1. Unless otherwise noted all material herein is taken from The Teaching Company's     "Buddhism"; 12 cassetes, 2 course guide books (CG1, CG2), and 2 transcript books (TB1 &     TB2); all authored by Professor Malcolm David Eckel. © 2001 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership
    
     Only parts of seventeen Lectures of a total of 24 Lectures are included herein;
          the others in Buddhism and Spinoza.
    I unrestrainedly recommend your study of The Teaching Company's "Buddhism" for the           complete 24 Lectures

2. Symbols: 

Unless noted, all comments are from The Teaching Company's "Buddhism" or Prof. Eckel. 
{comment by JBY—or where, I think, Spinozism concurs or differs with Buddhism.}
R<comment from Robison and Johnson>R:Pg #.
S<comment from Strong>S:Pg #. 

3. My purpose is to show the insights of Buddhism and also where Spinoza's insights would,
    I believe, concur or differ. I use the word differ instead of disagree because disagree     implies one or the other is wrong. Whereas differ implies they are both correct and useful     for the 'world view' held. These different 'world views' are caused by differences of culture,     economic development, technological development, environmental conditions, climate,     personal disposition, etc., etc., etc. On the whole, I believe Spinoza puts into modern rational     language the insights of Buddhism and avoids the unfamiliar parables and catch-words.

4. Lectures 1-6 & 12 are given in online Buddhism and Spinoza because I believe it a review     that does not violate the Copyright of the Teaching Company. 

    Lectures 7-24 are given herein (an URL just given to friends and for my own study) because I     feel it may violate the Copyright to put in generally online.
 

Scope: 

According to Buddhist tradition, the small group of friends who made up the audience of the Buddha's first sermon became the first of many converts who formed the early Buddhist samgha, or "community." Over the course of a long and productive teachlng career, the Buddha laid the foundation for Buddhist monasticism, including both monks and nuns, as well as a sophisticated tradition of lay devotion and support. After the Buddha's death, attention shifted from the Buddha himself to the teachings and moral principles embodied in his dharma. His followers convened a council to recite his teaching, forming the nucleus of a canon of Buddhist scripture, while disputes in the early community anticipated the sectarian divisions of later Buddhist schools.

Outline: 

I. A fundamental expression of Buddhist faith is the "triple refuge": I take refuge in the Buddha,    I take refuge in the dharma, and I take refuge in the samgha. In the last three lectures, we    talked about the Buddha and the dharma. It is time now to consider some of the factors that    shaped the early Buddhist community.

A. As the Buddha wandered from town to town during his long teaching career, he     gathered together a large and diverse community of followers, including not just     monks like Angulimala, but a community of nuns and lay supporters.

B. The role of an ideal lay person is often represented by the figure of Anathapindika,      the donor. or danupati, who purchased a pleasure grove for use by the Buddha and his      community of monks. 

1. Generosity is not included as one of the five moral precepts, but for lay people,     generosity is a fundamental virtue. 

2. Generosity makes it possible for monks and nuns to live the monastic life, and it     gives lay people an opportunity to live the ideal of renunciation in their own     distinctive way.

C. The Buddha created an order of nuns when he agreed to ordain Mahaprajapati, his      great aunt.

1. The Buddha insisted that the nuns abide by several additional restrictions and     occupy a rank inferior to that of the monks. 

2. It was possible, however, for nuns to achieve awakening and nirvana, just as the     monks could. 

3. The community of nuns thrived in the early history of Buddhism and was     important in the tradition's early expansion to other parts of Asia. 

4. Today, communities of nuns are found principally in China, Tibet, and Korea.

D. The monastic community began as a group of wanderers, but they soon evolved a     settled pattern of life, at least during a portion of the year. 

1. The rainy season, which arrives in northern India during the months of June or     July, made the roads impassable and forced the monks to take refuge where they     could be supported by a stable group of lay followers. 

2. At first, these were just temporary dwelling places, but they soon evolved into     settled monasteries (vihara), where monks and nuns stayed not just for the rainy     season but for the entire year. 

3. This pattern of monasticism. with its circle of lay supporters, has become the basic     structure of Buddhist society and the bearer of Buddhist values.

II. After the Buddha's death, the community confronted a problem of authority.

A. When the Buddha died, the senior monks convened a council to recite the Buddha's     teaching and create an authoritative body of doctrine and discipline. 

1. Ananda recited the Buddha's doctrinal teachings. These became the Suttu-pitaka,     the "Easket of discourses."

2. Upali recited the Buddha's rules and regulations. These became the     Vinaya-pituka, the "basket of discipline." 

3. Eventually, these were supplemented by a third basket, the Abhidhairma, which     contained systematic reflection on the Budha's teaching.

B. Together, these constitute the "three baskets" (tripitaka). It is common to call these     three baskets a canon of Buddhist "scripture," although they were not written down for     several centuries after the Buddha's death.

III. The contents of the Buddhist scriptures often are quite simple and pragmatic.

A. Discourses of the Buddha begin with a formula drawn from the oral tradition: "Thus     have I heard. At one time the Buddha was dwelling at ...and he said..."

B. The discourses of the Buddha often have a simple, down-to-earth style and present a     pragmatic approach to religious truth.

C. "The Discourse on the Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma" is considered the Buddha's     first sermon, delivered after the Buddha had walked from the seat of his awakening and     encountered a group of his old associates in Sarnath, near the city of Banaras.

1. The sermon begins with the teaching of the Middle Path. 

Oh, Bhikkhus [Oh, monks], these two extremes ought not to be practiced by those who have gone forth from the household life. What are these two? There is devotion to the indulgence of sense pleasures, which is low, common, the way of ordinary people, unworthy and unprofitable; and there is devotion to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy and unprofitable. Avoiding these two extremes, the Buddha has realized the Middle Path: it gives vision, it gives knowledge, and it leads to calm, to insight, to awakening, to nibhana. 

                                                        (Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, p. 92) 

2. The sermon then goes on to an account of the Four Noble Truths.

D. One of the simplest of the early sermons, and in my view one of the most effective, is      the Fire Sermon. 

1. The Buddha begins by saying: "Bhikkhus, all is burning. And what is the all that is     burning? Bhikkhus, the eye is burning, visible forms are burning, visual     consciousness is burning... Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with     the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion."

2. The Buddha goes on to talk in the same way about the other senses.

E. The story of Malunkyaputta and the arrow is often used as an example of the Buddha's     concern for practical solutions to human problems {cash value} rather than for a kind of     fruitless doctrinal controversy {metaphysics, speculation, practical}. 

1. Malunkyaputta wanted the Buddha to tell him whether the world was eternal or not     eternal, finite or infinite: whether the soul was the same as the body: and whether     the Buddha existed after death. 

