The sequence of the main philosophical principles of Buddhism. The path of practice and self-development, or what Buddhists believe. Sacred literature and ideas about the structure of the world

Buddhism is the first world religion in origin. The rest of the world's religions arose much later: Christianity - about five hundred years, Islam - more than a thousand. Buddhism is considered a world religion by the same right as the two mentioned above: Buddhism is a religion of very different peoples with different cultural characteristics and traditions, which has spread throughout the globe and has gone far beyond ethno-confessional and ethno-state borders. The Buddhist world extends from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to Buryatia and Tuva, from Japan to Kalmykia, gradually spreading also to America and Europe. Buddhism is the religion of hundreds of millions of inhabitants of Southeast Asia, which is closely connected with the birthplace of Buddhism - India, and the Far East, whose culture grew up on the traditions of Chinese civilization; The citadel of Buddhism for a thousand years has been Tibet, where, thanks to Buddhism, Indian culture came, writing and a literary language appeared, and the foundations of civilization were formed.

Buddhist philosophy was admired by famous European thinkers - A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche and M. Heidegger. Without understanding Buddhism, there is no way to comprehend the great civilizations of the East - Indian and Chinese, and even more so - Tibetan and Mongolian - permeated with the Buddhist spirit to the last stone. In line with the Buddhist tradition, sophisticated philosophical systems have emerged that are capable of expanding and enriching modern Western philosophy, which has stopped at the crossroads of modern European classics and postmodernity.

History of origin

Buddhism arose on the Indian subcontinent (on the lands of historical India in our time there are several countries - the Republic of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, as well as the island of Lanka) in the middle of the first millennium BC. This was the time of the birth of rational philosophy and ethically oriented religions focused on the liberation and salvation of human beings from suffering.

The “homeland” of Buddhism is northeastern India (today the state of Bihar is located there). At that time, there were the ancient states of Magadha, Vaishali and Koshala, where Buddha taught and where Buddhism spread widely from the very beginning.

Historians believe that here the position of the Vedic religion and the associated class system, which guaranteed a special, privileged position for the brahmana (priests) class, was much weaker than in other regions of the country. In addition, it was here that the process of creating new state formations was in full swing, which involved promoting the second “noble” class - the Kshatriyas (warriors and kings) to the first positions. In addition, the orthodox Vedic religion, the essence of which was sacrifices and rituals, was in a serious crisis, manifested in the birth of new ascetic movements of the so-called shramanas (in the Pali language - samanas) - devotees, ascetics, wandering philosophers who rejected the unconditional authority of the sacred Vedas and brahmanas , and those who longed to independently find the truth through yoga (the psychopractice of transformation of consciousness) and philosophy. All these conditions created fertile ground for the emergence of a new teaching.

The Shramans and Shraman movements had a huge influence on the formation of Indian culture and philosophy. It was thanks to them that the school of free philosophical debate was born, and philosophy was enriched by the tradition of logical-discursive justification and derivation of certain theoretical positions. While the Upanishads only proclaimed certain metaphysical axioms, the Sramanas began to substantiate and prove philosophical truths. It was in the disputes between the numerous Sramana groups that Indian philosophy arose. It can be said that if the Upanishads are philosophy in subject matter, then the discussions of the Sramanas are philosophy in form. One of the Samanas was also the historical founder of Buddhism - Buddha Shakyamuni. So he can be considered not only a sage and founder of a religion who cultivated wisdom through the practice of contemplation, but also one of the first Indian philosophers who discussed with other Samanas according to the rules approved among them.

Founder of Buddhism - Buddha Shakyamuni

The founder of Buddhism is Buddha Shakyamuni, who lived and preached in India around the 5th-4th centuries. BC.

There is no way to reconstruct the scientific biography of the Buddha, since science does not have enough material for a real reconstruction. So what is presented here is not a biography, but a traditional biography of the Buddha, compiled from several Buddhist hagiographic texts (such as Lalitavistara and Life of the Buddha).

Over many, many lives, the future Buddha performed incredible acts of compassion and love, step by step accumulating merit and wisdom, in order to escape the cycle of painful alternation of death and birth. And now the time has come for his last incarnation. The Bodhisattva was in the Tushita heaven and looked at the human world in search of a suitable place for his last rebirth (he had reached such a high level of development that he could choose). His gaze fell on a small country in northeastern India, belonging to the Shakya people (the land of modern Nepal), which was ruled by the wise Shuddhodana from an ancient royal family. And the Bodhisattva, who could appear in the world without entering his mother’s womb, chose the royal family for his birth, so that people, having deep respect for the ancient and glorious family of Shakya kings, would accept the teachings of the Buddha with great confidence, seeing in him a descendant of a respected family.

That night, Queen Mahamaya, the wife of King Shuddhodana, dreamed that a white elephant with six tusks entered her side, and she realized that she had become the mother of a great man. (Buddhism claims that the conception of Buddha occurred naturally, and the dream of a white elephant is only a sign of the appearance of an outstanding being).

According to custom, shortly before giving birth, the queen and her retinue went to her parents' house. As the procession passed through a grove of sal trees called Lumbini, the queen went into labor, grabbed a tree branch, and gave birth to a son, who left her womb through the hip. The baby immediately rose to his feet and took seven steps, proclaiming himself a being superior to both gods and men.

Alas, the miraculous birth turned fatal, and Mahamaya soon died. (The son did not forget about his mother: after the Awakening, he was transported to the Tushita heaven, where Mahamaya was born, told her that he had become Buddha, the conqueror of all suffering, and conveyed to her the Abhidharma - the Buddhist philosophical teaching). The future Buddha was brought to his father's palace, located in the city of Kapilavastu (near Kathmandu, the modern capital of Nepal).

The king called the astrologer Ashita to predict the fate of the child, and he discovered thirty-two signs of a great creature on his body (a special bulge on the crown of the head - ushnishu, a wheel sign between the eyebrows, on the palms and feet, membranes between the fingers and others). Based on these signs, Ashita declared that the boy would become either the ruler of the world (chakravartin) or a saint who knew the ultimate truth - Buddha. The child was named Siddhartha Gautama. Gautama is a family name; "Siddhartha" means "Completely Achieved the Goal."

The king, of course, wanted his son to become a great ruler, so he decided to arrange the prince’s life in such a way that nothing would lead him to think about the meaning of existence. The boy grew up in bliss and luxury in a magnificent palace, protected from the outside world. Siddhartha grew up, invariably ahead of his friends in science and sports. However, the tendency to think appeared already in childhood, and one day, while sitting under a rose bush, he suddenly entered a state of yogic trance (samadhi) of such intensity that his power even stopped one of the deities flying by. The prince had a meek disposition, which even displeased his bride, Princess Yashodhara, who believed that such gentleness was incompatible with the vocation of a kshatriya warrior. And only after Siddhartha showed her his martial art, the girl agreed to marry him; The couple had a son, Rahula. Everything indicated that the king’s father’s plan would come true. However, when the prince turned twenty-nine years old, it so happened that he went on a hunt that changed his whole life.

While hunting, the prince encountered the manifestation of suffering for the first time, and it shook him to the depths of his heart. He saw a plowed field and birds pecking at worms, and was amazed why some creatures could only live at the expense of others. The prince met the funeral procession and realized that he and all people were mortal, and neither titles nor treasures would protect from death. Siddhartha came across a leper and realized that illness awaits every creature. A beggar begging for alms showed him the illusory and fleeting nature of nobility and wealth. Finally, the prince found himself in front of the sage, immersed in contemplation. Looking at him, Siddhartha realized that the path of self-knowledge and self-deepening is the only way to understand the causes of suffering and find a way to overcome them. It is said that the gods themselves, also locked in the wheel of samsara and yearning for salvation, arranged these meetings to inspire the prince to embark on the path of liberation.

After this day, the prince could no longer live peacefully in the palace, enjoying luxury. And one night he left the palace on his horse Kanthaka, accompanied by one servant. On the outskirts of the forest, he parted with the servant, giving him a horse and a sword, with which he finally cut off his beautiful “honey-colored” hair as a sign of his renunciation of life in the world. Then he entered the forest. Thus began a period of study, asceticism and search for truth.

The future Buddha traveled with different Sramana groups, quickly learning everything that their leaders taught. His most famous teachers were Arada Kalama and Udraka Ramaputra. They followed teachings close to Samkhya, and also taught yogic practices, including breathing exercises, which required prolonged holding of the breath, which was accompanied by very unpleasant sensations. Followers of Samkhya believe that the world is the result of a false identification of spirit (purusha) with matter (prakriti). Liberation (kaivalya) and relief from suffering is achieved through the complete alienation of spirit from matter. Siddhartha quickly achieved everything his mentors taught, and they even offered to take their place later. However, Siddhartha refused: he did not find what he was looking for, and the answers he received did not satisfy him.

It should be noted that the Parivarjiks - Sramana philosophers - propagated a variety of doctrines. Some of them are mentioned in the Pali Buddhist texts: Makhali Gosala (head of the famous Ajivika school) proclaimed strict determinism and fatalism as the basis of all existence; Purana Kassapa taught the futility of actions; Pakuddha Kacchayana - about the eternity of the seven substances; Ajita Kesakambala followed a teaching resembling materialism; Nigantha Nataputta was skeptical, while Sanjaya Belatthiputta was completely agnostic.

Siddhartha listened to everyone attentively, but did not become anyone's follower. He indulged in mortification and severe asceticism. He reached such exhaustion that, touching his stomach, he touched his spine with his finger. However, asceticism did not make him Enlightened, and the truth was still as far away as it was during his life in the palace.

Then the former prince abandoned the extremes of asceticism and accepted modest nutritious food (milk rice porridge) from the hands of a girl who lived nearby. Five ascetics who practiced with him considered him an apostate and left, leaving him alone. Siddhartha sat in a pose of contemplation under a banyan tree (ficus religiosa), later called the “Tree of Awakening” (Bodhi), and vowed that he would not move until he reached his goal and comprehended the truth. He then entered a state of deep concentration.

Seeing that Siddhartha was close to victory over the world of birth and death, the demon Mara attacked him along with hordes of other demons, and having been defeated, tried to seduce him with his beautiful daughters. Siddhartha remained motionless, and Mara had to retreat. Meanwhile, Siddhartha became increasingly immersed in contemplation, and the Four Noble Truths about suffering, the causes of suffering, liberation from suffering, and the path leading to liberation from suffering were revealed to him. He then grasped the universal principle of dependent origination. Finally, at the fourth level of concentration, the light of nirvana, the Great Liberation, shone before him. At this moment, Siddhartha plunged into a state of samadhi of Oceanic Reflection, and his consciousness became like the boundless surface of the ocean in a state of complete calm, when the mirror-like surface of motionless waters reflects all phenomena. At that moment, Siddhartha disappeared, and Buddha appeared - the Enlightened One, the Awakened One. Now he was no longer the heir to the throne and the prince, he was no longer a man, since people are born and die, and the Buddha is beyond life and death.

The whole universe rejoiced, the gods showered the Victor with beautiful flowers, a delightful fragrance spread throughout the world, and the earth shook with the appearance of the Buddha. He himself remained in a state of samadhi for seven days, tasting the bliss of liberation. When he came out of his trance on the eighth day, Mara the tempter approached him again. He advised the Buddha to remain under the Bodhi Tree and enjoy bliss without telling the truth to other beings. However, the Blessed One immediately rejected this temptation and went to one of the spiritual and educational centers of India - Benares (Varanasi), located next to Vajrasana (Vajrasana (Sanskrit) - Pose of Diamond Indestructibility, an epithet of the place of Awakening; now Bodhgaya, Bihar state). There he went to the Deer Park (Sarnath), where he gave the first teachings about the Turning of the Wheel of Dharma (Teachings). The first disciples of the Buddha were the same ascetics who once abandoned Gautama, who refused to mortify the flesh, with contempt. Even now they did not want to listen to Buddha, but they were so shocked by his new appearance that they decided to listen to him anyway. The Tathagata's teachings were so convincing that they believed in the truth of his words, and became the first Buddhist monks, the first members of the Buddhist monastic community (sangha).

In addition to the ascetics, two gazelles listened to the words of the Buddha, images of which can be seen on both sides of the eight-radius Wheel of Teaching (dharmachakra). The eight spokes represent the eight stages of the Noble Path. This image has become a symbol of the Teaching, and can be seen on the roofs of many Buddhist temples.

Siddhartha left the palace at twenty-nine and achieved Enlightenment at thirty-five. He then taught for forty-five years in various countries in north-eastern India. The wealthy merchant Anathapindada gave the monastic community a grove near Shravasti, the capital of the Koshala state. Coming to Koshala, the Victor and his followers often stopped at this place. The Sangha expanded rapidly and, as stated in the sutras, grew to 12,500 people. Of the first monks, the most outstanding disciples of the Buddha were identified: Ananda, Mahamaudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa (“Standard Bearer of the Dharma”), Subhuti and others. A community for women was also created, so that in addition to bhikkhus - monks, bhikkhunis - nuns also appeared. Buddha also did not forget about his family. He visited the Shakya state and was enthusiastically received by his father, wife, Princess Yashodhara, and the people. After listening to the teachings of the Buddha, his son Rahula and Yashodhara accepted monasticism. Buddha's father, Shuddhodana, was left without heirs, and took an oath from Buddha that he would never again accept the only son in the family into the community without parental consent. Buddha promised, and since then this custom has been sacredly observed in Buddhist countries, especially in the Far East.

However, not everything went well. Buddha's cousin, Devadatta, became jealous of his fame. He had been jealous of the prince before, and after his departure he even tried to seduce Yashodhara. At first, Devadatta tried to kill the Buddha: he unleashed an intoxicated elephant on him (which, however, knelt before the Enlightened One), and dropped a heavy stone on him. Since these attempts were unsuccessful, Devadatta pretended to be a disciple of the Buddha and became a monk, trying to quarrel the members of the sangha among themselves (he accused the Victor of insufficiently strict asceticism, protested against the creation of a community of nuns and in every possible way interfered with any of his brother’s undertakings). Finally he was expelled from the community in disgrace. Jatakas (didactic stories about the past lives of the future Buddha) are full of stories about how Devadatta was at enmity with the Bodhisattva in their previous lives.

Time passed, Buddha grew old, and the day of his departure to final nirvana was approaching. This happened at a place called Kushinagara, on the banks of the Nairanjani River, near Benares. Having said goodbye to his disciples and giving them the last instruction - “to be your own guiding light”, rely only on your own strengths and work hard for Liberation, the Buddha assumed the lion pose (lay down on his right side, head to the south and face to the east, placing his right hand under head) and entered into contemplation. First he rose to the fourth level of concentration, then the eighth, then returned to the fourth, and from there he entered the great and eternal nirvana. His last life is over, there will be no more new births and new deaths. The circle of karma was broken and life left the body. From that moment on, the Enlightened One no longer existed in the world, and the world did not exist for him. He entered a state devoid of suffering and filled with supreme bliss that cannot be described or imagined.

Following custom, Buddha's disciples cremated the Teacher's body. After the ceremony, they found sharira in the ashes - special formations in the form of balls remaining after the bodies of saints were burned. Sharira are considered the most important Buddhist relics. The rulers of neighboring states asked to give them part of the ashes of the Awakened One; later, these particles of dust and sharira were placed in special repositories - stupas, cone-shaped religious buildings. They were the predecessors of Tibetan chortens (Mongolian suburgans) and Chinese pagodas. When the relics ran out, sutra texts began to be placed in the stupas, which were revered as the true words of the Buddha. Since the essence of the Buddha is his Teaching, the Dharma, the sutras represented the Dharma as his spiritual body. This replacement (physical body - spiritual body; “relics” - texts; Buddha - Dharma) turned out to be very important for the subsequent history of Buddhism, serving as the source of the extremely important teaching of Mahayana Buddhism about the Dharmakya - the Dharma Body of the Buddha. Buddha lived a fairly long life: at 35 he achieved Enlightenment, and he had another 45 years at his disposal to convey his Word to his disciples and followers. The Dharma (Teaching) of the Buddha is very extensive and contains 84,000 teachings intended for people of different types, with different abilities and capabilities. Thanks to this, everyone can practice Buddhism, regardless of age and social environment. Buddhism has never known a single organization, and there is also no “standard”, “correct” Buddhism. In each country where the Dharma came, Buddhism acquired new features and aspects, flexibly adapting to the mentality and cultural traditions of the place.

Spreading

Formation of the canon

According to legend, after Buddha's nirvana, all the Buddha's disciples gathered, and three of them - Ananda, Mahamaudgalyayana and Mahakasyapa reproduced from memory all the teachings of the Buddha - the "disciplinary charter" of the sangha (Vinaya), the teachings and sermons of the Buddha (Sutras) and his philosophical teaching (Abhidharma ). This is how the Buddhist Canon developed - Tripitaka (in Pali - Tipitaka), the “Three Baskets” Teachings (in Ancient India they wrote on palm leaves that were carried in baskets). In reality, the Pali Tipitaka - the first of the now known versions of the Canon - took shape over several centuries and was first written down in Lanka around 80 BC, more than three hundred years after the Nirvana of the Buddha. So to completely equate the Pali Canon with early Buddhism, and even more so with the teachings of the Enlightened One himself, is very credulous and unscientific.

