The names Buddha Dharma andBauddha Dharma come fromSanskrit:बुद्ध धर्म andबौद्ध धर्म respectively ("doctrine of the Enlightened One" and "doctrine of Buddhists"). The term Dharmavinaya comes from Sanskrit:धर्मविनय, literally meaning "doctrines [and] disciplines".[33]
The Buddha ("the Awakened One") was aŚramaṇa who lived inSouth Asia c. 6th or 5th century BCE.[34][35] Followers of Buddhism, calledBuddhists in English, referred to themselves asSakyan-s orSakyabhiksu in ancient India.[36][37] Buddhist scholar Donald S. Lopez asserts they also used the termBauddha,[38] although scholar Richard Cohen asserts that that term was used only by outsiders to describe Buddhists.[39]
Details of the Buddha's life are mentioned in manyEarly Buddhist Texts but are inconsistent. His social background and life details are difficult to prove, and the precise dates are uncertain, although the 5th century BCE seems to be the best estimate.[40][note 2]
Ancient kingdoms and cities of South Asia and Central Asia during the time of the Buddha (c. 500 BCE)—modern-day India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan
Early texts have the Buddha's family name as "Gautama" (Pali: Gotama), while some texts give Siddhartha as his surname. He was born inLumbini, present-dayNepal and grew up inKapilavastu,[note 3] a town in theGanges Plain, near the modern Nepal–India border, and he spent his life in what is now modernBihar[note 4] andUttar Pradesh.[48][40] Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king namedSuddhodana, his mother wasQueen Maya.[49] Scholars such asRichard Gombrich consider this a dubious claim because a combination of evidence suggests he was born in theShakya community, which was governed by asmall oligarchy or republic-like council where there were no ranks but where seniority mattered instead.[50] Some of the stories about the Buddha, his life, his teachings, and claims about the society he grew up in may have been invented and interpolated at a later time into the Buddhist texts.[51][52]
Various details about the Buddha's background are contested in modern scholarship. For example, Buddhist texts assert that Buddha described himself as akshatriya (warrior class), but Gombrich writes that little is known about his father and there is no proof that his father even knew the termkshatriya.[53] (Mahavira, whose teachings helped establish the ancient religionJainism, is also claimed to be ksatriya by his early followers.[54])
According to early texts such as the PaliAriyapariyesanā-sutta ("The discourse on the noble quest",MN 26) and its Chinese parallel atMĀ 204, Gautama was moved by the suffering (dukkha) of life and death, and itsendless repetition due torebirth.[55] He thus set out on a quest to find liberation from suffering (also known as "nirvana").[56] Early texts and biographies state that Gautama first studied under two teachers of meditation, namelyĀḷāra Kālāma (Sanskrit: Arada Kalama) andUddaka Ramaputta (Sanskrit: Udraka Ramaputra), learning meditation and philosophy, particularly the meditative attainment of "the sphere of nothingness" from the former, and "the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception" from the latter.[57][58][note 5]
Finding these teachings to be insufficient to attain his goal, he turned to the practice of severeasceticism, which included a strictfasting regime and various forms ofbreath control.[61] This too fell short of attaining his goal, and then he turned to the meditative practice ofdhyana. He famously sat inmeditation under aFicus religiosa tree—now called theBodhi Tree—in the town ofBodh Gaya and attained "Awakening" (Bodhi).[62][according to whom?]
According to various early texts like theMahāsaccaka-sutta, and theSamaññaphala Sutta, on awakening, the Buddha gained insight into the workings of karma and his former lives, as well as achieving the ending of the mental defilements (asavas), the ending of suffering, and the end of rebirth insaṃsāra.[61] This event also brought certainty about theMiddle Way as the right path of spiritual practice to end suffering.[17][18] As afully enlightened Buddha, he attracted followers and founded aSangha (monastic order).[63] He spent the rest of his life teaching theDharma he had discovered, and then died, achieving "final nirvana", at the age of 80 inKushinagar, India.[64][43][according to whom?]
The Buddha's teachings were propagated by his followers, which in the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE became variousBuddhist schools of thought, each with its ownbasket of texts containing different interpretations and authentic teachings of the Buddha;[65][66][67] these over time evolved into many traditions of which the more well known and widespread in the modern era areTheravada,Mahayana andVajrayana Buddhism.[68][69]
The term "Buddhism" is an occidental neologism, commonly (and "rather roughly" according toDonald S. Lopez Jr.) used as a translation for theDharma of theBuddha,fójiào in Chinese,bukkyō in Japanese,nang pa sangs rgyas pa'i chos in Tibetan,buddhadharma in Sanskrit,buddhaśāsana in Pali.[70]
The truth ofdukkha is the basic insight that life in this mundane world, with its clinging and craving toimpermanent states and things[72] isdukkha, and unsatisfactory.[74][85][web 1]Dukkha can be translated as "incapable of satisfying",[web 5] "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of allconditioned phenomena"; or "painful".[72][73]Dukkha is most commonly translated as "suffering", but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences.[note 8] We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness.
Buddhism teaches that the idea that anything is permanent or that there is self in any being is ignorance or misperception (avijjā), and that this is the primary source of clinging and dukkha.[91][92][93]
Ignorance is countered by insight (paññā); most schools of Buddhism, therefore, teachthree marks of existence, which fundamentally characterize all phenomena:[94]
Saṃsāra means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change.[100][101] It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions.[101][102] Samsara in Buddhism is considered to bedukkha, unsatisfactory and painful,[103] perpetuated by desire andavidya (ignorance), and the resultingkarma.[101][104][105] Liberation from this cycle of existence,nirvana, has been the foundation and the most important historical justification of Buddhism.[106][107]
Buddhist texts assert that rebirth can occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, hungry ghosts, hellish).[note 9] Samsara ends if a person attainsnirvana, the "blowing out" of the afflictions through insight intoimpermanence and "non-self".[109][110][111]
Ramabhar Stupa inKushinagar,Uttar Pradesh, India, is regionally believed to be Buddha's cremation site.
Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of many possible forms ofsentient life, each running from conception to death.[112] In Buddhist thought, this rebirth does not involve asoul or any fixed substance. This is because the Buddhist doctrine ofanattā (Sanskrit:anātman, no-self doctrine) rejects the concepts of a permanent self or an unchanging, eternal soul found in other religions.[113][114]
The Buddhist traditions have traditionally disagreed on what it is in a person that is reborn, as well as how quickly the rebirth occurs after death.[115][116] Some Buddhist traditions assert that "no self" doctrine means that there is no enduring self, but there isavacya (inexpressible) personality (pudgala) which migrates from one life to another.[115] The majority of Buddhist traditions, in contrast, assert thatvijñāna (a person's consciousness) though evolving, exists as a continuum and is the mechanistic basis of what undergoes the rebirth process.[74][115] The quality of one's rebirth depends on themerit or demerit gained by one's karma (i.e., actions), as well as that accrued on one's behalf by a family member.[note 10] Buddhism also developeda complex cosmology to explain the various realms or planes of rebirth.[103]
In Buddhism,karma (fromSanskrit: "action, work") drivessaṃsāra—the endless cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skilful deeds (Pāli:kusala) and bad, unskilful deeds (Pāli:akusala) produce "seeds" in the unconscious receptacle (ālaya) that mature later either in this life or in a subsequentrebirth.[118][119] The existence of karma is a core belief in Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions, and it implies neither fatalism nor that everything that happens to a person is caused by karma.[120] (Diseases and suffering induced by the disruptive actions of other people are examples of non-karma suffering.[120])
A central aspect of Buddhist theory of karma is that intent (cetanā) matters and is essential to bring about a consequence orphala "fruit" orvipāka "result".[121] The emphasis on intent in Buddhism marks a difference from the karmic theory of Jainism, where karma accumulates with or without intent.[122][123] The emphasis on intent is also found in Hinduism, and Buddhism may have influenced karma theories of Hinduism.[124]
In Buddhism, good or bad karma accumulates even if there is no physical action, and just having ill or good thoughts creates karmic seeds; thus, actions of body, speech or mind all lead to karmic seeds.[120] In the Buddhist traditions, life aspects affected by the law of karma in past and current births of a being include the form of rebirth, realm of rebirth, social class, character and major circumstances of a lifetime.[120][125][126] According to the theory, it operates like the laws of physics, without external intervention, on every being in allsix realms of existence including human beings and gods.[120][127]
A notable aspect of the karma theory in modern Buddhism is merit transfer.[128][129] A person accumulates merit not only through intentions and ethical living, but also is able to gain merit from others by exchanging goods and services, such as throughdāna (charity to monks or nuns).[130] The theory also states a person can transfer one's own good karma to living family members and ancestors.[129]
This Buddhist idea may have roots in thequid-pro-quo exchange beliefs of the Hindu Vedic rituals.[131] The "karma merit transfer" concept has been controversial, not accepted in later Jainism and Hinduism traditions, unlike Buddhism where it was adopted in ancient times and remains a common practice.[128] According to Bruce Reichenbach, the "merit transfer" idea was generally absent in early Buddhism and may have emerged with the rise of Mahayana Buddhism; he adds that while major Hindu schools such as Yoga, Advaita Vedanta and others do not believe in merit transfer, some bhakti Hindu traditions later adopted the idea just like Buddhism.[132]
Ananiconic depiction of the Buddha's spiritual liberation (moksha) or awakening (bodhi), atSanchi. The Buddha is not depicted, only symbolized by the Bodhi tree and the empty seat
The cessation of thekleshas and the attainment ofnirvana (nibbāna), with which the cycle of rebirth ends, has been the primary and thesoteriological goal of the Buddhist path for monastic life since the time of the Buddha.[81][133][134] The term "path" is usually taken to mean theNoble Eightfold Path, butother versions of "the path" can also be found in the Nikayas.[note 11] In some passages in the Pali Canon, a distinction is being made between right knowledge or insight (sammā-ñāṇa), and right liberation or release (sammā-vimutti), as the means to attain cessation and liberation.[136][137]
Nirvana literally means "blowing out, quenching, becoming extinguished".[138][139] In early Buddhist texts, it is the state of restraint and self-control that leads to the "blowing out" and the ending of the cycles of sufferings associated with rebirths and redeaths.[140][141][142] Many later Buddhist texts describe nirvana as identical withanatta with complete "emptiness, nothingness".[143][144][145][note 12] In some texts, the state is described with greater detail, such as passing through the gate of emptiness (sunyata)—realising that there is no soul or self in any living being, then passing through the gate of signlessness (animitta)—realising that nirvana cannot be perceived, and finally passing through the gate of wishlessness (apranihita)—realising that nirvana is the state of not even wishing for nirvana.[133][147][note 13]
The nirvana state has been described in Buddhist texts partly in a manner similar to other Indian religions, as the state of complete liberation, enlightenment, highest happiness, bliss, fearlessness, freedom, permanence, non-dependent origination, unfathomable, and indescribable.[149][150] It has also been described in part differently, as a state of spiritual release marked by "emptiness" and realisation ofnon-self.[151][152][153][note 14]
While Buddhism considers the liberation fromsaṃsāra as the ultimate spiritual goal, in traditional practice, the primary focus of a vast majority of lay Buddhists has been to seek and accumulate merit through good deeds, donations to monks and various Buddhist rituals in order to gain better rebirths rather than nirvana.[156][157][note 15]
Pratityasamutpada, also called "dependent arising, or dependent origination", is the Buddhist theory to explain the nature and relations of being, becoming, existence and ultimate reality. Buddhism asserts that there is nothing independent, except the state of nirvana.[160] All physical and mental states depend on and arise from other pre-existing states, and in turn from them arise other dependent states while they cease.[161]
The 'dependent arisings' have a causal conditioning, and thusPratityasamutpada is the Buddhist belief that causality is the basis ofontology, not a creator God nor the ontological Vedic concept called universal Self (Brahman) nor any other 'transcendent creative principle'.[162][163] However, Buddhist thought does not understand causality in terms of Newtonian mechanics; rather it understands it as conditioned arising.[164][165] In Buddhism, dependent arising refers to conditions created by a plurality of causes that necessarily co-originate a phenomenon within and across lifetimes, such as karma in one life creating conditions that lead to rebirth in one of the realms of existence for another lifetime.[166][167][168]
Buddhism applies the theory of dependent arising to explain origination of endless cycles ofdukkha and rebirth, throughTwelve Nidānas or "twelve links". It states that becauseAvidyā (ignorance) exists,Saṃskāras (karmic formations) exist; because Saṃskāras exist thereforeVijñāna (consciousness) exists; and in a similar manner it linksNāmarūpa (the sentient body),Ṣaḍāyatana (our six senses),Sparśa (sensory stimulation),Vedanā (feeling),Taṇhā (craving),Upādāna (grasping),Bhava (becoming),Jāti (birth), andJarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, and pain).[169][170] By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained.[171]
A related doctrine in Buddhism is that ofanattā (Pali) oranātman (Sanskrit). It is the view that there is no unchanging, permanent self, soul or essence in phenomena.[172] The Buddha and Buddhist philosophers who follow him such as Vasubandhu and Buddhaghosa, generally argue for this view by analyzing the person through the schema of thefive aggregates, and then attempting to show that none of these five components of personality can be permanent or absolute.[173] This can be seen in Buddhist discourses such as theAnattalakkhana Sutta.
