Showing posts with label great vehicle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label great vehicle. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

UFOs in Ancient India's Ramayana

Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Wiki edit
Space aliens battle in the ancient epic poem The Ramayana (education.asianart.org)
"Rama's Journey," opaque watercolor and gold on paper (circa 1650) from Himachal Pradesh, India. School: Pahari. Display Dimensions: 17 1/8 in. x 13 7/32 in. (43.5 cm x 33.6 cm) Credit: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection Accession. Collection: The San Diego Museum of Art (sdmart.org).

Palatial space craft
This brilliantly composed painting celebrates the joyful reunion of Rama and Sita and their return home to mainland India after an exile of 14 years. The gold celestial chariot able to move with the speed of mind was summoned to Rama's presence. The reunited royal couple sits in the highest chamber. To the right of the painting, the grateful men and women of the city of Lanka come out to bid farewell, their eyes alight with adoration. Wondrous sea creatures wear expressions of delight, and the victorious monkeys and bears [yakkhas, yetis] rejoice as they cross the land bridge from the island of Lanka.

The Ramayana (Sanskrit रामायणम्) is an ancient Indian epic poem that narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the "demon king" Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Sanskrit Itihasa.

The Mahābhārata is the longest known epic poem and has been described as "the longest poem ever written." Its longest version consists of over 100,000  couplets (śloka) or over 200,000 individual verse lines, and long prose passages. ...

At about 1.8 million words in all, the Mahābhārata is roughly ten times the length of the Ancient Greek Iliad and Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the Rāmāyaṇa.

The Ramayana ("Rama's vehicle")
"Land bridge" between the countries is artificial, now submerged, but visible from above.
 
Rama forsaken by Varuna takes up Brahmastra
Towards the end of the epic Ramayana, Rama has rescued Sita from Ravana's clutches in [Sri] Lanka, a large island off the tip of India (Great Bharat).
 
A bridge has been built [the foundation of which can still be seen from the sky] from Lanka across the water back to the Indian mainland.

This "Adam's Bridge" (rāmasetu) to let Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana return home to Ayodhya (northern India, near the Himalayan foothills).

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana
In the painting the residents of Lanka bid goodbye to the monkeys and bears, who helped in the battle to rescue Sita. The vimana, an airborne palace, is filled with these curious beasts. Rama and Sita look out from the top floor.
 
Rama and Lakshman confer with the leaders of the animal army. This set of Ramayana illustrations are among the earliest and most impressive narrative paintings from the Panjab Hills.
Swastika = sun or vril energy
Strongly based in the imperial Mughal style the quality of execution and finish as well as the lavish use of gold being obvious hallmarks of the manuscript, the paintings also exhibit a wit and charm in the depiction of the animals and water creatures.

Ravana made his Lanka a city of gold. Still, the residents are grateful to be delivered from their "demon king." Rama has placed the kingdom in the hands of Ravana's good younger brother, and it is time to leave.
 
Ancient engineering: aerial view of Rama's bridge.
The army of bears [or possibly "bear-men," yetis, yakkhas] marches back across the bridge they built to reach Lanka. The monkeys would rather play in the water. And Rama has found an appropriate vehicle to cross: the pushpaka vimana.

This fabulous flying chariot, which is as big as a city, belonged to Kubera, the deity (deva) of wealth. It was stolen by Ravana. Now Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana ride it home, along with every monkey and bear who can clamber on.

The residents of Lanka and the creatures of the deep marvel at the vision of a golden city in the sky as it lights up the heavens.

This set of Ramayana illustrations is among the most impressive narrative paintings from the Panjab Hills. Source
 
Yetis/Yakshis are not Bears
Yakkhas ("ogres") are not bears but another kind of human, and Kubera is their leader.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

"The Bodhisattva Ideal"

Dhr. Seven and CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Buddhist Publication Society (BPS.lk)
Buddhist devotion of the Hindu-influenced Mahayana movement (Kazempson/flickr)
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The Bodhisattva Ideal: Essays on the Emergence of Mahayana brings together six essays listed below on the origin and history of the bodhisattva ideal and the emergence of the Mahāyana.

