Buddhism

Buddism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddharta Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha. Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BC. He is recognized by adherents as an awakened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end suffering, achieve nirvana, and escape what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth.

Two major branches of Buddhism are recognized: Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Theravada, the oldest surviving branch, has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and Mahayana is found throughout East Asia and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, Tendai and Shinnyo-en. In some classifications Vajrayana, a subcategory of Mahayana, is recognized as a third branch. While Buddhism remains most popular within Asia, both branches are now found throughout the world. Various sources put the number of Buddhists in the world at between 230 million and 500 million, making it the world's fourth largest religion.

Buddhist schools vary significantly in the exact nature of the path of liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. The foundations of Buddhist tradition and practice are the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings), and the Sangha (the community). Taking "refuge in the triple gem" has traditionally been a declaration and commitment to being on the Buddhist path and in general distinguishes a Buddhist from a non-Buddhist. Other practices may include renouncing conventional living and becoming a monastic, support of the monastic community, meditation, cultivation of minfulness and wisdom, study of scriptures, physical exercises, devotion and ceremonies, or invocation of bodhisattvas. -David Jeong

**INFORMATION PROVIDED BY: VICTOR GARCIA**
Schools and traditions Buddhists generally classify themselves as either Theravada or Mahayana. This classification is also used by some scholars and is the one ordinarily used in the English language. An alternative scheme used by some scholars divides Buddhism into the following three traditions or geographical or cultural areas: Theravada, East Asian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. Some scholars use other schemes. Buddhists themselves have a variety of other schemes. Hinayana (literally "lesser vehicle") is used by Mahayana followers to name the family of early philosophical schools and traditions from which contemporary Theravada emerged, but as this term is rooted in the Mahayana viewpoint and can be considered derogatory, a variety of other terms are increasingly used instead, including Śrāvakayāna, Nikaya Buddhism, early Buddhist schools, sectarian Buddhism, conservative Buddhism, mainstream Buddhism and non-Mahayana Buddhism. 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. Mahayana Buddhism shows a great deal of doctrinal variation and development over time, and even more variation in terms of practice. While there is much agreement on general principles, there is disagreement over which texts are more authoritative. Despite differences among the Theravada and Mahayana schools there are, for example according to one Buddhist ecumenical organization, several concepts common to both major Buddhist branches: § Both accept the Buddha as their teacher. § Both accept the Middle way, Dependent origination, the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Three marks of existence, in theory, though in practice these have little or no importance in some traditions. § Both accept that members of the laity and of the sangha can pursue the path toward enlightenment (bodhi). § Both consider buddhahood to be the highest attainment; however Theravadins consider the nirvana (nibbana to the Theravadins) attained by arahants as identical to that attained by the Buddha himself, as there is only one type of nirvana. According to Theravadins, a buddha is someone who has discovered the path all by himself and taught it to others.

** Theravada school **
[|Theravāda] ("Doctrine of the Elders", or "Ancient Doctrine") is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It is relatively conservative, and //generally// closest to early Buddhism.[|[171]] This school is derived from the [|Vibhajjavāda] grouping which emerged amongst the older [|Sthavira] group at the time of the Third Buddhist Council (c. 250 BCE). This school gradually declined on the Indian subcontinent, but its branch in Sri Lanka and South East Asia continues to survive. The Theravada school bases its practice and doctrine exclusively on the [|Pāli Canon] and its commentaries. After being orally transmitted for a few centuries, its scriptures, the Pali Canon, were finally committed to writing in the last century BCE, in Sri Lanka, at what the Theravada usually reckon as the fourth council. It is also one of the first Buddhist schools to commit the complete set of its canon into writing. The [|Sutta] collections and [|Vinaya] texts of the Pāli Canon (and the corresponding texts in other versions of the [|Tripitaka]), are generally considered by modern scholars to be the earliest Buddhist literature, and they are accepted as authentic in every branch of Buddhism. Theravāda is primarily practiced today in [|Sri Lanka], [|Burma], [|Laos], [|Thailand], [|Cambodia] as well as small portions of China, [|Vietnam], [|Malaysia] and [|Bangladesh]. It has a growing presence in [|Europe] and [|America].