"Emptiness" or "voidness" (Skt: Śūnyatā, Pali:Suññatā), is a related concept with many different interpretations throughout the various Buddhisms. In early Buddhism, it was commonly stated that all five aggregates are void (rittaka), hollow (tucchaka), coreless (asāraka), for example as in thePheṇapiṇḍūpama Sutta (SN 22:95).[174] Similarly, in Theravada Buddhism, it often means that the five aggregates are empty of a Self.[175]
Emptiness is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism, especially inNagarjuna'sMadhyamaka school, and in thePrajñāpāramitā sutras. In Madhyamaka philosophy, emptiness is the view which holds that all phenomena are without anysvabhava (literally "own-nature" or "self-nature"), and are thus without any underlying essence, and so are "empty" of being independent.[example needed] This doctrine sought to refute the heterodox theories ofsvabhava circulating at the time.[176]
While all varieties of Buddhism revere "Buddha" and "buddhahood", they have different views on what these are. Regardless of their interpretation, the concept of Buddha is central to all forms of Buddhism.
In Theravada Buddhism, a Buddha is someone who has become awake through their own efforts and insight. They have put an end to their cycle of rebirths and have ended all unwholesome mental states which lead to bad action and thus are morally perfected.[178] While subject to the limitations of the human body in certain ways (for example, in the early texts, the Buddha suffers from backaches), a Buddha is said to be "deep, immeasurable, hard-to-fathom as is the great ocean", and also has immense psychic powers (abhijñā).[179]
Mahāyāna Buddhism meanwhile, has a vastly expandedcosmology, with variousBuddhas and other holy beings (aryas) residing in different realms. Mahāyāna texts not only revere numerousBuddhas besidesShakyamuni, such asAmitabha andVairocana, but also see them as transcendental or supramundane (lokuttara) beings.[180] Mahāyāna Buddhism holds that these other Buddhas in other realms can be contacted and are able to benefit beings in this world.[181] In Mahāyāna, a Buddha is a kind of "spiritual king", a "protector of all creatures" with a lifetime that is countless of eons long, rather than just a human teacher who has transcended the world after death.[182] Shakyamuni's life and death on earth is then usually understood as a "mere appearance" or "a manifestation skilfully projected into earthly life by a long-enlightened transcendent being, who is still available to teach the faithful through visionary experiences".[182][183]
The second of the three jewels is "Dharma" (Pali: Dhamma), which in Buddhism refers to the Buddha's teaching, which includes all of the main ideas outlined above. While this teaching reflects the true nature of reality, it is not a belief to be clung to, but a pragmatic teaching to be put into practice. It is likened to a raft which is "for crossing over" (to nirvana) not for holding on to.[184] It also refers to the universal law and cosmic order which that teaching both reveals and relies upon.[185] It is an everlasting principle which applies to all beings and worlds. In that sense it is also the ultimate truth and reality about the universe, it is thus "the way that things really are".
The third "jewel" which Buddhists take refuge in is the "Sangha", which refers to the monastic community of monks and nuns who follow Gautama Buddha's monastic discipline which was "designed to shape the Sangha as an ideal community, with the optimum conditions for spiritual growth."[186] The Sangha consists of those who have chosen to follow the Buddha's ideal way of life, which is one of celibate monastic renunciation with minimal material possessions (such as an alms bowl and robes).[187]
The Sangha is seen as important because they preserve and pass down Buddha Dharma. As Gethin states "the Sangha lives the teaching, preserves the teaching as Scriptures and teaches the wider community. Without the Sangha there is no Buddhism."[188] The Sangha also acts as a "field of merit" for laypersons, allowing them to make spiritual merit or goodness by donating to the Sangha and supporting them. In return, they keep their duty to preserve and spread the Dharma everywhere for the good of the world.[189]
There is also a separate definition of Sangha, referring to those who have attained anystage of awakening, whether or not they are monastics. This sangha is called theāryasaṅgha "noble Sangha".[190] All forms of Buddhism generally reveres theseāryas (Pali:ariya, "noble ones" or "holy ones") who are spiritually attained beings. Aryas have attained the fruits of the Buddhist path.[191]
Mahāyāna Buddhism also differs from Theravada and the other schools of early Buddhism in promoting several unique doctrines which are contained in Mahāyāna sutras and philosophical treatises.
One of these is the unique interpretation of emptiness and dependent origination found in the Madhyamaka school. Another very influential doctrine for Mahāyāna is the main philosophical view of theYogācāra school variously, termedVijñaptimātratā-vāda ("the doctrine that there are only ideas" or "mental impressions") orVijñānavāda ("the doctrine of consciousness"). According to Mark Siderits, what classical Yogācāra thinkers like Vasubandhu had in mind is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions, which may appear as external objects, but "there is actually no such thing outside the mind".[192] There are several interpretations of this main theory, many scholars see it as a type of Idealism, others as a kind of phenomenology.[193]
Another very influential concept unique to Mahāyāna is that of "Buddha-nature" (buddhadhātu) or "Tathagata-womb" (tathāgatagarbha). Buddha-nature is a concept found in some 1st-millennium CE Buddhist texts, such as theTathāgatagarbha sūtras. According to Paul Williams theseSutras suggest that 'all sentient beings contain a Tathagata' as their 'essence, core inner nature, Self'.[194][note 16] According to Karl Brunnholzl "the earliest mahayana sutras that are based on and discuss the notion of tathāgatagarbha as the buddha potential that is innate in all sentient beings began to appear in written form in the late second and early third century."[196] For some, the doctrine seems to conflict with the Buddhist anatta doctrine (non-Self), leading scholars to posit that theTathāgatagarbha Sutras were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists.[197][198] This can be seen in texts like theLaṅkāvatāra Sūtra, which state that Buddha-nature is taught to help those who have fear when they listen to the teaching of anatta.[199] Buddhist texts like theRatnagotravibhāga clarify that the "Self" implied inTathagatagarbha doctrine is actually "not-self".[200][201]
TheBodhipakkhiyādhammā are seven lists of qualities or factors that promote spiritual awakening (bodhi). Each list is a short summary of the Buddhist path, and the seven lists substantially overlap. The best-known list in the West is theNoble Eightfold Path, but a wide variety of paths and models of progress have been used and described in the different Buddhist traditions. However, they generally share basic practices such assila (ethics),samadhi (meditation,dhyana) andprajña (wisdom), which are known as the three trainings. An important additional practice is a kind and compassionate attitude toward every living being and the world.Devotion is also important in some Buddhist traditions, and in the Tibetan traditions visualisations of deities and mandalas are important. The value of textual study is regarded differently in the various Buddhist traditions. It is central to Theravada and highly important to Tibetan Buddhism, while the Zen tradition takes an ambiguous stance.
An important guiding principle of Buddhist practice is theMiddle Way (madhyamapratipad). It was a part of Buddha's first sermon, where he presented theNoble Eightfold Path that was a 'middle way' between the extremes of asceticism and hedonistic sense pleasures.[202][203] In Buddhism, states Harvey, the doctrine of "dependent arising" (conditioned arising,pratītyasamutpāda) to explain rebirth is viewed as the 'middle way' between the doctrines that a being has a "permanent soul" involved in rebirth (eternalism) and "death is final and there is no rebirth" (annihilationism).[204][205]
Paths to liberation in the early texts
A common presentation style of the path (mārga) to liberation in theEarly Buddhist Texts is the "graduated talk", in which the Buddha lays out a step-by-step training.[206]
In the early texts, numerous different sequences of the gradual path can be found.[207] One of the most important and widely used presentations among the various Buddhist schools is TheNoble Eightfold Path, or "Eightfold Path of the Noble Ones" (Skt.'āryāṣṭāṅgamārga'). This can be found in various discourses, most famously in theDhammacakkappavattana Sutta (The discourse on the turning of theDharma wheel).
Other suttas such as theTevijja Sutta, and theCula-Hatthipadopama-sutta give a different outline of the path, though with many similar elements such as ethics and meditation.[207]
According to Rupert Gethin, the path to awakening is also frequently summarized by another a short formula: "abandoning the hindrances, practice of the four establishings of mindfulness, and development of the awakening factors".[208]
The Eightfold Path consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation ofdukkha.[209] These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.
This Eightfold Path is the fourth of theFour Noble Truths and asserts the path to the cessation ofdukkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness).[210][211] The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging andkarmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of rebirth and suffering.[212][213][214]
The belief that there is an afterlife and not everything ends with death, that Buddha taught and followed a successful path to nirvana;[215] according to Peter Harvey, the right view is held in Buddhism as a belief in the Buddhist principles ofkarma andrebirth, and the importance of theFour Noble Truths and the True Realities.[218]
2. Right intention
samyag saṃkalpa, sammā saṅkappa
Giving up home and adopting the life of a religious mendicant in order to follow the path;[215] this concept, states Harvey, aims at peaceful renunciation, into an environment of non-sensuality, non-ill-will (to lovingkindness), away from cruelty (to compassion).[218]
No lying, no rude speech, no telling one person what another says about him, speaking that which leads to salvation.[215]
4. Right action
samyag karman, sammā kammanta
No killing or injuring, no taking what is not given; no sexual acts in monastic pursuit,[215] for lay Buddhists no sensual misconduct such as sexual involvement with someone married, or with an unmarried woman protected by her parents or relatives.[219][220][221]
5. Right livelihood
samyag ājīvana, sammā ājīva
For monks, beg to feed, only possessing what is essential to sustain life.[222] For lay Buddhists, the canonical texts state right livelihood as abstaining from wrong livelihood, explained as not becoming a source or means of suffering to sentient beings by cheating them, or harming or killing them in any way.[223][224]
Guard against sensual thoughts; this concept, states Harvey, aims at preventing unwholesome states that disrupt meditation.[225]
7. Right mindfulness
samyag smṛti, sammā sati
Never be absent-minded, conscious of what one is doing; this, states Harvey, encourages mindfulness about impermanence of the body, feelings and mind, as well as to experience the fiveskandhas, the five hindrances, the four True Realities and seven factors of awakening.[225]
8. Right concentration
samyag samādhi, sammā samādhi
Correct meditation or concentration (dhyana), explained as the four jhānas.[215][226]
In various suttas which present the graduated path taught by the Buddha, such as theSamaññaphala Sutta and theCula-Hatthipadopama Sutta, the first step on the path is hearing the Buddha teach the Dharma. This then said to lead to the acquiring of confidence or faith in the Buddha's teachings.[207]
Mahayana Buddhist teachers such asYin Shun also state that hearing the Dharma and study of the Buddhist discourses is necessary "if one wants to learn and practice the Buddha Dharma."[227] Likewise, in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, the "Stages of the Path" (Lamrim) texts generally place the activity of listening to the Buddhist teachings as an important early practice.[228]
Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires taking of the "Three Refuges", also called the Three Jewels (Sanskrit:triratna,Pali:tiratana) as the foundation of one's religious practice.[229] This practice may have been influenced by theBrahmanical motif of the triple refuge, found in theRigveda 9.97.47,Rigveda 6.46.9 andChandogya Upanishad 2.22.3–4.[230] Tibetan Buddhism sometimes adds a fourth refuge, in thelama. The three refuges are believed by Buddhists to be protective and a form of reverence.[229]
The ancient formula which is repeated for taking refuge affirms that "I go to the Buddha as refuge, I go to the Dhamma as refuge, I go to the Sangha as refuge."[231] Reciting the three refuges, according to Harvey, is considered not as a place to hide, rather a thought that "purifies, uplifts and strengthens the heart".[177]
Buddhist monks collect alms inSi Phan Don, Laos. Giving is a key virtue in Buddhism.
Śīla (Sanskrit) orsīla (Pāli) is the concept of "moral virtues", that is the second group and an integral part of the Noble Eightfold Path.[218] It generally consists of right speech, right action and right livelihood.[218]
One of the most basic forms of ethics in Buddhism is the taking of "precepts". This includes the Five Precepts for laypeople, Eight or Ten Precepts for monastic life, as well as rules of Dhamma (Vinaya orPatimokkha) adopted by a monastery.[232][233]
Other important elements of Buddhist ethics includegiving or charity (dāna),Mettā (Good-Will), Heedfulness (Appamada), 'self-respect' (Hri) and 'regard for consequences' (Apatrapya).
