HANDOUTS
COMMON FEATURES OF RELIGION
Here are, according to Prof. Robin Wright (cultural anthropologist), the typical Seven Components of Religion, which have their counterparts/parallels in the World Religious Traditions that we will be studying. So, here are the universals:
#1 - the Holy Places/Sacred Spaces - either as found in Nature (a mountain, a canyon, a mesa (for the Hopi-Tewa of the American Southwest in Arizona) or man-made, such as Islamic mosques, Christian churches, Jewish synagogues, ... built in cities and countrysides, which may also be pilgrimage-sites where pilgrims gather to worship (Jerusalem, ...) - connected to origins & historical events, ... .
#2 - the Holy Persons/ Revered Figures - who could be a Founder of a tradition, or saints, or prophets, or priests/monks/nuns, or shamans, or "medicine men," or Elders passing on traditional wisdom, social history, cultural memories, ... .
#3 - the Community of Believers - the men, women and children who form a communal identity in practicing/living their religious tradition in their daily-life activities: called "The Body of Christ" in Christian theology; called the ummah in Islam; called the sangha in Buddhism, ... .
#4 - the Stories/Narratives/Myths/ Tales/... recounted either in ORAL form by elders/priests/... or in WRITTEN form, such as holy texts/sacred scriptures = the Bible, the Qur'an, the Bhagavad Gita, ... - foundational sources for beliefs/teachings/truths, ... .
#5 - the Moral/Ethical Values - revealed commandments according to which people must conduct everyday life, seeking to abide by the principles/guidelines promulgated/interpreted by the elders/priests/church hierarchy/rabbis/imams/... .
#6 - THE DIVINE = God, Allah, the Great Spirit, ancestral spirits, Lord Vishnu, Adonai, ... = the Transcendent (= beyond Time and Space yet "supernaturally" involved in the temporal, societal world wherein humans dwell), sacred Ultimate Reality (usually personified, Whom humanity worships), Who may be variously named and diversely invoked in prayer and hymns/chants. ...
#7 - the Rites = the Ritual Worship&Prayers performed by all, led by "religious specialists" (= RW's phrase for priests/elders/...), in hallowed locales such as churches, mosques, temples, ... AND ALSO in special rooms in homes, such as for puja in Hindu dwellings - and performed in accord with a sacred calendar of festivals, holy days, but which could also be a daily practice for devout, observant believers.
WEDNESDAY 11/18/09 - Greetings, O Fall '09 Students of mine! Since we had a guest-presenter (Dr. Sanjay Lal) recently, and since we did not have class yesterday, Tuesday 11/17, because of the Diversity Day event (which was truly enlightening, as about 15 students of mine appreciated), I have composed Reading Notes for the chapter on HINDUISM (but NOT typed here) that I will hand-out tomorrow, Thursday 11/19, and go through with you. So, tomorrow will differ from the Syllabus = it will be a Hinduism day. Then, next class on Tuesday 11/24 will be our first Buddhism day, with some student-presentations. I will type HERE below Reading Notes to the chapter on Buddhism in IWR, using some of what is already typed from the last time I used IWR - but there will be changes - both additions & subtractions. In any case, it will be a streamlined version of the Buddhism chapter, which will help us to manage the material in a reasonable manner, I hope. There will also be Review Pages for everything since the MIDTERM in the Review Pages section of this webpage - but I'll do all that in the near future. I hope the Reading Notes for H'ism & B'ism will make it easier for us all. Thank you for your understanding.
-- I shall keep some of my old notes to Karen Armstrong's book on the Buddha for your general knowledge. The Buddha's name - before he became "The Awakened/Enlightened One" - is commonly spelled Siddhartha Gautama, using Sanskrit transliteration; it also has a Pali-language version = Siddhatta Gotama.
- RENUNCIATION announces the theme of SG's inward & outward journeying: to renounce means to give-up/abandon/withdraw-from what a person values/cherishes/holds for the sake of a sacrifice with a "greater" goal than to delight in what one is attached to. Thus, renunciation is always an inner struggle between desire/attachment-to something good while turning away from that very good. So, SG decides to dis-attach himself from all that he had been emotionally/culturally/family-wise bound to. But WHY such a radical/dramatic break? Why does SG decide to follow the path of a homeless renunciant? Born within Hinduism, with its beliefs about karma and samsara, SG chooses to experience the path of ascetic homelessness - that is, to become a "caster-off" (= sannyasin) - by "Going Forth" from his home & family into the world of suffering (= birth-death-rebirth & illness & old age) to find a peace that we can experience naturally - not supernaturally - when all our yearnings are NOT fulfilled/satisfied/quenched, but rather are snuffed-out like a candle-flame - they vanish - all is purified. It's called Nibbana (Pali) - Nirvana (Sanskrit). ... As you read about Buddhism, perhaps for the first time, remember that we are in Ancient India (beginning in what is today SW Nepal) of about 2500 years ago.
