Philosophy of Religion

Introduction to Hinduism and Buddhism

This introduction is a sketch. Just as a sketch is not a photograph, which is, itself, not “reality” “in the flesh,” the following is just scattering lines several times removed for “reality” and only trying to grant a big picture as means of an introduction. Please forgive all inadequacies and grand generalizations to follow.

Religion: from the Latin religio (supernatural constraint; root in religare, to restrain, respect). The precise etymology for religio, however, is uncertain:

According to Cicero, it is from relegare [re (again) + legere (read)] (go through again, read again).

According to Augustine (and many moderns), it is from religare (to bind fast, in the sense of an obligation or bond between the human and divine).

Another possibility is religiens (careful).

What “Religion” means is a set of strongly held beliefs and practices focused upon divinity or the supernatural. This idea of being a system of faith dates from ca. 1300. It is also considered a category that can epistemologically divide the world between the sacred and profane.

All the world’s religions can be roughly divided into three categories:

Dharmic Religions: Based on Dharma (Sanskrit, law, duty); birthed in Indian Subcontinent and spread throughout (predominately) Asia; includes Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism*, and Sikhism**.

* Jains believe in the absolute equality of all life and absolute responsibility of each individual

for his/her actions in the world. Every soul is capable of Moksha, enlightenment or liberation

from the cycle of reincarnation. To achieve this, complete compassion and absolute

nonviolence is required (killing or violence is a horrid blasphemy); this philosophy requires

an ascetic life wherein most are vegan or vegetarian.

** Sikhism is a monotheistic religion with close similarities to Hinduism and Islam;

the name derives from the Sanskrit for disciple or instruction and is based on pursuit

of personal salvation (spiritual union) from the cycles of reincarnation and the veil of Maya

(as the unreality of the values humans give the world) through meditation and discipline

learned from a universal, non-anthropomorphic God, Vahiguru, and the teaching of ten Sikh gurus.

The “five evils” of ego, anger, greed, attachment, and lust keep us from union with God.

The path to salvation is meditative, not ritualistic. It is considered the 5th largest world religion

with most adherents living in the state of Punjab in India and the Punjab province of Pakistan.

Abrahamic Religions: Based on those monotheistic religions that include a historical tie to Abraham; includes Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Taoic Religions: Based on Tao (Chinese, way, path); this division includes the religious incarnations of Chinese philosophical traditions including Taoism and Confucianism, the religious incarnations of Japanese philosophical traditions including Shinto, also includes the Korean traditions Jeung San Dom (meditative) and Chondogyo (synthesis of various systems); some interpretations of Buddhism may better fit the Taoic division than the Dharmic.

Please keep in mind: this sketch will draw some grand generalizations; as if each religion is unified.

Hinduism is the principle Dharmic religion, it is one of the oldest surviving religions and the third largest today; most importantly, it is the historical and philosophic root of Buddhism.

Hinduism rests, philosophically, on four principles:

Two reveal the nature of reality:

Samsara (The continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth)

Karma (action and subsequent reaction)

Two reveal one’s ethical responsibility and goal:

Dharma (ethics and duties)

Moksha (liberation from the cycle of samsara)

Hinduism has no single founder or single central text; rather, its traditions and texts are diverse and divided between the Sruti (“what is heard,” the revealed texts) and Smriti (the remembered texts). The main Sruti texts are the Vedas* and the Upanishads, and are often considered to be the most important; Smriti texts include the Tantras, the Agamas, the Puranas**, the Smriti epic texts Mahabharata (from which comes the famous Bhagavad Gita) and Ramayana, and the Manusmriti, a legal code work including descriptions of the caste system.

* Vedas center on worship of the deities Indra, Varuna, and Agni and on the Soma ritual

(Soma designating a plant and a drink made from it, likely hallucinatory, that was deified

(typically as a bull or bird) and ritualistically drunk by humans to temporarily acquire

divine traits; also comparable to the Greek ambrosia, or delectable drink of the gods).