Buddhist scriptures explain the five precepts (Pali:pañcasīla;Sanskrit:pañcaśīla) as the minimal standard of Buddhist morality.[219] It is the most important system of morality in Buddhism, together with themonastic rules.[234]
The five precepts are seen as a basic training applicable to all Buddhists. They are:[232][235][236]
"I undertake the training-precept (sikkha-padam) to abstain from onslaught on breathing beings." This includes ordering or causing someone else to kill. The Pali suttas also say one should not "approve of others killing" and that one should be "scrupulous, compassionate, trembling for the welfare of all living beings".[237]
"I undertake the training-precept to abstain from taking what is not given." According to Harvey, this also covers fraud, cheating, forgery as well as "falsely denying that one is in debt to someone".[238]
"I undertake the training-precept to abstain from misconduct concerning sense-pleasures." This generally refers toadultery, as well as rape and incest. It also applies to sex with those who are legally under the protection of a guardian. It is also interpreted in different ways in the varying Buddhist cultures.[239]
"I undertake the training-precept to abstain from false speech." According to Harvey this includes "any form of lying, deception or exaggeration...even non-verbal deception by gesture or other indication...or misleading statements."[240] The precept is often also seen as including other forms of wrong speech such as "divisive speech, harsh, abusive, angry words, and even idle chatter".[241]
"I undertake the training-precept to abstain from alcoholic drink or drugs that are an opportunity for heedlessness." According to Harvey, intoxication is seen as a way to mask rather than face the sufferings of life. It is seen as damaging to one's mental clarity, mindfulness and ability to keep the other four precepts.[242]
Undertaking and upholding the five precepts is based on the principle ofnon-harming (Pāli andSanskrit:ahiṃsa).[243] ThePali Canon recommends one to compare oneself with others, and on the basis of that, not to hurt others.[244] Compassion and a belief inkarmic retribution form the foundation of the precepts.[245][246] Undertaking the five precepts is part of regular lay devotional practice, both at home and at the local temple.[247][248] However, the extent to which people keep them differs per region and time.[249][248] They are sometimes referred to as theśrāvakayāna precepts in theMahāyāna tradition, contrasting them with thebodhisattva precepts.[250]
An ordination ceremony atWat Yannawa in Bangkok. The Vinaya codes regulate the various sangha acts, including ordination.
Vinaya is the specific code of conduct for asangha of monks or nuns. It includes thePatimokkha, a set of 227 offences including 75 rules of decorum for monks, along with penalties for transgression, in the Theravadin tradition.[251] The precise content of theVinaya Pitaka (scriptures on the Vinaya) differs in different schools and tradition, and different monasteries set their own standards on its implementation. The list ofpattimokkha is recited every fortnight in a ritual gathering of all monks.[251] Buddhist text with vinaya rules for monasteries have been traced in all Buddhist traditions, with the oldest surviving being the ancient Chinese translations.[252]
Monastic communities in the Buddhist tradition cut normal social ties to family and community and live as "islands unto themselves".[253] Within a monastic fraternity, asangha has its own rules.[253] A monk abides by these institutionalised rules, and living life as the vinaya prescribes it is not merely a means, but very nearly the end in itself.[253] Transgressions by a monk onSangha vinaya rules invites enforcement, which can include temporary or permanent expulsion.[254]
Restraint and renunciation
Living at the root of a tree (trukkhamulik'anga) is one of thedhutaṅgas, a series of optional ascetic practices for Buddhist monastics.
Another important practice taught by the Buddha is the restraint of the senses (indriyasamvara). In the various graduated paths, this is usually presented as a practice which is taught prior to formal sitting meditation, and which supports meditation by weakening sense desires that are ahindrance to meditation.[255] According toAnālayo, sense restraint is when one "guards the sense doors in order to prevent sense impressions from leading to desires and discontent".[255] This is not an avoidance of sense impression, but a kind of mindful attention towards the sense impressions which does not dwell on their main features or signs (nimitta). This is said to prevent harmful influences from entering the mind.[256] This practice is said to give rise to an inner peace and happiness which forms a basis for concentration and insight.[256]
A related Buddhist virtue and practice is renunciation, or the intent for desirelessness (nekkhamma).[257] Generally, renunciation is the giving up of actions and desires that are seen as unwholesome on the path, such as lust for sensuality and worldly things.[258] Renunciation can be cultivated in different ways. The practice of giving for example, is one form of cultivating renunciation. Another one is the giving up of lay life and becoming a monastic (bhiksu orbhiksuni).[259] Practicingcelibacy (whether for life as a monk, or temporarily) is also a form of renunciation.[260] ManyJataka stories focus on how the Buddha practiced renunciation in past lives.[261]
One way of cultivating renunciation taught by the Buddha is the contemplation (anupassana) of the "dangers" (or "negative consequences") of sensual pleasure (kāmānaṃ ādīnava). As part of the graduated discourse, this contemplation is taught after the practice of giving and morality.[262]
Another related practice to renunciation and sense restraint taught by the Buddha is "restraint in eating" or moderation with food, which for monks generally means not eating after noon. Devout laypersons also follow this rule during special days of religious observance (uposatha).[263]
Mindfulness and clear comprehension
The training of the faculty called"mindfulness" (Pali:sati, Sanskrit:smṛti, literally meaning "recollection, remembering") is central in Buddhism. According to Analayo, mindfulness is a full awareness of the present moment which enhances and strengthens memory.[264] The Indian Buddhist philosopherAsanga defined mindfulness thus: "It is non-forgetting by the mind with regard to the object experienced. Its function is non-distraction."[265] According to Rupert Gethin,sati is also "an awareness of things in relation to things, and hence an awareness of their relative value".[266]
There are different practices and exercises for training mindfulness in the early discourses, such as the fourSatipaṭṭhānas (Sanskrit:smṛtyupasthāna, "establishments of mindfulness") andĀnāpānasati (Sanskrit:ānāpānasmṛti, "mindfulness of breathing").
A closely related mental faculty, which is often mentioned side by side with mindfulness, issampajañña ("clear comprehension"). This faculty is the ability to comprehend what one is doing and is happening in the mind, and whether it is being influenced by unwholesome states or wholesome ones.[267]
A wide range of meditation practices has developed in the Buddhist traditions, but "meditation" primarily refers to the attainment ofsamādhi and the practice ofdhyāna (Pali:jhāna).Samādhi is a calm, undistracted, unified and concentrated state of awareness. It is defined by Asanga as "one-pointedness of mind on the object to be investigated. Its function consists of giving a basis to knowledge (jñāna)."[265]Dhyāna is "state of perfect equanimity and awareness (upekkhā-sati-parisuddhi)," reached through focused mental training.[268]
The practice ofdhyāna aids in maintaining a calm mind and avoiding disturbance of this calm mind by mindfulness of disturbing thoughts and feelings.[269][note 17]
Origins
The earliest evidence of yogis and their meditative tradition, states Karel Werner, is found in theKeśin hymn 10.136 of theRigveda.[270] While evidence suggestsmeditation was practised in the centuries preceding the Buddha,[271] the meditative methodologies described in the Buddhist texts are some of the earliest among texts that have survived into the modern era.[272][273] These methodologies likely incorporate what existed before the Buddha as well as those first developed within Buddhism.[274][note 18]
There is no scholarly agreement on the origin and source of the practice ofdhyāna. Some scholars, like Bronkhorst, see thefour dhyānas as a Buddhist invention.[278] Alexander Wynne argues that the Buddha learneddhyāna from Brahmanical teachers.[279]
Whatever the case, the Buddha taught meditation with a new focus and interpretation, particularly through thefour dhyānas methodology,[280] in which mindfulness is maintained.[281][282] Further, the focus of meditation and the underlying theory of liberation guiding the meditation has been different in Buddhism.[271][283][284] For example, states Bronkhorst, the verse 4.4.23 of theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad with its "become calm, subdued, quiet, patiently enduring, concentrated, one sees soul in oneself" is most probably a meditative state.[285] The Buddhist discussion of meditation is without the concept of soul and the discussion criticises both the ascetic meditation of Jainism and the "real self, soul" meditation of Hinduism.[286]
The formless attainments
Often grouped into thejhāna-scheme are four other meditative states, referred to in the early texts asarupa samāpattis (formless attainments). These are also referred to in commentarial literature as immaterial/formlessjhānas (arūpajhānas). The first formless attainment is a place or realm of infinite space (ākāsānañcāyatana) without form or colour or shape. The second is termed the realm of infinite consciousness (viññāṇañcāyatana); the third is the realm of nothingness (ākiñcaññāyatana), while the fourth is the realm of "neither perception nor non-perception".[287] The fourrupa-jhānas in Buddhist practice leads to rebirth in successfully betterrupa Brahma heavenly realms, whilearupa-jhānas leads into arupa heavens.[288][289]
In the Pali canon, the Buddha outlines two meditative qualities which are mutually supportive:samatha (Pāli; Sanskrit:śamatha; "calm") andvipassanā (Sanskrit:vipaśyanā, insight).[290] The Buddha compares these mental qualities to a "swift pair of messengers" who together help deliver the message ofnibbana (SN 35.245).[291]
The various Buddhist traditions generally see Buddhist meditation as being divided into those two main types.[292][293] Samatha is also called "calming meditation", and focuses on stilling and concentrating the mind i.e. developing samadhi and the fourdhyānas. According toDamien Keown,vipassanā meanwhile, focuses on "the generation of penetrating and critical insight (paññā)".[294]
There are numerous doctrinal positions and disagreements within the different Buddhist traditions regarding these qualities or forms of meditation. For example, in the PaliFour Ways to Arahantship Sutta (AN 4.170), it is said that one can develop calm and then insight, or insight and then calm, or both at the same time.[295] Meanwhile, in Vasubandhu'sAbhidharmakośakārikā, vipaśyanā is said to be practiced once one has reached samadhi by cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness (smṛtyupasthānas).[296]
Beginning with comments byLa Vallee Poussin, a series of scholars have argued that these two meditation types reflect a tension between two different ancient Buddhist traditions regarding the use ofdhyāna, one which focused on insight based practice and the other which focused purely ondhyāna.[297][298] However, other scholars such as Analayo and Rupert Gethin have disagreed with this "two paths" thesis, instead seeing both of these practices as complementary.[298][299]
The four immeasurables or four abodes, also calledBrahma-viharas, are virtues or directions for meditation in Buddhist traditions, which helps a person be reborn in the heavenly (Brahma) realm.[300][301][302] These are traditionally believed to be a characteristic of the deity Brahma and the heavenly abode he resides in.[303]
The fourBrahma-vihara are:
Loving-kindness (Pāli:mettā, Sanskrit:maitrī) is active good will towards all;[301][304]
Compassion (Pāli and Sanskrit:karuṇā) results frommetta; it is identifying the suffering of others as one's own;[301][304]
Empathetic joy (Pāli and Sanskrit:muditā): is the feeling of joy because others are happy, even if one did not contribute to it; it is a form of sympathetic joy;[304]
Equanimity (Pāli:upekkhā, Sanskrit:upekṣā): is even-mindedness and serenity, treating everyone impartially.[301][304]
An 18th century Mongolian miniature which depicts the generation of the Vairocana Mandala
Some Buddhist traditions, especially those associated with Tantric Buddhism (also known as Vajrayana and Secret Mantra) use images and symbols of deities and Buddhas in meditation. This is generally done by mentally visualizing a Buddha image (or some other mental image, like a symbol, a mandala, a syllable, etc.), and using that image to cultivate calm and insight. One may also visualize and identify oneself with the imagined deity.[305][306] While visualization practices have been particularly popular in Vajrayana, they may also found in Mahayana and Theravada traditions.[307]
In Tibetan Buddhism, unique tantric techniques which include visualization (but alsomantra recitation,mandalas, and other elements) are considered to be much more effective than non-tantric meditations and they are one of the most popular meditation methods.[308] The methods ofUnsurpassable Yoga Tantra, (anuttarayogatantra) are in turn seen as the highest and most advanced. Anuttarayoga practice is divided into two stages, theGeneration Stage and theCompletion Stage. In the Generation Stage, one meditates on emptiness and visualizes oneself as a deity as well as visualizing its mandala. The focus is on developing clear appearance and divine pride (the understanding that oneself and the deity are one).[309] This method is also known as deity yoga (devata yoga). There are numerous meditation deities (yidam) used, each with a mandala, a circular symbolic map used in meditation.[310]
Prajñā (Sanskrit) orpaññā (Pāli) iswisdom, or knowledge of the true nature of existence. Another term which is associated withprajñā and sometimes is equivalent to it isvipassanā (Pāli) orvipaśyanā (Sanskrit), which is often translated as "insight". In Buddhist texts, the faculty of insight is often said to be cultivated through the four establishments of mindfulness.[311] In the early texts,Paññā is included as one of the "five faculties" (indriya) which are commonly listed as important spiritual elements to be cultivated (see for example: AN I 16).Paññā along with samadhi, is also listed as one of the "trainings in the higher states of mind" (adhicittasikkha).[311]
The Buddhist tradition regards ignorance (avidyā), a fundamental ignorance, misunderstanding or mis-perception of the nature of reality, as one of the basic causes ofdukkha andsamsara. Overcoming this ignorance is part of the path to awakening. This overcoming includes the contemplation of impermanence and the non-self nature of reality,[312][313] and this develops dispassion for the objects ofclinging, and liberates a being fromdukkha andsaṃsāra.[314][315][316]
Prajñā is important in all Buddhist traditions. It is variously described as wisdom regarding the impermanent andnot-self nature of dharmas (phenomena), the functioning of karma and rebirth, and knowledge of dependent origination.[317] Likewise,vipaśyanā is described in a similar way, such as in thePaṭisambhidāmagga, where it is said to be the contemplation of things as impermanent, unsatisfactory andnot-self.[318]
Most forms of Buddhism "considersaddhā (Sanskrit:śraddhā), 'trustful confidence' or 'faith', as a quality which must be balanced by wisdom, and as a preparation for, or accompaniment of, meditation."[319] Because of this devotion (Sanskrit: bhakti; Pali: bhatti) is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists.[320]Devotional practices include ritual prayer, prostration, offerings, pilgrimage, and chanting.[321] Buddhist devotion is usually focused on some object, image or location that is seen as holy or spiritually influential. Examples of objects of devotion include paintings or statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, stupas, and bodhi trees.[322] Public group chanting for devotional and ceremonial is common to all Buddhist traditions and goes back to ancient India where chanting aided in the memorization of the orally transmitted teachings.[323] Rosaries called malas are used in all Buddhist traditions to count repeated chanting of common formulas or mantras. Chanting is thus a type of devotional group meditation which leads to tranquility and communicates the Buddhist teachings.[324]
Based on the Indian principle ofahimsa (non-harming), the Buddha's ethics strongly condemn the harming of all sentient beings, including all animals. He thus condemned the animal sacrifice of the Brahmins as well hunting, and killing animals for food.[325] However, early Buddhist texts depict the Buddha as allowing monastics to eat meat. This seems to be because monastics begged for their food and thus were supposed to accept whatever food was offered to them.[326] This was tempered by the rule that meat had to be "three times clean": "they had not seen, had not heard, and had no reason to suspect that the animal had been killed so that the meat could be given to them".[327] Also, while the Buddha did not explicitly promote vegetarianism in his discourses, he did state that gaining one's livelihood from the meat trade was unethical.[328] In contrast to this, various Mahayana sutras and texts like theMahaparinirvana sutra,Surangama sutra and theLankavatara sutra state that the Buddha promoted vegetarianism out of compassion.[329] Indian Mahayana thinkers like Shantideva promoted the avoidance of meat.[330] Throughout history, the issue of whether Buddhists should be vegetarian has remained a much debated topic and there is a variety of opinions on this issue among modern Buddhists.
