Buddhism
Buddhism is called a philosophy by most and a religion by some. In any case it’s the 4th largest of those in the world. It has been developed from the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha (or Shakyamuni – “the sage of the Shakya clan”) between the early 6th and late 4th Century BCE (scholars differ on the exact date). Buddha is the Sanskrit word for “Awakened or Enlightened One” (enlightened one who has awakened from the sleep of ignorance to escape suffering). He referred to himself as Tathagata – the Thus Come One or the Thus Gone One (it apparently means the same). Here is a very in-depth description of his life and awakening. According to the Lotus Sutra, Buddha has always been; how many lifetimes it took to become realised is a great topic of debate over the years.
Important note: the majority of Buddhists believe we are all eternal souls and re-incarnate as part of our Karmic journey. When, in a given lifetime, we achieve Buddhahood (by finally clearing our bad karma), we then achieve Nirvana and forever on dwell in the soul realm, unless we decide to stay as a Bodhisattva to help people achieve Buddhahood.
Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, intellectual, and social life of Asia, and, beginning in the 20th century, it spread to the West where the great psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote in much admiration about Zen Buddhism, and scholars such as Alan Watts did much to bring Buddhism and Taoism to the US in the 60s.
History
It was born in Northeastern India in a time of great turmoil. People were suffering greatly, many schools of thought were springing up, the survival of which often depended on the charisma and oratory skills of the teacher – as well as how these stood up to practical scrutiny of the followers. Some obscure schools still exist because their basis is conceptual (Jains emphasize the need to free the soul from matter), but dissatisfaction with the Vedas (Hindu scriptures) led to the creation of the Upanishads, a more personal and spiritual Hinduism expressing transcendental knowledge.
It was in this troubled time of tribal disunity, religious uncertainty and personal hardship that a young Hindu Prince, Siddharta Gautama, could not reconcile the great human suffering that he witnessed one day out of the grounds of his Royal and sheltered living environment. He then began his pilgrimage incorporating the strict spiritual disciplines and sacrifices required to become an enlightened being and the myth goes he achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree. He went on to establish a new order of philosophy and belief.
Interestingly, the same vocabulary used in Buddhism and Hinduism were used by many of the bourgeoning religious communities (Nirvana – transcendent freedom, for example), but Buddhism promulgated the ‘Three Jewels’ – Buddha (teacher), Dharma (the teachings or law), and Sangha (the community). Early Buddhism is considered an atheist philosophy and the idol worship that continues to this day are generally about Buddha.
Shakyamuni spent the next 4 and a half decades wandering Northeastern India and spreading the teachings of Buddhism (that of alleviating the four great sufferings – Birth, Death, Illness and Old Age) to his growing followers and, following a serious illness, died at 80. In the times that followed, and as the story goes, Bodhidharma (Ta’ Mo to the Chinese), the 28th uninterrupted Buddha Patriarch, brought Buddhism to China. This Buddhism was very much focused on meditation and the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, the cornerstone of Mahayana Buddhism.
Buddhism had developed in two directions represented by two different groups in the period after Shakyamuni’s death who both believed they correctly interpreted the teachings, which unfortunately created some antagonism between them that continues to this day. One group was derogatorily called the Hinayana (Sanskrit: “Lesser Vehicle”), a term given to it by its Buddhist opponents. This more conservative group, which included what is now called the Theravada (Pali: “Way of the Elders”) community (often in dark red robes deep in contemplation or study), compiled versions of the Buddha’s early teachings and has 18 schools.
These supposedly more advanced teachings were expressed in sutras that the Buddha purportedly made available only to his more advanced disciples. The other main group, which was called the Mahayana (Sanskrit: “Greater Vehicle”- first mentioned in the Prajnaparamita Sutras), recognized the authority of other teachings that, from the group’s point of view, made salvation available to a greater number of people, and which around the 8th century saw the birth of (Japanese) Zen (Chinese Chan, Korean Sŏn) Buddhism. It was all very monastic, very academic and quite an austere existence – generally, you had to be a monk to even have a chance of attaining Buddhahood.
Latest Developments
Now, all these teachings are called Sutras (study or teaching) and most of the conflict, academic snobbery and splintering was down to, and remains, what were the correct interpretation of the Sutras. The greatest of all the Sutras according to many is the Lotus Sutra, and the last major Buddhist group grew in Japan under the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, a 13th Century priest who became the “Thus Come One” – the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law, built his form of Buddhism around it – aggressively many say. Daishonin re-examined all of Shakyamuni’s teachings and came to realise that the essence of Buddhism lay in the Lotus Sutra, which explained that the current thinking around Buddhist practise was for the older times and that a Latter Day Buddha would reveal that everyone could be a Buddha in their lifetime if they followed certain practises.
This, along with his denouncement of the “old schools”, which included Zen, did not sit well with traditional Buddhist schools at all, or with the Shogun who exiled Nichiren twice for criticisms, and on another occasion, he was inches from assassination by the Shogun’s men, yet he never wavered, and when he prophesized a freak weather event that saved Japan from the Mongol invasion he was pardoned. The ideas that everyone has innate or potential Buddhahood within them despite their situation, and that idol worship made no sense if everyone was a Buddha does set Nichiren Buddhism apart, but is almost digestible by the other schools (if mindfulness and non-self were still high on the agenda. However, the main difference of Nichiren Buddhism – being the core belief that the essence of the Lotus Sutra and Latter Day Buddhism is summed up by chanting the phrase Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo (devotion/surrender to the study of the Lotus Sutra) to Nichiren’s writings on a scroll called the Gohonzon, really popped their clogs.