The Rigveda is the oldest and most well-known, dating back to 1700-1100 bce; the others

include the Samaveda, Yajusveda, and the Atharvaveda. Commonly, Veda refers to only the

first of its actual four parts: the first part is the veda proper, which includes sacred mantras,

and then there are three parts which are commentaries, typically in prose and later dating,

they are called the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads; the first two parts are

ritualistic and the latter two are philosophic.

**The Puranas often depicted the travails of the devas and devis (masculine and feminine deities)

in battle or engaged with human affairs.

The human spirit (soul) is called the atman. According to some schools of Hinduism, it is the eternal self and born out of or is indistinguishable from Brahman, the supreme spirit (i.e. God is immanent). The realization of the equation between the atman and Brahman, according to the Upanishads, can realize moksha, or liberation (aka nirvana (“unbound,” “the mind like fire unbound”) from samsara, the continuous cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth.

Hinduism in practice could be considered the continual seeking of awareness of God or godliness.***

*** There are two paths Hindu followers can follow: Grihastha Dharma and Sannyasin Dharma.

Grihastha Dharma followers follow four goals: Kama: sensual pleasure, enjoyment;

Artha: material prosperity, success; Dharma: proper action according to duty and scriptural law;

and Moksha: liberation from the cycle of samasara.

The Sannyasin Dharma followers dismiss the pursuit of the first three and

focus all attention on the final goal of freedom.

Hinduism and Buddhism

The key differences between Hinduism and Buddhism can be understood as hinging on the existence and nature of the self:

For Hinduism, the self is godly; it is to be explored, nurtured, and improved in order to achieve liberation.

For Buddhism, the self is that which keeps us from the godliness of liberation; the self is to be purified from pleasures and material attachments and then left behind altogether in order to achieve freedom.

From this main difference, Buddhism rejected many of Hinduism’s social and philosophical teachings, notably, some interpretations’ emphasis on kama (pleasure) and artha (success) as goals, and, in general, the caste system and gender bias.

Hinduism and Buddhism, however, both center upon the interplay of the four forces of Samsara (The continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth), Karma (action and subsequent reaction), Dharma (ethics and duties), and Moksha (liberation from the cycle of samsara) despite their different interpretations of these aspects.

For the Buddhists, the central philosophical teachings are the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-Fold Path.

The Four Noble Truths:

Noble Truth of Sorrow. “Birth is sorrow, age is sorrow, disease is sorrow, death is sorrow; contact with the unpleasant is sorrow, separation from the pleasant is sorrow, every wish unfulfilled is sorrow—in short all the five components of individuality* are sorrow.”** —Life is suffering. (Sorrow or suffering translates Dukkha, which literally means “that which is difficult to bear,” and can also indicate stress, pain, anguish, affliction, or unsatisfactoriness and includes both physical and mental traits.)

* See below; These are: material/forms, sensations, perceptions,

mental formations/psychic dispositions, and consciousness

**All quotes here from Samyutta Nikaya (the 3rd division of the Sutra Pitaka), 5.421 ff.

Reprinted in de Bary, The Buddhist Tradition: in India, China, and Japan

(NY: Random House, 1969, 1972), 16-17

Noble Truth of the Arising from Sorrow. “It arises from craving, which leads to rebirth, which brings delight and passion, and seeks pleasure now here, now there—the craving for sensual pleasure, the craving for continued life, the craving for power.” —suffering is caused by lust and aversion (by human nature, by trying to know/define the self)

Noble Truth of the Stopping of Sorrow. “It is the complete stopping of that craving, so that no passion remains, leaving it, being emancipated from it, being released from it, giving no place to it.” –suffering can be overcome and happiness attained

Noble Truth of the Way which Leads to the Stopping of Sorrow. “It is the Noble Eightfold Path…” –suffering can be overcome by the eight-fold path

The Eight-Fold Path:

Right views. Samma-DitthiView the world without the imposition of our expectations.

