TUTORIAL HINDU DEITIES AND CITATIONS
Feb 9
Dr. Ian Phillip Brown (he/him/his)
(Ian is preferred)
TASK, SUMMARIZE OUR CHAPTER ON HINDU DEITIES AND CITE USING CHICAGO
AUTHOR-DATE
• Citations should look like (Anderson 2016, 125-128)
• Citations must be used every time you quote directly
• Citations must be used every time you paraphrase
• Citations must come from course material only
• Textbook, assigned readings, lecture and slides
• Discourse on Colonialism(Césaire 1955, 31-34; 75-78)
• “Shaking It Off: Papal Apologies and Narratives of Exceptionalism in Canada”(Krawec 2022) since this is a web article there are no page numbers
• “Religion and Popular Culture” (Klassen 2014, 7-27)
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission Summary and Report
• (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 2015, 1-22)
• “Colonialism and its Impacts”(The Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women 2016, 1-10)
• “Myth”(Brown 2023)
• “Ritual” (Bell 2005, 7848-7856)
• “The Power of Belief in Conspiracy Theories”(Crockford 2021) since this is a web article there are no page numbers
• “Colonialism”(Chambers 2006, 162-164)
NEWS ARTICLE ANALYSIS DRAFT
• Due Friday Feb 10, 11:59pm
• DO NOT do research outside of material assigned in class
• Use our textbook, not other textbooks on religion
• Any final questions?
BUDDHISM: DEFINITIONS, MYTHS, RITUALS, BELIEFS; HISTORIES,
MODERNITIES, GENDER
Feb 9
Dr. Ian Phillip Brown (he/him/his)
(Ian is preferred)
WHAT IS BUDDHISM?
• Remember, each “world religion” (Hinduism, Indigenous Religions, Christianity, etc.…) is made up of extremely diverse people and practices from temporally and geographically different places
BUDDHISM IS NO DIFFERENT
• Various origins in India, China, Korea, Japan
• Encompasses millions of people across the planet
• This is true of all “world religions”
• Four additional complications with Buddhism
COMPLICATION THE FIRST
• Buddhism NOT a term that Buddhists came up with
• Also the case with Hinduism
• These are etic categories (categories applied to groups from people outside of those groups)
• As with Hinduism, “Buddhism” is a classification invented by Europeans in the 19th century
• Buddhism and Hinduism are not just invented words, but invented concepts
BUDDHISM AS A WESTERN CONCEPT
• Western scholars determined the philosophies, doctrines, scriptures, and founder that made something Buddhism
• Etic category: category made from outside group
• Organizes those belonging to Buddhism according to criteria determined by outsiders
PROBLEMS WITH ETIC
CATEGORIES
Western scholars working with Judeo-Christian model of religion, privilege sacred texts and what
people believe
Neglect or downplay elements that seem peripheral
PROBLEMS WITH ETIC
CATEGORIES
• Scholars tend to ignore:
• Rituals
• Aesthetics
• Interactions with other cultural traditions
• Material culture
• Non-Indian forms of Buddhism
COMPLICATION THE SECOND
• In scholarly and popular imagination, the Buddha (Shakyamuni) is understood as the main sacred figure
• Buddha is historically important, but Buddha is not unequivocally the prime spiritual authority in all forms of Buddhism
• Buddha is not to Buddhism what Jesus is to Christianity
COMPLICATION THE THIRD
• “Buddhism” is not monolithic (a single thing)
• “Buddhisms” are vast and heterogeneous
• Masks differences among similarities
• “Athlete”
• “University Student”
DIFFERENCES
• Buddhists in different places have different rules of behaviour
• There is no singular essence of Buddhism to which all historical people uniformly adhere
CHALLENGE THE FOURTH
• The term “Buddhism” gives the impression it is a completely distinct religion
• For example, Buddhism is distinct from Hinduism, and Daoism, and Confucianism
• In reality “Buddhism” has strong syncretic ties to other cultural traditions
BUDDHISM, GENERALLY SPEAKING
• Began in North-Eastern region of modern India
• Emerged from within Hinduism
• Many shared concepts
• Much borrowing and adopting between Buddhism and Hinduism over centuries in India
• Also differences between Buddhism and Hinduism, especially around rebirth and escape from Samsara
COSMOLOGY AND SAMSARA
• Universe has no creator
• Universe is without beginning or end
• Universe composed of worlds like our solar system
