UWF Buddhist Lecture Series, 1
The gift of Dharma excels all other gifts.
--Dhammapada, 354
Inaugural Lecture: March 14, 2009
Introduction to Buddhism
Formerly, as well as now, monks, I make known only suffering and the cessation of suffering.
--Majjhima-nikaya, 22
The gift of Dharma excels all other gifts.
--Dhammapada, 354
Inaugural Lecture: March 14, 2009
Introduction to Buddhism
Formerly, as well as now, monks, I make known only suffering and the cessation of suffering.
--Majjhima-nikaya, 22
Lecture coverage: After reiterating the Buddha’s unequivocal teaching of only two things—suffering and the cessation of suffering—we shall state the purpose of the UWF Buddhist Lecture Series.
Outline
I. Suffering and the cessation of suffering.
A. The entire teaching of Buddhism is nothing else but the understanding of Dukkha and the understanding of the way out of Dukkha.
B. Buddhism is nothing else but the application of this one principle.
II. The purpose of the UWF Buddhist Lecture Series.
III. Why Buddhism? What is Buddhism?
A. Is it a philosophy, a religion, a science?
B. Ehi-passika: Come and see, not come and believe.
C. Why are there many types of Buddhism?
IV. Who was the Buddha?
A. Siddhartha is known by other names: Gautama, Sakyamuni.
B. He was of royal lineage, born ca. 490 BCE (ca. 563 BCE according to tradition) in the area near the current border between India and Nepal.
V. Several versions of his early life: variations on a basic storyline.
A. His parents were King Suddhodana and Queen Mahamaya.
B. Siddhartha was born while his mother was on her way to her parents’ home.
C. Immediately the newborn took seven steps and confidently declared that he was born for the good of the world.
D. His father consulted with court astrologers who predicted the child’s future.
E. Determined that his son should become a monarch, Siddhartha’s father shielded his son from all potentially upsetting sights: the sick, the elderly, the ugly.
1. He had the best food, the best clothes, and the best entertainment.
2. He had three splendid palaces: wood, marble, and brick.
3. He had everything other people spend their lives pursuing: riches, power.
F. At a young age, Siddhartha married his beautiful cousin Yashodhara, who eventually gave birth to his son Rahula. Everything seemed right with the world. And so it was, for Siddhartha’s first 29 years.
VI. Having it all, however, was still not enough. At age 29, he realized this insight after coming face to face with suffering for the first time. There are several versions of his initial awakening.
A. He encounters an old person, a sick person, and a corpse en route to the burning ground.
B. He overhears a strange, high pitched wailing of a funeral procession.
C. These elements may seem preposterous; could he really have been sheltered from life’s realities and be oblivious to them for 29 years?
1. It is possible that his realization came when he recognized that he, too, was subject to the realities of life.
2. It is unlikely that his father had pulled it off for three decades.
3. At one crucial moment, he got it: “I, too, will die.”
D. Rather than serenity, the sights brought him profound agitation. It meant dropping the pretense of uniqueness and accepting wholeheartedly one’s common share with everyone else.
E. He encounters a wandering samana who appeared happy in the midst of a suffering world.
F. Distraught by the suffering and intrigued by the samana, Siddhartha decides to leave his family and to seek answers to his questions.
G. His illusion was shattered, there was simply no returning to a life that ignored suffering and death.
H. The sight of dancers now drooling in their sleep.
VII. Siddhartha traveled throughout the areas of the Ganges basin in search of ascetics who could teach him how to end suffering.
A. Under Alara Kalama, Siddhartha practiced meditation, but was not satisfied.
B. Under Uddaka, he was able to reach the level of neither perception nor non-perception, but this too failed to provide the wisdom he sought.
C. These practices brought extraordinary experiences albeit temporary. Siddhartha wanted to attain permanent freedom from suffering.
D. Siddhartha practiced extreme self-mortification, depriving himself of food until he concluded that far from ending suffering, this practice only aggravated it.
E. Surely there had to be some other way to end suffering.
A. The entire teaching of Buddhism is nothing else but the understanding of Dukkha and the understanding of the way out of Dukkha.
B. Buddhism is nothing else but the application of this one principle.
II. The purpose of the UWF Buddhist Lecture Series.
III. Why Buddhism? What is Buddhism?
A. Is it a philosophy, a religion, a science?
B. Ehi-passika: Come and see, not come and believe.
C. Why are there many types of Buddhism?
IV. Who was the Buddha?
A. Siddhartha is known by other names: Gautama, Sakyamuni.
B. He was of royal lineage, born ca. 490 BCE (ca. 563 BCE according to tradition) in the area near the current border between India and Nepal.
V. Several versions of his early life: variations on a basic storyline.
A. His parents were King Suddhodana and Queen Mahamaya.
B. Siddhartha was born while his mother was on her way to her parents’ home.
C. Immediately the newborn took seven steps and confidently declared that he was born for the good of the world.
D. His father consulted with court astrologers who predicted the child’s future.
E. Determined that his son should become a monarch, Siddhartha’s father shielded his son from all potentially upsetting sights: the sick, the elderly, the ugly.
1. He had the best food, the best clothes, and the best entertainment.
2. He had three splendid palaces: wood, marble, and brick.
3. He had everything other people spend their lives pursuing: riches, power.
F. At a young age, Siddhartha married his beautiful cousin Yashodhara, who eventually gave birth to his son Rahula. Everything seemed right with the world. And so it was, for Siddhartha’s first 29 years.
VI. Having it all, however, was still not enough. At age 29, he realized this insight after coming face to face with suffering for the first time. There are several versions of his initial awakening.
A. He encounters an old person, a sick person, and a corpse en route to the burning ground.
B. He overhears a strange, high pitched wailing of a funeral procession.
C. These elements may seem preposterous; could he really have been sheltered from life’s realities and be oblivious to them for 29 years?
1. It is possible that his realization came when he recognized that he, too, was subject to the realities of life.
2. It is unlikely that his father had pulled it off for three decades.
3. At one crucial moment, he got it: “I, too, will die.”
D. Rather than serenity, the sights brought him profound agitation. It meant dropping the pretense of uniqueness and accepting wholeheartedly one’s common share with everyone else.
E. He encounters a wandering samana who appeared happy in the midst of a suffering world.
F. Distraught by the suffering and intrigued by the samana, Siddhartha decides to leave his family and to seek answers to his questions.
G. His illusion was shattered, there was simply no returning to a life that ignored suffering and death.
H. The sight of dancers now drooling in their sleep.
VII. Siddhartha traveled throughout the areas of the Ganges basin in search of ascetics who could teach him how to end suffering.
A. Under Alara Kalama, Siddhartha practiced meditation, but was not satisfied.
B. Under Uddaka, he was able to reach the level of neither perception nor non-perception, but this too failed to provide the wisdom he sought.
C. These practices brought extraordinary experiences albeit temporary. Siddhartha wanted to attain permanent freedom from suffering.
D. Siddhartha practiced extreme self-mortification, depriving himself of food until he concluded that far from ending suffering, this practice only aggravated it.
E. Surely there had to be some other way to end suffering.