** Mahayana school **
Native Mahayana Buddhism is practiced today in China, Japan, [|Korea], [|Singapore], parts of Russia and most of [|Vietnam] (also commonly referred to as "Eastern Buddhism"). The Buddhism practiced in Tibet, the Himalayan regions, and Mongolia is also Mahayana in origin, but will be discussed below under the heading of Vajrayana (also commonly referred to as "Northern Buddhism". There are a variety of strands in Eastern Buddhism, of which "the Pure Land school of Mahayana is the most widely practised today."[|[172]]. In most of this area however, they are fused into a single unified form of Buddhism. In Japan in particular, they form separate denominations with the five major ones being: [|Nichiren], peculiar to Japan; [|Pure Land]; [|Shingon], a form of Vajrayana; [|Tendai]; and [|Chan/Zen]. In Korea, nearly all Buddhists belong to the Chogye school, which is officially Son (Zen), but with substantial elements from other traditions.[|[173]]Mahayana schools recognize all or part of the [|Mahayana Sutras]. Some of these sutras became for Mahayanists a manifestation of the Buddha himself, and faith in and veneration of those texts are stated in some sutras (e.g. the [|Lotus Sutra] and the [|Mahaparinirvana Sutra]) to lay the foundations for the later attainment of Buddhahood itself.Mahayana Buddhism flourished in India from the fifth century AD onwards, during the dynasty of the [|Guptas]. Mahāyāna centres of learning were established, the most important one being the [|Nālandā University] in north-eastern India.

** Vajrayana school **
There are differing views as to just when Vajrayāna and its [|tantric practice] started. In the [|Tibetan tradition], it is claimed that the historical Śākyamuni Buddha taught tantra, but as these are esoteric teachings, they were passed on orally first and only written down long after the Buddha's other teachings. Nālandā University became a center for the development of Vajrayāna theory and continued as the source of leading-edge Vajrayāna practices up through the 11th century. These practices, scriptures and theories were transmitted to China, [|Tibet], Indochina and Southeast Asia. China generally received Indian transmission up to the 11th century including tantric practice, while a vast amount of what is considered to be [|Tibetan Buddhism] (Vajrayāna) stems from the late (9th–12th century) Nālandā tradition.The Vajrayana school of Buddhism spread to China, Mongolia, and Tibet. In Tibet, Vajrayana has always been a main component of Tibetan Buddhism, while in China it formed a separate sect. However, Vajrayana Buddhism became extinct in China but survived in elements of Japan's Shingon and Tendai sects. In one of the first major contemporary academic treatises on the subject, [|Fairfield University] professor Ronald M. Davidson argues that the rise of Vajrayana was in part a reaction to the changing political climate in India at the time. With the fall of the [|Gupta] dynasty, in an increasingly fractious political environment, institutional Buddhism had difficulty attracting patronage, and the folk movement led by [|siddhas] became more prominent. After perhaps two hundred years, it had begun to get integrated into the monastic establishment.[|[174]][//[|page needed]//] Vajrayana combined and developed a variety of elements, a number of which had already existed for centuries.[|[175]] In addition to the Mahāyāna scriptures, Vajrayāna Buddhists recognise a large body of [|Buddhist Tantras], some of which are also included in Chinese and Japanese collections of Buddhist literature, and versions of a few even in the [|Pali Canon].

