Buddhism: Encyclopedia II - Buddhism - Practices of Buddhism

Buddhism - Practices of Buddhism

Buddhism - Refuge in The Three Jewels

Main Article: Refuge (Buddhism)

Buddhists seek refuge in the "Three Jewels" of Buddhism as the foundation of their religious practice. The jewels are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the "noble" and "monastic" Sangha ^[1] (the group of beings possessing at least some degree of enlightenment and the community of monks and nuns respectively).

The Buddha presented himself as an ideal example and entreated his followers to have faith in his example as one who was human and escaped the pain of existence. Buddhists believe that there is no otherworldly salvation from one's karma. The suffering caused by the karmic effects of previous thoughts, words and deeds can be avoided by following the Noble Eightfold Path. The Dharma offers a refuge by providing guidelines for the alleviation of suffering and the attainment of enlightenment. The Sangha provides a refuge by preserving the authentic teachings of the Buddha and providing further example that the truth of the Buddha's teachings is attainable.

To someone who is seeking to become enlightened, taking refuge constitutes a continuing commitment to pursuing enlightenment and following in the footsteps of the people who have followed the path to enlightenment before. It contains an element of confidence that enlightenment is in fact a refuge, a supreme resort. Many Buddhists take the refuges each day, often more than once in order to remind themselves of their commitment and to direct their resolve inward toward liberation.

In all forms of Buddhism, refuge in the Three Jewels are taken before the Sangha for the first time, as a part of the conversion ritual. However, to Buddhists, the personal choice for taking refuge is more important than the external ritual.

In Buddhism, the word "refuge" should often not be taken in the English sense of "hiding" or "escape"; instead it is thought of as a homecoming, or place of healing. This simple misunderstanding has led some Western scholars to conclude that Buddhism is "a religion for sticking one's head in the sand", when most Buddhists would assert quite the opposite. On the other hand, the main goal of Buddhism is to escape from the suffering of cyclic existence. Some translators also translate it as "taking safe direction".

See also: Three Jewels

Buddhism - The Five Precepts

Buddhists undertake certain precepts as aids on the path to coming into contact with ultimate reality. Hence, they are also known as Training rules. Laypeople generally undertake (at least one of) five precepts. The Five Precepts are not given in the form of commands such as "thou shalt not ...", but rather are promises to oneself: "I will (try to)...".

The five precepts are:

1. To refrain from harming living creatures (killing).
2. To refrain from taking that which is not freely given (stealing).
3. To refrain from sexual misconduct.
4. To refrain from incorrect speech (lying, harsh language, slander, idle chit-chat).
5. To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness.

This difference stems from the rationale behind them. While other religion institutes commandments and is based on the wishes or commands of a divine being, Buddhist precepts are based more on common sense that the Buddha highlights to Buddhists. Just as we would not want to be killed, others, cherishing their own life would not want to be killed. Hence we should not engage in harming or killing others. The same rationale applies to the second, third and fourth precepts.

The fifth and last precept involving refrain from intoxicants is unique in that the act of taking intoxicants itself is commonly not seen as an immediate or direct harm towards others. Instead it may serve as the catalyst for further acts of transgression against others in terms of either a single or possible combination of any of the first four precepts. The daily news will ascertain for us that there are daily crimes and accidents around the world that result from the consumption of alcohol or other forms of intoxicants, many of which could have been avoided if only this training rule was observed.

In addition to the indirect effects of intoxicants is the direct impact that intoxicants have, of dulling the mind. Mindfulness, a central teaching in Buddhism, builds upon our ability to train our mind and develop it to its fullest potential of enlightenment, whereas taking of intoxicants runs counter to that and impedes mindfulness by allowing dullness and heedlessness of the mind.

The other distinguishing feature of the Buddhist precepts is that they are wider-ranging in implication than the "commandments" of some other religions. The first precept, against killing, for example, forbids the killing of animals as well as humans (but see Buddhist vegetarianism). Furthermore, in Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddha indicates how all-inclusive the injunction against killing is, saying (in The Scripture of Brahma's Net):

It should also be noted that the literal, and possibly original, meaning of the third precept covers more than the now generally standard meaning "sexual misconduct" and actually involves refraining from "wrong indulgence in all sensory pleasures".

In some schools of Buddhism, serious lay people or aspiring monks take an additional three to five ethical precepts, and some of the five precepts are strengthened. For example, the precept pertaining to sexual misconduct becomes a precept of celibacy. Fully ordained monks and nuns of the Theravada school also observe 227 and 311 patimokkha training rules respectively.