A depiction of the supposedFirst Buddhist council atRajgir. Communal recitation was one of the original ways of transmitting and preserving Early Buddhist texts.
Buddhism, like all Indian religions, was initially anoral tradition in ancient times.[331] The Buddha's words, the early doctrines, concepts, and their traditional interpretations were orally transmitted from one generation to the next. The earliest oral texts were transmitted in MiddleIndo-Aryan languages calledPrakrits, such asPali, through the use of communal recitation and othermnemonic techniques.[332] The first Buddhist canonical texts were likely written down in Sri Lanka, about 400 years after the Buddha died.[331] The texts were part of theTripitakas, and many versions appeared thereafter claiming to be the words of the Buddha. Scholarly Buddhist commentary texts, with named authors, appeared in India, around the 2nd century CE.[331] These texts were written in Pali or Sanskrit, sometimes regional languages, aspalm-leaf manuscripts, birch bark, painted scrolls, carved into temple walls, and later on paper.[331]
Unlike what theBible is toChristianity and theQuran is toIslam, but like all major ancient Indian religions, there is no consensus among the different Buddhist traditions as to what constitutes the scriptures or a common canon in Buddhism.[331] The general belief among Buddhists is that the canonical corpus is vast.[333][334][335] This corpus includes the ancientSutras organised intoNikayas orAgamas, itself the part of three basket of texts called theTripitakas.[336] Each Buddhist tradition has its own collection of texts, much of which is translation of ancient Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist texts of India. TheChinese Buddhist canon, for example, includes 2184 texts in 55 volumes, while theTibetan canon comprises 1108 texts – all claimed to have been spoken by the Buddha – and another 3461 texts composed by Indian scholars revered in the Tibetan tradition.[337] The Buddhist textual history is vast; over 40,000 manuscripts – mostly Buddhist, some non-Buddhist – were discovered in 1900 in the Dunhuang Chinese cave alone.[337]
The Early Buddhist Texts refers to the literature which is considered by modern scholars to be the earliest Buddhist material. The first fourPaliNikayas, and the corresponding ChineseĀgamas are generally considered to be among the earliest material.[338][339][340] Apart from these, there are also fragmentary collections of EBT materials in other languages such asSanskrit,Khotanese,Tibetan andGāndhārī. The modern study ofearly Buddhism often relies on comparative scholarship using these various early Buddhist sources to identify parallel texts and common doctrinal content.[341] One feature of these early texts are literary structures which reflect oral transmission, such as widespread repetition.[342]
After the development of the differentearly Buddhist schools, these schools began to develop their own textual collections, which were termedTripiṭakas (Triple Baskets).[343]
Many earlyTripiṭakas, like the PāliTipitaka, were divided into three sections:Vinaya Pitaka (focuses onmonastic rule),Sutta Pitaka (Buddhist discourses) andAbhidhamma Pitaka, which contain expositions and commentaries on the doctrine. ThePāliTipitaka (also known as the Pali Canon) of the Theravada School constitutes the only complete collection of Buddhist texts in anIndic language which has survived until today.[344] However, manySutras,Vinayas andAbhidharma works from other schools survive in Chinese translation, as part of the Chinese Buddhist Canon. According to some sources, some early schools of Buddhism had five or sevenpitakas.[345]
TheMahāyāna sūtras are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures that theMahāyāna Buddhist tradition holds are original teachings ofthe Buddha. Modern historians generally hold that the first of these texts were composed probably around the 1st century BCE or 1st century CE.[346][347][348] In Mahāyāna, these texts are generally given greater authority than the early Āgamas and Abhidharma literature, which are called "Śrāvakayāna" or "Hinayana" to distinguish them from Mahāyāna sūtras.[349] Mahāyāna traditions mainly see these different classes of texts as being designed for different types of persons, with different levels of spiritual understanding. The Mahāyāna sūtras are mainly seen as being for those of "greater" capacity.[350][better source needed] Mahāyāna also has a very large literature of philosophical and exegetical texts. These are often calledśāstra (treatises) orvrittis (commentaries). Some of this literature was also written in verse form (karikās), the most famous of which is theMūlamadhyamika-karikā (Root Verses on the Middle Way) byNagarjuna, the foundational text of theMadhyamika school.
During theGupta Empire, a new class of Buddhist sacred literature began to develop, which are called theTantras.[351] By the 8th century, the tantric tradition was very influential in India and beyond. Besides drawing on aMahāyāna Buddhist framework, these texts also borrowed deities and material from other Indian religious traditions, such as theŚaiva andPancharatra traditions, local god/goddess cults, and local spirit worship (such asyaksha ornāga spirits).[352][353]
Historically, the roots of Buddhism lie in the religious thought ofIron Age India around the middle of the first millennium BCE.[357] This was a period of great intellectual ferment and socio-cultural change known as the"Second urbanisation", marked by the growth of towns and trade, the composition of theUpanishads and the historical emergence of theŚramaṇa traditions.[358][359][note 19]
New ideas developed both in theVedic tradition in the form of the Upanishads, and outside of the Vedic tradition through the Śramaṇa movements.[362][363][364] The term Śramaṇa refers to several Indian religious movements parallel to but separate from thehistorical Vedic religion, including Buddhism,Jainism and others such asĀjīvika.[365]
Several Śramaṇa movements are known to have existed in India before the 6th century BCE (pre-Buddha, pre-Mahavira), and these influenced both theāstika and nāstika traditions ofIndian philosophy.[366] According to Martin Wilshire, the Śramaṇa tradition evolved in India over two phases, namelyPaccekabuddha andSavaka phases, the former being the tradition of individual ascetic and the latter of disciples, and that Buddhism andJainism ultimately emerged from these.[367]Brahmanical and non-Brahmanical ascetic groups shared and used several similar ideas,[368] but the Śramaṇa traditions also drew upon already established Brahmanical concepts and philosophical roots, states Wiltshire, to formulate their own doctrines.[366][369] Brahmanical motifs can be found in the oldest Buddhist texts, using them to introduce and explain Buddhist ideas.[370] For example, prior to Buddhist developments, the Brahmanical tradition internalised and variously reinterpreted thethree Vedic sacrificial fires as concepts such as Truth, Rite, Tranquility or Restraint.[371] Buddhist texts also refer to the three Vedic sacrificial fires, reinterpreting and explaining them as ethical conduct.[372]
The Śramaṇa religions challenged and broke with the Brahmanic tradition on core assumptions such asAtman (soul, self),Brahman, the nature of afterlife, and they rejected the authority of theVedas andUpanishads.[373][374][375] Buddhism was one among several Indian religions that did so.[375]
Early Buddhist positions in theTheravada tradition had not established any deities, but were epistemologically cautious rather than directlyatheist. Later Buddhist traditions were more influenced by the critique of deities withinHinduism and therefore more committed to a strongly atheist stance. These developments were historic and epistemological as documented in verses fromŚāntideva'sBodhicaryāvatāra, and supplemented by reference tosuttas andjātakas from thePali canon.[376]
The history of Indian Buddhism may be divided into five periods:[377] Early Buddhism (occasionally calledpre-sectarian Buddhism),Nikaya Buddhism or Sectarian Buddhism (the period of the early Buddhist schools), EarlyMahayana Buddhism, Late Mahayana, and the era ofVajrayana or the "Tantric Age".
According toLambert Schmithausen Pre-sectarian Buddhism is "the canonical period prior to the development of different schools with their different positions".[378]
Theearly Buddhist Texts include the four principal PaliNikāyas[note 20] (and their parallelAgamas found in the Chinese canon) together with the main body of monastic rules, which survive in the various versions of thepatimokkha.[379][380][381] However, these texts were revised over time, and it is unclear what constitutes the earliest layer of Buddhist teachings. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pāli Canon and other texts.[note 21] The reliability of the early sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute.[384] According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.[382][note 22]
According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:[388]
"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials". Proponents of this position includeA. K. Warder[note 23] andRichard Gombrich.[390][note 24]
"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism". Ronald Davidson is a proponent of this position.[note 25]
"Cautious optimism in this respect". Proponents of this position include J.W. de Jong,[392][note 26] Johannes Bronkhorst[note 27] and Donald Lopez.[note 28]
According to N. Ross Reat, all of these doctrines are shared by the Theravada Pali texts and the Mahasamghika school'sŚālistamba Sūtra.[395] A recent study by Bhikkhu Analayo concludes that the TheravadaMajjhima Nikaya and SarvastivadaMadhyama Agama contain mostly the same major doctrines.[396]Richard Salomon, in his study of the Gandharan texts (which are the earliest manuscripts containing early discourses), has confirmed that their teachings are "consistent with non-Mahayana Buddhism, which survives today in the Theravada school of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, but which in ancient times was represented by eighteen separate schools."[397]
However, some scholars argue that critical analysis reveals discrepancies among the various doctrines found in these early texts, which point to alternative possibilities for early Buddhism.[398][399][400] The authenticity of certain teachings and doctrines have been questioned. For example, some scholars think that karma was not central to the teaching of the historical Buddha, while other disagree with this position.[401][402] Likewise, there is scholarly disagreement on whether insight was seen as liberating in early Buddhism or whether it was a later addition to the practice of the fourjhānas.[385][403][404] Scholars such as Bronkhorst also think that the four noble truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight".[405] According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way".[140] In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.[140]
According to numerous Buddhist scriptures, soon after theparinirvāṇa (from Sanskrit: "highest extinguishment") of Gautama Buddha, thefirst Buddhist council was held to collectively recite the teachings to ensure that no errors occurred in oral transmission. Many modern scholars question the historicity of this event.[406] However,Richard Gombrich states that the monastic assembly recitations of the Buddha's teaching likely began during Buddha's lifetime, and they served a similar role of codifying the teachings.[407]
The so calledSecond Buddhist council resulted in the first schism in theSangha. Modern scholars believe that this was probably caused when a group of reformists calledSthaviras ("elders") sought to modify the Vinaya (monastic rule), and this caused a split with the conservatives who rejected this change, they were calledMahāsāṃghikas.[408][409] While most scholars accept that this happened at some point, there is no agreement on the dating, especially if it dates to before or after the reign of Ashoka.[410]
Map of the Buddhist missions during the reign ofAshoka according to the Edicts of Ashoka
Buddhism may have spread only slowly throughout India until the time of theMauryan emperorAshoka (304–232 BCE), who was a public supporter of the religion. The support of Aśoka and his descendants led to the construction of morestūpas (such as atSanchi andBharhut), temples (such as theMahabodhi Temple) and to its spread throughout the Maurya Empire and into neighbouring lands such asCentral Asia and to the island ofSri Lanka.