The first Buddhist texts have reached us in the Pali language - one of the languages ​​transitioning from Sanskrit, the ancient language of the Vedas, to modern Indian languages. It is believed that Pali reflected the phonetic and grammatical norms of the dialect spoken in Magadha. However, all later Indian Buddhist literature, both Mahayana and Hinayana, is written in Sanskrit. It is said that the Buddha himself objected to the translation of his teachings into Sanskrit, and encouraged people to study the Dharma in their native language. However, Buddhists had to return to Sanskrit for two reasons. Firstly, numerous modern Indian languages ​​(Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and many others) appeared and developed at tremendous speed, so it was impossible to translate the Tripitaka into everything. It was much easier to use Sanskrit - the unified language of Indian culture, which all educated people in India knew. Secondly, Buddhism gradually became “Brahmanized”: the intellectual “cream” of the sangha came from the Brahman caste, and they created all Buddhist philosophical literature. Sanskrit was a language that Brahmins absorbed almost with their mother’s milk (to this day there are Brahmin families in India where Sanskrit is considered their native language), so turning to Sanskrit was quite natural.

However, the Tripitaka in Sanskrit, unfortunately, was not preserved: during the Muslim conquest of Bengal (the last stronghold of Buddhism in India) and the Pals in Magadha (Bihar) in the 13th century. Buddhist monasteries were burned, and many libraries and Sanskrit Buddhist texts stored there were destroyed. Modern scholars have a very limited set of Sanskrit Buddhist texts (only fragments of some remain). (True, sometimes Buddhist texts in Sanskrit are found that were previously considered completely lost. For example, in 1937 N. Sankrityayana discovered the original text of the fundamental philosophical text “Abhidharmakosha” by Vasubandhu in the small Tibetan monastery of Ngor. Let's hope for new discoveries).

Now we have access to three versions of the Tripitaka: the Pali Tipitaka, recognized by Theravada followers living in Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, as well as two versions of the Mahayana Tripitaka - in Chinese (the translation of the texts and the formation of the Canon was completed in the 7th century) and Tibetan (the formation of the Canon was completed in the 12th–13th centuries) languages. The Chinese version is authoritative for Buddhists in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, and the Tibetan version is authoritative for residents of Tibet, Mongolia and Russian Buddhists of Kalmykia, Buryatia and Tuva. The Chinese and Tibetan Tripitakas coincide in many ways, and in part complement each other: for example, the Chinese Canon includes much fewer works of tantric literature and later logical-epistemological philosophical treatises than the Tibetan one. In the Chinese Tripitaka one can find earlier Mahayana sutras of the Mahayana than in the Tibetan one. And, of course, in the Chinese Tripitaka there are almost no works of Tibetan authors, and in the Tibetan Kangyur/Tengyur there are almost no works of Chinese ones.

Thus, by 80 BC. (the year of the written recording of the Tipitaka) the first, “pre-canonical” stage of the development of Buddhism ended and the Pali Theravada Canon was finally formed; The first Mahayana sutras also appear around this time.

Schools and directions of Buddhism

Buddhism has never been a single religion, and the Buddhist tradition claims that after the parinirvana of the Buddha it began to divide into different schools and movements. Over the next 300-400 years, about 20 schools (usually speaking about 18) appeared within Buddhism, representing two main groups - the Sthaviravadins (the Pali version of the Theravadins) and the Mahasanghikas; at the turn of our era, they initiated the emergence of the main schools of Buddhism that exist to this day: Hinayana (Theravada) and Mahayana. Some of the eighteen schools differed from each other insignificantly, for example, in their understanding of the issues of the disciplinary code of monks (Vinaya), and between some the differences were very significant.

Purpose of Buddhism

Buddhism is the oldest teaching about the nature of the mind, liberation from suffering and the achievement of timeless happiness. The goal of Buddhism is to achieve Enlightenment, a state of unconditional happiness that lies beyond all concepts and phenomena.

Basics of Buddhism

Buddhism is often called a “religion of experience,” wanting to show that the basis of the Path here is personal practice and testing all teachings for truth. The Buddha urged his disciples not to take anyone's word for it (not even his), and to carefully determine whether they were true before accepting someone's advice. Leaving this world, Buddha said: “I told you everything I knew. Be your own guiding light,” pointing people to their original wisdom and enlightened nature, which are our best teachers.

There are several basic tenets of the Teaching that are common to all Buddhists, regardless of school, direction and country.

1. Refuge in the Three Jewels (Sanskrit meditation, and attempts to follow the Teaching in the flow of everyday life).

   It is best to study the Dharma under the guidance of an experienced mentor, because the volume of teachings is incredibly vast, and figuring out where to start and which texts to choose can be quite difficult. And even if we cope with this task, we will still need comments and explanations from a knowledgeable person. However, independent work is also necessary.

   By reflecting on the information we receive, we gain understanding and can check whether it follows formal logic. When analyzing, we should ask ourselves what is the benefit of these teachings and whether they can be followed in practical life, whether they correspond to the goal that we want to achieve.

   Practice - meditation and application of acquired knowledge in the “field”, that is, in life - helps to translate intellectual understanding into the sphere of experience.

   By following this path, you can quickly eliminate all obscurations and reveal your true nature.

   Notes

   • From the very beginning, Buddhism relied precisely on secular, royal power, and, in fact, was a teaching in opposition to Brahmanism. Later, it was Buddhism that contributed to the emergence of new powerful states in India, such as the empire of Ashoka.
   • Buddhist stupas are one of the earliest monuments of Indian architecture (generally speaking, all early architectural monuments of India are Buddhist). The walled stupa at Sanchi has survived to this day. The texts state that there were one hundred and eight such stupas.
   • The origin of the term "mahasanghika" is not precisely established. Some Buddhist scholars believe that it is connected with the intention of the Mahasanghas to expand the monastic community - the Sangha, by admitting lay people into it (“Maha” means “great”, “sangha” means “community”). Others believe that the followers of this trend represented the majority of the sangha and were “Bolsheviks,” which explains the name.

In our series of articles about Nepal, there are several materials dedicated to Buddhist shrines (for example, stupas), which are important tourist attractions in the country. Many tourists like to visit these places, but Russians know very little about Buddhism, and there is a lot they simply don’t understand. This short series of articles will give you some knowledge about this religion and will make your excursions more interesting.

The main thing about Buddhism

The first thing you need to know is that Buddhism is not a religion in the traditional sense of the word by Russians. It would be more accurate to call Buddhism an ideology.

Buddhists do not believe in the existence of God - the supreme being and creator of the universe. Of course, in Buddhist cosmology one finds “devas,” who are sometimes called “gods.” But this idea is wrong. The Devas did not create this world and do not decide the fate of people. We can say that they are just people, but from an alternative reality.

You ask: “Who is Buddha?” He is just a man, a great teacher and a real historical figure who lived about 2,500 years ago. His name is Siddhartha Gautama, he was the prince of one of the Indian principalities.

Therefore, the question is: “Do you believe in Buddha?” sounds as absurd as “Do you believe in Julius Caesar?” or “Do you believe in Ivan the Terrible?”

Let us dwell in detail on the essence of the concept of Buddha, since most people associate it with Buddha Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama), but this is not entirely true. The word "Buddha" is translated as "enlightened" or "awakened" and it refers to any person who has achieved enlightenment. There were a lot of such living beings, and they were all Buddhas.

Usually it is customary to write only the Great Buddhas with a capital letter, and all others with a small letter. Among the Great Ones there is the Badda of the Present - Shakyamuni and several Great Buddhas of the past. Past Greats according to the canons of different schools from 6 to 21.

Branches of Buddhism

Buddhism has three main branches: Mahayana, Theravada and Vajrayana.

It is correct to call them the word “trend”, and they should not be associated with the division of churches in Christianity, which many do.

The division of churches among Christians (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) is, first of all, an organizational division. Buddhists do not have churches or a single organization at all.

The movements differ in the details of their ideology, the list of revered bohhitsattvas, and their views on the processes of purification of the mind and enlightenment.

The well-known Dalai Lama is not the leader of all Buddhists, and certainly not similar to the Pope. His name is Tenjing Gyamtsho, and he is the main Buddhist teacher for the Tibetans and Mongols. For example, in neighboring China, Buddhists do not recognize him, but they respect him.

Vajrayana is a very small movement, which many consider to be an integral part of Mahayana. Derived from the word “vajra”, which translates as “diamond”. There is a sacred object with this name. It can be seen in Nepal near the stupa in Kathmandu.

Relationships between schools of Buddhism

They have always been extremely peaceful. Buddhism is generally a very peaceful religion that prohibits causing any harm to living beings.

Distribution of schools by region

Theravada (or Mahayana or Lesser Vehicle) is considered the oldest school and is often given the epithet “orthodox Buddhism.” Theravada is common in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The number of Theravada followers is estimated at 100-200 million.

Mahayana (or Greater Vehicle) is much more widespread. This scale of Buddhism is common in Tibet, China, Japan and Korea.

The number of Mahayana followers is much more difficult to estimate, since there is no exact data on the percentage of believers in China. The approximate number of followers is estimated at 500,000,000.

And a separate large branch is the schools of Buddhism in China, many of which are difficult to classify anywhere.

Basic concepts of Buddhist philosophy

There are a lot of them, we will dwell a little on each of them, and in the following articles we will describe them in detail.

Karma. It is a fundamental principle that explains the causes and consequences of all actions and events that happen to us. The principle of karma can be briefly described by the phrase “what goes around comes around.”

Incarnations. The principle of rebirth of some living beings into others. This doctrine is slightly different from the principle of “transmigration of souls”, since it does not recognize the existence of a permanent soul, like, for example, the “atman” of the Hindus. Karma as a result of reincarnation passes from one living being to another.

Four Noble Truths. They were formulated by Shakyamuni Buddha and are the basis of the ideology of Buddhism. Their translation into Russian is very inaccurate, since there is a serious difference in concepts between languages. In one of the following articles we will talk about this in detail.

We will present four noble truths, but we ask you not to take them too literally.

1. Our whole life is dissatisfaction and suffering.

2. The cause of suffering is thirst.

3. The end of suffering is the destruction of thirst.

4. The method is the eightfold path.

As you noticed, these definitions are very general, they can and should be deciphered, which we will do in one of the following articles.

Enlightenment. A state of mind cleared of negative thoughts, emotions and impulses, allowing one to see all things as they truly are and achieve nirvana.

Nirvana. A condition that cannot be described in human language. Therefore, we will not describe it.

Samsara. Or the “wheel of life”. This is the state in which all living beings arrive, except enlightened minds.

In the following articles we will talk about all this in detail. .

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As you know, in modern society there are three world religions: Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. Of these three faiths, the smallest is Buddhism, but the history of its emergence and the development of its traditions and principles is no less interesting than information about Christianity and Islam.
Buddhism is considered one of the most ancient religious and philosophical teachings. However, the term “Buddhism” itself was created in Europe already in the 19th century. Buddhism arose in India, and the founder of this teaching is called Siddhartha Gautama, who later received the name Shakyamuni Buddha. The followers of this teaching called it “Dharma” or “Buddhadharma”.
After observing his mind for several years, Buddha Shakyamuni expressed his idea that the cause of all people’s suffering is themselves. Buddha believed that people are very attached to material values ​​and have a habit of creating illusions. He believed that the way to get rid of these sufferings consisted of meditation and the practice of self-restraint (that is, following certain precepts). In Buddhism, the main thing is the desire to cleanse the mind from fear, selfishness, jealousy, laziness, greed, anger and other states that we are accustomed to calling vices. Buddhism develops such qualities leading to well-being as hard work, kindness, compassion and others.
Prince Gautama Siddhartha is considered the founder and main object of worship in Buddhism. According to legend, at the age of 35 he achieved enlightenment and was able to change not only his life, but also the lives of those who followed him. Gautama's followers gave him the name Buddha.
During its spread, Buddhism absorbed a large number of different beliefs and rituals. Some adherents of Buddhism consider the main thing to be self-knowledge that occurs through meditation, others adhere to the idea that this happens through good deeds, and still others - veneration of the Buddha.
Buddhist meditation occupied a special place in the early teachings. It represents methods of physical and spiritual self-improvement.
All followers of Buddhism rely on doctrines. The first doctrine contains the Four Noble Truths, which contain information about suffering (dukkha): about suffering itself; about the causes of suffering; about the possibility of liberation from suffering; about ways to get rid of suffering. The second doctrine contains the doctrine of karma. There is also the Anatmavada doctrine, the Kshanikavada doctrine and Buddhist cosmology. There are several interpretations of doctrines, they may differ (it depends on the school). There are several schools, but in each of them the path to enlightenment is based on three main components: first, it is a theory about how the world works; secondly, meditation is an integral part; thirdly, a certain way of life, when a certain level of development of consciousness has already been achieved.
All schools of Buddhism are distinguished by their affiliation with one of the “Three Vehicles”. The first is Hinayana (“Little Vehicle”). Indeed, it is based on the Four Noble Truths. People belonging to this school are most often monks. The second school is called Mahayana (“Great Vehicle”). The basis of this school is the teachings on compassion and the emptiness of phenomena. Practitioners of Mahayana observe the Bodhisattva vow, according to which they must think about the welfare of other beings when performing any action. Another school is Tantrayana or "Vehicle of Tantras". The Buddha's teaching on nature is the basis here. The highest achievement in this school is considered final enlightenment. Practitioners of this school are mainly yogis or lay people.
Becoming a follower of Buddhism from birth is impossible, since you need to realize and understand the three jewels: Buddha (the most important jewel; Shakyamuni Buddha or any enlightened one), Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha, the object of teaching is nirvana) and the Sangha (a small group of Buddhists or Buddhists in general ). After realizing these jewels, it was necessary to follow the five Buddhist precepts: abstaining from killing, stealing, debauchery, deception and intoxication. However, non-observance of these commandments was not punished in any way - the Buddha relied on the common sense of his followers, and not on fear. The morals and ethics of Buddhists are based on not committing harm and cultivating a sense of concentration in a person. Meditation helps to understand the connection between spiritual, bodily and psychological processes.
The Buddha's teachings are associated with the so-called middle path, according to which neither asceticism nor hedonism is considered acceptable. Buddha himself explained that his teaching is not a divine revelation, but that he received it through meditative contemplation of his own spirit. The results depend only on the person himself. The Buddha believed that following his teachings must be done through personal experience. The purpose of the Buddha's teaching is to achieve the full development of the human mind.
The concept of God in Buddhism is very unusual, which distinguishes it from most Western religions. Buddhists do not have a single and permanent God; any enlightened person can become a Buddha. However, it is Buddha who is seen as a mentor.
The most important written source of Buddhism is considered to be the complete collection of Buddha's teachings, consisting of 108 volumes. This collection is called “Kanjur”. "Tenjur" - commentaries on the teachings, they consist of 254 volumes.
Life, according to Buddhism, is a manifestation of “streams” of dharmas, which are invisible and intangible. Dharmas constitute the experience of sentient beings. Living beings mean not only humans, but also everything that exists in this world. When the flow of dharmas disintegrates, death occurs, after which the dharmas are formed anew, therefore, the process of reincarnation (transmigration of souls) begins. The course of this process is greatly influenced by karma acquired in a previous life. The never-ending process of reincarnation, during which a person experiences suffering, ends with the achievement of nirvana (a state of peace and bliss, merging with the Buddha).
The concept of "dharma" is very common in Buddhist literature, especially in various philosophical works. Also, the concept of “dharma” also refers to the teachings of the Buddha.
Buddhist teaching is very multifaceted and interesting, first of all, because it is not based on faith. Experience is important in Buddhism, so limiting yourself to only describing the content of Buddhism is not enough. Buddhism in short is a very complex philosophy of life. All the distinctive features of Buddhism can be seen if we compare it with other religions and worldviews. It is important to remember one thing: one should approach this teaching only when the mind is freed from various moral standards.

Buddhism (buddha dharma“The Teaching of the Enlightened One”) is a religious and philosophical teaching (dharma) about spiritual awakening (bodhi), which arose around the 6th century BC. e. in Ancient India. The founder of the teaching is Siddhartha Gautama, who later received the name Shakyamuni Buddha.

The followers of this Teaching themselves called it “Dharma” (Law, Teaching) or “Buddhadharma” (Teaching of the Buddha). The term "Buddhism" was created by Europeans in the 19th century.

The founder of Buddhism is the Indian prince Sidhartha Gautama (aka Shakyamuni, i.e. “sage from the Shakya family”) - Buddha, who lived in the Ganges Valley (India). Having spent a serene childhood and youth in his father’s palace, he, shocked by meetings with a sick man, an old man, the corpse of a deceased person, and an ascetic, went into hermithood, looking for a way to deliver people from suffering. After the “great insight” he became a traveling preacher of the doctrine of spiritual liberation, thereby starting the movement of the wheel of a new world religion.

