("Buddha-element", Buddha-nature) or the Tathagatagarbha. This Buddha-dhatu is empty of all that is contingent, painful and impermanent. In the Nirvana Sutra, it is called by the Buddha the "True Self" (to distinguish it from the "false" worldly self of the five skandhas). It is no less than the unfabricated, uncreated, uncompounded, immaculate, immortal, all-knowing, radiantly shining Principle of blissful Buddhahood - the very Dharmakaya. This Tathagatagarbha/ Buddha-dhatu, inherent in all beings, can never be destroyed or harmed, and yet is concealed from view by a mass of obscuring mental and moral taints within the mind-stream of the individual being. Once the Buddha-dhatu is finally seen and known by the faithful Buddhist practitioner, it has the power to transform that seer and knower into a Buddha. The doctrine of the Tathagatagarbha/Buddha-dhatu is stated by the Buddha of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra to be the "absolutely final culmination" of his Dharma. ===Other principles and practices=== *Meditation or dhyana of some form is a common practice in most if not all schools of Buddhism, for the clergy if not the laity. *Central to Buddhist doctrine and practice is the law of ''karma'' and ''vipaka''; action and its fruition, which happens within the dynamic of dependent origination (''pratītya-samutpāda''). Actions which result in positive retribution (happiness) are defined as skillful or good, while actions that produce negative results (suffering) are called unskillful or bad actions. These actions are expressed by the way of mind, body or speech. Some actions bring instant retribution while the results of other actions may not appear until a future lifetime. Most teachers are, however, quick to point out that though it may be a result of someone's past-life ''karma'' that they suffer, this should not be used as an excuse to treat them poorly; indeed, all should help them and help to alleviate their suffering, leading to them working to alleviate their own suffering. *Rebirth (Buddhist), which is closely related to the law of karma. An action in this life may not give fruit or reaction until the next life time. This being said, action in a past life takes effect in this one, making a chain of existence. The full realization of the absence of an eternal self or soul (the doctrine of anatta (Pāli; Sanskrit: anātman)) breaks this cycle of birth and death (samsara). ===Vegetarianism=== The Pancasila in Buddhism prohibits killing. Many see this as implying that Buddhists should not eat the meat of animals. However, this is not necessarily the case. The Buddha made distinction between killing an animal and consumption of meat, stressing that it is immoral conduct that makes one impure, not the food one eats. In one of the Pali sutras belonging to the Theravada lineage of Buddhism, Buddha says that vegetarianism is preferable, but as monks in ancient India were expected to receive all of their food by begging they had little or no control over their diet. Furthermore, Buddha did not wish to lay an extra burden on his lay followers by demanding that the food should be vegetarian. During the Buddha's time, there was no general rule requiring monks to refrain from eating meat. In fact, at one point the Buddha specifically refused to institute vegetarianism and the Pali Canon records the Buddha himself eating meat on several occasions. There were, however, rules prohibiting certain types of meat, such as human, leopard or elephant meat. Monks are also prohibited from consuming meat if the monk witnessed the animal's death or knows that it was killed specifically for him. This rule was not applied to commercial purchase of meat in the case of a general who sent a servant to purchase meat specifically to feed the Buddha. Therefore, eating commercially purchased meat is not prohibited. On the other hand, the Buddha in certain Mahayana sutras strongly denounces the eating of meat. In the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha states that "the eating of meat extinguishes the seed of great compassion", adding that all and every kind of meat and fish consumption (even of animals already found dead) is prohibited by him. The Buddha also predicts in this sutra that later monks will "hold spurious writings to be the authentic Dharma" and will concoct their own sutras and mendaciously claim that the Buddha allows the eating of meat, whereas in fact (he says) he does not. A long passage in the Lankavatara Sutra shows the Buddha weighing strongly in favor of vegetarianism, since the eating of the flesh of fellow sentient beings is said by him to be incompatible with the compassion which a Bodhisattva should strive to cultivate. Several other Mahayana sutras also emphatically prohibit the consumption of meat. A solution to this problem was given when monks from the Indian sphere of influence migrated to China, as of the year 65 AD. There they met followers who provided them with money instead of food. From those days onwards Chinese monastics, and others who came to inhabit northern countries, cultivated their own vegetable plots and bought everything else they needed in terms of food in the market. In the modern world, attitudes toward vegetarianism vary by location. In the Theravada countries of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, monks are bound by the vinaya to accept almost any food that is offered to them, often including meat, while in China and Vietnam, monks are expected to eat no meat. In Japan and Korea, some monks practice vegetarianism, and most will do so at least when training at a monastery, but otherwise they typically do eat meat. In Tibet, where vegetable nutrition was historically very scarce, and the adopted vinaya was the Nikaya Sarvastivada, vegetarianism is very rare, although the Dalai Lama and other esteemed Lamas invite their audiences to adopt vegetarianism when they can. In the West, of course, a wide variety of practices are followed. Lay Buddhists generally follow dietary rules less rigorously than monks. == The three main branches of Buddhism == [[Image:Dazu.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Stone Dazu Stone Carvings at Dazu near Chongqing, China.]] Buddhism has evolved into myriad schools that can be roughly grouped into three types: Nikaya (also called Hinayana), Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Of the Nikaya schools, only the Theravada survives. Each branch sees itself as representing the true, original teachings of the Buddha, and some schools believe that the dialectic nature of Buddhism allows its format, terminology, and techniques to adapt over time in response to changing circumstances, thus validating dharmic approaches different from their own. *The Theravada school, whose name means "Doctrine of the Elders", bases its practice and doctrine exclusively on the Pali Canon, which is a collection of what are known as ''agama (text)s'' or ''nikaya'' sutras. The nikaya sutras are generally considered by modern scholars to be the oldest of the surviving types of Buddhist literature, and they are accepted as authentic in every branch of Buddhism. Theravada is the only surviving representative of the historical Nikaya Buddhism. Nikaya Buddhism and consequently Theravada are sometimes referred to as Hinayana or "inferior vehicle", although this is considered by some to be impolite. Native Theravada is practiced today in Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and portions of Vietnam and Malaysia. *The Mahayana (literally "Great Vehicle") branch emphasizes universal compassion and the selfless ideal of the bodhisattva, whose goal is to achieve Buddhahood in order to be of greatest benefit to other sentient beings. In addition to the Nikaya scriptures, Mahāyāna schools recognize all or part of a genre of scriptures that were first put in writing around 1 CE. These scriptures were written in some form of Sanskrit, except a few manuscripts in Prakrit, and are concerned with the purpose of achieving Buddhahood by following the path of the bodhisattva over the course of what is often described as kalpa of time. Because of this immense timeframe, some Mahāyāna schools accept the idea of working towards rebirth in a Pure Land. The Pure Land is normally conceived of as a state which is not enlightenment in itself but which is a highly conducive environment for working toward enlightenment, although some sources indicate that it is synonymous with enlightenment. Native Mahāyāna Buddhism is practiced today in China, Japan, Korea, and most of Vietnam. *The Vajrayana or "Diamond Vehicle" (also referred to as Mantrayana, Tantrayana, Tantra or esoteric Buddhism) shares the basic concepts of Mahāyāna, but also includes a vast array of spiritual techniques designed to enhance Buddhist practice. One component of the Vajrayāna is harnessing psycho-physical energy as a means of developing profoundly powerful states of concentration and awareness. These profound states are in turn to be used as an efficient path to Buddhahood. Using these techniques, it is claimed that a practitioner can achieve Buddhahood in one lifetime, or even as little as three years. In addition to the Theravada and Mahāyāna scriptures, Vajrayāna Buddhists recognise a large body of texts that include the Buddhist Tantras. Native Vajrayana is practiced today mainly in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, Kalmykia, areas of India, and -- among the Shingon (''Zhènyān'', 真言) and Tendai schools -- in China and Japan. At the present time the teachings of all three branches of Buddhism have spread throughout the world and are now easily available in the developed countries, and increasingly translated into local languages. == Buddhism after the Buddha == [[Image:Gandhara Buddha (tnm).jpeg|thumb|180px|left|One of the first representations of the Buddha, 1st-2nd century CE, Gandhara.]] Buddhism spread slowly in India until the powerful Mauryan emperor Asoka converted to it and actively supported it. His promotion led to construction of Buddhist religious sites and missionary efforts that spread the faith into the countries listed at the beginning of the article. After about 500, Buddhism showed signs of waning in India, becoming decline of Buddhism in India after about 1200. This was partially due to Islam invasions and partially due to Hinduism's revival movements such as Advaita and the rise of the bhakti movement. Elements of Buddhism have remained within India to the current day: the Bauls of Bengal have a syncretic set of practices with strong emphasis on many Buddhist concepts. Other areas of India have never parted from Buddhism, including Ladakh and other areas bordering the Tibetan, Nepali and Bhutanese borders. Buddhism also remained in the rest of the world although in Central Asia and later Indonesia it was mostly replaced by Islam. In China and Japan, it adopted aspects of the native beliefs of Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto respectively. In Tibet, the Tantra Vajrayana lineage was preserved after it disappeared in India.
=== History of the schools === Three months after the passing of Gautama Buddha, The First Council was held at Rajagaha by his immediate disciples who had attained Arhat (Enlightenment). Maha Kassapa, the most respected and elderly monk, presided at the Council. The ''Dhamma'' and the ''Vinaya'' were recited at the First Council. All Arhat unanimously agree that no disciplinary rule laid down by the Buddha should be changed, and no new ones should be introduced. At this point, no conflict about what the Buddha taught is known to have occurred, so the teachings were divided into various parts and each was assigned to an elder and his pupils to commit to memory. These groups of people often cross-checked with each other to ensure that no omissions or additions were made. At the Second Council, one hundred years later, it was not the dharma that was called into question but the monks' code of rules or vinaya. This resulted in the formation of the Sthaviravadin and Mahasanghika schools. Opinions differ on the cause of the split: the Sthaviravādins described their opponents as lax monks who had ceased to follow all the vinaya rules, while the Mahāsānghikas argued that the Buddha had never intended a rigid adherence to all the minor rules. Apart from Pāli sources, an important independent account of this split is found in the ''Shāriputra-pariprcchā'' (The Enquiry of Shāriputra), an eclectic text of Indic origin, which differs radically from the received Theravādin version. According to this version, the Mahāsānghikas were not the defeated party, but the conservative party that preserved the original vinaya unchanged against the reformist attempts of the Sthāviras to establish a reorganized and stricter version. However, after this initial division, more were to follow. Schism in early Buddhism was typically not on points of doctrine (orthodoxy), but in the area of practice (orthopraxy). So if two schools shared a vinaya, but were in dispute over doctrinal matters, it was likely that they would continue to practice together. However, if one group disputed the vinaya of another, this would often prevent common practice. In the 3rd century BCE, Theravadin sources state that a Third Council was convened under the patronage of Emperor Asoka, but since no mention of this council is found in other sources and because of various implausible features in this account, most scholars treat the historicity of this Third Council with skepticism although it is generally accepted that one or several disputes did occur during Asoka's reign, involving both doctrinal and vinaya matters, although these are likely to have been too informal to be called a Council. However, according to the Theravadin account, this Council was convened primarily for the purpose of establishing an official orthodoxy. At the council, small groups raised questions about the specifics of the vinaya and the interpretation of doctrine. The chairman of the council, Moggaliputta Tissa, compiled a book called the ''Kathavatthu'', which was meant to refute these arguments. The council sided with Moggaliputta and his version of Buddhism as orthodox; it was then adopted by Emperor Asoka as his empire's official religion. This school of thought was termed ''Vibhajyavada'' (Pali), literally "Teaching of Analysis". The version of the scriptures that had been established at the Third Council, including the vinaya, sutta and the abhidhamma commentaries (collectively known as Tripitaka), was taken to Sri Lanka by Emperor Asoka's son, the Venerable Mahinda. There it was eventually committed to writing in the Pali language. The Pali Canon remains the only complete set of Nikaya scriptures to survive, although fragments of other versions exist. Whatever might be the truth behind the Theravādin account, it was around the time of Asoka that further divisions began to occur within the Buddhist movement and a number of additional schools emerged, including the Sarvāstivāda and the Sammitīya. All of these early schools of Nikayan Buddhism eventually came to be known collectively as the Eighteen Schools in later sources. Unfortunately, with the exception of the Theravāda, none of early these schools survived beyond the late medieval period by which time several were already long extinct, although a considerable amount of the canonical literature of some of these schools has survived, mainly in Chinese translation. Moreover, the origins of specifically Mahāyāna doctrines may be discerned in the teachings of some of these early schools, in particular in the Mahāsānghika and the Sarvāstivāda. Between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century, the terms Mahayana and Hinayana were first used in writing, in, for example, the Lotus Sutra. A Fourth Council is said to have been convened by the Kushan emperor Kanishka, around 100 CE at Jalandhar or in Kashmir, although it seems to have been primarily a Sarvāstivāda affair. For this reason, Theravāda Buddhism does not recognize the authenticity of this council, and sometimes they call it the “council of heretical monks”. It is said that Kanishka gathered 500 monks, headed by Vasumitra, primarily, it seems, to compile extensive commentaries on the Abhidharma, although it is possible that some editorial work was carried out upon the canon itself. The main fruit of this Council was the vast commentary known as the Mahā-Vibhāshā ("Great Exegesis"), an extensive compendium and reference work on a portion the Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma. Scholars beleieve that it was also around this time that a significant change was made in the language of the Sarvāstivādin canon, by converting an earlier Prakrit version into Sanskrit. Although this change was probably effected without significant loss of integrity to the canon, this event was of particular significance since Sanskrit was the learned language of scholars in India, regardless of their specific religious or philosophical allegiance, thus enabling a far wider audience to gain access to Buddhist ideas and practices. For this reason, all major Budhist scholars in India thereafter wrote their commentaries and treatises in Sanskrit. During and after the 2nd century explicitly Mahayana philosophies were defined in the works of Nagarjuna, Asanga, Shantideva, Ashvagosha, and Vasubandhu. [[Image:Central Asian Buddhist Monks.jpeg|thumb|right|185px|A painting depicting a Central Asian Tocharian monk (left) along with a China monk (right). The painting is from the 9th century or 10th century in the Tarim Basin.]] Around the 1st century, Buddhism spread from India through successive waves of merchants and pilgrims. It reached as far as Turkmenistan and Arabia to the west, and eastward to southeast Asia, where the first records of Buddhism date from around 5th century. Mahayana Buddhism established a major regional center in what is today Afghanistan, and from there it spread to Buddhism in China, Korea, Mongolia, and Japanese Buddhism. In 475, the Indian monk Bodhidharma travelled to China and established the Chan (Chinese language; Japanese language: Zen), school. During the first millennium, monks from China such as Faxian, I Ching (monk) and Xuanzang made pilgrimages to India and wrote accounts of their travels when they returned home. These Chinese travel records constitute extremely valuable sources for information concerning the state of Buddhism in India during the early medieval period. At one time, different Turkic and Tocharian groups along the northern fringe of East Turkestan (modern Xinjiang in western China) adhered to Nikaya Buddhism. However, Buddhism there was supplanted by the introduction of Islam around 11th century. Vajrayana also evolved at this stage carried from India to Tibet from around 9th century by teachers such as Padmasambhava and Atisha. There it initially coexisted with native belief systems such as Bön, but later came to largely supplant or absorb them. An early form of esoteric Vajrayana known as Shingon was also transmitted by the priest Kukai to Japan, where it continues to be practiced. There is still an active debate as to whether or not Tantra was initially developed within Buddhism or Hinduism. Buddhist literature tends to predate the later puranic Tantras, and there is some evidence to suggest that the basic structure of tantra depends upon the Mahayana Buddhist philosophical schools. However, it is thought by others that meditation Shiva sects seem to have existed from pre-Vedic times; also, from scriptural citations and study of the Vedas, some say Tantra saw its philosophical basis in the mystical rites and mantras of the Atharva Veda (and later the Hindu Upanishads and Mahayana school of Buddhism). ''See also: History of Buddhism and Timeline of Buddhism'' == Scriptures == The Buddhist canon of scripture is known in Sanskrit as the ''Tripitaka'' and in Pali as the ''Tipitaka''. These terms literally mean "three baskets" and refers to the three main divisions of the canon, which are: *The ''Vinaya Pitaka'', containing disciplinary rules for the Sangha of Buddhist monks and nuns, as well as a range of other texts which explain why and how rules were instituted, supporting material, and doctrinal clarification. *The ''Sutra Pitaka'' (Pāli; Sanskrit: Sutra Pitaka), containing discourses of the Buddha. *The ''Abhidhamma'' (Skt: Abhidharma) or commentary ''Pitaka'', containing a philosophical systematization of the Buddha's teaching, including a detailed analysis of Buddhist psychology. Though the Theravādin Abhidhamma is well preserved and widely known, it should be noted that a number of the early Eighteen Schools each had their own distinct Abhidharma collection with virtually no common textual material. During the first few centuries after Gautama Buddha, his teachings were transmitted orally, but around the 1st Century Common Era they began to be written down. A given school of Buddhism will generally have its own distinctive canon of texts, which will partially overlap with those of other schools. The most notable set of texts from the early period is the Pali Canon, which was preserved in Sri Lanka by the Theravada school. The sutras it contains are also part of the canon of every other Buddhist sect. Full versions of the original text[http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/palicanon.html] and partial English translations[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/] are now readily available on the internet. The appearance of the Mahayana tradition brought with it a collection of new texts, composed in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, many of which were also described as actual sermons of the Buddha. These include the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, and the Nirvana Sutra. Many of the Mahayana sutras were translated into Tibetan and classical Chinese and are also now read in the West. The Mahāyāna corpus of sutras further expanded after Buddhism was transmitted to China, where the existing texts were translated, and new texts