Lecture 4

The Buddha

The Dharma

The Sangha (or Community of laypeople and monastics)

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566-486 BCE

(traditional date)

c. 480-c. 400 BCE

(modern scholars)

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Biographical fragments in canonical texts

Written in Sanskrit or Pali (maybe only preserved in Chinese or Tibetan)

Discourse on the Noble Quest (Ariyapariyesana-sutta) Departure from home, early meditative

endeavors, decision to preach Mahaparinibbana Sutta

Last 3 months of the Buddha’s life, his death, and funeral and division of his relics

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‘Biographies’ Written in Sanskrit or Pali Incomplete

“The Great Story” (Mahāvastu) – from birth t0 enlightenment “The Acts of the Buddha” (Buddhacarita) - @ 1st century CE

Complete “The Detailed narrative of the Play (of the Buddha)” (Lalitavistara)

- @ 4th century CEL

ate Biographies Written outside of India – SE Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet and East

Asia Often written in a local vernacular (Sinhalese, Burmese,

Japanese, etc.)

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Earliest Buddhist art (2nd century BCE – 1st century CE) – no images of the Buddha as the Buddha Sanchi (3rd century BCE-1st century CE) Bharhut (100-80 BCE) contain jātakas (previous lives of the Buddha) Scenes of worship at pilgrimage sites

The Buddha Image – 2nd century BCE to 7th century CE Gandharan art for most of my examples (1st-4th centuries) Also Mathura and Sarnath

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Buddha

Examples: The Historical Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, later Śākyamuni Dipaṃkara

Achieve Awakening through own efforts (caveats), teach “Fully and Completely Awakened One” (samyak-sambuddha / sammā-

sambuddha)a

rhat / śrāvaka-buddha / sāvaka-buddha “Accomplished One (or “Hearer”) “One Who Awakened as a Disciple”; need the Dharma of a Buddha Ex. The Buddha’s immediate disciples, Sariputra, Maudgalyana, Ananda

pratyeka-buddha/ pacceka-buddha

“Solitary Buddha” Achieves Enlightenment through own efforts but do not teach Possibly an attempt to integrate other religious figures or traditions into

Buddhism

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1.3 Ānanda Recounts the Birth of the Buddha (possibly 4th century BCE; Acchariya-abhūta-sutta “The Discourse on the Wonderful and Marvelous”

1.4 Signs of Suffering (Pali Anguttara Nikāya)

1.5 The Great Departure: Two VersionsA. Pali Jātaka B. The Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya “Section on Splitting the Saṇgha”

1.6 Awakening Achieved “Section on Splitting the Saṇgha” The Practice of Austerities Māra’s Interventions Enlightenment Obtained Birth of Rāhula

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Sūtra (P. Sutta) – the main type of scripture, claiming authenticity as the Word of the Buddha: the part of the Canon that contains the Buddha’s discourses or teachings

Vinaya – the part of the Buddhist Canon that deals with ordination and the religious life

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1) Existence In Tushita Heaven

2) Descent From Tushita Heaven

3) Entry Into His Mother’s Womb

4) Birth As A Prince

5) Proficiency In The Worldly Arts (And Skills)

6) Life In The Palace - His Marriage And Fathering Of A Child

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7) Departure From Home - His Renunciation

8) Practice Of Austerities

9) Defeat Of Mara

10) Enlightenment

11) Turning The Wheel Of Dharma

12) His Death And Parinirvana

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1.Lumbini – Birthplace

2.Bodhgaya – Site of His Enlightenment

3.Sarnath – Site of First Teaching

4.Kushinagar – Death, Cremation, and Division of His Relics

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Tibetan thangka of 1st Four of the 12 Deeds (painting on silk)23

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1)a sick person

2)an old person

3)a corpse

4)a world-renouncing ascetic

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As a young prince, Siddhartha was taken into the fields to witness a plowing contest. He observed men sweating and exerting themselves as well as birds swooping down from the sky devouring insects. He soon became overwhelmed by these events, as they reflected the misery of human life and the inevitability of death. He left the contest and wandered until he found a wood apple tree. He sat beneath this tree and entered into a meditative trance (1st dhyana). This event was a precursor to his subsequent meditation under the bodhi tree.

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Tibetan thangka of the Youth of Shakyamuni (painting on silk)

1.3 Ānanda Recounts the Birth of the Buddha (possibly 4th century BCE; Acchariya-abhūta-sutta “The Discourse on the Wonderful and Marvelous”

1.4 Signs of Suffering (Pali Anguttara Nikāya)

1.5 The Great Departure: Two VersionsA. Pali Jātaka B. The Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya “Section on Splitting the Saṇgha”

1.6 Awakening Achieved “Section on Splitting the Saṇgha” The Practice of Austerities Māra’s Interventions Enlightenment Obtained Birth of Rāhula

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Name lit. means “death” or “maker of death”

Embodies lust, greed, false views, delusion and illusion; most importantly tṛṣṇā (lit. ‘thirst’)

Active antagonist of the Buddha and his followers

Tries to get the Bodhisattva to become a good Brahmin

Later accounts send armies and daughters to frighten and tempt the Buddha

Ānanda and other disciples encounter him

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1.10 The “Death” and Parinirvāṇa of the Buddha – Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra

Paying Homage to the Buddha’s Body

Last Words of the Buddha

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Jinakālamāli “Garland of the Times of the Victorious Ones (Buddhas)”

16th century, Northern Thailand

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Maya or Mayadevi – the Buddha’s mother

Shuddhodhana – King and the Buddha’s father

Sarvarthasiddha, “One Who Accomplishes All His Goals,” shortened to Siddhartha – the Buddha’s given name

Yashodhara – the Buddha’s wife

Rahula – lit. means “fetter, bond, or leash” the Buddha’s son

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