The Emergence of Buddhism

 Introduction: The Historical Context

• The influence of Buddhism on China is profound and far-reaching.
• At first Buddhism was a virtually  unintelligible import from the foreign culture of India.
• It took about 5 centuries before China was prepared to accept Buddhism.
• This would be a viable intellectual alternative.
• It was a gradual transformation of Buddhism into an authentically Chinese tradition.
• Siddhartha Gautama was a contemporary of Confucius and Laozi.
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• The problems which confronted Indian and Chinese thought were worlds apart.
• Both groups were seeking a "way" - marga in Sanskrit and Dao in Chinese. 
• But the "ways," which they were looking for, were very different.
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• the Chinese looked for a way out of the growing social and political chaos
• this accompanied the disintegration of the Zhou empire
• this led to attempts at articulating the Way (dao) of socio-political order and stability.
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• the Indians were seeking a way of coping with a human existence 
• this was characterized by suffering and frustration
• this meant we are doomed to an interminable series of rebirths
• this led many of them to articulate Ways (marga) of liberation (moksha) 
• the liberation was from such existence and the cycle of transmigration.

Differences

• the Chinese looked for a way out of the growing social and political chaos
• this accompanied the disintegration of the Zhou empire
• this led to attempts at articulating the Way (dao) of socio-political order and stability.
• 
  
• the Indians were seeking a way of coping with a human existence 
• this was characterized by suffering and frustration
• this meant we are doomed to an interminable series of rebirths
• this led many of them to articulate Ways (marga) of liberation (moksha) 
• the liberation was from such existence and the cycle of transmigration.

Buddhism Arrives in China

• Buddhism first came to China mid-way through the long-lived Han dynasty 
• this was a time which seemed to have resolved the quest for socio-political order
• this was when Confucian philosophy was recognized as the official state ideology.
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• there were no facilities for translating Buddhism’s message into Chinese
• both adequate vocabulary and conceptual apparatus were lacking 
• the message would have been irrelevant for the problems of their time.
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• Buddhism was offering answers to questions the Chinese were not raising
• only with the collapse of the Han empire that the situation began to change
• the change  was now sufficient for Buddhism to be relevant.
• it took a re-articulation of the Daoist position to prepared the way

Siddhartha Gautama & the Quest for Enlightenment

• the traditional story suggests that he was familiar with the major alternatives
• he rejected each in turn:
• a) the hedonism of the materialists; 
• b) the intellectualism and yogic practises of the Brahmanas,
• c) the asceticism of the Jains.
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• the historic Buddha known as Sakyamuni, the founder of the religion (c. 500 BCE) 
• he was a prince of Magadha, in modern Nepal in the foothills of the Himalayas
• the tradition of Buddhism is oral 
• it is hard to establish with historical accuracy his actual experiences.
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Four Forms of Suffering

• Siddhartha had not been allowed to leave the gates of the palace
•  as a prince he had a sheltered life
• one day, he went out of the four gates of the palace on four successive days
• outside the walls of the palace, he encountered four forms of suffering
• a) poverty in a beggar, 
• b) pain in the cries of a women in childbirth
• c) sickness
• d) death in the form of a corpse.
• Siddhartha was dismayed by these experiences
• he decided to go on a spiritual quest and joined a band of ascetics
• he entered upon a period of rigorous fasting
• he came to the conclusion that self-inflicted suffering was not the way he sought.

Enlightenment

• he retired to the jungle for meditation, a traditional Hindu method
• Sakyamuni sat under a bo tree
• he vowed he would not leave until he had attained the truth.
• finally he acquired enlightenment
• thus became the Buddha – the “enlightened one.”
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• the experience required no dependence on a god
• his experience seems to have been in the nature of psychological breakthrough
• this was in the sense of an intuitive understanding of suffering and life as a whole.
• the experience was accompanied by a profound sense of release and well-being
• he expressed his insights in sermons in Deer Park at Benares
• disciples soon gathered around him.
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The Essence of Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths

• a) all existence is suffering (sorrow) (dukkha)
• b) the direct cause of suffering is desire or craving (trishna)
• c) suffering can be overcome through the elimination of desire or craving
• d) the liberation from desire and from suffering is through the eightfold path:
• 1) Right view or understanding   Wisdom
• 2) Right resolve or thought
• 3) Right speech                          Morality
• 4) Right conduct or action
• 5) Right livelihood
• 6) Right effort
• 7) Right mindfulness                   Meditation
• 8) Right concentration

• the eightfold path stresses the “middle way” 
• this is a way of moderation which avoids extremes 
• this is applied to each of the eight major categories
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• this was proposed to resolve the basic problem of human existence
•  the liberation proposed by Buddhism was the most satisfactory 
• it was the most popular.
• by the third century, Buddhism had taken on the aspect of state ideology
• Jainism and Hinduism were not suppressed.
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• the pursuit of the Middle Way led to the articulation of a new problematic
• the way of liberation was no longer the burning issue,
• it would resurface later in Chinese Buddhism.

• there was a new question for the 2nd generation
• it was directed to the realm of phenomenal experience
• this experience was grounded in ignorance.
• sophisticated reasoning  affirmed a ground of subjectivity
• this was the realm of mind-in-itself or pure consciousness & that of pure matter
• to accept both grounds yields an ontology of dualism
• denying one or the other leads to an ontology of idealism or of materialism
• they would need to suggest a foundation for both.

The Law of Dependent Origination - The Core of Buddhist Philosophy

• it suggests that nothing is independent or autonomous
• everything is the effect of some cause or condition
• it means everything is relative and in the process of change
• Buddhism understands that all things are constantly changing
• changes effect subsequent changes in other things. 

Dependent Origination

• the links of the chain of dependent origination are as follows:
• PAST          1. Ignorance leading to
•                    2. karma formations, leading to
• PRESENT: 3. A new individual `consciousness’ leading to
•                   4. a new body-mind complex, leading to
•                   5. The bases for sensing, leading to
•                   6. Sense impressions, leading to
•                   7. Conscious feelings, leading to
•                   8. Craving, leading to
•                   9. Clinging to (grasping for things), leading to
•                   10. `becoming’  (drive or desire to be reborn), leading to
• FUTURE:   11. Rebirth, leading to
•                   12. old age and death …

Nirvana

• after his enlightenment it assumes that the ultimate goal enlightenment is nirvana.
• the Buddha claimed that he had obtained nirvana,
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• the term in Sanskrit means literally, `extinction’ or “blowing out” as of a candle
• it accords with the Hindu view that its attainment brought release from samsara
• samsara is the continuous cycle of reincarnation or rebirth
• the idea of nirvana conveys the entry into a different mode of existence.

• it could not be achieved without experiencing the four stages of bodhi.
• these are the paths to enlightenment as defined in the Vedas
• it is a case of overcoming the three roots of desire, hatred, and delusion
• this is because it could involve many rebirths.
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• Buddha agrees that nirvana required the coming to rest of all desire, or active volition;
• it meant freedom from the inescapable effects of karma.
• nirvana is unconditioned – it is beyond the world of causality.

• the enlightenment revealed that nothing is independent of phenomenal experiencing.
• this is because everything is momentary and impermanent.
• no underlying substance – mental or ideal, physical or material – can be posited in which appearances can be said to inhere, or from which they can be said to arise. 
• mental phenomena do nor imply a mind.
• physical phenomena do not imply a material substratum.
• actions do not imply an actor .
• perceptions do not imply a perceiver,
• so, how is experiencing to be explained?
• there were three outstanding efforts to respond to this new problematic.

• the 1st was by a group of intellectuals. 
• their school of thought is referred to as Abhidharma,  “concerning the elements.”
• a human individual was a combination of ever-changing forces or energies
• nothing is permanent. 
• human existence or “living” is treated under 5 headings, 
• these are described as the “five aggregates” – five groups of clinging (skandha)
• skandhas refer to the “shifting, fluid components that make up personality:
• a) the aggregates of matter, 
• b) feelings/sensations, 
• c) perception, 
• d) mental formations, 
• e) consciousness.