See also: Pancasila and Buddha Statues of Bamiyan

Buddhism - Meditation

Buddhist meditation, meditation used in the practice of Buddhism, "includes any method of meditation that has Enlightenment as its ultimate aim"¹. The closest word for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism is bhavana or "mental development"².

The main methods of Buddhist meditation are divided into samatha (tranquility meditations) and vipassana (insight meditations).

The samatha meditations includes anapana (mindfulness of breathing) and the four brahma-viras of which mettā bhāvanā (development of loving kindness) is the most often practiced one. The vipassana meditations includes contemplation on impermanence, the six element practice, and contemplation on conditionality. Samatha meditations usually precede and prepare for vipassana meditations.

Each of the five basic methods (in bold) is an "antidote" to one of the five mental "poisons".

Buddhism - Buddha-dhatu Buddha-Principle Buddha-nature

The Buddha's Mahayana doctrines contain a set of "ultimate" (nitartha) teachings on the immanence of a hidden, deep-seated reality within all sentient beings which is linked to the eternality of the Buddha and Nirvana. This immanent yet transcendent essence is variously called, in the key tathagatagarbha sutras which expound it, the Buddha-dhatu ("Buddha-element", Buddha-nature) or the Tathagatagarbha. This Buddha-dhatu is empty of all that is contingent, changeful, painful and impermanent. In the Nirvana Sutra, it is called by the Buddha the "True Self" (to distinguish it from the "false" worldly self made up of the five skandhas). It is no less than the unfabricated, uncreated, uncompounded, immaculate, immortal, all-knowing, radiantly shining Principle of blissful Buddhahood - the very Dharmakaya,/ Dhammakaya法身. This Tathagatagarbha / Buddha-dhatu, inherent in all beings, can never be destroyed or harmed, and yet is concealed from view by a mass of obscuring mental and moral taints within the mind-stream of the individual being. Once the Buddha-dhatu is finally seen and known by the faithful Buddhist practitioner, it has the power to transform that seer and knower into a Buddha. The doctrine of the Tathagatagarbha / Buddha-dhatu is stated by the Buddha of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra to be the "absolutely final culmination" of his Dharma.

Buddhism - Other principles and practices

• Meditation or dhyāna of some form is a common practice in most if not all schools of Buddhism, for the clergy if not the laity.
• Central to Buddhist doctrine and practice is the law of karma and vipaka; action and its fruition, which happens within the dynamic of dependent origination (pratītya-samutpāda). Actions which result in positive retribution (happiness) are defined as skillful or good, while actions that produce negative results (suffering) are called unskillful or bad actions. These actions are expressed by the way of mind, body or speech. Some actions bring instant retribution while the results of other actions may not appear until a future lifetime. Most teachers are, however, quick to point out that though it may be a result of someone's past-life karma that they suffer, this should not be used as an excuse to treat them poorly; indeed, all should help them and help to alleviate their suffering, leading to them working to alleviate their own suffering.
• Rebirth, which is closely related to the law of karma. An action in this life may not give fruit or reaction until the next life time. This being said, action in a past life takes effect in this one, making a chain of existence. The full realization of the absence of an eternal self or soul (the doctrine of anatta (Pāli; Sanskrit: anātman)) breaks this cycle of birth and death (samsara).
• God: The Buddha was not satisfied with the concept of one Almighty God (Ishvara, lit., the Supreme Lord) as in orthodox Hinduism. Buddha said that the ever-changing world goes on as per the rules of Pratītya-Samutpāda. Also, the hypothesis of God would raise philosophical problems, like why is the world ever-changing and full of sorrow, and why at all did He create the world? If He created the world for any intension, this would be against His self-perfection. Yet at another instance, the Buddha had claimed that "the Supreme Reality is indescribable and inutterable". In this sense, it is better to call Buddhism agnostic. The existence of demigods is recognized. However, in practice, Karma had taken the place of God in Theravada, and the Buddha himself is venerated like God in Mahayana.

Buddhism - Vegetarianism

The first lay precept in Buddhism is usually translated as "I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures." Many see this as implying that Buddhists should not eat the meat of animals. However, this is not necessarily the case. There is a division of view within Buddhism on the need for vegetarianism, with the majority of schools of Buddhism rejecting such a claimed need and with most Buddhists in fact eating meat. A minority of Mahayana Buddhists, however, strongly oppose meat-eating on certain scriptural grounds.

It is written in a number of Mahayana scriptures that vegetarianism is much the preferred way of life, indeed it is enjoined upon the Bodhisattva and disciples of the Buddha in such sutras as the Mahaparinirvana Sutra and the Lankavatara Sutra.

The question of whether Buddhists should indeed be vegetarian continues to be an area of vigorous debate and controversy, especially in the West.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Practices of Buddhism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki