Great Vehicle: Mahāyāna Buddhism

1. Great Vehicle: Mahāyāna Buddhism

2. Two Vehicles (yana) • Two ‘vehicles’ or methods of achieving enlightenment • 1. Greater Vehicle (bodhisattva-yana, mahayana) • 2. Lesser Vehicle (hinayana)

3. Mahāyāna Buddhism • At about the time of Christ, Buddhism became divided • Theravada (Hinayana) – small raft (vehicle) • Mahāyāna– large raft (vehicle) • One striking feature of the Mahāyāna is its literature (Prajnaparamita Sutras) • Written in Sanskrit • Proliferated about 100 BC – 400 AD • Too voluminous for any single person to read in a single lifetime • “The wisdom gone to the other shore” • Lotus Sutra, Diamond Sutra, etc. Slide Credit: www.euro-tongil.org/.../PPT/...Carlson/Mahayana%20Buddhism.ppt

4. Mahāyāna Buddhism • Theravada Buddhism: the 3 marks of all existence • Anatta (no self); Dukkha (painfulness); Anicca (impermanence) • Mahāyāna Buddjsmadded “emptiness,” as the fourth mark of all existence • Happiness is intrinsic to a healthy mind • Don’t grasp; just “be” • Reality is not an illusion; but its real nature (its reality) is transparent to analysis • The objective world exists, but its independent existence, separate from its subjective perception, cannot be found • A “non-verbal” experience of reality is what is needed Slide Credit: www.euro-tongil.org/.../PPT/...Carlson/Mahayana%20Buddhism.ppt

5. Comparison between the two schools (chart) • Theravada (Hinayana) Mahāyāna • Teaching of the elders Spirit of the elders • Small vehicle Large (great) vehicle • Man as an individual Man involved with others • Man on his own in the universe Man is not alone (grace is real) • Key virtue: wisdom (bodhi) Key virtue: compassion (karuna) • Religion is primarily for monks Religion is for laypersons as well • Ideal: the Arhat (lonely saint) Ideal: the Bodhisattva • Nirvana Nirvana + heavens, hells • Buddha is a saint or sage Buddha is a savior • Avoids metaphysics (speculation) Elaborates metaphysics • Avoids ritual Includes ritual • Conservative Liberal • Pali texts Many later texts (Sanskrit) • Old wisdom school New wisdom school • Escape Samsara, and reach Nirvana Samsarais Nirvana (identity) • Ceylon, Burma, etc. (Southern Bism) China, Korea, Japan (N Bism) Slide Credit: www.euro-tongil.org/.../PPT/...Carlson/Mahayana%20Buddhism.ppt

6. Most Mahayanists hold that Buddha privately taught that man does not have to save himself; there is help available. The number of Buddhas proliferated. The authors of salvation are of three kinds: • ManushiBuddhas (started from a human base –Gotama Buddha) • They came on earth, attained enlightenment, and are now gone. They are teachers • Gotama before his enlightenment • Bodhisattvas • Beings who vowed to become Buddhas and have enormous merit; they postponed their entrance to Nirvana to help us • Maitreya, Avalokitesvara, Kwan Yin, Amitabha • DhyaniBuddhas (meditation Buddhas, never in human form) • They achieved Buddha-hood, but not in human manifestation • Vairocana, Amitabha are the most appealing of the D. Buddhas • Also, a mythology about the Buddha developed (Buddhology) • The Trikaya (Triple Body of the Buddha) • Dharmakaya (analogous to the “Godhead”) • Sambogakhaya (analogous to the “resurrected” Christ) • Nirmanakaya (analogous to the historical Jesus of Nazareth) Slide Credit: www.euro-tongil.org/.../PPT/...Carlson/Mahayana%20Buddhism.ppt

