Midterm 2 Study Guide - Introduction to World Religions: East | REL 1002, Study notes of Anthropology of religion

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1. Terms/Names
Buddhism  Anatman – ‘no soul’, one of the central teachings of Buddhism. The doctrine that the human person is impermanent, a changing combination of components o Without Atman (the eternal self or soul in humans)  Arhat/lohan – worthy one or saint o Someone who has realized the ideal of spiritual perfection o highest beings, nirvana o not referred to as buddhas because they are the followers of the Buddhist path  Bhikshu – fully ordained male Buddhist monk o Bhiskshuni – fully ordained female buddhis monk  Bodhisattva o in Theravada, a being who is on the way to enlightenment or Buddhahood but has not yet achieved it; o in Mahayana, a celestial being who forgoes nirvana in order to save others  Chan/Zen – a tradition centered on the practice of meditation and the teaching that ultimate reality is no expressible in words or logic, but most be grasped through direct intuition  Dana – a ‘giving’ ritual, in which Theravada families present gifts of food, at their homes or a temple, to bhikshus who conduct rituals including chanting and merit-transfer  Dharma – in Buddhist usage, teaching or truth concerning the ultimate nature of things  Dukkha – the suffering, psychological as well as physical, that characterizes human life  Karma – the energy of the individual’s past thoughts and actions, good or bad o determines rebirth within the ‘wheel’ of samsara or cycle of rebirth that ends only when parinirvana is achieved o good karma is also called merit  Mahayana – ‘Greater Vehicle’ o the form of Buddhism that emerged around the first century in India and spread first to China and then to Korea and Japan  Mandala – a chart-like representation of cosmic Buddha figures that often serves as a focus of meditation and devotion in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions  Mudra – A pose or gesture in artistic representations of Buddha figures o By convention, each mudra has a specific symbolic meaning  Nirvana – the state of bliss associated with final enlightenment o Nirvana ‘with remainder’ is the highest level possible in this life, and nirvana ‘without remainder’ is the ultimate state  Parinirvana – the ultimate perfection of bliss, achievable only on departing this life, as distinct from the nirvana with the ‘remainder’ achievable while one is still in the present existence  Pure Land – the comfortable realm in the western region of the heavens reserved for those who trust in the merit and grace of its lord, the celestial Buddha Amithaba (Amida)  Samadhi – a higher state of consciousness, achieved through meditation  Sangha – the ‘congregation’ or community of Buddhist monks and nuns o Some forms of Buddhism also refer to the congregation of lay persons as a sangha  Shakyamuni – ‘sage of the Shakya clan’ o A title used to refer to the historical figure of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha  Shunyata – The Emptiness that is held to be ultimately characteristic of all thigns, stressed especially by Madhyamika doctrine  Stupa – Originally a hemispherical mound built to contain cremation ashes or a sacred relic o In East Asia the stupa developed into the tower-like Pagoda  Theravada – ‘Teaching of the Elders’ o the dominant form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia  Vajrayana – the tantric branch of Buddhism that became established in Tibet and the Himalayan region, and later spread to Mongolia and eventually India  At first they won’t come out because they are “ignorant children” playing with their toys  Man uses a skillful method to protect his sons from the burning house (phenomenal world)  Told them that little ox carts, goat carts, and deer carts (toys that they liked) are all outside when they actually weren’t  Boys came out and he gave them fancy ox carts  In this case, Shariputra says this man was not a liar because he used skillfull means in order to get the kids out and thus giving them the gift of life  The practice of “skillful means” of bodhisattvas and buddhas  Involves adapting the dharma to the interests and proclivities of individual listeners, telling them things that will attract them to the practice of Buddhism  Used according to people’s capacity to receive  Tactics used for the good and benefit of beings  To draw them away from mundane pleasures toward dharma  The Shorter Sutra on Pure Land o Amida made a series of vows while still a merchant named Dharmakara about the sort of Pure Land he would create after his attainment of Buddhahood  Especially wonderful land  Conditions optimal for Buddhahood  Beings born on this land will receive teachings from buddhas and bodhisattvas o In this sutra, Shinran says that anyone can be reborn on Amida’s paradise despite their past actions, while those before him said that good moral character was required  The Dhammapada – ‘fundamentals of Dharma’ o Anthology of 423 verses o 26 chapters about things like the pure mind, the fool, the self, old age, violence, anger, impurity, etc. o Regarded as the most succinct expression of the Buddha’s teaching found in the Theravada Pali Canon of scriptures  The Tatthvartha Sutra of Umasvati o Jain text written