St.Mark's Adult Education
Hinduism - David Fletcher
Buddhism
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
October 7, 2007
Buddhism
350 million
adherents
6% of world
Based on the life and teachings of
Siddhartha (563-483 BC), who became
Gautama Buddha, the
Enlightened One.
From the Kshatriya (warrior, noble) caste.
Raised in luxury. Married and had a son.
He took four trips, on which he saw human
suffering: an aged man, a diseased man, a corpse,
and then a contented monk.
After this he left home to seek enlightenment.
He studied the Upanishads for himself, but came to reject them. Then he practiced
extreme asceticism for six years. He was
followed by a group of dedicated disciples.
Siddhartha decided
that asceticism was
not the way, because
it didn’t extinguish
the ego self. It was
still him doing the
discipline.
He turned from this
asceticism and his
disciples renounced
him. After he
achieved Bodhi, or
enlightenment, they
returned to him and
became the Sangha,
or monastic order.
Buddha compared himself
to a ladder, or to a raft
used for crossing a river;
once you have used him, you don’t need him
any longer. He’s merely a helper, not a
savior. He is skeptical about the existence of
gods. Even if there are gods, they’re not
relevant to his quest, because the goal is for
the individual to relinquish his or her
attachments, and that’s something one has
to do for oneself.
He died after eating poisonous
mushrooms at dinner at a disciple’s
home.
After his death, his followers began to
dispute about the rules for the Buddhist
way of life. How strict did it need to be?
Eventually the sangha divided into two
sects, the Theravada, which stayed
closer to his teachings, and the
Mahayana, which liberalized the
Buddhist way and made it available to
a wider range of people.
Four Noble Truths
1. Life is Dukkha
2. Suffering is caused by attachment
3. Suffering can be extinguished
4. Noble 8 fold path
Noble Eight fold Path
1. Right views:
Three marks
of existence:
anica, anatta,
duka
2. Right aims
3. Right speech
4. Right conduct
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right
mindfulness
8. Right
meditation
Famous contemporary Buddhists
David Bowie
Orlando Bloom
Richard Gere
Goldie Hawn
Phil Jackson
Steve Jobs
George Lucas
Steven Segal
Oliver Stone
Alice Walker
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