7. The Bodhisattva became popular • A being whose essence is enlightenment • The bodhisattva vow (to save all sentient beings) [Vision p 41] • Daily schedule of the schools of Buddhism (Theravada, Zen, Tibetan) • Rise at 4 am • Lunch is the main meal • To bed by 10 pm • A lot of time given to study/work • Re: the conduct of the various schools • Symbiotic relationship • Conduct (gives merit, or punya) includes • Rules of restraint (5 and 5) • The perfections towards which we should strive • Taking responsibility for one’s actions Slide Credit: www.euro-tongil.org/.../PPT/...Carlson/Mahayana%20Buddhism.ppt

8. Beginings of the Mahayana Rupert Gethin: “...around the beginning of the Christian era there began to emerge scriptures that challenged certain established Buddhist teachings and ways of understanding, and which advocated what is represented as a superior path of practice leading to superior understanding” (Gethin , 224).

9. Beginnings of the Mahayana • New texts on the sceneauthenticity? • Not a problem particular to Mahayana, according to Davidson • “The buddhist traditions in India found themselves, at one time or another, inundated with a morass of material that passed under the rubric of the “word of the Buddha” (buddhavacana). As a result, during the course of its approximately seventeen hundred years in the land of its origin, Indian Buddhist communities constantly found themselves encountering tension between the more conservative masters of Buddhist doctrine and those who, either tacitly or not, were open to the prospect of the reinterpretation and recodification of the dharma preached by the Tathagata.” • -Ronald Davidson, An Introduction to the Standards of Scriptural Authenticity in Indian Buddhism

10. Beginnings of the Mahayana Authenticity “But if the comparison is performed by examining the meaning through reason which does not contradict the nature of reality, then a meaning which harmonizes with the significance of discourses and is characterized by reality accordingly demonstrates its own significance. So those discourses which demonstrate the significance of the disciples’ darma belong to the disciples’ vehicle. Those discourses which demonstrate the significance of the private budddhas’ dharma belong to the private buddhas’ vehicle, and those discourses which demonstrate the significance of the bodhisattvas’ dharma belong to the bodhisattvas’ vehicle.” Saramati’s Great Vehicle (408-409)

11. Beginnings of the Mahayana Authenticity “One who slanders the dharma of the Great Vehicle certainly hastens to the lower states of existence. This person experiences the maturation of his action and its real nature should be stated. He is born sunk in hell, his body burning with a great flame, the great torture of his incineration the reliable result of sinful action.” Saramati’s Great Vehicle (406)

12. Beginnings of the Mahayana Authenticity “Futhermore, Mara, the Evil One, may come along in the guise of a Shramana, and say: 'Give up what you have heard up to now, abandon what you have gained so far! And if you follow this advice, we will again and again approach you, and say to you: "What you have heard just now, that is not the word of the Buddha. It is poetry, the work of poets. But what I here teach to you, that is the teaching of the Buddha, that is the word of the Buddha".” Quoted from: AstasahasrikaPrajnaparamita (The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines) “Other early Mahayana works attest to the same traditionalist criticism in much the same terms, so we are left in no doubt as to its prevalence” INSPIRED SPEECH IN EARLY MAHAYANA BUDDHISM I -Graeme MacQueen

13. Beginnings of the Mahayana Authenticity “It is my intention to examine certain aspects of the development of standards of scriptural authenticity in India: 1. the method of scriptural transmission of the early Sangha and the general attitudes that contributed to the early scriptural and doctrinal elaboration 2. the role of the councils in the compilation of a canon and the codified standards of authenticity established to effect scriptural purity 3. the claim to authority of the Abhidharmika masters as a model of development and the response of their critics 4. the mythology and apologetics for the Mahayana 5. the steps taken by the Vajracaryas to establish the authority of the Vajrayana” -Ronald Davidson, An Introduction to the Standards of Scriptural Authenticity in Indian Buddhism

