Now we start on the form of Buddhism with which I am most familiar, Zen.

The teachings of the Buddha have been handed down from teacher to student. Zen is a lineage tradition; a master has a student who follows him for years, observing and learning at the Master’s feet. There is a one-to-one transmission of the teachings, and it is assumed that the same teaching is handed down in a long unbroken line. The Master comes to know the student very well and vice-versa. This mutual knowledge allows for some very individual ways of teaching.

Around 475 A.D. one of these teachers, Bodhidharma, traveled from India to China and introduced the teachings of the Buddha there. In China Buddhism mingled with Taoism. The result of this combination was the Ch’an School of Buddhism. Around 1200 A.D. Ch’an Buddhism spread from China to Japan where it is called Zen Buddhism.

Zen emphasizes dharma practice and experiential wisdom‚Äîparticularly as realized in the form of meditation known as zazen‚Äîin the attainment of awakening. As such, it de-emphasizes both theoretical knowledge and the study of religious texts in favor of direct individual assessment of one’s own experience.

Tibetan Buddhism

We talked about Tibetan Buddhism a little bit a few weeks ago, so if you don’t remember, go back to http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/19 (Podcast Episode 4: Tibet) for a quick review. I am not going to explain the Dalai Lama or the Tibetan occupation again today, but these concepts are very important to Tibetan Buddhism. If you are a new subscriber, check out the link above to read that material.

For the most part, Tibetan Buddhism was limited to Tibet and the surrounding regions until the occupation of Tibet by China in 1950. Tibetan Buddhists were forced into exile, and their beliefs quickly spread outward to the rest of the world. It is becoming increasingly popular in Europe and America.

Tibetan Buddhism uses tantras, much like Vajrayanas, and they break Buddhist practices into four successively more difficult steps. The steps work on the individual’s personal ego, the spiritual self, and personal Truth.

There are two major sub-schools of Tibetan, known commonly as “red hat” and “yellow hat” schools. When you see pictures of Buddhist monks in the big red or yellow hats, you can be pretty sure they are Tibetan monks. The specific differences between the two are mostly due to different lineages, which we discussed a bit yesterday.

Tibetan is one of the more popular forms of Buddhism in the West, and several well-known celebrities follow the Tibetan way, including Richard Gere, Steven Seagal, Jet Li, and Alan Ginsberg.

Tantric Buddhism / Vajrayana

I’ll be honest here; I don’t know that much about this group. Most of the material in this section is taken from Wikipedia. It’s a lot more ‚Äúmystic‚Äù than most of the other groups, and I have no real experience with it.

Tantric Buddhism is also know as Vajrayana Buddhism as well as other names, such as Mantrayana and the Diamond Vehicle. Vajrayana is sometimes considered a third major form of Buddhism, alongside Theravada and Mahayana, but some scholars consider it a sub-school of Mahayana. That’s not really too important, so we won’t debate it here.

The most distinguishing thing about Tantric Buddhism is the use of tantras. What is a tantra? I’m going to use the Wikipedia explanation here:

Rather than a single coherent system, Tantra is an accumulation of practices and ideas which has among its characteristics the use of ritual, energy work, the use of the mundane to access the supramundane and the identification of the microcosm with the macrocosm The Tantric practitioner seeks to use the divine power that flows through the universe (including their own body) to attain purposeful goals. These goals may be spiritual, material or both.

A practitioner of tantra considers mystical experience or the guidance of a Guru imperative. In the process of working with energy the Tantric has various tools at their disposal. These include yoga‚Äîto actuate processes that will yoke the practitioner to the divine. Also important are the use of visualizations of the deity and verbalisation or evocation through mantras‚Äîwhich may be construed as seeing and singing the power into being; identification and internalisation of the divine is enacted‚Äîoften through a total identification with a deity, such that the aspirant “becomes” the deity, the Ishta-Devata.

Put more simply, Vajrayana is the group that is heavily into mantras and yoga. It is heavily influenced by Hinduism, moreso even than other forms of Buddhism. There are many gods and deities, as well as many rituals, some of which are “secrets” passed down from teacher to student.

Teachers of Vajrayana are often called gurus, and the teachings are passed down from a teacher to a student is called the lineage. A lineage tradition can often traced back through a line of teachers to see which traditions are observed. We’ll get into the details of lineage a bit more thoroughly when we talk about Zen, but I wanted to introduce the idea here since it applies to Vajrayana as well.