- So, he goes on a "Quest"= SG is a seeker after a new truth. SG has made his "Going Forth" and, thus, has begun his wanderings. He wanders with other ascetics in search of a teacher/master (guru), who could offer "instruction" = dhamma/dharma. He tries several paths. And he is always evaluating/questioning. SG is testing what others have experienced to see if it's right for him. SG grasps that ego-driven desire (tanha) is the prime cause of dukkha = suffering/torment/painful anxiety. He pursues yoga-disciplines; he abides by the 5 "prohibitions" (like the Ten Commandments = moral principles) and practices ethical & physical self-scrutiny/control in breathing, concentrating, contemplating, posturing = in meditation - with the goal of attaining a kind of happiness/bliss/utter contentment/joy/bliss. But, his "experiments" in following others only make him more perplexed. Where/How can he find his true/ultimate Self - still within Hinduism? Later he will ponder, Is there such an entity as the self/Self? And so, since "established forms of spirituality had failed him," SG determines to go it alone - to rely only on "his own insights" = SG as his own guru beyond the Hinduism of his upbringing, exclusively in the pursuit of "the final liberation of enlightenment."
- Nirvana/Nibbana = "inner realm of calm" because desire has been quenched, egotism overcome, but words are inadequate, being based on our inexperienced mode of understanding. The Buddha, at his physical death, attained his parinibbana = a state of being, so to speak, that does not correspond to any experience in mind/body and space/time. ... Nibbana may be inadequately called the still/quiet/becalmed/desireless/stressless/... "center within." If we Westerners are "baffled" and intellectually "frustrated" in trying to grasp the nature of the Buddha's experience, well, we're not "expert yogins," and just have to be patient. ... "Buddhism is an essentially psychological religion." We need to be in the "immovable spot" = "psychological stability and ... correct orientation" as a pre-condition for the effort to attain Nibbana. It is "an experience of the Sacred." BUT the Buddha must show/teach/proclaim the Way for others to follow = his mission/ministry. The Hindu god Brahma begs him to "preach the Dhamma" [= dharma (in Sanskrit) = teaching) = to be involved "in the affairs of a sorrowing world." So, for 45 years or so, he teaches his Dharma/Dhamma, beginning with the 5 bhikkus/wandering ascetics who had been "helpful and supportive" in his earlier quest. He goes to the Deer Park at Varanasi/Benares and gives his 1st Sermon = turning the Dharma/Dhamma-wheel of the Four Noble Truths into motion.
- So, the Buddha encounters, then, the 5 ascetics = bhikkus, who are awed - he seeks to teach them his Way, encouraging them to be critical thinkers in giving him a fair hearing, and in being always ready to let go - that is, the raft-analogy = "not to be held on to" - like a parent teaching the child to use his/her wings to fly (parent can't fly for the child) - so, no absolute answers to questions - but the goal of it all is to lead to relief of suffering & cessation of pain. ... The Four Noble Truths, with the 4th as the culminating Eightfold Path, are his practical program that will lead to a practitioner saying "I have attained release!"
***SUNDAY 11/22/09 - I shall type here READING NOTES for IWR Chapter Five on BUDDHISM, and PLEASE look at ALL the photo-/image-illustrations & read the notes attached to them.
- top164: "Buddhism takes ... of Asia.": the tradition's name-sake + mid164: "At the heart ... 184-5)." = overview of the "founder" S G and his title and his teachings (= the dharma) = the Four Noble Truths & the Eightfold Path
- upper sections of 168-171: major events in the life of S G who becomes the Buddha + 171b: on the "Four Noble Truths" + mid184-upper185: "The basic guide ... harmful action.": on the 8fold Path + lower185b: on the "Five Precepts" similar to the Mosaic commandments
- 173b: on the Mahayana (Great Vehicle/ ""Wide Raft"" - Northern) tradition: esp. 3rd & 4th paragraphs on the bodhisattva ideal & celestial/heavenly buddhas & bodhisattvas + 176a: on Siddhartha the Bodhisattva & image + 184a: on the Bodhisattva ideal: compassion & wisdom - "May I attain ...!"
- 176 (main text): "Theravada [= Southern tradition - Hinayana] Buddhism ... syllables; see p.140).": the historical S G was a human exemplar; after his death developments in the Mahayana tradition allowed for named BuddhaS and other "celestial beings," such as Avalokiteshvara and - on p.177 - Amitabha/Amida, the buddha of the "Pure Land" Western Paradise + see 193 on Amitabha indicated below
- top178: "After the ... the ages.": one founder BUT multiple scriptures composed in several languages from different cultures, some even dating from as late as the 1100s CE - Theravada & Mahayana collections overlap yet differ + bottom181: on the "Lotus Sutra" & see mid176: "O Jewel ... Lotus."
-- 186-89: Places of Devotion = sacred sites where pilgrims can worship/pray, meditate, pay their respects: 189 - READ the paragraph "In the Buddhist tradition, ... 'Form Body' ... 'Dharma Body' ... sacred texts in place of the relics ... [up to] Nichiren."
-- 190-91: Honoring the Way = being faithful to the Dharma in one's life-role as a monk, nun, and lay person by following the Five Precepts as on p.185
-- 192-93: Cycle of Rebirth : READ the upper 3 paragraphs to mid192 = "Buddhists have a tradition ... [up to] No state is permanent." + 193: on the "Pure Land" or "Western Paradise" of Amitabha (Amida) Buddha - who is not Siddhartha Gautama, but a celestial figure in the Mahayana tradition.