14. Beginnings of the Mahayana Authenticity A bhiksu might claim that certain teachings were the dharma, the Vinaya, the teaching of the teacher, as they were heard from: 1. the mouth of the buddha, 2. a Samgha of elders 3. a group of bhiksus who were -specialists in the dharma -specialists in the Vinaya -specialists in the proto-abhidharmalists -a single bhiksu who was such a specialist -Ronald Davidson, An Introduction to the Standards of Scriptural Authenticity in Indian Buddhism

15. Beginnings of the Mahayana Authenticity “Abhidharma was the first wholly new form of literature to arise in Buddhist India claiming status as scripture. Its methodologies, both intellectual and apologetic, were to set much of the stage for the Mahayana.” -Ronald Davidson, An Introduction to the Standards of Scriptural Authenticity in Indian Buddhism

16. Beginnings of the Mahayana Authenticity • Abhidharma lists began as “little more than mnemonic devices facilitating the memorization of certain groups of psycho-physical developments” (Davidson, 303). • However, they “became the focus of an intense scholastic movement that aspired to remove any doubt about the functional relation of any element of reality to any other element, the sutras being neither exhaustive on all points of doctrine nor written with a clear structural layout. With this in mind, the Abhidarmika masters wished to construct a ‘definitive’ statement about which no doubt could be harbored, since they maintained that the sutras were ‘intentional’ in their content, being spoken by the Buddha for a certain audience in a specific frame of mind” (Davidson, 303).

17. Beginnings of the Mahayana As a movement: Schopen’s data, page 17 Do you think Schopen’s argument is valid? How confident is he/are we in his evidence? Are certain pieces of his evidence more reliable than others?

18. http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/studypages/internal/CS321/03MahayanaVajrayana.htmhttp://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/studypages/internal/CS321/03MahayanaVajrayana.htm

19. Women’s Liberation in Buddhism “Throughout the history of Buddhism in Asia, the Dharma has been transmitted via cultures that considered women inferior to men. Undoubtedly, many of the outstanding Dharma teachers were male chauvinists. Yet the message of the teachings broke through their cultural prejudices against women. This message inspired female seekers to find true spiritual liberation in spite of their oppressed positions in society.” -Rev. Patti Nakai

20. Women in Buddhism “If anyone wanted to present Buddhism as a viciously sexist religion, they could easily do so by quoting out of context passages from numerous sutras or from more recent texts such as Shinran'swasan (poems) or the by-laws of the ShinshuOtani-ha (Higashi Honganji's denomination) which denies female clergy the same status as male priests. But I believe the essential spirit of Buddhism absolutely includes all beings, male and female, in its vision of enlightenment. If I did not believe in that then I would not want to be a part of this religious tradition. In this intermittent series, I hope to make it clear that women have always been involved in Buddhist history and that their role has been very crucial even if often overlooked.” -Rev. Patti Nakai

21. Women in Buddhism “In Mahayana Buddhism, since discrimination between beings was a delusion that must be transcended, lay people had as much potential to be enlightened as clergy. "Lay" and "clergy" were only artificial categories created by karmic conditions. For women this meant a new opportunity to be recognized as seekers because women were less free to leave their obligations in the secular world than men.” (breaking down dualisms) -Rev. Patti Nakai

22. Women in Buddhism Gandhara “In the rising merchant class, it was the women who were very involved in supporting Buddhist temples. It may be crass to say, but because women were in a position of economic power, Buddhist institutions had to pay attention to their spiritual needs. This explains the emphasis on sutras featuring women such as the Meditation Sutra and the Queen Srimala Sutra.” -Rev. Patti Nakai

23. Women in Buddhism China In China, one of the most powerful champions of Buddhism was the Empress Wu (late 7th century). She knew that a woman seizing control of the throne went against Confucian tradition, so she used Buddhist scriptures to justify her rule. Although she was ruthlessly using Buddhism for her own political gain, the new sutras which declared the spiritual potential of women benefited the nuns in various Chinese sects. -Rev. Patti Nakai