1. Buddhism

2. What is Buddhism? Buddhism is a major world religion, or in a better sense, philosophy. It is the 4 th largest religion in the world, and has about 300,000,000 people living by it. It explains the purpose of life, injustices and inequality around the world. It also helps people by providing a way of life that will lead to true happiness.

3. Buddhism… The “middle way of wisdom and compassion” A 2500 year old tradition that began in India and spread and diversified throughout the Far East A philosophy, religion, and spiritual practice followed by more than 300 million people Based on the teachings of the Buddha

4. The History of Buddhism It was started by Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, who was a prince in Lumbini, 2500 years ago.

5. Siddhartha Gautama was born about 583 BCE, in or near what is now Nepal. His father, King Suddhodana, was leader of a large clan called the Shakya. His mother, Queen Maya, died shortly after his birth. When Prince Siddhartha was a few days old, a holy man prophesied the Prince would be either a great military conqueror or a great spiritual teacher. King Suddhodana preferred the first outcome and prepared his son accordingly

6. He raised the boy in great luxury and shielded him from knowledge of religion and human suffering. The Prince reached the age of 29 with little experience of the world outside the walls of his opulent palaces. One day, overcome with curiosity, Prince Siddhartha asked a charioteer to take him on a series of rides through the countryside. On these journeys he was shocked by the sight of an aged man, then a sick man, and then a corpse. The stark realities of old age, disease, and death seized and sickened the Prince. Finally, he saw a wandering ascetic or holy man. The charioteer explained that the ascetic was one who had renounced the world and sought release from fear of death and suffering

7. For a time the Prince returned to palace life, but he took no pleasure in it. Even the news that his wife Yasodhara had given birth to a son did not please him. The child was called Rahula, which means "fetter." One night he wandered the palace alone. The luxuries that had once pleased him now seemed grotesque. Musicians and dancing girls had fallen asleep and were sprawled about, snoring and sputtering. Prince Siddhartha reflected on the old age, disease, and death that would overtake them all and turn their bodies to dust. He realized then that he could no longer be content living the life of a prince. That very night he left the palace, shaved his head, and changed his prince's clothes for a beggar's robe. Then he began his quest for enlightenment.

8. The things he had seen depressed him, so he he set off on a 6 year journey, exploring other religions. striving to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic

9. He decides first to explore other religions. The six companions attempted to find release from suffering through physical discipline-- enduring pain, holding their breath, fasting nearly to starvation. Yet Siddhartha was still unsatisfied. It occurred to him that in renouncing pleasure he had grasped pleasure's opposite--pain and self-mortification. Now Siddhartha considered a Middle Way between those two extremes.

10. He remembered an experience from his childhood, when his mind had settled into a state of deep peace. The path of liberation was through discipline of mind. He realized that instead of starvation, he needed nourishment to build up his strength for the effort. But when he accepted a bowl of rice milk from a young girl, his companions assumed he had given up the quest and abandoned him.

11. Siddhartha sat beneath a sacred fig (Ficus religiosa), known ever after as the Bodhi Tree, and settled into meditation. The work of Siddhartha's mind came to be mythologized as a great battle with Mara, a demon whose name means "destruction' and who represents the passions that snare and delude us. Mara brought vast armies of monsters to attack Siddhartha, who sat still and untouched. Mara's most beautiful daughter tried to seduce Siddhartha, but this effort also failed.

12. Finally, Mara claimed the seat of enlightenment rightfully belonged to him. Mara's spiritual accomplishments were greater than Siddhartha's, the demon said. Mara's monstrous soldiers cried out together, "I am his witness!" Mara challenged Siddhartha--who will speak for you? Then Siddhartha reached out his right hand to touch the earth, and the earth itself roared, "I bear you witness!" Mara disappeared. And as the morning star rose in the sky, Siddhartha Gautama realized enlightenment and became a Buddha.

13. “THERE ARE 2 EXTREMES, WHICH ARE TO BE AVOIDED. WHAT ARE THESE 2 EXTREMES? A LIFE GIVEN TO PLEASURES, DEDICATED TO PLEASURES AND LUSTS – THIS IS DEGRADING, SENSUAL, VULGAR, UNWORTHY AND USELESS. AND A LIFE GIVEN TO SELF-TORTURE – THIS IS PAINFUL, UNWORTHY, AND USELESS. BY AVOIDING THESE 2 EXTREMES, I HAVE GAINED THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MIDDLE PATH, WHICH LEADS TO INSIGHT, WHICH LEADS TO WISDOM, WHICH PRODUCES CALM, KNOWLEDGE, ENLIGHTENMENT AND NIRVANA.”

14. During his meditation he found what he called the middle path, the key to human happiness. At first, the Buddha was reluctant to teach, because what he had realized could not be communicated in words. Only through discipline and clarity of mind would delusions fall away and the Great Reality could be directly experienced. Listeners without that direct experience would be stuck in conceptualizations and would surely misunderstand everything he said. But compassion persuaded him to make the attempt. For the rest of his life he wandered Asia, preaching his new religion.

15. After his enlightenment, he went to the Deer Park in Isipatana, located in what is now the province of Uttar Pradesh, India. There he found the five companions who had abandoned him, and to them he preached his first sermon. This sermon has been preserved as the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta and centers on the Four Noble Truths. Instead of teaching doctrines about enlightenment, the Buddha chose to prescribe a path of practice through which people can realize enlightenment for themselves. The Buddha devoted himself to teaching, attracting hundreds of followers. Eventually he became reconciled with his father, King Suddhodana. His wife, the devoted Yasodhara, became a nun and disciple. Rahula, his son, became a novice monk at the age of 7 and spent the rest of his life with his father.