• Buddhist texts mostly pay attention to our world
• Being constantly reborn into the world is samsara
• The only way to escape samsara is nirvana
SIX REALMS OF REBIRTH
Realm of gods in heaven
Realm of lower gods
Realm of human beings
Realm of animals
Realm of hungry ghosts
Realm of hell
REBIRTH
• Because of impermanence, nothing lasts forever
• Every being in hell will eventually be released
• Even gods in heaven will die and descend to lower realm
• Must become a buddha to escape
THE SELF
No eternal soulLiving beings do not
have permanent, essential spirit
Self is comprised of five aggregates,components that
make up the human soul
Material form Sensation Perception Will Consciousness
ANATMAN
• Anatman mean “no-soul” or “no self”
• A distinguishing feature of early Indian Buddhism
• Distinguishes Buddhism from Hinduism since it is not the soul that is reborn in samara, but a combination of the five aggregates
MYTH: A REFRESHER
• NOT false stories of supernatural beings
• Myths are stories that are important to people that can construct, authorize, and/or contest social identities
• Myth: Canada is an inclusive nation
• Important to Canadians as it makes us feel good
• Constructs and authorizes social identities
• Makes things seem self-evident, glossing over things that contradict the narrative being told
BUDDHISM MYTHIC ORIGINS
• 6th-5th century BCE
• Border between North-East India and Nepal in city of Kapilavastu
• Prince named Siddhartha Gautama (also called Shakyamuni) became spiritual leader
• Historical person? Probably, but we know next to nothing about him beyond the myths
NOTE!
• The Buddha, Shakyamuni, and Siddhartha all refer to the same person
STORY OF THE
BUDDHA
• Based on some historical facts (probably)
• Mostly mythologic layers added and compiled over centuries
• Story not meant to be taken literally, but understood as a “complex weaving of historical concerns with myth and legend”
• (Pages 28-34 in the textbook)
STORY OF THE BUDDHA
• If Shakyamuni wrote anything himself, we don’t have it
• Stories of his life pop up in historical records centuries after his death
• Biographies of Shakyamuni appear c. 500 years after his death
• Most famous the Buddhacarita (Acts of the Buddha), an epic poem written in Sanskrit by Indian philosophers Ashvaghosha in 2nd c. CE
BUDDHACARITA
• Was a eulogy, meant to establish, praise, and commemorate the person
• It is also a religious paradigm that conveys important teachings
• It was also critical of practices of other “religions” and shows how Buddhism is different
• The biography is NOT a piece of scripture central to all Buddhists, but is a starting point
MYTH OF THE BUDDHA
• Queen Maya and King Shuddhodana
• Buddha born painlessly from his mother’s side
• Did not cry, but immediately declared he was the last rebirth and would become the buddha in his lifetime
• Baby named “Siddhartha” which means “one who has achieved his goal”
THE TWO PATHS OF THE BUDDHA
Brahman priests informed the king (Buddha’s father) that Siddhartha has two possible destinies:
He could be a great sovereign• For this he would need to stay in the world
He could be a great religious leader• For this he would need to renounce the
world
THE SOVEREIGN PATH
The king sheltered his son from the unpleasantness of the world
Enjoyed the best things: fine clothes, wine, food, music, women
Was oblivious to realities outside the walls of the palace
THE FOUR SIGHTS
• The four sights changed Siddhartha and put him on the path to becoming the Buddha
• Siddhartha was permitted four excursions from the palace in his royal chariot
• His father tried to clear out the unpleasant things from the path (mostly old and sick people)
• First sight, old age• Second sight, illness• Third sight, dead person• Siddhartha was not used
to old age, illness, and death and was deeply troubled by it• Trouble by the realities
that face us all• Picture of a painting in a Laotian Temple, Public
Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=800455
AGING, ILLNESS, DEATH: ILLUSTRATING KEY BUDDHIST CONCEPTS
• Evidence of the impermanence of youth, health, and life
• Impermanence: the idea that the world is subject to inevitable change
• Life is suffering: aging, illness, death bring grief to all people
THE FOURTH SIGHT
• Something different!
