1. This is the teaching of the Buddhas.
Buddhism
To do no evil;
To cultivate good;
To purify one's mind:
This is the teaching of the Buddhas.
~The Dhammapada~

2. Lumbini, Nepal-Buddha’s birthplace
Bodh Gaya, India-Spot where Buddha reached Enlightenment

3. The Four Noble Truths

4. 1. Identifying the Symptoms
Life is suffering.
(Dukkha)
Dukkha (Sanskrit word) is better translated as meaning “dissatisfaction” or “a wheel out of kilter” rather than just “suffering” (the usual translation/definition)

5. 2. Diagnosis Desire is the cause of life’s suffering. (Tanha)
Not all desire…just selfish/negative desire

6. 3. Prognosis
Suffering has an end.
Shows optimism of Buddhism

7. suffering is by following
4. Prescription
The way to overcome
suffering is by following
the Eightfold Path.

8. The Eightfold Path *Quotes from Huston Smith
Symbolic wheel w/ 8 spokes representing the Eightfold Path

9. Wisdom (Prajna) 1. Right Views The Four Noble Truths 2. Right Intent
“People who achieve greatness are almost invariably passionately invested in some one thing.”

10. Morality (Shila) 3. Right Speech
“…resolve to notice how many times during the day we deviate from the truth, and to follow this up by asking why we did so.”
4. Right Conduct
“…call to understand one’s behavior
more objectively before trying to
improve it.”
Five Precepts:
1. Do not kill.
2. Do not steal.
3. Do not lie.
4. Do not be unchaste.
5. Do not drink intoxicants.
5. Right Livelihood
“…engaging in occupations that promote life instead of destroying it.”

11. Meditation (Samadhi) 6. Right Effort
“Those who follow the Way might well follow the example of an ox that marches through the deep mire carrying a heavy load. He is tired, but his steady gaze, looking forward, will never relax until he comes out of the mire…”
7. Right Mindfulness
“…special times should be allotted for undistracted introspection.”
8. Right Concentration
“Something happened to the Buddha under the Bo Tree, and something has happened to every Buddhist since who has persevered to the final step of the Eightfold Path. Like a camera, the mind had been poorly focused, but the adjustment has now been made.”

12. What do you see?
Most students won’t recognize that it is in fact a cow…
The point is to show the students at a very concrete level what Nirvana might be like…this exercise works best on those who don’t see anything.
The “aha!” moment they have of clarity is a very concrete explanation as to what Nirvana could be…that moment of awakening, awareness, truth, reality, clairty…

13. Read this sentence: FINISHED FILES ARE THE
RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC
STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.
Now count the F's in the sentence. Count them only once. Do not go back and count them again.
Same idea as the cow idea…
There are a total of 6 Fs…some skip over the “of”s

14. Vaccha asked Buddha if one still exists after attaining Enlightenment (Nirvana)…
“The word reborn does not apply to him.”
“Then he is not reborn?”
“The term not-reborn does not apply to him.”
“To each and all of my questions, Gotama, you have replied in the negative. I am at a loss and bewildered.”
“You ought to be at a loss and bewildered, Vaccha. For this doctrine is profound, hard to comprehend, rare, excellent, beyond dialectic, subtle, only to be understood by the wise. Let me therefore question you. If there were a fire blazing in front of you, would you know it?”
“Yes, Gotama.”
“If the fire went out, would you know it had gone out?”
“Yes.”
“If now you were asked in what direction the fire had gone, whether to east, west, north, or south, could you give an answer?”
Even Buddha has trouble explaining what Nirvana is because it is beyond words and reason…one doesn’t know until he/she attains it…
Author Huston Smith writes, “that Buddha was calling attention to the fact that some problems are posed so clumsily by our language as to preclude solution by their very formulation” and refers to this as the “word barrier”

15. What does that really mean?
Think about a flame…
“Expiring flames do not really go out but return to the pure, invisible condition of fire they shared before they visibly appeared”
Say what?
“The ultimate destiny of the human spirit is a condition in which all identification with the historical experience of the finite self will disappear, while experience as such not only remains but is heightened beyond recognition.”
These quotes address the notion of Nirvana...follow up to the previous slide

16. NO soul??? (Anatta) Hold up-let me explain… Think about a flame again…
“He (Buddha) used the image of a flame being passed from candle to candle. As it is difficult to think of the flame on the final candle as being the original flame, the connection would seem to be a causal one, in which influence was transmitted by chain reaction but without perduring substance.”
This quote addresses the concept of reincarnation…the incarnate being does not obtain the old soul but rather the ideas and impressions of that previous being…
Author Huston Smith explains the concept of anatta on pg. 115:
“Denial of spiritual substance---the soul as homunculus, a ghostly wraith within the body that animates the body and outlasts it”
“There is a chain of causation threading each life to those that have led up to it and to those that will follow. Each life is in its present condition because of the way the lives that led up to it were lived.”
“Within the present the will is influenced but not controlled.”