At the heart of his teaching, Sidhartha Gautama outlined the concept of the Four Noble Truths: about suffering, about the origin and causes of suffering, about the true cessation of suffering and the elimination of its sources, about the true paths to the cessation of suffering. A middle or Eightfold Path to Nirvana has been proposed. This path is directly related to the three types of cultivation of virtues: morality, concentration and wisdom - prajna. The spiritual practice of following these paths leads to the true cessation of suffering and finds its highest point in nirvana.

Buddha came to this world for the sake of beings wandering in the cycle of existence. Of the three types of miraculous manifestations - body, speech and thought - the main one was the miraculous manifestation of speech, which means that he came for the sake of turning the wheel of the Teaching (i.e., preaching).

Teacher Shakyamuni was born into a royal family and spent the first period of his life as a prince. When he realized that all the joys of the cycle of existence are of the nature of suffering, he abandoned life in the palace and began to practice asceticism. Finally, in Bodh Gaya, he showed the path to achieving complete enlightenment, and then in turn performed the three famous turns of the wheel of the Teaching.

According to the views of the Mahayana schools, the Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma three times: this means that he gave three large cycles of teachings that correspond to the different abilities of the students and shows them the path to lasting happiness. From this time forward, all those who live in the post-Buddha era have at their disposal methods by which they can achieve the perfect state of complete Enlightenment.

According to the views of the most ancient unreformed Theravada school, the Buddha turned the Wheel of Teaching only once. During the recitation of the Dhammachakkapavatana Sutta in Varanasi. Theravada attributes further developments to later changes in the original doctrine.

During the first Turning of the Wheel of Dharma:

The Buddha taught mainly the Four Noble Truths and the Law of Karma, which explain our situation in the cycle of existence and affirm the possibility of liberation from all suffering and the causes of suffering. In the first cycle of teachings, which deals mainly with external behavior, the role of a monk or nun corresponds. If we correlate these cycles of teachings with various directions of Buddhism, then we can say that the first cycle of teachings of the Buddha is the basis for the Theravada tradition.

During the second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma:

The Buddha gave teachings on relative and absolute truth, as well as Dependent Origination and Emptiness (Sunyata). He showed that things that appear according to the law of cause and effect (karma) are by their nature free from actual, independent existence. The second cycle of teachings, which deals with the inner attitude, corresponds to the role of a layman or laywoman who takes responsibility for others: for example, for a family or for some social groups. This cycle of Buddha's teachings is the basis for the Great Vehicle (Mahayana).

During the third Turning of the Wheel of Dharma:

Teachings were given about the inherent Enlightened nature of all beings (Buddha Nature), containing all the perfect qualities and primordial wisdom of the Buddha. In this cycle of teachings, the role of the practicing yogi or yogini “attained perfection” corresponds, who combines a pure view of things with constant practice. The third cycle of the Buddha's teachings is the basis for the Great Vehicle (Mahayana) and the Vehicle of Tantra (Vajrayana).

Buddha's Teachings

The Buddha's teaching is called "dharma", which means "law". Buddhists also refer to this concept as the name of their religion. There is currently controversy as to what exactly the Buddha himself said, since there are many scriptures that claim to be the word of the Buddha.

All 84,000 teachings of the Buddha are based on his first sermons - the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Subsequently, Buddhism split into several branches, which clarified and developed various aspects of the teaching. The Buddha himself argued that it is important for every person to recognize the limits of his faith and respect the faith of others:

A person has faith. If he says, “This is my faith,” he adheres to the truth. But with this he cannot move to the absolute conclusion: “Only this is the truth, and everything else is a lie.”

Karma

All Far Eastern religions have a very keen sense that there is a moral law in the Universe. In Hinduism and Buddhism it is called karma; this word translated from Sanskrit means “action”. Any human action - deeds, words and even thoughts is called karma. A good action creates good karma, and an evil action creates bad karma. This karma affects a person's future. The present not only creates the future, it is itself created by the past. Therefore, all the troubles of the present are considered by Buddhists as retribution for misdeeds committed either in this life or in the past, since Buddhists believe in reincarnation, reincarnation. Reincarnation is a doctrine shared by Hindus and Buddhists. According to this understanding, after death a person is reborn in a new body. Thus, what a person is during life is the result of karma. The first two verses of the Dhamma Pada, a beloved Buddhist text, summarize the essence of karma.

If a person speaks and acts with impure thoughts, suffering follows him, like the wheel of a cart follows an animal harnessed to the cart.

What we are today is generated by what we thought yesterday, and our thoughts today give rise to our tomorrow's life; our life is the creation of our thoughts.

If a person speaks and acts with pure thoughts, joy follows him like his own shadow.

This was also well described by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist spiritual teacher:

"Every action we perform leaves an imprint on our thought, and every imprint ultimately leads to consequences. Our thought is like a field, and taking actions is like sowing seeds in this field. Righteous actions sow the seeds of future happiness, and unrighteous actions actions sow the seeds of future suffering. These seeds lie dormant in our thoughts until the time comes for them to ripen, and then they have their effect."

Therefore, it makes no sense to blame others for one’s troubles, “for man himself commits evil, and defiles himself. He also does not commit evil, and he purifies himself. Purity and defilement are interconnected. One cannot “purify” the other. Buddha said that the problem is that “it is easy to do unrighteousness and that which will bring you harm, but it is very difficult to do righteousness and that which will benefit you.”

When talking to ordinary people, the Buddha attached great importance to karma, the fear of a bad birth and the hope of a good birth. He told people how to prepare themselves for a good birth: to live a moral and responsible life, not to seek happiness in temporary material goods, to be kind and selfless towards all people. Buddhist scriptures contain terrifying images of hellish suffering and life as a pitiful ghost. Bad karma has a twofold effect - a person becomes unhappy in this life, loses friends or suffers from feelings of guilt and is reborn in some pitiful form. Good karma leads to peace, quiet, undisturbed sleep, love of friends and good health in this life and to a good rebirth after death, perhaps to a stay in one of the heavenly worlds where life is like heaven. Although the Buddha's teachings may seem very difficult to understand, one of the reasons why people are attracted to them is because of the simplicity of its language and practicality.

Remember: there are six ways to waste time and money: drunkenness, wandering at night, attending fairs and festivals, gambling, bad company and laziness.

There are six reasons why drinking is bad. It takes away money, leads to quarrels and fights, causes illness, leads to disrepute, encourages immoral acts that you later regret, and weakens the mind.

There are six reasons why wandering at night is bad. You may be beaten, your family will be left at home without your protection, you may be robbed, you may be suspected of crimes, rumors about you will be believed, and you will get into all kinds of trouble.

Attending fairs and festivals means that you will spend time thinking about music, instruments, dancing, entertainment, and forget about important things.

Gambling is bad because if you lose you lose money, if you win you make enemies, no one trusts you, your friends despise you, and no one will marry you.

Bad company means that your friends are hooligans, drunkards, liars and criminals, and can lead you down a bad path.

Laziness is bad because you spend your life achieving nothing, earning nothing. A lazy person can always find a reason not to work: “too hot” or “too cold”, “too early” or “too late”, “I’m too hungry” or “I’m too full”.

Although the moral teachings of Buddhism are largely similar to the ethical codes of other religions, the underlying basis is different. Buddhists do not regard their principles as commandments from the Supreme Being that must be obeyed. Rather, they are instructions on how to follow the path of spiritual growth and achieve perfection. Therefore, Buddhists try to understand how a particular rule should be used in a particular situation, and do not obey them blindly. Thus, it is usually considered that lying is bad, but in certain circumstances it may be justified - for example, when it comes to saving a human life.

“Whether an action is good, bad or neutral depends entirely on the thought that moves it. Good actions come from good thoughts, bad actions from bad thoughts, and neutral actions from neutral thoughts.” / Geshe Kelsang Giatso. "Introduction to Buddhism"

Thus, whether a person follows instructions or not, the most important thing is what motives dictated this or that action, selfish or selfless. For spiritual growth, it is not just the actions themselves that are important, but the reasons why you do them.

Sermon in Deer Park

In the first sermon preached after his enlightenment, the Buddha revealed to his former companions what he had learned and which later formed the center of his teaching. However, it must be remembered that this sermon was delivered to five ascetic monks, experienced in religious practice, who were prepared to understand and accept his words. As noted above, sermons addressed to ordinary people were much simpler. In his Deer Park sermon, the Buddha compared himself to a doctor whose work consists of four stages:

diagnose the disease;

determine the cause of the disease;

find a treatment path;

prescribe medicine.

The Buddha told the ascetics that he was convinced from experience that in life both the pursuit of pleasure and excessive asceticism bring equal harm. A moderate life, the Middle Way, led him to insight, peace and enlightenment. Following this path allowed him to see the Four Truths clearly.

Four Noble Truths

First truth

The first truth is that life as most creatures know it is in itself incomplete. Life is dukkha, which is usually translated as suffering. “Here is the holy truth about suffering: birth is suffering, old age is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with the unlovable is suffering, separation from the dear is suffering, failure to achieve what you want is suffering.”

Buddhists distinguish three forms of suffering:

1. Ordinary, simple suffering, like the above. The more thoughtful and sensitive a person is, the more aware he is of the suffering that underlies everything, from animals that prey on each other to humans who humiliate their own kind.
2. The second type of suffering comes from the impermanence of life. Even beautiful things perish, loved ones die, and sometimes we change so much that the things that once gave us pleasure no longer do. Therefore, even people who at first glance have all the available goods are actually unhappy.
3. The third form of suffering is subtler. This is the feeling that life always brings disappointment, dissatisfaction, disharmony and incompleteness. Life is mixed up, like a dislocated joint that hurts every time you move.

When a person finally realizes that life is dukkha, the desire to be free from suffering comes to him.

Second truth

The second truth is that the cause of suffering is tanha, our craving or selfish desires. We want, we want, we want... endlessly. These desires come from ignorance. The reason for such desires is that we are blinded. We think that happiness can be found through external sources. “Here is the Noble Truth about the origin of suffering: our thirst leads to the renewal of existence, is accompanied by pleasure and greed, looking for pleasure here and there, in other words, it is a thirst for sensory experiences, a thirst for eternal life, a thirst for oblivion.”

The Buddha identified six basic misconceptions inherent in people:

1. Ignorance- misunderstanding of the nature of cyclic existence and the law of cause and effect.
2. Greed- the desire to satisfy sensory needs, excessive attachment to objects and people whom we find beautiful.
3. Anger- the biggest obstacle on the path to enlightenment, because it destroys the state of harmony both in the human soul and in the world.
4. Pride- feeling of superiority over others.
5. Doubt- insufficient faith in the cyclical nature of existence and karma, which becomes an obstacle on the path to enlightenment.
6. Doctrine of Error- firm adherence to ideas that bring suffering to oneself and others

Third truth

By identifying the cause of suffering and getting rid of it, we can stop suffering ourselves. “Here is the Noble Truth of the cessation of suffering: non-remaining disappearance and cessation, annihilation, withdrawal and renunciation of thirst.”

The Buddha taught that because he could do this, we too can overcome suffering, get rid of craving and ignorance. In order to achieve this, we need to give up craving, give up delusions. No happiness is possible until we are freed from the slavery of desires. We are sad because we strive for things that we do not have. And thus we become slaves to these things. The state of absolute inner peace that a person achieves after overcoming the power of thirst, ignorance and suffering is called nirvana by Buddhists. It is often said that the state of nirvana cannot be described, but can only be experienced - talking about it is like talking to a blind person about paints. By the character of the Buddha, we can say that a person who has achieved nirvana remains alive, happy, energetic, is never in apathy or boredom, always knows how to do the right thing, still feels the joys and sufferings of other people, but is not subject to them himself.

The Fourth Truth or the Eightfold Path

The fourth truth is a practical method by which one can combat craving and ignorance and end suffering. There is a whole way of life called the Middle Path, or the Noble Eightfold Path. By following this path of self-discipline, we can overcome our selfishness and become selfless people who live for the benefit of others. “This is the Noble Truth about how to get rid of suffering: This is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of righteous knowledge, righteous intentions, righteous speech, righteous actions, righteous lifestyle, righteous diligence, righteous thoughts and righteous contemplation.”

This lifestyle can be boiled down to exercise in three areas:

• Moral discipline
• Contemplation
• Wisdom

Moral discipline is the determination to get rid of all bad actions and to calm the cravings in the mind. Having overcome this, it will be easier for us to deepen into contemplation, leading to the achievement of inner peace. And when the mind is at peace, we can overcome our ignorance.

1. Righteous knowledge

Since suffering comes from wrong philosophy of life, salvation begins with righteous knowledge. This means that we must accept the Buddha's teachings - his understanding of human life and the Four Noble Truths. Without accepting the essence of the teaching, there is no point in following the Path.

2. Righteous Intentions

We must acquire the right attitude towards life, seeing our goal as enlightenment and selfless love for all things. In Buddhist ethics, actions are judged by intentions.

3. Righteous speech

Our speech is a reflection of character and the path to changing it. With words we can insult or, conversely, help someone. Unrighteous speech is lying, gossip, cursing and idle talk. In life, we hurt people much more often with our thoughtless words than with any other actions. Righteous speech includes helpful advice, words of comfort and encouragement, etc. The Buddha often emphasized the value of silence in cases where there is nothing useful to say.

4. Righteous actions

By changing our actions, we must first become selfless and merciful. This is revealed in the Five Precepts, the moral code of Buddhism.

1. The first commandment is don't kill not only people, but also other living beings. Therefore, most Buddhists are vegetarians.
2. Second - don't steal, because it disrupts the community that everyone is a part of.
3. Third - abstain from sexual immorality. Buddha considered sexual desire to be the most powerful and uncontrollable. Therefore, the Buddha's attitude towards women is: "Is she old? Treat her like a mother. Is she honorable? Consider her a sister. Is she of low rank? Treat her like a younger sister. Is she a child? Treat her with respect and courtesy." .
4. Fourth - avoid lying. A Buddhist is devoted to the truth, since a lie betrays the liar and other people and causes suffering.
5. Fifth - abstinence from alcohol and drugs. The Buddhist tries to achieve control over the desires of his body, mind and feelings, and alcohol and drugs interfere with this.

In addition to prohibitions, Buddhism encourages virtues - joy in simple life, renunciation of material worries, love and compassion for all things, tolerance.

5. Righteous lifestyle

Buddha spoke about how to live without harming others. A person's occupation should not prevent him from observing a moral code. Therefore, the Buddha condemned the slave trade, prostitution, the manufacture of weapons and intoxicants such as drugs and alcohol. It is necessary to look for activities that would serve the benefit of other people.

6. Righteous Zeal

Spiritual growth begins with a person becoming aware of both the good and bad sides of his character. To follow the path of spiritual improvement, a person must inevitably make efforts, not allowing new bad thoughts to enter his soul, driving out existing evil from there, cultivating good thoughts in himself and improving. This requires patience and persistence.

7. Righteous thoughts

“What we are comes from what we think.” Therefore, it is important to be able to subjugate your thoughts. The human mind should not obey any random thoughts and reasoning. Therefore, Buddhists make a lot of effort to become more aware of themselves - their body, sensations, feelings and thoughts, which helps develop self-control.

8. Righteous Contemplation

Righteous contemplation can be achieved through meditation. The purpose of meditation is to bring the spirit into a state where it can perceive truth and achieve wisdom.

What is meditation

We usually find it difficult to control our thinking. It seems as if our thought is like a balloon in the wind - external circumstances turn it in different directions. If everything goes well, we have happy thoughts; as soon as circumstances change for the worse, thoughts become sad. For example, if we get what we want, some new thing or a new friend, we rejoice and only think about it; but since we cannot have everything we want, and since we have to lose what we now enjoy, this mental attachment only causes us pain. On the other hand, if we don't get what we want or if we lose what we love, we feel frustrated and despairing. Such mood changes are due to the fact that we are too attached to the external situation. We are like children who build a sandcastle and are happy about it, and then are sad when it is carried away by the tide. By practicing meditation, we create inner space and clarity that allows us to control our thoughts regardless of external circumstances. Gradually we achieve inner balance; our consciousness becomes calm and happy, not knowing fluctuations between the extremes of delight and despair. By constantly practicing meditation, we will be able to eradicate from our consciousness those delusions that are the cause of all our troubles and suffering. In this way we will achieve permanent inner peace, nirvana. Then our successive lives will be filled only with peace and happiness.

Geshe Kelsang Giatso

The teachings of Buddhism. Basic Concepts

1. Twelve Nidanas

According to tradition, the discovery of the “Chain of Causality” (twelve Nidanas) marked the achievement of illumination by Gotama. The problem that had tormented him for many years found a solution. Thinking from cause to cause, Gotama came to the source of evil:

1. Existence is suffering, for it contains old age, death and a thousand sufferings.
2. I suffer because I was born.
3. I was born because I belong to the world of existence.
4. I am born because I harbor existence within me.
5. I feed it because I have desires.
6. I have desires because I have feelings.
7. I feel because I am in contact with the outside world.
8. This contact is produced by the action of my six senses.
9. My feelings manifest themselves because, being a person, I oppose myself to the impersonal.
10. I am a personality, because I have a consciousness imbued with the consciousness of this personality.
11. This consciousness was created as a result of my previous existences.
12. These existences darkened my consciousness, for I did not know.

