Buddhism

philosophyterms.com/buddhism

October 31, 2016

Table of Contents [hide]

I. Definition
Buddhism is a religious and philosophical tradition founded in India sometime around 500
BC. Over the centuries, Buddhism has grown and evolved into a highly diverse tradition
with many different sects who emphasize different aspects of the Buddha’s teachings. It
has also merged with other traditions of Asia, including Taoism, Hinduism, Confucianism,
and even Islam.

Buddhist philosophy is extremely subtle and complex, the product of thousands of years of
study and contemplation by Buddhist monks and nuns all over the world. The main ideas,
however, are summed up in the Four Noble Truths:

Life is suffering. Everyone gets sick. Everyone experiences loss and

disappointment. And in the end, everyone dies. Suffering is all around us, and
Buddhists believe we have to acknowledge that suffering before we can try to
address it. This suffering does not end with death, either! Many Buddhists believe in
reincarnation, or the idea that the soul moves from body to body, so at the end of
each lifetime you start again in a new form — perhaps another person, an animal, or
even a tree!

Suffering is caused by desire. The goal of Buddhism is to maximize happiness and

inner peace. Buddha taught that this could not be achieved if we were constantly
buffeted around by the winds of desire — we spend all our time wanting more money,
a better job, or a person who has caught our eye. But when we get these things, they
don’t bring lasting happiness and the disappointment leaves us worse off than before!
Buddhists teach that true happiness can only come when we quiet our desires and
focus our attention elsewhere.

There is a way to end suffering. Even though all life involves suffering, we don’t
have to give up hope. There are specific practices we can take up that will help
minimize our own suffering and that of other people. For Buddhists who believe in
reincarnation, the answer to suffering is to end the constant cycle of death and
rebirth: once we achieve enlightenment, we will no longer be reincarnated, and will
no longer suffer.

The way to end suffering is through wisdom, ethical conduct, and meditation.
Also known as the Noble Eightfold Path, these practices involve intense meditation
and constant effort to be more wise, kind, and compassionate. Buddhists have
developed many different forms of meditation, all with the aim of following the
Eightfold Path and becoming better human beings.
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II. Types of Buddhism
There are hundreds of different types of Buddhism! But most of these different sects fall
into one of two categories:

Theravada Buddhism. This is considered the older or more “orthodox” type of

Buddhism. Found primarily in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, and surrounding
countries), it is based on rituals passed down through generations of monks in
ancient monasteries. The monks study ancient scriptures from the time of the Buddha
and seek to preserve their wisdom. This school of Buddhism tends to be polytheistic,
worshipping many gods. Typically, these gods are either traditional local deities or
major figures borrowed from Hinduism.

Mahayana Buddhism: a later form of Buddhism found in China and throughout the
Himalayas. This strand does not emphasize scriptures or the worship of gods as
much as Theravada Buddhism. Instead, Mahayana Buddhists emphasize daily
meditation practices. Mahayana Buddhism has many well-known subtypes, including
Tibetan Buddhism (the religion of the Dalai Lama) and Zen Buddhism (a form of
peaceful meditation that has become increasingly popular in the West).

III. Buddhism vs. Confucianism

Though they are both widespread in China today, Buddhism and Confucianism are very
different philosophies (or religions). Buddhism developed in India, whereas Confucianism
developed thousands of miles away in China. Due to their different cultural origins, the two
philosophies have very different approaches:

Buddhism Confucianism Both

Deals with Deals with relationships and Traditionally studied by monks

individuality and seeks social unity
serenity from within Reduces the focus on God or Gods, though
Focuses on overcoming they are still part of the local religions
Focuses on chaos, violence, and
overcoming emptiness in life Not easily defined in terms of Western ideas of
adversities faiths; all ideas seem consistent with modern
Believes in worshipping science
Believes in ancestors.
reincarnation

Bear in mind that this is only a rough comparison! Confucianism and Chinese Buddhism
have deeply influenced each other over the years, and in any given part of China you may
find Confucians who resemble Buddhists or vice-versa.

IV. Buddhism vs. Hinduism

In much the same way that Christianity evolved out of Judaism, so Buddhism evolved out
of Hinduism. Ironically, however, Buddhism is now almost entirely gone from the land of its
birth! Over the centuries, Buddhism spread all over Asia, but it declined in India itself so
that today there are very few Buddhists there.

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It’s almost impossible to compare/contrast Hinduism with Buddhism due to the fact that
Hinduism comprises a vast array of different religious traditions, which don’t necessarily
have much in common with each other! Some versions of Hinduism are very similar to
Buddhism, focusing on meditation and trying to minimize suffering. Other versions of
Hinduism are more focused on worshipping God or the Gods, rather than on human
problems like suffering. (Hinduism is such a diverse religion that Hindus don’t even agree
on whether there is one God, many Gods, or no God!)