were composed for the purpose of adapting the Indian tradition to the East Asian philosophical mindset. Some of these works are considered by modern scholars to be spurious. On the other hand, there were texts, such as the Platform Sutra and the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment did not pretend to be of Indian origin, but are widely accepted as valid scriptures on their own merits. Later writings include the Linji Lu of Chan master Linji. In the course of the development of Korean Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism, further important texts were composed. These included, for example, in Korea, some of the writings of Jinul, and in Japan, works such as Dogen's Shobogenzo. Arguably the most thorough compilation of Mahayana works is found in the Tibetan canon. This is split into those texts attributed to be authored by the Buddha (Kanjur), and those texts which are understood to be commentaries by Indian practitioners (Tenjur). Vajrayana practitioners also study distinctive texts such as the Buddhist Tantric Buddhism. Recently an important archaeological discovery was made, consisting of the earliest known Buddhist manuscripts, recovered from somewhere near ancient Gandhara in northwest Pakistan. These fragments, written on birch bark document, are dated to the 1st century and have been compared to the Dead Sea scrolls in importance. Donated to the British Library in 1994, they are now being studied in a joint project at the University of Washington[http://depts.washington.edu/ebmp/]. == Relations with other faiths == Some Hinduism (primarily in the northern regions of India) believe that Gautama is the 9th incarnation (see avatar) of Vishnu; there are accounts of the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu that are pro- and anti-Buddhist (i.e., either that Vishnu "really meant" what he said while incarnated as Buddha or that he was intentionally tricking those who follow unorthodox doctrines). This is not a majority view, however. The avatar theory came into existence in approximately the 9th century CE. Traditionally, there has been a sharp distinction between Buddhism and what is today called "Hinduism"; this distinction is more accurately between Astika and Nastika philosophies, that is, philosophies in India which either affirmed the Vedas as divinely revealed scriptures or else regarded them as fallible human inventions. Thus Buddhism is essentially a heresy vis à vis orthodox Indian philosophy, though there are many syncretism or ecumenical tendencies within either group which are accepting of the beliefs and practices of the other. In the Japanese religion of Shinto Buddha is seen as a Kami (god). The Bahá'í Faith states he was an independent Manifestation of God. Siddhartha Gautama is thought to have been sanctified by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Josaphat (saint) based on a mistaken account of his conversion to Christianity. Some Islam believe that Gautama Buddha is Dhul-Kifl, one of the prophets mentioned in the Qur'an. Jainism is an ancient religion and school of thought that predates Buddhism. One of its two most revered teachers, Mahavira (599 - 527 BCE), was a senior contemporary of the Buddha whose philosophy, sometimes described as dynamism or vitalism, was a blend of the earlier Jain teacher Parsvanatha's order and the reforms instituted by Mahavira himself. Dialogues between the Buddha's disciples and Mahāvīra are recorded in Jain texts, and dialogues between Mahāvīra's disciples and the Buddha are included in Buddhist texts. == Buddhism in the modern world == [[Image:Buddhist flag.jpeg|thumb|right|The international Buddhist flag was designed in Sri Lanka in the 1880s with the assistance of Henry Steele Olcott and was later adopted as a Buddhist symbolism by the World Fellowship of Buddhists.]] Estimates of the number of Buddhists vary between 230 and 500 million, with 350 million as the most commonly cited figure. [http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html] ===Modern Asia=== In northern Asia, Mahayana remains the most common form of Buddhism in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, (parts of) Indonesia and Singapore. Theravada predominates in most of Southeast Asia, including Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, as well as Sri Lanka. It has seats in Malaysia and Singapore. Vajrayana is predominant in Tibet, Mongolia, portions of Siberia and portions of India, especially those areas bordering Tibet. Kalmykia, while geographically located in Europe, is culturally closely related to Mongolia and thus its Buddhism is more properly grouped with Asian than with Western Buddhism. While in the West Buddhism is often seen as exotic and progressive, in the East Buddhism is regarded as familiar and part of the establishment. Buddhist organizations in Asia frequently are well-funded and enjoy support from the wealthy and influential. In some cases, this has led critics to charge that certain monks and organizations are too closely associated with the powerful and are neglecting their duties to the poor. ===Buddhism and the West=== In the latter half of the 19th century, Buddhism (along with many other of the world's religions and philosophies) came to the attention of Western intellectuals. These included the pessimistic German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau, who translated a Buddhist sutra from French into English. German writer Hermann Hesse also showed great interest in the eastern religion, even writing a book entitled ''Siddhartha''. Spiritual enthusiasts enjoyed what they saw as the exotic and mystical tone of the Asian traditions. At first Western Buddhology was hampered by poor translations (often translations of translations), but soon Western scholars began to learn Asian languages and translate Asian texts. In 1880 J.R. de Silva and Henry Steel Olcott designed the International Buddhist flag to celebrate the revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Its stripes symbolise universal compassion, the middle path, blessings, purity and liberation, wisdom, and the conglomeration of these. The flag was accepted as the International Buddhist Flag by the 1952 World Buddhist Congress. [[Image:Lightmatter Hsi Lai Temple 3.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A hallway in California's Hsi Lai Temple]] In 1899 Gordon Douglas became the first Westerner to be ordained as a Buddhist monk. The first Buddhists to arrive in the United States were Chinese. Hired as cheap labor for the railroads and other expanding industries, they established temples in their settlements along the rail lines. See the article on Buddhism in America for further information. The Buddhist Society, London was founded by Christmas Humphreys in 1924. The cultural re-evaluations of the hippie generation in the late 1960s and early 1970s led to a re-discovery of Buddhism, which seemed to promise a natural path to awareness and enlightenment. Many people, including celebrities, traveled to Asia in pursuit of gurus and ancient wisdom. During and after the Chinese occupation of Tibet, many of them fled to Nepal and India, including most renown Buddhist masters. This Tibetan form of Buddhism proved especially intriguing to quite a number of westerners. Buddhism had become the fastest-growing religion in Australia and many other Western nations by the 1990s, in contrast to the steady decline of traditional western beliefs (see Christianity). A distinctive feature of Buddhism has been the continuous evolution of the practice as it was transmitted from one country to another. This dynamic aspect is particularly evident today in the West. Chögyam Trungpa, the founder of the Shambhala meditation movement, claimed in his teachings that his intention was to strip the ethnic baggage away form traditional methods of working with the mind and to deliver the essence of those teachings to his western students. Another example of a school evolving new idioms for the transmission of the dharma is the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, founded by Sangharakshita. Lama Surya Das is a prominent Western-born teacher continuing to bring the teachings of Buddhism to Westerners. ==See also== ===Buddhism=== * Buddha * Buddhism by country * Buddhist terms and concepts * Buddhist texts * Cultural elements of Buddhism * God in Buddhism * Faith in Buddhism * Buddha-nature * Nirvana * Nirvana Sutra * Tathagatagarbha Sutra * List of books related to Buddhism * List of Buddhist topics * List of Buddhists * History of Buddhism * Yab-Yum ===Related systems=== * Eastern philosophy * Hinduism * Jainism * Taoism ==References== * ISBN 9834007127. * ''The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra'' (Nirvana Publications 1999-2000), tr. by Kosho Yamamoto, revised and edited by Dr. Tony Page. * ISBN 0767903692. * ISBN 0802130313. * ISBN 0861711335. ==External links== Listed alphabetically: * [http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/ A View on Buddhism] * [http://www.buddhanet.net/ BuddhaNet] * [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_buddha/ "The Buddha and His Dhamma"] text of the book by B. R. Ambedkar * [http://www.dharmanet.org/ DharmaNet] * [http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow/Buddhism.html Buddhism - A Brief Introduction for Westerners] * [http://www.abstractatom.com/buddhist_atomism_and_the_r_theory_of_time.htm Buddhist Atomism] an area of Buddhist philosophy. * [http://www.buddhistchannel.tv The Buddhist Channel] a news source. * [http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-Buddhism.html Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library]: the Internet guide. * [http://www.buddhistview.com/ Buddhist Views] * [http://www.acmuller.net/ddb Digital Dictionary of Buddhism] * [http://www.e-sangha.com/ E-Sangha Buddhism Portal] * [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/bfaq.html FAQ about Buddhism from Access to Insight] * [http://www.orientalia.org/dic3.html International Dictionary of Buddhism] * [http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/contents.htm ReligionFacts.com on Buddhism] facts, glossary, timeline and articles. * [http://www.nirvanasutra.org.uk "Nirvana Sutra"] full text and appreciation of the sutra. * [http://www.buddhanet.net/dhammapada/index.htm "Treasury of Truth"] illustrated "Dhammapada." * [http://www.urbandharma.org/ UrbanDharma] Buddhism als:Buddhismus bn:বৌদ্ধধর্ম br:Bouddhaelezh fa:بوداگرایی jbo:bu'ojda li:Boeddhisme mn:Буддизм ms:Agama Buddha nds:Buddhismus simple:Buddhism th:พระพุทธศาสนา tpi:Budisim vi:Đạo Phật zh-min-nan:Hu̍t-kàu
Welcome to Talk:Buddhism. Loving-kindness to you and yours!
Earlier parts of this discussion have been moved to Talk:Buddhism/Archive, Talk:Buddhism/Archive2, Talk:Buddhism/Archive3, Talk:Buddhism/Archive4, and Talk:Buddhism/Archive5. ==Open Tasks== Please see also Wikipedia:WikiProject Buddhism == Abolitionism == Moved to Talk:Buddhism/Abolitionism == Recent Theravada categorization == Several articles were recently categorized by anon 62.252.128.15 as belonging to category "Theravada Buddhism"; this includes some articles, such as "Dharma", that some might argue (i.e., I might argue) should be implied to inhere to all forms of Buddhism, and that a Theravada category tag should be applied only to things pertaining to Theravada Buddhism as opposed to other forms of Buddhism. Otherwise we're going to get some serious redundancy going on.User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 23:40, 23 Oct 2004 (UTC) :Totally. The Buddhism category should do it for Buddhist terms and terminology. (User:20040302 17:23, 25 Oct 2004 (UTC)) ::Agree, also. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 12:29, 26 Oct 2004 (UTC) == Request for help on interfaith dialogue == I need help from Buddhists in an attempt to speak of a common ground among believers. Are there any Buddhists here who could either help me or direct me to a group where I might find knowledgeable and mature Buddhists willing to help me for a while explore the feasibility of a universalist Wiki type project on core universal truths such as possibly eternity, sacrificial love, and soul? User:Hawstom - User_talk:Hawstom 06:57, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC) :Interesting. I don't really know any Buddhist groups, but I'm curious about your project...could you say more about it? Particularly, what do you mean by "common ground" or "universal truths"; is your project syncretic or echumenical, or what?User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 18:01, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC) :Orkut has a number of useful communities for such an effort, although one would probably need to "fish" for a while. Its main "Buddhism" community is quite good indeed. User:Luis Dantas == References == I notice that on Wikipedia talk:Featured article removal candidates people seem to be talking about references as a standard requirement of featured articles. Should we try to put together a list of works we've consulted in editing the Buddhism page? Most of my edits to this particular page have actually been based on general knowledge rather than specific texts, but if anybody can recall texts they've used...User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 19:31, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC) See also Wikipedia:What is a featured article.User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca I don't know how widely available the [http://netlibrary.com NetLibrary] service is, or to what percentage of their books the local libraries of other Wikipedians might subscribe, but I can use it to get to a couple of useful resources like Gethin's ''Foundations of Buddhism'' and something non-useless called ''Thirty-five Oriental Philosophers'' from whatever computer I happen to be using at a given moment and it allows full-text searching, so it might be good for fact-checking.User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca == Removed section on upanishads == The Anatta doctrine is in stark semblence with the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad where Yajnavalkya explains to Maitreyi about consciousness. While Sankara has dismissed it as a non-Buddhist proclamation, the fact that consciousness is not self is affirmed not only by Buddhism, but also by many other Upanishads in various places and happens to be highly coincidental with the anatta doctrine of Buddhism. This definition of anatta is very clear from the Anatta-lakkhana sutta of the Samyutta Nikaya Sutta pitika in the Pali Canon. :This is not at all NPOV, and clearly requires substantiation in scholarly sources, which I believe might be difficult to find, though, I should admit, I have also had my suspicions about certain Yajnavalkya passages. But Wikipedia is not a place for original research (or argumentation)User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 18:35, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC) == Category:Theravada == An anon (using 62.252.128.17 at the nonce, though I don't know if there are also others) keeps adding (and ''re''-adding!!!) the category willy-nilly, to mostly to pan-Buddhist concepts, occasionally to pan-Nikaya Buddhist concepts (''not'' the same thing as Theravada concepts), occasionally to things that are actually Theravada specific. How can I make this person stop?User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 01:18, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC) :By the way, Kukku, I wanted to say that I agree wholeheartedly with your recent edits in terms of the Theravada category and anatta. I might even prefer a more radical edit of the anatta contributions, but, then, I guess I am known for my Wikipedia:Go ahead and bite the newbies, it's fun. Agree in principle with your call for references, too, although I can't come up with any off the top of my head. "General knowledge" is, of course, the bane of a well-referenced paper, and yet it tends to come in handy writing an encyclopedia. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 04:34, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC) == Non-violence and war == Could you tell something about the relationship of Buddhism with non-violence and war? Both what is preached and what Buddhists actually do. Thank you. :Good question. I keep meaning to write an article on Brian Victoria's ''Zen at War''. A topic difficult to approach because of its broadness, though. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 04:31, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC) ==Open tasks== By the way, looks like we've had a flurry of activity lately from new contributors on Buddhism-related topics. This is great. I've updated ''Template:BuddhismOpenTasks '' to keep track of new additions. Interested parties may wish to refer to it for editorial purposes. Thanks to Quadell and others for their work. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 08:13, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)
== Question ==
Does Wikipedia have a section on the two-truths doctrine in Buddhism? Also, what the appropriate name for such an article be, if, say, it doesn't have one and someone needs to start one?User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 00:22, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
:According to the article on Nagarjuna, it would seem to be upaya, but I know nothing about this topic myself. User:Shantavira 19:21, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
::I've noticed that, and I'm almost certain that's ''my'' fault, but in any case it's definitely wrong. It's not unrelated by any means, but it's not the same; odds are I was just looking for it to point somewhere and that seemed like the least inappropriate. I know that for some schools it's "samvrti" v. "paramartha" satya, and there's something Pali that I don't recall off the top of my head (nitartha and neyartha, perhaps?), but neither end of either of these two poles probably warrants a separate article, whereas trying to cram them both into the title would be annoying, not to mention the fact that neither dyad is universally apt. I've seen the term "satyadvaya" used in secondary literature, but I don't know if that's a term of actual importance or just something that sounds cool to the people who write about Buddhism in academic journals...There's also dialetheism to consider, and I know that one of the people associated with that has collaborated with Jay Garfield in applying it to Buddhism, but I don't think this really helps solve the problem...User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 21:40, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
:::"samvrti" and "paramartha" are probably the best starting points, Kukk. I would suggest that the relationship between samvrti and upaya are hermeneutic - within the domain of the attitudinal shift of the practitioner- but one cannot say that upaya and samvrti are cognate. There are some very interesting delineations/classifications of samvrti, and I for one would welcome an article on it, not that I have much to contribute (User:20040302 21:05, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC))
I've started a bare-bones article at Two Truths Doctrine.User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 21:21, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
==Lead image==
Okay, nobody freak out. I put up a new lead image for this article. I've been seeing a lot of nice new images appearing on [http://commons.wikimedia.org commons], so I thought I would try something different. I don't know if other people will like it, and I don't if I think it's a keeper myself, but we might as well see how it looks for a little while. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 13:38, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
:Well, I changed it back to the way it was before. None of the other images I tried really grabbed me, and I got kind of attached to the old Big Buddha. Might try again later. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 06:22, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)
==Also==
There was a line in this article about Tocharians (in the Gobi Desert) following Theravada Buddhism. Now, I'm not sure, but I don't think I've ever heard a credible source say that Theravada was ever followed anywhere but Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and sometimes India -- for the most part, it appears to have been an export from Sri Lanka, which would make it remarkable if it made it all the way to the Gobi. Other Nikaya schools had followings in other places, though. Pending further evidence, I changed the reference to Tocharians following Nikaya Buddhism. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 06:22, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)
==Buddhism by country vs. Buddhist regions==
Our good friend, User:Mr Tan recently made a new page called Buddhism by country which is basically a table showing percentage of Buddhists in each country, along with links to country-specific articles like Buddhism in Singapore (thanks also to User:OneGuy for his work on the former article). He also replaced the link to Buddhist regions in Tempate:BuddhismOpenTask with a link to Buddhism by country. I want to get other people's opinions on whether this is a good idea. I tend to think that it is not. The Buddhist regions page needs work, but it seems like fundamentally a more meaningful way to discuss different varieties of Buddhism: Buddhist regions can encompass country-specific articles as well as broader topics like East Asian Buddhism and (legally) intra-national topics like Tibetan Buddhism. I would suggest putting Buddhist regions back in the template, and then having a prominent link to Buddhism by country at the top of that article. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 16:16, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC) — P.S. I'm really going to write the Western Buddhism article soon. I mean it.
