Buddhism Beliefs

As any other religion in the world, Buddhism has different sects with different beliefs and practices. We’ll start with the most popular branch of Buddhism known as Mahayana. “”Mahayana”" is the name given to a movement which in its various phases may be regarded as a philosophical school, a sect and a church, and though it is not always easy to define its relationship to other schools and sects it certainly became a prominent aspect of Buddhism in India about the beginning of our era besides achieving enduring triumphs in the Far East.

The word signifies Great Vehicle or Carriage, that is a means of conveyance to salvation, and is contrasted with Hinayana, the Little Vehicle, a name bestowed on the more conservative party though not willingly accepted by them.The simplest description of the two Vehicles is that given by the Chinese traveller I-Ching (635-713 A.D.) who saw them both as living realities in India. He says, “”Those who worship Bodhisattvas and read Mahayana Sutras are called Mahayanists, while those who do not do this are called Hinayanists.”" In other words, the Mahayanists have scriptures of their own, not included in the Hinayanist Canon and adore superhuman beings in the stage of existence immediately below Buddhahood and practically differing little from Indian deities.Many characteristics could be added to I-Ching’s description but they might not prove universally true of the Mahayana nor entirely absent from the Hinayana, for however divergent the two Vehicles may have become when separated geographically, for instance in Ceylon and Japan, it is clear that when they were in contact, as in India and China, the distinction was not always sharp. But in general the Mahayana was more popular, not in the sense of being simpler, for parts of its teaching were exceedingly abstruse, but in the sense of striving to invent or include doctrines agreeable to the masses.

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In 320 A.C., a native Indian dynasty, the Guptas, came to the throne and inaugurated a revival of Hinduism. To speak of the revival of Hinduism does not mean that in the previous period it had been dead or torpid. Indeed we know that there was a Hindu reaction against the Buddhism of Asoka about 150 B.C. But, on the whole, from the time of Asoka onwards Buddhism had been the principal religion of India, and before the Gupta era there are hardly any records of donations made to Brahmans. Yet during these centuries they were not despised or oppressed.

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China and India are pagan, a word which I deprecate if it is understood to imply inferiority but which if used in a descriptive and respectful sense is very useful. Christianity and Islam are organized religions. They say (or rather their several sects say) that they each not only possess the truth but that all other creeds and rites are wrong. But paganism is not organized: it rarely presents anything like a church united under one head: still more rarely does it condemn or interfere with other religions unless attacked first. Buddhism stands between the two classes. Like Christianity and Islam it professes to teach the only true law, but unlike them it is exceedingly tolerant and many Buddhists also worship Hindu or Chinese gods.Popular religion in India and China is certainly polytheistic, yet if one uses this word in contrast to the monotheism of Islam and of Protestantism the antithesis is unjust, for the polytheist does not believe in many creators and rulers of the world, in many Allahs or Jehovahs, but he considers that there are many spiritual beings, with different spheres and powers, to the most appropriate of whom he addresses his petitions. Polytheism and image-worship lie under an unmerited stigma in Europe.

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Buddhism tells of many hells, of which Avîci is the most terrible. They are of course all temporary and therefore purgatories rather than places of eternal punishment, and the beings who inhabit them have the power of struggling upwards and acquiring merit, but the task is difficult and one may be born repeatedly in hell. The phraseology of Buddhism calls existences in heavens and hells new births. To us it seems more natural to say that certain people are born again as men and that others go to heaven or hell. But the three destinies are really parallel.

The desire to accommodate influential ideas, though they might be incompatible with the strict teaching of the Buddha, Read the rest of this entry »

All Buddhists take the Buddhist precepts, whether they are monks or lay Buddhists. While the precepts are universally agreed upon as being fundamental to Buddhism, their interpretations vary.The five trainings are, essentially, to not kill, to not steal, to not commit sexual misconduct, to not practice false speech, and to not become intoxicated. Thich Nhat Hanh rewrote these precepts and called his version the Five Mindfulness Trainings.The First Precept: This one is self-explanatory. Killing causes suffering and is caused by suffering.

If you are killing or condone killing something, you are either unaware of your own suffering, or you are causing suffering in someone else.The Second Precept: Once again, this one explains itself, and for very similar reasons. Theft is committed out of desire or jealousy. If one is feeling either of these emotions, then that person is not being mindful. Likewise, the stealing itself causes suffering in others.The Third Precept: This precept is where there is some debate. Some Buddhist scholars say that this means no sex of any sort, and that sexual misconduct is simply a description of sex entirely. Others say that this in fact simply means not to commit adultery or similar and severe acts of sexual misconduct.The Fourth Precept: This is another one where the extent of its intention is unknown. Blatant lies and insults are typically accepted as wrong speech, but Read the rest of this entry »