2. The Buddha responded by comparing Malunkyaputta to a man who is shot by an     arrow and will not let someone pull it out until he can tell him who shot the arrow,     what it was made of and so on. 

3. The Buddha said that Malunkyaputta should be concerned with removing the     arrow of suffering rather than with useless doctrinal speculations. 

F. The Buddha's teaching also is expressed in simple, easily memorized verses, as in the     collection known as the Dharmrnapada or "The Words of the Teaching." When I read     these sayings, I often am impressed by how pithy they are and how they seem to     convey the simplicity of the Buddha's teaching. For example: 

    Not to do any evil, to cultivate good, to purify one's mind {of false subjective thoughts}, this is     the teaching of the Buddha. 

    You are your own protector. What other protector can there be? With yourself fully     controlled, you obtain a protection that is hard to obtain. {GN:2} 

    There are a few people who cross to the other shore. The others merely run up and     down the bank on this side.

IV. The Second Buddhist Council led to the beginnings of Buddhist sectarianism.

A. As the community expanded across northern India, monks began to adapt the teaching     to new situations and encountered much greater difficulty enforcing unanimity in     doctrine or discipline.

B. About a hundred years after the death of the Buddha, a dispute in the samgha provoked     a second Buddhist council. 

1. Historical accounts of this council are contradictory; it is diftlcult to be certain either     about the source of the controversy or about its outcome.

2. One account says that the controversy was provoked by the scandalous behavior     of a monk named Mahadeva. 

3. Another says that it was provoked by disagreement over two prohibitions in     traditional monastic discipline: One prevented monks and nuns from using gold and     silver; the other prevented them from carrying salt from one day to the next.

C. Out of this dispute came a split between two major parties. 

1. The party known as the Sthaviravada, or "Doctrine of the Elders." was the     predecessor of the Theravada tradition that now dominates the Buddhist countries     of Southeast Asia (with the exception of Vietnam). 

2. The party known as the Mahasamahika, or "Great Conununity." was the     predecessor of the Mahayana tradition that now dominates the Buddhist countries     of North and East Asia.

D. These disputes eventually gave rise to eighteen schools (nikaya), only one of which still      survives in its traditional form. The sole surviving school is the Theravada (Pali for      Sthaviravada) tradition of Southeast Asia. 
 

Essential Reading:
Robinson and Johnson, The Buddhist Religion, Chapter 3
 

Scope: 

Religious traditions do not communicate merely through words; they also use the language of image, space, and form. In the centuries after the death of the Buddha. Buddhists developed distinctive artistic and architectural styles to express their understanding of the Buddha's teaching and to serve as the focus of worship and veneration. The earliest images were made in a so-called "aniconic" style, representing the Buddha by his symbols or by his absence. In later centuries, under the influence of Hellenistic and indigenous Indian traditions. Buddhists used the classic Gupta style to represent the image of the Buddha. This syle served as the source and inspiration for Buddhist art throughout the rest of Asia. 

Outline: 

I. In the centuries immediately following the Buddha's death. the Buddha was represented (or indicated) by shrines—cetiya [Pali], caitya [Sanskrit]—containing the relics of the Buddha or related in some other wav to the events of the Buddha's life.

A. The most basic shrine was the stupa, a solid reliquary mound containing relics in a square structure at the top.

B. Other shrines contained objects touched by the Buddha, such as his begging bowl.

C. A common form of shrine was dedicated to the Buddha's footprints.

D. These shrines often functioned as the focus of Buddhist lailgrimage.

E. Lay people worshipped at these shrines as a way of gaining merit or good karma.

1. Worshippers used the traditional gestures of Indian worship (puja), such as     offerings of fruit, flowers, incense, or a flame. 

2. They also "took the darshan" or "saw" the shrine in a powerful or emotionally     significant way.

F. Strictly speaking, a monk or a nun would not use these shrines as a way to gain merit,     because the goal of monastic life was to escape samsara.

1. They would use the shrines, instead, as the focus of meditation to follow the     Buddha's example. 

2. But the distinction between lay and monastic practice was not always strictly     observed.

G. Buddhists do not believe that the Buddha is actually present in his images. Instead,      they use Buddha images as a vvay, of tapping into the Buddha"s power.

Scope: 

Under the reign of the Buddhist King Asoka, who reigned from about 268 to 239 B.C.E., the first Buddhist missionaries left India for Sri Lanka. From this missionary effort grew the Theravada ("Tradition of the Elders") Buddhism that now dominates all the Buddhist countries of Southeast Asia with the exception of Vietnam. Along with the Theravada tradition came the Buddhist concept of a "righteous king," exemplified by Asoka himself. During the history of Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia, a close relationship has existed between the Buddhist samgha and Buddhist political leaders. This relationship is evident Thailand, where Buddhist kings have played a key role in the reform and revitalization of the Buddhist samgha. It also plays a role in the work of Aung San Sun Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her nonviolent resistance to military authority in Burma. 

Outline: 

I. In the last two lectures, we have considered two of the ways Buddhism changed as it expanded out of its homeland in the north of India.

A. Disputes in the samgha generated a series of sectarian movements known as nikayas.

B. Buddhist artists developed different ways of representing the concept of the Buddha in     visual form.

C. Many of the early sectarian movements, like many of the early Buddhist artistic styles,     are now historical artifacts. We can study them in museums or read about them in texts,     but we cannot meet them on the street.

D. One of the early sects, however, is still active: the Theravada ("Doctrine of the Elders")      tradition of Southeast Asia.

E. This lecture offers a taste of the history of the Theravada by looking at a series of      representative figures who have shaped the development of the Theravada tradition as      we know it today. These figures are: 

1. King Asoka, who became the prototype of the "righteous king" (dhammaraja) and     whose son, according to Buddhist legend, became the first Buddhist missionary to     Sri Lanka. 

2. King Mongkut of Thailand (r. 1851-1868), who spent twenty-five years as a monk     and then, as king, instituted a reform movement to modernize Thai monastic life. 

3. Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of a democratic protest movement in Burma, who     was the recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
 

Lecture 9 - TB1:145 

Now, you might ask why, of all the possible figures in Theravada Buddhist history—and of course there were many, monks and nuns and donors and activists of all sorts—why of all those possible figures I've chosen to focus on these three political leaders: King Asoka, King Mongkut, and Aung San Suu Kyi. There really are two reasons for this. One is to raise the issue for us of the relationship between Buddhism and politics. This is not something that you'd normally think of as being, as it were, consistent with traditional Buddhist values. If we have an image of the Buddha as monk it's hard for us to imagine him as a politician. And yet the relationship between Buddhist values and politics has been a deeply rooted theme in Buddhist life. It's important for us to consider it in order to develop a full understanding of Buddhist society and to see how Buddhism wove its way into the life of other civilizations in Asia.
page 146 
My second reason for choosing these figures is to raise the question of modernity. It's very easy to imagine that the Buddhist tradition is only a historical artifact, something associated with the teaching of the Buddha—distant civilizations, distant from us not just geographically but historically. The truth is, of course, that Buddhism and Buddhist people have been involved in the process of modernization just the way religious people have been in cultures that are closer to home. So, it's useful for us to see in King Mongkut and in Aung San Suu Kyi some of the subtle and very powerful ways that Buddhism has been brought into relationship with the challeges of modernity. We'll certainly see more about that as we discuss other important religious figures who have brought Buddhism into the contemporary world.
 