== German Wikipedia ==
The German Wikipedia's article seems much more colorful than the English one. If anyone can translate the article and add the content here, it would be great... or add their pictures. See: --User:AllyUnion User talk:AllyUnion 00:46, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
:I would be of no help translating, but they do have some nice pictures. When I get a chance, I'll try moving some of them over to Commons and putting them into english articles. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 18:46, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
==Buddhism in America==
Well, my planned expansion of the Western Buddhism page has turned into a brand-new article at Buddhism in America, mostly because I know next to nothing about Buddhism in Europe, Australia, and South America. I now envision that Western Buddhism will become sort of a clearinghouse page with short summaries and links to articles about specific countries or regions. On the Buddhism in America article, I still plan to add a few short paragraphs under Buddhism in America#Trends in American Buddhism, but the section on Tibetan Buddhism I'm going to leave somewhat underdeveloped. I figured there are some people around here who know the U.S. Tibetan Buddhism scene better than I do, so I just typed up a couple things that I thought of off the top of my head and will leave it to someone else to complete the section. Another helpful thing people can do to enhance the article would be to get together some more images for it (I still plan to add some more that are already uploaded). Most big cities in the U.S. and Canada have some kind of interesting-looking Buddhist temples in them someplace, so if anyone can get a chance to head over to one such temple, take a picture, and then upload it, we can probably put it into the article somewhere. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 21:39, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)
==Origins of Meditation==
The passage... "he found a large tree (now called the Bodhi tree) under which he would be shaded from the heat of the mid-summer sun, and set to meditating. This new way of practicing began to bear fruit."
...seems to suggest that Buddha invented meditation. I don't know enough to correct this, but it existed long before, though he no doubt came up with new methods.
:I think when it says "new way", it means new for Siddhartha, not brand new in the world. Please go ahead and edit for clarity, though. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 18:58, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Okay, it's fixed. I ended up saying that he developed a new form of meditation - i don't really know what the thinking is on that. There are many different meditation techniques taught under the rubric of Buddhism, perhaps he developed several. --User:John Abbe 02:58, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)
==Jainism passage==
I removed this from the Origins section for discussion (despite the note asking one note to do this, which, to be honest, I'm frustrated we left in the article for so long):
:The Buddhists always maintained that by the time Buddha and Mahavira were alive, Jainism was already an ancient and deeply entrenched faith and culture in the region. Buddhist scriptures record philosophical dialogues between the wandering seeker Buddha and Jain teachers such as Udaka Ramaputta. Early Buddhists posited the existence of 24 previous Buddhas (Buddhas who walked the earth prior to Gautama Siddhartha) many of whose names are identical to those of the 24 Jain ''Tirthankaras'' and other traditional Jain figures. Buddhist scriptures attest that many of the first Buddhists were in fact Jains (''Nirgranthas'' as they were then called, meaning "the unbonded ones"), whom Buddha encouraged to maintain their Jain identity and practices such as giving alms to Jain monks and nuns. The famous ancient parable of the blind men and the elephant illustrates the Jain science of ''Anekantavada'', and is found in the Buddhist Pali text called ''Udana''. Like most splinter groups generally, writers of the Pali texts clearly rejoiced in criticizing (and at times ridiculing) the Jains and celebrating the conversion of another Jain to Buddha's path. The texts show that Buddha vigorously appealed to the Nirgranthas that his path was nothing different from that with which they were already familiar, simply better.
:The Buddhist formulation of the "Middle Way" was a post-Buddha response by the Buddhist monastic community to criticism by the Jains (as seen in Jain texts such as the ''Sutrakritanga Sutra'' and ''Acharanga Sutra'') that the Buddhist ''Bhikkhus'' (mendicants) were lax and not living the rigorous life of a true ascetic or ''Shramana'' (''Samana'' in Prakrit). In defining the Middle Way, Buddhist scholars branded their faith with a unique identity that distanced itself from Jain tradition by providing an alternative to "extreme asceticism" (i.e., Jainism) on one hand and Buddha's own princely hedonism on the other. In describing Buddha's six-years of spiritual searching after leaving his family, Buddhist scriptures from the early post-Buddha period detail certain fasts, penances and austerities which Buddha undertook whose descriptions are elsewhere found only in the Jain tradition (for example, the penance by five fires and the consumption of food using only one's cupped hands). To this day, many Buddhist teachings, principles and terms remain identical to Jain ones. In short, a large body of evidence suggests that Buddhism is, in large measure, an offshoot of Jainism.
:''(Note: If counterevidence exists to any of the above, it is requested that it be appended to the end.)''
I find the above to be tendentious and argumentative, and, no, the solution is not to add on further argumentation. It is documented on the Jainism page (where the same text appears) by reference to two books, one by a Jain scholar and one by a Japanese one. I think that a theory like this should be better documented and presented in a more balanced fashion if it is going to be included. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 14:11, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)
== Math Symbols? ==
The main article reads: It is derived from the verbal root "√budh", meaning "to awaken or be enlightened".
The square-root sign is not a transcoding error in the browser, but is explicitly stated with the √ entity.
What is a square-root sign doing in a word? Should that be some other symbol? What language is this verbal root from? IAC, it needs clarification.
:I believe it was added by a linguist, and has some kind of special jargony meaning among linguists. I would guess that √ means that what follows is a reconstructed (which is to say, speculative) linguistic root, rather than a complete word in any actual language. I agree that it looks weird now, but I'm not sure how to edit it. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 03:31, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
::It is the standard way to indicate Sanskrit and Pali verbal roots in Western sources. Characterizing these roots as "reconstructed" or "speculative" seems to trivialize the matter -- very ancient lists for these roots exist in the various dhatu-pathas which form a corner-stone to traditional and modern accounts of morphological derivation. But I suggest either retaining the symbol and deleting the explanatory "verbal root" or vice versa, since one or the other is redundant.--User:Stephen Hodge 01:31, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
== Request for references ==
Hi, I am working to encourage implementation of the goals of the Wikipedia:Verifiability policy. Part of that is to make sure articles Wikipedia:Cite sources. This is particularly important for featured articles, since they are a prominent part of Wikipedia. The Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check has more information. Thank you, and please [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=User_talk:Taxman&action=edit§ion=new leave me a message] when a few references have been added to the article. - User:Taxman 18:36, Apr 22, 2005 (UTC)
== True Self = Non-Self in All Mahayana Sutras? ==
* Hallo. I see that a sentence has been added to the end of an early paragraph on the Buddha-nature and True Self in the general introduction to the Buddhism article, saying that the True Self is described as no self in all Mahayana Sutras. This is not quite accurate, unfortunately, as that is never stated in the Nirvana Sutra, which is the central Mahayana sutra for the teaching on the True Self. In fact, the very opposite is taught there: the Buddha insists that the non-Self is Samsara, whereas the True Self is the all-pervading Buddha in Nirvana. Could you modify your statement, do you possibly think? I hope you won't feel offended by my asking for this. I'd also be interested to know where the Buddha says that "the True Self is non-Self", as I haven't come across that in a single Mahayana sutra (this could well be my own omission or oversight, though!). Thanks very much for your co-operation (if you don't mind). Best wishes to you - Tony User:TonyMPNS 21:42, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)
:I have deleted the inaccurate addition mentioned above. I wonder if the person who inserted it has read even half a dozen, let alone "all Mahayana sutras". Though the "true" self is described as "no self" in the Mahayana-sutra-alamkara, I think the person who inserted will be unable to provide even two or three references to Mahayana sutras which state this. Without such references, I would regard this addition as a kind of sabotage from somebody who perhaps cannot countenance the idea that some authentic forms of Buddhism did teach a positive "true" self.--User:Stephen Hodge 01:31, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Related to this, I have removed somebody's erroneous statement that "The Srimala sutra says that this presenting of a seeming self is done in order not to scare away those who would be afraid of the central non-self doctrine of Buddhism". I really wish people who make such statements would at least read the texts in question before adding such spurious comments. In fact, the Srimala says, "The Tathagata-garbha is the domain of the Tathagata, it is not the domain of any Sravaka or Pratyekabuddha" etc. More sabotage ?--User:Stephen Hodge 02:18, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
::I am not sufficiently familliar with the ''Srimala'' to comment about that but in the [http://hjem.get2net.dk/civet-cat/mahayana-writings/lankavatara-sutra.htm Lankavatara Sutra] one can indeed find a statement the the effect that the function of the Buddhist ''atman'' is "not to scare away ignorant people". I stipulate that it is possible to interpret the last two sentences of Chapter 6 as equivocation; but there are at least two other possibilities: later emendation, and/or a positive expression of ''sunya'' and dependent arising. --User:Munge 05:50, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)
* Hallo Munge. Thanks for your comments. You may be interested to know that the Nirvana Sutra (and that sutra is, after all, avowedly the final doctrinal pronouncement of the Buddha on such matters as the Tathagatagarbha and the Self) makes it very plain that it is those persons who have been long schooled and practised in non-Self and Emptiness who need to be told not to be "frightened" by the teaching of the truly existing Tathagatagarbha! Also, the passage in the Lankavatara Sutra which you refer to is speaking specifically about the notion of Self clung to by "the philosophers". Part of that notion (as mentioned in the preceding paragraph of the Lanka text) is that the Self is the eternal Creator. The Buddha then rejects that notion of Self. Equally, the problem with these "philosophers" (from the Buddha's vantage point) is that they talk about things of which they do not have direct experience: they mouth words which do not issue from perfect knowledge, but are instead the fruits of non-experiential speculation. It is such an empty concept of Self that the Buddha wants people to detach from. In the final part of the Lankavatara Sutra - the "Sagathakam" collection of verses, which is thought to be quite old - the Buddha indicates that he is not denying the Self with his Tathagatagarbha doctrine, stating: "The Self, whose characteristic is purity, is the state of Self-realisation. This is the Tathagatagarbha, which does not belong to the realm of the philosophers." As so often in Buddhism, "atman" is used in two contrasting ways in the Lankavatara Sutra: it can either (and usually does in Buddhism and almost exclusively in the Lanka) mean the worldly, impermanent ego made up of the five skandhas, or it can mean the supramundane True Self, which is not evenescent and which cannot be comprehended by the ordinary mind and its plodding logic. I think that until one recognises the dual usage of the term "Self" in Buddha-Dharma, one is liable to misapprehend the intended meaning of (especially the Tathagatagarbha) sutras. One further note: the Lankavatara Sutra is generally regarded as a doctrinally mixed text, not "pure" Tathagatagarbha. I know that you have a (totally legitimate and valuable) interest in later Tathagatagarbha doctrine; but if we stick with the "pure-blooded" Tathagatagarbha sutras themselves, it is clear that the Garbha teaching is not some kind of lower-grade presentation of Dharma for those of faint hearts. Just because a teaching has a positive effect on certain types of being does not mean that the teaching is articulating an untruth (viewed within the parameters of that spiritual Doctrine as a whole). It may well have the intended effect of encouraging those who might otherwise misunderstand the non-Self teaching in an absolutist and utterly negative way (as many people, in my view, still do!) - but that in no way means that the Garbha doctrine itself is to be understood as, spiritually, "poor man's Dharma" or "untrue" (not that you are arguing that yourself!). Best wishes, from Tony. User:TonyMPNS 13:41, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)
::Buddhists famously disagree about which text represents the final doctrinal pronouncement, so an encyclopedia cannot claim that one or the other has precedence. Moreover, I think not all Mahayana sects accepted even the ''universality'' of Buddha Nature as expresed in the (later versions of the) MPNS. Those that do accept such universality, including Tendai and Zen I believe, do not seem to regard the MPNS as expressing the definitive explanation of what Buddha nature is. And one cannot unilaterally say that these developments were degenerate. To try to search for some common ground here, can we not say something like "Buddhists unanimously and unequivocally reject the conventional notion of self. Differences appear from sect to sect, across time and geography, regarding what the true self really is—or even whether it exists. What Buddhists do agree on regarding the self is that awakening is possible. That transformation—or, according to some, a profound realization that there is nothing to transform—is the fruit of practice, devotion, study, or perhaps simply hearing the word of the Buddhadharma." I don't know if that's it. But again, this is an encyclopedia; it cannot advocate in favor of a particular vision of what true Buddhism is. It cannot imply that 1700 years of Chinese Buddhist doctrinal developments are somehow inauthentic; it cannot hold itself superior to the Nikaya schools; and it cannot deconstruct rationally those irrational elements that are so prevalent in certain strains of Buddhism, notably but not limited to Huayen and Zen. Not without becoming a platform for particular points of view. --User:Munge 05:00, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
* Hallo again Munge. Your above comments contain a lot of good sense, and I agree with much of what you write. However, I am not arguing that the Nirvana Sutra should be seen as the "final explanation of Dharma" by the Buddha out of some personal, biased preference of mine (that would be stupid) - but from the fact that it states itself to be so and is accepted as such by all major Mahayana schools. After all, the sutra is said to be the last sutra delivered by the Buddha on the very eve of his death! Ipso facto, it constitutes the Buddha's final presentation of his Dharma while still on this earth, and thus great importance has always accrued to it within the Mahayana traditions. That is not to dismiss later interpretations and commentaries (on the Dhatu/Self, or whatever). But I think it is helpful to keep clear and distinct what the sutras themselves say, and what later commentarial and exegetical tradition has made of that (the two are not necessarily the same thing!). I am not trying to reject Chinese (or any other) interpretations of the Buddha-dhatu from discussion on Wiki (again, that would be ludicrous and utterly intolerant of me, if I were to do that) - but am simply keen that the unjust tendency found in many Western treatments of Buddhism over the past 100 years of either ignoring the Buddha-dhatu/Tathagatagarbha/True Self teachings or minimising and re-interpreting them in an egregiously inaccurate and procrustean manner should not be replicated on Wiki (I am not accusing you of doing that, needless to say!). I think it is best always to distinguish between what the sutras (foundational primary texts) say, and what later exegesis would have them say. Finally, there is no distinction(as you seem to imply by your phrase, "later versions") regarding the "universality" of the Buddha-dhatu as between the Fa-xian, Tibetan and Dharmaksema versions of the Nirvana Sutra: all three agree that the Dhatu is present in all beings, including in the iccantikas (in that sense it is "universal"). The difference comes when the Dharmaksema text asserts that even iccantikas will find Liberation. The other two texts do not state that at all. Best wishes to you. Yours - Tony. User:212.139.235.85 07:48, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
::I believe I have read -- although not from anything like a primary source -- that the Tiantai school believed that the Lotus Sutra was the Buddha's ultimate teaching and that the Nirvana Sutra was on a slightly lower level; likewise, I thought that the Huayan school taught that the Avatamsaka was the highest truth, with, presumably, both the Lotus and the Nirvana Sutra on lower levels. Is this not the case? Certainly, Nichiren Buddhists, if no one else, believe that the Lotus is the ultimate truth, so it can't be literally true that ''all'' Mahayana schools take the Nirvana Sutra as ultimate. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 07:58, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
* Hi Nat. You are right. My point, though, is that the Nirvana Sutra is accepted as the last sutra delivered by the Buddha during his lifetime - and so has a special place precisely as the final presentation of Dharma given by Shakyamuni Buddha on the very brink of death. But I am not chiefly concerned in my comments with what "schools" say in any case (although, as it happens, all the main Mahayana schools do accept that the MPNS was the Buddha's last sutra on earth, just before his Mahaparinirvana). I am always interested in what the sutras themselves say. That is the difference! But this is not to preclude discussion of schools, etc. Naturally not! Best wishes - from Tony. User:TonyMPNS 08:05, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
==Third precept==
Say, I was wondering if we can get a citation for this recently added bit: "''It should be noted that, strictly speaking, the third precept covers more than the conventional idea of sexual misconduct and actually involves refraining from all wrong sensory pleasures.''" - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 03:27, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Yes, the Pali and corresponding Sanskrit gives "kaama" in the plural -- if it was just "sexual misconduct" it would be in the singular. the "kaama" here is related to the five kaama-gunas. This alternative, and possibly original interpretation, is widely known. I can give you more details tomorrow as it's a bit late here. Note also that I have corrected a number of errors and added clarifications to other parts of the article. These changes are all based on well attested research. Do you want references for all of them ??--User:Stephen Hodge 03:43, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Further to my previous message, one might refer to Ven H. Saddhatissa's "Buddhist Ethics" (Wisdom 1987)p92 where he states, "We now return to the interpretation of the precept as with ''kaama'' in the locative plural form ''kaamesu''. In such form the precept signifies abstinence from all indulgences in the five sensuous objects .... in representing ''kaamesu micchaacaara'' as relating only to sexual intercourse the grammatical form of ''kaama'' has been ignored; to achieve complete observance of the precept, one must therefore desist from the five forms of self-indulgence, both directly and indirectly".