• Dismayed by negative things, Siddhartha went into the forest and started meditating on what he has seen
• Siddhartha saw a religious renunciate
• The renunciate gave Siddhartha hope that there was a solution to the impermanence that causes aging, illness, and death
THE GREAT RENUNCIATION
• The four sights convinced Siddhartha to leave his life in the palace, his wife, and his son
• He cut off his hair (act of renunciation)
• Began spiritual quest
• (Selections from Buddhacarita)
• Photo by Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47475119
SIDDHARTHA’S JOURNEY
• Spends 6 years trying to attain enlightenment
• Learned from many masters and attained internal peace, but was not satisfied
• Experimented with self-mortification (self-inflicted pain and extreme fasting)
• Rejected it, concluding that one cannot concentrate when exhausted
THE MIDDLE WAY
• The Buddhacarita has Siddhartha champion a “middle path” between hedonism and extreme asceticism
• Historically, this situated proper “Buddhism” between two extreme positions that were popular among Buddhist in the first centuries BCE and CE
BECOMING THE BUDDHA
• One who has attained enlightenment (nirvana)
• Did so by fully understanding dependent origination
• A sophisticated theory of cause and effect
• Nothing in the world comes into existence by itself
• Everything is influenced by a chain or cycle of causation
THE FIRST SERMON
• Buddha shared his knowledge hoping it would bring others enlightenment
• Found his 5 ascetic friends and taught them in the deer park
• Contents of this teaching, the four noble truths
• By พระมหาเทวประภาส วชิรญาณเมธี (ผู้ ถ่าย-ปลอ่ยสญัญาอนญุาตภาพให้นําไปใช้ได้เพืGอการศกึษาโดยอยูภ่า◌่ยใต้ cc-by-sa-3.0) ผู้สร้างสรรค์ผลงาน/สง่
ข้อมลูเก็บในคลงัข้อมลูเสรีวิกิมีเดียคอมมอนส์ – เทวประภาส มากคล้าย – Tevaprapas Makklay (พระมหาเทวประภาส วชิรญาณเมธี), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7004539
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
• Not a universal essence of all Buddhists
• Rather a doctrinal foundation
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
• Life is suffering
• There is a cause of suffering
• There is an end to suffering
• The end of suffering is the noble eightfold path
LIFE IS SUFFERING
• Realized by the Buddha during the first three sights
• In addition to aging, illness, and death, birth and rebirth are part of the cycle that keep people in samsara
• Suffering can mean encountering unpleasant things (often from karma)
• Or being separated from pleasant things
• People also suffer from ignorance of the nature of the self
THERE IS A CAUSE OF SUFFERING
• One cause is karma
• Others are craving and attachment
• Desiring earthly delights leads to attachment, but because of impermanence, earthly things do not last and will cause frustration, suffering, and grief
THERE IS AN END TO SUFFERING
• The end to suffering is nirvana which means “to extinguish”
• Synonymous with enlightenment
• Buddha attained nirvana and extinguished desire, ignorance, karma, and suffering
NIRVANA
• Two types
• 1. nirvana with remainder (attained in life of Buddha)
• 2. nirvana without remainder (pari-nirvana or final nirvana)
AFTER THE FIRST
SERMON
• First sermon called “Setting in Motion the Dharma Wheel”
• Dharma refers to the teaching of the Buddha
• Buddha ordained followers as disciples, some of whom also became enlightened
• These enlightened followers are called arhats, they did not discover the dharma as the Buddha did, but rather they learned it
• The community around the Buddha called the sangha
THREE JEWELS
• The Buddha
• The Dharma (teachings)
• The Sangha (the community that preserves the dharma)
• Operates as a source of authority and protection for Buddhists
DEATH OF THE
BUDDHA
• The Buddha returned to Kapilavastuand shared his wisdom
• Many members of his family became arhats including his wife, son, cousin, aunt, and stepmother
• The buddha traveled and taught for 45 years and died at age 80
• He entered pari-nirvana and was not born again into the world
STORY OF THE BUDDHA AS MYTH
• Constructs social identity: the sangha
• Authorizes middle path
• Contests other interpretations of Buddhism
• Did it all happen? Who cares?
