Buddhism

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKJD0F9CseU

1. Siddhartha founded Buddhism in the 6th century BCE. He began to teach his ideas in Benares which is located in the Himalayan foothills.

2.

Siddhattha Gotama/Siddhartha Gautama- Discovered the reason for human suffering and found the four noble truths and the eight fold path of Buddhism.

Maya devi- The mother of the Buddha. Died 7 days after giving birth to Budddha.

Sujata- A woman who offered food to the Buddha when he was performing his ascetic practices(long fasts)before enlightenment. The Buddha was near death because it was before Buddha started practicing in the middle way. After englightenment a heavy storm came and a large cobra snake protected the Buddha along with Sujata. Sujata later became a bhikkhuni(a Buddhist nun).

Maha Pajapati Gotami- The aunt and step-mother of the Buddha. She became the first Buddhist nun and became fully enlightened.



Khema- She was one of the wives of King Bimbisara who was beautiful. Buddha explained that the beauty would not last. Khema became enlightened and decided to become a nun. She was the chief nun during the time of Buddha.



Sariputta (Sariputra)- the first chief male desciple of the Buddha. He was known for caring, humility, patience, and the especially his wisdom. He learned the higher teachings from the Buddha and was foremost in explaining it.



Moggallana- The second of the foremost monk desciples of the Buddha. He was know for his ease at supernormal abilities like reading the minds of others, using the mind to reach the heavenly realm, speaking to gods and ghosts, walking through walls, and walking on water, and traveling at the speed of light. He had a very dark complexion.



3. Hotei: The Buddhist God of happiness and contentment.

The Buddha- The fully enlightened Buddha, the person who rediscovered the teachings after they died out.

Paccekabuddha- A silent Buddha who attains full knowledge but does not teach others.

Arahant- fully enlightened persona who might teach others but not the ones who rediscovered the teachings

Medicine Buddha- semi-legendary Buddha who represents the healing nature of Buddha's teachings. In some school of Mahayana Buddhism, an actual person who at death passed into a heavenly realm and presides over one of the heavens as a healer. In Tibetan Buddhism meditaton on the medicine Buddhism can help decrease physical and mental illness. Amitabha Buddha- semi-legendary Buddha who presides over the Western Pure Land according to some schools of Mahyana Buddhism. Buddhists call on him for entrance to the heavenly realm which will be easier to attain once they are enlightened. Statues of Amitabha Buddha look like statues of the Buddha the main difference is the hands form two circles in his lap.

Kwan Yin- The most important female figure in many Buddhist traditions. She is the godess of compassion. Kwan Yin is a rebirth of bodhisattva Avolikiteshvara, a monk who was reborn in a heavenly realm and filled with compassion for all living things.



Tara- a goddess in Mahayana Budhism and Vajrayana (Tibetian) Buddhism. She is the mother of liberation and represent the the virtues of success in work and achievements.



Mara- The god of the world. There are four senses to the word Mara, First is the Klesa-mara which is the embodiment of all unskillful emotions, second is Mrtyu-mara which is mara as death as in the cycle of death and rebirth, third is Skandha-mara which is mara as a metaphor for eternity of conditioned existance, fourth is the Devaputra- mara which is mara as the son of a god and mara existing rather than just being a metaphore.



4. Main Ideals and text/mythology.

Story of Buddha: Buddha's parents were Suddhodana, king of the Sakyas, and his wife Maya. (The Sakyas were the people on the Indian Border of Nepal). Before her conception, she had a dream where a white elephant entered her womb. It was prophisied that her son would become a king or a Buddha. During the birth, the child was miraculously born, from Maya's right side. He immediatly took seven steps to the north; looking north, south, east, and west, he proclaimed, "I was born for enlightenment and to benefit all that lives. This is the last time, I have been born into this world of becoming." He was named Siddhartha Gautama.

He grew up in a life of luxury. His father sequestered him from the harshness of life in order to protect him from curruption. One day he was riding outside of the palace grounds when he came upon four disturbing images; an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a wondering holy man who had given up his land and family to search for knowledge. Buddha decided to seek the root of human suffering and its cure. In an effort to seek spiritual salvation, Siddhartha left his home and luxurious life. He cut off his beard and hair, and discarded his royal robes for the simple robes worn by holy men.