Right resolve. Samma-SankappaHave pure intentions—abandon expectations, hopes, fears, desire to manipulate.

Right speech. Samma-VacaPure intentions yield free speech.

Right conduct. Samma-KammantaDiscipline; renounce tendency to complicate, practice simplicity.

Right livelihood. Samma-AjivaIt is natural and right to earn one’s living; form a simple, pure relation with our livelihood.

Right effort. Samma-VayamaTo overcome evil and promote good is not a struggle; right effort is without negativity or aggression.

Right mindfulness. Samma-SatiBe mindful of all details of life; involves precision and clarity.

Right concentration. Samma-Samadhi Absorption in now-ness, immediacy, meditation produces a gap in our preoccupation with ourselves.

“Right” translates Samma, which means proper, whole, perfect, etc., which means that it is not right in the sense of something opposite to wrong, but right as in complete and integral thoroughness.

“…by the mere fact of being born under the conditions of finite existence every living creature is subject to the evils of sickness, old age, and death, and to the sadness that comes when his loved ones are stricken by these ills. These inevitable occasions of unhappiness (dukha) constitute the problem of life. But they would make not make us unhappy were it not for the blind demandingness (tanha) in our nature which leads us to ask of the universe, for ourselves and those specially dear to us, more than it is ready or even able to give” (E.A. Burtt, The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, 28).

This speaks to a question as to the Buddhist contrast to Hinduism that problematizes the definitions and relation between Atman and Brahman. This self, this something of our nature that ties us to suffering, must be destroyed in order to achieve liberation from sorrow, which is entry into Nirvana (cessation of passions, perfect peace—permits moksha, liberation). Thus, Buddhism differs from Hinduism in its denial of any metaphysical construct to Brahman, differentiating it from Nirvana and Moksha, and rejects the identity of Atman and Brahman.

Yet, for Buddhism, there are inherent ambiguities in any attempt to define Atman:

(1) one understanding offers a duplicity of self: a self that hinders and a self (comparable to Atman) that is a no-self (anatta);

(2) another understanding offers the certain rejection of self, anything we call the self is mere illusion that hinders us and the doctrine of no-self or no-soul (anatta) does not mean we have a self that is a no-self, there just is no self.

We will see that these do not conflict; they are the same.

To begin to understand Anatta, the doctrine of No-Soul/No-Self, let us elaborate upon the First Noble Truth (of suffering); it teaches us there are:

Five Aggregates:

that make up an appearance of the ‘I’ or the self:

1) Aggregate of Matter (Rupakkhandha: solid, fluid, heat, motion and the five senses plus the mind and the six objects of senses in the world: visible form, sound, odor, taste, tangible things; ideas as mind objects).

2) Aggregate of Sensations (Vedanakkhandha: all sensations experienced through the five sensory organs plus the mind and their objects in the world; sensations sense).

3) Aggregate of Perceptions (Sannakkhandha: all perceptions experienced through the six internal faculties and the world; perceptions recognize).

4) Aggregate of Mental Formations (Samkharakkhanda: all 52 volitional activities that effect karma that result from relation between the six internal faculties and the world; volitional activities include attention, will, determination, confidence, concentration, wisdom, energy, desire, hate, ignorance, conceit, the idea of self, etc.).

5) Aggregate of Consciousness (Vinnanakkhandha: the response born out of one of the six internal faculties’ relation with the external phenomena; thus there is visual consciousness is born out of the relation between the eye and visible form and mental consciousness is born out of the relation between the mind and an idea; consciousness is awareness, not knowledge, it comes to be aware of a table yet does not know that that thing is called a table and defined in terms of form and function).

Buddhism holds that these Five Aggregates appear to give us a Self, but this is not true. There is no self; all of these aggregates arise from a relation to conditions (the external world, a smell, an object):

“…the Buddha explained it further by an illustration: A fire is named according to the material on account of which it burns. A fire may burn on account of wood, and it is called wood-fire. It may burn on account of straw, and then it is called straw-fire. So consciousness is named according to the condition through which it arises.”