Pure Land

Before we get into the belief of Pure Land Buddhism, we need to introduce a new character. Amida Buddha (also called Amitabha) was a monk who attained enlightenment. This is probably a good time to point out that every time you see the word Buddha, we are NOT necessarily talking about the original Buddha. There have been many people who have attained enlightenment, and many of them are called Buddhas. We will be encountering many Buddhas as we move forward. Anyway, Amida Buddha reached enlightenment, and shortly thereafter set up a “Pure Land” somewhere in the west, far beyond our own world. The Pure Land was a perfect place, and impossible to reach here on Earth.

Practitioners who call upon the name of Amida Buddha as few as ten times can be reborn in the Pure Land after they die. Upon being reborn in the Pure Land, they receive further instruction and may return to our world as a bodhisattva. A Bodhisattva is a person who has attained enlightenment, but rather than end the cycle of rebirth, has chosen to stay here in this world in order to help others learn the truth.

It is also believed that attaining enlightenment on one’s own is extremely difficult, and that it is easier to reach with the help of Amida Buddha. Instead of meditation, adherents to Pure Land believe that Amida Buddha will lead them to the Pure Land where they will automatically gain Enlightenment.

Another practice of Pure Land people is to repeat or chant the nembutsu, ‚Äúnamo Amida Butsu‚Äù or ‚ÄúI trust in the Buddha of immeasurable light.‚Äù This is repeated over and over, sometimes hundreds of times, and is intended to bestow Amida Buddha’s ‚Äúblessing‚Äù on the chanter.

Does some of this sound familiar? A messiah has come and if you call upon his name, you will be reborn in ‚Äúheaven.‚Äù You might not be able to be saved without his help. Yes, Pure Land is often derogatorily called ‚ÄúChristian Buddhism‚Äù due to the similarities between this form of Buddhism and Christianity. This form of Buddhism is growing very quickly around the world, probably due to the simplicity of their doctrine. Do the chants and have faith in Amida Buddha, and you’re all set.

Most of what we discuss here on the Daily Buddhism does NOT apply to this group. I am once again oversimplifying, but if it doesn’t seem like this stuff fits in with the rest of Buddhism, then I think we’re on the same page.

“Denominations” of Buddhism: Theravada & Mahayana

Theravada Buddhism is the oldest form of Buddhism, and is probably the closest to the core teachings of the original Buddha. Most of the other schools have added significant new elements to Buddhism, but Theravada is as close to “plain vanilla” Buddhism as possible.

Theravada Buddhism explains that your enlightenment will come from your experience, coupled with your critical thinking and reasoning skills. By the strictest ideals of Theravada teachings, it is unlikely that laypeople can reach enlightenment on their own; monks are far more likely to reach enlightenment. Generally, the role of laymen is to feed and support the monks while the monks meditate and work toward their own enlightenment. Good laypeople who do their duty in this lifetime may get lucky and become a monk in a future lifetime. I’m oversimplifying a bit, but if you don’t want to become a monk in a monastery, this one probably isn’t for you.

Theravada Buddhism is often called Hinayana, the “Small Vehicle,” Buddhism. This is in contrast to Mahayana Buddhism, which is the “Great Vehicle.” There are far fewer Theravada Buddhists than Mahayanists, and all the rest of the flavors of Buddhism we will discuss fall under the main category of Mahayana.

Mahayana Buddhism is a blanket term for most other (non-Theravada) forms of Buddhism. By far the majority of the world’s Buddhists fall into this category. General beliefs include the idea that anyone, not just monks, can become Buddhas. We all have a little bit of Buddha inside us. Some of the schools of Mahayana that we’ll be discussing this week are Pure Land, Tibetan, Zen, and Tantric Buddhism. There are many, many other sub-schools of Buddhism, but these are the main forms.

Buddha Jokes, Round One

As I said, just some fun for the rest of the week. Next week, we’ll get into some more of the serious stuff. Buddhists know not to take life too seriously, and to realize the importance of a good laugh.

I don’t know if these are going to give you a good laugh, but they’re guaranteed for a groan.

Q. Why did the chicken cross the road?
A. Asking this question denies your own chicken nature.

Q. What does Buddha say when he orders a hot dog?
A. “One with everything.”

Q. What did the Buddha say when the hot dog vendor asked him if he had change?
A. “Change must come from within.”

Q. Why can’t the Buddha vacuum under the sofa?
A. Because he has no attachments.

A monk was driving in India when suddenly a dog crosses the road. The car hit and killed the dog. The monk looked around and seeing a temple, went to knock on the door. A monk opened the door. The first monk said: “I’m terribly sorry, but my karma ran over your dogma.”

OK, I hope those weren’t too painful. Since tomorrow is going to be the ‚Äúmusical episode‚Äù I’ll let you ‚Äúsuffer‚Äù through that one.

