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Introduction to . Buddhism. The Prince Siddhartha. The Prince Siddhartha. This figure is the Monk Pu -Tai, a popular representation of Buddhist principles in Classical/Popular Chinese religion. The Prince Siddhartha. The Prince Siddhartha. The Prince Siddhartha. The Prince Siddhartha.
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Introduction to Buddhism
The Prince Siddhartha This figure is the Monk Pu-Tai, a popular representation of Buddhist principles in Classical/Popular Chinese religion
The Prince Siddhartha • Siddhartha Gautama, • also known as Śākyamuni • Sage, or muni, of the Śakya clan • A prince in a small kingdom called Kapilavatthu, in the foothills of the Himalayas • Upon his birth, the wise men of the kingdom foretold that the young Siddhartha would grow to be either a great king or a great sage
The Prince Siddhartha • His father, hoping for his son to follow in his footsteps, raised Siddhartha in the lap of luxury, hiding all manner of suffering from him • Siddhartha, however, suspected something was missing, and one day snuck out of the castle with his loyal charioteer, Channa. It was then he saw the “four sights”
The Four Sights An Old Man A Sick Man A Dead Man And a Monk
The Ascetic Life for Me “Give too much slack, and you’ll never catch any fish, Pull too tight, and you’ll break the line”
The Middle Way • This path was a reaction to both • The overemphasis on arthaand kamathat Siddhartha saw in Hinduism • The over emphasis on self-denial and asceticism that he saw in Jainism
The Middle Way • Hence, Buddhism is • The practice of non-extremism: a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification
The Middle Way • It is also • The middle ground between certain metaphysical views • Including the claim that things ultimately either do or do not exist)
The Middle Way • The Buddha provides an explanation of Nirvana as a state wherein it becomes clear that all dualities apparent in the world are delusory • And this ‘middle’ is to be understood as emptiness, the ultimate nature of all phenomena, lack of inherent existence, which avoids the extremes of permanence and nihilism or inherent existence and nothingness
The Four Noble Truths • Duhkha/Dukkha– All life suffers • Samudāya – suffering is caused by desire/craving (trishnā) • Nirvāņa/Nibbāna – only when craving ceases will suffering cease • The Way (Marga) to Liberation is The Eight-Fold Path
The Four Noble Truths • Duhkha/Dukkha– All life suffers • Samudāya – suffering is caused by desire/craving (trishnā) • Nirvāņa/Nibbāna – only when craving ceases will suffering cease • The Way (Marga) to Liberation is The Eight-Fold Path
The Four Noble Truths • Duhkha/Dukkha– All life experiences dissatisfaction • Samudaya – dissatisfaction arises from seeking satisfaction in a way that is itself unsatisfying • Nirvāņa/Nibbāna – only when this inherently flawed method is abandoned will satisfaction ever be attained • The Way (Marga) to Satisfaction is The Eight-Fold Path
The First Noble Truth • “What is the Noble Truth of suffering? Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, dissociation form the loved is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering: in short, the five categories (skandhas) affected by clinging (trishnā) are suffering”
The First Noble Truth • The five skandhas (or in Pāli -khandhas) are the five "aggregates" which categorize all individual experience, among which there is no "self" to be found • Rūpa – the corpo-reality or form, body • Vedanā - sensation • Samjñā/Sannā – perception • Samskāra – mental formations, habits • Vijñāna - consciousness
The Second Noble Truth • “What is the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering? It is craving which renews being and is accompanied by relish and lust, relishing this and that: in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for non-being.”
The Second Noble Truth • It is this ‘craving/clinging’, or trishnā, that binds the cycle of existence together • This ‘stuck-together’ cycle is, in turn, governed by the laws of cause and effect, or karma/kamma
The Second Noble Truth • Three types of desire • craving for "sensuality" or "sensual pleasures“ • kāma-taņhā • craving for "becoming" or "existence" • bhava-taņhā • craving for "no becoming" or "non-existence" or "extermination" • vibhava-taņhā • Taņhāliterally means "thirst,“ figuratively denotes "desire" or "craving,"
The Third Noble Truth • “What is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering? It is the remainderless fading and cessation of that same craving; the rejecting, relinquishing, leaving and renouncing of it.” • In other words, through the ‘remainderless’ elimination of craving/clinging, suffering can be brought to an end
The Third Noble Truth • This is achieved by reaching Nirvāņa/Nibbāna, a state wherein it becomes clear that all dualities apparent in the world are delusory • The differences in how, exactly, this state is to be understood and achieved is what differentiates the various schools of Buddhism from one and other
Buddhist Ontology • Buddhist scholars have produced a prodigious quantity of intellectual theories, philosophies and world view concepts • Some schools of Buddhism discourage doctrinal study, some regard it as essential, but most regard it as having a place, at least for some people at some stages
Buddhist Ontology • The concept of Liberation (Nirvāņa/Nibbāna), is closely related to the correct perception of reality • In awakening to the true nature of the self and all phenomena one is liberated from the cycle of suffering and involuntary rebirths
Impermanence, Suffering and Non-Self • The Three Marks of Existence • Anitya/Anicca or "impermanence". • This refers not only to the fact that all conditioned things (sankhara) eventually cease to exist, but also that all conditioned things are in a constant state of flux • Duhkha/Dukkha or "unsatisfactoriness/dis-ease/suffering“ • Nothing found in the physical world or even the psychological realm can bring lasting deep satisfaction. • Anatman/Anatta or "no-self" • denotes that phenomena are not, or are without, a permanent self, to describe any and all composite, consubstantial, phenomenal and temporal things, from the macrocosmic to microcosmic, be it matter pertaining to the physical body or the cosmos at large, as well as any and all mental machinations, which are impermanent
Dependent Arising • The doctrine of Pratītyasamutpāda/Paticcasamuppāda • often translated as "Dependent Arising," • An essential part of Buddhist metaphysics • It states that phenomena arise together in a mutually interdependent web of cause and effect • It is variously rendered into English as "dependent origination", "conditioned genesis", "dependent co-arising", "interdependent arising", or "contingency"
Twelve Nidānas • The Twelve Nidānas describe a causal connection between the subsequent characteristics/conditions of cyclic existence, each giving rise to the next: • Avidyā: ignorance, specifically spiritual • Samskāras: literally formations, explained as referring to Karma. • Vijñāna: consciousness, specifically discriminative • Nāmarūpa: literally name and form, referring to mind and body • Ṣadāyatana: the six sense bases: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind-organ • Sparśa: variously translated contact, impression, stimulation (by a sense object)
Twelve Nidānas • Vedanā: usually translated feeling: this is the "hedonic tone", i.e. whether something is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral • Trishnā: literally thirst, but in Buddhism nearly always used to mean craving • Upādāna: clinging or grasping; the word also means fuel, which feeds the continuing cycle of rebirth • Bhava: literally being (existence) or becoming. • Jāti: literally birth, but life is understood as starting at conception • Jarāmaraṇa (old age and death) and also śokaparidevaduhkhadaurmanasyopāyāsa (sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and misery)
The Fourth Noble Truth • “What is the Noble Truth of the Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering? It is the Noble Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration”
Fractals and Introspection • Fractals are, in a sense, the effect of turning a mathematical graph on itself, or graphing a formula that feeds off itself • “Recursive”
Fractals and the Perception of Dimensions • 8Q_GQqUg6Ts