The analytical conclusion to inquiry into the First Noble Truth is that there is no self; there is no Atman behind the Five Aggregates.

Buddhism offers another way of reaching this same conclusion:

The Conditioned Genesis:

1) Through ignorance are conditioned volitional actions or karma-formations (Avijjapaccaya samkhara).

2) Through volitional actions is conditioned consciousness (Samkharapaccaya vinnanam).

3) Through consciousness are conditioned mental and physical phenomena (Vinnanapaccaya namarupam).

4) Through mental and physical phenomena are conditioned the six faculties (sense organs plus mind) (Namarupapaccaya salayatanam).

5) Through the six faculties is conditioned (sensorial and mental) contact (Salayatanapaccaya phasso).

6) Through (sensorial and mental) contact is conditioned sensation (Phassapaccaya vendana).

7) Through sensation is conditioned desire, “thirst:” (Vendanapaccaya tanha).

8) Through desire (“thirst”) is conditioned clinging (Tanhapaccaya upadanam).

9) Through clinging is conditioned the process of becoming (Upadanapaccaya bhavo).

10) Through the process of becoming is conditioned birth (Bhavapaccaya jati).

11) Through birth are conditioned…

12) decay, death, lamentation, pain, etc. (Jatipaccaya jaramaranam…).

This is the arising of life; if we understand the process in reverse, we see how to cease it; the process is cyclic, not linear, which means there is no first cause.

The synopsis of this theory is expressed in four lines:

When this is, that is;

This arising, that arises;

When this is not, that is not;

This ceasing, that ceases.

Here is the latinized original:

Imasmim sati idam hoti;

Imassuppada odam uppajjati;

Imasmim asati idam na hoti;

Imassa nirodha idam nirujjhati;

Here is a logical transcription:

When A is, B is;

A arising, B arises;

When A is not, B is not;

A ceasing, B ceases.

This synopsis helps us to remember that this is the Conditioned Genesis; we must understand each step to be simultaneously the conditioned and conditioning, it is relative and entirely interdependent.

This is a very difficult and radical theory.

Let’s begin with a few basic ideas:

Relativism: there is no essential truth or standard by which to judge; all judgments or all knowledge are relative to a greater picture, to time, to place, to gender, etc. ...

My judgment that some given classroom is hot is relative to my preferences, which create a “scale” that is not essentially true for all times and people—i.e., I designate 30 degrees as really cold and 90 degrees as really hot, then this room at, say, 80 degrees is hot. If someone else designates 70 degrees as really cold and 100 degrees as really hot, then this room is more cool than hot.

Most people also consider aesthetic matters to be relative, our tastes in art or music… i.e., “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

…versus…

Essentialism: there is essential—eternal and universal—truth; there is a fixed right and wrong or truthful principles from which to correctly judge…

Plato’s Forms (Ideas) are the best illustration of this theory: there are eternal, perfect, and universal forms, or things-in-themselves, that we all have access to (to some degree) and can utilize as a model of comparison for knowing their instantiation here in the world around us; this is how we can have communicability, knowledge, and truth. For example, we can all imagine the perfect circle; I cannot draw it, we cannot find it in the world, but it is true, such a thing exists and we all know it, it is what permits us to understand this circle, that garbage can, that clock as all being instantiations of a circle.

The Conditioned Genesis is relative: for there to be consciousness, there must be volitional acts, and for there to be volitional acts, there must be ignorance. So, consciousness depends upon ignorance and if there is ignorance, there will be consciousness. This also reveals their interdependency.

But, the Conditioned Genesis is the Arising of Life … thus, life itself is relative.

Many people and many traditions will not like this; most will want to understand life as essential, even if they told you on the street that they believe that all things are relative. Most people want there to be a real reason that they exist, a purpose, a plan; most religions and most conceptions of science will offer us essential reasons for existence (God’s plan, chemicals in the brain that preprogram us to eat, mate, run if fear, etc.).