Scope: 

Near the beginning of the common era, a movement appeared that called itself the Mahayana. or "Great Vehicle," in contrast to the Hinayana, or "Lesser Vehicle." The Word "Hinayana" was used to refer to previous Buddhist traditions. While Mahayana texts trace their origin to the Buddha himself, the actual origin of Mahayana remains a mystery. There is no mystery, however, about the fundamental teaching of the Mahayana. Mahayana texts promote the ideal of the bodhisattva, or "future Buddha," who does not attempt to achieve nirvana as an individual goal but vows to return again and again in the cycle of samsara to seek the welfare of others.   

Outline: 

I. The Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle," emerged as a reform movement in the Indian Buddhist    community around the beginning of the common era.

A. Eventually, the Mahayana spread to China, Tibet. Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

B. The name "Mahayana" comes from the literature of the movement itself. 

1. Mahayana texts refer to themselves as a "Great Vehicle," in contrast to the     Hinayana, or "Lesser Vehicle," that preceded them. 

2. An important source of this contrast is the parable of the burning house in the     Lotus sutra.

---

Lecture 10 - TB1:151-3 

The key passage in the Lotus sutra that talks about the Mahayana is a passage that's known as the parable of the burning house. I can tell you the story, and then I'd like to comment on some of the distinctive features of it so that we can get some sense of the shape page 152 not just of the Mahayana itself, but also how it distinguished itself from the earlier tradition and how it found distinctive scriptural expression.  

The story goes something like this: There's a father who lives in a large house with a large number of children. The father is outside; the house catches on fire, and he looks up at the house; the children are all playing in the windows—and they're all ignorant, they're not aware of the fact that the house is on fire—and he wants to get then out. He wants to save the children from the house.

You can see already that we've got here a reference to that old Buddhist idea of "everything burning." If all is on fire, then the house we live in this world also is on fire, and the Buddha is someone who is trying to get us out of the house and help the fire {of suffering} go out.

So, the father looks up at the children and says to them, "Okay, kids, Come on out of the house, the house is on fire! All is burning!"

The kids say, "Well, you know, we're having such a great time in here, there's no reason for us to leave. Why should we come out?"

And the father says, "Well, you know, I've got some toys out here for you to play with. I've got some big carts. If you come out of the house, you can play with these great toys, with these great carts. For some of you, I've got a deer cart; for some of you, I've got another kind of cart. Whatever you want I've got for you outside this house." 

So, the children are excited by this, and they come running out of the house to look for the carts that the father is offering them. And the father says to them, "Well, it's great now that you're outside. It great that you've saved yourself from the fire in the house, but I want to tell you something. Actually, I don't have those carts for you that I promised. I've got an even greater cart, a vehicle that is decorated m all sorts of extraordinary ways, and you're going to have a fabulous time playing with it. So, hop on, and take it for a ride."

Then the text begins to offer some kind of commentary about the story. It obviously makes the connection that you'd expect it to make. It says that the Buddha is like this father, and the little carts that he first promised the children who were in the house were those lesser vehicles—the so-called "Disciple Vehicle"—the so-called "Solitary Buddha Vehicle" that was preached before the coming of page 153 the Mahayana. It was meant to lure the people who were caught in the burning house of samsara out in order to receive the real teaching that the Buddha has to offer. What's that real teaching? It's the Mahayana. It's this great, beautiful cart that the Buddha finally offers to all the children once they've escaped the house, the burning house of samsara. 

Now, in the text as it's elaborated there are a couple of important concepts that come out—the Buddha develops (the text itself develops, actually)—that are important for us to notice.

First of all, as the story comes to an end, it says that this vehicle, this cart, this Mahayana that has been presented to the children after they've made it out of the house, is the one "Great Vehicle." It's the real teaching of the Buddha. So, all those other teachings that came before are, as it were, preliminary exercises that are meant to get the person started on the path to salvation but are not meant to constitute the Buddha's final teaching.

So, one of the most important doctrines in the Lotus sutra, especially in China and Japan as the text was used and elaborated in those cultures, is the doctrine of the "One Vehicle." The Buddha teaches in the end one particular way {Spinoza's equivalent way} to salvation {Spinoza's equivalent salvation} as it is embodied and expressed in this text of the Lotus sutra.

A. In other words, the Mahayana texts claim to be the teaching of the Buddha himself.     delivered to a special assembly of bodhisattvas from which other Buddhist practitioners     (the disciples and solitary Buddhas) were excluded.

B. Mahayana tradition goes on to say that the Mahayana was concealed for several     centuries until the world was ready to receive it, then the sutras of the Mahayana were     brought forth and promulgated across India.

C. Scholars are uncertain about the actual origin of the Mahayana. 

1. There are suggestions in later Mahayana tradition that practitioners fasted and     meditated to receive visions and revelations from great Buddhas and bodhisattvas.     Perhaps some of the early texts of the Mahayana also came in this way, although     this could not be true of some of the more elaborate literary sutras of the     Mahayana.

III. The bodhisattva ideal is one of the Mahayana tradition's most important innovations.

A. A bodhisattva is a "Buddha-to-be" or "future Buddha" who does not attempt to go     straight to nirvana but returns to this world to help others along the path. 

1. The bodhisattva ideal includes laymen and laywomen, as well as monks and nuns.
 
2. The bodhisattva cultivates two important virtues: the wisdom (Sanskrit: prajna) that     leads to nirvana and the compassion (karuna) that serves the interests of other     sentient beings {not out of altruism, but as a mother for her child}. 
      {E4:73:5—that every man should desire for others the good which he seeks for himself.} 

3. The bodhisattva path can be represented as a two-way street or as a circle leading     toward nirvana, then returning to the world of samsara {problems again}.

B. The bodhisattva ideal is contrasted to the arhant ideal, in which a man or woman     attempts to achieve nirvana for himself or herself by leaving the world of samsara     behind.

C. Some people say that a bodhisattva renounces nirvana in order to lead all other beings      to nirvana. 

1. This is not strictly accurate. 

2. A bodhisattva aspires to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all other beings. 

3. Eventually, even bodhisattvas become Buddhas when their aspirations have     reached fruition and their practice of the path is complete.

D. The bodhisattvas described in Mahayana literature are often human beings like      ourselves—people who are engaged in the world. 

