Buddhism 

-The name of the Buddha before he became the Buddha, the "Buddha-elect"

- Born of the Mayadevi who had a dream of  a white elephant entering her womb

- There was a prophecy that the baby will either be a ruler or a spiritual leader if he experiences the four encounters: an old man, a sick man, a dead mean, and a wandering ascetic 

Buddhism

- misery

- Everything is Dukkha 

- Dukkha is caused by Trsna, or craving which can be removed by changing one's attitude 

Buddhism 

- a tempter who tries to lure Gautama to the worldly pleasures

- a tester for her presents a challenge to Gautama to test the power of his will

- asks him to rescue family, sent 3 beautiful women (desire, passion and love), must prove he his generous: earth is witness 

Buddhism

- the woman who offers milk and rice to Siddhartha

- he then divided the food into 49 portions 

- he put the golden bowl that the food was on the river and says that if it travels upstream, he will obtain enlightenment that day and it did 

- only the middle way can guide a person, extremity is useless to attain enlightenment 

Buddhism

- the son of the Buddha, whose mother is Yasohara

- asks the Buddha for his inheritance, and grants him entry into the order of the monks so that he could become a disciple of the Buddha 

Buddhism

- the wife of Siddhartha

- lived the life of an aesthetic just like him

Buddhism

- now know as the "tree of enlightenment"

- where the Buddha sat when he experienced the four watches of the night and achieved enlightenment

Buddhism

- a collection of stories of Buddha's earlier births 

- in these stories he is seen as a Bodhisattva of infinite compassion for the creatures in the world, and the "guide" who leads the world to enlightenment

- b/c of his compassion for the world that he chooses to be born several times to help everyone attain freedom from dukkha 

Buddhism

- the charioteer of Siddhartha 

- a guide to lead Gautama to Buddhahood 

- a connection between this world and the other world (enlightenment) 

Buddhism

- the evil minded cousin of the Buddha 

- jealous of the Buddha, his ultimate goal was to rid of him

- tried to kill the Buddha by sending a drunk elephant at him but always failed 

- asked for foregiveness, but the Buddha refused 

- as he came close to the Buddha a column of fire arose from hell and reduced Devadatta to ashes 

Buddhism

- goldsmith fed the pork to the Buddha that killed him

- this delivered Buddha's Mahaparinirvana 

- the Buddha tells his disciple to not allow anyone to blame Chunda for him death b/c it helped him reach his goal

Buddhism

- the final release from samsara by removing craving, ultimate goal to be attained by humans 

- state of knowledge

- experience ultimate reality, sunyata, or emptiness 

- removal of all attachment to worldly pleasures

Buddhism

1. Everything is dukkha 'misery' or 'suffering'

2. The cause of suffering is Tsna or 'craving'

3. The cause of of Trsna can be stopped

4. The way to stop craving is through the Eight- Fold Path 

Buddhism

- the way to eliminate suffering 

- Right Attitude: right views, right aspiration 

- Moral Behavior: right speech, right action, right means of livelihood, right effort

- Contemplative life: right awareness, right concentration 

- do one and the rest should follow 

Buddhism

- the Theravada/Hinayana School ideal, it is the 'worthy one' who after following the path of the Buddha, attains enlightenment

- he is views as possessing the highest social rank, worthy to receive gifts and worship from the people 

Buddhism

- the Mahayana school ideal 

- the 'future Buddha' who had chosen to be born several times perviously on earth for the sake of helping all those in despair 

Buddhism

- the cycle of birth and death that is caused by the theory of dependent orgin

- one must eliminate the conditions on which a particular result depends

- the cause of suffering is aging decay and death which is causing by rebirth which is caused by craving which is caused by senses and feelings which is caused by name/consciousness, which is caused by ones attitudes which is caused by the ignorance of the transience of all beings

Buddhism

-a poor woman son, who is the only thing to bring her happiness passes away

- wanting him back she searches for a cure for death and comes to the Buddha

- the Buddha challenges her to bring him a handufl of mustard seeds from a house where nobody had died

- realizes the transient/perishable nature of everything; dukkha is inevitable

- only solution is the four noble truths  

Buddhism

- school of Buddhism

- Gautama was a historical figure

- all humans should like a monastic life 

- Arhat 'wisdom' 

