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BUDDHISM

It is estimated that the number of adherents to Buddhism comprise around 6% of the world's population, although this figure is difficult to gauge because of Buddhism's ability to assimilate itself into a culture and to influence that culture's underlying beliefs. Theravada Buddhism exists primarily in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Mahayana Buddhism exists primarily in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Vajrayana, or Tantric, Buddhism exists primarily in Bhutan, Mongolia, and Tibet.

I  Origin of Buddhism

Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama during the sixth century BC. His life (563-483 BC) coincides with the time when the people of Judah were exiled in Babylon. Buddha's life can be divided into three periods: enjoyment, enquiry, and enlightenment.

(1) The Period of Enjoyment (563-534 BC): Siddhartha Gautama was born into the warrior caste of the Shakya tribe in the town of Kapilavastu, which was at that time northeastern India but is now part of Nepal. Tradition says that Siddhartha's father sought to shelter his son in a palace so that he would never see any form of suffering, such as old age, sickness, death, or the poverty of an ascetic. One day, however, Siddhartha ventured away from the palace and encountered all four kinds of suffering. This experience had a profound effect on him. It caused him to become disillusioned with his wealth, and he became deeply concerned about the issue of suffering.

(2) The Period of Enquiry (534-528 BC): As a result of his encounter with suffering, Siddhartha left his family-including a wife and child-and his life of luxury. He committed himself to discovering the source of suffering and how to eliminate it. Convicted by the ascetic he had seen, Siddhartha began to practice extreme asceticism. After six years, his body became so weak because of eating so little that he almost drowned while bathing in a river. He had to grab an overhanging branch to pull himself out of the water. He realized that extreme asceticism did not produce the enlightenment he was seeking concerning the source of suffering and how to eliminate it.

(3) The Period of Enlightenment (528-483 BC): Siddhartha then ate some food and walked to a city named Bodh Gaya, where he sat under a fig tree by the edge of a river. He vowed not to rise again until he had attained enlightenment, and subsequently went into deep state of meditation. During this meditation, Siddhartha was severely tempted by Mara, the evil one. Siddhartha resisted her temptations, though, and after a period of time (some say one night, others as many as 49 days) he attained enlightenment and became the Buddha, which means "the enlightened one". Bodh Gaya is now the site of the holiest shrine in the Buddhist world, the Mahabodhi ("great enlightenment") Temple.

Buddha called his path to enlightenment the Middle Way, because it avoided the extremes of both affluence and asceticism, both of which had only caused him to suffer. Shortly after his enlightenment, Buddha traveled to Benares, and in the Deer Park there he preached his first sermon-the contents of which have come to known as the Four Noble Truths. Eventually, he won thousands of followers, who formed communities called sanghas. After 45 years of spreading his message, Buddha died, probably as a result of food poisoning. His last words were, "Decay is inherent in all component things! Work out your salvation with diligence".

II  The Spread of and the Splits within Buddhism

For two centuries Buddhism didn't spread beyond the borders of India. Then came King Ashoka, who ruled India from 274-232 BC. Ashoka was a warrior-king who, during one battle, became so revolted by the bloodshed that he resolved to renounce all such fighting. He subsequently converted to Buddhism and devoted himself and his resources to its propagation. Ashoka commissioned Buddhist missionaries to go to the other parts of India, as well as to Syria, Egypt. Cyrene, Greece, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Around this same time a major division began to develop within Buddhism. The primary issue was whether enlightenment is accessible to everyone or to only a few. Those Buddhists who said enlightenment is accessible to everyone were called "Mahayana" ("the greater vehicle"), and those who said it is accessible to only the committed  few (for instance, monks) were called "Hinayana" ("the lesser vehicle"). Being offended by the negative connotation of the term Hinayana, the latter began to refer to themselves as Theravada Buddhists, which means "the teaching of the elders".

The difference in emphasis between the two branches of Buddhism is illustrated in the difference between whether one strives to become a bodhisattva or an arahat. The bodhisattva (a Mahayana concept) is one who has attained enlightenment but, out of compassion for the unenlightened masses, refuses to enter nirvana in order to come back and guide others along the path. The arahat (a Theravada concept), on the other hand, is one who is more concerned with his own enlightenment than with that of others. His primary concern is to attain enlightenment for himself by forsaking all illusion. There are other differences between the two branches:

(1) Theravada Buddhists see Buddha as being a man only and not a god. Conversely, Mahayana Buddhists view Buddha as a historical manifestation of a universal Absolute, or Buddha essence.