1. Vimalakirti was a wise layperson who pretended that he was ill in order to teach a     lesson to the Buddha's monastic disciples. 
 

One of the most important, and one of my favorites, I'd have to say, in the early literature of the Mahayana, is a bodhisattva known as Vimalakirti. He was a wise layperson who pretended that he was ill in order to teach a lesson to the Buddha's monastic disciples. Let me read you just a short account of Vimalakirti from the beginning of the Mahayana sutra that presents his teaching.

And in the city, there lived an elder named Vimalakirti who dwelt there as a skillful means for the salvation of other beings, for he used his measureless wealth to convert the poor, and his own pure virtue to convert those who broke the precepts. He controlled himself with patience to convert the scornful, and strove with diligence to convert the lazy. 

He used this calm meditation to convert the confused, and his firm wisdom to convert the ignorant. He wore the white robes of a layman, but he observed the pure conduct of a recluse. 

He lived the household life, but he wasn't attached to the world. He had a wife and children, but always practiced the religious life, and he kept a household, but always delighted in solitude. 

He wore jewels and ornaments, but adorned his body with the signs of greatness. He ate and he drank, but delighted in the taste of meditation. He went to the gambling halls, but he worked for the salvation of men. He took on the ways of the heretics, but never strayed from the true faith, and he knew all the worldly texts, but he always delighted in the teaching of the Buddha. 

{Spinoza, in many ways, led a similar life.} 

Now this, it's hard, I suppose—when I read a text like this I'm always reading simply from an ancient text that describes a particular ideal in words that might, in many respects, seem remote—it's hard, sometimes, to see how radical and how important the shift in values is here. In the earlier tradition we really were talking largely about monks and nuns. The ideal practitioners of the Buddha's path were those monks who, and nuns—I really shouldn't distinguish between the two here—the monks and nuns who had engaged in an act of renunciation and pursued the monastic life in the same way that the Buddha did.

Now, this tradition is being opened up explicitly to lay people, not as a kind of compromise, but really as a way of saying that lay Buddhist values and the lay Buddhist life is a place where you can actually pursue the fundamental teaching of the Buddha. And as you can become a bodhisattva, as the Buddha once was, and pursue that great path, it's going to lead you, eventually, to enlightenment. And when you do that, you bring into ordinary lay life all of these important values that are significant in Buddhist practice. {Right way}  

Sure, you eat and you drink. You go out and have a couple of beers. You may have a great feast. You may live with your family in a big house. You may even go to the gambling halls; maybe you go and visit Las Vegas or wherever the gambling center is that's near your community. But you always do it in a way that's going to bring Buddhist {and Spinozistic} values, in some fashion, into that place to make them available for other people. 

So, this is the bodhisattva engaged in the world in a positive and affirmative way. It's a crucial shift in the basic understanding of Buddhist life. And it had, as you can imagine, a radical effect on the spread of Buddhism throughout Asia. Chinese were always very suspicious of monastic life because it seemed to turn its back on the values of the family, but here, in the figure of Vimalakirti, you've got somebody who really lives out the Buddhist values within the context of ordinary lay life. 

So, the Buddhist tradition there is shifting. The center of graviy , really is moving in a way that takes it out of that strictly monastic ideal that was present in the early tradition.

2. A queen named Shrimala taught an important lesson about the Buddha nature. 

3. The young student Sudhana visited fifty different teachers and finally found
    Samantabhdra, a bodhisattva who had a vision of the universe that is vastly more     complex and complete than anything we find in the earlier literature of this tradition.

E. Such worldly figures had a radical effect on the spread of Buddhism, which was no     longer seen as a philosophy based on monasticism but now had direct appeal for lay     people.

F. In classical Mahayana literature, the most important conceptual expression of the     bodhisattva path is the "mind of awakening," or bodhicitta.  

1. The "mind of awakening" is a combination of wisdom {knows G-D} and compassion. 

2. It is expressed in the form of an aspiration: "May I achieve Buddhahood for the     sake of all other beings!" {Not out of altruism, but out of love (need)} 

3. It also can be viewed as the nature of one's own mind.

---

Lecture 10 - TB1:159 

The most important single concept to express the bodhisattva ideal is the concept of of the bodhicitta, a concept that I would translate as the "mind of enlightenment," or you might say the "mind that seeks enlightenment." .... It involves a perception of' yourself as being connected in a relationship of interdependence with all other beings, so that you become aware of yourself in a {mystically, organically} different way at the same time that you express this moral aspiration.

It also has what I would call, I suppose, an ontological component, in the sense that it has to do with an awareness of your own being {a mode}. In Buddhism, your mind, in the end, is you. Whatever you are is the cultivation and evolution of your own mind. So, if you express this mind of enlightenment, if you feel this aspiration to help others, what you feel is an expression of your own Buddha nature arising from within you.

So, it has to do with a transformation of your own personality, your own being, as well as a moral aspiration to help others. Then, it also is complex and I think rather subtle in one further respect. To arouse the mind of enlightenment is a pretty simple thing. You know, we could do that today; in fact, we probably have aspirations that are similar to that very often in the flow of our daily lives: "Geez, you know, I'd really like to help others in some way, and develop the moral capacity and the insight that would make that effective." lt's pretty easy. It's a pretty simple feeling to have. Yet, it contains within itself, implicitly, the full enlightenment of the Buddha. It's the preliminary stirring of your own Buddhahood, arising out of your own simple moral aspiration to help others. 

So, the bodhicitta is an important concept in the Mahayana. It's complex, it's subtle, and it involves—evolves—in all sorts of fascinating ways.

---


G. Formal accounts of the bodhisattva path are divided into a series of stages. 

1. One account of the path divides it into six perfections (paramita): generosity, moral     conduct, patience, courage, mental concentration, and wisdom. 

2. Another account divides the path into ten stages (bhumi), but these are not     radically different from the path of six perfections.
 
 

Essential Reading:
Robinson and Johnson, The Buddhist Religion, chapter 4.
 

Scope: 

Along with the human beings who aspired to the bodhisatha ideal came an array of heavenly beings called "celestial" Buddhas and bodhisativas, who had accumulated the wisdom
{knows G-D} and compassion to save living beings who turned to them for help. Among the many important celestial bodhisattvass is Avalokiteshvara, the "Lord Who Looks Down" with compassion. In China, Avalokiteshvara is worshipped as the compassionate deity Kuan-yin. In Tibet, Avalokiteshvara's compassion is seen in the figure of the Dalai Lama. The best known celestial Buddha is Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light. According to tradition, Amitabha resides in a celestial paradise known as the Pure Land, and Amitabha has vowed to save anyone who chants his name with faith. Devotion to Amitabha has had great influence in China and is now one of the most popular forms of Buddhism in Japan.