::Ah, that sounds reasonable. It might be better to say that the ''original version'' apparently includes all sensual indulgences, since anyone who takes the precepts in translation will probably take a version that only includes sexual behavior (or am I wrong about that?)
:::I have modified my addition to reflect this comment.--User:Stephen Hodge 18:03, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
::Generally, it is good to provide citations for as much material as possible. Theoretically, everything should be referenced, although this is very commonly ignored by editors. As a rule of thumb, it's advisable to cite a source for anything likely to raise eyebrows – something that might pass as "common knowledge" is probably okay uncited. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 06:04, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
:::OK. But where would the best place be to provide citations or references ? I think that flow of the main article will be broken if all references are provided in the body text. The question of "common knowledge" is, of course, relative. It depends what source material one is familiar with. The bibliogrpahical list at the end of the article is really very sparse. It would be helpful to some readers if reading material or references could be provided at the end with "chapter" headings for each segment of the main article. Possibly it'sa bit late to do that now. --User:Stephen Hodge 18:03, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
::::Certainly agreed that "common knowledge" is a fuzzy concept at best -- Wikipedia often goes way too far in leaving everything uncited. As for the best way to cite sources, I wouldn't worry too much about the format right now (almost any editor can fix formatting, but you have special expertise that allows you to reference information). The standards aren't very well established yet. I think we have some kind of new footnote system, but I don't know very much about it. For the time being, I would go with a reference in the format (Dōgenson, 1955) or whatever. We can sort it out later.
::::I'm all too aware that the current bibliography is sparse -- actually, it was nonexistent until I started it with a few books a couple days ago! If you could add some more general references that you think are good, that would be appreciated. I think current, informal Wikipedia practice prefers to have all the references at the end, rather than each section, so it's probably better just to use a short reference (lastname, year) in the text. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 09:50, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)
:::::This [http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/1Digha-Nikaya/Digha1/01-brahmajala-e.htm#_ftn16 Digha Nikaya (click on the footnote)] has "the sexual act" as the translation of ''Gàma-dhammà'', in a context that clearly refers to the precepts. [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/digha/dn02.html Thanissaro Bhikku agrees], as does TW Rhys-Davids (''Buddhist Suttas'', p189). I stipulate that in other contexts, these sutras from the first section of the DN discourage wanderers from, e.g. going to puppet shows and listening to drummers, but that is besides the point. (To anticipate an objection, just [http://www.saigon.com/~anson/ebud/ebsut056.htm How Old is the Sutta Pitaka], anyway? Wynne ably defends the idea that it is fairly old after all.) [http://www.dhammastudy.com/Vsm01.html Buddhaghosa thought the 3rd precept was about sex], too. Edward Conze concurred (''Buddhist Scriptures'', p71 in my edition). [http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/bns/bnstext.htm#m3 So did the author of the Brahma Net Sutra]. Bernard Faure concurs (''The Red Thread'', p92. A fine work that I hope to read through someday).
:::::Now listen up: What Ven H. Saddhatissa says may well be true. But it requires a much tougher standard of proof than one or two cites; Which exposition of the precepts, do texts match, are translators in consensus, is there evidence that actual schools taught or still teach the more restrictive doctrine? As for format, I can't answer that. But as for the other issue, the Buddhism wiki probably doesn't need the cites I give above. Those would be for an eventual article on Buddhism and Sexuality, which would also want to cite ''Lust for Enlightenment'' by John Stevens and ''Prisoners of Shangri-La'' by Donald Lopez. The cites the current article needs, if is to expand the scope of the 3rd precept, would be precisely the points that are most controversial. --User:Munge 05:01, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)
:::Thanks, Munge, your comment. I note that you suggest we click on the footnote for DN01, but I fear that you yourself have not so in your eagerness to establish what was not in question. ''Gāma-dhamma'' does not mean "the sexual act", but "rustic", "the practice of country folk". The word here for "the sexual act" is ''methuna''. Anyway, I am not disputing that the meaning of ''kāmesu micchācāra'' was narrowed down from a general "wrong indulgence in objects of desire" to "sexual misconduct" but one can see that there must have been a shift in meaning from the general to the specific or else ''methuna'' would have been used at the outset as in DN 01 and DN 02. Moreover, the grammatical form of ''kāma'' here in the locative plural cannot have that meaning literally, and if you look at the usage of ''kāmesu'' in other constructions throughout the Nikāyas, you will see that it always means "[regarding] objects of desire" or "[regarding] sensual objects" and is rendered thus by most translators including those you quote. You could also look at comments in the relevent ''a.t.thakathās'' for those occurances. Generally, ''kāmesu'' is understood as a short form for ''pañcā kāma-gu.nesu'' "[with reference] to the five sensual objects". You might find the Cha.t.tha Sa`ngāyana CD of the Tipitaka a useful tool to check usage through the Pali canon.
:::Anyway, I think you are making heavy weather of this – though I am not sure what you mean by "now listen up" as it is not an idiom we use here. I have no intention of searching around for other citations confirming a wider understanding of ''kāmesu micchācāra'', though they exist, as I have better things to do. Anybody reading the article in conjunction with this conversation will realize the commonly accepted and conventional meaning is "indulgence in sexual misconduct" and that this meaning arose at a fairly early stage as a kind of gloss on the term, although it cannot be derived literally from the grammar of the term. They will also realize that some authorative scholars who know their Pali grammar understand that there was this shift of meaning and find it useful to remind people of this. As another writer puts it, "Normally one vows 'not to misuse the senses', bearing in mind the Buddha's saying that nothing stimulates each of a man's senses so much as the sight, sound, touch, etc of a woman, nor a woman's than that of a man. Undoubtedly this is so, but it is capable of a wider interpretation. Each of these rules is there to train us towards an ideal of conduct. Mere chastity is only the beginning; total control of our appetites, of our craving, is the end in view." --User:Stephen Hodge 01:31, 1 May 2005 (UTC)
::::Are you certain ''Gāma-dhamma'' does not refer to "the village way", distinguished in this context from the way of wanderers in the forest, whose ascetic behavior is distinct from householders who procreate? That's how I read the footnote, and it seems to me to be at least an avenue of investigation, if not self-evident. And while the Atthakas certainly seem to encourage austerities, I don't recall that they do so in the context of the precepts. (By the way, their use of wordplay seems to require a great deal of intellectual curiousity to decipher, making it hard for me to believe that they merely advocate ''samatha'' and not ''vispassana'', as someone, not you, indicated on these pages a while back.) In American English idioms, "partying" might mean sensual experiences or sexual ones, depending on context; I imagine I might find an analagous UK idiom or euphemism in Partridge's dictionary of catch phrases. Again, I am not necessarily denying your conclusion, only questioning how you got to it. I appreciate your calling the CD to my attention. --User:Munge 04:45, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
::"The village way" could be used as an acceptable translation of ''grāma-dhamma'', in other words, rural customs or observances, probably used in contrast to urban customs or observances, rather than the ascetic behaviour of the forest-dwellers as you suggest. It can also just mean "vulgar", "low" or, to fit the context, even "licentious".
::As for your digression on the ''A.t.thakas'', I can understand your puzzlment – if you re-read my message, you will see that I was talking about the ''Atthakathās'', not the ''A.t.taka'' section of the SN. It's probably my fault since I assumed that you would know of the ''Athakathās''. They are the set of commentaries on the five Pali Nikāyas, mainly redacted by Buddhaghosa on the basis of earlier Sinhalese works. Perhaps a Wiki article is needed.
::But concerning your comments on the ''Atthakas'', I am thinking of appending some additional information on them. Research has moved on a bit since Gomez wrote his paper on them – current thinking is that they belonged to a non-Buddhist group which joined the Sangha very early and had their material incorporated. This is not as surprising as it may sound – it has long been recognized that many of the Dharmapāda and Udāna verses, for example, are also found in contemporary Jain scriptures, the Mahā-Bharata and elsewhere, suggesting that such verses were part of a common sramanera heritage. However, scholars still concur that most of them primarily advocate a ''samatha'' approach rather that ''vipassanā''. In fact, the ''vipassanā'' approach may not even have been taught by the Buddha or else was a method devised for those whose meditative abilities were slight. Note that the word vipassanā itself, in its technical sense, only occurs about two otr three times in the Pali canon.
::Regarding the CD, you can get this just for the cost of postage from your nearest Vipassana Research Centre – look on www.vri.dhamma.org for details. Even without knowing much Pali, you should find it provides hours of fun.--User:Stephen Hodge 00:16, 4 May 2005 (UTC)
:::I cannot entirely agree. The PTS Pali-English dictionary has [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/ddsa/getobject_?HTML.a.0:5648./projects/artfl0/databases/dicos/philologic/pali/IMAGE/ ''gama dhamma''] as "doings with women-folk...vile conduct". And it is not an isolated example. For another case where context determines whether an idiom connotes community life or misogyny see also Monier Williams' entry on [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0800/mw__0840.html ''matra-grama''], which can mean "the faults of womankind" or "of a village". I will omit another, more profane example. I note with interest Monier Williams' entry on [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0300/mw__0386.html Gamin], one of whose meanings is "having sexual intercourse with". Mr. Rhys-David's translation and his footnote are, by today's standards, euphemistic. And sutras often use idioms, wordplay, and allusion. Perhaps the sounds of ''gama'' and ''kama'' struck someone as similar. And perhaps the "ga" sound in ''linga'' inspired some ancient wisecracking wanderer.
:::Moreover, because some of DN's intended audience may have been familiar with the Chandogya Upanishad, book 5, section 10 (see [http://www.godserver.com/godcommunity/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6], [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01104.htm]) it seems to me plausible that any such listeners would naturally make a connection between fate of the "village-dwellers" who follow the "way of the fathers" (''pitryana''); as distinct from that of the "forest dwellers" and their "austerities" who traverse the "way of the gods" (''devayana''). Of course, fatherhood implies certain behaviors.
:::I have provided an excess of citations and a few speculations in support of the rarely-questioned link between the 3rd precept and sexual behavior; I have defended with some reluctance the name of Mr. Rhys-Davids and his modest footnote; and I have admonished you, not without gratitude. I believe it was Paracelsus who said "much learning, many errors". --User:Munge 03:28, 6 May 2005 (UTC)
::Dear Munge, I am not sure what you are trying to achieve with this prolonged nit-picking. Do you really think it adds anything of value for the general reader ? It seems to me that, as usual, in your eagerness to "admonish" me, you fail to notice the matchstick, if not beam, in your own eyes. For example, your quote from MW for ''māt.r-grāma'' (spelt wrongly by you) "the faults of womankind" or "of a village" is garbled. In fact, for ''māt.r-grāma'', MW has 'the aggregate of mother' = the female sex [in general], while you have truncated the entry which is translated by "the faults of womankind" – you have missed out the all-important ''do.sa''. Note there is no mention of "[faults] of a village". Your case is further undermined by MW's entry for ''grāma-dharma'' for which he has "the observances or customs of a village" with no mention of sexual matters, although, indeed, these may be implicit.
::I am also aware of the PED entry for ''gāma-dhamma''. Philologically, I have reservations about this meaning when taking the entire sematic range of ''gāma'' (vllage etc) into consideration. I will return to this below. We are discussing the meaning of ''gāma-dhamma'' in the context of the DN 01 occurence. Since it immediately follows methuna, I am not convinced that it should be understood as a virtul synonym. Moreover, in all the atthakathās (commentaries), mainly by Buddhaghosa, which comment on ''gāma-dhamma'', always and only give this: ''gāma-dhammāti gāmavāsīna.m dhammā'' "''gāma-dhamma'' [means] the ''dhamma'' of village-dwellers. Additionally, you might like to consider these Chinese equivalents 猥法 and 世間弊穢法, used by Xuanzang and others for ''grāma-dharma''. Not much overt suggestion of sex here either !
::However, in the midst of your confusion, you may have inadvertantly hit on a solution. As you will note, you seem to be unsure what the Sanskrit equivalents are for the Pali ''gāma'' in this context. Due to the vagaries of Prakrit phonology, ''gāma'', taken in isolation, can be either ''gāma'' or ''grāma''. The former, as a derivative of ''GAM'' "go", will also bear the well-known sexual connotations, while the latter is just "village" etc. As you will also be aware, it is recognized that mistakes were made when Prakrits (such as Pāli) were converted into Sanskrit, due to phonological ambiguity. Perhaps something of this has come into play here, and so I wonder whether the supposed sexual connotation of ''gāma-dhamma'' is a phantom meaning due to semantic contamination – there was a degree of Sanskritization
::Your suggestion that there is an implicit contrast here between "village-dwellers"and the "forest dwellers" is not unreasonable, although the normal contrast in early Buddhism is rustic / urban.
::Finally, if, for some strange reason, you want to continue this discussion, perhaps we could adjourn to my personal Talk page so this Discussion page does not get even more clogged up with trivia.--User:Stephen Hodge 20:49, 7 May 2005 (UTC)
==Comments of a nun==
(''note: the following was written by anonymous #User talk:83.116.12.198 and added to the article itself. They belong here on the talk page, and so I am putting them here now'' - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause)
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April 24. Plea to the administrator of the Wikipedia page on Buddhism:
The editor of your main entry on Buddhism seems to be an adept of the Theravada school. This has led to some misrepresentations of the Mahayana school of Buddhism while at the same time the history of Theravada is not full and frank as it should be.
As a nun who ordained 20 years ago, starting in he Theravada school of Buddhism and converting to the Mahayana I think I should give it another try, after my yesterday additions to the page were deleted.
----
The scribe seems to be a little bit obsessed with the Tathagatagarbha-theory. S/he writes:
1. "Some Mahayana Buddhist scriptures (notably the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra and the Srimala Sutra, amongst others) aim at encouraging the Buddhist practitioner to perceive the indwelling Buddha-nature, the "True Self" (as opposed to the impermanent, suffering-prone "worldly self") of the Buddha inherent in all sentient beings. Such a tathagatagarbha vision is said to usher in the realisation of Great Nirvana."
And in a later section s/he returns to the same subject:
2. "However, in a number of major Mahayana sutras (e.g. the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Tathagatagarbha Sutra, the Srimala
Sutra, amongst others), the Buddha is presented as modifying this teaching and saying that there does truly exist an eternal,
unchanging, blissful Buddhic essence (svabhava) in all sentient beings, which is the uncreated and deathless Buddha-nature or
"True Self" of the Buddha himself. This immaculate Buddhic Self (Atman) is in no way to be construed as a mundane, impermanent, suffering "ego", of which it is the diametrical opposite."
Comment: When we speak about the Tathagatagarbha-theory we must understand what the Dharmakaya in this teaching means. The
Srimala sutra, Wayman's (contested) translation on pp.98 and 99 says:
"Lord, the cessation of suffering is not the destruction of Dharma. Why so? Because the Dharmakaya of the Tathagata is named 'cessation of suffering' and it is beginningless, uncreate, unborn, undying, free from death; permanent, seadfast, calm, eternal; intrinsically pure, free from all the defilement-store; and accompanied by Buddha natures more numerous than the sands of the Ganges, which are nondiscrete, knowing as liberated, and inconceivable. This Dharmakaya of the Tathagata when not free from the store of defilement is referred to as the Tathagatagarbha.
"Lord, the knowledge of the Tathagatagarbha is the voidness knowledge of the Tathagatas."
I think that this teaching is too profound for the average highschool student who is in search of material for a paper. The scribe best deletes these two passages. The tibetan lamas too will bless him or her for it.
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The scribe has the true but limited representation of the root 'budh': "....verbal root "√budh", meaning "to awaken or
be enlightened"."
Comment: I suggest s/he adds the classical Sanskrit meaning: wise.
::I don't think that "wise" is a meaning of the verbal root -- "wise" is an adjective. None of the standard Sanskrit dictionaries give "wise" as a meaning of the verbal root "buddh" so I suggest the addition be deleted because it is inaccurate.--User:Stephen Hodge 14:43, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
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The scribe has a passage on Buddhist logic and says: "However, as thinkers like Nagarjuna have pointed out, Buddhism is not simply a rejection of the concept of existence (or of meaning, etc.) but of the hard and fast distinction between existence and nonexistence, or rather between being and nothingness."
Comment: When we read Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika we see that he fiercely opposes the views of both 'being' and 'nothingness', but instead demonstrates the absense of self, of ens, of substance.
I frankly don't see what a neccessarily too brief passage on Nagarjuna could add to an already very long lemma.
-------
The scribe has:
"Buddhism has evolved into myriad schools that can be roughly grouped into three types: Nikaya, Mahayana, and Vajrayana...."
Comment: the tibetan traditions deny the distinct difference between Mahayana and Vajrayana, and the japanese Tendai tradition also teaches both side by side. They all say that there are only two mainstreams: Theravada and Mahayana. Notably in the Lankavatara sutra we find a distinction between three schools - that ultimately are denied and collapse into the One Buddhayana - : a Sravaka, or Listener Vehicle belonging to what your scribe calls the Nikaya strand, the Pratyekabuddha-yana, i.e. those who are on the lowest steps of the bodhisattva ladder but refrain from teaching, and the Bodhisattva-yana, those who are on the way to Buddhahood through cultivation of the Dharma combined with beneficial actions in the world.
