PAPER PRESENTATION

SUBJECT:- INTRODUCTION TO MAJOR RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS IN INDIA

TOPIC:- BUDDHISM

Introduction:-

Buddhism, religion and philosophy that developed from the teachings of the Buddha
(Sanskrit: “Awakened One”), a teacher who lived in northern India between the mid-
6th and mid-4th centuries BCE (before the Common Era). Spreading from India to
Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played a central
role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of Asia, and during the 20th century it
spread to the West.
Ancient Buddhist scripture and doctrine developed in several closely related literary
languages of ancient India, especially in Pali and Sanskrit. In this article Pali and
Sanskrit words that have gained currency in English are treated as English words and
are rendered in the form in which they appear in English-language dictionaries.
Exceptions occur in special circumstances—as, for example, in the case of the
Sanskrit term dharma (Pali: dhamma), which has meanings that are not usually
associated with the term dharma as it is often used in English. Pali forms are given in
the sections on the core teachings of early Buddhism that are reconstructed
primarily from Pali texts and in sections that deal with Buddhist traditions in which
the primary sacred language is Pali. Sanskrit forms are given in the sections that deal
with Buddhist traditions whose primary sacred language is Sanskrit and in other
sections that deal with traditions whose primary sacred texts were translated from
Sanskrit into a Central or East Asian language such as Tibetan or Chinese.
The life of the Buddha
The teacher known as the Buddha lived in northern India sometime between the
mid-6th and the mid-4th centuries before the Common Era. In ancient India the title
buddha referred to an enlightened being who has awakened from the sleep of
ignorance and achieved freedom from suffering. According to the various traditions
of Buddhism, buddhas have existed in the past and will exist in the future. Some
Buddhists believe that there is only one buddha for each historical age, others that
all beings will become buddhas because they possess the buddha nature
(tathagatagarbha).
The historical figure referred to as the Buddha (whose life is known largely through
legend) was born on the northern edge of the Ganges River basin, an area on the
periphery of the ancient civilization of North India, in what is today southern Nepal.
He is said to have lived for 80 years. His family name was Gautama (in Sanskrit) or
Gotama (in Pali), and his given name was Siddhartha (Sanskrit: “he who achieves his
aim”) or Siddhatta (in Pali). He is frequently called Shakyamuni, “the sage of the
Shakya clan.” In Buddhist texts he is most commonly addressed as Bhagavat (often
translated as “Lord”), and he refers to himself as the Tathagata, which can mean
both “one who has thus come” and “one who has thus gone.” Traditional sources on
the date of his death—or, in the language of the tradition, his “passage into
nirvana”—range from 2420 to 290 BCE. Scholarship in the 20th century limited that
range considerably, with opinion generally divided between those who believed he
lived from about 563 to 483 BCE and those who believed he lived about a century
later. Information about his life derives largely from Buddhist texts, the earliest of
which were produced shortly before the beginning of the Common Era and thus
several centuries after his death. According to the traditional accounts, however, the
Buddha was born into the ruling Shakya clan and was a member of the Kshatriya, or
warrior, caste. His mother, Maha Maya, dreamt one night that an elephant entered
her womb, and 10 lunar months later, while she was strolling in the garden of
Lumbini, her son emerged from under her right arm. His early life was one of luxury
and comfort, and his father protected him from exposure to the ills of the world,
including old age, sickness, and death. At age 16 he married the princess Yashodhara,
who would eventually bear him a son. At 29, however, the prince had a profound
experience when he first observed the suffering of the world while on chariot rides
outside the palace. He resolved then to renounce his wealth and family and live the
life of an ascetic. During the next six years, he practiced meditation with several
teachers and then, with five companions, undertook a life of extreme self-
mortification. One day, while bathing in a river, he fainted from weakness and
therefore concluded that mortification was not the path to liberation from suffering.
Abandoning the life of extreme asceticism, the prince sat in meditation under a tree
and received enlightenment, sometimes identified with understanding the Four
Noble Truths. For the next 45 years, the Buddha spread his message throughout
northeastern India, established orders of monks and nuns, and received the
patronage of kings and merchants. At the age of 80, he became seriously ill. He then
met with his disciples for the last time to impart his final instructions and passed into
nirvana. His body was then cremated and the relics distributed and enshrined in
stupas (funerary monuments that usually contained relics), where they would be
venerated.

