Intro to Buddhism TOPIC: Mahâyâna Buddhism “Great Vehicle”
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Transcript of Intro to Buddhism TOPIC: Mahâyâna Buddhism “Great Vehicle”
Buddha—Dharma—Sangha
Sangha:
Monasticism still supported, yet the bodhisattva ideal supports laity more
Buddha:
More metaphysical and cosmological conceptualization…
Mahayana Buddha Conception…
CONTINUITIES WITH ALL SCHOOLS
* Existence of Other BuddhasDipankara and Maitreya
* Bodhisattvas (jātakas)
* Buddha teaching to his Audiences
* Compassionate Decision to Teach
Textual drama of “stupas emerging from the earth…”
… and a Buddha Prabhutaratna sitting next to Shakyamuni, fulfilling a vow of certifying the proper teaching of the Lotus Sutra.
Did the Buddha Lie? “Burning House” Parable
Buddha as “Rain Cloud” that nourishes individuals at all levels using his “skillful means” (upaya)
Buddha as physician: “Dies” at spiritual charade to encourage beings to take their mortality seriously
Mahāyāna Scholastic Dharma: Many Developments, vast textual scholarship
Elite Mahāyāna Philosophies: 1. Doctrine of Madhyamaka School
Shunyatā and Two/3-Truths2. Yogācāra School
3. Buddha Nature Theory School
Mahāyāna Practice: Visualization Meditation
Opposed to the Nikaya Schools’ Scholastic Abhidharma analysis of reality in terms of “dharma”
vs.
Prajñā-paramita Shunyatā and Two/3-Truths
1. Doctrines of Madhyamaka School
TEXTS:
1.अ Prajñā-paramita Sutra
2. Prajñā-paramita Heart Sutra
3. Vajrachedika Prajñā-paramita Sutra
4. 1008 Verse Prajñā-paramita Sutra
Madhyamaka
NEW “MIDDLE WAY”: nihilists vs. Real (of Abhidharmists)
WORDS ARE “SAMSARIC” THE BEST WE CAN SAY, if we must speak (and we must) is that REALITY has “Tathata” [SUCHNESS]
“Silence of the Buddha” as key teaching
YES: Conventional Truth vs. Ultimate Truth
NAGARJUNA is a brave De-Construtivist who reduced all asserted “truths” to ultimate falsity…depending on the “web of assumptions
and conventions”UP vs. DOWN
INSIDE vs. OUTSIDE
….even vs. Buddhist formulations… SUCH AS NIRVANA vs SAMSARA
All Utterance is falsity; based on conceptual assumptions
Prajna sees Shunyā quality of all reality “Reality Beyond Categories”
Purpose of Philosophy: Demonstrate the need for complete
NON-ATTACHMENT, even to our thoughts
(legitimating meditation as only possible means of seeking truth beyond conceptualization)
All Utterance is falsity; based on conceptual assumptions
NO-THING-NESS (SHUNYĀ) EMPTINESS :Seeing Reality clearly cannot be “thing-based”
TWO OR 3 Levels of Truth:
• Conventional Discourse (for self and world)
• Ultimate Discourse (skillful, undoing attachment)
E.g HEART SUTRA
• [Silence] AKA “ “
Nagarjuna:
As students read the alphabet,So the Buddha taught his disciplesThe doctrines they could comprehend:
To some he taught the doctrine to turn away from doing evil….To some he taughtThe teaching of acquiring merit.Provisional doctrines based upon duality.
But to some he taught doctrines based upon non-dualityThough to some who are timid this is frighteningTo others it is profound:Having the essence of emptiness and compassionThe true method for achieving enlightenment.
Points:
• Deconstructive Process of Mind is goal of zero-based critique (shunyata)
• Language is “samsaric”, encoding desire, ignorance of the world; nothing stands alone, independent of other “things” for meaning
• True spiritual advance is made when we stop relying on the mediation of any symbols between “us” and “world”
• Philosophy demonstrates the superiority of silence; mastering reality without mediation
• How?????
NOTE: Mantra Recitation
• ALSO in the LOTUS SUTRA
• Indian theory of sacred sound as primordial, connective with reality, transformative
• Recitation rituals as useful/effective
• Mundane and Supramundane uses: key to Mahayana popularity and meditation across northern Asia
Mahayana School II: Cittamatra(“Consciousness Only”)
• Karma and karmic fruition is all in consciousness
• “Idealism”: only thought is real; material universe is all unreal
• Mind/consciousness as inherently zestful, creative, loving, wise… but…
“poisoned” by ignorance and desire
Yogācāra
• Other name for school, “Yoga-acāra,” points to school’s re-emphasis
on yoga practices
as key to purifying the mind
• great exponent was Asanga (350 CE)
Mahayana School III: Buddha-Nature School(“Tathagata-garbha”)
If Nirvana=Samsara, then nirvana pervades samsara
All beings and points in the universe are connected and buddha-suffused
Bodhisattva Ideal:
Vow to postpone one’s own final parinirvana until all other beings are established on the path
To reach Buddhahood should be the goal of all beings
Bodhisattvas as human or divinity
Mahayana Meditation
• Visualization and Mantra Recitation used to train and transform the mind
• “Buddha nature” in all things, most potently in forms of bodhisattvas