----
The scribe has:
"The word "Buddha" denotes not just a single religious teacher who lived in a particular epoch, but a type of person, of which there have been many throughout the course of cosmic time."
Comment: I am aware of the fact that the Theravada thourougly hates the Mahayana teaching where it postulates uncountable non-human Buddhas that all at this one time teach the beings according to their needs. But if you pretend giving a true account of Buddhism in its entirity you cannot avoid to at least mentioning other Buddha names, preferably without any expalation, as the Theravada is fundamentally incapable of grasping the truth behind the names.
----
The scribe has: "....the Pali Canon. This is considered to be the oldest of the surviving Buddhist canons, and its sutras are
accepted as authentic in every branch of Buddhism."
Comment: If s/he were to be honest s/he should add that the present-day Theravada school is not that old. Of old there have been two branches of Theravada Buddhism: the now defunct Northern Theravada school that flourished along the Silk Road (and left the above mentioned Agamas, and the Southern Theravada school with its present-day Pali canon. The first mention of this latter school does not predate the 7e century (see Andre Bareau in his Les Sectes bouddhique du Petit Vehicule, the entry on Theravada). The present-day teachings of the Pali school incorporates a number of aspects out of the now defunct Sarvastivada and other ancient Hinayana schools.
As an example I give you a text that, within the Theravada, is recited when transferring merits to the deceased (without the
neccessary diacriticals: yatha varivaha pura paripurenti sagaram evemeva itodinnam petanam upakappati ... etc.
This text occurs in Buddhaghosa's oeuvre, a first cent. BC Theravada scholar from Bodhgaya in India, who borrowed it from the then much despised and no longer existing Rajagriya-tradition, one of the 18 early Hinayana schools.
And then again, the Pali canon is in all Mahayana schools considered as valuable as any other canon. However the Tibetan and Chinese schools for their teachings in the indispensible basic concepts rely on the Agamas, a collection of manuscripts that are similar to the Pali Nikayas though not the same. There are highstanding, academic, comparative studies between the Nikaya and Agama sutras available.
===Responses===
:There are a number of things to be said in response to the above. I'm not going to respond to most of the points at the present, although I hope others will do so as they see fit. I did leave a message on anonymous' talk page on a few points; for instance, I think she is mistaken in believing that the main editor or editors of this page are followers of Theravada. The only substantial point I want to make concerns her a comments, re: "....the Pali Canon. This is considered to be the oldest of the surviving Buddhist canons, and its sutras are accepted as authentic in every branch of Buddhism." I think she is right in pointing out that we are needlessly conflating the Pali Canon with the ''agama (text)'' (a.k.a. the Nikayas) -- the former is the best known among the various versions of the latter. The rest of the passage is true with regard to the ''agamas''. I will make this correction in the article. Note that to say "it is regarded as the oldest" does not necessarily mean that it is very old (should this be clearer in the article)? - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 09:01, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
* Reply to the Nun: Thank you very much for your heartfelt comments. I have given them serious thought and consideration, as it is not every day that I get such comments from a Buddhist nun! That was a surprise. Firstly, I think it is perhaps unfair to accuse me of being "a little bit obsessed with the tathagatagarbha-theory". I simply want to ensure that this important area of Buddha-Dharma (often minimized, neglected or distorted in books/articles on Buddhism)is adequately represented on Wiki. I don't think that my two brief mentions of "the True Self" (in the Buddha-nature context) in a long article on "Buddhism" could reasonably qualify as "obsession".
Secondly, you speak of "tathagatagarbha-theory". Can you tell me where the Buddha ever, in any place, at any time, calls his teaching on the tathagatagarbha a "theory"? It is presented as Dharma, pure and simple (theory has no place in Dharma).
: It should be noted that the nun's primary language might not be English. "Tathagatagarbha-theory" is not an unreasonable translation for Tathagatagarbha doctrine. 06:14, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Thirdly, you are absolutely right to quote from the Srimala Sutra, as this is indeed an important tathagatagarbha sutra. But that sutra does not conflict with what I have written, nor do I conflict with it. The Tathagatagarbha is, as you completely correctly say, the Dharmakaya - and in the Srimala Sutra, this is explained as the Dharmakaya which is still (temporarily) concealed from the view of the mundane being by adventitious defilements. Those defilements, however, are not intrinsic to the Garbha. The knowledge of voidness (shunyata) which you refer to in your quotation from the text relates to voidness of certain specific negative, undesirable qualities. To quote the text itself (I use the translation of Dr. Shenpen Hookham, who is a Tibetan Buddhist nun who has specialised in the Tathagatagarbha doctrine and the Srimala Sutra and gained her Oxford University Ph.D. in that area):
"There are two Tathagatagarbha Shunyata knowledges. The Tathagatagarbha that dwells apart from the sheaths of all the kleshas [mental afflictions] is empty of any knowledge that is not liberation. The Buddhadharmas of the Tathagatagarbha that do not dwell apart from it and the knowledge of liberation are not empty of the inconceivable attainments beyond the sands of the Ganges."
A central point of the Srimala Sutra doctrine is that Emptiness means empty of that which is corrupted by the kleshas, but that the Emptiness of the Tathagatagarbha is not empty of the positive Buddhic Knowing (jnana) which is replete with virtuous qualities.
The Mahaparinirvana Sutra also explicates Emptiness as emptiness of what is impermanent and suffering.
So, I don't think there is any conflict between what I have written on the Tathagatagarbha on Wikipedia and the key texts which you and I have cited. As for dropping all mention of this subject, as you urge: I wonder why I should do that? Unless I have distorted the doctrine (which I am always open to admitting, if tathagatagarbha-sutric evidence is presented to me to that effect), I don't see why readers (high-school students or otherwise) of Wikipedia should not be allowed to read teachings which are rooted in certain important Mahayana sutras and which have all too often been denied the full light of day by those who feel uncomfortable with such manifestations of Buddha-Dharma. I agree with you that there is always a danger that these teachings can be misunderstood (I believe they frequently are) - but that is no reaon not to reveal them at all. Otherwise the Buddha would never have spoken a word of his Dharma in the first place (some Zen texts actually say he did not speak Dharma at all, so maybe you are right to ask me to remain silent!). As long as one does not misconstrue the True Self (cataphatically envisaged) as a gigantic, puffed-up, worldly-skandhaic ego - then I think it is legitimate to speak of the True Self and the Tathagatagarbha and Buddha-dhatu doctrines in any intelligent forum (which I take Wikipedia to be).
Thank you again very much for your comments. You have (valuably) made me re-check my motives and the accuracy of what I have written. Best wishes to you in Dharma - from Tony User:TonyMPNS 10:20, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
== announcing policy proposal ==
This is just to inform people that I want Wikipedia to accept a general policy that BC and AD represent a Christian Point of View and should be used only when they are appropriate, that is, in the context of expressing or providing an account of a Christian point of view. In other contexts, I argue that they violate our NPOV policy and we should use BCE and CE instead. See Wikipedia:Neutral point of view/BCE-CE Debate for the detailed proposal. User:Slrubenstein | User talk:Slrubenstein 22:55, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
:Well, hopefully it's not just to inform people, but to spark a debate. Now, I'm not 100% sure that this is a POV issue--I think of it as an accuracy and standards issue, like any other convention I learned in school. Which is not to say it isn't abunbantly clear to me that BC and AD have no place in a modern encyclopedia--other than in articles about dating systems.User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 04:21, 17 May 2005 (UTC)
== Etymology of "Buddha" ==
Somebody recently changed the explanation for the term "Buddha", writing that "''Buddha'' is a word in the ancient India spoken language of Pali and its written counterpart Sanskrit". This is inaccurate and ill-informed. Neither Pali nor Sanskrit were written languages at the time of the historical Buddha. Both subsequently became written languages. It is also debatable whether Pali should be considered, by implication, a colloquial language. Current thinking is that it was a kind of offical chancery language used in Magadha and Kosala. It is unlikely to have been a everyday spoken language as, for example, the anomalous presence of the many Sanskritisms, phonetic and lexical, found in Pali. I have reverted the article to its previous form.--User:Stephen Hodge 23:23, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
== Origins ==
Somebody has clumsily amended a part of the account of Gotama's origins. The original was fine as it was but the revision is inaccurate and introduces concepts alien to Buddhism such as "Messiah". Additionally the quality of the English leaves much to be desired. As a contributor to Wiki, I really wish that some people would first think if they have the qualifications to add anything constructive and accurate to articles before wading in and making totally unncessary changes. I have reverted the article to the earlier satisfactory version --User:Stephen Hodge 23:32, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
== Three Jewels ==
ElBodhisattva (Am I the only person who hates the childish way some people feel they have to hide their identities -- what's wrong with real names ? Something to be ashamed of ? No wonder few qualified scholars bother with Wikipedia !) has been busy again. A gloss "(the Teaching)" has been added to the Dharma part of the Three Jewels. This is debatable or, rhater, restricts the connotation of the term. In this context "Dharma" can also mean ''adhigama-dharma'' (the Dharma as realization), which is not "the Teaching".--User:Stephen Hodge 23:52, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
:Thank you for addressing these topics. I have reverted all the edits by ElBodhisattva because I disagreed with them, which is not to say that he is unwelcome to try additional productive edits in the future. I thought this question about the Three Jewels was an interesting topic. A lot of the other stuff added, such as the misstatements about Pali, in my opinion don't really merit discussion on the talk page, so please don't feel obligated to spend your time discussing them here unless you are otherwise inclined to do so ... or unless it becomes a recurring problem in the article, at which point it because necessary to hash out. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 05:30, 23 May 2005 (UTC)
== Vandalism ==
These pages seem to be attracting persistent vandalism recently. Has anybody taken the time to report the IDs of the vandals to the Wiki people ? I believe they have an Ongoing Vandalism page. One can also ask to have the atrticle "locked", usually for a month and thus hide the additions of these idiotic people. In fact, the various sections in Wiki Help relating to vandalism make interesting reading.--User:Stephen Hodge 01:45, 25 May 2005 (UTC)
== Budhism a religion? ==
Hi! I've been talking with some budhists, and they tend to be skeptical about calling Budhism a "religion". Moreover, calling Budha the "g-d of the budhists" is considered by many as utter ignorance. What is the view of the active editors of this page? --User:Pinnecco 14:58, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
* Interesting question! Although many Buddhists deny it, I think, on balance, it is fair to call Buddhism a religion (at least in part, and certainly in its Mahayana version), since its founder (or re-discoverer), the Buddha, made claims about reality which are usually categorised as being of a religious nature. For instance, he taught that death is not the end of consciousness, but that the individual consciousness travels "upwards" (into happier, heavenly realms of existence) if the being has been virtuous during his/her lifetime and "downwards" (into more suffering modes, including hell) if the being has been more selfish and cruel. Then there is the idea of reincarnation or rebirth: beings are caught up in an almost endless cycle of life, death, rebirth, life, death, rebirth, with the suffering or happiness experienced each time being in significant measure influenced by that person's karma (a very religious concept, I would have thought). Most of all, there is the notion of Nirvana - a transcendent realm or state of ineffable Reality which is eternal, blissful and beyond all adequate human conception. In the Mahayana, there is additionally the idea that the Buddha is present in all places, at all times - a very "religious"-sounding notion, it seems to me - and that faith in the Buddha, coupled with good works (or without them, in some interpretations), can lead one after one's death into a Buddhist Paradise (a "Buddha-Field"), from where one will definitely attain Nirvana. These are just some of the features of Buddhism which make of it a religion. Of course, that does not mean that Buddhism is not also a lot of other things at the same time. But seeing Buddhism as a religion (especially in its Mahayana manifestation) should not be a cause for shock, horror and scandal (although one never knows!). Almost overwhelmingly, the Buddha is not viewed as "God" by Buddhists - but there are aspects of Mahayana and Tantric Buddhism that come very close to (if not enter into) a panentheistic or "theos-en-panist" ("God in all") vision of the ultimate "Adibuddha" (see the Wiki entry, God in Buddhism). All good wishes to you. - Tony. User:TonyMPNS 16:30, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
== Other principles ==
Somebody has made a point that the statement about action's effects can't come until the next life is confusing. Not only so but i think it's completely wrong to say that buddhism assumes that. If i am to hold out the apple and let it go, the effect of that will be apple falling down... now not in the rebirth (Buddhism). Granted some karma can only manifest itself much later, but to say that any effect must be in the different cycle of existance is quite rediculous.
== Proposal concerning era designations ==
Wikipedia:Eras/Compromise proposal has been made concerning the appropriate uses of BCE/CE and BC/AD era designations. As this is one of the most prominent Wikipedia articles to use the BCE/CE style, I thought you guys should know about it so that you could offer feedback. User:Kaldari 22:49, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)
== Women attaining Buddha-hood? ==
Hi, I have a quick question I was wondering if someone could shed some light on for me. In the article it states that "Anyone can free themselves from suffering as Gautama did, regardless of age, gender, or caste." Now, as far as women attaining enlightenment, from what I understand there is a small section in The Lotus Sutra that discusses this possibility, but I was wondering if there were other sources that talk about this as well?
Thanks!