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTH:-

The four noble truths are the most important principles of Buddhism. We need to take into serious
account these principles, whether we speak about Buddhism as a religion, or Buddhist philosophy, or
any other serious study on Buddhism. Here, only a brief description of the four noble truths is given, to
start our study on the ‘Philosophy of Buddhism.’ The four noble truths are explained in detail in the
chapter ‘Buddhism as a Religion.’ We may have to refer back to the portion there for more details. The
four noble truths of Buddhism are as follows:

1. Life is Full of Suffering (Dukkha): According to the first noble truth all forms of existence are
subject to suffering. For Buddha it is a universal truth. All known and unknown facts and forms
of life are associated with suffering. Birth, sickness, old age, death, anxiety, desire, and despair,
all such happenings and feelings are based on suffering. Buddhism recognizes suffering at three
levels, such as the suffering we experience in our daily life, like, birth, sickness, old age, death,
despair, pain, desire, etc. (duhkah-duhkhatta), suffering caused by the internal mental
conditions and the activities of the sense organs (samkara-duhkhatta), and the suffering caused
by the impermanence of objects and our relation to them (viparinama-duhkhatta).
2. Suffering has a Cause (Dukkha samudaya): Everything in this cosmos has a cause, and nothing
exists and happens without a cause. If this is the case, suffering should also have a cause.
Buddhism explains suffering through a chain of twelve causes and effects, commonly known as
the Doctrine of Dependent Origination (pratityasamutpada). In the final analysis, the root of all
miseries is desire (Tanha). Desire is all pervasive. Desire for possession, enjoyment, and a
separate individual existence are some of the virulent forms of desire.
3. Cessation of Suffering (Dukkha nirodha): If suffering has a cause, the seeker has to destroy this
cause to stop suffering. So desire has to be extinguished to stop suffering. Nirvana is the state of
being without suffering. It is a state of supreme happiness and bliss.
4. Ways to Destroy Suffering (Dukkha-nirodha-marga): The ways to destroy suffering consists of
the practice of the eightfold virtue ,such as, Right View, Right Aspiration, Right Speech, Right
Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Awareness, and Right Concentration. In the
practice of all these virtues one has to avoid extremes and follow the middle path.

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH IN BUDDHISM

The eightfold path is the practical application of the four noble truths. They are also closely connected
to the fourth noble truth as a means to destroy suffering. Following are components of the eightfold
path of Buddhism.

1. Right View (Samyak-dristi): It consists of the grasp and acceptance of the four noble truths,
rejection of the fault doctrines, and avoidance of immorality resulting from covetousness, lying,
violence, etc.
 2. Right Aspirations (Samyka-sankalpa): It implies thought on renunciation, thought on friendship
and good will, and thoughts on non-harming.
3. Right Speech (Samyak-vac): It inspires one to speak truth primarily, and to speak gentle and
soothing words for the benefit and wellbeing of others. It also promulgates one to avoid
falsehood, slander, harsh words and gossip.
4. Right Conduct (Samyak-karma): The Buddha intends by right conduct the practice of five moral
vows namely, non-violence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), non-stealing (asteya).
5. Right Livelihood (Samyag ajiva): It consists of the avoidance of a luxurious life and the
acceptance of occupations which do not involve cruelty and injury to other living beings. The
Buddha exhorts to avoid occupations like sale of alcohol, making and selling weapons,
profession of the soldier, butcher, fisherman, etc.
6. Right Effort (Samyak vyayama): It includes the effort to avoid the rise of evil and false ideas in
the mind, the effort to overcome evil and evil tendencies, the effort to acquire positive values
like attention, energy, tranquility, equanimity, and concentration, and the effort to maintain the
right conditions for a meritorious life.
7. Right Awareness (Samyak Smrti ): It represents the awareness of the body (breathing positions,
movements, impurities of the body, etc.), awareness of sensations (attentive to the feelings of
oneself and of the other), awareness of thought and the awareness of the internal functions of
the mind.
8. Right Concentration (Samyak Samadhi): The practice of one pointed contemplation leads the
seeker to go beyond all sensations of pain and pleasure, and finally to full enlightenment. It
happens in four levels. In the first level, through intense meditation the seeker concentrates the
mind on truth and thereby enjoys great bliss. In the second level the seeker enters into supreme
internal peace and tranquility. In the third level, the seeker becomes detached even from the
inner bliss and tranquility. In the fourth level, the seeker is liberated even from this sensation of
bliss and tranquility. The first two of the eight-fold path, namely, right view and right resolve,
are together called Prajna, because they are related to consciousness and knowledge. The third,
fourth, and fifth, namely, right speech, right conduct, and right livelihood, are collectively known
as Sila, because they deal with the correct and morally right way of living. The last three,
namely, right effort, right awareness, and right concentration are collectively known as Samadhi,
because they deal with meditation and contemplation.

