Transcript File - World Religions

Mythic and Historical c. 600-500 BCE Buddha begins teaching
• 528 BCE At 35, Buddha would devote the rest of his life to bringing his teachings—the Dharma, the
fundamental laws of all things—into the world.
• From Bodh Gaya, the Buddha walked west nearly two hundred miles and crossed the Ganges River.
• He was searching for a way to explain to others what he feared was unexplainable: the path to the
enlightenment he himself had experienced.
• With his five companions, The Buddha told them that he had discovered a new way to enlightenment and
it’s not the path of asceticism, and it’s not the path of sensory indulgence. It’s the Middle Way.
• The Central Path, Middle Way or Middle Path is the term that Buddha used to describe the character of
the Noble Eightfold Path he discovered that leads to liberation.
• Middle Way was always balancing between excesses.
Mythic and Historical c. 600-500 BCE Buddha Four Noble Truths
•
•
528 BCE Buddha teaches his companions the Four Noble Truths:
The Four Noble Truths which express the basic orientation of Buddhism: this worldly existence is fundamentally
unsatisfactory, but there is a path to liberation from repeated worldly existence. The truths are as follows:
1. The Truth of Dukkha is that all conditional phenomena and experiences are not ultimately satisfying;
2. The Truth of the Origin of Dukkha is that craving for and clinging to what is pleasurable and aversion to what is
not pleasurable result in becoming, rebirth, dissatisfaction, and redeath;
3. The Truth of the Cessation of Dukkha is that putting an end to this craving and clinging also means that rebirth,
dissatisfaction, and redeath can no longer arise;
4. The Truth of the Path Of Liberation from Dukkha is that by following the Noble Eightfold Path—namely, behaving
decently, cultivating discipline, and practicing mindfulness and meditation—an end can be put to craving, to
clinging, to becoming, to rebirth, to dissatisfaction, and to redeath.
•
The four truths provide a useful conceptual framework for making
sense of Buddhist thought, which has to be personally understood
or "experienced."
Many Buddhist teachers present them as the essence
of Buddhist teachings,
In the sutras the four truths have both a symbolic and
a propositional function.
They represent the awakening and liberation of the
Buddha, but also the possibility of liberation for all
sentient beings, describing how release from craving
is to be reached.
•
•
•
Mythic and Historical c. 600-500 BCE Buddha Death
•
483 BCE Buddha dies
•
The Buddha had always been saying goodbye. Now, he prepared to leave the earth forever. He would
never be reborn, never die again. The Buddha told his disciples:
• "It may be that after I am gone that some of you will think, ‘now we have no teacher.’ But that is not
how you should see it. Let the Dharma and the discipline that I have taught you be your teacher. All
individual things pass away. Strive on, untiringly."
Mythic and Historical After Buddha’s Death
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
483 BCE : The first Buddhist council gathers after the death of the Buddha, under the patronage of King Ajatasattu. The Buddhist
Canon as it exist today was settled at this Council and preserved as an oral tradition
• The Tripitaka is the Canon of the Buddhists, both Theravada and Mahayana. Refers to the literature, the authorship of
which is directly or indirectly ascribed to the Buddha himself.
• It is generally believed that whatever was the teaching of the Buddha, conceived under Dhamma and Vinaya, it was
rehearsed soon after his death by a fairly representative body of disciples. The later systematised threefold division, into
Sutta, Vinaya and Abhidhamma is based on this collection.
400s BCE : The Kharosthi script, also known as the Gandhari script is brought in use.
383 BCE : The Second Buddhist Council is convened in Vaishali in India.
• First schism of the Sangha occurs in which the Mahasanghika school parts ways with the Sthaviravadins and the
Theravadins
367 BCE : Non Canonical Buddhist Council is convened at Pataliputra.
272-231 BCE Reign of Indian Emperor Asoka who converts and establishes the Buddha's Dharma on a national level for the first
time.
250 BCE : Third Buddhist council is convened by King Ashoka in Patliputra. The Council is presided over by Moggaliputta Tissa.
Also, the first completely developed Kharosthu script dates back from this period.
220 BCE : Ashoka’s missionary Mahinda visits Sri
Lanka and Theravada Buddhism is officiallly
introduced in the country. The king of Sri Lanka at
this point of time is Devanampiya Tissa.
200 BCE Beginnings of Mahayana Buddhism
180 BCE : Demetrius, a Greco-Bactrian king
conquers India as far as Pataliputra and lays down
the foundation of Indo-Greek Kingdom. Under his
rule, Buddhism develops rapidly.