User:Airosche 02:12, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
:In the Pali Canon, the Buddha agrees to ordain women because—despite the serious problems that this document claims the Buddha said it would cause—he agrees that a woman's capacity for enlightenment is equal to a man's. Some other Buddhist traditions, I believe, especially in Confucian East Asia, had the idea that women can become Buddhas or can enter the Pure Land only if they are first reborn as men. It also appears to be generally assumed that all Supreme Buddhas are male at the time of their final enlightenment. Consider that some Buddhist texts list quite a number of (seemingly arbitrary) characteristics that all Buddhas supposedly have, e.g. they are tall, they are born in India, etc., etc. Apparently, one of these characteristics is that they are male. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 08:50, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
{| cellpadding="2" style="float: right; clear: right; border: 2px solid #af4630; background: #ffffe8; padding: 4px; font-size: 95%; margin: 5px 15px 5px 15px;" | style="background: #ffeec2; text-align: center;"|
Buddhism |- | Cultural elements of Buddhism |- | History of Buddhism |- | List of Buddhist topics |- | List of Buddhists |- | By Buddhism by region and Buddhism by country |- | Schools of Buddhism |- | List of Buddhist temples |- | Buddhist terms and concepts |- | Buddhist texts |- | Timeline of Buddhism |- |}
This one is hard to read. Is there any specific reason the background is blue? User:Sverdrup 15:07, 2 Apr 2004 (UTC) No. I'm partial to blue-green shades, but certainly not at the cost of legibility. I'm not sure whether this is governed under the color-reservation system at Wikipedia:Infobox, but if not, anything goes... Are there any colors with which Buddhism is associated, like Islam is with green?User:Kukkurovaca 15:26, 2 Apr 2004 (UTC) I updated the colors and layout some, based on Template:History of China. I think it's a bit more readable and aesthetically pleasing, but feel free to edit mercilessly :-) --User:Diberri | User talk:Diberri 01:06, Apr 20, 2004 (UTC)
#redirect Template:Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion that originated in India and is currently practiced around the world. Eastern culture Religious faiths, traditions, and movements Religious philosophy and doctrine Religion in India ms:Category:Agama Buddha vi:Category:%C4%90%E1%BA%A1o Ph%E1%BA%ADt
Please see Talk:Buddhism for some comments about this template. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 17:20, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC) ---- I removed Buddhist meditation from the top of the template. It's an important subject, but a vast one, and the existing article is extremely stubby. I don't think it's a good idea to have it in the template until it has a much broader scope. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 05:13, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC) ==Alphabetization== Ah, I'd alphabetized the list after it had taken me a little time to find "Texts". I'd nearly gone to add Buddhist texts myself. 10:33, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with BuddHism:
BuddHism
BuddhIsm
Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism-related_stubs
Buddhism/Abolitionism
Buddhism/Archive
Buddhism/Archive2
Buddhism/Archive3
Buddhism/Archive4
Buddhism/Archive5
Buddhism2
BuddhismOpenTask
BuddhismOpenTask
BuddhismOpenTask
Buddhism_and_Science
Buddhism_and_science
Buddhism_by_Country
Buddhism_by_Country
Buddhism_by_country
Buddhism_by_country
Buddhism_by_country
Buddhism_by_region
Buddhism_in_America
Buddhism_in_America
Buddhism_in_Austria
Buddhism_in_Bangladesh
Buddhism_in_Bangladesh
Buddhism_in_Brazil
Buddhism_in_Brazil
Buddhism_in_Canada
Buddhism_in_China
Buddhism_in_China
Buddhism_in_India
Buddhism_in_Japan
Buddhism_in_Korea
Buddhism_in_Korea,_North
Buddhism_in_Korea,_South
Buddhism_in_Malaysia
Buddhism_in_Nepal
Buddhism_in_Singapore
Buddhism_in_Singapore
Buddhism_in_Sri_Lanka
Buddhism_in_the_United_States
Buddhism_in_Vietnam
BuddHism
#REDIRECT Buddhism
BuddhIsm
#REDIRECT Buddhism
Buddhism
[[image:Buddha_lantau.jpg|thumb|218px|right|Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living.]] Buddhism is a religion and Buddhist philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Gautama Buddha, who lived between approximately 560s BCE and 483 BCE. Originating in India, Buddhism gradually spread throughout Asia to Central Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Southeast Asia, as well as the East Asian countries of China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan. Buddhism teaches followers to perform good and wholesome actions, to avoid bad and harmful actions, and to purify and train the mind. The aim of these practices is to end the suffering of cyclic existence, samsara, by awakening the practitioner to the realization of true reality, the achievement of Nirvana and Buddhahood. Buddhist morality is underpinned by the principles of harmlessness and moderation. Mental training focuses on moral discipline (''sila''), meditative concentration (''samadhi''), and wisdom (''prajna''). While Buddhism does not deny the existence of supernatural beings (indeed, many are discussed in Buddhist scripture), it does not ascribe power for creation, salvation or judgement to them. Like humans, they are regarded as having the power to affect worldly events, and so some Buddhist schools associate with them via ritual. == What is a Buddha? == ''Buddha'' is a word in ancient India languages including Pali and Sanskrit which means "one who has awakened". It is derived from the verbal root "budh", meaning "to awaken" or "to be enlightened", and "to comprehend". The word "Buddha" denotes not just a single religious teacher who lived in a particular epoch, but a type of person, of which there have been infinite ones throughout the course of cosmic time. (As an analogy, the term "American President" refers not just to one person, but to everyone who has ever held the office of American presidency.) The Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, then, is simply one member in the spiritual lineage of Buddhas, which stretches back into beginningless past and forward into the distant horizons of the future. Gautama, who is referred to by Buddhists as ''Shakyamuni Buddha'', did not claim any divine status for himself, nor did he assert that he was inspired by a god or gods. A Buddha is anyone who has fully awakened to the true nature of existence, liberated from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth and has achieved omniscience. (Buddhas are not Omnipotence, like the god of Judaism, Christianity or Islam.) Anyone can free themselves from suffering as Gautama did, regardless of age, gender, or caste. The principles by which a person can be led to enlightenment are known as the Buddhadharma, or simply the Dharma, meaning (in this context) "law, doctrine, or truth". ==Origins== As with any history so old, there are many different stories of how the Buddha to be, Siddhartha Gautama (Sanskrit; in Pali, ''Siddhattha Gotama'') made his way to enlightenment. Here is one: Legend has it that he was born around the 6th century BCE. His birthplace is said to be Lumbini in the Shākya state, one of a small group of old Hindu oligarchic republics, in what is now Nepal. His father was a (Hindu) king, and Siddhārtha lived in luxury, being spared all hardship. The legends say that a seer predicted shortly after his birth, that Siddhartha would become either a great king or a great holy man; because of this, the king tried to make sure that Siddhartha never had any cause for dissatisfaction with his life, as that might drive him toward a spiritual path. Nevertheless, at the age of 29, he came across what has become known as the Four Passing Sights: an old crippled man, a sick man, a decaying corpse, and finally a wandering holy man. These ''four sights'' led him to the realization that birth, old age, sickness and death come to everyone, not only once but repeated for life after life in succession since beginningless time. He decided to abandon his worldly life, leaving behind his wife, child and rank, etc. to take up the life of a wandering holy man in search of the answer to the problem of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Indian holy men (''sādhus''), in those days just as today, often engaged in a variety of ascetic practices designed to "mortify" the flesh. It was thought that by enduring pain and suffering, the atman (Sanskrit; Pāli: atta) or "soul" became free from the cycle of rebirth with its pain and sorrow. Siddhārtha proved adept at these practices, and was able to surpass his teachers. However, he found no answer to his problem and, leaving behind his teachers, he and a small group of companions set out to take their austerities even further. After nearly starving himself to death with no success (some sources claim that he nearly drowned), Siddhārtha began to reconsider his path. Then he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's plowing, and he had fallen into a naturally concentrated and focused state in which time seemed to stand still, and which was blissful and refreshing. [[Image:Temple_of_tooth.jpg|thumb|right|The temple of the Tooth, in Kandy, Sri Lanka, which is said to contain Buddha's tooth]] Taking a little buttermilk from a passing goatherd, he found a large tree (now called the Bodhi tree) and set to meditation. He developed a new way of meditating, which began to bear fruit. His mind became concentrated and pure, and then, six years after he began his quest, he attained Bodhi, and became a Buddha. According to one of the stories in the Āyācana Sutta (''Samyutta Nikaya'' VI.1), a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons, immediately after his Enlightenment the Buddha was wondering whether or not he should teach the Dharma. He was concerned that, as human beings were overpowered by greed, hatred and delusion, they wouldn't be able to see the true Dharma which was subtle, deep and hard to understand. A god, Brahma Sahampati, however, interceded, and asked that he teach the Dharma to the world, as "There will be those who will understand the Dharma". With his great compassion, the Buddha agreed to become a teacher. At the Deer Park near Benares in northern India he set in motion the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the group of five companions with whom he sought for enlightenment before. They, together with Buddha, formed the first sangha, the company of Buddhist monks. In other versions of his life-story, the Buddha leaves home in the "prime of his youth", his parents weeping and wailing all the while. The state of Shākya, where he was born, was an oligarchy republic at that time, so there was no royal family of which to speak. Therefore, it is believed that the Buddha's father was not a king in the sense of an absolute ruler, but rather an influential tribal figure. However, regardless of the details of his early life, the evidence strongly indicates that the Buddha was indeed a historical person living in approximately the same time and place in which he is traditionally placed. It has also been advanced that the influence of Jain culture and philosophy in ancient Bihar gave rise to Buddhism. Buddhist scriptures describe various penances (''tapas'') undertaken by Gautama Siddhartha which appear identical to Jain penances (e.g., cupping the hands to consume alms, plucking of hair, the penance by five fires, etc.). Buddhist writings reflect that Jainism was an already established faith -- rather than a newly founded or reformist one -- by the time Buddha lived. The ''Majjhima Nikaya'' relates instances of Buddha seeking converts from the apparently sizeable ''Nigantha'' (Jain) community. Both philosophies continue to share similar Prakrit terminology for important themes and teachings. (See also Jainism) ==Principles of Buddhism== ===The Three Jewels=== [[Image:Buddha-Footprint.jpeg|thumb|180px|Symbol of the Three Jewels (triratna), surmounted by a Dharma wheel, on a "footprint" of the Buddha, 1st century, Gandhara.]] Buddhists seek refuge in what are often referred to as the ''Three Jewels'', ''Triple Gem'' or ''Triple Jewel''. These are the Buddha, the Dharma (or Dhamma), and the "noble" (Sanskrit: ''arya'') Sangha or community of monks and nuns who have become enlightened. While it is impossible to escape one's karma or the effects caused by previous thoughts, words and deeds, it is possible to avoid the suffering that comes from it by becoming enlightened. In this way, dharma offers a refuge. Dharma, used in the sense of the Buddha's teachings, provides a raft and is thus a temporary refuge while entering and crossing the river. However, the real refuge is on the other side of the river. To one who is seeking to become enlightened, taking refuge constitutes a continuing commitment to pursuing enlightenment and following in the footsteps of the people who have followed the path to enlightenment before. It contains an element of confidence that enlightenment is in fact a refuge, a supreme resort. Many Buddhists take the refuges each day, often more than once in order to remind themselves of what they are doing and to direct their resolve inwardly towards liberation. In all— forms of Buddhism, refuge in the Three Jewels are taken before the Sangha for the first time, as a part of the conversion ritual. However, the personal choice for taking ones' life-path in this direction is more important than any external ritual. It is good to note that in Buddhism, the word "refuge" should often not be taken in the English sense of "hiding" or "escape"; instead, many scholars have said, it ought be thought of as a homecoming, or place of healing, much as a parent's home might be a refuge for someone. This simple misunderstanding has led some Western scholars to conclude that Buddhism is "a religion for sticking one's head in the sand", when most Buddhists would assert quite the opposite. On the other hand, the main goal of Buddhism is to escape from the suffering of cyclic existence. Although Buddhists concur that taking refuge should be undertaken with proper motivation (complete liberation) and an understanding of the objects of refuge, the Indian scholar Atisha identified that in practice there are many different motives found for taking refuge. His idea was to use these different motivations as a key to resolving any apparent conflicts between all the Buddha's teachings without depending upon some form of syncretism that would cause as much confusion as it attempted to alleviate. In the 11th century, ''Lamp for the Path'' by Atisha, and in the subsequent Lamrim tradition as elaborated by the Tibetan master Tsongkhapa, the several motives for refuge are enumerated as follows, typically introduced using the concept of the "scope" (level of motivation) of a practitioner: * Worldly scope: to improve the lot of this life - but this is not a Buddhist motivation. * Low scope: to gain high rebirth and avoid the low realms. * Middle scope: to achieve Nirvana (liberation from rebirth) * High scope: to achieve Buddhahood in order to liberate others from suffering * Highest scope is also sometimes included: to achieve Buddhahood in this life. ''See also: Three Jewels'' ===The Four Noble Truths=== The Buddha taught that life was dissatisfactory because of craving, but that this condition was curable by following the Eightfold Path. This teaching is called the Four Noble Truths: # ''Dukkha'': All worldly life is unsatisfactory, disjointed, containing suffering. # ''Samudaya'': There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or desire (''tanha'') rooted in ignorance. # ''Nirodha'': There is an end of suffering, which is Nirvana. # ''Marga'': There is a path that leads out of suffering, known as the Noble Eightfold Path. ===The Noble Eightfold Path=== ''Main article: Noble Eightfold Path'' In order to fully understand the noble truths and investigate whether they were in fact true, Buddha recommended that a certain lifestyle or path be followed which consists of: #''Right Understanding'' #''Right Thought'' #''Right Speech'' #''Right Action'' #''Right Livelihood'' #''Right Effort'' #''Right Mindfulness'' #''Right Concentration'' Sometimes in the Pali Canon the Eightfold Path is spoken of as being a progressive series of stages which the practitioner moves through, the culmination of one leading to the beginning of another, but it is more usual to view the stages of the 'Path' as requiring simultaneous development. The Eightfold Path essentially consists of meditation, following the precepts, and cultivating the positive converse of the precepts (e.g. benefiting living beings is the converse of the first precept of harmlessness). The Path may also be thought of as a way of developing sila, meaning mental and moral discipline. ===The Five Precepts=== [[Image:Sri_lanka_aukana_buddha_statue.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Buddha statue Aukana, in Sri Lanka ]] Buddhists undertake certain precepts as aids on the path to coming into contact with ultimate reality. Laypeople generally undertake five precepts. The Five Precepts are not given in the form of commands such as "thou shalt not ...", but rather are promises to oneself: "I will (try) to...". The five precepts are: # To refrain from harming living creatures (killing). # To refrain from taking that which is not freely given (stealing). # To refrain from sexual misconduct. # To refrain from incorrect speech (lying, harsh language, slander, idle chit-chat). # To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness. It should be noted that the literal, and possibly original, meaning of the third precept covers more than the now generally standard meaning "sexual misconduct" and actually involves refraining from "wrong indulgence in all sensory pleasures". In some schools of Buddhism, serious lay people or aspiring monks take an additional three to five ethical precepts, and some of the five precepts are strengthened. For example, the precept pertaining to sexual misconduct becomes a precept of celibacy; the fourth precept, which pertains to incorrect speech, is expanded to four: lying, harsh language, slander, and idle chit-chat. Fully ordained monks and nuns of the Theravada school also vow to follow the 227 patimokkha rules. Fully ordained Mahayana monks and nuns follow 348 equivalent rules with an additional set of, generally, 41 bodhisattva vows. ''See also: Pancasila'' and Buddha Statues of Bamiyan === The three marks of conditioned existence === According to the Buddhist tradition, all phenomena (dharma#Dharmas in Buddhist phenomenology) are marked by three characteristics, sometimes referred to as the ''Dharma Seals'': *Anatta (Pāli; Sanskrit: anātman): In Indian philosophy, the concept of a self is called ātman (that is, "Soul#Buddhist_beliefs" or metaphysical self), which refers to an unchanging, permanent essence conceived by virtue of existence. This concept and the related concept of Brahman, the Vedantic monism ideal, which was regarded as an ultimate Atman for all beings, were indispensable for mainstream Indian metaphysics, logic, and science; for all apparent things there had to be an underlying and persistent reality, akin to a Platonic form. The Buddha rejected all concepts of ātman, emphasizing not permanence, but changeability. He taught that all concepts of a substantial personal self were incorrect, and formed in the realm of ignorance. However, in a number of major Mahayana sutras (e.g. the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Tathagatagarbha Sutra, the Srimala Sutra, amongst others), the Buddha is presented as clarifying this teaching and saying that, while the skandhas (constituents of the ordinary body and mind) are not the Self, there does truly exist an eternal, unchanging, blissful Buddha-essence in all sentient beings, which is the uncreated and deathless Buddha-nature ("Buddha-dhatu") or "True Self" of the Buddha himself. This immaculate Buddhic Self (Atman) is in no way to be construed as a mundane, impermanent, suffering "ego", of which it is the diametrical opposite. On the other hand, this Buddha-essence or Buddha-nature is also often explained as the ''potential'' for achieving Buddhahood, rather than an existing phenomenon one can grasp onto as being ''me'' or ''self''. It is the opposite of a personalised, samsaric "I" or "mine". The paradox is that as soon as the Buddhist practitioner tries to grasp at this inner Buddha potency and cling to it as though it were his or her ego writ large, it proves elusive. It does not "exist" in the time-space conditioned and finite mode in which mundane things are bodied forth. It is presented by the Buddha in the relevant sutras as ultimately inexplicable, primordially present Reality itself - the living potency for Buddhahood inside all beings. It is finally revealed (in the last of the Buddha's Mahayana sutras, the Nirvana Sutra) not as the circumscribed "non-Self", the clinging ego (which is indeed anatta / anatman), but as the ever-enduring, egoless Great Self or Dharmakaya of the Buddha. :The scriptural evidence of the Nikāyas and Āgamas is ambivalent with regard to the Buddha's reported views on the existence or otherwise of a permanent self (''ātman'' / ''atta''). Though he is clearly reported to have criticized many of the heterodox concepts concerning a eternal personal self and to have denied the existence of an eternal self with regards to any of the constituent elements (''skandha'') of a being, nevertheless he is not reported to have explictly denied the existence of a non-personal, permanent self, contrary to the popular, orthodox view of the Buddha's teachings. Moreover, when the Buddha predicates "''anātman''" (''anatta'') with regards to the constituents of a being, there is an grammatical ambivalence in the use of the term. The most natural interpretation is that he is simply stating that "the constituents are not the self" rather than "the constituents are devoid of self". This ambivalence was to prove troublesome to Buddhists after the Buddha's passing. Some of the major schools of Buddhism which subsequently developed maintained the former interpretation, but other influential schools adopted the latter interpretation and took measures to establish their view as the orthodox