During and after the Mauryan period (322–180 BCE), the Sthavira community gave rise to several schools, one of which was theTheravada school which tended to congregate in the south and another which was theSarvāstivāda school, which was mainly in north India. Likewise, theMahāsāṃghika groups also eventually split into different Sanghas. Originally, these schisms were caused by disputes over monastic disciplinary codes of various fraternities, but eventually, by about 100 CE if not earlier, schisms were being caused by doctrinal disagreements too.[411]
Following (or leading up to) the schisms, each Saṅgha started to accumulate their own version ofTripiṭaka (triple basket of texts).[67][412] In their Tripiṭaka, each school included the Suttas of the Buddha, a Vinaya basket (disciplinary code) and some schools also added anAbhidharma basket which were texts on detailed scholastic classification, summary and interpretation of the Suttas.[67][413] The doctrine details in the Abhidharmas of various Buddhist schools differ significantly, and these were composed starting about the third century BCE and through the 1st millennium CE.[414][415][416]
According to theedicts of Aśoka, the Mauryan emperor sent emissaries to various countries west of India to spread "Dharma", particularly in eastern provinces of the neighbouringSeleucid Empire, and even farther toHellenistic kingdoms of the Mediterranean. It is a matter of disagreement among scholars whether or not these emissaries were accompanied by Buddhist missionaries.[417]
Buddhist expansion throughout Asia
In central and west Asia, Buddhist influence grew, through Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs and ancient Asian trade routes, a phenomenon known asGreco-Buddhism. An example of this is evidenced in Chinese and Pali Buddhist records, such asMilindapanha and theGreco-Buddhist art ofGandhāra. TheMilindapanha describes a conversation between a Buddhist monk and the 2nd-century BCE Greek kingMenander, after which Menander abdicates and himself goes into monastic life in the pursuit of nirvana.[418][419] Some scholars have questioned theMilindapanha version, expressing doubts whether Menander was Buddhist or just favourably disposed to Buddhist monks.[420]
TheKushan Empire (30–375 CE) came to control the Silk Road trade through Central and South Asia, which brought them to interact withGandharan Buddhism and the Buddhist institutions of these regions. The Kushans patronised Buddhism throughout their lands, and many Buddhist centres were built or renovated (the Sarvastivada school was particularly favored), especially by Emperor Kanishka (128–151 CE).[421][422] Kushan support helped Buddhism to expand into a world religion through their trade routes.[423] Buddhism spread toKhotan, theTarim Basin, and China, eventually to other parts of the far east.[422] Some of the earliest written documents of the Buddhist faith are theGandharan Buddhist texts, dating from about the 1st century CE, and connected to theDharmaguptaka school.[424][425][426]
The origins of Mahāyāna ("Great Vehicle") Buddhism are not well understood and there are various competing theories about how and where this movement arose. Theories include the idea that it began as various groups venerating certain texts or that it arose as a strict forest ascetic movement.[428]
The first Mahāyāna works were written sometime between the 1st century BCE and the 2nd century CE.[347][428] Much of the early extant evidence for the origins of Mahāyāna comes from early Chinese translations of Mahāyāna texts, mainly those ofLokakṣema. (2nd century CE).[note 29] Some scholars have traditionally considered the earliestMahāyāna sūtras to include the first versions of thePrajnaparamita series, along with texts concerningAkṣobhya, which were probably composed in the 1st century BCE in the south of India.[430][note 30]
There is no evidence that Mahāyāna ever referred to a separate formal school or sect of Buddhism, with a separate monastic code (Vinaya), but rather that it existed as a certain set of ideals, and later doctrines, for bodhisattvas.[432][433] Records written by Chinese monks visiting India indicate that both Mahāyāna and non-Mahāyāna monks could be found in the same monasteries, with the difference that Mahāyāna monks worshipped figures of Bodhisattvas, while non-Mahayana monks did not.[434]
Site ofNalanda University, a great centre of Mahāyāna thought
Mahāyāna initially seems to have remained a small minority movement that was in tension with other Buddhist groups, struggling for wider acceptance.[435] However, during the fifth and sixth centuries CE, there seems to have been a rapid growth of Mahāyāna Buddhism, which is shown by a large increase in epigraphic and manuscript evidence in this period. However, it still remained a minority in comparison to other Buddhist schools.[436]
The question of the origins of early Vajrayana has been taken up by various scholars.David Seyfort Ruegg has suggested that Buddhist tantra employed various elements of a "pan-Indian religious substrate" which is not specifically Buddhist, Shaiva or Vaishnava.[442]
According to IndologistAlexis Sanderson, various classes of Vajrayana literature developed as a result of royal courts sponsoring both Buddhism andSaivism. Sanderson has argued that Buddhist tantras can be shown to have borrowed practices, terms, rituals and more form Shaiva tantras. He argues that Buddhist texts even directly copied various Shaiva tantras, especially the Bhairava Vidyapitha tantras.[443][444] Ronald M. Davidson meanwhile, argues that Sanderson's claims for direct influence from ShaivaVidyapitha texts are problematic because "the chronology of theVidyapitha tantras is by no means so well established"[445] and that the Shaiva tradition also appropriated non-Hindu deities, texts and traditions. Thus while "there can be no question that the Buddhist tantras were heavily influenced byKapalika and other Saiva movements" argues Davidson, "the influence was apparently mutual".[446]
TheSilk Road transmission of Buddhism to China is most commonly thought to have started in the late 2nd or the 1st century CE, though the literary sources are all open to question.[449][note 31] The first documented translation efforts by foreignBuddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE, probably as a consequence of the expansion of theKushan Empire into the Chinese territory of theTarim Basin.[451]
The first documented Buddhist texts translated into Chinese are those of the ParthianAn Shigao (148–180 CE).[452] The first knownMahāyāna scriptural texts are translations into Chinese by the Kushan monkLokakṣema inLuoyang, between 178 and 189 CE.[453] From China, Buddhism was introduced into its neighboursKorea (4th century),Japan (6th–7th centuries), andVietnam (c. 1st–2nd centuries).[454][455]
During the ChineseTang dynasty (618–907),Chinese Esoteric Buddhism was introduced from India andChan Buddhism (Zen) became a major religion.[456][457] Chan continued to grow in theSong dynasty (960–1279) and it was during this era that it strongly influenced Korean Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism.[458]Pure Land Buddhism also became popular during this period and was often practised together with Chan.[459] It was also during the Song that the entireChinese canon was printed using over 130,000 wooden printing blocks.[460]
During the Indian period of Esoteric Buddhism (from the 8th century onwards), Buddhism spread from India to Tibet andMongolia. Johannes Bronkhorst states that the esoteric form was attractive because it allowed both a secluded monastic community as well as the social rites and rituals important to laypersons and to kings for the maintenance of a political state during succession and wars to resist invasion.[461] During the Middle Ages, Buddhism slowly declined in India,[462] while it vanished from Persia and Central Asia as Islam became the state religion.[463][464]
Buddhists generally classify themselves as eitherTheravāda orMahāyāna.[470] This classification is also used by some scholars[471] and is the one ordinarily used in the English language.[472] An alternative scheme used by some scholars divides Buddhism into the following three traditions or geographical or cultural areas: Theravāda (or "Southern Buddhism", "South Asian Buddhism"),East Asian Buddhism (or just "Eastern Buddhism") andIndo-Tibetan Buddhism (or "Northern Buddhism").[note 32]
Buddhists of various traditions, Yeunten Ling Tibetan Institute
The Theravada tradition traces its origins as the oldest tradition holding the Pali Canon as the only authority. The Mahayana tradition reveres the Canon but also derivative literature that developed in the 1st millennium CE; its roots are traceable to the 1st century BCE. The Vajrayana tradition is closer to the Mahayana, includes Tantra, and as the younger of the three is traceable to the 1st millennium CE.[473][474]
Some scholars use other schemes, such as the multi-dimensional classification in theEncyclopedia of Religion.[475] Buddhists themselves have a variety of other schemes.Hinayana (literally "lesser or inferior vehicle") is sometimes used by Mahāyāna followers to name the family of early philosophical schools and traditions from which contemporary Theravāda emerged, but as the Hinayana term is considered derogatory, a variety of other terms are used instead, including:Śrāvakayāna, Nikaya Buddhism, early Buddhist schools, sectarian Buddhism and conservative Buddhism.[476][477]
Not all traditions of Buddhism share the same philosophical outlook or treat the same concepts as central. Each tradition, however, does have its own core concepts, and some comparisons can be drawn between them:[478][479]
Both Theravāda and Mahāyāna accept and reverethe Buddha Sakyamuni as the founder, Mahāyāna also reveres numerous other Buddhas, such asAmitabha orVairocana as well as many other bodhisattvas not revered in Theravāda.
Mahāyāna focuses mainly on thebodhisattva path to Buddhahood which it sees as universal and to be practiced by all persons, while Theravāda does not focus on teaching this path and teaches the attainment ofarhatship as a worthy goal to strive towards. The bodhisattva path is not denied in Theravāda, it is generally seen as a long and difficult path suitable for only a few.[480] Thus the Bodhisattva path is normative in Mahāyāna, while it is an optional path for a heroic few in Theravāda.[481]
Mahāyāna sees the arhat's nirvana as being imperfect and inferior or preliminary to full Buddhahood. It sees arhatship as selfish, since bodhisattvas vow to save all beings while arhats save only themselves.[482] Theravāda meanwhile does not accept that the arhat's nirvana is an inferior or preliminary attainment, nor that it is a selfish deed to attain arhatship since not only are arhats described as compassionate but they have destroyed the root of greed, the sense of "I am".[481]
Mahāyāna accepts the authority of the many Mahāyāna sutras along with the other Nikaya texts like the Agamas and the Pali canon (though it sees Mahāyāna texts as primary), while Theravāda does not accept that the Mahāyāna sutras arebuddhavacana (word of the Buddha) at all.[483]
Buddhist institutions are often housed and centred aroundmonasteries (Sanskrit:viharas) and temples. Buddhist monastics originally followed a life of wandering, never staying in one place for long. During the three-month rainy season (vassa) they would gather together in one place for a period of intense practice and then depart again.[484][485] Some of the earliest Buddhist monasteries were at groves (vanas) or woods (araññas), such asJetavana andSarnath's Deer Park. There originally seems to have been two main types of monasteries, monastic settlements (sangharamas) were built and supported by donors, and woodland camps (avasas) were set up by monks. Whatever structures were built in these locales were made out of wood and were sometimes temporary structures built for the rainy season.[486][487] Over time, the wandering community slowly adopted more settledcenobitic forms of monasticism.[488]
There are many different forms of Buddhist structures. Classic Indian Buddhist institutions mainly made use of the following structures: monasteries, rock-hewn cave complexes (such as theAjanta Caves),stupas (funerary mounds which contained relics), and temples such as theMahabodhi Temple.[489] In Southeast Asia, the most widespread institutions are centred onwats. East Asian Buddhist institutions also use various structures including monastic halls, temples, lecture halls, bell towers andpagodas. InJapanese Buddhist temples, these different structures are usually grouped together in an area termed thegaran. In Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist institutions are generally housed ingompas. They include monastic quarters, stupas and prayer halls with Buddha images. In the modern era, the Buddhist "meditation centre", which is mostly used by laypersons and often also staffed by them, has also become widespread.[490]
Buddhism has faced various challenges and changes during the colonisation of Buddhist states by Christian countries and its persecution under modern states. Like other religions, the findings of modern science have challenged its basic premises. One response to some of these challenges has come to be calledBuddhist modernism. Early Buddhist modernist figures such as the American convertHenry Olcott (1832–1907) andAnagarika Dharmapala (1864–1933) reinterpreted and promoted Buddhism as a scientific and rational religion which they saw as compatible with modern science.[491]
While there were some encounters of Western travellers or missionaries such as St.Francis Xavier andIppolito Desideri with Buddhist cultures, it was not until the 19th century that Buddhism began to be studied by Western scholars. It was the work of pioneering scholars such asEugène Burnouf,Max Müller,Hermann Oldenberg andThomas William Rhys Davids that paved the way for modernBuddhist studies in the West. The English words such as Buddhism, "Boudhist", "Bauddhist" and Buddhist were coined in the early 19th-century in the West,[497] while in 1881, Rhys Davids founded thePali Text Society—an influential Western resource of Buddhist literature in the Pali language and one of the earliest publisher of a journal onBuddhist studies.[498] It was also during the 19th century that Asian Buddhist immigrants (mainly from China and Japan) began to arrive in Western countries such as the United States and Canada, bringing with them their Buddhist religion. This period also saw the first Westerners to formally convert to Buddhism, such asHelena Blavatsky andHenry Steel Olcott.[499] An important event in the introduction of Buddhism to the West was the 1893World Parliament of Religions, which for the first time saw well-publicized speeches by major Buddhist leaders alongside other religious leaders.
