Buddhism 101

by Arnie Kozak

  • A universal path to liberation

  • The eternal nature of the Buddha

  • Pragmatism represented by the bodhisattva

  The Parable of the Burning House appears in the Lotus Sutra. Children are playing in a burning house and they don’t heed their father’s warning to escape because they are so enthralled with the game they are playing. Their attachment to the game represents the dangerous attachment to greed and desire. The father entices them out with a promise of better entertainment but then gives them jewels and bells. These represent the dharma.

  Nagarjuna

  * * *

  The second most influential person in the history of Buddhism is Nagarjuna (the Buddha being the first). He founded the Madhyamika (“School of the Middle Way”). He cautioned that dualistic ways of perceiving are limiting and took the Buddha’s notion of dependent origination (that is, nothing exists except in relationship to something else, and thus everything is interconnected) to its logical conclusion whereby the difference between nirvana and samsara disappears.

  * * *

  Today there are different traditions of Buddhism, just as there were in the past. In fact, the three major surviving traditions within Buddhism can be considered related but distinct religions: Theravada, Mahayana (for example, Zen), and Vajrayana (for example, Tibetan Buddhism).

  THERAVADA AND MAHAYANA

  Emerging Traditions

  Theravada Buddhism can be traced all the way back to the First Council, shortly after Buddha’s death. Theravada Buddhists claim that they have adhered to the Buddha’s original teachings and are, therefore, the purist form of Buddhism. They established the Pali Canon, the teachings that were passed down orally for four hundred years. The Pali language is still used as the primary language for the texts of Theravada Buddhists millennia later.

  The Theravada (“Doctrine of Elders”) is the sole surviving school of Buddhism from the early days of Buddhism. It traces its roots back to the Buddha himself and his closest disciples. It is also known as southern Buddhism because this is where it has flourished over the centuries: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, and Laos. Theravada keeps its ties close to the life of the Buddha and the Pali Canon (unlike Mahayana, which has introduced new texts and concepts).

  The Theravada forms that have made their way to America, especially, are more “Buddha” than “Buddhism.” That is, they preserve the essential practices the Buddha developed and taught and most closely resemble his path to awakening. Notably, meditation is central to the Theravada traditions taught in America, where interested parties can learn meditation through a traditional ten-day silent meditation retreat. Here you can engage in the core Buddhist practice of vipassana without having to engage with any rites or rituals, or take any monastic vows. It’s more of a bare bones practice of Buddha and can be found in the teachings of S.N. Goenka from Burma who founded the Vipassana Meditation Society, which has centers in the US and all around the world, the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and its sister non-residential center, Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, and the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California.

  MAHAYANA

  Mahayana Buddhism is the vehicle most familiar to Americans in the form of Zen. Mahayana has been around since the Second Council, but Mahayana also can argue a direct descent to the Buddha’s teachings. Mahayana Buddhists believe they split off from the Theravada tradition in order to reform the teachings and take them back to a purer form the Buddha had originally taught, although the Mahayana sutras such as the Perfection of Wisdom and Heart Sutra are not directly attributed to the Buddha.

  Manjushri

  * * *

  Manjushri is the bodhisattva of wisdom—he symbolizes the wisdom one needs to seek the truth. In artworks depicting Manjushri, he is often portrayed with one hand holding a sword, which is needed to cut through illusion to the heart of wisdom. In the other hand, he holds the sacred text of wisdom, the Prajnaparamita Sutra.

  * * *

  If you think Buddhism lacks prophecies, think again. Buddhist scholar Mark Blum describes the Mahayana belief in the Period of the Final Law. This period of dark decline for humanity (know as mofa in Chinese and mappo in Japanese) had come about somewhere between the sixth and eleventh centuries “because too much time had elapsed since the death of the Buddha and fewer and fewer people understood his teaching.” Blum explains, “This final period could last up to ten thousand years and all sorts of dire consequences were described, such as increased corruption, conflict, and even a shortening of human life. But the end of this age was unambiguously marked by the advent of a new buddha, Maitreya, who will usher in a new era of peace and enlightenment.”

  Emptiness

  The cardinal emphasis of Mahayana is on shunyata, often translated as “emptiness” or “the void.” The Buddha’s early teachings discuss the emptiness of self (anatman, anatta) and in the Mahayana this concept is expanded to everything.

  Shunyata is, perhaps, the most confusing and mystical of the Buddhist concepts and the most difficult for the Western mind to grasp. Truth goes beyond dualistic distinctions and thus “emptiness is form” and “form is emptiness.”

  These distinctions can get you bogged down in subtle philosophical arguments. Is the world real? And what does it mean to be real? To further clarify things (or is it to complicate things?) objects can be seen as conventionally real but there is an ultimate reality that underlies what is perceived. Confused yet?

  In Mahayana tradition, when one wakes up one realizes that the whole world is emptiness, that emptiness is not just the self but all things, and form and emptiness are the same thing, indistinguishable from one another. Or as it states in the Heart Sutra: “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” It is hard to grasp this conceptually. The best way is to practice meditation and experience it for yourself.