Bibliography: [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism#Schools_and_traditions] Information Credit Given to Wikipedia

INFORMATION PROVIDED BY: VICTOR GARCIA
=Philosophy of Buddhism= by David Jeong

Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_philosophy

**Buddhist philosophy**

Deals extensively with problems in [|metaphysics], [|phenomenology] , [|ethics] , and [|epistemology]. Buddhist philosophy does not depend on [|ontological] or [|metaphysical] speculation that is based on [|empirical] evidence gained by the sense organs ( [|Ayatana] ). Buddha is said to have assumed an unsympathetic attitude toward speculative thought in general. A basic idea of the Buddha is that the world must be thought of in procedural terms, not in terms of things or substances. The Buddha advised viewing reality as consisting of [|dependently originated] [|phenomena] ; Buddhists view this approach to experience as avoiding the two extremes of [|reification] and [|nihilism]. Particular points of Buddhist philosophy have often been the subject of disputes between different [|schools of Buddhism]. While theory for its own sake is not valued in Buddhism, theory pursued in the interest of enlightenment is consistent with Buddhist values and ethics.
 * Philosophy**
 * Historical context**

Early Buddhism displays a strong streak of skepticism; the Buddha cautioned his followers to stay aloof from intellectual disputation for its own sake, saying that this is fruitless and distracts from the practices leading to enlightenment. However, the Buddha's doctrine did have an important philosophical component: it negated the major claims of rival positions while building upon them at a new philosophical and religious level. In a skeptical vein, he asserted the [|insubstantiality of the ego], and in doing so countered those [|Upanishadic] sages who sought knowledge of an unchanging [|ultimate self]. The Buddha created a new position in opposition to their theories, and held that attachment to a permanent self in this world of change is the cause of suffering and the main obstacle to liberation. The same skeptical approach negates the existence of any high god or essential substance, and undercuts both traditional and iconoclastic spiritual goals. He broke new ground by going on to explain the source for the apparent ego: it is merely the result of the aggregates ( [|skandhas] ) which make up experience. In this breaking down into constituent elements, the Buddha was heir to earlier element philosophies which had sought to characterize existing things as made up of a set of basic elements. The Buddha, however, eliminated mythological rhetoric, systematized world components into five groups, and used this approach not to characterize a substantial object, but to explain a delusion. He coordinated material components with psychological ones. The Buddha criticized the Brahmins' theories of an [|Absolute] as yet another [|reification], instead giving a [|path] to self-perfection as a means of transcending the world of [|name and form] .[


 * Epistemology**

Decisive in distinguishing Buddhism from what is commonly called [|Hinduism] is the issue of [|epistemological] justification. All schools of [|Indian logic] recognize various sets of valid justifications for knowledge, or [|pramana] – Buddhism recognizes a set that is smaller than the others'. All accept [|perception] and inference, for example, but for some schools of Hinduism and Buddhism the received textual tradition is an epistemological category equal to perception and inference (although this is not necessarily true for some other schools). Thus, in the Hindu schools, if a claim was made that could not be substantiated by appeal to the textual canon, it would be considered as ridiculous as a claim that the sky was green and, conversely, a claim which could not be substantiated via conventional means might still be justified through textual reference, differentiating this from the epistemology of [|hard science]. Some schools of Buddhism, on the other hand, rejected an inflexible reverence of accepted doctrine. As the Buddha said, according to the canonical scriptures: Do not accept anything by mere tradition ... Do not accept anything just because it accords with your scriptures ... Do not accept anything merely because it agrees with your pre-conceived notions ... But when you know for yourselves – these things are moral, these things are blameless, these things are praised by the wise, these things, when performed and undertaken, conduce to well-being and happiness – then do you live acting accordingly. Early Buddhist philosophers and exegetes of one particular [|early school] (as opposed to [|Mahayana] ), the [|Sarvastivadins], created a [|pluralist] metaphysical and phenomenological system, in which all experiences of people, things and events can be broken down into smaller and smaller perceptual or perceptual- [|ontological] units called [|dharmas]. Other schools incorporated some parts of this theory and criticized others. The [|Sautrantikas], another early school, and the [|Theravadins] , the only surviving early Buddhist school, criticized the [|realist] standpoint of the Sarvastivadins. The Mahayanist [|Nagarjuna], one of the most influential Buddhist thinkers, promoted classical Buddhist emphasis on [|phenomena] and attacked Sarvastivada realism and Sautrantika [|nominalism] in his magnum opus [|The Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way].