The Dharma Wheel

Since the past week or so has been all about the “Rules” of Buddhism, I think we’ll finish out this week with some fun stuff. Today, let’s look at the closest thing Buddhism has to a “logo,” the dharma wheel.

Dharma?

Since I have promised repeated not to introduce too many new words, I guess I should explain what dharma is. Dharma is simply the word for “teachings.” The Buddha taught his dharma, and I am passing that dharma on to you. Any Buddhist lesson or text or conversation is dharma. If you learn from it, it’s probably dharma.

As you can see from the image below, the dharma wheel resembles a wagon wheel with eight “spokes.” Each of the eight spokes represents one step on the eightfold path. The circle itself represents the totality or completeness of the dharma (teachings). And just a quick refresher: the Eightfold path consists of right faith, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right endeavor, right mindfulness, and right meditation.

Buddhists borrowed this image from a Hindu symbol that represented “samsara” (the cycle of rebirth/reincarnation), but have re-interpreted the symbol as a wheel the overcomes all obstacles.

For our email subscribers and podcast listeners, you can view this image at http://www.dailybuddhism.com/Images/Dharma_wheel.png

A brief note: I have received more than one comment about the sound quality of the most recent podcast. I am aware that the noise levels are pretty awful on episode 7. I have a new high-end microphone on order that I’ll be using on the next podcast, and I will probably go back and re-record some of the older ones. Please be patient, stay tuned, and keep your comments coming, I find them very helpful. The Three Poisons There are ‚ÄúThree Poisons‚Äù that the Buddhist must deal with on a daily basis; Desire, Hatred and Ignorance. If you’ll remember back to last week, the five precepts told us about the various things not to DO. The five precepts had to do with actions in the real world. The three poisons are a lot more subtle; they affect your mind. Desire, Hatred, and Ignorance damage your karma in ways that physical actions could never match. A burning hatred or grudge is as bad as killing someone in the effect it will have on your karma. Desire, as we have seen in the past, leads to all suffering. Ignorance is hard to beat. The goal of becoming ‚ÄúEnlightened‚Äù or reaching Nirvana is the total defeat of ignorance. Keeping an open mind and trying to understand all sides of an issue while showing compassion are the first steps in defeating ignorance. Watch out for the three poisons. They are well-named, as they can do as much damage as any real poison.

And today, we can read from one of the ancient Buddhist writings that will recap the five precepts.

Five faultless gifts

“There are these five gifts, five great gifts ‚Äî original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning ‚Äî that are not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and are unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & priests. Which five?

“There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from taking life. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the first gift, the first great gift ‚Äî original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning ‚Äî that is not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and is unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & priests.

“Furthermore, abandoning taking what is not given (stealing), the disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking what is not given. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the second gift.

“Furthermore, abandoning illicit sex, the disciple of the noble ones abstains from illicit sex. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the third gift.

“Furthermore, abandoning lying, the disciple of the noble ones abstains from lying. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the fourth gift.

“Furthermore, abandoning the use of intoxicants, the disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking intoxicants. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the fifth gift, the fifth great gift ‚Äî original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning ‚Äî that is not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and is unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & priests. And this is the eighth reward of merit, reward of skillfulness, nourishment of happiness, celestial, resulting in happiness, leading to heaven, leading to what is desirable, pleasurable, & appealing; to welfare & to happiness.”

And so there you have it, the five precepts, the five commandments of Buddhism. I’m sure you have questions.

The last rule is to avoid intoxicants.

Why? The first-glance answer is that drunks cause all kinds of suffering. Drug addicts harm everyone near them over and over again. This is bad behavior, and we all know it. Yet, most of us are not alcoholics or drug addicts, but that doesn’t let us off the hook. Mind-altering actions of all kinds, including smoking, coffee, caffeine, and other stimulants are also prohibited. Why? They affect your state of mind, and Buddhism is all about the mind. Your world is created by your own perceptions and mindfulness. If you change the way your mind works by the use of stimulants or mind-altering drugs, you are harming your own chances for enlightenment. These chemicals are also often bad for your own physical health as well, and causing physical harm and suffering is bad, even if you are doing it to yourself.

Thich Nhat Hanh has a field day with this one:

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking and consuming. I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society. I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films and conversations. I am aware that to damage my body or my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society and future generations. I will work to transform violence, fear, anger and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society. I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and for the transformation of society.

Yes, he tells us that TV shows, conversations, and magazines can be toxic as well. He also suggests that a proper diet can be good for all of society.

So there you have it, the five precepts of Buddhism. Get started on those right away, or at least start thinking about following them.