[A  bodhisattva is an "enlightenment being" or a "being bent on gaining supreme enlightenment," that is, buddhahood. And Mahayana is the "Great Vehicle" school, sometimes also referred to as Northern Buddhism].
The essays approach the subject from different perspectives -- scholarly examinations of the terms in the Nikayas and Agamas (ancient collections of sacred Buddhist texts) to the relationship of the bodhisattva ideal and the arhat ideal (personal enlightenment).

This division is explored within the broader context of the social environment in which Mahayana formed and further developments that lead to the formulation of the full-fledged bodhisattva path.

As such, this collection of essays provides a good overview for a wider Buddhist readership of the history of changes that eventually led to the emergence of the Mahayana.

Mahayana Buddhist images Buddha, Kwan Yin, arhats (Pauloslachevsky/flickr)

THE SIX ESSAYS
  1. “Arahants, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas” (famed American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi)
  2. “The Bodhisattva Ideal in Theravāda Theory and Practice” (Jeffrey Samuels)
  3. “Bodhi and Arahattaphala From Early Buddhism to Early Mahāyāna” (Karel Werner)
  4. “Vaidalya, Mahāyāna, and Bodhisatva in India: An Essay Towards Historical Understanding” (Peter Skilling)
  5. “The Evolution of the Bodhisattva concept in Early Buddhist Canonical Literature” (Bhikkhu Anālayo)
  6. “Orality, writing and authority in South Asian Buddhism: Visionary Literature and the Struggle for Legitimacy in the Mahāyāna” (David McMahan)

  • Available from Buddhist Publication Society
  • $5.50 (US), 275 (Rs) Sri Lankan rupees
  • Tel: +94 81 2237283
    Fax: +94 81 2223679
    e-mail: bps@bps.lk
    Buddhist Publication Society
    P.O. Box 61, 54 Sangharaja Mawatha
    Kandy, Sri Lanka

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Tibetan Buddhism Series: The Path (video)

Bela Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Richard Gere (onlinelearning.fpmt.org)
Lisa Simpson discovers Springfield's Buddhist Temple and meditates with Carl and Lenny

This is an overview of the entire Tibetan Buddhist or Vajrayana "path to awakening." It begins with a study of the life story of the historical Buddha Gautama, known as the "Sage of the Shakya Clan" (Shakyamuni) and opens to the lam-rim or graduated path to enlightenment. If only there were some way to learn what Lisa Simpson could not when she went in search of spiritual truth beyond the borders of "religion." She found what Richard Gere, Lenny, Carl, and the Dalai Lama had already found.
 
Lisa, you can want stuff! Wisdom and all kinds of happiness here and now.

Discovering Buddhism
Learning Vajaryana/Mahayana Buddhism at home (fpmt.org)
 
Each Discovering Buddhism module consists of teachings, meditations and practices, readings, assessment questions, and a short retreat.
 
Students may do some or all of these component parts of each course, as they wish and are interested.
 
Those who complete all of the components receive a completion card for that course. When all 14 modules have been completed, students receive a certificate of full completion.

This awards the satisfaction of having completed a very comprehensive engagement with the Vajrayana/Mahayana path to enlightenment. It is symbolic of one's commitment to spiritual awakening. Rejoice deeply when you receive it!
 
The courses do not need to be completed in order, and Module 14, Special Integration Experiences should be started as early as possible in the program, as it takes some time to complete. Module 14 includes practice retreats available at many FPMT centers.
  
Each Discovering Buddhism at Home module contains audio recordings of teachings and meditations given by qualified Western teachers, and a text CD containing the course materials and written transcripts of the audio teachings. Packages are available in... More

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Enlightenment: BODHI DAY (Zen)

Wisdom Quarterly (EXPLANATION) edit of Bodhi Day; Zen Center Los Angeles (ZCLA)
May your heart always be full and your bubble empty, like the Buddha under the Bodhi tree (Wisdom Quarterly). Art by Andrew Yiallilouros (Yialli/Flickr).