  Like the self, everything has the quality of space and energy and change.

  Stephen Batchelor tries to cut through this confusion by going back to basics. According to Batchelor, the Buddha’s original teachings did not make these distinctions between relative and ultimate reality (which themselves are at risk for creating a duality). Things are constantly changing, he taught, and he cautioned his followers not to cling to anything. Everything that occurs does so in dependence upon something else (the doctrine of dependent origination).

  But is there really a duality here? Conventional reality is necessary so that you know your name and know how to find your way home. Ultimate reality refers to something else. When you meditate, you will experience these conventional things in a different way—this is where language breaks down—such that some deeper or more ultimate sense of things will be experienced.

  It’s hard to describe in language and must be experienced for yourself. When all these concepts cease to function, you have reached enlightenment. When you go beyond dualistic categories such as self and world, you are liberated. This is what the Mahayana strives for. The aim is to get beyond all your preconceived notions of reality, including those about yourself. Beware! You can become attached to the concept of emptiness itself, and through the back door you will once again be trapped in the world of concepts and miss out on liberation. Don’t worry though. Of course, in the next moment you’ll have another chance!

  Vipassana practice plays a more central role in the Theravada than in the Mahayana where vipashyana (Sanskrit for vipassana) is combined with elaborate imagery, chanting, and other practices that developed in the centuries after the Buddha. In the Mahayana, prajna (wisdom) may be represented by Manjushri who yields a sword that cuts through delusion and desire.

  Ox-Herding Pictures

  The Mahayana Path is captured in the traditional sequence of painting in the Chan and Zen traditions. The ox, an animal sacred in India, represents buddha-nature, and the boy in the illustrations represents the self.

  • “Seeking the Ox.” Here you are lost in samsara but having been exposed to the teaching of the Buddha
you are pulled toward a higher truth.

  • “Finding the Tracks.” Here you engage with listening to teachings and finding the path.

  • “First Glimpse of the Ox.” Meditation practice provides the vehicle to start realizing a taste of prajna (wisdom).

  • “Catching the Ox.” Comes when you have a deeper grasping of the kleshas or three fires (ignorance, greed, hatred), and the limitations that come with regarding the self as a solid object worthy of protection (anatta).

  • “Taming the Ox.” This occurs when you start to have peeks at the peak experience of satori (seeing into one’s true nature; awakening).

  • “Riding the Ox Home.” When you have a complete experience of satori.

  • “Ox Forgotten.” This comes when you can now experience life with the freedom that satori provides.

  • “Both Ox and Self Forgotten.” Here you go beyond even the concepts of dharma and the tradition you studied within. The Buddha likened this to the raft that carries you across the river of samsara; once you’ve reached the other side you don’t keep carrying the raft.

  • “Returning to the Source.” From this place you realize that the entire natural world is the embodiment of enlightenment.

  • “Entering the Market with Helping Hands.” Makes the bodhisattva path explicit. Having gotten to this place you now work for the betterment of everyone else.

  THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM

  Beyond India

  Buddhist practice spread quickly within India as the Buddha and his disciples traveled around the country introducing the dharma to the population. The power of his message and the proof of its value were evident as thousands joined the sangha. “Followers of the Buddha” were soon to be found beyond the borders of India in Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and beyond. Eventually what is now called “Buddhism” spread to China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet.

  SRI LANKA

  Remember that monks were mendicants—they had few possessions. They traveled by foot, begging for food, mingling amongst the native people while performing compassionate acts to further themselves along the path toward enlightenment. As they traveled they spread the message of the Buddha’s teachings and convinced people—through example rather than self-promotion—that the Path was a good way to live. Their passage through south Asia was one way in which Buddhism started to spread across the continent.

  King Ashoka Sends His Son

  Also recall that King Ashoka was another primary reason for the spread and growth of Buddhism. Ashoka was the great Buddhist missionary. Powerful and respected, Ashoka attracted people to the Buddha’s teaching through his missions and architectural monuments throughout his kingdom.

  King Ashoka had cast his eye toward the south and decided to send his son, the monk Mahinda, to the beautiful tropical island Sri Lanka as a missionary. Mahinda was well received by King Devanampiyatissa, the king of Sri Lanka, and they held many enthusiastic and energetic conversations about the religion that had so completely changed Ashoka.

  Indian Buddhism’s Decline

  * * *

  After its glory days under King Ashoka, Buddhism in India took a downturn. The invasions by the Mongols, an Islamic people, and the resurgence and strengthening of Hinduism (in part due to a repopularization after incorporating elements of Buddhism) were to take a toll on the influence of Buddhism. By the thirteenth century, Buddhism was substantially weakened in India and all but disappeared. Fortunately, it was to take a stronghold in other parts of the world, a thriving that continued to the modern era.

