The Buddhism Top 11

1. The Buddhism Top 11

2. #10: Buddhism is a HECK OF A LOT like Hinduism • Buddhism ‘grew out’ of Hinduism • Buddhism was started by a Hindu, so many of its teachings are very Hindu-ish… • BOTH started in India • BOTH are ‘Eastern’ belief systems • BOTH are inclusive belief systems • Features of Hinduism AND Buddhism • Polytheism • Dharma • Karma • Moksha • Nirvana • Pacifism = AHIMSA • Meditation • Reincarnation (although the beliefs differ somewhat) • Bathing for Spiritual Purity • Yoga • The Vedas are sacred • Monasticism (people may become monks and live a solitary life away from the world) and much much more

3. So MOST of the Buddhism Top 11 will look at how Buddhism is DIFFERENT from Hinduism

4. #4 The FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS All life knows suffering. Nobody gets what they want out of life. The cause of suffering is ignorance and clinging. Wanting it is the problem. There is a way to end suffering. By learning not to want it. This is the way to end suffering: The Eightfold Path. These are the central teachings of the Buddhist faith

5. #8 THE EIGHTFOLD PATH Right Understanding Learning the nature of reality and the truth about life. Right Aspiration Making the commitment to living in such a way that our suffering can end. Right Effort Just Do It. No Excuses. Right Speech Speaking the truth in a helpful and compassionate way. Right Conduct Living a life consistent with our values. Right Livelihood Earning a living in a way that doesn’t hurt others. Right Mindfulness Recognizing the value of the moment; living where we are. Right Concentration Expanding our consciousness through meditation These create ‘the path’ to end suffering

6. The Eightfold Path

7. #9 Buddha means Teacher • Hinduism was more of a ‘way of life’ that had evolved in India over thousands of years. The term HINDU was actually coined by outsiders to describe the Indians’ way of life. • BUDDHISM is a belief system that builds on Hinduism plus the teachings of its greatest teachers, or BUDDHAS. • The founder of Buddhism, sometimes called The Buddha was…

8. #7 The founder of Buddhism, sometimes called The Buddha was • Siddhartha Gautama • Background: Siddhartha Gautama was a PRINCE of a region in northern India and Nepal. He was a Hindu, who went on a spiritual voyage and a period of meditation and fasting. During this time, he had a series of VISIONS which became Buddhism.Central ways in which Buddhism was different from Hinduism were…

9. #6 Different View of Reincarnation • Siddhartha Gautama believed that one could achieve salvation (nirvana) in one generation if that one life was lived with great Karma, Dharma, and Moksha.

10. #5 REJECTION OF CASTE • Gautama believed that if one could achieve salvation in one generation, that there was no reason to be forced to live life at a superior or inferior level

11. #3 Ashoka (or Asoka) and the Maurya Dynasty • Ashoka was another prince (or king, or Rajah). He came later than Siddhartha Gautama and discovered Gautama’s teachings and adopted them. He then (in a very NOT BUDDHIST LIKE WAY) forced his people to follow Buddhism. He then USED FORCE to conquer his neighboring kingdoms, creating India’s first NATIONAL DYNASTY… this was… • THE MAURYA DYNASTY: Northern India was united under Buddhist rulers in the 4th century BCE. • The Problem here: Buddhism is apolitical (NOT political) and Pacifistic (Peaceful)

12. INTENTIONAL TANGENT (look in the right column of your notes):We will deal with these a little bit later in the course, but I will introduce these now. The Maurya Dynasty was the first monarchy to unite India (at least the northern part) under one ruler. It was ruled by Buddhists, and came BEFORE the Gupta Dynasty.The Gupta Dynasty ruled over what is considered India’s Golden Age, when for a short period (that happens to be right after the fall of the western Roman Empire in Europe and the fall of the Han Dynasty in China, leaving the world a bit of a ‘greatness’ void. During this time, India made great progress in mathematics, the sciences, and in artistic creation (which is what a golden age is)So chronologically…Maurya, then GuptaReligiously…Maurya was Buddhist; Gupta was HinduWhich confuses students because Hinduism is older than BuddhismAnd one last thing…G for Gupta, G for Golden

13. #2 TODAY, Buddhism has ONE SPIRITUAL LEADER • The Dalai Lama (kind of like a Buddhist Pope)

14. #11: Not that important but • Although both Hinduism and Buddhism are, for our purposes, Polytheistic (but yes, as the girl in the video said, with a single Supreme Force that ‘becomes’ the gods), HOW the gods are viewed is different • In Hinduism, the Gods are worshipped and receive prayers. • In Buddhism, it is acknowledged that the Gods exist as a part of the universe, but they are not worshipped or prayed to.

15. #1 Cultural Diffusion • After the fall of the Maurya Dynasty, Hindus took back India and created the Gupta Dynasty, during which India had a Hindu Golden Age. Buddhists were converted to Hinduism, killed, or pushed out of India. Buddhist writings were destroyed, and Buddhism almost completely died away. • BUT, Buddhist writings were rediscovered in Nepal, and Buddhism caught back on and spread, from Nepal to Tibet, into Eastern China, Korea, Japan, and southeast Asia (and Carmel California… laugh now) • Buddhism almost completely disappeared from India but has made a comeback in the past fifty years as Untouchables choose Buddhism to seek (no not Sikh but that would be a funny joke) a less oppressed life on earth.

16. #1 Cultural Diffusion: the spread of Buddhism, largely through TRADE