BODHI DAY (Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011) is the Mahayana Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (a.k.a. Shakya-muni, the "Sage of the Shakyas") experienced enlightenment, called bodhi in Sanskrit and Pali.

  • The older Theravada school adheres to the ancient tradition that "Bodhi Day" took place, like the Buddha's birthday and final-nirvana day, on the full moon day of VESAK.
Siddhartha sat under the Bodhi Tree despite adversaries pursuing serenity-and-insight until he broke through to an understanding the end of suffering (Marina Nozyer).

How did Siddhartha do it?

According to tradition, Siddhartha turned his back on years of extreme austerities. He took up the zens (Sanskrit, dhyanas, Pali, jhanas), which are pleasurable states of meditative absorption.

Asking himself if this happy way might be the path to the end of suffering, he experienced an intuitive certainty that it was. He had avoided all pleasure as part of his ascetic practices, but now understood that pleasure divorced from sensuality need not be fear.

He resolved to sit under a Pipul tree, Ficus religiosa, and let go, meditating until the absorptions purified his mind/heart of the Five Hindrances.

Then he began to systematically practice for liberating insight through mindfulness within four arenas -- tracing the dozen links of Dependent Origination until he found the roots of suffering (ignorance and craving). In craving he saw a chink in the armor, an escape from suffering (from dukkha or "disappointment").

He realized the direct liberation of the heart and mind from clinging and wrong view. Light dawned, and delusion was displaced by wisdom. He awakened from the illusion (maya) and was supremely enlightened: This differed from the enlightenment of disciples in that one who is "supremely" enlightened is able to effectively teach and establish the path he had rediscovered.

Traditional Zen monastics engaged in zazen, sitting with the (unspoken and often unrecognized) aim of absorption (zen, ch'an, seon, thien, samten). Most sit aimlessly secretly hoping something will happen. If it does, they realize the value of not limiting themselves to an aim. If it does not, before long they will not be sitting at all but engaged in koans, raking, flower arranging, calligraphy, martial arts, cooking, washing dishes, drinking, or anything else that can be called "Everyday Zen."

Sakyamuni's Great Awakening

But traditions vary on what happened. Some say he made a great vow to Earth to achieve nirvana (find and uproot the cause of suffering) or die trying.

In other traditions, while meditating he was harassed and tempted by the supernatural Mara (Sanskrit, the "Destroyer"), a being delighting in cupidity and illusion.

Other traditions simply say that he entered deeper and deeper states of absorption (zen, dhyana, jhana), confronting and questioning assumptions about the nature of "self." What he discovered by following the maxim "Know thyself" could not have been expected. The Truth itself set him free.

In the Pali Canon, various discourses (sutras) by the Buddha relate to what happened. In "The Longer Discourse to Saccaka" (MN 36), the Buddha describes his overnight enlightenment in three stages:

  1. During the first watch of the night, he discovered his innumerable past lives cycling through rebirth.
  2. During the second watch, he fully penetrated the Law of Karma as part of the fourth Noble Truth: the Noble Eightfold Path that leads to the end of all suffering.
  3. During the third watch, he rediscovered all Four Noble Truths, culminating in nirvana.

In the Buddha's words:

"My heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, was released from the bond [fetter] of sensuality, the bond of ever-renewed becoming, the bond of ignorance. With release came the certainty, 'Released!' I directly understood, 'Rebirth is ended, the high life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further to be done [to ensure release from all disappointment]!'"

ZCLA Bodhi Day Service

Sunday, Dec. 11, 8:30 am

Following the end of Rohatsu sesshin [NOW IN PROGRESS and open to everyone on a drop in basis] the evening before, we will have a service commemorating the enlightenment of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama under the Bodhi Tree. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend this annual observance.