Meanwhile, as Buddhism spread, it encountered new currents of thought and religion. In some Mahayana communities, for example, the strict law of karma (the belief that virtuous actions create pleasure in the future and non-virtuous actions create pain) was modified to accommodate new emphases on the efficacy of ritual actions and devotional practices. During the second half of the 1st millennium CE, a third major Buddhist movement, Vajrayana (Sanskrit: “Diamond Vehicle”; also called Tantric, or Esoteric, Buddhism), developed in India. This movement was influenced by gnostic and magical currents pervasive at that time, and its aim was to obtain spiritual liberation and purity more speedily.
Despite these vicissitudes, Buddhism did not abandon its basic principles. They have constantly been reinterpreted, rethought, and reformulated in a process that led to the creation of a great body of literature. The Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions have come to accept as Buddhavachana (“the word of the Buddha”) many other sutras and tantras, along with extensive treatises and commentaries based on these texts. Consequently, from the first sermon of the Buddha at Sarnath to the most recent derivations, there is an indisputable continuity—a development or metamorphosis around a central nucleus—by virtue of which Buddhism is differentiated from other religions.
Philosophy rather than a Religion
Buddhism adheres to important attributes to cultivate that do lead one more in the direction of a philosophy rather than a religion (although the stricter Vajrayana tradition could be considered closer to a religion). These are Non-Attachment, No-Self, Mindfulness, Compassion, Wisdom, Courage (in an effort to nullify, suppress or combat the Ego – newly created with each new physical incarnation), and the belief that there is nothing more precious than life. Nichiren Buddhism does not insist on vegetarianism, (yet many are vegetarians) and puts Kosen-Rufu (spreading the word) at the heart of its activities. I suppose, if one were to compare Christianity to Buddhism, one could say the difference between the older schools and Nichiren Buddhism, is like the difference between the Old Testament the New Testament.
In A Nutshell
Then there are the Four Noble Truths, which comprise the essence of Buddha’s teachings, though much is left unexplained. They are the truths simply put that, suffering exists; it has a cause; it has an end; and it has a cause to bring about its end. The notion of suffering is not intended to convey a negative world view, but rather, a pragmatic view that deals with the world the way it is, and attempts to navigate it. The concept of pleasure is not denied, but acknowledged as fleeting. Pursuit of pleasure can only lead to suffering, as it create and unquenchable thirst. In the end, only aging, sickness, and death are certain and unavoidable.
The Four Noble Truths are an understanding of the suffering humanity faces — suffering of a physical kind, or of a mental nature. The First Truth identifies the presence of suffering. The Second Truth, on the other hand, seeks to determine the cause of suffering. In Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering. Ignorance, in comparison, relates to not seeing the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and insight, Buddhism explains, one’s mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things. Vices, such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from this ignorance.
The Third Noble Truth, the truth of the end of suffering, has dual meaning, suggesting either the end of suffering in this life, on earth, or in the spiritual life, through achieving Nirvana. When one has achieved Nirvana, which is a transcendent state free from suffering and our worldly cycle of birth and rebirth, spiritual enlightenment has been reached. The Fourth Noble truth charts the method for attaining the end of suffering, known to Buddhists as the Noble Eightfold Path. The steps of the Noble Eightfold Path are Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. Moreover, there are three themes into which the Path is divided: good moral conduct (Understanding, Thought, Speech); meditation and mental development (Action, Livelihood, Effort), and wisdom or insight (Mindfulness and Concentration).
Buddhism also speaks of the Ten Worlds. These sum up all of man’s attributes and at any given moment any of these worlds are the dominant behavioural imperative, or cause of suffering or pleasure. The Ten Worlds are Hell, Hunger, Animality, (The Three Evil Paths) Anger, Tranquillity, Rapture, Learning & Realization, Bodhisattva and Buddhahood. The main aim of any Buddhist is to spend as much time in Bodhisattva state, working to Buddhahood, while accepting that all states exist at all times – it’s just that different worlds gain dominance due to the context and circumstance (e.g. it’s virtually impossible to be in a world of one of the Three Evil Paths when you are chanting). This isn’t to say that if you’re making a quick coffee before leaving for work, and accidently (?) spill the hot water over yourself, you won’t spend a moment or two in one of the Three Evil Paths.
In Summary
As written earlier, Buddhism has the 4 Great Sufferings (Birth, Death, Illness, Old Age), the Four Noble Truths (all about suffering), the Noble Eightfold Path (a life guide like the 10 commandments) and 3-4 main schools (depending who you read) but can be summed up in four verses from the sacred text Dhammapada;
“Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it.
Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.”
“From desire comes grief, from desire comes fear; one who is free from desire knows neither grief nor fear.
Attachment to objects of desire brings grief, attachment to objects of desire brings fear; one who is free of attachment knows neither grief nor fear.”
Some extracts from https://www.pbs.org/edens/thailand/buddhism.htm