It is customary to list this duodecimal formula in reverse order:

1. Avidya (obscurity, ignorance)
2. Samsara (karma)
3. Vizhnana (consciousness)
4. Kama - rupa (form, sensual and non-sensual)
5. Shad-ayatana (six transcendental bases of senses)
6. Sparsha (contact)
7. Vedana (feeling)
8. Trishna (thirst, lust)
9. Upadana (attraction, attachments)
10. Bhava (being)
11. Jati (birth)
12. Jara (old age, death)

So, the source and root cause of all the disasters of mankind is in darkness, in ignorance. Hence Gotama’s vivid definitions and condemnations of ignorance. He argued that ignorance is the greatest crime, for it is the cause of all human suffering, causing us to value what is not worthy of being valuable, to suffer where there should be no suffering, and, mistaking illusion for reality, to spend our lives in pursuit of worthless things. values, neglecting what is actually most valuable - knowledge of the secrets of human existence and fate. The light that could dispel this darkness and relieve suffering was revealed by Gotama as the knowledge of the four noble truths:

2. Four Noble Truths of Buddhism:

1. There is suffering
2. Suffering has a reason
3. There is a cessation of suffering
4. There is a way to end suffering

3. Eightfold Path

1. Correct Understanding (Free from Superstition and Misconception)
2. Right thought (sublime and befitting a sage)
3. Correct speech (benevolent, sincere, truthful)
4. Right actions (peaceful, honest, pure)
5. Right effort (self-training, self-control)
6. Right Conduct (Not Causing Suffering)
7. Right Attention (Active Alertness of Mind)
8. Right Concentration (deep meditation on the essence of life)

Gotama Buddha also indicated Ten great obstacles called fetters:

1. Illusion of personality
2. Doubt
3. Superstition
4. Bodily passions
5. Hatred
6. Earth connection
7. Desire for pleasure and tranquility
8. Pride
9. Complacency
10. Ignorance

4. Five commandments for the laity

1. Dont kill
2. Don't steal
3. Don't commit adultery
4. Do not lie
5. Avoid intoxicating drinks

Terms

Dharma- Buddha's Teachings. The word "dharma" has many meanings and is literally translated as "that which holds or supports" (from the root dhr - "to hold"), and is usually translated into Russian as "law", its meaning is often given as "the universal law of existence" . Moreover, the Buddha's Teachings correspond to Buddha-Dharma, a term that most Buddhists prefer to "Buddhism."

Sangha- in a broad sense, “a community of Buddhists.” Consists of practitioners who have not yet achieved awareness of the true nature of their mind. In a narrow sense, for example when taking Refuge, it is recommended to understand Sangha as the Liberated Sangha, a community of practitioners freed from the illusion of “ego” beings.

Three Jewels is the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, which are the common Refuge of all Buddhists throughout the world.

Refuge- Among the Three Jewels, the real refuge is dharma, because only by realizing it in yourself can you be freed from the suffering of the cycle of existence. Therefore, the Dharma is the actual refuge, the Buddha is the teacher who shows you the path to realization, and the Sangha is the spiritual community that consists of your fellow travelers.

Karma(Sanskrit) - physically - action; metaphysically - the law of cause and effect or Moral Causality. Each person constantly creates his own destiny, and all his abilities and powers are nothing more than the results of his previous actions and at the same time - the reasons for his future destiny.

Nirvana- a state of absolute spiritual achievement that destroys the cause-and-effect relationship of karmic existence. A state in which there is no more suffering.

Madhyamika- This is the teaching of the middle. The idea of ​​"madhyama pratipada", the Middle Path, free from two extremes (luxury and grueling austerity) was expressed by the Buddha himself. In the philosophical aspect, the middle is freedom from both nihilism (the idea that no phenomenon has ontological status) and eternalism (the belief in the existence of an absolute God and the like). The main statement of Madhyamika comes down to the fact that everything (all dharmas) is “empty,” that is, devoid of “own nature” (svabhava), their existence is the result of the action of the cause-and-effect law. Outside of cause and effect there is nothing, only Emptiness, shunyata. This is the “middle view”.

Paramita- literal translation from Sanskrit: “that by which the other shore is reached”, or “that which transports to the other shore” - the ability, the power through which Enlightenment is achieved. Paramita is the most important category of the philosophy of Mahayana Buddhism. The purpose of the paramitas is to benefit all living beings, filling them with immeasurably deep knowledge, so that thoughts are not attached to dharmas of any kind; for the correct vision of the essence of samsara and nirvana, identifying the treasures of the wonderful Law; in order to be filled with the knowledge and wisdom of unlimited liberation, knowledge that correctly distinguishes between the world of Law and the world of living beings. The main meaning of the paramitas is to comprehend that Samsara and Nirvana are identical.

Different schools of Buddhism use lists of six and ten paramitas:

1. Generosity (given)- an action that opens any situation. Generosity can be practiced at the level of material things, strength and joy, education, etc., but the best kind of generosity is to give others development and knowledge about the nature of mind, that is, Dharma, making them independent at the highest level;
2. Ethics (shilā)- means leading a meaningful life that is useful for oneself and others. It is practical to stick to what is meaningful and avoid negativity at the level of body, speech and mind;
3. Patience (ksanti)- do not lose what has been accumulated positive in the fire of anger. This does not mean turning the other cheek - it means acting effectively, but without anger;
4. Diligence (virya)- diligence, working hard without losing the fresh joy of effort. Only by investing extra strength in something without despondency and laziness, we gain access to special qualities and energies and are able to effectively move towards the goal;
5. Meditation (dhyana)- what makes life truly valuable. With the help of meditations Shinei and Lhatong (Sanskrit: Shamatha and Vipashyana), as in a laboratory, the skill of working with the mind is formed, a distance to appearing and disappearing thoughts and feelings and a deep vision of its nature are developed;
6. Wisdom (prajnaparamita)- knowledge of the true nature of the mind "openness, clarity and limitlessness." True spontaneous wisdom is not a lot of ideas, but an intuitive understanding of everything. Here is the key to perfection in all paramitas. It is this understanding that subject, object and action are of the same nature that makes all the other five paramitas liberating.

Sometimes, speaking about the ten Liberating Actions, they add four more arising from the sixth parmita:

1. Methods
2. Wishes
3. Primordial Wisdom

Bodhichitta- the desire to achieve Buddhahood for the benefit of all living beings. Bodhichitta is the unity of love and compassion. Compassion is the desire to relieve all living beings from suffering, and love is the desire for them all to be happy. Thus, bodhichitta is a state of mind in which you not only wish for the happiness of all sentient beings, but also develop the strength and willingness to care for them. After all, even if we love all beings and have compassion for them, but do nothing practically, then there will be no real benefit from us. Therefore, in addition to love and compassion, we must cultivate within ourselves a strong determination to do everything in our power to relieve other beings from suffering. But these three points are not enough to develop bodhichitta. Wisdom is needed.

Bodhisattva- this is a person in whose consciousness Bodhichitta arose and blossomed, who has reached the highest degrees of spirituality and made a vow not to go into nirvana while there is at least one living being in need of salvation. The bodhisattva state can and should be achieved by every person. This concept plays a central role in Mahayana; achieving the state of Bodhisattva is considered not only possible for any person, but also necessary, since every living being has the seeds of bodhichitta.

Three Qualities of Life

All composite things are impermanent ( anicca), unsatisfactory ( dukkha), and selfless ( anatta). These three aspects are called the Three Qualities or the Three Signs of Life because all composite things are governed by these three.

Aniccia means temporary, impermanent, changeable. Everything that arises is subject to destruction. In fact, nothing remains the same for the next two moments. Everything is subject to constant change. The three phases of arising, existence and cessation can be found in all composite things; everything tends to come to an end. That is why it is important to understand with your heart the words of the Buddha: "Temporality is a conditioned thing. Pursue your goal with diligence."

Dukkha means suffering, discontent, dissatisfaction, something difficult to bear, etc. This is because everything that is composite is changeable and ultimately brings suffering to those involved. Think about illness (as opposed to our idea of ​​health), about lost loved ones or loved ones, or about facing adversity. Nothing conditional is worth clinging to, because by doing so we only bring disaster closer.

Anatta means selflessness, no-self, no-ego, etc. By anatta is meant the fact that neither in ourselves nor in anyone else the essence residing in the center of the heart is the essence (sunnata) as such. At the same time, anatta does not only mean the absence of “I,” although its comprehension leads to this. Through the illusion of the existence of the "I" (soul or unchanging personality) and the inevitably accompanying idea of ​​"I", misconceptions arise, which are expressed in such aspects as pride, arrogance, greed, aggression, violence and enmity.

Although we say that this body and mind are ours, this is not true. We cannot keep our bodies healthy, young and attractive all the time. We cannot constantly give our thoughts a positive direction while our mind is in an unhappy or negative state (which in itself proves that thinking cannot be completely under our control).

If there is no permanent "I" or self, then there are only physical and mental processes (nama-rupa), which in a complex relationship with conditioning and interdependence form our existence. All this forms the khandhas, or (five) groups, which the unenlightened person considers as feelings (vedana), six types of sensory sensations (sanna), volitional structures (sankharas) and other types of consciousness (vinnana).

Due to misunderstanding of the interaction of these groups, man thinks that there is a "I" or soul, and he attributes the unknown to an unknown, otherworldly, unknown force, which he also must serve in order to ensure a safe existence. As a result, an ignorant person is constantly in a state of tension between his desires and passions, his ignorance and ideas about reality. One who understands that the idea of ​​"I" is an illusion can free himself from suffering. This can be achieved by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which promotes the moral, intellectual and spiritual development of the practitioner.

Four sublime states of mind

Four sublime states of mind - brahmavihara[in Pali (the language spoken by the Buddha and in which his teachings are recorded)] are the four qualities of the heart which, when developed to perfection, elevate a person to the highest spiritual level. They are:

Metta, which can be translated as loving-kindness, all-encompassing love, benevolence, selfless universal and boundless love. Metta indicates a quality of mind that has the goal of achieving happiness for others. The direct consequences of metta are: virtue, freedom from irritability and agitation, peace within us and in relationships with the outside world. To do this, one must develop metta towards all living beings, including the smallest. Metta should not be confused with sensual and selective love, although metta has much in common with the love of a mother for her only child.

Karuna, which means compassion. The quality of karuna is the desire to free others from suffering. In this sense, compassion is something completely different from pity. It leads to generosity and a desire to help others through word and action. Karuna plays an important role in the Teachings of the Buddha, which is also called the Teachings of Wisdom and Compassion. It was the Buddha's deep compassion that led him to decide to explain the Dharma to all sentient beings. Love and Compassion are the two cornerstones of Dharma practice, which is why Buddhism is sometimes called a religion of peace.

Mudita is the sympathetic joy we feel when we see or hear about the happiness and well-being of others, it is joy at the success of others without a hint of envy. Through compassionate joy we develop the qualities of the heart such as happiness and morality.

Upekkha or equanimity indicates a calm, steady and stable state of mind. It is especially evident when faced with misfortune and failure. Some people face any situation with equanimity with equal courage, without worry or despair. If they learn about someone's failure, they feel neither regret nor joy. Calmly and impartially, they treat everyone equally, in any situation. Regular reflection on actions (karma) and their results (vipaka) destroys bias and selectivity, leading to the realization that everyone is the master and heir of his own actions. In this way, an understanding arises of what is good and what is bad, what is wholesome and what is unwholesome, and ultimately our actions will become controlled, leading to goodness and further to the highest degree of liberating wisdom. Daily meditation to develop these Four Higher States of Mind will make them habitual and thus lead to inner stability and freedom from hindrances and obstacles.

Sacred Texts: Tipitaka (Tripitaka)

The canonical literature is known by the Pali name Tipitaka(Sanskrit - Tripitaka), which literally means “triple basket” and is usually translated as: “Three baskets of the law (teaching).” Apparently, the texts, originally written on palm leaves, were once kept in wicker baskets.

The most fully preserved Pali version of the Tipitaka is that of the Theravadin school, considered by many to be the most orthodox school of Buddhism. According to legend, having gathered together after the death of Buddha in the city of Rajagriha, the monks listened to messages from Shakyamuni’s closest disciples about the main provisions of the teaching. Upali spoke about the rules of conduct for monks established by the Buddha, Ananda - about the teachings of the founder of the new religion, expressed in the form of parables and conversations, Kashyapa - about the philosophical reflections of the teacher. This legend explains the division of the Tipitaka into three main parts - the Vinaya Pitaka ("basket of the statute"), the Sutta Pitaka ("basket of teachings") and the Abhidammapitaka ("basket of interpretation of the teachings", or "basket of pure knowledge"). In various directions of Buddhism, there are also other principles for grouping texts united by the Tipitaka: five nikayas (collections), nine angas (parts), etc.

The legends included in the now known text of the Pali Tipitaka developed over several centuries and were initially transmitted orally. The recording of these legends was made for the first time only in the 1st century BC. e. in Ceylon. Naturally, only much later copies have reached us, and various schools and movements subsequently changed many places in the Tipitaka texts. Therefore, in 1871, a special Buddhist council was convened in Mandalay (Burma), at which 2,400 monks, by collating various lists and translations, developed a unified text of the Tipitaka. This text was then carved onto 729 marble slabs, each of which was placed in a separate miniature peaked temple. This is how a kind of library town was created, a repository of the canon - Kutodo, a place now revered by all Buddhists of the world.

Vinaya-Pitaka

The earliest part of the Pali Tipitaka is Vinaya-Pitaka. Most often it is divided into three sections (Sutta-vibhanga, Khandhaka and Parivara).

The Sutta Vibhanga contains an exposition and explanation of the Patimokkha Sutta, which is the core of the Vinaya Pitaka. The Patimokkha Sutta is a list of offenses committed by monks and nuns of the Buddhist community, and the punishments that follow these offenses.

In the part of the Sutta-vibhanga commenting on the Patimokkha Sutta, the rules of conduct for monks are included in lengthy stories about what events were the reason for the Buddha to establish this or that rule. This part begins with a story about how, during his wanderings to spread the teachings, the Buddha came to the village of Kalandaka near Vaisali and with his preaching persuaded a certain Sudinna, the son of a rich moneylender, to enter monasticism. At this time, famine broke out in the country. Sudinna decided to go to Vaisali, where he had many wealthy relatives, to receive abundant alms. His mother learned of his coming and persuaded Sudinna's wife to meet him and ask him to give her a son. Sudinna gave in to her request. Returning to the community, he repented and reported his sin to his brothers. The Buddha severely reprimanded Sudinna and established a rule according to which a monk guilty of sexual intemperance commits the sin of the first section of the Patimokkha Sutta (parajika) and becomes unworthy to be a monk.

The establishment of other rules of the Patimokkha Sutta is explained in the same manner. For each rule, a detailed analysis of possible variants of the offense is given, including circumstances that exempt the offender from punishment. Thus, examining the case when the monk Udain touched the body of a Brahmin woman who entered his room, the commentator raises the questions: “was the contact intentional or accidental,” “what is contact in reality,” etc. And then he proves that contacts with the mother , sister and daughter are not sins.

Thus, in the Sutta-vibhanga, only the most important offenses are commented on in detail, while the rest of the rules (and there are 277 or 250 of them in different versions) are explained either much more briefly or completely omitted from the explanations. The requirements for monks and nuns are somewhat different.

The next part of the Vinaya Pitaka is called Khandhaka. It is divided into two books - Mahavagga and Kullavagga. It is impossible to grasp a clear principle in this division. Both books are devoted to the history of the development of the Buddhist monastic community, starting from the moment Gautama achieved his “enlightenment.” Thus, in Khandhaka we encounter individual elements of the Buddha's biography. The Khandhaka describes in detail the main ceremonies and rituals in the community, the rules of behavior of the monks during the day, the procedure for holding traditional meetings known as "uposatha", the behavior of the community during the dry season and during the rainy season. Precise rules were established regarding the cutting, sewing and dyeing of monastic robes from materials donated by the laity.

Khandhaka's analysis makes it possible to see how the Buddhist community progressed in its development from the strictest asceticism characteristic of many religious systems of Ancient India to that completely comfortable and far from mortification way of life that characterizes the Buddhist monasteries of the first centuries of our era and subsequent times. Particularly characteristic in this regard is the story of the Buddha’s evil cousin Devadatta, given in the seventh chapter of Kullavagga. Devadatta joined the community after the Buddha visited his hometown. However, he was soon expelled from it for leading the monks who were sowing unrest in the community. Then he decided to kill Buddha. He committed three assassination attempts: he sent a gang of hired thugs, threw a huge stone from a mountain and released a mad elephant onto Rajagriha Street, where Buddha was passing. But Buddha remained unharmed. Even the elephant humbly bowed its knees before him at one glance from Buddha. Then Devadatta and his five friends demanded that the following rules, mandatory for all monks, be introduced into the community: 1) live only in the forests, 2) eat only alms, 3) dress only in rags, 4) never spend the night under a roof, 5) never eat fish or meat. Buddha rejected these demands. The legend of Devadatta clearly illustrates the evolution of the Buddhist community from extreme asceticism to a more lay-oriented life. The last part of the Vinaya Pitaka - Parivar, is composed in the form of questions and answers, briefly setting out some of the provisions of the previous parts of the Vinaya Pitaka. It is generally believed that it was included in the canon to make it easier for monks to remember the many rules and prohibitions.