(Buddhanet.net, Bodhi Tree)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Ten Mahayana (Bodhisattva-ideal) Precepts

Little Jo (Alicewonderland2/Flickr.com) submission, edited for Wisdom Quarterly
Bodhisattva (Drunz/Flickr.com)

(YMBA.org) Mahayana Buddhists, listen! Whoever can understand and accept a Dharma master's words of transmission can receive the Bodhisattva Precepts and be called foremost in purity. (A bodhisattva is a "being-bent-on-enlightenment" to save others).

This is true whether a person is a ruler, official, monk, nun, or a deva of the 18 Brahma planes, a deva of the six Sense Desire planes, or a human, eunuch, libertine, prostitute, slave, or member of the eight divisions of Divinities, a Vajra spirit, an animal, or even a shape-shifting being.

The Ten Major Precepts
[A] Buddha said to his disciples, "There are ten major bodhisattva precepts. If one receives the precepts but fails to recite them, one is not a bodhisattva, nor is one a seed of buddhahood. I, too, recite these precepts.

"All bodhisattvas have studied them in the past, will study them in the future, and are studying them now. I have explained the main characteristics of the bodhisattva precepts. You should study and observe them with all your heart." That Buddha continued:

1. First Major Precept: Killing
A disciple of the Buddha must not kill, encourage others to kill, kill by expedient means, praise killing, rejoice at witnessing killing, or kill through incantation or deviant mantras. One must not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of killing, and shall not intentionally kill any living creature.

As a Buddha's disciple, one ought to nurture a mind of compassion and filial piety, always devising expedient means to rescue and protect beings. If instead, one fails to restrain oneself and kills sentient beings without mercy, one commits a "major" offense (parajika).

2. Second Major Precept: Stealing
A disciple of the Buddha must not steal or encourage others to steal, steal by expedient means, steal by means of incantation or deviant mantras. One should not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of stealing. No valuables or possessions may be stolen, even those belonging to ghosts and spirits or thieves and robbers, be they as small as a needle.

As a Buddha's disciple, one ought to have a mind of mercy, compassion, and filial piety -- always helping people earn merit and achieve happiness. If instead, one steals the possessions of others, one commits a major offense.

3. Third Major Precept: Sexual Misconduct
A disciple of the Buddha must not engage in licentious acts or encourage others to do so. [As a monastic] one should not have sexual relations with any human, animal, deva, or spirit -- nor create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of such misconduct. Indeed, one must not engage in improper sexual conduct with anyone.

A Buddha's disciple ought to have a mind of filial piety -- rescuing all sentient beings and instructing them in the Dharma of purity and chastity. If instead, one lacks compassion and encourages others to engage in sexual relations promiscuously, including with animals and even their mothers, daughters, sisters, or other close relatives, one commits a major offense.

4. Fourth Major Precept: Lying and False Speech
A disciple of the Buddha must not use false words and speech, or encourage others to lie or deceive by expedient means. One should not involve oneself in the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of lying, saying [as a witness] that one has seen what one has not seen or vice versa, or lying implicitly through physical or mental means.

A Buddha's disciple ought to maintain Right Speech and Right Views and lead others to maintain them as well. If instead one causes or encourages wrong speech, wrong views, or unwholesome karma in others, one commits a major offense.

5. Fifth Major Precept: Selling Intoxicants
A disciple of the Buddha must not trade in alcoholic beverages or encourage others to do so. One should not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of selling any intoxicants whatsoever, for intoxicants are the causes and conditions of all kinds of offenses.

A Buddha's disciple ought to help all sentient beings achieve clear wisdom. If instead one causes them to have upside-down, topsy-turvy thinking, one commits a major offense.

6. Sixth Major Precept: Broadcasting the Faults of the Assembly
A disciple of the Buddha must not broadcast the misdeeds or infractions of bodhisattva-clerics or bodhisattva-laypersons, or of monks and nuns, nor encourage others to do so. One must not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of discussing the offenses of the assembly.