Consciousness & Self-Nature

• consciousness is seen as a “stream” or “flux” 
• it is not a substance or a mental thing/entity 
• it is merely dependent on the other skandhas
• it is constantly in flux because of the impermanence of reality
• it merely arises as a condition.
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• there was a second to answer how experiencing is to be explained
• its fullest articulation was not written until the latter half of the third century
• this answer held the view of a two-fold void
• the self void & the dharmas themselves are void of any self nature.

The "Marks" of Existence

• here Buddhism presents us with one of the marks of existence.
• this refers to the anatman (no self/ non self).
• the Hindus considered the key to moksha lay in discovering a simple truth.
• the truth is that the eternity of atman is in union with brahman
• Buddhism presents us with just the opposite view.
• for them the true reality is no self, no soul.

Nagarjuna's Answer

• there was a third effort to resolve the problem of phenomenal existence 
• this came within the Mahayana branch of Buddhism
• this was through the sharp mind of Nagarjuna (150-250)
• he is first in line of Buddhist logicians.
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• the structure of language does not allow us to describe things as they really are
• it carves up the world into separate bits and pieces so as to distort reality
• but reality isn’t fragmented that way.

Two "Truths"

• out of this dilemma arose two levels of truth: 
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• a)  Conventional truth - it is every day common sense -
• it is distorted but open to skilful manipulation in order to point to
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• b)  Absolute truth – the way things really are, as buddhas behold with enlightened eyes,
•   it is empty, beyond thought, and description.
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• there are two levels of truth, the truth of ignorance and the truth of enlightenment
• he argued that the articulation of either necessarily results in error.
• the school to which Nagarjuna gave birth is called the Middle Way; 
• to affirm reality of experiential data is one-sided; to deny its reality is also one-sided.

Emptiness  ("Sunyata")

• Nagarjuna taught that the phenomenal world has only qualified reality, 
• this is characterized as sunyata, emptiness. 
• the whole chain of existence is only real in this qualified sense
• this is because  it is composed of a series of transitory events
• being impermanence, these events cannot have reality in themselves.
• emptiness, on the other hand, never changes.
• void is all that truly exists.
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• he went on to argue that nothing in the phenomenal world has full being
• everything is ultimately unreal.

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Insight Meditation

• emptiness (sunyate) goes along with the concept of the anatman – no self
• it implies emptiness of inherent existence
• emptiness is not to be confused with sheer nothingness or total blankness
• it transcends all dichotomies and can be understood only by direct insight.
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• this philosophy of emptiness developed from earlier insight meditation
• it came from the related abhidharma thought 
• abidharma developed detailed analyses of the ever changing world
• its aim was to break down the apparent unity of things freeing the mind from rigidity.

Transformation through Emptiness

• the Mahayanists emphasized the complete emptiness of all phenomena
• this included all parts
• nothing has real existence in that nothing exists independently
• nothing which comes into being has any permanence
• liberation is precisely the recognition of this emptiness
• it is not an escape into something else
• it is a transformed understanding of the world itself.
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The Thathagata

• from this comes the doctrine of Thusness or Suchness (tathata)
• this is the way things are before thought begins to reify 
• to reify means to convert into a concrete thing
• or regard as a concrete entity or abstraction) and organize them.
• the Buddha is often called the Tathagata – the “One who is thus Gone.”

• they were not pessimists
• if the phenomenal worlds was unreal, emptiness was real 
• this is because it could be experiences in meditation with a directness and certainty
• this directness and certainty is something the phenomenal world did not possess
• the ultimate Emptiness (sunyata) was here and now, everywhere and all-embracing.
• in fact all beings are already participants of the Emptiness which was Nirvana.
• they were already Buddhas, if only they realised it.
• the upshot of all of this was that it affirmed that samsara was nirvana 
• or nirvana was samsara.
• the Madhyamaka philosophy was congenial to Chinese Buddhists 
• especially those who were nurtured in the doctrine of the Dao.