Sutta Pitaka

The second, most important and extensive section of the Tipitaka is Sutta Pitaka. If the Vinaya Pitaka is placed in Kuthodo on 111 marble slabs, then the Sutta Pitaka is allocated 410 slabs.

The Sutta Pitaka consists of five collections (pikayas) presenting the teachings of Buddhism in the form of parables and conversations attributed to the Buddha and his closest disciples. In addition, it includes other works of a very diverse nature - collections of legends and aphorisms, poems, commentaries, etc.

The first collection - Digha Nikaya ("collection of lengthy teachings") consists of 34 suttas (poetic sayings), each of which is devoted to a briefly formulated position of the teaching, included in a detailed episode from the biography of the Buddha. Thus, the Brahmajala Sutta recounts the story of a dispute between an ascetic and his disciple who praised the Buddha. This dispute is used to prove the superiority of Buddhism over Brahmanism and popular superstitious beliefs. Samannaphalasutta confronts the doctrines of the six heretical teachers with the basic tenets of Buddhism and shows the benefits of joining the Buddhist monastic community. A number of suttas sharply criticize the teaching of the Brahmans that their very birth in a given “varna” (the ancient name of castes) gives them some privileges in salvation. Much attention is paid to criticism of asceticism as a method of salvation; it is contrasted with love, compassion, equanimity and absence of envy. Along with the myths about the origin of the world, the Digha Nikaya also includes such a completely realistic story as the Mahaparinibbanasutta, which tells about the last days of the Buddha’s earthly life, the circumstances of his death, the burning of his body and the division of the remains after the burning. It is here that the Buddha's last words, widely quoted in other texts, are given. “Everything that exists is doomed to destruction, so strive tirelessly for salvation.”

The second collection of Sutta Pitaka - Majjhima Nikaya ("collection of middle teachings") contains 152 suttas, largely repeating the content of the first collection, but more laconic in style. There is an assumption that both first collections of the Sutta Pitaka were the result of recording two directions of Buddhism, each having its own traditions and characteristics in the oral transmission of traditions.

The third and fourth collections - the Samyutta Nikaya ("collection of related teachings") and the Anguttara Nikaya ("collection of teachings, one number larger") - are undoubtedly of later origin than the first two collections of the Sutta Pitaka. The Anguttara Nikaya, which is the largest collection of suttas in the Sutta Pitaka (there are more than 2300 of them), arranges them in a specific order based on the numerical principle: three treasures of salvation, four “noble truths”, five disciple virtues, eight members of the “noble paths of salvation", ten sins and ten virtues, etc.

The fifth collection of the Sutta Pitaka -Khuddaka Nikaya ("collection of short teachings") consists of 15 works, very diverse in nature, created, as a rule, later than most of the above parts of the Tipitaka.

The first book of Khuddaka-nikaya Khudaka-patha ("collection of short aphorisms") contains, as it were, a set of basic provisions of the teaching of Buddhism on salvation, the "saranagaman" formula, about the Buddha, teaching and community as the three conditions of salvation; 10 requirements for a monk; 10 questions for those entering the community, etc. Udana is a collection of short lyrical poems on religious topics, which the Buddha probably said about certain events in his life. Very interesting are the collections of chants of monks and nuns (Thera-gatha and Theri-gatha) - the oldest texts of the canon, vividly depicting the detachment from life required by early Buddhism to stop rebirth - suffering. The Buddhavamsa contains legends about 24 Buddhas, during whose appearances Gautama Buddha performed an infinite number of rebirths necessary to develop the virtues characteristic of a bodhisattva.

Jataka is a collection of stories (jatakas) about 550 different events that occurred during the previous rebirths of the Buddha, before his appearance on earth in the form of Gautama.

Sutta-nipata deals with a number of episodes from the life of the Buddha, and mainly with moral themes in his teaching.

Finally, the Dhammapada ("path of teaching") is perhaps the most famous part of the canon, not only because it most systematically and consistently sets out the basic tenets of the doctrine of early Buddhism, but also because it does so in a laconic, figurative, impressive form. Numerous variants of this monument have been discovered, indicating that it went through a long history of its formation. All suttas are imbued with the idea of ​​the doom of everything that exists, of suffering and evil as the main qualities of all existence, of the humility of one’s desires and passions, of overcoming attachment to everything earthly as the only path to salvation. The Dhammapada is a striking example of Buddhism's use of emotional means to spread its teachings.

Abhidamma Pitaka

The third and final section of the Tipitaka is Abhidamma Pitaka. Her texts are placed in Kutodo on 208 slabs. It consists of seven sections, which is why it is sometimes also called Sattapakarana (Seven Treatises). The most important of them is the first - Dhammasangani, i.e. "enumeration of dhammas." The word "dhamma" in Pali, or "dharma" in Sanskrit, has several meanings in Buddhist literature. It is often used to express the concepts of “law” and “teaching”. Often it refers to the very doctrine of Buddhism. Finally, it is found, especially in the Abhidamma literature, in a very special meaning - the primary particle of spiritual existence, the smallest particle of consciousness, “the carrier of the element of the psyche.”

The Dhammasangani sets out the Buddhist interpretation of the entire sensory world as a product of the consciousness of man himself. The totality of ideas created by man himself is, according to Buddhism, the world we perceive. Dhammas are the smallest elements of our consciousness, which, instantly manifesting themselves, give in their combinations that illusion which is called the subject, together with everything that he is conscious of. The treatise provides a detailed listing and analysis of the dhammas.

The second treatise of the Abhidamma Pitaka - Vibhanga - deals with the same problems as the first.

The third treatise - Kattha-vatthu - reflects the debates that took place between Buddhist scholastics during the formation of the philosophical foundations of this religion.

The treatise Puggala-pañyatti is devoted to those steps, or categories of states, that a living being must go through on the way to the cessation of the disturbance of dhammas, that is, to non-existence, nirvana, salvation. Treatise Dhatukattha examines these same issues, paying special attention to the field of psychology. Yamaka examines problems of logic. Patthana is a category of causality, of course, also from the standpoint of the Buddhist worldview.

Non-canonical literature

Non-canonical literature includes biographies of the Buddha. All of them are of relatively late origin, i.e. they were compiled no earlier than the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e. They rely on fragmentary biographical information drawn from various works of canonical literature. But this information is closely intertwined with various myths and legends, the purpose of which is to show the divinity of Gautama Buddha.

The most famous are the following five biographies: Mahavastu, probably written in the 2nd century. n. e. and included by some schools in the Vinaya Pitaka; Lalitavistara, created by the Sarvastivadin school in the 11th-111th centuries. n. e.; Buddhacharita, attributed to Ashvaghosha, a famous Buddhist philosopher and poet, contemporary of the Kushan king Kanishka (1st-2nd centuries AD); Nidanakatha, which forms the introductory part of the Mahayana edition of the Jataka; Abhinishkramanasutra, attributed to Dharmagupta and known only from Chinese translations.

Mahavastu is an extensive work (almost one and a half thousand pages of printed text), in which individual historical facts are interspersed with numerous legends. The first volume describes in detail hell with all its torments prepared for sinners, and then successively reveals the four stages (karya) that a person must go through in order to achieve Buddhahood. These stages are given in connection with showing the ascent through them of the future Buddha Gautama during his countless previous rebirths with extensive borrowings from the Jatakas. The presentation is suddenly interrupted by episodes from the preaching life of Shakyamuni, consideration of the origin of the Shakiyas and Kolyas, to which Gautama’s parents belonged, a description of the origin of the world and its first inhabitants, etc. The second and third volumes of Mahavastu contain a more systematically presented earthly biography of Gautama - from choice bodhisattva of time, place, continent and family for his earthly appearance before birth, childhood, marriage, achievement of the “great insight” and individual episodes of preaching activity. At this point Mahavastu ends. Buddha Mahavastu is a supernatural being who constantly performs miracles, and just faith in him can bring salvation.

Nidanakatha divides the history of the Buddha into a “remote era,” describing his previous rebirths up to the appearance of Tushita in heaven, from where he had already descended to earth, and the “intermediate” and “subsequent eras,” dedicated to his earthly biography, which also does not reach its final stages. stages.

Buddhacarita, written in pure Sanskrit in the sublime kavya style, is completely different from other biographies. It, following mainly the Pali tradition, poetically describes the most important stages of the earthly life of the Buddha up to the first council that took place after his death. The Buddha is depicted here as a human being who has achieved perfection as a result of merit in previous rebirths.

The Abhinishkramana Sutra is closer in character to Lalitavisgara than to the Mahavasta, although, like the latter, it also expounds in detail on the Jatakas, citing them mainly to emphasize the most important points of the Buddha’s preaching activity.

Another well-known non-canonical literature popular in Buddhist countries and important for the study of Buddhism is Milinda-panha (Questions of King Milinda). The date of writing this work lies between the 2nd and 4th centuries. n. e. It presents the teachings of Buddhism in the form of questions asked by the Greek king Menander (Milinda), who ruled in Northern India in the 2nd century. n. e" and the answers to them by the famous Mahayanist sage Nagasena. Of great interest are the chronicles compiled in the 4th-5th centuries AD in Ceylon - Deepavansa and Maha-vansa, in which, along with mythological subjects and legends, significant historical facts are also presented .

The further development of Buddhist literature, which proceeded mainly in the form of commentary on the canon, is associated with the names of Nagarjuna, Buddhaghosa, Buddhadatta, Dhammapala, Asanga, Vasubandhu, who lived and wrote during the heyday of Buddhism in Northern India and Ceylon in the 4th-8th centuries. n. e.

Historical development

Over the centuries, Buddhism has undergone amazing changes. Its spread from northern India was very rapid. From the 3rd century. BC e., until the campaigns of Alexander the Great, it dominated all of India, together with Brahmanism, from which it descended, and extended to the shores of the Caspian Sea, where Afghanistan and Central Asia are located today.

Thanks to the support of the Buddhist king Ashoka, who ruled in India in 273-230. BC BC, missionaries converted Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Then it spread very quickly to other Asian countries.

The connection with China was established through the silk trade. The first Buddhist community in this country appeared during the Han Dynasty in 67 AD. e., however, Buddhism was firmly established in the north of the country only a century later, and by 300 - in the south, under the auspices of the aristocracy. In 470, Buddhism was declared the official religion in northern China. Then through Korea he reached Japan.

By this time, the Buddhist monks of Ceylon converted Burma to this faith, and a little later - Indonesia.

Spreading to the east, Buddhism is losing ground in the west: having reached Japan, it weakens in India.

In Thailand and Laos it replaced Hinduism. In Sri Lanka and Nepal, Buddhism coexists with Hinduism. In China it is combined with Taoism and Confucianism, and in Japan with Shintoism. In India, where it originated, Buddhists make up no more than 1% of the population - half as much as Christians or Sikhs.

In South Korea, Buddhism is beginning to give way to Christian religions, but still retains first place. In Japan it sometimes takes special forms, which we will look at later. One of them is Zen.

The situation of Buddhism in communist-oriented countries is much more alarming. In China by 1930 there were 500 thousand Buddhist monks, and in 1954 there were no more than 2,500 of them left. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge systematically exterminated Buddhist monks, and in Vietnam their influence weakened significantly. It is very difficult to assess what remains of the rituals and Buddhist spirituality in these countries. We only know that this blow to Buddhism threw it back 50 years. Buddhism is still expanding in countries where there is demographic growth and adherence to it, such as Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand. Recently, however, Buddhist spirituality has attracted significant interest among many people in the West.

Directions of Buddhism

Theravada

"Teaching of the Elders"

The earliest movement in Buddhism formed immediately after the passing of the Buddha - called Theravada. Followers tried to preserve in memory every word, every gesture and every episode from the life of the teacher. That is why Theravada adherents attach such importance to periodic meetings of scholar-monks - sangiti, whose participants again and again restore the life and teachings of the Buddha. The last sangiti was held in 1954-1956 in the city of Mandalay (Burma). The Theravada movement was a monastic organization dependent on but not lay-oriented.

Achieving enlightenment was thought of as literally following Gautama's lifestyle and meditation practice. Theravada followers consider the Buddha to be an earthly being who achieved enlightenment through his unique abilities through 550 rebirths; therefore, according to Theravada teachings, Buddha appears among people every 5 thousand years.

For them, he is a teacher whose knowledge is recorded in the Pali canonical text Tipitaka and explained in numerous commentary literature. From the very beginning, Theravada followers were intolerant of the slightest deviations from the disciplinary rules of the monastic community and from the orthodox interpretation of the Buddha's lifestyle and actions, and waged a constant struggle against dissenters.

At the third Sangeeti (mid-5th century BC) under King Ashoka, the Theravada followers were divided into 3 large groups: Vatsiputriya, Sarvastivada and Vibhajayavada - the last group consisted of the most orthodox followers, who 100 years later established themselves in Sri Lanka, which became subsequently a Theravada stronghold. Currently, Theravada Buddhism is widespread in Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and partly in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Nepal.

In each of these countries, as a result of the interaction of Theravada with local cultural and religious traditions, national forms of Theravada Buddhism emerged. The specificity of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, professed by its main population - the Sinhalese, is expressed, first of all, in the fact that information of a mythological, legendary, historical nature contained in the historical chronicles of Deepavansa and Mahavansa, seems to project the ancient Indian picture of Buddhism onto Lanka, including allegations of Prince Gautama's repeated stay there. As a result of this, the version that the island was the birthplace of Buddhism was firmly established here.

Key Ideas

The ideal Theravada personality is an arhat. This word means “worthy” (the Tibetan etymology of this word as “destroyer of enemies”, that is, affects - kleshas, ​​is erroneous and can be considered a folk etymology). An Arhat is a holy monk (bhikkhus; Pali: bhikkhu), who through his own efforts has achieved the goal of the Noble Eightfold Path - nirvana - and has left the world forever.

On the path to nirvana, a monk goes through a series of steps:

1. stage entered the stream (srotapanna), that is, who has taken the path irrevocably; “one who has entered the stream” can no longer degrade and go astray
2. stage once returning (sacridagamin), that is, a person whose consciousness in another birth must return to the level of the world of desires (kamadhatu)
3. stage no longer returning (anagamin), that is, a saint whose consciousness will henceforth always remain in a state of meditative concentration at the level of the worlds of forms (rupadhatu) and non-forms (arupadhatu).

The practice of anagamin ends with the attainment of the fruit of arhatship and entry into nirvana “without remainder” (anupadhishesha nirvana).

According to Theravada teachings, the Buddha before his awakening was an ordinary person, only endowed with great virtues and holiness acquired through cultivation over many hundreds of lives. After awakening (bodhi), which from the Theravada point of view was nothing more than the acquisition of the fruit of arhatship, Siddhartha Gautama ceased to be a man in the proper sense of the word, becoming a Buddha, that is, an enlightened “being” liberated from samsara (this word is used here). need to be put in quotation marks, since Buddhists call “creatures” only the “inhabitants” of the three-worlds of samsara, and not Buddhas), but not God or any other supernatural entity.

If people, being monks (Theravada emphasizes that only a monk who observes all the vows of the Vinaya can become an arhat and achieve nirvana), begin to follow the example of the Buddha and his teaching in everything, then they will achieve the same thing that he achieved. Buddha himself went into nirvana, he is not in the world, and there is no world for him, and therefore it is pointless to pray to him or ask him for help. Any worship of the Buddha and the offering of gifts to his images are needed not by the Buddha, but by people, who thus repay the debt of memory to the great Liberator (or Conqueror - Jina, one of the epithets of the Buddha) and practicing the virtue of giving.

Theravada is a strictly monastic form of Buddhism. Within this tradition, only monks can be considered Buddhists in the proper sense of the word. Only monks can realize the goal of Buddhism - achieving the peace of nirvana, only monks are open to all the instructions of the Blessed One, and only monks can practice the methods of psychopractice prescribed by the Buddha.

The only thing left to the laity is to improve their karma through doing good deeds and accumulating merit gained through the support and maintenance of the sangha. And thanks to these merits, the laity in one of their subsequent lives will be able to become worthy of taking monastic vows, after which they too will enter the Noble Eightfold Path. Therefore, Theravadins never sought to be particularly active in missionary activity or to involve the laity in the life of the sangha and various forms of religious activity.

Among the followers of Theravada, a distinction is made between listeners (shravakas) and individually awakened ones (pratyekabuddhas). Both have five paths, which together make up the ten Theravada paths.

Although those who listen are lower, and those who are individually awakened are higher, their basis is the same. Both of them follow the teachings of the Theravada path, which serves only as a method of individual liberation from the cycle of existence. Briefly speaking, they take as a basis a set of ethical rules combined with a firm intention to get out of the cycle of existence and on the basis of this they develop the unity of serenity (shamatha) and special comprehension (vipashyana), directed towards emptiness. In this way they get rid of defilements (samsara) and their seeds, so that defilements cannot grow again. By doing this they achieve liberation.