Hinayana and Mahayana

After the death of Buddha, Buddhism was divided into two sects namely Mahayana and Hinayana. The
terms Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle or Modest Vehicle) and Mahayana (Greater Vehicle or Vast Vehicle)
originated in The Prajnaparamita Sutras.

Mahayana:- This sect of Buddhism believes in the heavenliness of Buddha and believes in Idol Worship.
Mahayan sect spread from India to several other nations such as China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Nepal,
Tibet, Bhutan and Mangolia. Mahayana believes in Mantras. Its main principles were based on the
possibility of universal liberation from suffering for all beings. That’ why, this sect is called Mahayana
(The Great Vehicle). Its principles are also based on the existence of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
embodying Buddha nature. It allows salvation through having faith and committing oneself to Buddha.

Mahayana worships the bodhisattvas and read the Mahayana sutras while Hinayanists do not perform
these.

Mahayana Buddhism followers think that The Buddha is a God because they think that the Buddha came
down to earth to help people cross the sea of life. So the Buddha can be worshipped as a God because
he is eternal and comes down to earth.

Hinayana:- Hinayana follows the original teaching of Buddha. It emphasizes individual salvation through
self discipline and meditation.

Hinayana Buddhists think that The Buddha was a Human instead of a God because they think The
Buddha was simply a man who found a way to Nirvana.

Hinayana think that The Buddha is an ordinary person because he has many human-like characteristics
such as looking like a person, being born like a person, living like a person besides if he was a God he
would have already known about old-aged people, diseased people and dead people. So Siddhartha
Gautama is an ordinary person who devoted most of his life to finding the truth of life, to reach
enlightenment. Also the fact that Siddhartha Gautama didn’t know how to meditate before reaching the
Meditation Masters suggests that Siddhartha Gautama didn’t know how to meditate and so couldn’t
have been a God.

Major difference between Hinayana and Mahayana

These were all the Major Differences now going onto the Minor Differences:

Mahayana Buddhism Hinayana Buddhism

1.Followed as a teaching or philosophy. 1.Followed with reference to higher
beings,
More like a religion.
2.Found mostly in the South and West covering 2.Found mostly in the North and West,
Indochina and Ceylon (Sri-Lanka) covering China, Korea, Japan and Tibet.
3.Early work written in Pali (e.g. Kamma, 3.Early texts are in Sanskrit (e.g. Karma,
Dhamma). Dharma).
Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism both started of with one goal, Nirvana. But both took different ways
to get there.
 Concept of god in both Hinayana and Mahayana:-

The concept of God in Mahayan is that Buddha is identified as a transcendental who possess the power
of incarnation and Gautam Buddha is always considered as god in the Mahayan.

However, according to the Hinayana, there is no need of god to achieve one’s salvation.

Sangha:- The word Sangha comes from Pali language and Sanskrit language which means Assembly of
People, means a group. In Buddhism it became the assembly of Monks and Nuns and Buddha as its
teacher. Sangha was established during Buddha’s time. It was the guidance of Dhamma Scripture to
guide other. In Buddhism, a person can enter the Monastic Sangha by two stages, in the first stage from
the age of 7 or 8 the child will take lower ordination also called giving forth and becomes a Samanera
and after its maturity at the age of 20 that person can take higher ordination and he will be known asa
Bhikhu. During this stage the head is shaved off that is a sign of renunciation.

Concept of god in Buddhism:-

In Buddhism, the two schools of Buddhism Hinayana and Mahayana, they have different understanding
of god. Hinayana school is not a phesistic school and therefore, does nto accept god as ultimate reality
and for them there is not god. Hinayana also does not depend that there is not super-national agency
with and so it is totally or unnecessary to speculate about existence of god, because for liberation god is
not needed.

Gautam Buddha when asked about existence of god he kept silence. He never argued against it.

Concept of Man in Buddhism:-

Buddhism comes under the category of Nastikaval in Indian philosophy. Man is a supreme being and thir
is no higher power which judges the action of man. So man is master of his own destiny.

In Buddhism there is no permanent soul and so there are no god and godesses. Buddha denies the
existence of permanent soul.

Buddhism strongly believe in the law of change and life is a unbroken series of states. Each state depend
on the preceding state and give rights Buddhism believe in Anantwar.

Concept of Salvation:-

According to Buddhism, the Karma of present affects our future and so Karma of past affect our present.

Buddhism distinguishes 4 Karmas which are as follows:-

1. Those actions which produces result in this life.

2. Those Karma or action which produces result in next life.
3. Those Karma or actions which result from time to time.
4. Those Karmas or actions which we have committed in the past.