But, if we come to see that life is relative, there is no ultimate plan, that the self is relative, that what we cling to only leads us to suffering and sorrow, then we can begin to be enthused about the self’s destruction. We can un-do the process of the arising of life and begin to cease ignorance, which will cease volition, which will cease consciousness, and so forth.

How, then, to wrap up and move on? In summary, Buddhism is often called:

The Middle Way:

A way that avoids the two evil paths: the pursuit of desires and the pleasures they yield and the ignoble pursuit of pain and hardship. The Middle Way is the Eightfold Path; this path is often described like a raft that helps one across a river and is then discarded.

The goal is Moksha or Nirvana, the cessation of the cycle of samsara, the cessation of passions, conflict, and struggle.

Achieving this goal is called Bodhi, Awakening, this is to awaken to the realization of the true nature of reality, to our true Buddha nature.

Theravada and Mahayana Schools:

Approximately 100 years after the death of the Buddha, a more liberal group of monks became the Mahayana school (the “Greater Vehicle”), splitting from the rest, then called the “School of the Elders,” the Theravada school.

The Theravada focus on the four noble truths; the Mahayana focus on four Bodhisattva vows born out of these truths:

1) vow to rescue all beings from suffering

2) vow to end all afflictions of living beings

3) vow to learn all the Dharma paths

4) vow to realize the unsurpassed path of the Buddha

Theravada School:

The Theravada place greater emphasis on the individual’s self-effort of achieving Nirvana, and not relying on any supernatural aid. They do not expound on Nirvana beyond designating it the unconditioned, the deathless, and the unborn, as a state that is like intellectual enlightenment.

The most important virtue of Theravadan Buddhism is wisdom (Sanskrit, Bodhi).

Though social castes were abolished, new religious stratifications were created: Buddhism is truly suitable only for those who will dedicate their lives to it, meaning monks and nuns, for only they will have the constant commitment required. Spirituality is intellectually based; thus, not recommended for lay people.

They viewed Buddha as their founder, a saint, a supreme teacher, and an inspirer; he was not a god. Adhering closely to Buddha’s original beliefs, metaphysics and ritual were kept minimal to nonexistent. (Ritual is different from practice and worship, i.e. meditation).

Mahayana School:

Mahayana Buddhism emphasizes universal salvation; its adherents, then, are less withdrawn and actively preach and expand Buddhism’s influence.

Though Buddhism originally had very little belief in a personified supernatural, Mahayanas believe that all humans who seek Nirvana are supported and guided by divine inspiration and the power of a supreme being. The Buddha is almost deified and certainly immemorialized in tales about his awakening; while he is not worshipped as the only supreme being, he is still viewed as a savior.

The key virtue of Mahayana thought is compassion.

Mahayana Buddhism brings the religion to the lay people; the elders of the school thought that this was in the closer teaching of Buddha by devoiding the religion of authority and its dense or overly philosophical texts of the Theravdan school. Instead, Mahayanas mimicked the Buddha’s teachings: the conveyance of religious and moral messages in the forms of parables and stories, thus making Buddhism practical for daily life.

They also reemphasized metaphysics and ritual, including the use of petitionary prayer. Although this is in contrast to what the early Buddha preached, most believe that it is an expected evolution of the religion.

Mahayana Buddhism likewise focuses on Nirvana, but it is for universal salvation; it defies definition, is beyond time and space, and is like the true nature (infinite life and infinite light; the original mind).

Both schools of thought have gone through dramatic evolution as they developed in India and spread throughout Asia and beyond, although the most change may be seen in the Mahayana school. The Theravadan school spread through Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia; the Mahayana school worked its way from India and Central Asia to China, Tibet, Korea, and to Japan.

