1. Indian Mahayana Buddhism: The Bodhisattva and Emptiness Berger Intro to Asian Religions

2. The Origins of Mahayana  Splinter groups from 3 rd Council (250 BCE)  Kushan Empire (1 st -3 rd centuries): devotionalism  Artistic representations of Buddha  Production of Sanskrit scriptures  New Teachings of bodhisattvas and Buddha  Veneration of angelic beings  Social/philosophical critique of early Buddhism

3. The Bodhisattva  Compassion as new ideal virtue (248-253)  Understanding and relieving suffering (248-49)  Destroying egoism basis of compassion (250-51)  Selfless giving (251-52)  Upaya as a method with no resting-place (251, 53)

4. The Notion of Emptiness (sunyata) I  Emptiness and its implications (pp. 253-57)  The lack of inherent existence, even to ignorance and liberation (254)  Emptiness as changing nature of forms (255)  Three aspects of form/emptiness (256)  Imaginary form: external perceptions  Designated form: internal conceptual knowledge  Form of reality: things as they are

5. The Notion of Emptiness II  Emptiness as distinction of enlightenment (256-57)  Theravadins attached to nirvana as form (256)  Emptiness as anecdote (256)  “non-abiding nirvana” (257)  Multiple marks and ways to nirvana (259-61)

6. Reading for Next Class  Sourcebook, 501-508)