The 20th century saw a prolific growth of new Buddhist institutions in Western countries, including theBuddhist Society, London (1924),Das Buddhistische Haus (1924) andDatsan Gunzechoinei inSt Petersburg. The publication and translations of Buddhist literature in Western languages thereafter accelerated. After thesecond world war, further immigration from Asia, globalisation, thesecularisation on Western culture as well a renewed interest in Buddhism among the 60scounterculture led to further growth in Buddhist institutions.[500] Influential figures on post-warWestern Buddhism includeShunryu Suzuki,Jack Kerouac,Alan Watts,Thích Nhất Hạnh, and the14th Dalai Lama. While Buddhist institutions have grown, some of the central premises of Buddhism such as the cycles of rebirth andFour Noble Truths have been problematic in the West.[501][502][503] In contrast, states Christopher Gowans, for "most ordinary [Asian] Buddhists, today as well as in the past, their basic moral orientation is governed by belief in karma and rebirth".[504] Most Asian Buddhist laypersons, states Kevin Trainor, have historically pursued Buddhist rituals and practices seeking better rebirth,[505] not nirvana or freedom from rebirth.[506]
Buddhism has spread across the world,[508][509] and Buddhist texts are increasingly translated into local languages. WhileBuddhism in the West is often seen as exotic and progressive, in the East it is regarded as familiar and traditional. In countries such asCambodia andBhutan, it is recognised as thestate religion and receives government support.
A number of modern movements in Buddhism emerged during the second half of the 20th century.[510][511] Thesenew forms of Buddhism are diverse and significantly depart from traditional beliefs and practices.[512]
In India,B.R. Ambedkar launched the Navayana tradition—literally, "new vehicle". Ambedkar's Buddhism rejects the foundational doctrines and historic practices of traditional Theravada and Mahayana traditions, such as monk lifestyle after renunciation, karma, rebirth, samsara, meditation, nirvana, Four Noble Truths and others.[513][514][515] Ambedkar's Navayana Buddhism considers these as superstitions and re-interprets the original Buddha as someone who taught aboutclass struggle and social equality.[516][517] Ambedkar urged low caste IndianDalits to convert to his Marxism-inspired[515] reinterpretation called theNavayana Buddhism, also known as Bhimayana Buddhism. Ambedkar's effort led to the expansion of Navayana Buddhism in India.[518][516]
Some of these movements have brought internal disputes and strife within regional Buddhist communities. For example, the Dhammakaya movement in Thailand teaches a "true self" doctrine, which traditional Theravada monks consider as heretically denying the fundamentalanatta (not-self) doctrine of Buddhism.[520][521][522]
Sexual abuse and misconduct
Buddhism has not been immune from sexual abuse and misconduct scandals, with victims coming forward in various Buddhist schools such asZen andTibetan.[523][524][525] "There are huge cover ups in the Catholic church, but what has happened within Tibetan Buddhism is totally along the same lines," says Mary Finnigan, an author and journalist who has been chronicling such alleged abuses since the mid-80s.[526] One notably coveredcase in media of various Western countries was that ofSogyal Rinpoche which began in 1994,[527] and ended with his retirement from his position asRigpa's spiritual director in 2017.[528]
Classification
There is consensus amongreligious studies scholars that Buddhism is a religion.[529] However, Buddhism has posed problems to Western scholars of religion who define religion based solely on a "theistic conception".[530][531] Further, someWestern Buddhists and commentators likeAlan Watts maintain that Buddhism does not constitute a religion but rather a philosophy, apsychotherapy, or away of life.[532][533][531] This conception is rooted in 19th centuryorientalist writers, such astheosophistHenry Steel Olcott, which reinterpreted Buddhism in aProtestant lens and viewed Buddhism in Asia as representing a debased religious form of what was originally non-religious and rational.[534] Some Buddhist teachers and commentators, such asDharmavidya David Brazier, have criticized the persistence of this view.[535][536] Among Buddhists inSri Lanka, Buddhism is parallel toHinduism,Islam, andChristianity as anāgama,[537] literally "scripture" or "teaching".[538]
In the Western world, Buddhism has had a strong influence on modernNew Age spirituality and other alternative spiritualities. This began with its influence on 20th centuryTheosophists such asHelena Blavatsky, which were some of the first Westerners to take Buddhism seriously as a spiritual tradition.[542] More recently, Buddhist meditation practices have influenced the development of modernpsychology, particularly the practice ofMindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and other similarmindfulness based modalities.[543][544] The influence ofBuddhism on psychology can also be seen in certain forms of modernpsychoanalysis.[545][546]
Buddhism is practised by an estimated 488 million,[10] 495 million,[547] or 535 million[548] people as of the 2010s, representing 7% to 8% of the world's total population.China is the country with the largest population of Buddhists, approximately 244 million or 18% of its total population.[10][note 33] They are mostly followers ofChinese schools ofMahayana, making this the largest body of Buddhist traditions. Mahayana, also practised in broaderEast Asia, is followed by over half of world Buddhists.[10]
Buddhism is also growing by conversion. In India, more than 85% of the total Buddhists have converted from Hinduism to Buddhism,[558][559] and they are calledneo-Buddhists orAmbedkarite Buddhists.[558][559] In New Zealand, about 25–35% of the total Buddhists are converts to Buddhism.[560][561] Buddhism has also spread to theNordic countries; for example, the Burmese Buddhists founded in the city ofKuopio inNorth Savonia the first Buddhist monastery ofFinland, named the Buddha Dhamma Ramsi monastery.[562]
In modern Japan, Kawahashi Noriko observes that Buddhist communities hold harmful views of women as inherently incompetent and are dependent on men for liberation. These perspectives perpetuate gender bias, ignoring women's experiences and feminist critiques.[563]
^The term is probably derived fromduh-stha, "standing uns table"[13][14][15][16]
^Buddhist texts such as theJataka tales of the Theravada Buddhist tradition, and early biographies such as theBuddhacarita, theLokottaravādinMahāvastu, theSarvāstivādinLalitavistara Sūtra, give different accounts about the life of the Buddha; many include stories of his many rebirths, and some add significant embellishments.[41][42] Keown and Prebish state, "In the past, modern scholars have generally accepted 486 or 483 BCE for this [Buddha's death], but the consensus is now that they rest on evidence which is too flimsy.[43] Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order, but do not consistently accept all of the details contained in his biographies."[44][45][46][47]
^The exact identity of this ancient place is unclear. Please seeGautama Buddha article for various sites identified.
^Bihar is derived fromVihara, which means monastery.[48]
^The earliest Buddhist biographies of the Buddha mention these Vedic-era teachers. Outside of these early Buddhist texts, these names do not appear, which has led some scholars to raise doubts about the historicity of these claims.[57][59] According to Alexander Wynne, the evidence suggests that Buddha studied under these Vedic-era teachers and they "almost certainly" taught him, but the details of his education are unclear.[57][60]
^On samsara, rebirth and redeath: * Paul Williams: "All rebirth is due to karma and is impermanent. Short of attaining enlightenment, in each rebirth one is born and dies, to be reborn elsewhere in accordance with the completely impersonal causal nature of one's own karma. The endless cycle of birth, rebirth, and redeath, is samsara."[74] * Buswell and Lopez on "rebirth": "An English term that does not have an exact correlate in Buddhist languages, rendered instead by a range of technical terms, such as the SanskritPunarjanman (lit. "birth again") andPunabhavan (lit. "re-becoming"), and, less commonly, the relatedPUNARMRTYU (lit. "redeath")."[75]
See also Perry Schmidt-Leukel (2006) pp. 32–34,[76] John J. Makransky (1997) p. 27.[77] for the use of the term "redeath". The termAgatigati orAgati gati (plus a few other terms) is generally translated as 'rebirth, redeath'; see any Pali-English dictionary; e.g. pp. 94–95 of Rhys Davids & William Stede, where they list five Sutta examples with rebirth and re-death sense.[78]
^Graham Harvey: "Siddhartha Gautama found an end to rebirth in this world of suffering. His teachings, known as the dharma in Buddhism, can be summarized in the Four Noble truths."[80] Geoffrey Samuel (2008): "The Four Noble Truths [...] describe the knowledge needed to set out on the path to liberation from rebirth."[81] See also:[82][83][84][74][85][80][86][web 1][web 2]
The Theravada tradition holds that insight into these four truths is liberating in itself.[87] This is reflected in the Pali canon.[88] According to Donald Lopez, "The Buddha stated in his first sermon that when he gained absolute and intuitive knowledge of the four truths, he achieved complete enlightenment and freedom from future rebirth."[web 1]
TheMaha-parinibbana Sutta also refers to this liberation.[web 3] Carol Anderson: "The second passage where the four truths appear in theVinaya-pitaka is also found in theMahaparinibbana-sutta (D II 90–91). Here, the Buddha explains that it is by not understanding the four truths that rebirth continues."[89]
On the meaning of moksha as liberation from rebirth, see Patrick Olivelle in theEncyclopædia Britannica.[web 4]
^As opposite tosukha, "pleasure", it is better translated as "pain".[90]
^Earlier Buddhist texts refer to five realms rather than six realms; when described as five realms, the god realm and demi-god realm constitute a single realm.[108]
^This merit gaining may be on the behalf of one's family members.[115][116][117]
^Another variant, which may be condensed to the eightfold or tenfold path, starts with aTathagatha entering this world. A layman hears his teachings, decides to leave the life of a householder, starts living according to the moral precepts, guards his sense-doors, practises mindfulness and the four jhanas, gains the three knowledges, understands the Four Noble Truths and destroys thetaints, and perceives that he is liberated.[135]
^The early Mahayana Buddhism texts link their discussion of "emptiness" (shunyata) toAnatta andNirvana. They do so, states Mun-Keat Choong, in three ways: first, in the common sense of a monk's meditative state of emptiness; second, with the main sense ofanatta or 'everything in the world is empty of self'; third, with the ultimate sense ofnirvana or realisation of emptiness and thus an end to rebirth cycles of suffering.[146]
^Some scholars such as Cousins and Sangharakshita translateapranaihita as "aimlessness or directionless-ness".[148]
^These descriptions of nirvana in Buddhist texts, states Peter Harvey, are contested by scholars because nirvana in Buddhism is ultimately described as a state of "stopped consciousness (blown out), but one that is not non-existent", and "it seems impossible to imagine what awareness devoid of any object would be like".[154][155]
^Scholars note that better rebirth, not nirvana, has been the primary focus of a vast majority of lay Buddhists. This they attempt through merit accumulation and goodkamma.[158][159]
^Wayman and Wayman have disagreed with this view, and they state that theTathagatagarbha is neither self nor sentient being, nor soul, nor personality.[195]
^While some interpretations state that Buddhism may have originated as a social reform, other scholars state that it is incorrect and anachronistic to regard the Buddha as a social reformer.[360] Buddha's concern was "to reform individuals, help them to leave society forever, not to reform the world... he never preached against social inequality".Richard Gombrich, quoted by Christopher Queen.[360][361]
^Exemplary studies are the study on descriptions of "liberating insight" by Lambert Schmithausen,[385] the overview of early Buddhism by Tilmann Vetter,[140] the philological work on the four truths by K.R. Norman,[386] the textual studies by Richard Gombrich,[387] and the research on early meditation methods by Johannes Bronkhorst.[297]
^According to A.K. Warder, in his 1970 publication "Indian Buddhism", from the oldest extant texts a common kernel can be drawn out.[383] According to Warder, c.q. his publisher: "This kernel of doctrine is presumably common Buddhism of the period before the great schisms of the fourth and third centuries BC. It may be substantially the Buddhism of the Buddha himself, although this cannot be proved: at any rate it is a Buddhism presupposed by the schools as existing about a hundred years after the parinirvana of the Buddha, and there is no evidence to suggest that it was formulated by anyone else than the Buddha and his immediate followers."[389]
^Richard Gombrich: "I have the greatest difficulty in accepting that the main edifice is not the work of a single genius. By "the main edifice" I mean the collections of the main body of sermons, the four Nikāyas, and of the main body of monastic rules."[387]
^Ronald Davidson: "While most scholars agree that there was a rough body of sacred literature (disputed) [sic] that a relatively early community (disputed) [sic] maintained and transmitted, we have little confidence that much, if any, of surviving Buddhist scripture is actually the word of the historic Buddha."[391]
^J.W. De Jong: "It would be hypocritical to assert that nothing can be said about the doctrine of earliest Buddhism [...] the basic ideas of Buddhism found in the canonical writings could very well have been proclaimed by him [the Buddha], transmitted and developed by his disciples and, finally, codified in fixed formulas."[392]
^Bronkhorst: "This position is to be preferred to (ii) for purely methodological reasons: only those who seek nay find, even if no success is guaranteed."[388]
^Lopez: "The original teachings of the historical Buddha are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover or reconstruct."[393]
^"The most important evidence – in fact the only evidence – for situating the emergence of the Mahayana around the beginning of the common era was not Indian evidence at all, but came from China. Already by the last quarter of the 2nd century CE, there was a small, seemingly idiosyncratic collection of substantial Mahayana sutras translated into what Erik Zürcher calls 'broken Chinese' by an Indoscythian, whose Indian name has been reconstructed as Lokaksema."[429]
^"The south (of India) was then vigorously creative in producing Mahayana Sutras" Warder[431]
^See Hill (2009), p. 30, for the Chinese text from theHou Hanshu, and p. 31 for a translation of it.[450]
^Harvey (1998),Gombrich (1984),Gethin (1998, pp. 1–2); identifies "three broad traditions" as: (1) "The Theravāda tradition of Sri Lanka and South-East Asia, also sometimes referred to as 'southern' Buddhism"; (2) "The East Asian tradition of China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, also sometimes referred to as 'eastern' Buddhism"; and, (3) "The Tibetan tradition, also sometimes referred to as 'northern' Buddhism."; Robinson & Johnson (1982) divide their book into two parts: Part One is entitled "The Buddhism of South Asia" (which pertains to Early Buddhism in India); and, Part Two is entitled "The Development of Buddhism Outside of India" with chapters on "The Buddhism of Southeast Asia", "Buddhism in the Tibetan Culture Area", "East Asian Buddhism" and "Buddhism Comes West"; Penguin Handbook of Living Religions, 1984, p. 279; Prebish & Keown,Introducing Buddhism, ebook, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 2005, printed ed, Harper, 2006.