V. Famous Quotes About Buddhism

Quote 1

“Silence the angry man with love. Silence the ill-natured man with kindness. Silence the miser
with generosity. Silence the liar with truth.” (Buddha, Dhammapada verse 223)

There are all kinds of fake Buddha quotes floating around on the Internet. Most of them
originate with self-help authors and have very little to do with the Buddha’s real teachings.
This one, however, is a documented saying of Siddhartha Gautama. It expresses his belief
in treating others kindly regardless of whether they deserve it or not — an idea that would
show up many centuries later in the teachings of Christ. The passage has a second layer of
meaning as well: the “angry man,” the “liar,” etc., don’t have to refer to actual people. They
may refer to aspects of your own personality that you need to overcome by practicing love,
kindness, generosity, and truth.

Quote 2
“If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be
false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims.” (H.H. Dalai
Lama XIV)

The Dalai Lama is the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, a major school within the Mahayana
tradition. In his many books about Buddhism and the modern world, the Dalai Lama often
emphasizes the harmony between Buddhism and science. He argues that scientific
analysis is an important way to find out the truth of the universe, and maintains that nothing
in Buddhism should be incompatible with science. This is the sort of thing you would be
likely to hear from a Mahayana Buddhist, but not from a Theravada Buddhist since
Theravada retains many supernatural elements that wouldn’t fit in with science.

VI. The History and Importance of Buddhism

Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, a prince who lived in northern India
sometime around 500 BC. We know very little for sure about who he was, but the
traditional stories say that the prince was born into a fabulously wealthy family — yet his life
was marred by tragedy right from the start. When he was still only a few days old, his

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mother died of a sudden illness. Despite this painful loss, however, Siddhartha lived a life of
ease and pleasure, wearing the finest clothes and being fed luxurious foods by his many
servants. Throughout his childhood, he knew very little about the real world.

That changed, according to the stories, when he became a young man. At the age of 29,
Siddhartha left the palace to meet his subjects, against the wishes of his father who wanted
to prevent him from seeing the misery of the common people. Outside the palace walls,
Siddhartha encountered all sorts of suffering — disease, old age, death — that he couldn’t
understand. He decided that he needed to give up his comfortable life and dedicate himself
to a spiritual journey that would, he hoped, give him a truer understanding of life and death.

At first, he became an ascetic, giving up all pleasures for a life of strict discipline. He nearly
starved himself to death in this period. Eventually, he found himself sitting under a bodhi
tree, meditating and trying to overcome the intense hunger in his stomach. Tradition states
that he stayed in meditation for 49 days, not touching food or water.

Finally, Siddhartha was approached by a young girl carrying a bowl of rice pudding, which
had been his favorite dessert as a child. After years of asceticism, he finally decided to
allow himself the pleasure of accepting her gift. At that moment, he attained his greatest
insight: a life of mindless pleasure blinds us to the realities of life, but completely avoiding
pleasure is not the right idea either — instead, we should follow what Siddhartha called the
Middle Way.

At this moment, Siddhartha Gautama achieved enlightenment and became the Buddha,
which means “Awakened One.” He spent the rest of his life traveling around India
spreading the word about his discovery. Buddha’s disciples became the first Buddhists,
and they were the ones who first spread the new religion throughout the broader world of
India and Asia.

VII. Buddhism in Popular Culture

Example 1
Martial arts movies and video games often feature Shaolin monks, warriors who gain their
power through meditation and intense discipline. The Shaolin monks are not just a
Hollywood cliché, however — they are a real Buddhist sect centered on a monastery in the
Songshan mountains of China. Like many Buddhist sects, the Shaolin monks train in
martial arts as a form of meditation, but still practice nonviolence.

Example 2
There are many Buddhist references in Avatar: the Last Airbender. For one thing, Aang’s
shaved head and red-and-orange robes are the traditional markings of a Buddhist monk. In
addition, the show deals with reincarnation, an idea that is common in both Buddhism and
Hinduism. The sequel series to Avatar is The Legend of Korra, which stars a character said
to be Aang’s reincarnation.

VIII. Controversies
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Buddhism: a Philosophy or a Religion?
Like many Asian religions, Buddhism doesn’t easily fall into either category: it’s both a
philosophy and a religion. Part of the reason for this confusion is that people in the West
have a tendency to imagine that other religions will look more or less like Christianity in
their structure: early scholars, when they studied Buddhism, looked for its Holy Book, its
prophet(s), its temples and priests, and its God. But Buddhism doesn’t necessarily have
any of these elements! For some people, Buddhism is simply a philosophy or a way of life,
while for others it’s a social system more like traditional Western religion.

In the end, the best way to understand Buddhism (or any other non-Western tradition) is to
try not to categorize it. Categories like “religion” and “philosophy,” as we understand them
in the West, were developed in a particular cultural context, and they make less and less
sense the further you go outside that context. In the case of Buddhism, Hinduism,
Confucianism, and Taoism, it’s probably best to drop the categories altogether and just try
to understand each tradition on its own terms.

Quiz
1.
Buddhism emerged from…

a.

b.

c.

d.

2.
This Buddhist sect is older and has supernatural elements such as worshipping traditional
gods.

a.

b.

c.

d.

3.
After meditating for 49 days, Buddha is said to have had his main insight, which he
called…

a.

b.

c.
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d.

4.
Buddhism originated in ____, but is very rare in that country today.

a.

b.

c.

d.

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