 * Dependent Origination**

What some consider the original positive Buddhist contribution to the field of metaphysics is [|pratītyasamutpāda]. It states that events are not [|predetermined], nor are they [|random] , and it rejects notions of direct causation, which are necessarily undergirded by a substantialist metaphysics. Instead, it posits the arising of events under certain conditions which are inextricable, such that the processes in question at no time are considered to be entities. Pratitya-samutpada goes on to posit that certain specific events, concepts, or realities are always dependent on other specific things. Craving, for example, is always dependent on, and caused by, emotion. Emotion is always dependent on contact with our surroundings. This chain of causation purports to show that the cessation of decay, death, and sorrow is indirectly dependent on the cessation of craving. [|Nāgārjuna] asserted a direct connection between, even identity of, dependent origination, anatta, and śūnyatā. He pointed out that implicit in the early Buddhist concept of dependent origination is the lack of any substantial being (anatta) underlying the participants in origination, so that they have no independent existence, a state identified as emptiness (śūnyatā), or emptiness of a nature or essence (sva-bhāva).


 * Interpenetration**

'Interpenetration' or 'coalescence' (Wylie: zung 'jug; Sanskrit: yuganaddha; Chinese: 通達 ). This doctrine comes from the [|Avatamsaka Sutra], a Mahayana scripture, and its associated schools. It holds that all 'phenomena' (Sanskrit: [|dharmas] ) are intimately connected (and mutually arising). Two images are used to convey this idea. The first is known as [|Indra's net]. The net is set with jewels which have the extraordinary property that they reflect all of the other jewels. The second image is that of the 'world text'. This image portrays the [|world] as consisting of an enormous text which is as large as the [|Universe] itself. The 'words' of the text are composed of the phenomena that make up the world. However, every atom of the world contains the whole text within it. It is the work of a Buddha to let out the text so that beings can be liberated from suffering. The [|upaya] [ [|citation needed] ] doctrine of interpenetration influenced the [|Japanese] monk [|Kūkai], who founded the [|Shingon] school of Buddhism. The upaya doctrine of interpenetration is iconographically represented by [|Yab-yum]. Interpenetration and [|Essence-Function] are mutually informing in the East Asian Buddhist traditions, especially the [|Korean Buddhist] tradition.


 * Ethics**

Although there are many ethical tenets in Buddhism that differ depending on whether one is a monk or a layman, and depending on individual schools, the Buddhist system of ethics can be summed up in the [|Eightfold Path]. And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering -- precisely this Noble Eightfold Path – right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. The purpose of living an ethical life is to escape the suffering inherent in [|samsara]. Skillful actions condition the mind in a positive way and lead to future happiness, while the opposite is true for unskillful actions. Ethical discipline also provides the mental stability and freedom to embark upon mental cultivation via [|meditation].


 * Philosophy or religion**

Buddhism can be regarded as either a practical [|philosophy] or a belief-based [|religion]. In the South and East Asian cultures in which Buddhism developed, the distinction between philosophy and religion is not always strongly present. As such, the need to classify Buddhism as one or the other may be a mere semantic problem. Proponents of the view that Buddhism is a philosophy argue (a) that Buddhism is [|non-theistic], having no particular use for the existence or non-existence of a god or gods; and (b) that religion entails theism. However, both prongs of this argument are contested by proponents of the alternative view, that Buddhism is a religion. Namely, (a) in the Mahayana branch a vast pantheon of [|Buddhas and Bodhisattvas], many of which are also Hindu deities, serve as the object of prayer and worship and (b) the [|Tathagatagarbha doctrine] may be interpreted in a theistic sense. Another argument for Buddhism as a philosophy is that Buddhism does not have doctrines in the same sense as other religions; instead, Buddhism offers specific methods for applying its philosophical principles, although this too is contentious. Regardless of its formal classification, Buddhism is a religion rich with philosophical content. Lama Anagorika Govinda expressed it as follows in A Living Buddhism for the West: Thus we could say that the Buddha's Dharma is, · as experience and as a way to practical realisation, a religion; · as the intellectual formulation of this experience, a philosophy; · and as a result of self-observation and analysis, a psychology. Whoever treads this path acquires a norm of behavior that is not dictated from without, but is the result of an inner process of maturation and that we – regarding it from without – can call morality.