A. Amitabha's vow stipulated that anyone who chanted his name with faith, especially at     the moment of death, would be reborn in this land.
    {Religion; Amitabha saves; Jesus saves; Mark Twain's "Little Story".}

1. In Sanskrit, the chant is "Namo 'Witabhaya Buddhaya" ("Homage to Amitabha     Buddha"). 

2. Like the invocation of Avalokiteshvara's name, this practice was a deliberate     attempt to open the possibility of salvation {Spinoza's salvation equivalents} to anyone     who approached the deity with sincere faith {positing the constant, eternal, and organic love      of G-D}.

B. Devotion to Amitabha Buddha (often known as Pure Land Buddhism) has been     particularly influential in China and Japan. 

1. The Pure Land tradition represents the largest Buddhist group in Japan today. 

2. It is represented in North America by the Buddhist Churches of America.

C. The practice of Pure Land Buddhism raises a question about "salvation by faith"          {equivalent to knowing G-D}.

1. How could a tradition that placed so much emphasis on self-reliance be     transformed into a tradition of reliance on a celestial or otherworldly savior? 

2. As surprising as it may seem, this tradition is a natural outgrowth of the    bodhisattva's compassion. In the Mahavana, it is important to act with compassion    and to receive the compassion of others. {i.e. knowing G-D and the Golden Rule}  

3. In the Mahayana, the passage to enlightenment has been stretched out over many     lifetimes as a bodhisattva returns to earthly life many times to help others. 

4. The length of the bodhisattva path puts more emphasis on the virtues that help a     person get started on the way to awakening. It is less important to have perfect     wisdom (that can come later), than to develop the faith that begin the path. 

5. It is also important to receive gratefully the compassion of others. 

6. These changes of emphasis make possible a view of salvation that is different from     anything we have seen before. {Spinoza's salvation, coming centuries later, is similar.}
 

Essential Reading:
Robinson and Johnson, The Buddhist Religion. chapter 5.
 

Scope: 

The Mahayana tradition developed a refined and sophisticated philosophical tradition to grapple with the difficulties of Emptiness. In India the word we translate as "philosophy" (darshana) means simply "to see" {"to hear", "to understand"}. For all its complexity Buddhist philosophy is meant to be a tool to help a person see reality clearly and be free from the illusions that cause suffering and drive the cycle of death and rebirth. Indian Mahavana philosophy is divided into two major schools. The Madhyamaka School was developed in the second or third century c.e. by the philosopher Nagarjuna. The Yogachara School was founded in the fourth century by Asanga and Vasubandhu. The two schools developed very different approaches to Emptiness. For the Madhyamaka, Emptiness was ultimately unreal. For the Yogachara, it was possible to doubt the reality of all aspects of ordinary experience {Truth 2}, but it was impossible to doubt the reality of Emptiness {Truth 1} itself.  

Outline:  

I.  Few religious traditions argue that everything is possible precisely because everything is     unreal. This way of speaking is meant to give pause and meant to make people think in new     ways about ordinary experiences. This lecture will take the study of Emptiness a step further     by looking at two major Indian Buddhist schools that tried, in different ways, to pin down the     meaning of Emptiness.

A. The study of Buddhist philosophy is not meant to be easy.

1. The concept of Emptiness already presents formidable difficulties, and these     difficulties are only compounded by the technical style of argument favored by the     philosophers of classical India. 

2. Buddhist philosophical texts were produced in a sophisticated monastic     environment, and they often relied on technical discourse that now seems almost     impenetrable in even the best translations.

B. But it is worth spending a lecture grappling with the work of the philosophers, as it is to     grapple with the work of sophisticated Jewish or Christian philosophers. 

1. A sophisticated intellectual account of any religious tradition helps clarify the basic     problems {as it hopes to bring peace of mind—its cash value}. 

2. More important, it helps us determine where the most significant intellectual     problems really lie, not just for ourselves as outside observers, but for the     practitioners of the tradition themselves.

II. What is Buddhist "philosophy"?

A. The most common word for "philosophy" in the Indian tradition is simply "vision"     (darshana). 

1. The same word is used to name the emotionally charged vision of an image in     Buddhist worship. 

2. The word is related etymologically to a form of meditation known as vipashyana     (discriminating vision, or insight). 

3. In the lecture on the path to nirvana, {Spinoza's equivalent is peace of mind} we saw that     the path could be divided into three categories: sila (moral conduct), samadhi     (mental concentration), and pañña (wisdom - {Spinoza's equivalent is to know G-D}). 

4. Philosophy, like "insight meditation {mull}," is one of the ways to cultivate wisdom.     {Spinoza's way}

B. This means that "philosophy" is not just a theoretical activity; it is a form of Buddhist     practice. {Philosophy and Religion, Constitution} 

I. You might say that Buddhist philosophy is "practice seeking clarification" in the    same way that Christian theology is "faith seeking understanding."

2. But the "clarification" of the mind is not just an intellectual game. {TEI}  

3. "Philosophy" helps a person see through the appearances {illusions} of things and     confront reality face to face. 

4. The goal is to experience the freedom of the Buddha's awakening.

C. On these points all Buddhist philosophers agreed, but they did not always agree about      their approaches to the concept of Emptiness.

D. Out of the differences in their approaches developed two major school of Mahayana      philosophy.

III. The first major school of Mahayana philosophy is known as the Madhyamaka, or "Middle      Way," School. 

A. The Madhyamaka School emerged in India in the second or third century C.E. through     the works of the philosopher Nagarjuna. It was developed for almost a thousand years     in India, was transmitted to Tibet, and became the dominant tradition in Tibetan     philosophy.

B. Nagarjuna adhered closely to the understanding of Emptiness outlined in the last     lecture. 

1. Nagarjuna said, "When Buddhas teach the Dharma, they make use of two truths:     ordinary relative {at any one instant} truth {Truth 2} and ultimate truth {Truth 1}. Anyone     who does not know the distinction between these two truths does not know the     profound point of the Buddhas' {and Spinoza's} teaching." 

2. From the point of view of ultimate truth, all things are empty of identity, but from the     relative (or conventional) point of view, the categories of ordinary life have to be     accepted as valid. 

3. Nagarjuna distilled this point into a simple formula: "It is impossible to teach     ultimate truth without relying on conventional [truth]. Without understanding the     ultimate, it is impossible to attain nirvana."

C. The key point of controversy for Nagarjuna's commentators had to do with the meaning     of the word "rely."

1. One group of followers, known as the Svatantrikas, thought that they had to accept     that things were established or proven in a conventional sense before they could     argue against them in an ultimate sense. This position came from their conviction     that philosophers had to start from established premises before they could refute     the positions of their opponents. 

2. Another group of followers, known as the Prasangikas, thought that they only     needed to "presuppose" the positions of their opponents before showing that they     led to absurd conclusions. The Prasangika interpretation of Nagarjuna is the     dominant position in Tibet.