Both schools interpret the four noble truths and the eight-fold path to lead to the following “Five Precepts,” or moral commitments (in negative and positive renderings):

1) abstain from killing living beings---act with loving-kindness

2) abstain from taking what is not freely given ---be open hearted and patient

3) abstain from sexual misconducts ---practice stillness, simplicity, contentment

4) abstain from false speech ---speak with truth, clarity, peace

5) abstain from intoxication that confuses the mind ---live with mindfulness

The principles promote the non-exploitation of the self and others. These are all to be understood as active undertakings one chooses, not five commands.

In 268 bce, Emperor Ashoka was converted to Theravada Buddhism by the monk Nigrodha and devoted himself to peace and the promotion of Buddhism. He hosted the third council of Buddhism at his capitol, Pataliputra. In 240 bce, Ashoka sent one of his sons and one of his daughters to Sri Lanka and they converted the King there. In the 1st c. bce, Buddhism’s fourth council was held in Sri Lanka, and during this time the Theravada Sutras, the Tripitaka, Pali for three baskets, were first written down (the first 200 years Buddhism was an oral tradition). The Tripitaka includes the Vinaya Pitaka, the monastic law, the Sutta Pitaka, the words of the Buddha, and the Abhidamma Pitaka, the philosophical commentaries.

About this time, in the 1st c., Mahayana Buddhism began to spread and held wide mass appeal. Its goal, being universal salvation, guided its transformation into a religion for the common people; it developed the theory of the Trikaya, the three bodies, which said Buddha was a man who was enlightened, a god-like figure, and the Dharma itself, Shunyata, emptiness, or Buddha-mind (similar to the Christian trinity). They also developed the concept of the Bodhisattva: one who has attained enlightenment yet turns back and remains within the cycle of samsara in order to bring others to enlightenment. To explain and support these doctrines a number of sutras were composed. Notable scriptural additions included: Prajnaparamita, the Perfection of Wisdom, which includes the well-known Heart Sutra and Diamond Sutra; Suddharma-pundarika, the White Lotus of the True Dharma, an esoteric work; Sukhavati-vyuha, the Pure Land Sutra, embraced and central to the Pure Land Schools of Buddhism. Three innovations were born from these works: Madhyamaka, Yogachara, and Tantra.

The Ten Schools of Chinese Buddhism

described below:

Kosa School: aka Reality School or Abhidharma School.

Satysiddhi School: Cheng-se School.

Three Sastra School: San-lun School.

The Lotus School: T'ien-t'ai School (absorbed the Nirvana school).

The Garland School: Hua-yen School or Avatamsaka School (absorbed the Dasab-humika School and the Samparigraha-sastra school).

Intuitive School: Ch'an School or Dhyana School.

Discipline School: Lu School or Vinaya School.

Esoteric School: Chen-yien School or Mantra School.

Dharmalaksana School: Ch'u-en School or Fa-siang School.

Pure-land School: Sukhavati School or Ching-t'u School.

1. Kosa School: Theravada Buddhism—popular in the T’ang Dynasty. Foundational text: Abhidharma-kosa-sastra (the Treasury of Higher Law) by Vasubandhu (translated and introduced to China from India by Shuan-chuang). Main theme of the Sastra: all phenomena of the cosmos are classified under seventy-five categories; the aim of the student of this school is liberation from passions, thus annihilating all suffering. This aim is based on the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.

2. Satysiddhi School: Theravada Buddhism—popular in the 5th –6th centuries, but its main text was translated into Chinese in the 5th c. Foundational text: Satyasiddhi Sastra by Harivarman (4th c.). Main teaching: look upon the cosmos in realms—the worldly realm and the supreme realm; meditate on the unreality of the self and things in order to achieve Nirvana.

3. Three Sastra School: Mahayana Buddhism—5th c. Foundational text: Madhyamika Sastra, Dvadasanikaya Sastra by Nagarjuna and the Sata Sastra by Aryadeva. Main teachings are to eliminate dependence of any of the Eight Misleading Ideas (birth, death, end, permanence, identity, difference, coming, and going) and establish correct thinking. Employs a middle ground between absolute and relative truth.