Buddhist position. One such proponent of this hard-line "no self" position was the monk Nagasena who appears in the ''Questions of King Milinda'', composed during the period of the Hellenistic Bactrian kingdoms of the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. In this text, Nagasena demonstrates the concept of absolute 'no self' by likening human beings to a chariot and challenges King Milinda to find the essence of the chariot. Nagasena states that just as a chariot is made up of a number of things, none of which are the essence of the chariot in isolation, without the other pieces, similarly no one part of a person is a permanent entity - we can be broken up into five constituents - body, sensations, ideation, mental formations and consciousness, the consciousness being closest to the permanent idea of 'self', but is ever-changing with each new thought according to this viewpoint. :According to some thinkers both in the East and the West, the doctrine of "non-Self", may imply that Buddhism is a form of nihilism or something similar. However, as thinkers like Nagarjuna have clearly pointed out, Buddhism is not simply a rejection of the concept of existence (or of meaning, etc.) but of the hard and fast distinction between existence and nonexistence, or rather between ''being'' and ''nothingness''. Phenomena are not independent from causes and conditions, and do not exist as as isolated things like we perceive them to be. Philosophers such as Nagarjuna stress that the lack of a permanent, unchanging, substantial self in beings and things does not mean that they do not experience growth and decay on the relative level. But on the ultimate level of analysis, one cannot distinguish an object from its causes and conditions, or even object and subject. (This is an idea appearing relatively recently in Western science.)Buddhism thus has much more in common with Western empiricism, pragmatism, and anti-foundationalism than with nihilism. *Anicca (Pāli; Sanskrit: anitya): All ''compounded phenomena'' (things and experiences) are inconstant, unsteady, and impermanent. (Practically) everything is made up of parts, and is dependent on the right conditions for its existence. Everything is in constant flux, and so conditions and the ''thing'' itself are constantly changing. Things are constantly coming into being, and ceasing to be. Nothing lasts. *Dukkha (Pāli; Sanskrit: duḥkha): Because we fail to truly grasp the first two conditions, we suffer. We desire lasting satisfaction and happiness, but look for it amongst constantly changing phenomena. We perceive a self, and act to enhance that self by pursuing pleasure, and seek to prolong pleasure when the self too is a fleeting phenomenon. It is by realizing (not merely understanding intellectually, but making real in one's experience) the three marks of conditioned existence that one develops Prajna, which is the antidote to the ignorance that lies at the root of all suffering. ''See also: three marks of existence'' === Buddha-dhatu ("Buddha-Principle", ''Buddha-nature'') === The Buddha's Mahayana doctrines contain a set of "ultimate" (''nitartha'') teachings on the immanence of a hidden core Reality within all sentient beings which is linked to the eternality of the Buddha and Nirvana. This immanent yet transcendent essence is variously called, in the key tathagatagarbha sutras which expound it, the Buddha-dhatu ("Buddha-element", Buddha-nature) or the Tathagatagarbha. This Buddha-dhatu is empty of all that is contingent, painful and impermanent. In the Nirvana Sutra, it is called by the Buddha the "True Self" (to distinguish it from the "false" worldly self of the five skandhas). It is no less than the unfabricated, uncreated, uncompounded, immaculate, immortal, all-knowing, radiantly shining Principle of blissful Buddhahood - the very Dharmakaya. This Tathagatagarbha/ Buddha-dhatu, inherent in all beings, can never be destroyed or harmed, and yet is concealed from view by a mass of obscuring mental and moral taints within the mind-stream of the individual being. Once the Buddha-dhatu is finally seen and known by the faithful Buddhist practitioner, it has the power to transform that seer and knower into a Buddha. The doctrine of the Tathagatagarbha/Buddha-dhatu is stated by the Buddha of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra to be the "absolutely final culmination" of his Dharma. ===Other principles and practices=== *Meditation or dhyana of some form is a common practice in most if not all schools of Buddhism, for the clergy if not the laity. *Central to Buddhist doctrine and practice is the law of ''karma'' and ''vipaka''; action and its fruition, which happens within the dynamic of dependent origination (''pratītya-samutpāda''). Actions which result in positive retribution (happiness) are defined as skillful or good, while actions that produce negative results (suffering) are called unskillful or bad actions. These actions are expressed by the way of mind, body or speech. Some actions bring instant retribution while the results of other actions may not appear until a future lifetime. Most teachers are, however, quick to point out that though it may be a result of someone's past-life ''karma'' that they suffer, this should not be used as an excuse to treat them poorly; indeed, all should help them and help to alleviate their suffering, leading to them working to alleviate their own suffering. *Rebirth (Buddhist), which is closely related to the law of karma. An action in this life may not give fruit or reaction until the next life time. This being said, action in a past life takes effect in this one, making a chain of existence. The full realization of the absence of an eternal self or soul (the doctrine of anatta (Pāli; Sanskrit: anātman)) breaks this cycle of birth and death (samsara). ===Vegetarianism=== The Pancasila in Buddhism prohibits killing. Many see this as implying that Buddhists should not eat the meat of animals. However, this is not necessarily the case. The Buddha made distinction between killing an animal and consumption of meat, stressing that it is immoral conduct that makes one impure, not the food one eats. In one of the Pali sutras belonging to the Theravada lineage of Buddhism, Buddha says that vegetarianism is preferable, but as monks in ancient India were expected to receive all of their food by begging they had little or no control over their diet. Furthermore, Buddha did not wish to lay an extra burden on his lay followers by demanding that the food should be vegetarian. During the Buddha's time, there was no general rule requiring monks to refrain from eating meat. In fact, at one point the Buddha specifically refused to institute vegetarianism and the Pali Canon records the Buddha himself eating meat on several occasions. There were, however, rules prohibiting certain types of meat, such as human, leopard or elephant meat. Monks are also prohibited from consuming meat if the monk witnessed the animal's death or knows that it was killed specifically for him. This rule was not applied to commercial purchase of meat in the case of a general who sent a servant to purchase meat specifically to feed the Buddha. Therefore, eating commercially purchased meat is not prohibited. On the other hand, the Buddha in certain Mahayana sutras strongly denounces the eating of meat. In the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha states that "the eating of meat extinguishes the seed of great compassion", adding that all and every kind of meat and fish consumption (even of animals already found dead) is prohibited by him. The Buddha also predicts in this sutra that later monks will "hold spurious writings to be the authentic Dharma" and will concoct their own sutras and mendaciously claim that the Buddha allows the eating of meat, whereas in fact (he says) he does not. A long passage in the Lankavatara Sutra shows the Buddha weighing strongly in favor of vegetarianism, since the eating of the flesh of fellow sentient beings is said by him to be incompatible with the compassion which a Bodhisattva should strive to cultivate. Several other Mahayana sutras also emphatically prohibit the consumption of meat. A solution to this problem was given when monks from the Indian sphere of influence migrated to China, as of the year 65 AD. There they met followers who provided them with money instead of food. From those days onwards Chinese monastics, and others who came to inhabit northern countries, cultivated their own vegetable plots and bought everything else they needed in terms of food in the market. In the modern world, attitudes toward vegetarianism vary by location. In the Theravada countries of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, monks are bound by the vinaya to accept almost any food that is offered to them, often including meat, while in China and Vietnam, monks are expected to eat no meat. In Japan and Korea, some monks practice vegetarianism, and most will do so at least when training at a monastery, but otherwise they typically do eat meat. In Tibet, where vegetable nutrition was historically very scarce, and the adopted vinaya was the Nikaya Sarvastivada, vegetarianism is very rare, although the Dalai Lama and other esteemed Lamas invite their audiences to adopt vegetarianism when they can. In the West, of course, a wide variety of practices are followed. Lay Buddhists generally follow dietary rules less rigorously than monks. == The three main branches of Buddhism == [[Image:Dazu.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Stone Dazu Stone Carvings at Dazu near Chongqing, China.]] Buddhism has evolved into myriad schools that can be roughly grouped into three types: Nikaya (also called Hinayana), Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Of the Nikaya schools, only the Theravada survives. Each branch sees itself as representing the true, original teachings of the Buddha, and some schools believe that the dialectic nature of Buddhism allows its format, terminology, and techniques to adapt over time in response to changing circumstances, thus validating dharmic approaches different from their own. *The Theravada school, whose name means "Doctrine of the Elders", bases its practice and doctrine exclusively on the Pali Canon, which is a collection of what are known as ''agama (text)s'' or ''nikaya'' sutras. The nikaya sutras are generally considered by modern scholars to be the oldest of the surviving types of Buddhist literature, and they are accepted as authentic in every branch of Buddhism. Theravada is the only surviving representative of the historical Nikaya Buddhism. Nikaya Buddhism and consequently Theravada are sometimes referred to as Hinayana or "inferior vehicle", although this is considered by some to be impolite. Native Theravada is practiced today in Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and portions of Vietnam and Malaysia. *The Mahayana (literally "Great Vehicle") branch emphasizes universal compassion and the selfless ideal of the bodhisattva, whose goal is to achieve Buddhahood in order to be of greatest benefit to other sentient beings. In addition to the Nikaya scriptures, Mahāyāna schools recognize all or part of a genre of scriptures that were first put in writing around 1 CE. These scriptures were written in some form of Sanskrit, except a few manuscripts in Prakrit, and are concerned with the purpose of achieving Buddhahood by following the path of the bodhisattva over the course of what is often described as kalpa of time. Because of this immense timeframe, some Mahāyāna schools accept the idea of working towards rebirth in a Pure Land. The Pure Land is normally conceived of as a state which is not enlightenment in itself but which is a highly conducive environment for working toward enlightenment, although some sources indicate that it is synonymous with enlightenment. Native Mahāyāna Buddhism is practiced today in China, Japan, Korea, and most of Vietnam. *The Vajrayana or "Diamond Vehicle" (also referred to as Mantrayana, Tantrayana, Tantra or esoteric Buddhism) shares the basic concepts of Mahāyāna, but also includes a vast array of spiritual techniques designed to enhance Buddhist practice. One component of the Vajrayāna is harnessing psycho-physical energy as a means of developing profoundly powerful states of concentration and awareness. These profound states are in turn to be used as an efficient path to Buddhahood. Using these techniques, it is claimed that a practitioner can achieve Buddhahood in one lifetime, or even as little as three years. In addition to the Theravada and Mahāyāna scriptures, Vajrayāna Buddhists recognise a large body of texts that include the Buddhist Tantras. Native Vajrayana is practiced today mainly in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, Kalmykia, areas of India, and -- among the Shingon (''Zhènyān'', 真言) and Tendai schools -- in China and Japan. At the present time the teachings of all three branches of Buddhism have spread throughout the world and are now easily available in the developed countries, and increasingly translated into local languages. == Buddhism after the Buddha == [[Image:Gandhara Buddha (tnm).jpeg|thumb|180px|left|One of the first representations of the Buddha, 1st-2nd century CE, Gandhara.]] Buddhism spread slowly in India until the powerful Mauryan emperor Asoka converted to it and actively supported it. His promotion led to construction of Buddhist religious sites and missionary efforts that spread the faith into the countries listed at the beginning of the article. After about 500, Buddhism showed signs of waning in India, becoming decline of Buddhism in India after about 1200. This was partially due to Islam invasions and partially due to Hinduism's revival movements such as Advaita and the rise of the bhakti movement. Elements of Buddhism have remained within India to the current day: the Bauls of Bengal have a syncretic set of practices with strong emphasis on many Buddhist concepts. Other areas of India have never parted from Buddhism, including Ladakh and other areas bordering the Tibetan, Nepali and Bhutanese borders. Buddhism also remained in the rest of the world although in Central Asia and later Indonesia it was mostly replaced by Islam. In China and Japan, it adopted aspects of the native beliefs of Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto respectively. In Tibet, the Tantra Vajrayana lineage was preserved after it disappeared in India.
=== History of the schools === Three months after the passing of Gautama Buddha, The First Council was held at Rajagaha by his immediate disciples who had attained Arhat (Enlightenment). Maha Kassapa, the most respected and elderly monk, presided at the Council. The ''Dhamma'' and the ''Vinaya'' were recited at the First Council. All Arhat unanimously agree that no disciplinary rule laid down by the Buddha should be changed, and no new ones should be introduced. At this point, no conflict about what the Buddha taught is known to have occurred, so the teachings were divided into various parts and each was assigned to an elder and his pupils to commit to memory. These groups of people often cross-checked with each other to ensure that no omissions or additions were made. At the Second Council, one hundred years later, it was not the dharma that was called into question but the monks' code of rules or vinaya. This resulted in the formation of the Sthaviravadin and Mahasanghika schools. Opinions differ on the cause of the split: the Sthaviravādins described their opponents as lax monks who had ceased to follow all the vinaya rules, while the Mahāsānghikas argued that the Buddha had never intended a rigid adherence to all the minor rules. Apart from Pāli sources, an important independent account of this split is found in the ''Shāriputra-pariprcchā'' (The Enquiry of Shāriputra), an eclectic text of Indic origin, which differs radically from the received Theravādin version. According to this version, the Mahāsānghikas were not the defeated party, but the conservative party that preserved the original vinaya unchanged against the reformist attempts of the Sthāviras to establish a reorganized and stricter version. However, after this initial division, more were to follow. Schism in early Buddhism was typically not on points of doctrine (orthodoxy), but in the area of practice (orthopraxy). So if two schools shared a vinaya, but were in dispute over doctrinal matters, it was likely that they would continue to practice together. However, if one group disputed the vinaya of another, this would often prevent common practice. In the 3rd century BCE, Theravadin sources state that a Third Council was convened under the patronage of Emperor Asoka, but since no mention of this council is found in other sources and because of various implausible features in this account, most scholars treat the historicity of this Third Council with skepticism although it is generally accepted that one or several disputes did occur during Asoka's reign, involving both doctrinal and vinaya matters, although these are likely to have been too informal to be called a Council. However, according to the Theravadin account, this Council was convened primarily for the purpose of establishing an official orthodoxy. At the council, small groups raised questions about the specifics of the vinaya and the interpretation of doctrine. The chairman of the council, Moggaliputta Tissa, compiled a book called the ''Kathavatthu'', which was meant to refute these arguments. The council sided with Moggaliputta and his version of Buddhism as orthodox; it was then adopted by Emperor Asoka as his empire's official religion. This school of thought was termed ''Vibhajyavada'' (Pali), literally "Teaching of Analysis". The version of the scriptures that had been established at the Third Council, including the vinaya, sutta and the abhidhamma commentaries (collectively known as Tripitaka), was taken to Sri Lanka by Emperor Asoka's son, the Venerable Mahinda. There it was eventually committed to writing in the Pali language. The Pali Canon remains the only complete set of Nikaya scriptures to survive, although fragments of other versions exist. Whatever might be the truth behind the Theravādin account, it was around the time of Asoka that further divisions began to occur within the Buddhist movement and a number of additional schools emerged, including the Sarvāstivāda and the Sammitīya. All of these early schools of Nikayan Buddhism eventually came to be known collectively as the Eighteen Schools in later sources. Unfortunately, with the exception of the Theravāda, none of early these schools survived beyond the late medieval period by which time several were already long extinct, although a considerable amount of the canonical literature of some of these schools has survived, mainly in Chinese translation. Moreover, the origins of specifically Mahāyāna doctrines may be discerned in the teachings of some of these early schools, in particular in the Mahāsānghika and the Sarvāstivāda. Between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century, the terms Mahayana and Hinayana were first used in writing, in, for example, the Lotus Sutra. A Fourth Council is said to have been convened by the Kushan emperor Kanishka, around 100 CE at Jalandhar or in Kashmir, although it seems to have been primarily a Sarvāstivāda affair. For this reason, Theravāda Buddhism does not recognize the authenticity of this council, and sometimes they call it the “council of heretical monks”. It is said that Kanishka gathered 500 monks, headed by Vasumitra, primarily, it seems, to compile extensive commentaries on the Abhidharma, although it is possible that some editorial work was carried out upon the canon itself. The main fruit of this Council was the vast commentary known as the Mahā-Vibhāshā ("Great Exegesis"), an extensive compendium and reference work on a portion the Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma. Scholars beleieve that it was also around this time that a significant change was made in the language of the Sarvāstivādin canon, by converting an earlier Prakrit version into Sanskrit. Although this change was probably effected without significant loss of integrity to the canon, this event was of particular significance since Sanskrit was the learned language of scholars in India, regardless of their specific religious or philosophical allegiance, thus enabling a far wider audience to gain access to Buddhist ideas and practices. For this reason, all major Budhist scholars in India thereafter wrote their commentaries and treatises in Sanskrit. During and after the 2nd century explicitly Mahayana philosophies were defined in the works of Nagarjuna, Asanga, Shantideva, Ashvagosha, and Vasubandhu. [[Image:Central Asian Buddhist Monks.jpeg|thumb|right|185px|A painting depicting a Central Asian Tocharian monk (left) along with a China monk (right). The painting is from the 9th century or 10th century in the Tarim Basin.]] Around the 1st century, Buddhism spread from India through successive waves of merchants and pilgrims. It reached as far as Turkmenistan and Arabia to the west, and eastward to southeast Asia, where the first records of Buddhism date from around 5th century. Mahayana Buddhism established a major regional center in what is today Afghanistan, and from there it spread to Buddhism in China, Korea, Mongolia, and Japanese Buddhism. In 475, the Indian monk Bodhidharma travelled to China and established the Chan (Chinese language; Japanese language: Zen), school. During the first millennium, monks from China such as Faxian, I Ching (monk) and Xuanzang made pilgrimages to India and wrote accounts of their travels when they returned home. These Chinese travel records constitute extremely valuable sources for information concerning the state of Buddhism in India during the early medieval period. At one time, different Turkic and Tocharian groups along the northern fringe of East Turkestan (modern Xinjiang in western China) adhered to Nikaya Buddhism. However, Buddhism there was supplanted by the introduction of Islam around 11th century. Vajrayana also evolved at this stage carried from India to Tibet from around 9th century by teachers such as Padmasambhava and Atisha. There it initially coexisted with native belief systems such as Bön, but later came to largely supplant or absorb them. An early form of esoteric Vajrayana known as Shingon