^This is a contested number. Official numbers from the Chinese government are lower, while other surveys are higher. According to Katharina Wenzel-Teuber, in non-government surveys, "49 percent of self-claimed non-believers [in China] held some religious beliefs, such as believing in soul reincarnation, heaven, hell, or supernatural forces. Thus the 'pure atheists' make up only about 15 percent of the sample [surveyed]."[549]
Other notes
^"Indian religions" is a term used by scholars to describe those religions that originated on the Indian subcontinent.[4][5][6]
^Siderits, Mark (2019)."Buddha".The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved22 October 2021.
^"Buddhism". (2009). InEncyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 26 November 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition.
^Beyond Enlightenment: Buddhism, Religion, Modernity by Richard Cohen. Routledge 1999.ISBN0-415-54444-0. p. 33. "Donors adopted Sakyamuni Buddha's family name to assert their legitimacy as his heirs, both institutionally and ideologically. To take the name of Sakya was to define oneself by one's affiliation with the buddha, somewhat like calling oneself a Buddhist today.
^Sakya or Buddhist Origins by Caroline Rhys Davids (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1931) p. 1. "Put away the word "Buddhism" and think of your subject as "Sakya." This will at once place you for your perspective at a true point. You are now concerned to learn less about 'Buddha' and 'Buddhism,' and more about him whom India has ever known as Sakya-muni, and about his men who, as their records admit, were spoken of as the Sakya-sons, or men of the Sakyas."
^Lopez, Donald S. (1995).Curators of the Buddha, University of Chicago Press. p. 7
^Beyond Enlightenment: Buddhism, Religion, Modernity by Richard Cohen. Routledge 1999.ISBN0-415-54444-0. p. 33. Bauddha is "a secondary derivative of buddha, in which the vowel's lengthening indicates connection or relation. Things that are bauddha pertain to the buddha, just as things Saiva related to Siva and things Vaisnava belong to Visnu. ... baudda can be both adjectival and nominal; it can be used for doctrines spoken by the buddha, objects enjoyed by him, texts attributed to him, as well as individuals, communities, and societies that offer him reverence or accept ideologies certified through his name. Strictly speaking, Sakya is preferable to bauddha since the latter is not attested at Ajanta. In fact, as a collective noun, bauddha is an outsider's term. The bauddha did not call themselves this in India, though they did sometimes use the word adjectivally (e.g., as a possessive, the buddha's)."
^Wynne, Alexander (2019)."Did the Buddha exist?".Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies.16:98–148.Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved2 December 2022.
^"Four Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY".Encyclopaedia Britannica. 31 March 2024.Although the term Four Noble Truths is well known in English, it is a misleading translation of the Pali term Chattari-ariya-saccani (Sanskrit: Chatvari-arya-satyani), because noble (Pali: ariya; Sanskrit: arya) refers not to the truths themselves but to those who recognize and understand them. A more accurate rendering, therefore, might be 'four truths for the [spiritually] noble'
^Brian Morris (2006).Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 51.ISBN978-0-521-85241-8.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved10 July 2016., Quote: "(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps – the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."
^Richard Francis Gombrich; Cristina Anna Scherrer-Schaub (2008).Buddhist Studies. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 209–210.ISBN978-81-208-3248-0.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved10 July 2016.
^Gombrich (2005a), p. 47, Quote: "All phenomenal existence [in Buddhism] is said to have three interlocking characteristics: impermanence, suffering and lack of soul or essence.".
^[a]Christmas Humphreys (2012).Exploring Buddhism. Routledge. pp. 42–43.ISBN978-1-136-22877-3.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved10 July 2016. [b]Gombrich (2005a, p. 47), Quote: "(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."
^[a]AnattaArchived 22 January 2021 at theWayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman ("the self")."; [b] Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press,ISBN978-0-7914-2217-5, p. 64; "Central to Buddhistsoteriology is the doctrine ofnot-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence."; [c] John C. Plott et al. (2000),Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass,ISBN978-81-208-0158-5, p. 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism"; [d] Katie Javanaud (2013),Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?Archived 13 September 2017 at theWayback Machine, Philosophy Now; [e] David Loy (1982), "Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?",International Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 23, Issue 1, pp. 65–74
^Ulrich Timme Kragh (editor),The Foundation for Yoga Practitioners:The Buddhist Yogācārabhūmi Treatise and Its Adaptation in India, East Asia, and Tibet, Volume 1 Harvard University, Department of South Asian studies, 2013, p. 144.
^Trainor (2004), p. 58, Quote: "Buddhism shares with Hinduism the doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings pass through an unceasing cycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberation from the cycle. However, Buddhism differs from Hinduism in rejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a changeless soul which constitutes his or her ultimate identity, and which transmigrates from one incarnation to the next..
^Choong (1999), pp. 28–29, Quote: "Seeing (passati) the nature of things as impermanent leads to the removal of the view of self, and so to the realisation of nirvana.".
^[a]Christmas Humphreys (2012).Exploring Buddhism. Routledge. pp. 42–43.ISBN978-1-136-22877-3.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved10 July 2016. [b]Brian Morris (2006).Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 51.ISBN978-0-521-85241-8.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved10 July 2016., Quote: "(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps – the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering." [c]Gombrich (2005a, p. 47), Quote: "(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."
^Steven Collins (2010).Nirvana: Concept, Imagery, Narrative. Cambridge University Press. p. 31.ISBN978-0-521-88198-2., Quote: "This general scheme remained basic to later Hinduism, to Jainism, and to Buddhism. Eternal salvation, to use the Christian term, is not conceived of as world without end; we have already got that, called samsara, the world of rebirth and redeath: that is the problem, not the solution. The ultimate aim is the timeless state of moksha, or as the Buddhists seem to have been the first to call it, nirvana."
^Fowler (1999), p. 65 Quote: "For a vast majority of Buddhists in Theravadin countries, however, the order of monks is seen by lay Buddhists as a means of gaining the most merit in the hope of accumulating good karma for a better rebirth."
^Williams (2002), p. 64, Quote: In theMahatanhasankhaya Sutta the Buddha [stresses] that things originate in dependence upon causal conditioning, and this emphasis on causality describes the central feature of Buddhist ontology. All elements of samsara exist in some sense or another relative to their causes and conditions..
^Robert Neville (2004). Jeremiah Hackett (ed.).Philosophy of Religion for a New Century: Essays in Honor of Eugene Thomas Long. Jerald Wallulis. Springer. p. 257.ISBN978-1-4020-2073-5., Quote: "[Buddhism's ontological hypotheses] that nothing in reality has its own-being and that all phenomena reduce to the relativities of pratitya samutpada. The Buddhist ontological hypothesese deny that there is any ontologically ultimate object such a God, Brahman, the Dao, or any transcendent creative source or principle."
^Harvey (1998), p. 54, Quote: "The main concrete application of the abstract principle is in the form of a series of conditioned links (nidanas), culminating in the arising of dukkha." (...) "This [doctrine] states the principle of conditionality, that all things, mental and physical, arise and exist due to the presence of certain conditions, and cease once their conditions are removed: nothing (exceptNibbana) is independent. The doctrine thus complements the teaching that no permanent, independent self can be found.".
^Siderits, Mark (2007)."Buddhism as philosophy," p. 39
^Shi Huifeng,Is "Illusion" a Prajñāpāramitā Creation? The Birth and Death of a Buddhist Cognitive Metaphor, Fo Guang University, Journal of Buddhist Philosophy, Vol.2, 2016.
^Ronkin, Noa (2005)."Early Buddhist Metaphysics: The Making of a Philosophical Tradition" p. 91. RoutledgeCurzon.
^Williams, Paul (2002), "Buddhist Thought", p. 52, Taylor & Francis Kindle Edition
^Siderits, Mark,Buddhism as philosophy, 2017, p. 149.
^Gold, Jonathan C. (22 April 2011)."Vasubandhu". In Edward N. Zalta (ed.).The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archive (Summer 2018 Edition).Archived from the original on 5 July 2019. Retrieved13 April 2020.
^Brunnholzl, Karl, When the Clouds Part, TheUttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra, Snow Lion, Boston & London, 2014, page 3.
^Williams (2008), pp. 104–105, 108–109, Quote: "... [TheMahaparinirvana Sutra] refers to the Buddha using the term "Self" in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics.".
^Fowler (1999), pp. 101–102 Quote: "Some texts of thetathagatagarbha literature, such as theMahaparinirvana Sutra actually refer to anatman, though other texts are careful to avoid the term. This would be in direct opposition to the general teachings of Buddhism onanatta. Indeed, the distinctions between the general Indian concept ofatman and the popular Buddhist concept of Buddha-nature are often blurred to the point that writers consider them to be synonymous."
^Suzuki, D.T. (1956),The Lankavatara Sutra: A Mahayana Text. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. p.69
^Carole Anderson (2013),Pain and its Ending, p.143
^abcBucknell, Rod, "The Buddhist Path to Liberation: An Analysis of the Listing of Stages",The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 7, Number 2, 1984
^Martine Batchelor (2014).The Spirit of the Buddha. Yale University Press. p. 59.ISBN978-0-300-17500-4.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved10 July 2016.; Quote: "These five trades, O monks, should not be taken up by a lay follower: trading with weapons, trading in living beings, trading in meat, trading in intoxicants, trading in poison."
^Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2013) "The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism," p. 18. Princeton University Press.
^Johnston, William M. (ed.)Encyclopedia of Monasticism, Routledge, 2013, p. 467-468.
^Analayo (2018)"Satipatthana Meditation, A Practice Guide," chapter 1. Windhorse Publications.
^abBoin-Webb, Sara. (English trans. from Walpola Rāhula's French trans. of the Sanskrit; 2001)"Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium of the Higher Teaching (Philosophy) by Asaṅga", p. 9, Asian Humanities Press.
^Sharf, Robert (2014), "Mindfulness and Mindlessness in Early Chan" (PDF),Philosophy East and West,64 (4): 933–964,doi:10.1353/pew.2014.0074
^Werner, Karel (1977). "Yoga and the Ṛg Veda: An Interpretation of the Keśin Hymn (RV 10, 136)".Religious Studies.13 (3):289–302.doi:10.1017/S0034412500010076.S2CID170592174.
^Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa; Frank E. Reynolds; Theodore M. Ludwig (1980).Transitions and Transformations in the History of Religions: Essays in Honor of Joseph M. Kitagawa. Brill Academic. pp. 56–58.ISBN978-90-04-06112-5.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved10 July 2016., Quote: "Suffering describes the condition of samsaric (this worldly) existence that arises from actions generated byignorance of anatta and anicca. The doctrines of no-self and impermanence are thus the keystones ofdhammic order."
^Wayman, Alex (2008).The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism. Routledge. p. 23.
^Sørensen, Henrik H; Payne, Richard K; Orzech, Charles D. (ed.) (2010).Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras,in East Asia. Handbook of Oriental Studies. p. 20.
^Grey, David B.; Tantra and the Tantric Traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism
^Wallis, Christopher (2016).The Tantric Age: A Comparison Of Shaiva And Buddhist Tantra.[full citation needed]
^Dalton, J. (2005). "A Crisis of Doxography: How Tibetans Organized Tantra During the 8th–12th Centuries".Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies.28 (1):115–181.
^Hajime Nakamura (1983).A History of Early Vedānta Philosophy. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 102–104,264–269,294–295.ISBN978-81-208-0651-1.; Quote: "But the Upanishadic ultimate meaning of the Vedas, was, from the viewpoint of the Vedic canon in general, clearly a new idea.."; p. 95: The [oldest] Upanishads in particular were part of the Vedic corpus (...) When these various new ideas were brought together and edited, they were added on to the already existing Vedic..."; p. 294: "When early Jainism came into existence, various ideas mentioned in the extant older Upanishads were current,....".