Buddhism

- a school of Buddhism

- Guatama is seen as a deity 

- everybody can obtain enlightenment

- ideal was to be a Bodhisattva 

Buddhism

- Bodhisattva was born as a golden deer

- The Banyan deer and the Monkey deer's herd were being killed by the king

- Each deer would volunteer to be sacrificed a day so that all of the deers did not live in fear, but one day it was the turn of a pregnant deer

- Although the Monkey deer didn't care, the Banyan Deer sacrificed himself

- When the king saw this is promised to never kill another living creature 

- shows the compassion and generosity of the Banyan deer

Confucianism

- a philosopher and educator who was the founder of confucianism

- focuses on the social dimension of human life/religion

Confucianism 

- education is the most important tool for creating a society of gentlemen

Confucianism

- the goal of life should be the fufill the mandate of heaven 

1. create a harmonious society

2. produce excellent individuals 

- heaven is an abode of virtuous beings 

- society is controlled by heaven b/c of virtue

- the king is sanction by heaven b/c of virtue, if the king is not virtuous, he is replaceable 

Confucianism 

- Li at the social level

- 'benevolence' 'virtue'

- innate capacity to live in harmony with others

- undestanding one's position in the society 

- appropriate behavior according to one's position 

Confucianism

- sacrificial rites/ code of behavior 

- religious rites/ sacred vessel

- rules of morality

- principle of achieving virtue 

Confucianism

- Li at the individual level 

-'fellow feeling', the method of achieving jen ' benevolence' 

"Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you."

Confucianism 

- the says of Confucius complied by his disciples 

- "You do not understand life. How can you understand death?"

- "It is perhaps the word shu. Do not do unto others what you yourself do not what others to do unto you. 

Taoism

- a 6th century philosopher who revived taoism 

Taoism 

- a compilation of Laso Tzu's thoughts in two books 

Taoism

- 'way' 'path' and 'principles' of existence and operation of the universe 

- If the tao is understood/experienced by the individuals the 'ideal society' would emerge by itself 

- read, to run/walk

- Nature of Tao:

1. the undifferentiated state before the creation of the universe

2. the 'laws of nature'

3. all pervasive

4. eternal/immortal

5. nameless (wu-ming) and shapeless 

6. ONE a unity behind all multiplicity

7. the principle for all being and becoming 

Taoism

- the manifestation of Tao in particular existences 

- Te always abides by Tao

- rules of existence and operation at particular levels 

Taoism 

- non-imposition; effortless; naturalness 

- ethics of no action

Taoism

- opposites are necessary for being and maintenance of balance

- two pole of cosmic energy Yang (positive) and Yin (negative) 

- symbolize the perfect harmony in the universe 

- do not stress duality of an implicit unity 

- the principle of being (existence)

- cyclic nature of the universe 

Chinese Myths 

- Creation from Chaos 

- The north and south sea want to repay Hun-Tun for it's kindness by giving him seven orficies 

- at the end of the seventh day Hun-Tun dies 

Chinese Myths 

- the fashioner of the universe

- before heaven and earth were separated; there was only a formless all pervasive was like an egg waiting to be separated 

- P'an Ku was born after breaking the egg which was broke into two parts- yin and yang 

- P'an Ku dies and his body became different parts of the universe 

Chinese Myths (Pureland)

- the goddess of mercy; a Bodhisattva

- returns when she hears the cries of the people

- compassion= the highest virtue

- reminds everyone to forgive 

Chinese Myths (Pureland)

- metamorphosis of Kwan Yin 

- although she was the least favorite of her father's daughters b/c she did not want to marry

- He orders her to be headed, but when the king gets sick Miao Shan comes down from heaven and gives him her hand and eye 

Pureland

- the Buddha of infinite light 

Pureland 

- a buddhist monk who goes to rescue his mother from hell, but he let out a whole bunch of demons 

- the mother changes and eventually enters pureland 

Zen Buddhism

- meditation 

- a special tradition outside the scriptures

- no dependence on owrds or letters 

- direct poiting to the human hear/mind

- seeing into one's won nature and the attainment of Buddhahood 

Zen Buddhism

- the Sankrit word that means meditation that zen was derived from 

Zen Buddhism

- the Chinese adaptation of the word Zen, meaning meditation 

Zen Buddhism

- the only person at the lecture in Vulture park 

- the Buddha held up a lotus flower in his had 

- he wanted to convey that there could be no substitute for the living; direct experience cannot be grasped or communicated in words 