D. What is at stake in this dispute? 

1. We can think of it as way to focus, with fine philosophical precision, on the     meaning of the words that ended the Dalai Lama's explanation of the self. [n the     last lecture, I said that the Dalai Lama ended by referring to himself as the "mere     self' or "just me" (bdag tsam). 

2. What does it mean to say "just me"? 

3. The Prasangikas say that this simple phrase refers to the self in a way that     attributes no substantial identity to it. It is a phrase that "satisfies only when it is not     analyzed." In other words, it is a phrase that works only when you don't ask     whether there is any real thing behind the words. 

4. If you have been listening carefully to my comments about the Buddhist concept of     no self, you will understand that this phrase expresses the key point in the     Buddhist view of the world. Buddhists want to find a way to live in this world,     respond to it emotionally, and take it seriously intellectually, but not be bound by     any of it {attachment}. This requires a delicate balance between the two intellectual     poles of the Middle Path: not too much self and not too little self, but just enough to     be effective and at the same time to be free. 

5. This is why the Madhyamaka School is called the school of the Middle Path.

IV. The second major school is known as the Yogachara, or "Yoga Practice," School. 

A. The Yogachara School was founded in the fourth century by Asanga, with help from his     brother Vasubandhu. Like the Madhyamaka, the Youachara School had a long and     active history in India. At the beginning of the seventh century, it was carried to China by     the Chinese pilgrim Hsuan-tsang, where it had significant impact on the tone and     orientation of Chinese Buddhist thought.

B. Instead of using a doctrine of two truths to understand Emptiness, the Yogachara     developed a concept of three natures. 

1. Yogachara philosophers thought of the ordinary experience of reality as     "dependent nature": it depends for its existence on a series of momentary causes     and conditions. In some respects, ordinary experience is real; in some respects, it     is unreal. 

2. The unreal aspect of dependent nature is called "imagined nature." This consists     of the concepts and distinctions that we impose on th flow of experience.     {Subjective.} 

3. The real aspect of dependent nature goes by the name "perfected nature." This is     the mind itself, devoid of all imaginary distinction. Another name for perfected     nature is Emptiness. {Objective.} 

C. Yogachara philosophers expressed this concept in a series of verses tha were meant to      be memorized and quoted in debate. To our ears, they sound clumsy and obscure. but      they are quite precise and rhythmic in Sanskrit. 

1. In English, one of the most important verses sounds like this: "The imagination of     something that is unreal is real. But the duality in it is not real. The Emptiness in it     is real, however, and it is real in Emptiness."

2. In Sanskrit this verse reads: "Abhutaparikalpo 'sti dyayan tatra na     vidyate/shunyata tv atra tasyam api sa vidyate."

D. It is possible to get a sense of this formula without having to sign up for a course in     Sanskrit. Fortunately, the Yogachara philosophers gave us a series of examples to help     understand what they mean. 

1. Sometimes, dependent nature is compared to a dream. All the phantoms in the     dream are unreal, but no one would doubt the reality of the mind that does the     dreaming. The phantoms of the dream are imagined nature. The dreaming mind is     dependent nature. 

2. Dependent nature also can be compared to a stormy ocean. Imagined nature is like     the separate waves on the ocean, and perfected nature is like the deep stillness of     the ocean itself. Meditation is meant to still the waves so that the pure,     undifferentiated nature of the mind can become clear.  

3. The pure nature of the mind is often compared to a jewel hidden in a dung heap.     Meditation is meant to help find the jewel and clean away the defilements.

E. When I teach about the Yogachara, I am struck by two things: 

1. The first is that it seems to turn the basic Mahayana understanding of Emptiness     upside down. The Madhyamaka insisted that ultimately nothing is real, including     Emptiness itself. The Yogachara says that the mind is real; it is only the imaginary     construction {false subjectivness} of the mind that is unreal. 

2. The second surprising thing about this position is that it seems to make so much     intuitive sense. We can doubt the reality of all the images we create with the mind,     but how we can doubt the reality of the mind itself?

F. Why did the Yogachara take a position that seems so radically opposed to the position     of the Madhyamaka? Deep motivations are hard to discern, but the Yogachara     philosophers tell us there were two reasons: 

1. To take the goal of the Buddhist path seriously, a person has to be convinced that     it is real. In this case, the goal is the complete purification of the mind {rid the mind of      false subjective thoughts}. 

2. To be able to reach the goal however, a person has to be convinced that all the     barriers that stand between them and the goal can actually be overcome. To say.     "duality is unreal" means that the illusions that tie people to the world of samsara     are nothing but a dream. Buddhahood is the perfect awakening from that dream.

G. This conviction about the reality of the mind seemed to make the Yogachara attractive      to the Chinese. The Yogachara School does not exist as a separate entity today,      except for a few isolated monasteries in Japan, but its ideas had deep influence on      Chinese Buddhist philosophy, especially on the concept of the Buddha nature in Zen.
 

Essential Reading:
Robinson and Johnson, The Buddhist Religion. chapter 4, section 3.
 

Scope: 

The sixth century saw the emergence of a Buddhist movement known as Tantra, Vajrayana ("The Vehicle of the Thunderbolt"), or Mantrayana ("The Vehicle of Sacred Chants"). Buddhist Tantra was based on a radical extension of the doctrine of Emptiness. The Tantric tradition argued that if everything is empty, there is no practical difference between the serenity of the Buddha and destructive feelings, such as anger or passion, and there is no difference between the sexes. These conclusions produced strikingly new ways of representing and thinking about the Buddha. The Buddha was depicted as a wrathful deity and as the intimate union of male and female. The Tantric approach to Emptiness also produced strikingly new forms of ritual and meditation and unconventional images of the lifestyle of a Buddhist saint.

Outline: 

I. The last lecture took a journey into what we might call the high monastic culture of Buddhist     India. This was a world of fine intellectual distinctions and sophisticated debate, as you     would expect from the monasteries that for seven or eight hundred years were the bearers of     Buddhist Culture in India. In their day, these monasteries were as complex and influential as     modern universities are for us today.

ll. But there was more going on in Indian Buddhism than just the elevated intellectual activity of     the monasteries. On the fringes of Indian civilization, in the unsettled areas at the edge of the     forest and in the impure and frightening space of the cremation ground, another vision of     Buddhist practice began slowly to emerge. This vision eventually came to be known as     Tantra. Tantra brought about another profound change in Buddhist values. Our job in this     lecture is to understand the shape of Tantric Buddhism.

A. Tantric Buddhism began to emerge in India during the sixth century of the common era.

1. Tantra is found not only in Buddhism but also in Hinduism and in other Indian     religious traditions. 
 
2. Tantric Buddhism shares many important concepts, symbols, and ritual practices     with its Tantric counterparts in other Indian traditions.

