Transcript buddhism powerpoint intro and notes

To begin…
• What is religion?
• What is philosophy?
IS BUDDHISM A RELIGION?
• NO ‘GOD-NOTION’
• Buddhism is a way of
life
• NO CREATOR
• Ethical
• NO ULTIMATE
REALITY TO
WORSHIP
• Psychological
• Philosophy of
AWAKENING
1993 CHICAGO PARLIAMENT
OF THE WORLD RELIGIONS
“The Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was not God or a god. He
was a human being who attained full enlightenment through
meditation and showed us the path of spiritual awakening and
freedom. Therefore, Buddhism is not a religion of God.
Buddhism is a religion of wisdom, enlightenment and
compassion. Like the worshippers of God who believe that
salvation is available to all through confession of sin and a life
a prayer, we Buddhists believe that salvation and
enlightenment are available to all through the removal of
delusion and a life of meditation/ However, unlike those who
believe in God who is separate from us, Buddhists believe that
Buddha, which means ‘one who is awake and enlightened’ is
inherent in us all as Buddhanature or Buddhamind.”
Buddhism
It has been said that “as Judaism is to Christianity, so is
Hinduism is to Buddhism.” Buddhism arose out of Hinduism
as a direct result of the influence of Siddhartha Gautama, the
Buddha or “Enlightened One; the religious worldview of the
Buddhist is very similar to the Hindu worldview, but it is
important to recognize that Buddhism is very much distinct
from Hinduism.
Buddhism is the world’s fourth largest religion, comprising
around 6% of the world’s population. The 350,000,000
adherents to the religion are found mainly in China, Japan, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, Korea, and Tibet. There are around 800,000
Buddhists in the U.S.
BUDDHA
BUDDHA
Four Noble Truths: 1
• Life is painful (dukkha) SUFFERING
“Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of pain:
birth is painful, old age is painful, sickness is
painful, death is painful, sorrow, lamentation,
dejection, and despair are painful. Contact with
unpleasant things is painful, not getting what
one wishes is painful. In short the five khandhas
of grasping are painful.”
Four Noble Truths: 2
• Desire (tanha) causes pain
– “Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of
the cause of pain: that craving which
leads to rebirth, combined with pleasure
and lust, finding pleasure here and
there, namely, the craving for passion,
the craving for existence, the craving for
non-existence.”
Four Noble Truths: 3
• Eliminating desire can eliminate pain
– “Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of
the cessation of pain: the cessation
without a remainder of that craving,
abandonment, forsaking, release,
nonattachment.”
Four Noble Truths: 4
• The Eightfold Noble Path (the
Middle Way) eliminates desire:
Right
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Thought
Intention
Speech
Conduct
Livelihood
Effort
Concentration
Meditation
Nirvana: The Result of the Eightfold Path
Although Buddha’s immediate goal was to eliminate the cause of suffering, his
ultimate goal was to become liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth.
This was to be accomplished by teaching how we can cease craving and thereby
eliminate our attachment to and beliefs in the existence of self
When we are successful in eliminating such attachment, then the effects of
karma cease to matter because all is seen for what it is – no longer are we tied to
the longings of the earth. At that moment, the moment of enlightenment, the
person achieves the state of…
NIRVANA – the ultimate goal of
the Buddhist, and Buddhism’s
equivalent of salvation or heaven.
Theravada Temple, Laos
Theravada Temple, Burma
Theravada Temple, Mandalay
Temples-South East Asia
Theravada Temple, Thailand
Mahayana Temples
Mahayana Temples