(2) Theravada Buddhists insist there can be only one Buddha. Mahayana Buddhists say there have been many manifestations of the Buddha essence and that there will be at least one more, called the 'Maitreya Buddha'.

(3) Whereas Theravada Buddhists teach that one must attain enlightenment solely through one's own efforts, Mahayana Buddhists teach that the bodhisattvas can help people along the path and can even transfer their own extra karmic merit to such seekers.

From India, Theravada Buddhism spread toward the southeastern regions of Asia, and Mahayana Buddhism spread toward the northeastern parts of Asia. In the sixth century AD., the Indian scholar Bodhidharma introduced Ch'an Buddhism to China. Ch'an Buddhism is a technique for meditating on the 'Vast Emptiness' within oneself. This form of meditation migrated to Japan in the twelfth century and was the predecessor to Zen Buddhism.

Japanese scholar D. T. Suzuki was largely responsible for bringing Zen Buddhism to America during the early part of the twentieth century. Another form of Japanese Buddhism is "Pure Land" or Jodo, Buddhism. The Pure Land is a transitional realm from which it is easier to attain nirvana than from the realm of the earth.

Besides the two branches of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, there is a third branch known as Vajrayana, or Tantra. Vajrayana Buddhism is derived from a form of Hinduism called Tantra, which emphasizes occultic techniques for the development of spiritual power. "Vajrayana" means "the diamond vehicle", and the metaphor refers to the purity of the spiritual power being tapped into and the ability of the techniques to cut through illusions quickly so as to gain enlightenment.

The people of Tibet, where Vajrayana Buddhism is the predominant religion, have given the world what is probably today's most recognizable living symbol of Buddhism-the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is Tibet's exiled spiritual and political leader. Tibetan Buddhists consider the Dalai Lama to be the fourteenth reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion.

Besides the three branches of Buddhism mentioned above, there is also the distinction between the "official" version of Buddhism and the "folk" version. The two versions are very different from each other, and often those involved in the folk version know very little of the official version. Folk Buddhists are animists in that they believe spirits influence and control people's lives. They believe that people must appease the spirits in order to have success, and that they should seek the guidance of the spirits through various forms of divination.

III  The Buddhist Scriptures

Unlike the Islamic Quran or the Christian Bible, Buddhists do not have a single sacred text, which all the Buddhist faithful accept as authoritative in a final sense. In fact, there are actually thousands of sacred texts, known as sutras, in Buddhism. However, understanding how the diverse sacred textual traditions of Buddhism emerged requires some basic knowledge of the history of Buddhism.

The teaching of the Buddha is known generally as the dharma. The basic message of the dharma is to set forth a "middle way" (between extreme asceticism and materialistic consumption) which leads to enlightenment. The core content of the dharma is attributed to some very early expositions by Buddha to his disciples known as "turning the wheel of Dharma" and is not understood as having any reference to a sovereign, objective God. Today, these early sermons include the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the doctrines of dependent arising  (pratitya-samutpada) and no-self (anatman). The content of this teaching represents the core teachings of Buddhism. This teaching is non-theistic, denies the reality of the self, and rejects all ultimate first-causes.

The issue of what was to be considered scripture marked another reason for the split between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. The Theravada Buddhists considered the canon to be closed with the Pali Tripitaka. "Pali" refers to the language in which it was written, and Tripitaka (also called Tipitaka) means the "three baskets" of teachings, which include Buddha's sermons, rules for monks, and philosophical teachings. The length of the Tripitaka is around seventy times that of the Bible.

The Mahayana Buddhists, on the other hand, saw the canon as remaining open. Thus, they include in their scriptures writings from Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan sources. Some of the more popular Mahayana scriptures include the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma-Pundarika) and the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna-Paramita), which in turn includes the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra. The sacred scriptures of Vajrayana Buddhism are the Kanjur and the Tanjur.