 * History**
 * Early development**

Certain basic teachings appear in many places throughout the early texts, so most scholars conclude that the Buddha must at least have taught something of the kind: Some scholars disagree, and have proposed many other theories. According to such scholars, there was something they variously call [|Earliest Buddhism], original Buddhism or pre-canonical Buddhism. The Buddha rejected certain precepts of [|Indian philosophy] that were prominent during his lifetime. According to some scholars, the philosophical outlook of Earliest Buddhism was primarily negative, in the sense that it focused on what doctrines to reject more than on what doctrines to accept. This dimension is also found in the [|Madhyamaka] school. It includes critical rejections of all [|views], which is a form of philosophy, but it is reluctant to posit its own. Only knowledge that is useful in achieving [|enlightenment] is valued. According to this theory, the cycle of philosophical upheavals that in part drove the diversification of Buddhism into its many schools and sects only began once Buddhists began attempting to make explicit the implicit philosophy of the Buddha and the early Suttas. Other scholars reject this theory. After the death of the Buddha, attempts were made to gather his teachings and transmit them in a commonly agreed form, first orally, then also in writing (The [|Tripitaka] ).
 * the [|three characteristics]
 * the [|five aggregates]
 * [|dependent arising]
 * [|karma] and [|rebirth]
 * the [|four noble truths]
 * the [|eightfold path]
 * [|nirvana]


 * Later developments**

The main Buddhist philosophical schools are the [|Abhidharma] schools, (particularly [|Theravada] and [|Sarvastivada] ), and the [|Mahayana] schools (the latter includes the [|Madhyamika], [|Yogacara] , [|Huayan] , and [|Tiantai] schools).


 * Cataphatic presentations**

The [|Tathagatagarbha] doctrine of some schools of [|Mahayana Buddhism], the [|Theravada] doctrine of [|bhavanga] , and the [|Yogachara] [|store consciousness] were all identified at some point with the " [|luminous mind] " of the Nikayas. The Tathagatagarbha sutras, in a depature from mainstream Buddhist language, insist that the true self lies at the very heart of the Buddha himself and of [|nirvana], as well as being concealed within the mass of mental and moral contaminants that blight all beings. Such doctrines saw a shift from a largely apophatic (negative) philosophical trend within Buddhism to a decidedly more [|cataphatic] (positive) modus. The tathagatagarbha (or [|Buddha-nature] ) does not, according to some scholars, represent a substantial Self; rather, it is a positive language expression of " [|sunyata] " and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices. In this interpretation, the intention of the teaching of tathagatagarbha is [|soteriological] rather than theoretical. The word "atman" is used in a way idionsyncratic to these sutras; the "true self" is described as the perfection of the wisdom of [|not-self] in the Buddha-Nature Treatise, for example. Language that had previously been used by essentialist non-Buddhist philosophers was now adopted, with new definitions, by Buddhists to promote orthodox teachings. Prior to the period of these scriptures, Mahayana [|metaphysics] had been dominated by teachings on [|emptiness] in the form of [|Madhyamaka] philosophy. The language used by this approach is primarily negative, and the Tathagatagarbha genre of sutras can be seen as an attempt to state orthodox Buddhist teachings of [|dependent origination] using positive language instead, to prevent people from being turned away from Buddhism by a false impression of nihilism. In these sutras the perfection of the wisdom of not-self is stated to be the true self; the ultimate goal of the path is then characterized using a range of positive language that had been used in Indian philosophy previously by essentialist philosophers, but which was now transmuted into a new Buddhist vocabulary to describe a being who has successfully completed the Buddhist path.