Both listeners and the individually awakened must traverse five paths in succession: the path of accumulation, application, vision, meditation and no-learning-more. One who follows these paths is called a follower of Theravada.

The goal of Theravada teachings is to achieve personal salvation, nirvana. The main concern of Theravada teachings is not to harm others by controlling one's own behavior. Therefore, the first thing a person does is take the vow of Refuge and observe certain rules. To achieve this goal, there are hundreds of rules. The Buddha himself said: “Having before you the example of your own feelings, do not harm others.” If someone does something nasty to you, you notice it.

Knowing what it's like to be upset, don't upset others. The real meaning of Refuge is that you recognize the path to realization as taught by the Buddha, and in accordance with this path you perform certain actions and thereby control your behavior. When the Theravada vow is taken, it is taken from now until death. It is not accepted from now until complete realization, because the vow is related to the present state.

It must be accomplished through conduct that ends in death. The body is sent to the cemetery and the vow ends there. If this vow was kept in purity until the very moment of death, then a good deed was performed. The observance of such a vow knows no exceptions, and it cannot be changed in accordance with our changed views. If there is a specific and compelling reason for breaking a vow, then it is okay to not keep it. Otherwise, this vow continues to bind the person from the moment of acceptance until the moment of death.

Later the Theravada system underwent development. In addition to the Refuge vow given to nuns and monks, there is also the Upasaka vow for lay people. Lay people can take a vow with a single rule, such as not to kill, or with two rules - with the addition of a vow not to steal - and so on. There may be various levels until eventually the full vows of a fully ordained monk or nun are taken (Source - Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche - A Brief Overview of Tibetan Buddhist Traditions).

Local Features of Theravada Buddhism

Sinhala Buddhism emphasizes the magical power of Buddhist relics to protect the island from evil forces and attract good deities to Lanka. Therefore, the rites of worship of these deities are closely linked with magical practice in Buddhism. A typical example is the Kandyan perahera, consisting of 5 processions dedicated to the Tooth Relic, the gods Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama (Skandha) and the goddess Pattini. The Sinhala chronicles have always quite effectively influenced the actions of the rulers of the Sri Lankan states and encouraged the Sangha to intervene in politics.

In Burma and Thailand, we can talk about the ideological influence of Buddhism on the mass consciousness of believers only from the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. e., when large Burmese and Thai states began to emerge on the territory of western Indochina, in need of a developed ideology. This was probably one of the reasons that prompted the rulers of Pagan, Chiengsen, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya and other young states to acquire the Pali canon in its entirety, which, according to rumor, was available in the coastal Mon city-states. Fragments of the struggle for the Pali canon are reflected in the historical chronicles of many states.

The huge array of canonical litera in Pali, which poured into the countries of Southeast Asia, especially after establishing close contacts with the states of Lanka, had a profound impact on many spheres of public consciousness of the peoples of Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia: oral poetry, literature, art , law, philosophy, architecture, political views and so on. However, due to historical and cultural differences and religious beliefs among the Burmese, Thais and Khmers, as well as other socio-political conditions of development, Theravada Buddhism acquired national specificity in the countries of Southeast Asia.

In Burma, traditional Burmese beliefs in naga spirits were easily incorporated into Buddhist culture, since in canonical texts nagas (in Indian mythology - naga, naga - snakes) are highly revered, since the king of the nagas covered the Buddha with his hood.

A consequence of the fusion of folk and Buddhist beliefs was that the Burmese attached special importance to magical ritual actions, and therefore Buddhist meditation acquired a different content in Burma than in Sri Lanka and Thailand: philosophically, through meditation the content of the highest truth is realized ( abhidharma) (Burmese monks are considered experts in abhidharma literature, their authority in this area is recognized even by Sinhala monks); In practical life, many Burmese monks try to obtain supernatural abilities through meditation, which does not contradict the teachings of Buddhism.

A number of sections of the Sutta Pitaka contain descriptions of six types of “higher power” that allow one to fly through the air, walk on water, ascend and descend to any level of existence, dismember matter into primary elements, foresee the future, and so on, but the Buddha himself condemned the demonstration of such supernatural powers. abilities, therefore in other countries of southern Buddhism the use of meditation for these purposes is suppressed. In turn, the practice of Burmese meditation gives rise to all sorts of superstitions and rumors, which leads to the emergence of messianic sentiments among believers and so on.

Another distinctive feature of Burmese Buddhism is the idea of ​​direct continuity of its teachings from the missionaries of Emperor Ashoka. These statements are based on the texts of the Pali canon and the edicts of Ashoka. Therefore, the Burmese, starting from the 2nd millennium AD. e. focus not only on Lanka as a repository of the Pali canon and Buddhist relics, but also on the southeastern states of India.

Burmese monks consider Sri Lanka and Burma equally the strongholds of southern Buddhism, where the latter has the right to preserve and interpret the “highest truth,” and Thailand as the country of primitive Buddhism. Politically, the Burmese Sangha is weakly amenable to centralization and control, because individual Buddhist communities regularly become isolated in their religious practice, thereby contributing to the disunity of Burmese villages and the emergence of local religious movements.

The rulers of the Thai states, as well as the Theravada communities being created, focused primarily on Lanka and recognized the priority of Sri Lankan Buddhism. The greatest historian of Thailand, Prince Damrong (1862-1943), in his studies of Thai Buddhism, noted the secondary nature of many of the most important religious buildings in Thailand, most of which were copies or imitations of Sri Lankan prototypes.

The specificity of Thai Buddhism is clearly visible in the practice of obtaining religious merit. If in Sri Lanka the accumulation of merit occurs mainly through participation in religious ceremonies and processions, as well as through pilgrimage to St. places, then in Thailand the priority of daily contacts with the sangha, a measured way of life, consistent with the rules of Buddhist behavior, is emphasized.

Therefore, the Thai is not characterized by exalted signals during periods of religious festivals. Perhaps this feature of Thai Buddhism gives rise to the relative inertia of believers in relation to socio-political events in the country. In particular, believers in rural areas of Thailand are familiar with Buddhist sermons on the duties of a layman and a homeowner, although they often have a vague understanding of the life of the Buddha and the teachings of Buddhism in general.

Within Theravada, two main schools subsequently developed - Vaibhashika (Sarvastivada) and Sautrantika.

Mahayana

"Great Chariot"

Mahayana Buddhism, as the 14th Dalai Lama wrote, is associated with turning the wheel of the Teaching for the second time, when the Buddha expounded the doctrine of the non-existence of all phenomena. The followers of the Mahayana claimed a complete disclosure of the original teachings.

Main ideas. As already mentioned, the followers of the Mahayana divide Buddhism into the Great Vehicle (Mahayana proper) and the Lesser Vehicle (Hinayana), the difference between the paths lies in the fact that the followers of the Hinayana are limited only by the desire for individual enlightenment, and in a sense this division is not a gradation into schools.

Followers of the Mahayana, first of all, strive to achieve Buddhahood, not detached nirvana, but the highest liberation - the achievement of Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings - the state of bodhisattva. In accordance with this aspiration for supreme enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, they practice the five paths.

These paths are supplemented by special methods, the main ones of which are six cultivations and four methods of converting disciples. Relying on them, Mahayana followers completely and forever overcome not only the obstacles of defilements (samsara), but also the obstacles on the path to omniscience. When both types of obstacles are overcome, Buddhahood is achieved.

In Mahayana there are also five paths:

• Path of accumulation
• Applications
• Visions
• Meditations
• No-teaching-more

Eventually, the followers of Hinayana move to Mahayana. Since their liberation is not the final achievement, they are not satisfied with it, but gradually strive towards the final achievement, follow its paths and become Buddhas.

The idea of ​​the Bodhisattva was one of the major innovations of Mahayana Buddhism. The term Bodhisattva, or "Wise Being", "the soul destined to attain the highest Wisdom", was originally coined to explain the nature of the Buddha's past lives. Before his last life as Siddhartha Gautama, he worked for many lifetimes to develop the qualities of a Buddha. In these past lives, he was a bodhisattva, or "buddha in waiting", performing acts of incredible generosity, love and compassion towards the beings around him.

The Mahayana teachings developed from the principle of intention. It was recognized that rules are important to stop negative causes, but they are not enough. If we have good intentions, everything will have good consequences. Tibetan Buddhist Teacher Jigmed Lingpa, 1729-1798, said that if we have good intentions, then the Path and Fruit will be good; if we have a bad intention, the Path and the Fruit will also be bad. Therefore, we must develop good intentions.

In modern times, in the Mahayana tradition, a vow called the “Bodhisattva vow” is taken. The Mahayana principle is called lappa "exercise". This includes exercise for the mind, exercise in the discipline we need to order our lives, and exercise in samadhi, or contemplation. These are the three principles in Mahayana. Therefore, Mahayana is not only about self-control, but also about being ready to help others. The Hinayana principle is to renounce causing harm and trouble to others, while the Mahayana principle is to act for the benefit of others. This is the main difference.

In the Mahayana teachings there are two concepts: monpa (smon.pa.) and gyugpa (gyug.pa.). Monpa is our intention to do something, and gygpa is the action we actually perform. In A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Path of Life (Bodhisattvacharyavatara), the great Master Shatideva explains that the former can be compared to the intention of making a journey, and the latter to actually packing your luggage and setting off.

The intention to do the practice for the benefit of others is monpa. But just having a good intention is not enough. We need to take action somehow. That's why usually when people start practicing, they say that they want to realize themselves for the benefit of all other beings. This means that they are trying to achieve realization not only for their own personal benefit. Using these words becomes a kind of mental training. This is what we mean by Bodhichitta. Whether a person uses words or not, the most important thing is to have the right intention.

The Mahayanists have invented two stages prior to the attainment of Buddhahood. While achieving Buddhahood is the highest goal, a person can achieve Pratyeka Buddhahood (solely awakened), which means he has awakened to the truth but keeps it secret. Below the level of Pratyek Buddha is the level of an arhat or “worthy soul” - a person who has learned the truth from others and has realized it himself.

Mahayana Buddhists have made the attainment of arhat state a goal for all believers. The believer learns the truth, comes to the realization of the truth and then goes to Nirvana. Due to the thesis that anyone can achieve the state of arhat, this doctrine served as the basis for the Mahayana to be called the “Great Vehicle”.

The goal of Mahana is to achieve the state of a bodhisattva, giving up personal salvation in order to help other living beings and lead them to liberation. In Mahayana, the active principle is not the will of the individual, but the help of bodhisattvas. And here the two main and defining qualities of a bodhisattva are Wisdom (prajna) and Compassion (karuna).

The bodhisattva path is called the “paramita path.” The word "paramita" means "perfection", but in tradition it is usually interpreted in the spirit of folk etymology as "passing to the other shore"; Thus, in Buddhism, the paramitas are conceptualized as transcendental perfections, or “perfections that transfer to the other side of existence.”

As a rule, the texts give a set of six paramitas: dana-paramita (perfection of giving), kshanti-paramita (perfection of patience), virya-paramita (perfection of diligence), shila-paramita (perfection of keeping vows), dhyana-paramita (perfection of contemplation ) and prajna-paramita (perfection of wisdom, or wisdom that transfers to the other side of existence; transcendental wisdom). In this list, the first five paramitas belong to the group of skillful means (upaya), and the sixth paramita itself forms a whole group - the group of prajna (wisdom). The unity of all paramitas, realized as the unity of method and wisdom, is awakening, the attainment of Buddhahood.

Mahayanists developed a theology of the Buddha called the doctrine of the "Three Bodies", or Trikaya. The Buddha was not a human being, as claimed in Theravada Buddhism, but was a manifestation of a spiritual being. This creature has three bodies. When he came to earth in the form of Siddhartha Gautama, he took the form of Magical transformation (nirmanakaya). This body was an emanation of the Body of Blessing (Sambhogakaya), which lives in the heavens in the form of the god who rules the universe.

The Body of the Blessed One has many forms. One of them is Amitaba, who rules our world and lives in a paradise, a heaven called Sukhavati, or the "Land of Pure Blessing." After all, the blessing body is an emanation of the Essential Body (Dharmakaya), which is the original source of everything in the universe. This essential Body, the first cause and law of the Universe has become synonymous with Nirvana. This is approximately the universal soul, and Nirvana has become a union with this universal soul.

Currently, Mahayana Buddhism exists in two versions, quite different from each other: this is the Tibeto-Mongolian Mahayana (sometimes still incorrectly called “Lamaism”) with canonical texts in the Tibetan language (Tibet, Mongolia, some peoples of Russia - Buryats, Kalmyks , Tuvans, the population of various regions of the Himalayas and some other places) and the Far Eastern Mahayana (based on Chinese Buddhism and with canonical texts in Chinese) - China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam.

A special place in Mahayana Buddhism is occupied by the Buddhism of Nepal, more precisely, the Buddhism of the Newars, one of the ethno-confessional groups of Nepalese society. The Newars perform their services in Sanskrit and revere the “nine declarations of Dharma” (nava dharma paryaya), which form their canon.

The Nine Dharma Declarations are nine Mahayana texts (mostly sutras) preserved in Sanskrit: Lankavatara Sutra (Sutra of the Descent to Lanka), Ashtasahasrika Prajna Paramita Sutra (Sutra of the Transcendental Wisdom in Eight Thousand Slokas) , Dashabhumika Sutra ("Sutra of Ten Stages"), Gandavyuha Sutra ("Flower Garland Sutra"), Saddharmapundarika Sutra ("Lotus Sutra"), Samadhiraja Sutra ("Royal Samadhi Sutra"), Suvarnaprabhasa Sutra ("Golden Ray Sutra"), Tathagataguhyaka [sutra] ("[Sutra] of the Mysteries of the Tathagata") and Lalitavistara (Mahayana version of the life of the Buddha).

Within the framework of the Mahayana, two main philosophical schools subsequently developed - Madhyamaka (sunyavada) and Yogacara (vijnanavada, or vijnaptimatra).

Tantrayana (Vajrayana)

"The Chariot of Tantra"

At the beginning of the second half of the 1st millennium AD. e. in Mahayana Buddhism, a new direction, or Yana (“Vehicle”), is gradually emerging and being formed, called Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism; this direction can be considered the final stage in the development of Buddhism in its homeland - India.

The word "tantra" does not in any way characterize the specifics of this new type of Buddhism. "Tantra" (like sutra) is simply a type of text that may not have anything "tantric" in it. If the word "sutra" means "thread" on which something is strung, then the word "tantra", derived from the root "tan" “(pull, stretch) and the suffix “tra” means the basis of the fabric; that is, as in the case of sutras, we are talking about certain basic texts that serve as the basis, the core. Therefore, although the followers of Tantrism themselves talk about the “path of the sutras” (Hinayana and Mahayana) and the "path of mantras", nevertheless they prefer to call their teaching Vajrayana.

The word vajra, included in the name "Vajrayana", was originally used to designate the thunder scepter of the Indian Zeus - the Vedic god Indra, but gradually its meaning changed. One of the meanings of the word "vajra" is "diamond", "adamant". Within Buddhism, the word “vajra” began to be associated, on the one hand, with the initially perfect nature of awakened consciousness, like an indestructible diamond, and on the other, with awakening itself, enlightenment, like an instantaneous clap of thunder or a flash of lightning.

The ritual Buddhist vajra, like the ancient vajra, is a type of scepter symbolizing the awakened consciousness, as well as karuna (compassion) and upaya (skillful means) in the opposition prajna - upaya (prajna and emptiness are symbolized by the ritual bell; the combination of vajra and bell in the ritually crossed hands of the priest symbolizes awakening as a result of the integration (yugannadha) of wisdom and method, emptiness and compassion.Hence, the word Vajrayana can be translated as "Diamond Chariot", "Thunder Chariot", etc. The first translation is the most common.

The chariot of mantras (In the Tibetan tradition, the term “vehicle of mantra” (mantrayana) is more common than the term “tantrayana” used in the title: these are synonyms. - Editor’s note) includes four classes of tantras: tantra of action (kriya), performing (charya), yoga, highest yoga (anuttara yoga). The class of tantras of higher yoga is superior to the lower tantras.

All the originality of the Diamond Chariot is associated with its methods (upaya), although the purpose of using these methods is still the same - achieving Buddhahood for the benefit of all living beings. Vajrayana claims that the main advantage of its method is its extreme efficiency, “instantaneity,” allowing a person to become a Buddha within one life, and not three immeasurable (asankheya) world cycles - kalpas.

A follower of the tantric path can quickly fulfill his bodhisattva vow - to become a Buddha for the deliverance of all beings drowning in the swamp of the cyclical existence of birth and death. At the same time, Vajrayana mentors always emphasized that this path is also the most dangerous, similar to a direct ascent to the top of a mountain along a rope stretched over all mountain gorges and abysses.

Therefore, tantric texts were considered sacred, and the beginning of practice in the Vajrayana system presupposed receiving special initiations and corresponding oral instructions and explanations from a teacher who had achieved the realization of the Path. In general, the role of the teacher, guru, in tantric practice is extremely large, and sometimes young adepts spent a lot of time and made enormous efforts to find a worthy mentor. Due to this intimacy of Vajrayana practice, it was also called the Vehicle of the Secret Tantra or simply a secret (esoteric) teaching.