^Klaus G. Witz (1998).The Supreme Wisdom of the Upaniṣads: An Introduction. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 1–2, 23.ISBN978-81-208-1573-5.; Quote: "In theAranyakas therefore, thought and inner spiritual awareness started to separate subtler, deeper aspects from the context of ritual performance and myth with which they had been united up to then. This process was then carried further and brought to completion in theUpanishads. (...) The knowledge and attainment of the Highest Goal had been there from the Vedic times. But in the Upanishads inner awareness, aided by major intellectual breakthroughs, arrived at a language in which Highest Goal could be dealt with directly, independent of ritual and sacred lore". Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle (1994).The Origin and Development of Early Indian Contemplative Practices. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 58 with footnote 148,22–29,87–103, for Upanishads–Buddhist Sutta discussion see 65–72.ISBN978-3-447-03479-1.
^Schmithausen (1987) "Part I: Earliest Buddhism," Panels of the VIIth World Sanskrit Conference Vol. II: Earliest Buddhism and Madhyamaka, ed. David Seyfort Ruegg and Lambert Schmithausen, Leiden: Kern Institute, pp. 1–4.
^Reat, Noble Ross. "The Historical Buddha and his Teachings". In:Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophy. Ed. by Potter, Karl H. Vol. VII: Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD. Motilal Banarsidass, 1996, pp. 28, 33, 37, 41, 43, 48.
^Analayo (2011).A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya. Dharma Drum Academic Publisher. p. 891.
^Vetter (1988), p. 5, Quote: [T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practising the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.
^Ray, Reginald A (2000)Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism.
^Davidson, Ronald M.,(2002).Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement, Columbia University Press, p. 228, 234.
^Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement, p. 171.
^Sanderson, Alexis. "The Śaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism during the Early Medieval Period." In: Genesis and Development of Tantrism, edited by Shingo Einoo. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, 2009. Institute of Oriental Culture Special Series, pp. 23, 124, 129-31.
^Sanderson, Alexis; Vajrayana:, Origin and Function, 1994
^Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement, p. 204.
^Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement, p. 217.
^Omvedt, Gail (2003). "Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste", p. 172.
^Zürcher, Erik. 2007 (1959). The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China. 3rd ed. Leiden: Brill. pp. 32–34
^Dykstra, Yoshiko Kurata; De Bary, William Theodore (2001).Sources of Japanese tradition. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 100.ISBN0-231-12138-5.
^Nguyen Tai Thu.The History of Buddhism in Vietnam. 2008.
^McRae, John (2003), Seeing Through Zen, The University Press Group Ltd, pp. 13, 18
^Orzech, Charles D. (general editor) (2011). Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Brill. p. 4
^McRae, John (2003), Seeing Through Zen, The University Press Group Ltd, pp. 13, 19–21
^Heng-Ching Shih (1987). Yung-Ming's Syncretism of Pure Land and Chan, The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 10 (1), p. 117
^Sheila Canby (1993). "Depictions of Buddha Sakyamuni in the Jami al-Tavarikh and the Majma al-Tavarikh".Muqarnas.10:299–310.doi:10.2307/1523195.JSTOR1523195.
^Myint-U, Thant (2006).The River of Lost Footsteps – Histories of Burma. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.ISBN978-0-374-16342-6. pp. 64–65
^Cœdès, George (1968). Walter F. Vella, ed.The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. trans. Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press.ISBN978-0-8248-0368-1.
^Gyallay-Pap, Peter. "Notes of the Rebirth of Khmer Buddhism," Radical Conservativism.
^"Tibetan Buddhism".American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2004. Archived fromthe original on 9 June 2008. Retrieved7 July 2007.
^Prothero,The White Buddhist, 175. Olcott's approach to Buddhism and the terminology of Protestant Buddhism and "creolization" (Prothero) is extensively discussed in K.A. McMahan," 'Creolization' in American Religious History. The Metaphysical Nature of Henry Steel Olcott, PhD dissertation, unpublished manuscript (Ann Arbor 2008).
^Coleman, James William,The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition, Oxford University Press, pp. 203–204.
^McMahan, David L. (2004). "Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience (review)".Philosophy East and West.54 (2):268–270.doi:10.1353/pew.2004.0006.S2CID170189446.
^Marion Dapsance (28 September 2014). "When Fraud Is Part of a Spiritual Path: A Tibetan Lama's Plays on Reality and Illusion". In Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist (ed.).Minority Religions and Fraud: In Good Faith. Ashgate Publishing. p. 171.ISBN978-1-4724-0913-3.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved11 October 2020.
^Goble, Geoffrey C. (11 October 2019). "Buddhism is Not a Religion".The History of Buddhism. ABC-CLIO.ISBN978-1-4408-6404-9.
^Herbrechtsmeier, William (1993). "Buddhism and the Definition of Religion: One More Time".Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.32 (1):1–18.doi:10.2307/1386910.JSTOR1386910.
Southwold 1978, pp. 362–379: "From Olcott's catechism grew the tradition of Buddhist ambivalence (if not outright hostility) toward the concept of religion, but his catechism had a religious origin in Olcott's own liberal Protestant Christian background. He took his challenge to be one of purifying Buddhism by returning to the fundamental teaching of the founder as recorded in its authoritative scriptures. The teaching he found in these texts had much in common with the liberal Protestantism of the late nineteenth century. It was opposed to 'superstitious' practices, suspicious of miracles and the supernatural, and respectful of the canons of reason."
Stewart 2018: "The view that Buddhism is a 'philosophy' and 'not a religion' is a prime example of nineteenth-century Orientalist scholarship entering into the Western public consciousness that persists even now [...] [b]ut such a view is overly reductionist."
van der Velde 2014, pp. 30–31: "What was practice in 19th and early 20th century Asia was often considered aberrational, a perversion of what was once a pure practice. The purity of this practice was supposedly lost once Buddhism changed into the religion it now was in Asia. The original dharma could be reconstructed if the teachings were liberated from the 'cultural' and 'local' Asian context [...] In fact, our perception of Buddhism is still colored by these presuppositions."
^Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu."Buddhists".teara.govt.nz.Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved12 June 2020.
Ajahn Sucitto (2010),Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha's First Teaching, Shambhala
Alexander, James (2019), "The State Is the Attempt to Strip Metaphor Out of Politics", in Kos, Eric S. (ed.),Michael Oakeshott on Authority, Governance, and the State, Springer
Analayo (2013),Satipatthana. The Direct Path to Realization, Windhorse Publications
Anderson, Carol (2013),Pain and Its Ending: The Four Noble Truths in the Theravada Buddhist Canon, Routledge
Bronkhorst, Johannes (1993),The Two Traditions Of Meditation In Ancient India, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Bronkhorst, Johannes (1998),"Did the Buddha Believe in Karma and Rebirth?",Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies,21 (1):1–20,archived from the original on 29 November 2014, retrieved15 November 2014
Buswell, Robert E. Jr.; Gimello, Robert M., eds. (1992),Paths to Liberation. The Marga and its Transformations in Buddhist Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
Buswell, Robert E. Jr.; Lopez, Donald Jr. (2003),The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University Press
Carrithers, Michael (1986),Founders of faith, Oxford [England]; New York: Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-283066-1
Carter, John Ross (1987), "Four Noble Truths", in Jones, Lindsay (ed.),MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions, MacMillan
Choong, Mun-keat (2000),The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism: A Comparative Study Based on the Sutranga Portion of the Pali Samyutta-Nikaya and the Chinese Samyuktagama, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag
Cousins, L.S. (1996),"The Dating of the Historical Buddha: A Review Article",Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Series 3 (6.1):57–63,doi:10.1017/S1356186300014760,S2CID162929573, archived fromthe original on 20 December 2010, retrieved11 July 2007; reprinted in Williams,Buddhism, volume I; NB in the online transcript a little text has been accidentally omitted: in section 4, between "... none of the other contributions in this section envisage a date before 420 B.C." and "to 350 B.C." insert "Akira Hirakawa defends the short chronology and Heinz Bechert himself sets a range from 400 B.C."
Davidson, Ronald M. (2003),Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement, New York: Columbia University Press,ISBN978-0-231-12619-9
Dutt, Sukumar (1988) [1962].Buddhist Monks And Monasteries of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN978-81-208-0498-2.
Eliade, Mircea; et al., eds. (1987),The Encyclopedia of religion, New York: Macmillan,ISBN978-0-02-909480-8
Eliot, Charles (1935),Japanese Buddhism, London: Edward Arnold & Co.
Fowler, Merv (1999),Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press,ISBN978-1-898723-66-0
Frauwallner, Erich (1973),History of Indian Philosophy: The philosophy of the Veda and of the epic. The Buddha and the Jina. The Sāmkhya and the classical Yoga-system, Motilal Banarsidass
Gethin, Rupert (2001) [1992],The Buddhist Path to Awakening: A Study of the Bodhi-Pakkhiyā Dhammā (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oneworld Publications,ISBN978-1-85168-285-0
Gethin, Rupert (2008),Sayings of the Buddha, Oxford University Press
Gombrich, Richard (1984),The World of Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass,ISBN978-0-500-25089-1
Hayes, Richard P. (2013), "The Internet as Window onto American Buddhism", in Queen, Christopher; Williams, Duncan Ryuken (eds.),American Buddhism: Methods and Findings in Recent Scholarship, Routledge
Henderson, Carol E. (2002),Culture and Customs of India, Greenwood Publishing Group
Hill, John E. (2009),Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE, Charleston, South Carolina: BookSurge,ISBN978-1-4392-2134-1
Kuan, Tse-fu (2007).Mindfulness in Early Buddhism: New Approaches Through Psychology and Textual Analysis of Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit Sources. Routledge.
Lamb, Christopher (2001), "Cosmology, myth and symbolism", in Harvey, Peter (ed.),Buddhism, Bloomsbury Publishing
Ledgerwood, Judy (2008), "Buddhist practice in rural Kandal province 1960 and 2003", in Kent, Alexandra; Chandler, David (eds.),People of Virtue: Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Moral Order in Cambodia Today,Nordic Institute of Asian Studies,ISBN978-87-7694-036-2
Lindtner, Christian (1997),Master of Wisdom, Dharma Publishing
Lopez, Donald S. Jr. (2001),The Story of Buddhism, HarperCollins
Lopez, Donald S. Jr. (2009),Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, University of Chicago Press
Lusthaus, Dan (2002),Buddhist Phenomenology, Routledge
Makransky, John J. (1997),Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet, SUNY
Matthews, Bruce (1986), "Post-Classical Developments In The Concepts of Karma and Rebirth in Theravada Buddhism", in Ronald W. Neufeldt (ed.),Karma and rebirth: Post-classical developments, SUNY
McFarlane, Stewart (2001), "Making Moral Decisions", in Peter Harvey (ed.),Buddhism, Continuum,ISBN978-0-8264-5350-1
Miller, Barbara Stoler (1996),Yoga: Discipline of Freedom: the Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patanjali; a Translation of the Text, with Commentary, Introduction, and Glossary of Keywords, University of California Press
Mitchell, Donald W. (2002),Buddhism: introducing the Buddhist experience, Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-513951-8
Nattier, Jan (2003),A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugrapariprccha), University of Hawai'i Press,ISBN978-0-8248-2607-9
Norman, K.R. (1992), "The Four Noble Truths",Collected Papers, vol. 2, Pali Text Society (published 2003), pp. 210–223
Norman, K.R. (1997),A Philological Approach to Buddhism. The Bukkyo Dendo Kybkai Lectures 1994, School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London)
Nyanatiloka (1980),Buddhist Dictionary, Buddhist Publication Society
Ratanakul, P. (2007), "The Dynamics of Tradition and Change in Theravada Buddhism",The Journal of Religion and Culture,1 (1):233–257,CiteSeerX10.1.1.505.2366,ISSN1905-8144
Schmithausen, Lambert (1981), "On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism".",Studien zum Jainismus und Buddhismus (Gedenkschrift für Ludwig Alsdorf), Wiesbaden: von Klaus Bruhn und Albrecht Wezler, pp. 199–250
Schopen, Gregory (2002),Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks, University of Hawai'i Press
Schuhmacher, Stephen; Woener, Gert, eds. (1991),The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, translated by Kohn, Michael H., Shambhala,ISBN978-0-87773-520-5
Skorupski, Tadeusz, ed. (1990),Buddhist Forum, vol I, Routledge,ISBN978-0-7286-0162-8
Smith (2006), "Buddhism", in Juergensmeyer, Mark (ed.),The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions, Oxford Handbooks in Religion and Theology, Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-513798-9
Swearer, Donald (2004),Becoming the Buddha: the ritual of image consecration in Thailand, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,ISBN978-0-691-11435-4
Tamney, Joseph B. (1998), "Buddhism", in William H. Swatos (ed.),Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, Rowman Altamira
.svg)
.jpg)
.png)
.jpg)
.jpg)
%2c_part_31_-_BL_Or._14915.jpg)
.jpg)
_(14592652167).jpg)