4. The Lotus School: Mahayana Buddhism—6th c., named after the Tien-tai Mountain in Che-chiang Province. Foundational text: Lotus Sutra; also important: Commentary on the Prajnaparamita Sutra and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra. Main teachings: the ten realms of existence (hells, ghosts, animals, asuras, people, devas, sravakas, pratyeka-buddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas) are divided into ten further divisions where each is given ten qualities (thus, outlining the existence of 1,000 qualities), that are then further multiplied for past, present, and future (thus, 3,000 qualities). The aim of the teachings is to cultivate the ability to envision all 3,000 qualities at once to teach the body to know truth.

5. Vatamsaka School: Mahayana Buddhism—T’ang Dynasty. Foundational text: Garland Sutra. Here, Buddhism is divided into five schools (Theravada, Proto-mahayana, Mahayana, the Intuitive, and the Perfect), which are then divided into ten schools—each with their own metaphysical presuppositions and characteristics for meditation. This school focuses meditation on the fundamental nature of the cosmos/universe as the key to enlightenment.

6. The Intuitive School: Mahayana Buddhism—6th c. This school teaches an esoteric doctrine, as opposed to teachings that can be openly understood by those who study them—thus there really is no foundational text, avoids texts altogether in teaching that all focus must be on the mind and seeing into one’s own nature. Later this school mutated into six or seven others I don’t know much about.

7. The Discipline School: Mahayana Buddhism—T’ang dynasty. Foundational text: Vinaya. Focus is on rules as basic moral codes—essentially, do good and avoid all evil to free self from suffering and prepare self for Nirvana.

8. Esoteric School: (aka the Mantra School) Mahayana Buddhism—T’ang dynasty. Foundational texts: Vairocana Sutra, the Diamond Apex Sutra and Susiddhi Sutra. Unlike the other schools, this one believes its teachings to be esoteric as opposed to openly accessible. Main teachings: understand divisions of six elements (earth, water, fire, air, space, and cognition) and four magic circles (pagoda, jewel, lotus and sword)—all representative of power of Buddha and Bodhisattvas—to attain realization of body, mouth, and mind (as representing body as signs, mouth as voice, and mind as meditation) to understand the divisions of phenomenal and spiritual. Became popular in Tibet.

9. Dharmalaksana School: Mahayana Buddhism—T’ang dynasty. Foundational texts: Sandhi-nirmocana Sutra, Abhidharma Sutra, Yogacaryabhumi Sastra, and Vijnaptimatrasiddhi Sastra. An Indian school brought to China, focus on understanding nature in relation to material expression of cosmic existence—i.e. three planes of existence are only so because of conscious mind—all things are relections of unconscious—need to realize this through meditation.

10. The Pure-land School: Mahayana Buddhism—Chin dynasty (4th c.). Foundational texts: Sukhavati Vyuha Sutra, the Great Sukhavati Vyuha Sutra, the Small Sukhavati Vyuha Sutra. Attracted many poets, and rendered Buddhism popular amongst the Chinese—focus is on concentration and recitation of the name of Amitabha to gain salvation in the “pure-land.” Considered the “easy” route to salvation, thus very popular with the “masses,” less academic than especially Theravada and even other divisions of Mahayana.

Additional Resources:

I) History, Collections, and Introductions:

Buddhism and Shinto (and other Japanese Religions):

Bapat, Purushottam V., prof.. 2500 Years of Buddhism. India: Publications Division, 1964.

Earhart, H. Byron. Religions of Japan. NY: Harper and Row, 1984.

Eliot, Sir Charles. Japanese Buddhism. NY: Barnes and Nobles, Inc., 1959.

Hanh, Thich Nhat. The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching. NY: Broadway Books, 1998.

Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1951.

Keene, Donald. Chushingura: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers: A Puppet Play by Takeda Izumo, Miyoshi Shoraku, and Namiki Senryu. NY: Columbia University Press, 1971.

Keene, Donald. Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko. NY: Columbia University Press, 1967.

Kitagawa, Joseph M.. On Understanding Japanese Religion. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987.