 * Comparison with other philosophies**

[|Baruch Spinoza], though he argued for the existence of a permanent reality, asserts that all phenomenal existence is transitory. In his opinion sorrow is conquered "by finding an object of knowledge which is not transient, not ephemeral, but is immutable, permanent, everlasting." Buddhism teaches that such a quest is bound to fail. [|David Hume], after a relentless analysis of the mind, concluded that consciousness consists of fleeting mental states. Hume's [|Bundle theory] is a very similar concept to the Buddhist [|skandhas], though his denial of causation lead him to opposite conclusions in other areas. [|Arthur Schopenhauer] 's philosophy had some parallels in Buddhism. [|Ludwig Wittgenstein] 's "word games" map closely to the warning of intellectual speculation as a [|red herring] to understanding, such as the Parable of the Poison Arrow. [|Friedrich Nietzsche], although himself dismissive of Buddhism as yet another nihilism, developed his philosophy of accepting life-as-it-exists and self-cultivation as extremely similar to Buddhism as better understood in the West. [|Heidegger] 's ideas on Being and nothingness have been held by some to be similar to Buddhism today. An alternative approach to the comparison of Buddhist thought with Western philosophy is to use the concept of the Middle Way in Buddhism as a critical tool for the assessment of Western philosophies. In this way Western philosophies can be classified in Buddhist terms as eternalist or nihilist. =By David Jeong=

=Buddhist Monk Pup Jeong dies at 78= Published: March. 11, 2010 at 12:37 PM

SEOUL, March 11 (UPI) -- A South Korean Buddhist monk who preached that a happy life is one without the desire for possessions has died of cancer, his temple says. Pup Jeong, 78, whose secular name was Park Jae-cheol, died at Gilsang temple Thursday after suffering from lung cancer since 2007, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports. South Korean President said Pup Jeong "demonstrated what benevolence is and what truth his through his own life." Pup Jeong became well-known in 1976 after publishing his first book "Non-possession" in which he preached that happiness is derived from a life unbound by the desire for possessions. Despite his popularity, Pup Jeong never took high-profile positions in Buddhist society and chose to live alone in remote places for most of his life. Temple officials say they will follow his wish that there be no special funeral ceremony. His body will be cremated on Saturday.
 * -David Jeong **

**Basic Teachings of Buddha** The first truth is that nothing is lost in the universe. Matter turns into energy, energy turns into matter. A dead leaf turns into soil. A seed sprouts and becomes a new plant. Old solar systems disintegrate and turn into cosmic rays. We are born of our parents, our children are born of us. We are the same as plants, as trees, as other people, as the rain that falls. We consist of that which is around us, we are the same as everything. If we destroy something around us, we destroy ourselves. If we cheat another, we cheat ourselves. Understanding this truth, the Buddha and his disciples never killed any animal. The second universal truth of the Buddha is that everything is continuously changing. Life is like a river flowing on and on, ever-changing. Sometimes it flows slowly and sometimes swiftly. It is smooth and gentle in some places, but later on snags and rocks crop up out of nowhere. As soon as we think we are safe, something unexpected happens. Once dinosaurs, mammoths, and saber-toothed tigers roamed this earth. They all died out, yet this was not the end of life. Other life forms like smaller mammals appeared, and eventually humans, too. Now we can even see the Earth from space and understand the changes that have taken place on this planet. Our ideas about life also change. People once believed that the world was flat, but now we know that it is round. The third universal truth explained by the Buddha is that there is continuous changes due to the law of cause and effect. This is the same law of cause and effect found in every modern science textbook. In this way, science and Buddhism are alike. The law of cause and effect is known as **karma.** Nothing ever happens to us unless we deserves it. We receive exactly what we earn, whether it is good or bad. We are the way we are now due to the things we have done in the past. Our thoughts and actions determine the kind of life we can have. If we do good things, in the future good things will happen to us. If we do bad things, in the future bad things will happen to us. Every moment we create new karma by what we say, do, and think. If we understand this, we do not need to fear karma. It becomes our friend. It teaches us to create a bright future.
 * 1. __Nothing is lost in the universe__**
 * 2. __Everything Changes__**
 * 3. __Law of Cause and Effect__**
 * - David Jeong **