• We are interested in how people interpret the story and how and why it is meaningful
SPIRITUAL GOALS
• Attain good karma for rebirth
• Human rebirth is valued among both clergy and laypeople
• Nirvana not possible in other realms, so a human rebirth is desirable
• In Mahayana, rebirth in the Pure Land (Mahayana heavenly realm) is common spiritual goal
WORLDLY CONCERNS
• Buddhists not nihilistic, not simply concerned with future rebirths
• Worldly concerns include physical health, safe travel, good fortune, and protection against evil forces
• Buddhist gods can be asked to provide rain for crops, or help heal illness
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
• Buddhism quickly spread through Northern India and was largely a movement of renunciates who were critical of existing religious practices
• Initially itinerant (nomadic)
• Eventually settled in monasteries and began composing Buddhist scriptures
SPREAD AND EMERGENCE OF BUDDHISMS
• Sangha eventually splintered
• Originally 18 schools of Indian Buddhism
• Theravada Buddhism is the only one that remains
TRIPITAKA(SCRIPTURE)
• Made up of three groups of texts
• Sutras• Discourses or sermons of the Buddha
• Mythically recited from memory by arhat Ananda, the Buddha’s cousin
• Contain speeches of the Buddha
• Vinaya• Disciplinary codes for monks and nuns
• Abhidharma• Philosophical texts
TRIPITAKA
• Earliest and most complete version the Pali Canon (written in Pali language)
• Dates to first century BCE
THERAVADA BUDDHISM
• Based on Pali Canon
• Likely established in Sri Lanka in 3rd century BCE
• Became and remains dominant form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia
• Means “School of the Elders”
• Treats Buddha as a human person, not a god
• He was the only Buddha in the present world, though past and future Buddhas are acknowledged
• Arhats are highest authority after the Buddha
MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
• C. 1st century BCE new sutras began appearing claiming advanced teachings of the Buddha
• Contained new and innovative interpretations of the dharma
• Described as “second turning of the dharma wheel”
• Claimed by new movement of Indian Buddhists, “Mahayana” or “Great Vehicle”
• They labelled mainstream forms of Buddhism “Hinayana” or “Lesser Vehicle”
MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
CON’T
• Theravada Buddhists questioned and rejected Mahayana Buddhism, but Mahayana became dominant form of Buddhism in East Asia
• Mahayana has many distinct characteristics, but four are central
DISTINCT TO MAHAYANA
1. Adherents aspire to become bodhisattvas
– Consider enlightenment attained by arhats inferior to bodhisattva
2. Cosmology proposed an infinite universe with many heavenly worlds inhabited by countless buddhas and bodhisattvas
3. Shakyamuni not just a human who attained enlightenment, but a transcendent buddha in the expanded universe
4. Propose that all phenomena lack an inherent nature of their own due to Dependent Origination
ARHAT VS. BODHISATTVA
• Arhat, attain enlightenment during life, highest rank after Buddha
• Highest rank in Theravada Buddhism
• Attain pari-nirvana at death
• Bodhisattva, enlightened being
• Highest rank in Mahayana Buddhism (above arhat)
• Continue to be reborn in world until everyone attains pari-nirvana
BUDDHISM IN INDIA
• Buddhism firmly established in Indian by 3rd century BCE
• Also spread along silk road to Pakistan and Afghanistan