  * * *

  Captivated by such engaging exchanges, the native king asked Mahinda to bring a branch of the Bodhi Tree to Sri Lanka so they could have their own symbol of enlightenment. And so Mahinda sent for his sister, Sanghamitta, who soon left India for Sri Lanka, bearing the gift her brother had requested. A grateful King Devanampiyatissa planted the branch on the grounds of the Mahavihara—the first and largest monastery built in the city of Anuradhapura. To this day there are Bodhi Trees in Sri Lanka considered to be relatives to the original branch brought over by Sanghamitta.

  Sri Lanka embraced Buddhism and shortly it was thriving in the small nation. Sometime around 100 B.C.E., it was here during the Fourth Council that the Pali scriptures were written down on palm leaves.

  Sri Lanka Nurtures Buddhism

  Some four hundred years later, in the fifth century a Buddhist monk named Buddhaghosa left India for the beautiful island. Buddhaghosa wrote a detailed examination of the Tipitaka, a commentary on the Pali texts, called Visuddhimagga (Path to Purity). It is still widely read today and is considered the great treatise of Theravada Buddhism. In Pali, Buddhaghosa means “Voice of Enlightenment.” He was also known as The Great Translator.

  During the fourth century C.E., the Buddha’s tooth was brought to Sri Lanka with great fanfare. To this day there is a celebration centered around the Buddha’s tooth. It is preserved in the city of Kandy in the Temple of the Tooth Relic. Daily rituals revolve around the venerated tooth; it is a much revered and celebrated artifact.

  Buddhism was eventually challenged by European colonialism and invasions of the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British. Efforts to convert the natives to Christianity were exerted but Buddhist practice persisted. At one point bhikkus were imported from India to retain and fortify the presence of Buddhism. Buddhism prevailed, and today Sri Lanka is considered one of the few predominantly Buddhist countries.

  MYANMAR (BURMA)

  From Sri Lanka and India, Buddhism continued its march across the Asian continent. Monks from Sri Lanka left their home to spread the teachings abroad, having a powerful impact on such other countries as Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. These southeastern transmissions were in the Theravada tradition. Buddhism originally came to Burma via trade with the people of India and via monks from Sri Lanka. With the aid of Sri Lankan monks and supporters, Buddhism established a firm foothold.

  Originally in Burma the predominant form of Buddhism was Vajrayana Buddhism, but by the year 1044 the powerful Burmese king Anawrahta sponsored Theravada monasteries and changed the country to a largely Theravada-supported nation. Anawrahta built monasteries, stupas, and shrines all over the capital city of Pagan, and the city soon became a center for Buddhist study and practice.

  Buddhism flourished in Burma for many years, but ran up against a large threat with the British invasion of the nineteenth century. Today Theravada Buddhism continues to flourish. There are more than 50,000 monasteries to be found and fully 88 percent of the population considers themselves Buddhist.

  THAILAND

  Buddhism is said to have first appeared in Thailand among the Mon people in the third century B.C.E. The Mons left China about 2,000 years ago and settled in both Thailand and Burma. They are believed to be the first settlers in Thailand. Once established, they soon encountered other peoples arriving from the north. Many small kingdoms were subsequently established across the land, each vying for power over another. It is likely—considering the first settlers were from China—that some Chinese Buddhist influence was possible. However, Buddhism is generally considered to have appeared in Thailand from India and not from China.

  By the thirteenth century, missionaries from Sri Lanka were able to convince the king of Thailand, Ramkhamhaeng, to convert to Buddhism. Pali was established as the religious language of Thailand and Theravada Buddhism firmly took root, where it thrives to this day.

  There was a revival of the Theravadan traditions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries across Southeast Asia. In Burma and Sri Lanka these reforms were part of the independence movement against colonial rule. In Thailand, which retained its independence, reform was initiated by King Rama IV (reign 1851–1868) who was a monk himself for twenty-seven years.

  CAMBODIA, LAOS, AND INDONESIA

  From India, Buddhism spread to the east and south.

  Cambodia

  Cambodia was influenced by India early in its history and Mahayana Buddhism took a foothold w
ith its people. Early Cambodian history is not well documented, so it is not until the ninth century that we know Buddhism was being practiced there. Kings of the Khmer, who were dominant in Cambodia, started to build large temples and monasteries.

  Buddhism in Southeast Asia

  * * *

  Buddhism has exerted influence on Southeast Asia since the first century and has taken a predominately Theravada form (except in Vietnam). Great material and political resources were devoted to building what are now some of the world’s most magnificent ruins: Angkor in Cambodia, Pagan in Burma, and Borobudur in Java.

  * * *

  Then at the turn of the twelfth century, King Jayavarman VII came into power. He was a devout Buddhist and Mahayana Buddhism became the dominant religion of the kingdom under his influence. Neighbor Thailand was soon to have a strong effect, however, and by the end of the thirteenth century Theravada was predominant.

  When Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge guerillas took control of Cambodia in the 1970s they tried to eradicate Buddhism and nearly succeeded. There were 65,000 monks in the sangha before 1970, and after Pol Pot, that number was 3,000. Approximately two-thirds of the Buddhist temples were destroyed. Today Buddhism is attempting to re-establish itself but political unrest continues. There has been resurgence in the sangha and 95 percent of the population is Theravada Buddhist.