As a Buddha's disciple whenever hearing unwholesome persons, outsiders, or followers of the Two Vehicles [Mahayana and Theravada] speak of practices contrary to the Dharma or contrary to the precepts within the Buddhist community, one should instruct them with a compassionate mind and lead them to develop wholesome faith in Buddhism.

If instead one discusses the faults and misdeeds that occur within the assembly, one commits a major offense.

7. Seventh Major Precept: Praising Oneself, Disparaging Others
A disciple of the Buddha must not praise oneself or speak ill of others or encourage others to do so. One must not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of praising oneself and disparaging others.

As a disciple of the Buddha one should be willing to stand in for all sentient beings and endure humiliation and slander -- accepting blame and letting sentient beings have the glory. If instead one displays one's own virtues and conceals the good points of others, thus causing them to suffer slander, one commits a major offense.

8. Eighth Major Precept: Stinginess and Abuse
A disciple of the Buddha must not be stingy or encourage others to be stingy. One should not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of stinginess. As a bodhisattva, whenever a destitute person comes for help, one should give that person what is needed. If instead, out of anger or resentment, one denies assistance -- refusing to help with even a penny, a needle, a blade of grass, even a single sentence or verse or phrase of Dharma, but instead scolds and abuses that person -- one commits a major offense.

9. Ninth Major Precept: Anger and Resentment
A disciple of the Buddha shall not harbor anger or encourage others to be angry. One should not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of anger.

As a disciple of the Buddha one ought to be compassionate and filial, helping sentient beings develop the good roots of non-contention. If instead one insults and abuses sentient beings, or even shape-shifting beings [such as devas and spirits], with harsh words, hitting them with fists or feet, or attacking them with knives or clubs -- or harbors grudges even when the victim confesses mistakes and humbly seeks forgiveness in a soft, conciliatory voice -- the disciple commits a major offense.

10. Tenth Major Precept: Slandering the Three Jewels
A Buddha's disciple must not speak ill of the Three Jewels or encourage others to do so. One must not create the causes, conditions, methods or karma of slander. If a disciple hears but a single word of slander against the Buddha from outsiders or unwholesome beings, one experiences a pain similar to that of three hundred spears piercing the heart. How then could one possibly slander the Three Jewels oneself?

If instead a disciple lacks faith and filial piety towards the Three Jewels, and even assists unwholesome persons or those of aberrant views to slander the Three Jewels, one commits a major offense.

Conclusion: The Ten Major Precepts
A disciple of the Buddha should study these Ten Major (parajika) Precepts and not break any of them in even the slightest way -- much less break all of them. Anyone guilty of doing so cannot develop the Enlightenment (Bodhi) Mind in the current life and will lose whatever high position one may have attained, be it that of an emperor, a Wheel-Turning World Ruler, Buddhist monk, Buddhist nun -- as well as whatever level of bodhisattvahood one may have reached, whether the Ten Dwellings, the Ten Practices, the Ten Dedications, the Ten Grounds -- and the fruits of undying Buddha Nature. One will lose all of those levels of attainment and descend into the Three Woeful Realms, unable to hear the words "parents" or "Three Jewels" for aeons.

Therefore, Buddha's disciples should avoid breaking any of these major precepts. All bodhisattvas should study and observe the Ten Precepts, which have been observed, are being observed, and will be observed by all bodhisattvas.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Mahayana Buddhism


Colorful Mahayana symbolism
-
Kheper.com (text edited for clarity)


Nagarjuna image from Madhyamaka

The Mahayana ("Great vehicle"), or Northern branch, is one of the two major divisions of Buddhism. The other is Theravada ("Teaching of the Elders"), which is also referred to derogatorily as Hinayana, "Small vehicle."

Mahayana Buddhism is based on sophisticated metaphysical speculations regarding the nature of Reality (shunyata), or Enlightenment (sambodhi, prajna), and of the Buddha (Trikaya).