• By 11th century CE, Buddhism had mostly disappeared in India after over 1000 years of popularity
• Had become religion of the elite (limiting its appeal)
• Major Buddhist centres were destroyed in Persian and Turkish invasions
• Today Apr. 10 million Buddhists in India
BUDDHISM IN CHINA
• Arrived in China via the Silk Road in first century CE
• Did not find support in a region dominated by established Confucianism and Daoism
• Renunciation of world clashed with Confucian and Daoist ideas of being a productive member of society
MAHAYANA BUDDHISM IN CHINA
• Mahayana slowly gained traction
• Aided by Daoist teaching that helped to make sense of foreign Buddhist ideas (cultural translation)
• Decline of Confucian authority led to rise in imperial support for Buddhism
• Enjoyed a golden age during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE)
• New Chinese forms of Buddhism emerged
CHAN (ZEN) BUDDHISM
• Literally means “meditation”
• Combined ideas from Buddhism and Confucianism (syncretic)
• Emerged in 6th and 7th centuries CE
• Traces its mythic origins back to Shakyamuni
CHAN (ZEN) BUDDHISM
• Chan borrowed the master-disciple dialogue from Confucianism
• Most famously expressed in koans, terse discussions between master and disciple on the nature of enlightenment
A monk asked [his master] Tozan when he was weighing some flax: “What is Buddha?”
Tozan said: “This flax weighs three pounds.”
CHINESE BUDDHISM IN THE PRESENT
• Currently apr. 244 million Buddhists in China
• Numbers complicated by theoretical secularism of China
• Most Buddhist of any country in terms of total number
VAJRAYANA BUDDHISM IN TIBET
• Third major school of Buddhism• The Vajra (thunderbolt) Vehicle• Use new and esoteric writings called tantras• Combines sutra-like sermons with powerful rituals and
meditation• Provides quicker and more direct path to nirvana• Referred to as the “third turning of the dharma wheel”
• Most commonly associated with Tibet
• The Dalai Lama is a concept and figure distinct to Vajrayana Buddhism
• He is the leader of Vajrayana in the world
BUDDHISM TODAY
• Buddhists in every country
• Apr. 244 million in China
• Apr. 10 million in India
• Apr. 360,000 in Canada (2021)
MODERN DEMOGRAPHICS
Theravada Buddhist majorities in:
• Sri Lanka 70% (c. 14 million)
• Myanmar 88% (c. 47 million)
• Laos 66% (c. 5 million)
• Thailand 94.5% (c. 61 million)
• Cambodia 98% (c. 14.7 million)
Mahayana Minorities in:
• Japan, Korea, Vietnam, China, Russia
WOMEN AND GENDER IN BUDDHISM
Feb 9
Dr. Ian Phillip Brown (he/him/his)
(Ian is preferred)
HISTORY OF GENDER IN BUDDHISM
• Buddhism has ugly history of misogyny (like most human institutions)
• Buddha story makes clear that women are spiritual obstacles to male enlightenment
• Women are dangerous objects of desire that need to be overcome
WOMEN IN THE SANGHA
• Buddha’s adoptive mother Mahaprajapati wanted to join the sangha
• Buddha initially said no, but eventually conceded that women can reach nirvana and could practice as nuns, but nuns have eight additional rules to follow
EIGHT GARUDHAMMAS
1) “A bhikkhunī [nun] who has been fully accepted even formore than a century must bow down, rise up from her seat,salute with hands palm-to-palm over her heart, and performforms of respect due to superiors to a bhikkhu [monk] evenif he has been fully accepted on that very day. This rule is tobe honored, respected, revered, venerated, never to betransgressed as long as she lives.