16. ANALOGY: We are in the great storm of life. The BUDDHA’S TEACHINGS are a RAFT To take us to the SHORE of NIRVANA BUT: THE SHORE IS NOT DESCRIBED MAKE-UP OF RAFT IS THE BUDDHA’S TEACHINGS

17. What Did Buddha Teach? He taught the 4 Noble truths which sum up Buddhism He also taught the noble eight fold path He taught to lead a moral life, be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions and to develop wisdom and understanding He also taught the 5 precepts

18. What did the Buddha teach? The Four Noble Truths: To live is to suffer You can’t live without death, frustration, etc. The cause of suffering is self-centered desire & attachments Getting what you want doesn’t guarantee happiness and often it deprives you of it The solution is to eliminate desire and attachment, thus achieving Nirvana (“extinction”) If we stop craving useless things, and live each day at a time (not living in the future) we will be happy and free The way to Nirvana is through the “Eight-Fold Path”

19. FIRST NOBLE TRUTH: LIFE INEVITABLY INVOLVES SUFFERING: -Imperfect -Illness -Hateful -Separation

20. SECOND NOBLE TRUTH: THE ORIGIN OF SUFFERING IS OUR DESIRES: -Grasping for pleasure -Grasping for becoming -Grasping for sensual delight -Grasping for what we don’t have

21. THIRD NOBLE TRUTH: SUFFERING WILL STOP WHEN DESIRES ARE STOPPED: -When the ‘grasping’ stops -Elimination of passions

22. FOURTH NOBLE TRUTH: THERE IS A WAY TO GET TO THIS POINT: THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

23. Buddhist Metaphysics Dukkha: life in this world is filled with suffering Anicca: everything in this world is impermanent Anatta:the self is also impermanent – Suffering is a state of mind – achieve a balanced, peaceful, detached state of mind and suffering can be extinguished (Nirvana)

24. What is the Eight-Fold Path? Wisdom: Right understanding Right motivation Moral discipline: Right speech Right action Right livelihood Mental discipline: Right effort Right mindfulness Right meditation

25. 1) RIGHT UNDERSTANDING Understanding reality through the Four Noble Truths Seeing through illusions

26. 2) RIGHT THOUGHT/MOTIVES Uncover ‘unwholesome’ emotional roots that guide our thinking Discover and weed out Only then do we become free from self- centredness

27. 3) RIGHT SPEECH VS. - Vain talk, gossip, harsh words, lying Communication must further truth and harmony Including ‘self-talk’: “May you be well and happy today…”

28. 4) RIGHT ACTION FIVE RULES OF MORAL CONDUCT: 1)DO NOT DESTROY LIFE 2)DO NOT STEAL 3)AVOID SEXUAL MISCONDUCT 4)DO NOT LIE 5)DO NOT USE INTOXICANTS ABOVE ALL: ALL ACTIONS SHOULD BE BASED ON CLEAR UNDERSTANDING

29. 5) RIGHT LIVELIHOOD How one makes their living One’s work should not harm others

30. 6) RIGHT EFFORT Refers to the constant effort that must be put into achieving these goals IT TAKES EFFORT!

31. 7) RIGHT MINDFULNESS The way to liberation is through the mind “CHECK YOUR MIND BE ON GUARD PULL YOURSELF OUT LIKE AN ELEPHANT FROM THE MUD.”

32. 8) RIGHT MEDITATION Applying mental discipline to quiet the mind THE MIND IS SUBTLE, INVISIBLE, AND TREACHEROUS USE SKILFUL MEANS TO SEE AND UNDERSTAND ITS NATURE

33. The 5 Precepts Do not take the life of anything living Do not take anything not freely given Abstain from sensual overindulgence Refrain from untrue speech Avoid intoxication Do not lose mindfulness This is the moral code of the Buddhists

34. IS BUDDHISM A RELIGION? NO ‘GOD-NOTION’ NO CREATOR NO ULTIMATE REALITY TO WORSHIP

35. BUDDHA AND ‘ULTIMATE QUESTIONS’ -Nature of the soul -Life after death -Origin of the universe -NOT ADDRESSED

36. “BEING RELIGIOUS AND FOLLOWING DHARMA HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DOGMA THAT THE WORLD IS ETERNAL. FOR WHETHER THE WORLD IS ETERNAL OR OTHERWISE, BIRTH, OLD AGE, DEATH, SORROW, PAIN, MISERY, GRIEF AND DESPAIR EXIST. I AM CONCERNED WITH THE EXTINCTION OF THESE.”

37. “The Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was not God or a god. He was a human being who attained full enlightenment through meditation and showed us the path of spiritual awakening and freedom. Therefore, Buddhism is not a religion of God. Buddhism is a religion of wisdom, enlightenment and compassion. Like the worshippers of God who believe that salvation is available to all through confession of sin and a life a prayer, we Buddhists believe that salvation and enlightenment are available to all through the removal of delusion and a life of meditation/ However, unlike those who believe in God who is separate from us, Buddhists believe that Buddha, which means ‘one who is awake and enlightened’ is inherent in us all as Buddhanature or Buddhamind.”

38. NIRVANA “No suffering for him Who is free from sorrow Free from the fetters of life Free in everything he does He has reached the end of his road… Like a bird invisibly flying in the sky He lives without possessions Knowledge his food, freedom his world While others wonder… He has found freedom – Peaceful his thinking, peaceful his speech Peaceful his deed, tranquil his mind.”