by Acharya Umaswat o An attempt to bring together the different elements of the Jain path, epistemological, metaphysical, cosmological, ethical and practical, otherwise unorganized around the scriptures in an unsystematic format o first Jain text in sutra or aphoristic form, and bring almost entire Jain doctrinal system in 350 sutras spread over 10 chapters  Satkhandagama – “Scripture in Six Parts” o foremost and oldest Digambara Jain sacred text o first Jain scripture to be preserved in written form  Jain Agama scriptures, 3 branches o 1. The Purva or Ancient: Jaina metaphysics, cosmology philosophy o 2. The Anga or the limbs: mendicant conduct, doctrine, karma and religious narratives o 3. The Angabahya or the ancillary limbs: commentaries on above topics, astrology, cycles of time

3. Concepts/ideas/schools
Buddhism  Buddha Shakyamuni – “The Awakened One of the Shakya Clan” o a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded o Siddhartha Gautama, the Supreme Buddha  Three gems/jewels o At the heart of Buddhism are three elements known as the Three Jewels or Triple Gem  The Buddha  The Dharma (teachings)  Buddha set the wheel of teaching in motion  The Sangha (congregation)  Community of disciples o Buddhists express their faith in these elements by saying they ‘take refuge’ in them o Recitation of the ‘Three Refuges’ mantra has been a regular part of virtually every Buddhist ceremony for approximately 2500 years  Four Noble Truths o At the core of the Buddha’s first sermon in the deer park were the four noble truths about suffering and the eightfold path to overcoming it  Noble Truth of Suffering  No living being can escape suffering (duhkha)  Birth, sickness, senility, and death are all occasions of suffering, whether physical or psychological  Noble Truth of Origin  Suffering arises from craving (trishna), from excessive desire  Noble Truth of Cessation  Suffering will cease when desire ceases  Noble Truth of the Eightfold Path  It is possible to put an end to desire, and hence to suffering, by following eight principles of self-improvement  The Eightfold Path o The principles are not sequential o All are equally important, and each depends on all the rest  Thus none of them can be observed in isolation  Must work in concord o They are:  Ashoka and Dharma Rule o King Ashoka, c. 273 o “Dharma-rule and “Dharma-conquest” o Ashokan edicts & buddha dharma o Buddhist stupas and veneration of Buddha o The King as Wheel Turner, non-violence as a public ethic  Five Buddhist Vows (Precepts) o The Buddha-puja: the chanting praise to Buddha and vowing to observe the five precepts to refrain from:  Taking life  Taking that which is not given  Sensual misconduct  Wrong speech  Intoxicants  Theravada Dana Ritual o Temple, pilgrimage place, home o Monks perform a Buddha puja, Buddha image on a home o Altar, chant paritta scripture o A string connecting Buddha image, monks, lay people o Chant and dharma talk o Idea of merit transfer  Vesak, the Buddha Day Festival o The Buddha Day observed o Birth, enlightenment, parinirvana o Temples and pilgrimage  Doctrine of Three Bodies (Trikaya) o Appearance Body or Transformation Body (nirmanakaya)  Manifestation of buddhas in human form, Sakyamuni  To set in the wheel of dharma o Body of Bliss or Heavenly Beings (sambhogakaya)  Bodhisattvas (beings of perfect wisdom)  Buddha realms (heavenly abodes)  Bodhisattva Amitabha, Pure Land o The Dharma Body or The Absolute Body (dharmakaya)  One cosmic reality, oneness of all buddhas, the unity of Buddha nature or Buddha potential in all the forms  Amitabha Buddha o to be reborn in his heavenly realm to receive merits  Chinese Pureland School o 1st century, a celestial buddha of ‘infinite life’ and ‘infinite light’ Amitabha o All beings with faith in Amitabha’s compassion and power, granted rebirth in Pure Land o Bodhisattva Guanyin – bodhisattva of compassion
Jainism  Major characteristics o A minority religion, a few millions, western states o Gujarat & Rajasthan and Karnataka (southern) o 6th BCE India: Shramana Renounciation orders o Established in 6th BCE by the ascetic prophet Mahavira, a lineage of 24 Teachers o A path of restraint: the path to happiness, truth and self-realization, strict ascetic practices o Veneration of Jinas and the following their path  a regal cakravartin (world conqueror)  Arhat in deep meditation (world renouncer)  karma accrued from a life of non-violence o Non-violence is the highest form of religious conduct’ ‘ahimsa paramo dharma’  life forms w/ an eternal soul (jiva), restrain from harming others result in good karma  intentional and unintentional karmic actions o Entanglement of the Self with worldly substances o leads to impurity and suffering  Teachers/Jinas o Jinas: victors or conquerors o Achieved perfect enlightenment and serve as guides for other human beings  Mahavira o Transfer of his embryo from the womb of a o Brahmin woman to a Queen Trisala o Many previous births Group 1. Theravada  This is the earliest form of Buddhism. Thera means 'old' and 'vada' means school, which is also translated as 'The Teaching of the Elders'. It draws its main scriptures from the Pali canon, which was written down in the first century BCE. This contains the essential teachings of the Buddha, rules for monastic life and philosophical and psychological analyses. Through the sangha (the Buddhist community of monks and nuns), the basic doctrines and practices are preserved. Both 'calm' meditation (samatha) and 'insight' meditation (vipassana) are practiced within this school but there is more emphasis on meditation.  