B. As was true with earlier movements, such as the Mahayana, Tantric Buddhism     produced a striking transformation in Buddhist values.

C. How is the Tantric tradition related to earlier forms of Buddhism?
 

Scope: 

Practitioners of Buddhist Tantra pictured the universe in the shape of a mandala or ritual circle. Mandalas were used to explore symbolic and ritual connections between the self, important Buddhist deities, and the universe as a whole. Mandalas can be represented in two dimensions, as they are in many varieties of Tantric art. They also can appear in three dimensions, ranging in size from small ritual implements to large temples. The landscape of a city or a nation can be visualized as a mandala, and movement through the mandala often serves as a guide for Buddhist pilgrimage. Mandalas help understand how Tantric practitioners use the doctrine of Emptiness to transform ordinary awareness into an awareness of the Buddha's awakening.

Outline: 

I. In the last lecture, we saw that the goal of Tantric practice was to achieve a union of    opposites.

A. This union was expressed by a series of symbolic pairs.

B. These pairs applied to the personality, to ritual action, and to the cosmos as a whole.

C. In this lecture, we will discuss a system of Tantric symbolism that is based not on the     number two but on the number five.

D. As before, the goal will be to overcome duality by integrating the complexity of human     experience into a single, unified whole.

lI. This system of symbolism is expressed by the visual form of a mandala.

A. The word mandala means "circle." 

1. In its most basic form, a rnandala consists of five major points: north, south, east,     west, and the center. 

2. A separate Buddha is located at each of these five points. 

3. These are known as "meditation" (dhvani) Buddhas. 

4. The identity of these Buddhas is not fixed. Different Buddhas are associated with     different mandalas. But a Buddha who often occupies the center of the rnandala is     Akshobhya [the unshakable], the unshakable Buddha who symbolizes consciousness     {interaction of all the parts} and the element of space. 

5. The most elementary practice connected with the mandala is to circle around it,     then proceed to the center. In this way, a person draws a circle around the ritual     world, then unifies it by moving into the place at the center.
 
 

Scope: 

In the seventh century, as the Tibetan tribes coalesced into an organized kingdom, they became aware of sophisticated Buddhist civilizations in China and India. The "First Diffusion of the Dharma" into Tibet began when the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo built a temple in Lhasa to house an image of the Buddha. Under his successors, Tibetan Buddhism took on the complex institutional features of Indian Buddhism. The Indian saint Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche, gave Tibetan Buddhism a Tantric character, and Shantarakshita introduced Tibetans to the intellectual traditions of the Indian monasteries. With the arrival of Buddhism came the formation of a native Tibetan tradition known as Bon. Sometimes called the indigenous shamanism of Tibet, Bon is now so thoroughly infused by Buddhist influence that it seems little more than a variety of Tibetan Buddhism itself. 

Outline: 

I. The Tantric tradition began as a countercultural movement on the fringes of Buddhist society.    Before many centuries had passed, however, Tantra became an integral part of life in the    Indian monasteries.

A. In the latter half of the first millennium C.E.. (from about 600 to 1200 C.E.), Tantric practices and teachings became part of the sophisticated and complex tradition of monastic learning.

1. These monasteries had large libraries, colorful rituals, and an elaborate monastic     curriculum, ranging all the way from Buddhist philosophy and meditation to     astronomy and medicine. 

2. Unfortunately, their cultural strength turned out to be a major weakness.

B. When waves of Afghan raiders began to sweep across the Ganges Basin, the     monasteries were tempting targets for plunder and destruction.

C. By the year 1200, after two centuries of destruction, little was left of Buddhist monastic     culture but a handful of destitute, old monks.

D. Our Study of the Mahayana now shifts beyond the Himalayas to Tibet, where Indian     monastic culture has been preserved more faithfully and more richly than anywhere else     in the Buddhist world.

II. The "First Diffusion of the Dharma" in Tibet began in the seventh century.

A. During the seventh century, a line of kings from the Yarlung Valley in central Tibet     united the Tibetan tribes and began to extend their military influence outside the Tibetan     plateau.
 

Scope: 

Buddhism was eclipsed in Tibet during much of the tenth century and eventually had to be reintroduced from India. This process of reintroduction is known as the "Later Diffusion of the Dharma." Between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries- the Tibetan tradition crystallized into four major schools. The Nyingma, or "Old," School traced its origin to Padmasambhava. The Sakya School played an important role in Tibetan relations with the Mongols and in the formation of a Tibetan monastic state. The Kagyu School produced Milarepa, one of Tibet's most beloved saints. And the Geluk School produced the lineage of the Dalai Lamas, a lineage that has come to dominate the religious life of Tibet.

Outline: 

I. The "Later Diffusion of the Dharma" in Tibet took place during the eleventh century.

A. Important teachers, such as Atisha (982-1054), reintroduced the tradition of monastic     learning from eastern India.

B. Tibetan Buddhists, such as the Tantric saint Marpa, traveled to India to collect     teachings and texts.

C. From these tentative beginnings, and similar activities, grew most of the schools that     have dominated Tibetan Buddhism to the present day. Our job in this lecture is to     become familiar with the four major schools—to understand how they got started and     how they have contributed to the shape of Tibetan Buddhism as we know it today.

lI. Of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, only one traces its origin back to the first     diffusion of the Dharma in the eighth century c.e. This is the Nyingma. or "Old," School.

A. The Nyingma School thinks of itself as the heir of Padmasambhava, the Tantric saint     who helped Thrisona Detsen subdue the demons and build the first Tibetan monastery     at Samye.

B. Because of the gap in Tibetan tradition between the reign of LanQdarma (in the ninth     century) and the reintroduction of Buddhism in the eleventh century, the connection     between Padmasambhava and the later Nyingma tradition is problematic.

C. To establish continuity with Padmasambhava, members of this school claim to have     discovered texts that Padmasambhava hid in the landscape of Tibet or in the minds of     his disciples.

 

Scope: 

When the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his peaceful resistance to Chinese domination in Tibet, he became one of the foremost spokesmen and most visible symbols of Buddhism in the contemporary world. He is the fourteenth in a line of incarnations that began in the fifteenth century. Born in Tibet and educated as the traditional "god-king" who ruled Tibet from his throne in Lhasa, the Dalai Lama has helped lead Tibetan Buddhists through a period of deep political and cultural adversity. His life and teaching are clear models for thoughtful Buddhists who are attempting to adapt Buddhist traditions to the challenges of modern life.  

Outline: 

I. For many, Tibetan Buddhism is personified by the figure of the Dalai Lama.

A. The Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his peaceful resistance to     Chinese rule in Tibet.

B. From exile in India. the Dalai Lama has traveled the world to champion the Tibetan     cause and present Buddhist solutions to many of the problems that plague the modern     world.