Soteriologically, the main idea is of not escaping into a quiescent nirvana. Rather, once having achieved enlightenment, one returns as a Bodhisattva to the world for the sake of other beings.

Mayahana, therefore, emphasizes that the duty of enlightenment is to work compassionately to relieve the suffering of others (upaya or "skillful means") and argues that all sentient creatures will ultimately achieve Buddhahood.

Mahayana Buddhism spread northeast from India into China (1st century A.D.), and from there into Tibet and Korea, and from Korea into Japan.

By convention, Mahayana is divided into two philosophical schools, both of which had a strong influence on the various Mahayana Buddhist sects, but also the Advaita Vedanta of Gaudapada and Shankara as well.

The first is the anti-metaphysical Madhyamika or Dialectic school, which emphasizes the negation of all possible phenomenal reality through a kind of logical reducto-ad-absurdum in order to arrive at the ineffable absolute or Void (shunyata) that is the only Reality.

The second Mahayanist school is the Vijnanavada or "Consciousness-[only] doctrine" which uses the experience of meditation in order to prove that all reality is ultimately Consciousness (hence the alternative names of Yogachara, "Yoga doctrine," and Chittamatra, "mind-only").

Unlike the Madhyamikas, they developed a number of metaphysical and occult conceptions, including an emanationist ontology quite similar to that of Samkhya, though psychologically rather than cosmologically oriented.

Buddhist advertisements Bodhidharma or Buddhist graffiti? The temples around Seoul hang posters. They advertise temple events and other programs. This is an older poster, on a signpost with plenty of other adverts under it.

The Bodhisattva Ideal
At the heart of Mahayana Buddhism is the noble "Bodhisattva Ideal":
.
However innumerable sentient beings are,
I vow to save them. However inexhaustible the defilements are,
I vow to extinguish them. However immeasurable the dharmas are,
I vow to master them. However incomparable enlightenment is,
I vow to attain it.
The Bodhisattva Vow (in Andrew Harvey's The Essential Mystics, Harper: San Francisco, 1996, p.75)

A bodhisattva is a being who searches for the attainment of Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. This conception, central to Mahayana school, developed from the original idea of one who defers the "ultimate goal" of nirvana (extinction) in order to return to the world of suffering again and again for the sake of sentient beings.

Master Shantideva (695-743 AD) was a great proponent of the Bodhisattva Ideal and the Middle Way of Buddhism [Buddhist Artwork - mirror (Australia)]

The Bodhisattva and Reincarnation
By Evgueni Tortchinov

Within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which is also a Mahayana school, two types of reincarnation must be differentiated: the usual one (the interpretation of which has the doctrine of Karma as its foundation), an interpretation of which does not differ much from that of the Theravadins, and the doctrine of Sprul-sku (read tool-koo, Sanskrit: nirmanakaya, "a magically produced body, or magically transformed body). This is the ability of the bodhisattvas and other "saints" (arya pudgala) to create by the force of mind special "artificial" bodies to reveal themselves to the Samsaric world by their will for the benefit of other living beings.

Thus, the Dalai-lama is [are] a sprul-sku of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Panchen-lama a sprul-sku of the Buddha Amitabha, Bogdo-gegen (of Mongolia) a sprul-sku of the saint Taranatha, and so on. Only such special incarnations can be realized on the levels of mind, speech, and body.

Moreover each bodhisattva, by his/her supernatural powers, can produce unlimited numbers of such "magical bodies" to be incarnated in several persons. (Such as was seen in the collision in Bertolucci's movie "Little Buddha"). In common parlance such incarnations are called "incarnated lamas," or even "living buddhas."

But ordinary beings move through the Wheel of Cyclic Existence [Samsara] by the force of their karma, which holds together their "santana," the individualized continuity of psycho-physical experience.

READ MORE (www.kheper.net/topics/Buddhism/colors.html)