Cosmology

Already the earliest Pali texts presented the universe as an ever-changing cyclical process. In each cycle (kalpa), four successive time stages (yuga) are distinguished: the creation of the world, its formation, decline and decay (pralaya), lasting many thousands of earthly years, and then repeating in the next cycle. The Universe is described in the form of a vertical of 32 worlds, or levels of consciousness of the beings residing on them: from the creatures of hell (naraka) to some inaccessible nirvanic dwellings of enlightened minds in nirvana. All 32 levels of existence of consciousness are divided into three spheres (dhatu or avachara).

The lower sphere of passions (kama-dhatu) consists of 10 levels (in some schools 11): hell, animal level, pretas (hungry ghosts), human level, as well as 6 types of the divine. Each of them has its own sublevels, for example, at the hell level there are at least 8 cold and 8 hot hells; classifications of human level of consciousness are based on the ability to study and practice the Buddha Law.

The middle sphere, the sphere of shapes and colors (rupa-dhatu), is represented by 18 heavenly worlds inhabited by gods, saints, bodhisattvas and even buddhas. These heavens are objects of meditation (dhyana), during which adepts can spiritually visit them and receive instructions from their inhabitants.

The upper sphere beyond forms and colors (arupa-dhatu), consists of 4 nirvanic “abodes of consciousness”, available to those who have achieved Enlightenment and can dwell in infinite space, in infinite consciousness, in absolute nothingness and in a state beyond consciousness and beyond its absence . These four levels are also the four types of highest meditation that Shakyamuni Buddha mastered in the state of Enlightenment.

The cycles of cosmic cataclysms cover only 16 lower worlds (10 from the sphere of passions and 6 from rupa-dhatu). Each of them, during the period of death, disintegrates down to the chaos of the primary elements (earth, water, wind, fire), while the inhabitants of these worlds with their inherent level of consciousness and karma in the form of “self-brilliant and self-propelled” tiny “fireflies” move to the sky of light Abhasvara. (17th world, not subject to universal disintegration) and remain there until the restoration of cosmic and terrestrial conditions suitable for returning to their level. When they return, they undergo a long biological and socio-historical evolution before they become the same as they were before moving to Abhasvara. The driving cause of these changes (as well as the entire cosmic cycle) is the total karma of beings.

Buddhist ideas about the earthly world (horizontal cosmology of the 6 lower levels of the sphere of passions) are very mythological. In the center of the earth rises the huge tetrahedral Mount Meru (Sumeru), surrounded by oceans, mountain ranges with four continents (at the cardinal points) and islands beyond them. The southern continent is Jambudvipa, or Hindustan, with adjacent lands known to the ancient Indians. Below the surface of the oceans there were 7 underground and underwater worlds, the lowest of which was hell. Above the surface, on Mount Meru, deities live; on its top are the heavenly palaces of the 33 Vedic gods, led by Indra.

Buddhist holidays

Buddhist holidays are more or less colored by the folklore of the countries where they take place. In particular, Lamaist Buddhism in Tibet and Great Vehicle Buddhism in China feature numerous festivals that mix complex elements, historical or legendary, and those surviving from animist cults. Let us dwell only on purely Buddhist holidays, which are celebrated in all countries where this religion is widespread.

These holidays are relatively few in number because, according to tradition, three major events in the life of the Buddha - his birth, his insight and his descent into nirvana - occurred on the same day.

Buddhist holidays occur on full moon days and are usually aligned with the lunar calendar.

There are four major holidays celebrated throughout the year. Let's list them in chronological order:

in February - March, on the full moon of the 3rd lunar month, the Magha Puja holiday (literally: “festival of the month of Magha”), dedicated to the Buddha’s revelation of the principles of his teaching to 1205 monks;

in May, on the 15th day of the 6th lunar month, the Buddha Jayanti holiday (literally: “Buddha’s anniversary”), dedicated to his birth, insight and immersion in nirvana;

In July - September there is a holiday marking the beginning of Buddhist fasting. This three-month period, which usually coincides with the rainy season, is devoted to meditation, and monks only leave their monasteries on exceptional occasions. On the days of this holiday, the relatives of the monks bring them numerous gifts. It is during this fast that teenagers undergo a traditional “internship” at the monastery;

in October or November they celebrate the end of fasting (the holiday is called Katkhina). This is a fun holiday, famous for its fireworks. In Bangkok, luxuriously decorated “royal boats” float out onto the river. In all monasteries, the monks are given new clothes or cloth. The ceremonies include a common meal of believers on the temple grounds, a procession around the pagoda and the reading of sacred texts - sutras.

Buddhism in Russia

Earlier than others, Buddhism was adopted by the Kalmyks, whose clans (belonging to the Western Mongolian, Oirat, tribal union) migrated in the 17th century. to the Lower Volga region and the Caspian steppes, which were part of the Moscow kingdom. In 1661, the Kalmyk Khan Puntsuk took an oath of allegiance to the Moscow Tsar for himself and all the people and at the same time kissed the image of Buddha (Mongolian Burkhan) and the book of Buddhist prayers. Even before the official recognition of Buddhism by the Mongols, the Kalmyks were well acquainted with it, since for about four centuries they were in close contact with the Buddhist peoples of the Khitans, Tanguts, Uighurs and Tibetans. Zaya Pandit (1599-1662), the creator of Oirat literature and writing “todo bichig” (“clear writing”) based on the Old Mongolian, was also a Kalmyk, a translator of sutras and other texts. New Russian subjects arrived with their nomadic Buddhist temples in khuruls; elements of ancient shamanism were preserved both in everyday rituals and in the Buddhist ritual holidays Tsagan Sar, Zul, Uryus, etc. In the 18th century. there were 14 khuruls, in 1836 there were 30 large and 46 small, in 1917 - 92, in 1936 - 3. Some of the khuruls turned into monastery complexes inhabited by lama monasticism of three degrees: manji (novice students), getssul and Gelyung. The Kalmyk clergy studied in Tibetan monasteries in the 19th century. In Kalmykia, local higher theological schools Tsannit Choore were created. The largest khurul and Buddhist university was Tyumenevsky. Followers of the Tibetan Gelug school, the Kalmyks considered the Dalai Lama their spiritual head. In December 1943, the entire Kalmyk people were forcibly evicted to Kazakhstan, and all churches were destroyed. In 1956, he was allowed to return, but Buddhist communities were not registered until 1988. In the 1990s, Buddhism was actively revived, Buddhist schools for lay people were opened, books and translations into the Novokalmyk language were published, temples and monasteries were built.

The Buryats (northern Mongolian clans), who roamed the river valleys of Transbaikalia, already professed Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism when, in the first half of the 17th century. Russian Cossacks and peasants arrived here. The formation of Buddhism in Transbaikalia was facilitated by 150 Mongol-Tibetan lamas who fled in 1712 from Khalkha-Mongolia, captured by the Manchu Qing dynasty. In 1741, by decree of Elizabeth Petrovna, Lama Navak-Puntsuk was declared chief, lamas were exempt from taxes and taxes and received permission to preach Buddhism. In the 50s XVIII century the oldest Buryat monastery, Tsongolsky datsan, is being built from seven temples, its abbot in 1764 is appointed head of the entire lama clergy by Bandido-hambo-lama (from Sanskrit “pandita” scientist); this title has been preserved to this day, although the high priesthood passed in 1809 to the rector of the largest Gusinoozersk datsan in Russia (founded in 1758). By 1917, 46 datsans had been built in Transbaikalia (their abbots, shiretui, were approved by the governor); The Aginsky datsan became the center of Buddhist education, scholarship, and culture. In 1893, there were 15 thousand lamas of various degrees (10% of the Buryat population).

Buddhism in Buryatia is practiced in the Mongolian version of the Tibetan Gelug school. For promoting monastic Buddhism, Catherine II was included in the host of rebirths of White Tara (the “Savior”), thus becoming the northernmost “living deity” of the Buddhist religion. A Buryat was one of the most educated figures of Tibetan Buddhism, Agvan Dorzhiev (1853-1938), who taught the Dalai Lama XIII (1876-1933) and led the renovation movement in Buryatia and Tuva in the 20-30s. XX century; he was subsequently repressed. At the end of the 1930s. datsans were closed, lamas were sent to the Gulag. In 1946, only the Ivolginsky and Aginsky datsans were allowed to open in Transbaikalia. In the 1990s. the revival of Buddhism began: about 20 datsans were restored, 6 large khurals of Buddhist holidays are solemnly celebrated: Saagalgan (New Year according to the Tibetan calendar), Duinhor (the first sermon of the Buddha of the teachings of Kalachakra, the Wheel of Time, and Vajrayana), Gandan-Shunserme (birth, Enlightenment and nirvana Buddha), Maidari (day of joy for the future Buddha Maitreya), Lhabab-Duisen (conception of the Buddha who descended from the Tushita sky into the womb of mother Maya), Zula (memorial day of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug).

Tuvans were familiar with Buddhism long before its adoption from the Dzungars in the 18th century. (Mongol-Tibetan version of the Gelug school, but without the institution of rebirth). In 1770, the first monastery, Samagaltai Khure, was built, consisting of 8 temples. By the 20th century 22 monasteries were built, in which more than 3 thousand lamas of various degrees lived; Along with this, there were about 2 thousand “Buddhist” lay shamans (the functions of shamans and lamas were often combined in one person). The head of the clergy was Chamza Khambo Lama, subordinate to the Bogd Gegen of Mongolia. By the end of the 1940s. all the khures (monasteries) were closed, but the shamans continued to operate (sometimes secretly). In 1992, the XIV Dalai Lama visited Tuva, attended a festival of Buddhist revival and ordained several young people as monks.

Currently, several centers have been opened in Russia for the study of various forms of world Buddhism. Japanese schools are popular, especially the secular version of Zen Buddhism; there is a monastery (in the Moscow region) of the Buddhist Order of the Lotus Sutra (Nippozan-Mehoji), founded by Dz. Terasawa in 1992-93. and related to the Nichiren school. In St. Petersburg, the Fo Guang (Light of Buddha) Society of Chinese Buddhism is actively involved in educational and publishing activities; since 1991, a Tibetan temple dedicated to the deity Kalachakra has been operating (opened in 1913-15, closed in 1933). The activities are coordinated by the Central Spiritual Administration of Buddhists.

Buddhism in modern Asian countries

In Bhutan, about a thousand years ago, Vajrayana was established in the Tibetan version: the Dalai Lama is recognized as the spiritual head, but in terms of cult, the features of the more ancient schools of Tibet, Nyingma and Kagyu, are clear.

In Vietnam, Buddhist preachers appeared in the 3rd century. in the northern part of the country, which was part of the Han Empire. They translated Mahayana sutras into local languages. In 580, the Indian Vinitaruchi founded the first school of Thien (Skt. Dhyana, Chinese Chan), which existed in Vietnam until 1213. In the 9th and 11th centuries. The Chinese created here 2 more sub-schools of Southern Chan Buddhism, which became the main religion of the independent Vietnamese state from the 10th century. In 1299, by decree of the emperor of the Chan dynasty, the united Thien school was approved, losing, however, by the end of the 14th century. after the fall of Chan its supremacy, which gradually passes to Amidism and Vajrayana Tantrism. These trends spread in rural areas, the Thien monasteries remained the centers of culture and education, which were patronized by wealthy families and which restored their positions by the 17th-18th centuries. throughout the country. Since 1981, there has been a Vietnamese Buddhist Church, the unity of which is achieved by a skillful combination of elite Thien monasticism and folk syncretism of Amidism, Tantrism and local beliefs (for example, in the god of the earth and in the god of animals). According to statistics, approximately 75% of the population of Vietnam are Buddhists; in addition to Mahayana, there are also supporters of Theravada (3-4%), especially among the Khmers.

In India (including Pakistan, Bangladesh and eastern Afghanistan) Buddhism existed around the 3rd century. BC e. to the 8th century n. e. in the Indus Valley and from the 5th century. BC e. to the 13th century n. e. in the Ganges valley; in the Himalayas did not cease to exist. In India, the main directions and schools were formed, and all the texts that were included in the canons of Buddhists in other countries were created. Buddhism spread especially widely with the support of the central government in the empires of Ashoka (268-231 BC), Kushan in the north and Satavahans in the south of Hindustan in the 2nd-3rd centuries, the Guptas (5th century), Harsha (7th century). .) and Palov (VIII-XI centuries). The last Buddhist monastery in the lowland part of India was destroyed by Muslims in 1203. The ideological heritage of Buddhism was partly absorbed by Hinduism, in which Buddha was declared one of the avatars (earthly incarnations) of the god Vishnu.

Buddhists in India make up over 0.5% (more than 4 million). These are the Himalayan peoples of Ladakh and Sikkim, the Tibetan refugees, hundreds of thousands of whom have migrated to India since the early 1960s. led by the 14th Dalai Lama. Particular merit in the revival of Indian Buddhism belongs to the Maha Bodhi Society, founded by the Sri Lankan monk Dharmapala (1864-1933) and which restored the ancient shrines of Buddhism (primarily associated with the activities of Buddha Shakyamuni). In the year of the 2500th anniversary of Buddhism (1956), the former minister of justice of the central government, B. R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), called on the untouchable caste Indians to convert to Buddhism as a non-caste religion; in just one day he managed to convert more than 500 thousand people. After his death, Ambedkar was declared a bodhisattva. The conversion process continued for several more years; new Buddhists are classified as the Theravada school, although there is almost no monasticism among them. The Government of India subsidizes the work of numerous Buddhist institutes and departments at universities.

Indonesia. In 671, the Chinese Buddhist traveler I Ching (635-713), on his way to India by sea, stopped on the island of Sumatra in the kingdom of Srivijaya, where he discovered an already developed form of Hinayana monastic Buddhism and counted 1 thousand monks. Archaeological inscriptions show that both Mahayana and Vajrayana existed there. It was these trends, with the strong influence of Shaivism, that received powerful development in Java during the Shailendra dynasty in the 8th-9th centuries. One of the most majestic Borobudur stupas was erected here. In the 11th century Students from other countries came to the monasteries of Indonesia, for example, the famous Atisha studied the books of Sarvastivada of the Hinayana school in Sumatra. At the end of the 14th century. Muslims gradually replaced Buddhists and Hindus; Nowadays there are approximately 2% of Buddhists in the country (about 4 million).

Buddhism penetrated into Cambodia along with the formation of the first Khmer state in the 2nd-6th centuries. It was dominated by Mahayana with significant elements of Hinduism; in the era of the Ankgora Empire (IX-XIV centuries), this was especially evident in the cult of the god-king and the bodhisattva in one person, the emperor. From the 13th century Theravada became increasingly important, eventually supplanting both Hinduism and Mahayana. In the 50-60s. XX century in Cambodia there were about 3 thousand monasteries, temples and 55 thousand Theravada monks, most of whom were killed or expelled from the country during the rule of the Khmer Rouge in 1975-79. In 1989, Buddhism was declared the state religion of Cambodia; 93% of the population are Buddhists. The monasteries are divided into two sub-schools: Mahanikaya and Dhammayutika Nikaya. The Vietnamese ethnicity of Cambodia (9% Buddhist population) mainly follows the Mahayana.

In China from the 2nd to the 9th centuries. Buddhist missionaries translated sutras and treatises into Chinese. Already in the 4th century. The first schools of Buddhism, hundreds of monasteries and temples appeared. In the 9th century. the authorities imposed the first property and economic restrictions on the monasteries, which turned into the richest feudal owners in the country. Since then, Buddhism in China no longer played a leading role, except for periods of mass peasant uprisings. In China, a single ideological and cult complex of three faiths (Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism) developed, each of which had its own purpose both in ritual (for example, Buddhists were involved in funeral rites) and in religious philosophy (preference was given to Mahayana). Scholars divide Chinese Buddhist schools into 3 types:

1. schools of Indian treatises that studied texts related to the Indian Madhyamika, Yogacara and others (for example, the Sanlun Zong School of the Three Treatises is a Chinese version of Madhyamika, founded by Kumarajiva at the beginning of the 5th century to study the works of Nagarjuna and Aryadeva;
2. the sutra school is a sinicized version of the worship of the Word of the Buddha, while Tiantai-tsung is based on the “Lotus Sutra” (Saddharma-pundarika), the “Pure Land” school is based on the sutras of the “Sukhavati-vyuha” cycle;
3. Meditation schools taught the practices of contemplation (dhyana), yoga, tantra and other ways of developing the hidden abilities of the individual (Chan Buddhism). Chinese Buddhism is characterized by the strong influence of Taoism, the emphasis on the idea of ​​emptiness as the true nature of things, the teaching that the absolute Buddha (emptiness) can be worshiped in the forms of the conventional world, the idea of ​​instantaneous Enlightenment in addition to the Indian teachings of gradual Enlightenment.

In the 30s XX century in China there were over 700 thousand Buddhist monks and thousands of monasteries and temples. In the 1950s The Chinese Buddhist Association was created, uniting more than 100 million lay believers and 500 thousand monks. In 1966, during the “cultural revolution,” all places of worship were closed, and the monks were sent to “re-education” through physical labor. The association's activities resumed in 1980.

