• Nonviolence or "interbeing" 

• "Great Vehicle" 

• "Lesser Vehicle" 

• Mahayana began among monks that wanted to have a more hard-core aesceticism 

• Mahayana - allows one to attain buddhahood 
• Hinayana - allows one to attain arhatship (not as perfect as buddhahood) 

• "Awakening being"
• One who postpones his enlightenment to work for the sake of all sentient beings

• Joy - through wishing happiness for others
• Misery - from wanted pleasure for oneself

• "Awakened mind/heart"

• Bodhisattva of compassion - granted wishes of the devotee 
• Avalokiteshvara = Sanskrit 
• Guanyin = Chinese 

• The all-seeing lord with 1,000 hands and 11 faces

• Tibet - Saves from the 8 fears:
• Elephants, lions, snakes, ghosts, fire, drowining, bandits, and tyrants
• Born from the tears of Avalokiteshvara

• Green Tara = activity 
• White Tara = longevity

• Japanese - Protector of children and travelers
• Saves souls from the torments of hell

• "Land of Bliss" 

• Recalling the Buddha 
• Chanting Amida's name

1. Cultivate 6 paramitas 
2. Traverse 10 Bhumis

• "Ground" or stages on the path to enlightenment

• "Perfection"

1. Generosity
2. Discipline
3. Patience
4. Exertion
5. Meditation 
6. Knowledge

• Giving alms, making offerings to a stupa, the gift of the body
• Offering sentient beings what they need

• Discipline is all about being able to restrain the mind from harmful thoughts (jealousy, craving, greed) 

• The idea is to be able to withstand harm from others w/o lashing out or getting angry

• All about having a sense of discipline on the noble path --> supposed to be joyful 

• Shamata and vipashana meditation give insight 

• All about the study of the mahayana sutra

• The perfection of wisdom
• Culmination of 6 paramitas

• Superior knowing/faculty that knows emptiness 

• Empty of inherent existence
• Exists only based on causes/conditions 

• Knowldge = mother of all Buddhas
• Buddhahood only possible through meditative insight 

• Real = something that is permanent; always has been, always will be

Bodhisattvas: Manjushri

What are the 2 ways that his sword cuts?

• Bodhisattva of Wisdom 

1. Cuts clinging to false sense of "self"
2. Cuts clinging to external objects and concepts 

• Emptiness - "form is emptiness, emptiness also is form" 

1. Phenomena arise based on causes/conditions
2. Objects are made up of parts
3. Names are based on relationship of mutual dependency

• Credited with founding the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism
• Depicted w/ snakes above his head 

• Middle way between eternalism and nihilism 

• Belief that things are forever (belief in self)

• Giving up on everything, nothing matters

• "Emptiness"
• Objects appear, but are empty of inherent nature

• Reductio ad absurdum - absurd consequences of ordinary language use

1. Deer park: 4 noble truths
2. Vulture peak: prajna paramita
3. Shravasti: Buddha nature

• He composed the buddha-nature scriptures 

Define: Tathagatha-garbha

What does tathagatha mean?

What does garbha mean?

• Tathagatha-garbha = "Buddha-nature"
• Tathagatha = "thus gone one"
• Garbha = "seed" or "womb"

• All beings have the ability to become awakened, but they are blocked by kleshas

• Enlightened teachers can show us that we already have the jewels that we need for buddhahood 

• If you sort through your kleshas, you find a fully-formed Buddha

• Prajnaparamita = negative language (no eyes, no nose, no ears)
• Tathagatagarbha = positive language

1. Wisdom
2. Compassion
3. Power 

• "Meditation"
• Chan = Chinese
• Zen = Japanese 

• "Nonthinking" or "taming thoughts"
• Meditation in Zen Buddhism 

Who is Bodhidharma?

What are some characteristics of him?

1. The first patriarch of Zen 
2. Has no eyelids - cut them off so he didn't fall asleep during meditation 
1. Has indian facial features 
2. Usually depicted in calligraphy painting 

• "Encounter dialogue"

• "Teacher" in Japanese 

• "Meditation hall"

• 3-bowl meal - everything eaten seperately
• Consume water used for cleaning bowls - meant to cultivate mindfulness 

• Interview with Zen master

Define: Satori

What is the significance of Satori?

• "Enlightenment" in Japanese 
• Conveys idea of sudden realization 

• "Walking meditation" 

• Bodhichitta vow will release those who suffer in samsara
• Merit arises from active bodhichitta 

• By taking hold of bodhichitta, one becomes the Buddha's child and heir
• By finding your inner bodhichitta, you will be released from the cycle of samsara

• Kleshas = greatest foe for bodhisattva
• You become what your thoughts are, it is one's own deeds that punish
• Shantideva is declaring war on the kleshas by having the courage to fulfill the bodhichitta vow

• If one can tame the mind, all kleshas will disappear 
• Causation (harm) comes from the mind
• The body and mind are seperate - the body is of no use to the mind so we should be detached from it

• Negativity is a product of confusion, we should be forgiving 
• We should be mad at the hatred, not the human or the stick 
• Your own karma causes bad things to happen to you 

• Diligence = taking joy in virtue
• Human body is precious because one can practice virtue 
• The suffering we endure on the path is miniscule - we should gain all the merit we can while we are in human form 

• Meditation should be practiced in solitude so others don't stir the mind 
• We shouldn't be attached to body, others because we ultimately will die alone 
• One should relinquish all other aspirations and focus on the mind alone 

• You can't freeze a moment that defines walking
• Walking and walker are one in the same, they define each other 
• Language doesn't reflect real things 

• Seeing is dependent on having a seer 

• One should remain detached from the body
• It is just made up of parts that define each other and define the body

• Addicts and addictions go together - we aren't born into addiction 
• "Temporarily in a state of alcoholism" - not an addict

• Ox represents the mind and its true nature 
• Defilements cover Buddha nature

• Through sutras and teachings, one knows where to find his buddha nature

• By settling the mind, you can glimpse Buddha nature 
• Buddha nature is already in the mind, just not noticed

• Taming the mind w/"mindful rope" prevents from being affected by defilements 

• One must hold the rope tight, and not let the mind roam 
• We must train the mind to ignore defilements

• Once the mind is tamed, you don't have to control it 
• The mind already knows where it is going - the path to Buddhahood

• Realizes the ox is his primal nature 
• Mind no longer needs to be restrained 

• You must forget about the self in order to become enlightened

• There is serenity in the natural world without humans 
• No "I" troubling the space 

• No longer fear of interacting w/ people and being in the world 

• 6 hell realms - with his staff he plucks beings out of the lower realms

• The realization that everyone can attain enlightenment
• Buddhism is for more than the sake of personal enlightenment, you should also bring others with you 

• Nagarjuna