Zen Buddhism

-enlightenment

-state of knowing Sunyata; state of mind in which one is not attached to any form but understands all forms are connected 

Zen Buddhism

- to see Buddha nature - a flash comes and goes 

Sunyata

Buddhism/Zen Buddhism

- emptiness

- it is the nature of the Buddha; it is reality 

Zen Buddhism

- 'public records' of the dialogue in the form of question and answers between Zen masters and their pupils

-part of the training of Zazen 

- help pupil realize how one's conceptual framework is incapable of finding answers to the questions 

- they indicate the level of understanding of Reality of the pupil to the teacher 

Zen Buddhism

- sitting meditation to learn how to control body and mind to prepare the training to attain Satori 

Zen Buddhism

Kensho 

1. Looking for the ox - trying to find the true identity

2. Seeing Traces - but seize the world as separate forms 

3. Seeing the ox; kept running away- the state in which true identity comes and goes 

The process of moving from Kensho toward Satori 

4. Grabbing the ox- understanding of his true identity 

5.  Herding the ox/riding it home- control of the identity; attachment to true identity 

6. The ox forgotten, man existing- Individual identity gone, no separation. discarded the attachment to true identity 

Satori

8. Both man and ox forgotten- vision of the complete oneness; sunyata 

9. going back to one's origin- mountain as mountain, river as river; sees everything as different forms rooted in sunyata 

10. entering the market place with hands hanging down - returns to the mundane world with transformation of vision 

Zen Buddhism 

- a beautiful women looks in the mirror and can't see her head 

- it was not until her friends hit her on the head did she realize that she hadn't lost it (kensho)

- the head symbolizes her true identity 

Japanese Myth

- The way of the Gods (Kamis) 

- customs, rituals and a way of life

-nature religion: reverence for nature

- a religion on life and pleasure 

- emphasis on creation, sustenance and rituals 

Shinto

-the male kami in the creation myth

- cut his son, the god of fire to pieces after her killed Izanami 

- he followed her to the land of the dead,  pleading her to go with him

- when he looked back at her, when he wasn't supposed to, he ran away

- when he got out he bathed in the river and out of his eyes cam Amaterasu and Susano-o 

Shinto

- the female kami in the creation myth

- dies after giving birth to the god of fire

- stuck in the land of the dead forever because Izanagi looked back at her 

- death shows resemblance to Sati's and Hun-tun's/P'an Ku's; the close affinity of life and death; theme of renewal of life 

Shinto

- The Sun god who was born of Izanagi's eye 

- she hides in a cave b/c she is pissed off at Susano-o

- She won't come out until they hold a mirror in front of the cave saying they found a new Amaterasu 

- shows that good is what is conductive to the world while one force overpowering the other is 'evil'

Shinto

- the wind kami that is born of Izanagi's nose 

- Annoys Amaterasu

- signifies destruction of positive forces; a malevolent foce 

- destroys the eight-forked dragon and save the daughter of the old couple by tricking him into drinking vats of wine 

Shinto

- a fat little goddess of dancing, singing and merrymaking who helps to trick Amaterasu to come out of the cave 

Japanese Myth

- The peach boy

- decides to go to the island of devils where the demon Akandoji had hidden precious treasures 

- he was determined to bring the three treasure- jewels (material pleasures), sword (physical protection) and mirror (spirituality/purity) - - all three are necessary for a happy life 

- individual good; fight for happiness 

Shinto

- the demon in the myth of Momotaro

Shinto

- a fisherman who catches a turtle in his net and let it go 

- in reality the turtle was a dragon princess that lived where time doesn't touch anything

- they fell in love, after a while he felt a desire to go home

- he did not recognize it and realized it had been over 400 years and he opens the box that the princess had told him not to open

- shows human curiosity 

- paradox of human life: immortality vs. worldly pleasures which are only gained in the context of time 

Japanese 

- the indigenousness people of the Japanese islands 

Ainu

- the ultimate devine, the soul 

- refers to animals such as bears, birds, sea animals, the sun, and the moon

- bear rituals: the concept which unifies the various forms of nature is the soul

- death is the moment of freedom for the soul from the body which is hwy they ritually kill a bear so it is "freed from the bondage of it's animal body" 

Ainu

- creation of the earth from slush by a bird- the wag tail 

- the bird fluttered its wings and stirred the ocean and the slush became muddier and thicker which is creating order from chaos