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 History and Diversity
"Buddhism" is the name given in English to those who follow the teachings of
"the Enlightened One" (the literal meaning of Buddha), a man born as
Prince Siddhartha sometime in the 6th-5th century BCE
(chronologies differ) in the region that is now modern
Nepal. The 'canonical' account of his life relates that his father had tried to
shield him from the harshness of life by confining him to the palace. However,
on three different trips beyond the palace walls he encountered a sick man, an
old man, and a dead man and gained an awareness of what surely awaited him. On a
subsequent fourth visit outside the palace he encountered an ascetic monk and
decided to leave his wife and son and pursue the ascetic life.
He changed his name to Gautama and committed himself completely to the
ascetic life. Eventually he concluded that not even this manner of life was able
to free him from suffering and ultimately death. One day while sitting in
meditation and contemplation under a Bo tree, he received his "enlightenment"
through an insight into what became the "Four Noble Truths" of Buddha-dharma
("teachings of the Enlightened One," the name of this religious tradition among
some of its adherents).
The first and foundational of these "Four Noble Truths"
is that the universal nature of being itself is dukkha (usually
translated as "suffering"), namely that all things exist in a process of
transience and change and so nothing is eternal and unchanging -- not the "soul"
/ ātman (see Hindu
Practices on this website) or even the Divine. The second "noble truth" is
the recognition that what is experienced as "suffering" is the desire for
permanence among those things that are transient by their very essence, once
again including one's own self. The third "truth" is that the only means for
ending transience (dukkha) is by the eradication of this "desire" (tanhā),
and that this cessation of desire is nirvāna. The fourth "noble truth" is
the summary of the "Eightfold Path" to gaining this enlightenment (see "Buddhist
Practices" below).
As the teachings of Gautama Buddha spread through Asia,
those who began to follow them combined them with various aspects of their
indigenous religious practices. Consequently, scholars of religion often speak
about "Buddhism in China" or "in Japan," or simply regionally identified
traditions such as "Tibetan Buddhism" (the leader of one Tibetan school, the
Dalai Lama, held the political leadership of that region for several centuries
beginning in the 17th century). Scholars also recognize major divisions within
Buddhism that's roots precede these regional distinctions. The oldest of these
is referred to as Theravāda (after its only major school to persist) or Hīnayāna
(a designation coined by others, meaning "Lesser Vehicle"). Several centuries
later a shift in understanding of the ideal toward which Buddhist practice was
directed led to the emergence of Mahāyāna. Whereas the goal of Theravāda was to
enter and remain in the state of nirvāna, the goal of Mahāyāna was to
become a Bodhisattva, one who had achieved nirvāna but chose to
self-sacrificially re-enter the cycle of being to help all living things achieve
awakening or enlightenment. As is to be expected, many other distinct forms of
Buddhism can be identified based on how they combine these differences of goal
and regional expression; examples would include the Trantric Buddhism that
developed in dialogue with Hinduism in India and the Zen practices that emerged
in China and spread to Korea and Japan.
Sacred Writings of Buddhism
Obviously a tradition as diverse Buddhism that has grown and developed over
millennia has an expansive body of religious literature. But one characteristic
feature of the tradition itself is the importance it places on the character of
the teacher or master who serves not primarily as a dispenser of wisdom but as
physician of the soul, after a fashion, who identifies the areas of "desire" /
"suffering" that remain in the student. By the example of the masters own life
and drawing on the teachings of past masters, the followers of this religion are
directed onto the path toward enlightenment. Thus, some Buddhist traditions such
as Zen may favor such direct engagement with the master over study of sacred
texts.
Nevertheless, most branches of Buddhism recognize the authority of the
Tripitaka (literally, "Triple Basket"), a collection of sacred writings whose
precise delineation varies significantly among the various Buddhist traditions.
These collections consist of three components: a first section which compiles
the teachings of the Buddha (Sūtra),
a section that compiles the rules of monastic discipline and behavior (Vinayana),
a collection of reflections or commentaries on the Buddha's thought (Abhidharma,
the most divergent section of the Tripitaka among the Buddhist schools). The
Dhammapada belongs to the Sūtra division of the baskets, and is the
collection of sayings attributed to the Buddha that are the most ecumenically
recognized sacred writings across all the diverse Buddhist schools.
Buddhist Practices
The historical core of Buddhist practice is the "Eightfold Path" taught by
Gautama Buddha as the last of the "Four Noble Truths." Despite what the name
might imply, the elements of the "Path" are not sequential with each arising
from the one(s) preceding and leading to what would then follow. Rather, each is
an insight or behavior that is characteristic of one who has achieved
enlightenment by perfecting each aspect. These eight elements are:
- Understanding of the "Four Noble Truths" and that they depend upon no
persisting substantiality.
- Perfect resolution to be non-attached to all things transient
- Perfect speech that is free from gossip or malice
- Perfect conduct with respect to the obligations undertaken by Buddhists
(including such things as not harming any living thing, not taking anything
itself not freely given, not speaking falsely, not losing control of the
mind through abuse of substances, etc.)
- Perfect livlihood by not doing work that might harm others
- Perfect effort toward producing only good karma (for Buddhists,
"only intentions and actions free of desire, hate, and delusion are free of
karmic consequence" ["Karma, kamma," Oxford Dictionary of World
Religions, 535-36]).
- Perfect mindfulness through meditation upon one's body, feelings, mind
and the mental concepts taught in Buddhism and epitomized in the "Four Noble
Truths"
- Perfect concentration through a disciplined process of meditation that
begins with intent focus on an object which is successively stripped away
until in the end even the idea of "nothing" is removed along with all
differentiation.
Each aspect of this "Eightfold Path" has many different means of practice,
and it is itself only one of 37 "limbs" of enlightenment (bodhipāksika-dharma).
For example, one well-known (if not often understood) practice of Zen is called
a kōan. It is a question, phrase or answer to a question that presents a
paradox the resists resolution in terms of logic and leads the student to
different ways of understanding. The almost stereotypical example of a kōan
is the question, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
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