was also transmitted by the priest Kukai to Japan, where it continues to be practiced. There is still an active debate as to whether or not Tantra was initially developed within Buddhism or Hinduism. Buddhist literature tends to predate the later puranic Tantras, and there is some evidence to suggest that the basic structure of tantra depends upon the Mahayana Buddhist philosophical schools. However, it is thought by others that meditation Shiva sects seem to have existed from pre-Vedic times; also, from scriptural citations and study of the Vedas, some say Tantra saw its philosophical basis in the mystical rites and mantras of the Atharva Veda (and later the Hindu Upanishads and Mahayana school of Buddhism). ''See also: History of Buddhism and Timeline of Buddhism'' == Scriptures == The Buddhist canon of scripture is known in Sanskrit as the ''Tripitaka'' and in Pali as the ''Tipitaka''. These terms literally mean "three baskets" and refers to the three main divisions of the canon, which are: *The ''Vinaya Pitaka'', containing disciplinary rules for the Sangha of Buddhist monks and nuns, as well as a range of other texts which explain why and how rules were instituted, supporting material, and doctrinal clarification. *The ''Sutra Pitaka'' (Pāli; Sanskrit: Sutra Pitaka), containing discourses of the Buddha. *The ''Abhidhamma'' (Skt: Abhidharma) or commentary ''Pitaka'', containing a philosophical systematization of the Buddha's teaching, including a detailed analysis of Buddhist psychology. Though the Theravādin Abhidhamma is well preserved and widely known, it should be noted that a number of the early Eighteen Schools each had their own distinct Abhidharma collection with virtually no common textual material. During the first few centuries after Gautama Buddha, his teachings were transmitted orally, but around the 1st Century Common Era they began to be written down. A given school of Buddhism will generally have its own distinctive canon of texts, which will partially overlap with those of other schools. The most notable set of texts from the early period is the Pali Canon, which was preserved in Sri Lanka by the Theravada school. The sutras it contains are also part of the canon of every other Buddhist sect. Full versions of the original text[http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/palicanon.html] and partial English translations[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/] are now readily available on the internet. The appearance of the Mahayana tradition brought with it a collection of new texts, composed in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, many of which were also described as actual sermons of the Buddha. These include the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, and the Nirvana Sutra. Many of the Mahayana sutras were translated into Tibetan and classical Chinese and are also now read in the West. The Mahāyāna corpus of sutras further expanded after Buddhism was transmitted to China, where the existing texts were translated, and new texts were composed for the purpose of adapting the Indian tradition to the East Asian philosophical mindset. Some of these works are considered by modern scholars to be spurious. On the other hand, there were texts, such as the Platform Sutra and the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment did not pretend to be of Indian origin, but are widely accepted as valid scriptures on their own merits. Later writings include the Linji Lu of Chan master Linji. In the course of the development of Korean Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism, further important texts were composed. These included, for example, in Korea, some of the writings of Jinul, and in Japan, works such as Dogen's Shobogenzo. Arguably the most thorough compilation of Mahayana works is found in the Tibetan canon. This is split into those texts attributed to be authored by the Buddha (Kanjur), and those texts which are understood to be commentaries by Indian practitioners (Tenjur). Vajrayana practitioners also study distinctive texts such as the Buddhist Tantric Buddhism. Recently an important archaeological discovery was made, consisting of the earliest known Buddhist manuscripts, recovered from somewhere near ancient Gandhara in northwest Pakistan. These fragments, written on birch bark document, are dated to the 1st century and have been compared to the Dead Sea scrolls in importance. Donated to the British Library in 1994, they are now being studied in a joint project at the University of Washington[http://depts.washington.edu/ebmp/]. == Relations with other faiths == Some Hinduism (primarily in the northern regions of India) believe that Gautama is the 9th incarnation (see avatar) of Vishnu; there are accounts of the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu that are pro- and anti-Buddhist (i.e., either that Vishnu "really meant" what he said while incarnated as Buddha or that he was intentionally tricking those who follow unorthodox doctrines). This is not a majority view, however. The avatar theory came into existence in approximately the 9th century CE. Traditionally, there has been a sharp distinction between Buddhism and what is today called "Hinduism"; this distinction is more accurately between Astika and Nastika philosophies, that is, philosophies in India which either affirmed the Vedas as divinely revealed scriptures or else regarded them as fallible human inventions. Thus Buddhism is essentially a heresy vis à vis orthodox Indian philosophy, though there are many syncretism or ecumenical tendencies within either group which are accepting of the beliefs and practices of the other. In the Japanese religion of Shinto Buddha is seen as a Kami (god). The Bahá'í Faith states he was an independent Manifestation of God. Siddhartha Gautama is thought to have been sanctified by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Josaphat (saint) based on a mistaken account of his conversion to Christianity. Some Islam believe that Gautama Buddha is Dhul-Kifl, one of the prophets mentioned in the Qur'an. Jainism is an ancient religion and school of thought that predates Buddhism. One of its two most revered teachers, Mahavira (599 - 527 BCE), was a senior contemporary of the Buddha whose philosophy, sometimes described as dynamism or vitalism, was a blend of the earlier Jain teacher Parsvanatha's order and the reforms instituted by Mahavira himself. Dialogues between the Buddha's disciples and Mahāvīra are recorded in Jain texts, and dialogues between Mahāvīra's disciples and the Buddha are included in Buddhist texts. == Buddhism in the modern world == [[Image:Buddhist flag.jpeg|thumb|right|The international Buddhist flag was designed in Sri Lanka in the 1880s with the assistance of Henry Steele Olcott and was later adopted as a Buddhist symbolism by the World Fellowship of Buddhists.]] Estimates of the number of Buddhists vary between 230 and 500 million, with 350 million as the most commonly cited figure. [http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html] ===Modern Asia=== In northern Asia, Mahayana remains the most common form of Buddhism in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, (parts of) Indonesia and Singapore. Theravada predominates in most of Southeast Asia, including Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, as well as Sri Lanka. It has seats in Malaysia and Singapore. Vajrayana is predominant in Tibet, Mongolia, portions of Siberia and portions of India, especially those areas bordering Tibet. Kalmykia, while geographically located in Europe, is culturally closely related to Mongolia and thus its Buddhism is more properly grouped with Asian than with Western Buddhism. While in the West Buddhism is often seen as exotic and progressive, in the East Buddhism is regarded as familiar and part of the establishment. Buddhist organizations in Asia frequently are well-funded and enjoy support from the wealthy and influential. In some cases, this has led critics to charge that certain monks and organizations are too closely associated with the powerful and are neglecting their duties to the poor. ===Buddhism and the West=== In the latter half of the 19th century, Buddhism (along with many other of the world's religions and philosophies) came to the attention of Western intellectuals. These included the pessimistic German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau, who translated a Buddhist sutra from French into English. German writer Hermann Hesse also showed great interest in the eastern religion, even writing a book entitled ''Siddhartha''. Spiritual enthusiasts enjoyed what they saw as the exotic and mystical tone of the Asian traditions. At first Western Buddhology was hampered by poor translations (often translations of translations), but soon Western scholars began to learn Asian languages and translate Asian texts. In 1880 J.R. de Silva and Henry Steel Olcott designed the International Buddhist flag to celebrate the revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Its stripes symbolise universal compassion, the middle path, blessings, purity and liberation, wisdom, and the conglomeration of these. The flag was accepted as the International Buddhist Flag by the 1952 World Buddhist Congress. [[Image:Lightmatter Hsi Lai Temple 3.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A hallway in California's Hsi Lai Temple]] In 1899 Gordon Douglas became the first Westerner to be ordained as a Buddhist monk. The first Buddhists to arrive in the United States were Chinese. Hired as cheap labor for the railroads and other expanding industries, they established temples in their settlements along the rail lines. See the article on Buddhism in America for further information. The Buddhist Society, London was founded by Christmas Humphreys in 1924. The cultural re-evaluations of the hippie generation in the late 1960s and early 1970s led to a re-discovery of Buddhism, which seemed to promise a natural path to awareness and enlightenment. Many people, including celebrities, traveled to Asia in pursuit of gurus and ancient wisdom. During and after the Chinese occupation of Tibet, many of them fled to Nepal and India, including most renown Buddhist masters. This Tibetan form of Buddhism proved especially intriguing to quite a number of westerners. Buddhism had become the fastest-growing religion in Australia and many other Western nations by the 1990s, in contrast to the steady decline of traditional western beliefs (see Christianity). A distinctive feature of Buddhism has been the continuous evolution of the practice as it was transmitted from one country to another. This dynamic aspect is particularly evident today in the West. Chögyam Trungpa, the founder of the Shambhala meditation movement, claimed in his teachings that his intention was to strip the ethnic baggage away form traditional methods of working with the mind and to deliver the essence of those teachings to his western students. Another example of a school evolving new idioms for the transmission of the dharma is the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, founded by Sangharakshita. Lama Surya Das is a prominent Western-born teacher continuing to bring the teachings of Buddhism to Westerners. ==See also== ===Buddhism=== * Buddha * Buddhism by country * Buddhist terms and concepts * Buddhist texts * Cultural elements of Buddhism * God in Buddhism * Faith in Buddhism * Buddha-nature * Nirvana * Nirvana Sutra * Tathagatagarbha Sutra * List of books related to Buddhism * List of Buddhist topics * List of Buddhists * History of Buddhism * Yab-Yum ===Related systems=== * Eastern philosophy * Hinduism * Jainism * Taoism ==References== * ISBN 9834007127. * ''The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra'' (Nirvana Publications 1999-2000), tr. by Kosho Yamamoto, revised and edited by Dr. Tony Page. * ISBN 0767903692. * ISBN 0802130313. * ISBN 0861711335. ==External links== Listed alphabetically: * [http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/ A View on Buddhism] * [http://www.buddhanet.net/ BuddhaNet] * [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_buddha/ "The Buddha and His Dhamma"] text of the book by B. R. Ambedkar * [http://www.dharmanet.org/ DharmaNet] * [http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow/Buddhism.html Buddhism - A Brief Introduction for Westerners] * [http://www.abstractatom.com/buddhist_atomism_and_the_r_theory_of_time.htm Buddhist Atomism] an area of Buddhist philosophy. * [http://www.buddhistchannel.tv The Buddhist Channel] a news source. * [http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-Buddhism.html Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library]: the Internet guide. * [http://www.buddhistview.com/ Buddhist Views] * [http://www.acmuller.net/ddb Digital Dictionary of Buddhism] * [http://www.e-sangha.com/ E-Sangha Buddhism Portal] * [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/bfaq.html FAQ about Buddhism from Access to Insight] * [http://www.orientalia.org/dic3.html International Dictionary of Buddhism] * [http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/contents.htm ReligionFacts.com on Buddhism] facts, glossary, timeline and articles. * [http://www.nirvanasutra.org.uk "Nirvana Sutra"] full text and appreciation of the sutra. * [http://www.buddhanet.net/dhammapada/index.htm "Treasury of Truth"] illustrated "Dhammapada." * [http://www.urbandharma.org/ UrbanDharma] Buddhism als:Buddhismus bn:বৌদ্ধধর্ম br:Bouddhaelezh fa:بوداگرایی jbo:bu'ojda li:Boeddhisme mn:Буддизм ms:Agama Buddha nds:Buddhismus simple:Buddhism th:พระพุทธศาสนา tpi:Budisim vi:Đạo Phật zh-min-nan:Hu̍t-kàu
Buddhism
Welcome to Talk:Buddhism. Loving-kindness to you and yours!
Earlier parts of this discussion have been moved to Talk:Buddhism/Archive, Talk:Buddhism/Archive2, Talk:Buddhism/Archive3, Talk:Buddhism/Archive4, and Talk:Buddhism/Archive5. ==Open Tasks== Please see also Wikipedia:WikiProject Buddhism == Abolitionism == Moved to Talk:Buddhism/Abolitionism == Recent Theravada categorization == Several articles were recently categorized by anon 62.252.128.15 as belonging to category "Theravada Buddhism"; this includes some articles, such as "Dharma", that some might argue (i.e., I might argue) should be implied to inhere to all forms of Buddhism, and that a Theravada category tag should be applied only to things pertaining to Theravada Buddhism as opposed to other forms of Buddhism. Otherwise we're going to get some serious redundancy going on.User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 23:40, 23 Oct 2004 (UTC) :Totally. The Buddhism category should do it for Buddhist terms and terminology. (User:20040302 17:23, 25 Oct 2004 (UTC)) ::Agree, also. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 12:29, 26 Oct 2004 (UTC) == Request for help on interfaith dialogue == I need help from Buddhists in an attempt to speak of a common ground among believers. Are there any Buddhists here who could either help me or direct me to a group where I might find knowledgeable and mature Buddhists willing to help me for a while explore the feasibility of a universalist Wiki type project on core universal truths such as possibly eternity, sacrificial love, and soul? User:Hawstom - User_talk:Hawstom 06:57, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC) :Interesting. I don't really know any Buddhist groups, but I'm curious about your project...could you say more about it? Particularly, what do you mean by "common ground" or "universal truths"; is your project syncretic or echumenical, or what?User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 18:01, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC) :Orkut has a number of useful communities for such an effort, although one would probably need to "fish" for a while. Its main "Buddhism" community is quite good indeed. User:Luis Dantas == References == I notice that on Wikipedia talk:Featured article removal candidates people seem to be talking about references as a standard requirement of featured articles. Should we try to put together a list of works we've consulted in editing the Buddhism page? Most of my edits to this particular page have actually been based on general knowledge rather than specific texts, but if anybody can recall texts they've used...User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 19:31, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC) See also Wikipedia:What is a featured article.User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca I don't know how widely available the [http://netlibrary.com NetLibrary] service is, or to what percentage of their books the local libraries of other Wikipedians might subscribe, but I can use it to get to a couple of useful resources like Gethin's ''Foundations of Buddhism'' and something non-useless called ''Thirty-five Oriental Philosophers'' from whatever computer I happen to be using at a given moment and it allows full-text searching, so it might be good for fact-checking.User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca == Removed section on upanishads == The Anatta doctrine is in stark semblence with the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad where Yajnavalkya explains to Maitreyi about consciousness. While Sankara has dismissed it as a non-Buddhist proclamation, the fact that consciousness is not self is affirmed not only by Buddhism, but also by many other Upanishads in various places and happens to be highly coincidental with the anatta doctrine of Buddhism. This definition of anatta is very clear from the Anatta-lakkhana sutta of the Samyutta Nikaya Sutta pitika in the Pali Canon. :This is not at all NPOV, and clearly requires substantiation in scholarly sources, which I believe might be difficult to find, though, I should admit, I have also had my suspicions about certain Yajnavalkya passages. But Wikipedia is not a place for original research (or argumentation)User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 18:35, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC) == Category:Theravada == An anon (using 62.252.128.17 at the nonce, though I don't know if there are also others) keeps adding (and ''re''-adding!!!) the category willy-nilly, to mostly to pan-Buddhist concepts, occasionally to pan-Nikaya Buddhist concepts (''not'' the same thing as Theravada concepts), occasionally to things that are actually Theravada specific. How can I make this person stop?User:Kukkurovaca|User talk:Kukkurovaca 01:18, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC) :By the way, Kukku, I wanted to say that I agree wholeheartedly with your recent edits in terms of the Theravada category and anatta. I might even prefer a more radical edit of the anatta contributions, but, then, I guess I am known for my Wikipedia:Go ahead and bite the newbies, it's fun. Agree in principle with your call for references, too, although I can't come up with any off the top of my head. "General knowledge" is, of course, the bane of a well-referenced paper, and yet it tends to come in handy writing an encyclopedia. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 04:34, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC) == Non-violence and war == Could you tell something about the relationship of Buddhism with non-violence and war? Both what is preached and what Buddhists actually do. Thank you. :Good question. I keep meaning to write an article on Brian Victoria's ''Zen at War''. A topic difficult to approach because of its broadness, though. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 04:31, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC) ==Open tasks== By the way, looks like we've had a flurry of activity lately from new contributors on Buddhism-related topics. This is great. I've updated ''
Buddhism
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Buddhism |- | Cultural elements of Buddhism |- | History of Buddhism |- | List of Buddhist topics |- | List of Buddhists |- | By Buddhism by region and Buddhism by country |- | Schools of Buddhism |- | List of Buddhist temples |- | Buddhist terms and concepts |- | Buddhist texts |- | Timeline of Buddhism |- |}
Buddhism
This one is hard to read. Is there any specific reason the background is blue? User:Sverdrup 15:07, 2 Apr 2004 (UTC) No. I'm partial to blue-green shades, but certainly not at the cost of legibility. I'm not sure whether this is governed under the color-reservation system at Wikipedia:Infobox, but if not, anything goes... Are there any colors with which Buddhism is associated, like Islam is with green?User:Kukkurovaca 15:26, 2 Apr 2004 (UTC) I updated the colors and layout some, based on Template:History of China. I think it's a bit more readable and aesthetically pleasing, but feel free to edit mercilessly :-) --User:Diberri | User talk:Diberri 01:06, Apr 20, 2004 (UTC)
Buddhism
#redirect Template:Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion that originated in India and is currently practiced around the world. Eastern culture Religious faiths, traditions, and movements Religious philosophy and doctrine Religion in India ms:Category:Agama Buddha vi:Category:%C4%90%E1%BA%A1o Ph%E1%BA%ADt
Buddhism
Please see Talk:Buddhism for some comments about this template. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 17:20, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC) ---- I removed Buddhist meditation from the top of the template. It's an important subject, but a vast one, and the existing article is extremely stubby. I don't think it's a good idea to have it in the template until it has a much broader scope. - User:Nat KrauseUser_Talk:Nat Krause 05:13, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC) ==Alphabetization== Ah, I'd alphabetized the list after it had taken me a little time to find "Texts". I'd nearly gone to add Buddhist texts myself. 10:33, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
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BA | BC | BD | BE | BF | BG | BH | BI | BJ | BK | BL | BM | BN | BO | BP | BR | BS | BT | BU | BW | BX | BY | BZ |Words begining with BuddHism:
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Buddhism_in_Brazil
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Buddhism_in_Korea
Buddhism_in_Korea,_North
Buddhism_in_Korea,_South
Buddhism_in_Malaysia
Buddhism_in_Nepal
Buddhism_in_Singapore
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