introduction to. the prince siddhartha this figure is the monk pu-tai, a popular representation of...

BUDDHISMIntroduction to

The Prince Siddhartha


This figure is the Monk Pu-Tai, a popular representation of

Buddhist principles in Classical/Popular Chinese religion


Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Śākyamuni

Sage, or muni, of the Śakya clan

A prince in a small kingdom called Kapilavatthu, in the foothills of the Himalayas

Upon his birth, the wise men of the kingdom foretold that the young Siddhartha would grow to be either a great king or a great sage


His father, hoping for his son to follow in his footsteps, raised Siddhartha in the lap of luxury, hiding all manner of suffering from him

Siddhartha, however, suspected something was missing, and one day snuck out of the castle with his loyal charioteer, Channa. It was then he saw the “four sights”

The Four Sights

An Old Man

A Sick Man

A Dead Man

And a Monk

The Ascetic Life for Me

“Give too much slack, and you’ll never catch any fish, Pull too tight, and you’ll break the line”

The Middle Way

The Middle Way

This path was a reaction to both The overemphasis

on artha and kama that Siddhartha saw in Hinduism

The over emphasis on self-denial and asceticism that he saw in Jainism

The Middle Way

Hence, Buddhism is The practice of non-

extremism: a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification

The Middle Way

It is also The middle ground

between certain metaphysical views Including the claim that

things ultimately either do or do not exist)

The Middle Way

The Buddha provides an explanation of Nirvana as a state wherein it becomes clear that all dualities apparent in the world are delusory And this ‘middle’ is to be

understood as emptiness, the ultimate nature of all phenomena, lack of inherent existence, which avoids the extremes of permanence and nihilism or inherent existence and nothingness

The Four Noble Truths


Duhkha/Dukkha– All life suffers Samudāya – suffering is caused by

desire/craving (trishnā) Nirvāņa/Nibbāna – only when craving

ceases will suffering cease The Way (Marga) to Liberation is

The Eight-Fold Path


Duhkha/Dukkha– All life experiences dissatisfaction

Samudaya – dissatisfaction arises from seeking satisfaction in a way that is

itself unsatisfying Nirvāņa/Nibbāna – only when this

inherently flawed method is abandoned will satisfaction ever be attained

The Way (Marga) to Satisfaction is The Eight-Fold Path

The First Noble Truth

“What is the Noble Truth of suffering? Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, dissociation form the loved is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering: in short, the five categories (skandhas) affected by clinging (trishnā) are suffering”

The First Noble Truth

The five skandhas (or in Pāli -khandhas) are the five "aggregates" which categorize all individual experience, among which there is no "self" to be found Rūpa – the corpo-reality or form, body Vedanā - sensation Samjñā/Sannā – perception Samskāra – mental formations, habits Vijñāna - consciousness

The Second Noble Truth

“What is the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering? It is craving which renews being and is accompanied by relish and lust, relishing this and that: in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for non-being.”


It is this ‘craving/clinging’, or trishnā, that binds the cycle of existence together This ‘stuck-

together’ cycle is, in turn, governed by the laws of cause and effect, or karma/kamma


Three types of desire craving for "sensuality" or "sensual

pleasures“ kāma-taņhā

craving for "becoming" or "existence" bhava-taņhā

craving for "no becoming" or "non-existence" or "extermination" vibhava-taņhā

Taņhā literally means "thirst,“ figuratively denotes "desire" or "craving,"

The Third Noble Truth

“What is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering? It is the remainderless fading and cessation of that same craving; the rejecting, relinquishing, leaving and renouncing of it.” In other words, through the

‘remainderless’ elimination of craving/clinging, suffering can be brought to an end

The Third Noble Truth

This is achieved by reaching Nirvāņa/Nibbāna, a state wherein it becomes clear that all dualities apparent in the world are delusory The differences in how,

exactly, this state is to be understood and achieved is what differentiates the various schools of Buddhism from one and other

Buddhist Ontology

Buddhist scholars have produced a prodigious quantity of intellectual theories, philosophies and world view concepts Some schools of

Buddhism discourage doctrinal study, some regard it as essential, but most regard it as having a place, at least for some people at some stages

Buddhist Ontology

The concept of Liberation (Nirvāņa/Nibbāna), is closely related to the correct perception of reality In awakening to the

true nature of the self and all phenomena one is liberated from the cycle of suffering and involuntary rebirths

King Milinda and Nagasena

Impermanence, Suffering and Non-Self

The Three Marks of Existence Anitya/Anicca or "impermanence".

This refers not only to the fact that all conditioned things (sankhara) eventually cease to exist, but also that all conditioned things are in a constant state of flux

Duhkha/Dukkha or "unsatisfactoriness/dis-ease/suffering“ Nothing found in the physical world or even the

psychological realm can bring lasting deep satisfaction. Anatman/Anatta or "no-self"

denotes that phenomena are not, or are without, a permanent self, to describe any and all composite, consubstantial, phenomenal and temporal things, from the macrocosmic to microcosmic, be it matter pertaining to the physical body or the cosmos at large, as well as any and all mental machinations, which are impermanent

Dependent Arising

The doctrine of Pratītyasamutpāda/Paticcasamuppāda often translated as "Dependent Arising,"

An essential part of Buddhist metaphysics It states that phenomena arise together in a

mutually interdependent web of cause and effect It is variously rendered into English as

"dependent origination", "conditioned genesis", "dependent co-arising", "interdependent arising", or "contingency"