Mythic and Historical
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
150 BCE : Indo Greek king, Meander I adopts Buddhism under the guidance of sage Nagasena (Milinda Panha).
120 BCE : The Chinese Emperor, Han Wudi accepts two golden statues of the Buddha. Reference regarding this is found in
Mogao caves inscriptions in Dunhuang city.
35-32 BCE Entire scriptural canon of Theravada School was committed to writing on palm leaves in Pali at the Aloka Cave,
near Matale, Sri Lanka
29 BCE : Pali cannon is written down in Sri Lanka during the reign of King Vaagami.
48 CE, An Shigao, a Parthian prince and Buddhist monk, comes to China and begins to translate the Theravada texts into
Chinese
65 CE, Liu Ying sponsors Buddhism in China. This becomes the first recorded case of Buddhist practice in China.
67 CE, Buddhism arrives in China with two monks, Moton and Chufarlan.
68 CE, The White Horse temple is constructed in China and with this Buddhism is officially introduced in China.
78 CE, Ban Chao, a Chinese General, over powers the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan.
100 CE King Kaniska convened the Fourth Buddhist Council at Jalandhar or in Kashmir.
100 C.E Buddhism established in Cambodia and in Vietnam 150 C.E
•
•
•
•
•
•
116 CE : China : Kanishka conquers Kasghar, Khotan and
Yarkand in the Tarim Basin. These were earlier Chinese
dependency.
178 CE, the Kushan monk Lokaksema comes to China and
begins to translate the Mahayana texts into Chinese.
296 CE China : The earliest Chinese scriptures
372 CE Buddhism enters Korea
399-414 CE, Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hien visits India. Later, he goes
back to China to translate Buddhist texts into Chinese.
c. 500 CE Nalanda University in India grows into prominence as
an education centre and houses around 3000-10,000 monks.
Mythic and Historical
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
402 CE, Kumarajiva comes to China and translates many Buddhist texts in to Chinese.
403 CE, Hui Yuan argues that it should not be necessary for Buddhist monks to bow before the emperor.
405 CE, Yao Xing, on whose request Kumarajiva visited China, honours him.
465 CE, Buddhabhadra arrives in China and begins to preach Buddhism. I
495 CE, the Shaolin Temple is constructed in the honour of Buddhabhadra.
526 CE Bodhidharma founder of Ch'an (Zen) arrives in China from India and settles in Shaolin Monastery
589-617 CE Sui Dynasty in Chinese History beginning of Golden Age of Chinese Buddhism.
589 CE Development of T'ien-tai, Hua-yen, Pure Land, and Ch'an schools of Chinese Buddhism.
538 CE Buddhism enters Japan becomes state religion (594).
531-579 Jataka Tales translated into Persian by King Khusr
In early 600s CE, Jingwan begins to carve sutras on stone at Fangshan, Yuzhou
618 CE, Tang dynasty comes to power in China.
641-650 CE Construction of Potala Palace, Jokang and Ramoche temples to house Buddha images
606 to 647CE Harsa-vardhana ruler of a large empire in northern India from. He was a Buddhist convert in a Hindu era.
602-664 Chinese pilgrim Hsuan-Tsang (visits India.
Shaolin Temple
Mythic and Historical
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
c. 710-7884 Academic schools (Jöjitsu, Kusha, Sanron, Hossö, Ritsu,
and Kegon) proliferate in Japan.
c. 749 Great debate between Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist schools.
c. 760 Ch'an declared heretical in Tibet.
c. 760 Nyingma School of Tibet Buddhism established.
c. 742-814 Borobudur Temple complex built in Java.
c. 742-814 Jataka Tales translated into Syrian and Arabic under title:
Kalilag and Damnag.
Khmer kings build Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious
monument.
767-822 Tendai School (founded by Saichö and Shingon School
founded by Kukai
845 Great Buddhist persecution in China
c 900 Biography of Buddha translated into Greek by Saint John of
Damascus and distributed in Christianity as "Balaam" and "Josaphat".
983 First complete printing of Chinese Buddhist Canon known as the
Szechuan edition.
900-1000 Buddhism in Thailand
900-1000 Islam replaces Buddhism in Central Asia
970-1105 Burma : The construction of Buddhist temple at Bagan in
Myanmar begins.
971- 983, the first complete printing of Chinese Buddhist cannon
takes place in this period under Song dynasty.
991 A copy of this cannon arrives in Korea.
Ananda Temple Bagan