17. Nothing lasts forever…(Anicca)
“Regard this phantom world
As a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp—a phantom—and a dream.”
~Buddha~
Impermanence…

18. Let’s stop and review… “The Three Marks of Existence”:
Suffering (Dukkha)
No soul (Anatta)
Impermanence (Anicca)

19. Are you still confused? It’s okay…
“A thousand questions remain, but the
Buddha is silent. Others abide our questions.
Thou are free. We ask and ask; thou smilest
and art still.”
~One of Buddha’s disciples~

20. The Two Branches of Buddhism *Quotes from Huston Smith

21. “No one saves us but ourselves, No one can and no one may;
Hinayana (Theravada)
“Little Raft”
Mahayana
“Big Raft”
“No one saves us but ourselves,
No one can and no one may;
We ourselves must tread the Path:
Buddhas only show the way.”
“He findeth not who seeks his own…”

22. Key virtue=Wisdom (bodhi) Key virtue=Compassion (karuna)
Hinayana (Theravada)
“Little Raft”
Mahayana
“Big Raft”
Key virtue=Wisdom (bodhi)
Key virtue=Compassion (karuna)
Primarily for members of
monastic order (sangha)
Relevant to laypeople
Ideal=Arhat
Ideal=Boddhisattva
Buddha=teacher, sage, man
Buddha=world savior
Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand,
Cambodia
China, Korea, Japan, Tibet

23. Popular Sects *Quotes from Huston Smith

24. What sets Tibetan Buddhism apart from the other branches?
Show 2 clips:
Chapters 1-3 (12 minutes): Pilgrims trek to Bodh Gaya, India for the Kalachakra Initiation; some choose to prostrate the entire journey
Chapter 6 (10 minutes): Pilgrims trek to Mt. Kailish in western Tibet and circle around it
Compare to the tranquility of Buddhism as seen in Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring…

25. Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhism
Enlightenment can be reached in just one lifetime!
Sights (mandalas), sounds (mantras), and motions (mudras)
Vajrayana-3rd vehicle of Buddhism; most famous is Tibetan Buddhism; Shingon Buddhism is another one that is grouped under this branch
Vajrayana=“the Diamond Way” (diamond is strong and lucid)
Can be seen as the fast track to Enlightenment…how can this be?... “by utilizing all of the energies latent in the human make-up, those of the body emphatically included, and impressing them all into the service of the spiritual quest” (this explains there rituals as evidenced by the next 3 slides)

26. Sights
Mandalas are the physical representation of internal visualizations; destroyed after they are created (stressed the impermanence of things)

27. Sounds
Om Mani Padme Hum
Cannot be translated

28. Motions
Prayer wheels of all sizes
Prayer beads
Prayer bells

29. Free Tibet Movement
Oppression of Tibetan Buddhism since Mao took over…
Tibet had at first been conquered by the Mongols in the 13th Century and in the 17th Century, the Manchu Dynasty in China conquered it…Tibet was pretty much left alone for centuries until the Communist Revolution; Mao recognized its strategic location, invaded it, and reduced its size
Can show short clip of the protests and the suppression of those calling for independence

30. Free Tibet Movement
“The Bodhisattva Path Is One Of Power And Strength A Strength From Within To Go The Length Seeing Others Are As Important As Myself I Strive For A Happiness Of Mental Wealth With The Interconnectedness That We Share As One Every Action That We Take Affects Everyone So In Deciding For What A Situation Calls There Is A Path For The Good For All I Try To Make My Every Action For That Highest Good With The Altruistic Wish To Achieve Buddhahood So I Pledge Here Before Everyone Who's Listening To Try To Make My Every Action For The Good Of All Beings
For The Rest Of My Lifetimes And Even Beyond…”
Beastie Boys lyrics from “Boddhisatva Vow” off their Ill Communication album

31. Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo (Renji)
The Panchen Lama
After the 10th Panchen Lama (2nd highest position after the Dalai Lama) died in 1989, the reincarnation of him was announced (right picture)…few days later, the boy and his family disappeared after being taken into custody by Chinese security forces and no one has see him since
Renji is the 10th Panchen Lama’s daughter who left China and went to high school in CA and is now studying political science at American University; her father figure in the US was Buddhist Steven Seagal (New Yorker Article “Buddha’s Daughter”)
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima
Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo (Renji)

32. Just for fun…

33. Just for fun…
Uma Thurman’s father, Dr. Robert Thurman, is a religion professor at Columbia University and is a close friend of the Dalai Lama

34. Zen Buddhism
We are all familiar with the sound of two hands clapping. What is the sound of one hand clapping?
Li-ku, a high-ranking officer in the Tang dynasty, asked a famous Ch’an master: “A long time ago a man kept a goose in a bottle. It grew larger until it could not get out of the bottle any more. He did not want to break the bottle, nor did he wish to harm the goose. How would you get it out?”

35. Zen Buddhism
A master, Wu Tsu, says, “Let me make an illustration from a fable. A cow passes by a window. Its head, horns, and the four legs all pass by. Why did not the tail pass by?”
What was the appearance of your face before your ancestors were born?

36. Zen Buddhism Use of riddles (koans) Reason is limited
Popularized in the US during the Beat Generation (1950s)

37. 98% of the world’s Buddhists live in Asia…
From “Buddha Rising” Article in National Geographic as are the next 2 slides
98% of the world’s Buddhists live in Asia…
that’s 373 million people

38. Going Global…

39. Going Global…

40. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring…
Does the film make more sense now?