C. For us, he functions as a bridge between the ancient cultural traditions of Tibet and the     complex challenges that face many modern Buddhists at the turn of the twenty-first     century.

ll. The present Dalai Lama represents a line of incarnations that goes back to the fourteenth     century.

A. The transmission of authority by reincarnation is known as the tulku system.

1. The word tulku traditionally referred to the "manifestation body" of a Buddha (the     body that a celestial Buddha manifests in this world). Here, it refers to the form a     saint or religious leader adopts when he or she dies and is born again in another     body. 

2. The tulku system is quite widespread in Tibetan Buddhism. 

3. It was used in the Kagyu School before the appearance of the Dalai Lamas, and it     is used to one degree or another by all the schools.

B. There has been a lively controversy in recent years about the reincarnation of a Kagyu     lama known as the Karmapa. The previous Karmapa was quite influential and     charismatic. 

1. When he died about fifteen years ago, there was a dispute about his reincarnation. 

2. Some of his followers supported a candidate who lived in Bhutan.

Scope: 

Buddhism entered China in the second century of the common era, at a time when China was suffering from political turmoil and cultural decline. The Chinese people had become disillusioned with traditional Confucian values and saw Buddhism as a new way to solve enduring religious and cultural problems. To bridge the gap between the cultures of India and China, the earliest Buddhist translators borrowed Taoist vocabulary to express Buddhist ideas. Through a long process of interaction with Taoism, Confucianism, and Chinese popular religion, Buddhism took on a distinctively Chinese character, becoming more respectful of duties to the family and the ancestors, more pragmatic and this-worldly, and more consistent with traditional Chinese respect for harmony with nature. 

Outline: 

I.  By the time Buddhism entered Tibet, Buddhists had been in China for more than 500 years.     In this lecture, we will consider the process of transformation that took place as the first few     generations of Chinese Buddhists struggled to understand the significance of this foreign     tradition and adapt it to the distinctive needs of Chinese Culture and Chinese people.

II. When the first Buddhist monks began to appear in the Chinese capital in the middle of the    second century C.E., China was coming to the end of one of the most expansive periods in its    history. 

A. During the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), China was stable and prosperous. 

1. New lands were constantly being opened for development. 

2. Advances were made in technology and the arts. 

3. The upper classes experienced a time of optimism and luxury.

B. With the prosperity of Han China came the ideological synthesis known as Han     Confucianism. 

1. Starting from the teaching of Confucius, scholars created a vision of heaven, earth,     and human society as a single, harmonious whole.  

2. At the center of this cosmic order stood the ruler, observing the prescribed rituals     and civilizing his people through the cultivation of proper behavior and moral     virtue. 

3. Key Confucian values had to do with respect for elders (often referred to in English     as "filial piety"), a sense of harmonious and respectful relationships between     individuals (often referred to as "goodness." or simply as "humanity"). and a     reverence for all the polite rituals that tie human beings together in a prosperous     and cooperative society

Scope: 

During the During the T'ang Dynasty (618-907), when Buddhism had been fully absorbed into Chinese civilization, a series of indigenous Chinese schools gave brilliant and distinctive expression to the values of the Mahayana tradition. The T'ien-t'ai School (named after a sacred mountain) produced an influential synthesis of Buddhist teachings based on the Lotus sutra. The Hua-yen ("Flower Garland") School pictured reality as a vast network of interrelated and interpenetrating phenomena. The Ch'an School developed the distinctive Chinese meditative tradition that came to be known in Japan as Zen. The Ching-t'u lineage developed the Chinese tradition of devotion to Amitabha Buddha. Buddhist values also had important influence on Chinese literature and the arts. 

Outline: 

I.  After a process that lasted a few centuries, Buddhism in China was no longer perceived as     being a foreign religion. Chinese people began to look for ideas in Buddhism {Religion} to     solve problems in their lives {bringing them peace of mind}. 

A. The barbarian kings, who dominated northern China, knew very little about Chinese     civilization. They found Buddhism an attractive religion because it gave them a set of     values that was not particularly associated with any specific Chinese group but had     broad appeal for their Chinese subjects.

B. Chinese intellectuals found that the relationship between Buddhism and Taoism offered     a model to escape the sufferings of life while responding to the traditional concerns and     interests of Chinese life.

C. In his account of Buddhism during the T'ang Dynasty (618-907), Arthur Wright said: "By     the eighth century, Buddhism was fully and triumphantly established throughout China.     Its canons were revered, its spiritual truths unquestioned. It marked and influenced the     lives of the humble and the great and affected every community, large and small, in the     empire of the T'ang.''

D. This lecture will attempt to convey the richness and complexity of T'ang Dynasty     Buddhism by focusing on three areas of Buddhist life: 

1. The schools of Chinese Buddhist philosophy 

2. Devotion to the celestial bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kuan-yin) and the celestial     Buddha Amitabha 

3. Buddhist influence on Chinese literature and the arts.
 

Scope: 

Buddhism entered Japan in the sixth century of the common era. In the early years, during the reign of Prince Shotoku (574-622) and during the Nara Period (710-784), Buddhism was invoked to promote the welfare of the nation. The indigenous Japanese tradition known as Shinto, or "the Way of the Gods," was codified to respond to Buddhism, or "the Way of the Buddha." When the imperial capital was moved to Kyoto in the ninth century, two new Buddhist schools emerged that changed the face of Japanese Buddhism. The Shingon School, founded by Kukai (774-835), brought the colorful symbols ar rituals of Tantra to Japan. The Tendai School, founded by Saicho (767- 822), introduced the synthesis of the T'ien-t'ai School and served as it spawning ground for several important movements that shaped later Japanese history.  

Outline: 

I. Buddhism entered Japan as early as the year 535 from Korea, at a time wha the Japanese    were suffering from some of the same difficulties the Chinese had experienced a few    centuries earlier, during the fall of the Han Dynasty

A. Both Korea and China had recently been unified, while Japan itself wa still in a state of     feudal warfare. There was a sense that the Japanese needed a new strategy and a new     system of values to organize the affairs of the nation.

B. To find an effective model, the Japanese turned to China. In China, tha found a     combination of Confucianism and Buddhism, and they appropriated Buddhist rituals and     values to help reorganize and focus the energies of the Japanese state.

C. This meant that the process of adaptation in Japan took a very differen turn than it had      in China. 

1. When the first Buddhist monks from India traveled across the trade routes from     Central Asia, the old Confucian synthesis was in disgrace. 

2. The emperor, who functioned as the center of the Confucian system, had lost     control of the country and no longer commanded respect. 

3. When the Buddhist monks looked for a vocabulary to express Buddhism in a     Chinese way, they formed a natural alliance with Taoism. 

4. The idioms of the two traditions may have been different, but it was not a major     leap for a Taoist intellectual to think that