Twelve Nidānas

The Twelve Nidānas describe a causal connection between the subsequent characteristics/conditions of cyclic existence, each giving rise to the next: Avidyā: ignorance, specifically spiritual Samskāras: literally formations, explained as referring

to Karma. Vijñāna: consciousness, specifically discriminative Nāmarūpa: literally name and form, referring to mind

and body Ṣadāyatana: the six sense bases: eye, ear, nose,

tongue, body and mind-organ Sparśa: variously translated contact, impression,

stimulation (by a sense object)

Twelve Nidānas

Vedanā: usually translated feeling: this is the "hedonic tone", i.e. whether something is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral

Trishnā : literally thirst, but in Buddhism nearly always used to mean craving

Upādāna: clinging or grasping; the word also means fuel, which feeds the continuing cycle of rebirth

Bhava: literally being (existence) or becoming. Jāti: literally birth, but life is understood as starting

at conception Jarāmaraṇa (old age and death) and also

śokaparidevaduhkhadaurmanasyopāyāsa (sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and misery)

Pratitya samutpadaor the BhavaChakra

The Fourth Noble Truth

“What is the Noble Truth of the Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering? It is the Noble Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration”

The Fourth Noble Truth

Fractals and Introspection

Fractals are, in a sense, the effect of turning a mathematical graph on itself, or graphing a formula that feeds off itself “Recursive”

Fractals and Introspection

Fractals and the Perception of Dimensions

8Q_GQqUg6Ts

The Eight Fold Path

1. Right View2. Right Intention

Wisdom

3. Right Action4. Right Speech5. Right Livelihood

Ethics

6. Right Effort7. Right Mindfulness8. Right Concentration

Meditative Goals

The Eight Fold Path

1. Right View - samyak dŗșţi/ditthi

2. Right Intention - samyak samkalpa/sankappa

Wisdom – Prajñā/paññā

3. Right Action – vāc/vāca4. Right Speech – karman/kammanta5. Right Livelihood – ājīvana/ājīva

Ethics - Sila

6. Right Effort – vyāyāma/vāyāma7. Right Mindfulness - smṛti/sati8. Right Concentration - samādhi

Meditative Goals - Samādhi

Reincarnation, or Re-Birth So, how does Buddhism deal with the

concept of Reincarnation? Abhidharma philosophy claims that all

entities with parts are simply conceptual constructs on the basis of their parts. Further, even the partless, atomic physical and mental events (dharmas) out of which all entities with parts are constructed are themselves momentary-they are radically impermanent (although they are not conceptually constructed)

Reincarnation, or Re-Birth

Yogacara claimed not just that entities are impermanent but also that the entire ordinary world of dualisms is a fabrication, a product of deluded conceptualization. The only entities that are unfabricated, that is, that exist independent of conceptual construction, are the momentary mental events that make up the flow of non-dual consciousness


Madhyamaka takes the teaching of the fabricated nature of entities to its logical conclusion Madhyamikas claim that

one must see not only that all entities are impermanent but also that all entities are entirely conceptual constructs, including the dharmas of the Abhidharma and the non-dual flow of consciousness of the Yogacara


There is absolutely nothing that is anything but a complete fabrication


A series of discrete moments that are interconnected to each other, while appearing separate

Buddhist Dialect Technique

Buddhism also famously employs a teaching technique known as upaya “efficient means” The Art of the

Controlled Accident The Poison Arrow

Schools of Buddhism

Hinayana – the little vehicle Theravada school

The oldest surviving school Ascribe to the idea of an Arhant Would never consider

themselves the ‘little vehicle’

Schools of Buddhism

It is relatively conservative, and generally closest to early Buddhism This school gradually

declined on the Indian subcontinent, but its branch in Sri Lanka and South East Asia continues to survive

Theravada Buddhism has recently made a comeback in India, which continues to grow

Schools of Buddhism

The Theravada school bases its practice and doctrine exclusively on the Pāli Canon and its commentaries After being orally

transmitted for a few centuries, its scriptures, the Pali Canon, were finally committed to writing in the last century BCE, in Sri Lanka, at what the Theravada usually reckon as the fourth council

Schools of Buddhism

It is also one of the first Buddhist schools to commit the complete set of its canon into writing

Schools of Buddhism

The Sutta collections and Vinaya texts of the Pāli Canon (and the corresponding texts in other versions of the Tripitaka), are generally considered by modern scholars to be the earliest Buddhist literature, and they are accepted as authentic in every branch of Buddhism

Schools of Buddhism

In Theravada doctrine, a person may awaken from the "sleep of ignorance" by directly realizing the true nature of reality; such people are called arahants and occasionally buddhas After numerous lifetimes of

spiritual striving, they have reached the end of the cycle of rebirth, no longer reincarnating as human, animal, ghost, or other being

Schools of Buddhism

The commentaries to the Pali Canon classify these awakened beings into three types: Sammasambuddha, usually

just called Buddha, who discovers the truth by himself and teaches the path to awakening to others

Paccekabuddha, who discovers the truth by himself but lacks the skill to teach others

Savakabuddha, who receive the truth directly or indirectly from a Sammasambuddha

Schools of Buddhism

Also, in Theravada, Bodhi and nirvana carry the same meaning, that of being freed from craving, hate, and delusion Thus, in attaining bodhi,

the arahant has overcome these obstacles

As a further distinction, the extinction of only hatred and greed (in the sensory context) with some residue of delusion, is called anagami

introduction to. the prince siddhartha this figure is the monk pu-tai, a popular representation of...

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