-- 194-97: Roles and Relationships: READ 194 on the Dalai Lama (photo) - Persecution in Tibet + 196-97: READ on Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese Buddhist persecuted by the military regime (Burma is today called Myanmar.) - still under "house-arrest"
*** More helpful notes to Karen Armstrong's book BUDDHA:
-- All things are "impermanent,"and so desiring to cling to them leads to sorrow/regret/... - hence, detachment is the way to non-suffering.
-- kamma/karma = deeds/actions as well as emotions/intentions - so, not merely "a matter of outward behavior." = what we feel/intend has consequences, positive and negative.
-- For the Buddha, "personality had no fixed or changeless core. ... every sentient being was in ... constant flux ... each person ... had some kind of identity, but was never the same from one moment to another." And so, Buddhists were required, since the ego-self was unstable (indeed, a delusion) to act selflessly = for others with compassion. And if everyone did so, then, through the discipline of mindfulness, a Buddhist "would learn to regard his [her] desires, fears, and cravings as remote [= distant/separated/cut-off] phenomena ... [leading to] dispassion and equanimity." = "release of his [her] heart." = "To live beyond ... greed, hatred, and ... fears ... is liberating." = "By living as though they had no self, people found that they had conquered their egotism and felt a great deal better. " = "The Buddha believed that a selfless life would introduce [= lead] men and women to Nibbana [Nirvana]." Our understanding of the First Noble Truth of dukkha meant empathizing with the sorrow of others; the teaching of anatta [= no-self = ego-self as unstable, as delusion, as ever-in-flux] implied that an enlightened person must live not for her- or himself but for others."
-- One disciple named Yasa, a rich merchant's son, a very earnest follower of the Buddha, became an Arahant/Arhat = an "Accomplished One" who has attained Nibbana in this life. Soon there were 60+ devoted disciples (also called bhikkus), whom the Buddha told "to help others find release ... out of compassion for the world ..." Also called bodhisattvas. They were the kernel of the later community of monks & nuns = the Sangha.
-- SG's "Mission": the Buddha's decades of preaching are only sketchily known through the scriptures. But all that matters are the truths that he taught and the experience that he attained: "The Buddha had become ... an embodiment of the Dhamma and of Nibbana. ... [He was] no longer caught in the toils [coils] of [negative emotions/intentions/acts/..., since] he had learned to manipulate his psyche in order to live without egotism ..., still living in the world, but [in] another sacred dimension ..." - thus in the world but of the world = not worldly.
-- The Buddha's third sermon = the "Fire Sermon" = greed, hatred, and delusion/ignorance are at the root of "our grasping desire for the things of this world which kept us ablaze and impeded our enlightenment." = ego-driven/self-centered desire must be quenched
--The Buddha's advice regarding the Sangha's survival in "a dangerous world": 1) Be respectful toward all; 2) Hold regular assemblies; 3) Stay true to the Dhamma. More generally, "be mindful, spiritually alert, energetic and faithful to the meditative disciplines ... [leading to] enlightenment."
-- The Buddha journeys on his "ministry" - "preaching ... the Dhamma ... adapted to ... the laity ... . [And exhorting the bhikkhus] to an intense interior life of mindfulness and meditation." ... The Buddha fights off illness and begins a deep conversation with Ananda. The Buddha emphasizes spiritual self-reliance: each to be his/her own "refuge" by following the Buddhist way of "meditation, concentration, mindfulness and ... detachment ... ." = an independent, "inner resource."
-- The conversation with Ananda continues & the Buddha expands on self-reliance: "... each ... must make the Dhamma his island, the Dhamma and nothing else his refuge." ... "... the Buddha and Ananda, two old men, ... experiencing the weariness of survival and the passing away of companions ..."
-- The B.'s last confrontation with Mara, "his shadow-self" - the B. refuses to leave the world just yet = "not [to] enter the bliss of his Final Nibbana until he is certain that the Order [of monks & nuns] and their holy life were properly established." ... The "holy life" is "to live the Dhamma 'for the sake of ..., for the welfare and happiness of ... the multitude, out of compassion ...'"
-- Ananda at the B.'s last meal, not long before his parinibbana. How is it different "from the peace that the B. had attained under the bodhi tree?" It would be a total freedom "from samsara ... [being] absorbed wholly into the peace of ... Nibbana." And what did that mean? "... peace within..., serenity within ... ."
-- "As he lay dying ..." - Ananda's poignant emotion: "... he felt only raw pain ... stood weeping ... Who would help him now?" - The B.'s response: "Don't be sorrowful; don't grieve. ... you will soon be enlightened too. ... Let the Dhamma and the Discipline that I have taught you be your Teacher when I am gone." - [To those present at the end:] "All individual things pass away. Seek your liberation with diligence." = You are your own emancipators - make the effort - freedom from samsara will result. ... And the Buddha attained "the final goal of humanity" = "As a flame blown out by the wind ... Gone beyond the power of words."