Mahayana Buddhism

• the term “Mahayana” was coined by the Mahayanists themselves 
• this is to distinguish themselves from their predecessors
• they dubbed them as the followers of “Hinayana” or the “Lesser Vehicle.”
• Mahayana means “Greater Vehicle.”
• this distinction between the two  was introduced at the beginning of the first century.
• this refers to the best way to achieve liberation from the endless cycle of rebirth
• the Mahayanists were arguing that their means (vehicle) was the best way
• originally there were many schools of Hinayana, but only one survives
• this is the Theravada (“the teachings of the elders”) 
• hence the two names are synonymous
• Theravada is the preferred name of those who belong to it.

The Greater/Lesser Vehicle

• the Mahayanists had argued that the Hinayanists had opted selfishly 
• this was for a lesser spiritual goal
• they were dismissed as low-grade dharma for beginners
• Mahayanists were deemed to be superior.
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• the Hinayanists were the majority until as late as the 8th century
• they were relatively silent about the emergence of the Mahayanist philosophy.
• they went on to develop their own Ahbidharma philosophy 
• this philosophy reached its apogee around the 4th century.

Differences

• the main difference comes from their disagreement about incentive of the path
• this is illustrated in the contrasting images of the ideal person in the two traditions.
• in the Theravada tradition, it is the arhat (“worthy one”) 
• he is the one who has achieved the highest point of the path
• this path began many lives previously as a “stream-enterer”
• for him there is no more learning; all desires and cravings have been abolished
• in this way he enters nirvana confident of total liberation achieved by his own efforts.
• the Mahayana ideal is the bodhisattva, (“the enlightened being”)
• he is one who has gained enlightenment but forgoes nirvana
• he postpones his or her entry into nirvana until all have been enlightened.
• in other words, the goal of the bodhisattva is to help others achieve nirvana
• until everyone does achieve nirvana, he or she does not enter the final liberation.

Development: Two Phases

• Mahayana had two basic phases of development: 
• a) an unsystematic phase (c. 100 BC to 500 AD)
• b) a systematic phase – after 150 AD.
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•  the systematic phase encompasses two main philosophical schools: 
• a) the Madhyamaka (“The Doctrine of the Middle Way”)
• b) the Yogacara (“The Doctrine of Yoga”) or 
• the Vijnanavadins (Consciousness only school”). 
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• two brothers, Asanga and Vasubandhu provided their classic articulation
• they were co-founders of the second main philosophical school of Mahayana.

Yogacara School

• the Yogacara school was one of pure idealism
• it maintained that the whole of the universe resided only in the mind of the perceiver.
• they insisted that perception is no proof of the independent existence of any entity
• to them all perceptions may be explained as projections of the percipient mind
• they had difficulties explaining 
• a) the continuity &
• b) apparent regularity of the majority of our sense impressions.
• why do our impressions cohere in a consistent manner?
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The Vijnanavadins

• for them the regularity and coherence are due to an underlying store of perceptions
• these (alayavijnana) evolved over time
• they evolved  from the accumulation of traces of earlier sense-impressions.
• each being possesses one of these stores of consciousness
• beings who are generally alike will produce similar perceptions.
• they did admit the existence of at least one entity independent of human thought
• this was a pure and integral being without characteristics
• nothing can be said about it
• this was “Suchness” (tathata)
• it corresponded to the Emptiness of the Madhyamakas
• it corresponded to the Brahman  (Mind of the Universe) of the Vedanta.
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Suchness

• for the Yogacara or Vijnanavadins school liberation could be obtained 
• it was done by exhausting or emptying the store of consciousness (memory)
• you do this until it became pure being itself and identical with Suchness
• Suchness was the only truly existent entity in the universe.
• the means of doing this was yoga praxis.
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• this was done by conjuring up visions
• one had to realize that the visions had the same subjective reality
• as this happens, one becomes certain of the total subjectivity of all phenomena.

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