2) A bhikkhunī must not spend the Rains in a residence where there is no bhikkhu
3) Every half-month a bhikkhunī should expect two things from the BhikkhuSaṅgha: (permission to) ask for the date of the uposatha [date of observance] and(permission to) approach for an exhortation
4) At the end of the Rains-residence, a bhikkhunī should invite (accusations from)both Saṅghas (the Bhikkhu and Bhikkhunī Saṅghas) on any of three grounds: whatthey have seen, what they have heard, what they have suspected
5) A bhikkhunī who has broken any of the rules of respect must undergo penancefor half a month under both Saṅghas
6) Only after a female trainee has trained in the six precepts for two years canshe request Acceptance from both Saṅghas
7) A bhikkhu must not in any way be insulted or reviled by a bhikkhunī
EIGHT GARUDHAMMAS
8) From this day forward, the admonition of a bhikkhu by abhikkhunī is forbidden, but the admonition of a bhikkhunī bya bhikkhu is not forbidden. This rule, too, is to be honored,respected, revered, venerated, never to be transgressed aslong as she lives.
CONTROVERSY
• Earliest versions of Vinaya do not have all (or any) of the additional rules for nuns
• Other rules for monks and nuns have origin stories, Garudhammas do not
• Story of Buddha has monks ordaining nuns freely
• Eight Garudhammas possibly added to Vinaya later
WOMEN IN THE: BUDDHACARITA
• Before his enlightenment, Buddha sees sleeping women
• Women formerly brought him pleasure, but now all he could see was illness and death
• Women described as “ugly” “looked like strangled corpses” “repugnant, sniveling and salivating” “with disheveled hair they showed their ugly appearance”
BUDDHACARITA
63. The Crown Prince then sat up and observed the ladies. They had all been utterly majestic before, talking and laughing, their thoughts ingratiating and clever. They had been bewitching and ingenious in seduction, but now they all were repugnant.
64. “If the nature of woman is such, how can one hold them dear? When bathing and making use of ornaments, they deceive the minds of men. I have understood now! I will certainly go forth, without any doubt!” 65. Then the gods of the pure abodes came down and opened
CHARMING CADAVERS, BY LIZ WILSON
• Looks at Buddhist hagiographies (biographies of saints) from 300 BCE to 0 CE
• Looks at presentation of women
• Looks at ways women are presented as “horrific” obstacles to be overcome
BUDDHISM, GENDER, DEATH
• Buddhism is distinct in focusing on death and transience of human life as a means to spiritual progress (4 noble truths)
• Early hagiographies reported Buddha telling people to meditate in charnel grounds near decaying corpses to contemplate the foulness of the body
• Also a story where a young monk was lusting after a beautiful women, the Buddha conjured an image of a beautiful women, and then turned her body into a worm-infested corpse
BUDDHISM, GENDER, DEATH
• In literature male monks become arhats by meditating on dead, dying, and disfigured female bodies
• How?
• All bodies are impermanent, subject to suffering, and lack an abiding essence
• Horrifically transformed women make visible these realities
BUDDHISM, GENDER, DEATH, ENLIGHTENMENT
• Can be shocked by something beautiful
• More often an image of something that conveys reality of suffering and impermanence
• “cultivating sense of foulness” useful for those with passionate disposition
• This proves first noble truth
BUDDHISM, GENDER, DEATH, ENLIGHTENMENT
• Lots in this genre
• Men seeing their bloated pregnant wives, cremating the corpse of a pregnant women
• General themes: men see a grotesquely altered women and are educated through this interaction
WOMEN AND MEDITATION
• The literary representation of women as obstacles to enlightenment carries over into other writings, especially biographies of Buddhist saints
• Saints often meditated in cemetery’s around decaying bodies to better understand desire, disgust, and impermanence
BUDDHISM, GENDER, POWER
• What do extra rules for nuns do? Who do the rules benefit?
• Why use the bodies of women to illustrate death, disease, and impermanence?
HOMEWORK
• Read Dhammapada Verse 147: SirimaVatthu (if you haven’t already)
• Analyze the story’s presentation of Sirima based on gender (our critical category)
• How is Sirima’s gender presented/performed?
• Why is Sirima presented as she is?
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