The goal in Theravada Buddhism is to attain enlightenment. Group 2. Mahayana  This school of Buddhism developed out of the Theravada practice between 100 BCE and 100 CE. It regarded the Theravada school as 'the lesser vehicle' (Hinayana) and themselves as 'the Great Vehicle' (Mahayana). They regarded striving to win enlightenment for oneself was a selfish act and replaced it with the 'Bodhisattva ideal'. In this is the idea that one's primary objective is not to win enlightenment for oneself but to help all sentient beings first. Although compassion is a key virtue in all schools of Buddhism, in the Mahayana tradition it gains particular prominence. Out of compassion, the Bodhisattva finds the best means possible to capture the hearts of people and lead them to nirvana, postponing ones own entry time and time again. The role of the Bodhisattva then became more and more significant as Mahayana developed. Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, became a particular focus for veneration. The following schools - although they are quite different - all come under the broad umbrella of Mahayana.  Pure Land  This school of Buddhism arose in China in about the fifth century CE, later spreading to Japan. The starting point were the Sukhavativyuha scriptures which described a Western Paradise (Sukhavati) or PureLand. The aspiration of Pure Land Buddhists is to obtain rebirth in the PureLand, presided over by Amitabha Buddha (the Buddha of Infinite Light). Faith in Amitabha is demonstrated through the recitation of the following mantra: Namu Amida Butsu ('Hail to Amitabha Buddha'). It is believed that recitation of this mantra ten times with genuine faith will guarantee entry into the PureLand on death.  Ch'an/Zen  The words Ch'an in China and Zen in Japanese derive from the Sanskrit word dhyana meaning meditation. It's not surprising that meditation is a prime characteristic of this school of Buddhism. The founder of Zen was Bodhidharma, an Indian monk who traveled to China in the sixth century CE. For Bodhidharma, the experiential dimension was the most important so we find in Zen Buddhism a rejection of the scriptures for more direct methods of gaining insight. This included giving much more emphasis to the master and disciple relationship. Traditionally, zen masters have used koans (riddles that have no logical answer; for example, What was your face before your parents were born?) and mondos (questions and answers) which, as with koans, defy logic. The idea behind these is to jolt the mind out of its habitual thought processes into satori (a flash of insight in to the true nature of reality). The idea is to let the pure mind, the Buddha nature within, reveal itself. The practice of sitting meditation (zazen) is seen as crucial to this process. It is often referred to as 'just sitting'. The goal in Chan/ZenBuddhism is to reveal the Buddha nature within.  Group 3. Vajrayan (Vajrayan contains 5 schools)  The Nyingma-pa ('Old School')  This school stems from Padmasambhava, a Tibetan master, and relies on very early esoteric scriptures known as tantras. In this school there is a good deal of emphasis placed on meditation.  The Kagyu-pa ('Speech School')  As its translation suggests, this is an oral tradition which is very much concerned with the experiential dimension of meditation. Its most famous exponent was Milarepa, an eleventh century mystic who meditated for many years in ice-cold Tibetan mountain caves before eventually reaching enlightenment.  The Sakya-pa ('Tawny Earth School')  This school very much represents the scholarly tradition. It was founded in 1073 CE by a layman named Konchol Gyelpo.  The Gelug-pa ('VirtuousOnesSchool')  The Dalai Lama heads the Gelug school and is regarded as the embodiment of Chenrezig, The Bodhisattva of Compassion (the equivalent of Avalokitesvara). He is therefore regarded as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. However, he also has a political role which has become even more significant since the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950 and the Dalai Lama's subsequent exile since 1959.  The New Kadampa Tradition  The 'New Kadampa Tradition' is a western break-away group started by one Tibetan monk, Kelsang Gyatso, in the late 70s. Unlike the historical Tibetan lineages, they do not follow the Dalai Lama. The teachings of the NKT are very much in line with traditional Vajrayana teachings but have their own distinctive flavor that emphasis on integrating the Buddha's teachings into one's daily life gives it a very real, practical advantage for developing your spirituality. In accordance with the Bodhisattva ideal (winning enlightenment so that you can ultimately be of benefit to others) is highlighted, along with cherishing others and the significance of compassion. It also explains the importance of the human rebirth, and the opportunities it affords for spiritual progress and fulfillment, something denied rebirth in the other realms of samsara.