Exploring the Religions

of Our World
Chapter 6 Buddhism
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

The Basics
• A purpose of Buddhism is to be enlightened
about that which is real
• Founder: Siddhartha Gautama
• The goal of Buddhism is attaining Nirvana
(the extinction of suffering, impermanence,
delusion, and all that keeps the life cycle
going)
• Two main branches: Theravada Buddhism
and Mahayana Buddhism
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

Periods of Hindu History

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 Chapter 6 Buddhism
History
Facts about Siddhartha Gautama:
• born about 560 BCE and died about 483
• born into a Hindu warrior caste
• was married at 16 years old and fathered one son
• at 19 he encountered four things his father had
tried to shield from him
• reached enlightenment by taking up meditation
on suffering and the cycle of rebirth
• converted many countrymen by preaching that
moksha could be attained by the Middle Way
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

History (continued)
The Four Sights (what Gautama’s father tried to shield
from him):
• old age
• illness
• death
• asceticism (renouncing material comforts to live a
self-disciplined life)
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

History (continued)
Who is the Dalai Lama?
• A bodhisattva (someone who compassionately
refrains from entering nirvana in order to save
others and is worshiped as a deity in Mahayana
Buddhism)
• The head Tibetan Buddhist monastic leader
• The political leader of Tibet until the Chinese
communist government forced them out of
Tibet in 1959
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

Sacred Stories and Sacred Scriptures

Scriptures of Theravada Buddhism:

Vinaya Pitaka – the code of

monastic discipline for
Tripitaka monks and nuns
Sutra Pitaka – discourses
“the three baskets” attributed to Gautama
(contains the words Abidharma Pitaka – examines
of the Buddha) the Buddha’s psychological
and Buddhist doctrine
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

Sacred Stories and Sacred Scriptures (continued)

Scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism:

Lotus Sutra
the final teachings of the Buddha Tripitaka
which makes Enlightenment (Mahayana
available to everyone
version)
Perfection of Wisdom
a treatise on how to achieve
the perfection of
wisdom of a bodhisattva
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

Beliefs and Practices

The Four Noble Truths
Life is filled with
suffering: both physical
The path to the end
and mental
of suffering is the
Noble Eightfold Path

The cause of
To cease suffering one
suffering is desire
must cease desiring
 Chapter 6 Buddhism
Right
Concentration
Beliefs and Practices (continued)
The Noble Eightfold Path Right
Mindfulness

Right
Conduct Right
Right Effort
Thought

Right
Right
Right Speech
Livelihood
Understanding
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Sacred Time

Celebrating
Visakha
Meditation the Buddhist
“Buddha Day”
lifecycle

Offerings to Celebrating
Puja
Buddha sangha
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

Sacred Places and Sacred Spaces

Stupas
hold important relics of the Buddha
or other important figures

Temples
used for religious Pagodas
devotions and to enshrine large stupas
images of buddhas
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

Sacred Places and Sacred Spaces (continued)

Places of Pilgrimage:
• Lumbini Gardens – traditional site of the
birth of Siddhartha Gautama near Nepal
• Bodh Gaya – the place Gautama became
enlightened
• Sarnath – where Gautama preached his first
sermon about the Four Noble Truths
• Kushinara – traditional place of the death of
Gautama
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

Buddhism through a Catholic Lens

Similarities
• Emphasis on peace and compassion
• Long monastic tradition
• The practice of meditation
• Some parallels between the life of Jesus and
Buddha
 Chapter 6 Buddhism

Buddhism through a Catholic Lens

Differences
• Jesus claimed to be divine, Buddha did not
• Jesus’ message was about the Kingdom of
God, Siddhartha’s was about the cessation of
suffering
• The understanding of the meaning and
purpose of suffering
 Chapter 6 Buddhism
Vocabulary

 Nirvana  lamas  anatma

 ascetic  Tripitaka  samsara
 Middle Way  The Lotus of the  arhat
 sangha True Law  puja
 relics  Perfection of  stupa
 Dharma Wisdom  pagodas
 bodhisattva  tantric
 mandala
 mantra