400 likes | 577 Views
Buddhism. To do no evil; To cultivate good; To purify one's mind: This is the teaching of the Buddhas. ~The Dhammapada~. The Four Noble Truths. 1. Identifying the Symptoms. Life is suffering . (Dukkha). 2. Diagnosis. Desire is the cause of life’s suffering. (Tanha).
E N D
Buddhism To do no evil; To cultivate good; To purify one's mind: This is the teaching of the Buddhas. ~The Dhammapada~
1. Identifying the Symptoms Life is suffering. (Dukkha)
2. Diagnosis Desire is the cause of life’s suffering. (Tanha)
3. Prognosis Suffering has an end.
4. Prescription The way to overcome suffering is by following the Eightfold Path.
Read this sentence:FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITHTHE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS. Now count the F's in the sentence. Count them only once. Do not go back and count them again.
Vaccha asked Buddha if one still exists after attaining Enlightenment (Nirvana)… “The word reborn does not apply to him.” “Then he is not reborn?” “The term not-reborn does not apply to him.” “To each and all of my questions, Gotama, you have replied in the negative. I am at a loss and bewildered.” “You ought to be at a loss and bewildered, Vaccha. For this doctrine is profound, hard to comprehend, rare, excellent, beyond dialectic, subtle, only to be understood by the wise. Let me therefore question you. If there were a fire blazing in front of you, would you know it?” “Yes, Gotama.” “If the fire went out, would you know it had gone out?” “Yes.” “If now you were asked in what direction the fire had gone, whether to east, west, north, or south, could you give an answer?”
Think about a flame… “Expiring flames do not really go out but return to the pure, invisible condition of fire they shared before they visibly appeared” Say what? “The ultimate destiny of the human spirit is a condition in which all identification with the historical experience of the finite self will disappear, while experience as such not only remains but is heightened beyond recognition.” What does that really mean?
NO soul??? (Anatta) • Hold up-let me explain… • Think about a flame again… “He (Buddha) used the image of a flame being passed from candle to candle. As it is difficult to think of the flame on the final candle as being the original flame, the connection would seem to be a causal one, in which influence was transmitted by chain reaction but without perduring substance.”
Nothing lasts forever…(Anicca) “Regard this phantom world As a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, A flash of lightning in a summer cloud, A flickering lamp—a phantom—and a dream.” ~Buddha~
Let’s stop and review… “The Three Marks of Existence”: • Suffering (Dukkha) • No soul (Anatta) • Impermanence (Anicca)
Are you still confused? It’s okay… “A thousand questions remain, but the Buddha is silent. Others abide our questions. Thou are free. We ask and ask; thou smilest and art still.” ~One of Buddha’s disciples~
Zen Buddhism • Example of Mahayana • Use of riddles (koans) • Reason is limited
Zen Buddhism • A master, Wu Tsu, says, “Let me make an illustration from a fable. A cow passes by a window. Its head, horns, and the four legs all pass by. Why did not the tail pass by?” • What was the appearance of your face before your ancestors were born?
Zen Buddhism • We are all familiar with the sound of two hands clapping. What is the sound of one hand clapping? • Li-ku, a high-ranking officer in the Tang dynasty, asked a famous Ch’an master: “A long time ago a man kept a goose in a bottle. It grew larger until it could not get out of the bottle any more. He did not want to break the bottle, nor did he wish to harm the goose. How would you get it out?”
“The Diamond Way” • Tibetan Buddhism • Enlightenment can be reached in just one lifetime! • Sights (mandalas), sounds (mantras), and motions (mudras)
Sounds Om Mani Padme Hum
Free Tibet Movement “The Bodhisattva Path Is One Of Power And StrengthA Strength From Within To Go The LengthSeeing Others Are As Important As MyselfI Strive For A Happiness Of Mental WealthWith The Interconnectedness That We Share As OneEvery Action That We Take Affects EveryoneSo In Deciding For What A Situation CallsThere Is A Path For The Good For AllI Try To Make My Every Action For That Highest GoodWith The Altruistic Wish To Achieve BuddhahoodSo I Pledge Here Before Everyone Who's ListeningTo Try To Make My Every Action For The Good Of All Beings For The Rest Of My Lifetimes And Even Beyond…”
The Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo (Renji)
98% of the world’s Buddhists live in Asia… that’s 373 million people
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring… Does the film make more sense now?