In Korea, from 372 to 527, Chinese Buddhism spread, officially recognized on the Korean Peninsula in all three states that existed at that time; after their unification in the second half of the 7th century. Buddhism received strong support, Buddhist schools were emerging (most of them were Mahayana analogues of Chinese, with the exception of the Nalban school, based on the Nirvana Sutra). At the center of Korean Buddhism is the cult of bodhisattvas, especially Maitreya and Avalokiteshvara, as well as the Buddhas Shakyamuni and Amitabha. Buddhism in Korea reached its peak in the 10th-14th centuries, when monks were included in a unified system of officialdom, and monasteries became state institutions, actively participating in the political life of the country.

In the 15th century the new Confucian dynasty curtailed monastic property, limited the number of monks, and then generally banned the construction of monasteries. In the 20th century Buddhism began to revive under Japanese colonial rule. In 1908, Korean monks were allowed to marry. In South Korea in the 1960s-90s. Buddhism is experiencing a new rise: half of the population considers themselves Buddhists, there are 19 Buddhist schools and their branches, thousands of monasteries, publishing houses, and universities; administrative leadership is carried out by the Central Council, consisting of 50 monks and nuns. The most authoritative is the Chogye monastery school, formed in 1935 by combining two schools of meditation and training monks at Dongguk University (Seoul).

In Laos, during the period of its independence in the 16th-17th centuries, the king banned the local religion and officially introduced Buddhism, which represented two peacefully coexisting communities: the Mahayana (from Vietnam, China) and the Hinayana (from Cambodia, Thailand). The influence of Buddhism (especially Theravada) increased during the colonial period of the 18th-20th centuries. In 1928, with the participation of the French authorities, it was declared the state religion, which it remains to this day: about 80% of the 4 million Lao residents are Buddhists, 2.5 thousand monasteries, temples and over 10 thousand monks.

Mongolia. During its formation in the 13th century. The Mongol Empire included states whose people professed Buddhism: the Chinese, Khitans, Tanguts, Uyghurs and Tibetans. At the courts of the Mongol khans, Buddhist teachers, competing with shamans, Muslims, Christians and Confucians, were victorious. Founder of the Yuan Dynasty (ruled China until 1368) Kublai Kublai in the 70s. XIII century tried to declare Buddhism the religion of the Mongols, and Lodoy-gyaltsen (1235-80), the abbot of the monastery of the Tibetan Sakya school, as the head of the Buddhists of Tibet, Mongolia and China. However, the massive and widespread adoption of Buddhism by the Mongols occurred in the 16th century, primarily thanks to the Tibetan teachers of the Gelug school: in 1576, the powerful Mongol ruler Altan Khan met with the Dalai Lama III (1543-88) and presented him with a gold seal as a sign of recognition and support. In 1589, the grandson of Altan Khan was declared the IV Dalai Lama (1589-1616), the spiritual head of the Buddhists of Mongolia and Tibet.

The first monastery was erected in the Mongolian steppes in 1586. In the 17th-18th centuries. Mongolian Buddhism (formerly called “Lamaism”) emerged, which included most of the autochthonous shamanic beliefs and cults. Zaya-pandit Namkhai Jamtso (1599-1662) and others translated sutras from Tibetan into Mongolian, Jebtsun-damba-khutukhta (1635-1723, in 1691 proclaimed the spiritual head of the Bogd Gegen of the Eastern Mongols) and his followers created new forms of ritual. The Dalai Lama was recognized as the spiritual head of the Dzungar Khanate, formed by the Oirats and which existed in 1635-1758.

At the beginning of the 20th century. in sparsely populated Mongolia there were 747 monasteries and temples and about 100 thousand monks. In independent Mongolia under the communists, almost all churches were closed and the monks were dispersed. In the 1990s. The revival of Buddhism began, the Higher School of Lamas (monk-priests) was opened, and monasteries were being restored.

The first Theravadin Buddhist missionaries from India arrived in Myanmar (Burma) at the beginning of our era. In the 5th century Sarvastivada and Mahayana monasteries are being built in the Irrawaddy Valley. By the 9th century. Burmese Buddhism was formed, combining the features of local beliefs, Hinduism, the Mahayana cults of the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya, Buddhist tantrism, as well as monastic Theravada, which received generous support in the Pagan Empire (IX-XIV centuries), built huge temple and monastery complexes. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. monasteries became part of the administrative structure of the new empire. Under English colonial rule (19th-20th centuries), the Buddhist sangha disintegrated into separate communities; with independence in 1948, the centralized Buddhist hierarchy and the strict monastic discipline of Theravada were revived. In the 1990s. in Myanmar there are 9 Theravada sub-schools (the largest are Thudhamma and Sweden), 25 thousand monasteries and temples, more than 250 thousand monks. The practice of temporary monasticism has been developed, when laymen join the sangha for several months, performing all the rituals and spiritual practices; by this they “earn” merit (luna, lunya), which should outweigh their sins and create “light karma”, ensuring a favorable reincarnation. Approximately 82% of the population is Buddhist.

Nepal. The south of modern Nepal is the birthplace of Buddha and his Shakya people. The proximity of the Indian centers of Mahayana and Vajrayana, as well as Tibet, determined the nature of Nepalese Buddhism, which has prevailed since the 7th century. The sacred texts were Sanskrit sutras, and the cults of Buddhas (Nepalese believe that they were all born in their country), bodhisattvas, especially Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri, were popular. The strong influence of Hinduism affected the development of the cult of the single Buddha Adi Buddha. By the 20th century Buddhism ceded spiritual leadership to Hinduism, which was caused partly by the migration of peoples, and partly by the fact that from the 14th century. Buddhist monks were declared the highest Hindu caste (banra), they began to marry, but continued to live and serve in monasteries, as if included in Hinduism.

In the 1960s XX century Refugee monks from Tibet appeared in Nepal, contributing to the revival of interest in Buddhism and the construction of new monasteries and temples. Newars, one of the indigenous peoples of Nepal, profess the so-called. "Newar Buddhism", in which Mahayana and Vajrayana are closely intertwined with the cults and ideas of Hinduism. Newars conduct worship in one of the largest stupas in the world, Bodhnatha.

In Thailand, archaeologists date the earliest Buddhist stupas to the 2nd-3rd centuries. (erected during Indian colonization). Until the 13th century. the country was part of various Indo-Chinese empires, which were Buddhist (from the 7th century Mahayana predominated). In the middle of the 15th century. In the kingdom of Ayutthaya (Siam), the Hinduized cult of the “god-king” (deva-raja), borrowed from the Khmers, was established, included in the Buddhist concept of the single Law (Dharma) of the universe. In 1782, the Chakri dynasty came to power, under which Theravada Buddhism became the state religion. Monasteries turned into centers of education and culture, with monks performing the functions of priests, teachers and often officials. In the 19th century many schools are reduced to two: Maha Nikaya (popular, numerous) and Dhammayutika Nikaya (elite, but influential).

Currently, the monastery is the smallest administrative unit in the country, including from 2 to 5 villages. In the 1980s there were 32 thousand monasteries and 400 thousand “permanent” monks (approximately 3% of the country’s male population; sometimes from 40 to 60% of men are temporarily tonsured as monks), there are a number of Buddhist universities that train senior clergy personnel. The headquarters of the World Fellowship of Buddhists is located in Bangkok.

Buddhism appeared in Taiwan with Chinese settlers in the 17th century. Here a local variety of folk Buddhism, Chai-Hao, was established, in which Confucianism and Taoism were assimilated. In the 1990s. Of the country's 11 million believers, 44% (approximately 5 million) are Buddhists of the Chinese Mahayana schools. There are 4,020 temples, dominated by the Tiantai, Huayan, Chan and Pure Land schools, which have connections with the Buddhist Association of Mainland China.

In Tibet, the adoption of Indian Buddhism was a conscious policy of the Tibetan kings of the 7th-8th centuries: prominent missionaries were invited (Shantarakshita, Padmasambhava, Kamalashila, etc.), sutras and Buddhist treatises were translated from Sanskrit into the Tibetan language (Tibetan writing was created on the basis of Indian in the middle. VII century), temples were built. In 791, the first Samye monastery opened, and King Trisong Detsen declared Buddhism the state religion. In the first centuries, the Vajrayana Nyingma school, created by Padmasambhava, dominated. After the successful missionary work of Atisha in 1042-54. the monks began to follow the rules more strictly. Three new schools arose: Kagyutpa, Kadampa and Sakyapa (called schools of “new translations”), which alternately dominated the spiritual life of Tibet. In the school rivalry, the Gelugpa, who grew up in Kadampa, won; its creator Tsongkhapa (1357-1419, Mongolian Tsongkhawa) strengthened monastic discipline according to the Hinayana rule, introduced strict celibacy, and established the cult of the future Buddha Maitreya. The school developed in detail the institute of rebirths of the living gods of the Tibetan religion, who were the incarnations of Buddhas, heavenly bodhisattvas, great teachers and saints of past times: after the death of each of them, candidates were found (children 4-6 years old) and the next one was chosen from them (with the participation of an oracle). representative of this line of spiritual succession. From the 16th century this is how the highest Gelugpa hierarchs, the Dalai Lamas, began to be appointed as rebirths of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara; with the support of the Mongol khans, then the Chinese-Manchu authorities, they became the de facto rulers of autonomous Tibet. Until the 50s. XX century every family in Tibet sent at least one son to become a monk, the ratio of monastics to laity was approximately 1:7. Since 1959, the XIV Dalai Lama, the government and parliament of Tibet have been in exile, in India, with part of the people and the majority of monks. The second spiritual hierarch of the Gelugpa school, the Panchen Lama (incarnation of Buddha Amitabha), remains in China, and there are several monasteries of unique Tibetan Buddhism, a synthesis of Mahayana, Vajrayana and Bon (local shamanism).

The first missionaries of the Indian king Ashoka, among whom were his son and daughter, arrived in Sri Lanka in the second half of the 3rd century. BC e. Several temples and stupas were erected for the scion of the Bodhi tree and other relics they brought. At a council held under King Vatagamani (29-17 BC), the first Buddhist canon Tipitaka of the Theravada school that dominated here was written down in Pali. In the III-XII centuries. The influence of Mahayana, which was adhered to by the Abhayagiri Vihara monastery, was noticeable, although from the 5th century. Sinhalese kings supported only Theravada. At the end of the 5th century. Buddhaghosa worked on the island and completed editing and commenting on the Tipitaka (the day of his arrival in Lanka is a public holiday). Currently, Buddhism is professed predominantly by the Sinhalese (60% of the population), there are 7 thousand monasteries and temples, 20 thousand Theravada monks, and unlike the Theravada countries of Indochina, there is no practice of temporary monasticism and no emphasis on the idea of ​​accumulating “merits.” There are Buddhist universities, publishing houses, the headquarters of the world Mahabodhi Society (founded by Anagarika Dharmapala), Buddhist youth associations, etc.

The first Buddhist preachers from Korea arrived in Japan in the middle of the 6th century. They received the support of the imperial court and built temples. Under Emperor Shomu (724-749), Buddhism was proclaimed the state religion, a monastery was founded in every administrative region of the country, the majestic Todaiji Temple with a giant gilded statue of Buddha was erected in the capital, young men were sent to study Buddhist sciences in China.

Most schools of Japanese Buddhism are descended from Chinese ones. They are divided into three categories:

1. Indian - this is the name of those Chinese schools that have analogues in India, for example, the earliest Japanese school Sanron-shu (625) is in many ways identical to the Chinese Sanlun-zong, which, in turn, can be considered a sub-school of Indian Madhyamika;
2. analogues of Chinese schools of sutras and meditation, for example, Tendai-shu (from Tiantai-tsung), Zen (from Chan), etc.;
3. actually Japanese, which have no direct predecessors in China, for example, Shingon-shu or Nichiren-shu; in these schools, Buddhist ideas and practices were combined with the mythology and rituals of the local Shinto religion (cult of spirits). Relations between it and Buddhism were sometimes strained, but mostly they coexisted peacefully, even after 1868, when Shintoism was declared the state religion. Today, Shinto shrines coexist with Buddhist ones, and lay believers participate in the rituals of both religions; According to statistics, the majority of Japanese consider themselves Buddhists.

All schools and organizations are members of the All-Japan Buddhist Association, the largest are the Zen school Soto-shu (14.7 thousand temples and 17 thousand monks) and the Amida school Jodo Shinshu (10.4 thousand temples and 27 thousand priests). In general, Japanese Buddhism is characterized by an emphasis on the ritual and cult side of religion. Created in the twentieth century. In Japan, scientific Buddhology made a great contribution to the textual criticism of ancient Buddhism. Since the 60s Neo-Buddhist organizations (the Nichiren school) actively participate in political life.

As one of the foundations of the vital universe, Buddhism carries with it the light of knowledge and attracts more and more followers every year. People seek in this religious science knowledge about the world, about people, about their capabilities - Buddhism tells people about themselves. And that’s why this eastern current is so interesting, that’s why it excites the consciousness so much.

Buddhism is...

Buddhism is one of the most ancient religious and philosophical teachings, which contains a set of laws on spiritual awakening. Starting from the 6th century BC to the present day, this movement has developed very strongly and formed the basis of numerous religious branches of eastern countries.

Today Buddhism is also commonly called the science of consciousness. The Hindus themselves call their religion “Buddhadharma” - the Teachings of Buddha. All over the world this teaching is recognized by a huge number of followers. The opinion of scientists emphasizes the need to study Buddhism to understand Eastern philosophy as a whole.

Basic concepts of Buddhism

At the heart of Buddhism is the path to Nirvana. Nirvana- this is self-denial from the external aspects of life and concentration on the development of the soul, that is, an already achieved state of understanding of one’s own soul and one’s capabilities. The creator of the teaching spent many years in meditation, learning the basics of control over his own consciousness. All this helped him come to the conclusion that people are too attached to material, earthly things, they care too much about external factors, about other people’s opinions and thoughts, while their own soul, their own consciousness, either remains at the same level of development or degrades. Achieving nirvana allows you to get rid of this addiction.

Buddhism is not a divine phenomenon or a dogma, it is the result of long-term contemplation of the soul, and each person achieves his own personal nirvana.

Exists 4 main truths Buddhism:
1) every person, to one degree or another, is under the influence of dukkha - suffering, irritability, fear, anger, self-flagellation, etc.;
2) dukkha is caused by one reason or another, which in turn gives rise to addiction (lust, thirst, greed, etc.);
3) the teachings of Buddhism presuppose the possibility of complete liberation from dukkha;
4) in turn, opportunity paves the way for liberation from dukkha - the path leading to nirvana.

Buddha preached the philosophy of the “middle path” - a person must find something between a complete renunciation of comforts and pleasures and an excess of the latter, that is, a golden mean must be achieved in everything.

Only one who has taken “refuge” and found the truth within himself can become a true Buddhist. On the path to achieving nirvana and spiritual enlightenment lie three jewels:
1) Buddha – the direct creator of the teaching, or anyone who has already achieved enlightenment in a given religion;
2) Dharma - teachings and laws given by the Great Teacher, knowledge and opportunities for enlightenment;
3) Sangha is a society of Buddhists, the unity of those who adhere to the laws of the Buddha.

On the path to achieving these three jewels, Buddhists struggle with three main poisons:
1) conscious ignorance, detachment from the truth, from the truth of being;
2) passions and desires that are a consequence of human egoism;
3) anger and incontinence, intolerance towards what cannot be accepted here and now.

Today we can highlight three main currents Buddhism:
1) Hinayana - personal liberation from external shackles, achievement of nirvana (applies to one follower);
2) Mahayana - inexhaustible love for all living things, the desire for absolute enlightenment;
3) Vajrayana is a tantric direction based mainly on meditation and self-control of consciousness.

Ideas of Buddhism

Buddhism is inherently different in many ways from religions that have a creator God at their core. Buddhism, rather, is not a religion, but rather a teaching or philosophy designed to guide a person along the path of self-knowledge and development. This is precisely the main idea of ​​Buddhism.

Achieving nirvana or enlightenment consists of a long process of self-immersion and self-correction of one’s actions and thoughts, which should subsequently lead to awareness of the truth of the structure of this world and finding life on it. For the most part, Buddhism is a path to goodness, love and wisdom. For some, this path may remain an opportunity to gain new knowledge, while others will go further to be able to mentor and teach others.

In Buddhism there is no eternal soul and atonement for sins - everything you do will come back to you. One way or another, you will receive retribution for the bad and retribution for the good, but this is not divine punishment, but your own karma.

The world was not created by anyone and is not controlled by anyone - in fact, it is an eternal movement of times and worlds, a constant cycle of lives aimed at growing up and enriching the knowledge of some high matter, of which we are all a part.

At the same time, Buddhism does not have a religious organization, that is, you can be a single follower, preach Buddhism with like-minded people, join a community, become a pilgrim, join eastern communities and settle there for common service to the people, teach yourself - Buddhism is the eternal path , this is the eternal movement of life, which is accepted with all its joys and trials.