He wandered in the forest with other holy me fasting and deprivation until he almost starved to death. He realized that he did not aquire spiritual knowledge so he decided to seek it by more moderate "middle way". He took food and sat under a Bodhi tree or "Tree of Wisdom" vowing not to move until he had gained enlightenment and solved the mystery of human suffering. Mara, the god of the world, sent her demon army to stop him fearing her kingdom would weaken if he succeeded. Through meditation, Siddhartha resisted the physical attacks, the suductions of his daughters, and a challenge to his worthiness to claim enlightenment. In response to Mara's last challenge he touched the Earth and called it to witness his spiritual qualities. In response the earth shook and Mara's armies fled. Siddhartha entered deep meditation and through the following night had realizations that resulted in a final understanding of the cause of human suffering. He saw his own re-births, how all beings passed through the higher and lower worlds and how cravings, desires, and ignorance are the cause of re-birth. With this realization he became a Buddha which means "Awakened One". He remained under the Bodhi tree for seven more days.

At first Buddha hesitated in spreading the truths he had descovered. He thought they were to hard to understand but he was urged to spread them by the gods Indra and Brahma so he decided to begin teaching them. He traveled to Varanasi to teach the five holy men he traveled with what he had learned. In the first 'Turning of the Wheel of the Law' he explained his teachings through the Four Noble Truths. He spoke of suffering, identifying desire as the cuse of suffering, that suffering can be stopped and the way to stop suffering is by following the "Noble Eightfold Path" which shows eight ways people should live. He also told the first Buddhist monks to start spreading his message. Buddha spent the next 45 years traveling throughout northeastern India spreading his message and gaining new monks.

The Buddha lived until he was over 80. He died at Kusinagara(modern Kasia) after eating a meal that a blacksmith made for him. When he knew he was about to die he gathered his disciples around him and gave a last speech. His final words were "Decay is inherent in all compounded things, work out your own salvation with diligence". Laying on the right side of a couch between two trees he passed into successively higher states of awareness and then into the final state of Nirvana. After his cremation his ashes were divided into eight parts and distributed to the eight local rulers. Burial mounds called stupas were raised over each set of ashes.

Follow the idea of Nirvana. That man is reincarnated until they achieve enlightenment(Nirvana). Nirvana is obtained by following the Four Noble Truths

Four Noble Truths: 1. Suffering exists 2. Suffering arises from attachment to desires 3. Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases 4. Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path

Eight fold Path: 1. Right view 2. Right Thought 3. Right Speech 4. Right action 5. Right Living 6. Right Effort 7. Right Mindfullness 8. Meditation

5. Differences between China, Korea and Japan

The main form of Buddhism in Eastern Asia is Mahayana Buddhism. This is different from Theravada because Mahayana is about reaching Nirvana but then coming back to Earth and helping others reach Nirvana before them.

Buddhism came first to China then spread to Korea. In 522 AD it came to Japan when a monk from China traveled to Japan and built a temple.

In China they follow the Pure Land sect where they recite the name of Amitabha.

In Japan they follow sects called The Jodo Shinshu, Nihiren, and Zen Buddhism. The Jodo Shinshu allows the clergy to marry and they believe that by just having faith in  Amitabha they can reach the Western Paradise, or Pure Land. In the Pure Land they will be able to reach enlightenment more eaisly. The Nichiren sect belives that the only way to reach enlightenment is to recite a passage from the Lotus Sutra. The Zen Sect focuses and disipline of the mind and body. It influenced the tea ceremonies, black ink painting, and Noh Drama.

In Korea Buddhism was similar to the Chinese until confusinism took over. When the Japanese invaded they gave their own beliefs to the Koreans. Now Korean Budddhism is very similar to Japanese Buddhism.

Sources: http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org/buddhism/html/essay1.htm http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/asia/asia_features/buddhism/buddhism/index.html http://www.buddhaweb.org/ http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/japan/japanworkbook/religion/origins.html http://www.thedhamma.com/whos_who.htm http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/east-asia.htm http://www.indianetzone.com/30/mara_buddhist_god_love.htm