Lopez, Donald S.. Buddhism in Practice. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996 (I believe).

Murata, Kiyoaki. Japan’s New Buddhism. NY & Tokyo: Walker/Weatherhill, 1969.

Pratt, James Bissett. The Pilgrimage of Buddhism. NY: Macmillan Co., 1928.

Smith, Huston. The World’s Religions. NY: Harper and Row, 1991.

Also: Anything Relevant From: Alan Watts, Burton Watson, Cyril Birch, Donald Keene, Wm. Theodore de Bary, and Mason Gentzler (all as editors, translators, or commentators).

Chinese Thoughts and Religions:

A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy; Wing-Tsit Chan (Tr.). 1969. NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN: 0691019649 —Highly Recommended—

Classics in Chinese Philosophy; Wade Baskin (Ed.). 1974. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN: 0822602741 —Highly Recommended—

Chinese Thought: From Confucius to Mao Tse-Tung; Herrlee Gless Creel. 1971. IL: University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 0226120309.

Chinese Mind: Essentials of Chinese Philosophy and Culture; Charles A. Moore. 1967. HI: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN: 0824800753.

Fifty Years of Chinese Philosophy 1898; O’Briere. 1965. Praeger Publishers. ISBN: 1125357452.

Chinese Philosophy in Classical Times; E.R. Hughes. ISBN: 1199604356

Buddhism, esp. Zen:

Theodore de Bary, The Buddhist Tradition: in India, China, and Japan. 1969, 1972. NY: Vintage Books, Random House. —Highly Recommended—

An Introduction to Zen Buddhism; Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Carl Gustav Jung. 1991. Grove Press; Reissue edition. ISBN: 0802130550.

Also by Suzuki: Zen Buddhism; Essays in Zen Buddhism; The Three Pillars of Zen—but these are centered more on Japanese Buddhism, which has quite a different character than Chinese Buddhism.

Zen’s Chinese Heritage: The Masters & Their Teachings; Andrew Ferguson, Reb Anderson. 2000. Wisdom Publications. ISBN: 0861711637.

II) Primary Texts

Chinese Philosophy:

Confucius: The Analects. Translated by D.C. Lau. Penguin Publishers

Mencius. Translated by D.C. Lau) Penguin Publishers

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching Translated by D.C. Lau) Penguin Publishers

Mo Tzu: Basic Writings Translated by Burton Watson) Columbia University Press

Hsün Tzu: Basic Writings Translated by Burton Watson) Columbia University Press

Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings Translated by Burton Watson). Columbia University Press

Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings Translated by Burton Watson). Columbia University Press

Early Chinese Literature Translated by Burton Watson) Columbia University Press

Chinese Lyricism Translated by Burton Watson) Columbia University Press

Anthology of Chinese Literature, from early times to the fourteenth century. Translated by Cyril Birch. Grove Publishers

Buddhist Sutras:

The Lotus Sutra; Burton Watson (Tr.). 1993. Columbia University Press. ISBN: 0231081618. —Highly Recommended—

The Vimalakirti Sutra; Burton Watson (Tr.). 2000. Columbia University Press. ISBN: 0231106572.

The Flower of Chinese Buddhism; Daisaku Ikeda, Burton Watson (Trs.). 1997. Weatherhill Publishers. ISBN: 0834803933

Buddhist Mahayana Texts (Sacred Books of the East); E.B. Cowell (Ed.). 1987. Dover Publishers. ISBN: 0486255522. If still in print—Highly Recommended—

THERAVADA SUTRAS

The Sutta Pitaka

The Discourse to Sigala

The Buddha's Words on Kindness (Metta Sutta)

The Questions of King Milinda

Dhammapada

Sutta Nipata

Therigatha Verses of the Elder Nuns

MAHAYANA SUTRAS

The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra

Diamond Sutra

(aka Prajna-Paramita); William Gemmel (tr.). 1942. Kessinger Publishing Company. ISBN: 0766105547.