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| Buddhism Meditation(불교명상2) |
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WRITER:
 관리자 (118.♡.103.201) DATE :
10-10-25 12:12 READ :
6040
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 Buddhism Meditation(불교명상2).pdf (38.9K), Down : 16, 2011-06-01 11:11:34 | |
<Sr. Hyun-Min's Lecture on Buddhism Meditation: 1st Lecture>
In Buddhism, it is said that a slight encounter such as passing each other is made possible only by the special relationships that the two people used to have in their previous lives. Considering this perspective, the fact that we are making this retreat together this weekend seems to prove that we must have a very special Cause of Relationship.
For me, Buddhism and Christianity were like two different streams in the beginning. Now, however, I perceive them differently: they are more like becoming one in a wide ocean.
First of all, I would like to talk about how people approach different religions. People usually tend to adopt three different positions: 1) exclusivism, 2) inclusivism, and 3) pluralism.
The Christian doctrine stating "no salvation outside the Church" is one of the examples of demonstrating exclusivism. Fundamentalism belongs to this category too.
Karl Rahner takes the position of inclusivism and coins the term "Anonymous Christians".
John Hick talks about the need of pluralism in understanding other religions. He emphasizes that we need to respect the differences of each religion.
With this background knowledge in mind, we have to raise a question among ourselves: how should we understand other religions?
According to Wilfred Smith, religion consists of two different categories: 1) cultivated tradition and 2) faith. Buddhism and Christianity have two different cultivated traditions. Christians believe in God, reciting "the Apostles' Creed" while Buddhists entrust themselves to three __________: Buddha, truths, and the community of monks (Sangha).
Our focus this weekend will be on "Faith" part of religion rather than cultivated tradition. Smith explains faith as "opening ourselves to transcendence" which is more than simply belonging to a particular faith group.
I recently finished writing my doctoral dissertation. My topic was about a Japanese Monk Dogen who approaches Buddhism as a faith rather than as a system of abstract knowledge.
There are several misunderstandings about Buddhism.
Firstly, it is said that Buddhists are atheists. This is not true. The concept about atheism has stemmed from the Western culture. Nietzsche, a German philosopher, proclaimed that God is dead. In the West, the word, atheism, implies pessimism, skepticism, or nihilism. However, Buddhism has nothing to do with those views. Buddhism emphasizes "suffering" and encourages people to accept it rather than try to avoid it. Buddhism can be seen as an optimistic religion in that it presents and teaches how to overcome the suffering.
Secondly, people describe Buddhism as a "self-power religion" while Christianity as "other-power religion". Although it is true that Buddhism does not have a concept about personified God, Buddhism is NOT a self-power religion in that Buddhism depends on truth called Dharma not on the power of self. Buddhism teaches that one can be saved not by the power of oneself, but by the power of truth.
Buddhism is a religion revolving around the truth. According to Buddhism, our universe and life are proceeded by Dharma (law or truth) not by chaos. What Buddha did was not to invent truth, but to discover the truth and encouraged people to entrust themselves to the truth for their salvation.
Who was Buddha? The Buddha, whose personal name was Siddhattha, and family name Gotama, lived in North India from BC464 and BC383. With regard to the exact date of his birth and death, there are several different opinions. Anyhow, his father was the ruler of the kingdom of the Sakyas and his mother was queen Maya. He was married at the age of eighteen. At the age of 29, soon after the birth of his only child, Rahula, he left his kingdom and became an ascetic in search of the solution to get out of the universal suffering.
For six years the ascetic Gotama wandered about the valley of the Ganges, meeting famous religious teachers, studying and following their systems and methods, and submitting himself to rigorous ascetic practices. He studied Yoga under different teachers and attained to the highest mystic states; but he was not satisfied with them, because they did not give complete liberation, they did not give insight into the Ultimate Realist. He considered these mystic states only as 'happy living in this existence', or 'peaceful living', and nothing more. So he abandoned all traditional religions and their methods and went his own way. One day he recollected the days when he and his father made a meditation under trees, and desired to do the same under a tree. One evening, seated under a tree called Bodhi tree, Gotama attained Englightenment at the age of 35.
After his Englightenment, Gotama the Buddha delivered his first sermon to a group of five ascetics,his old colleagues in the Benares. From that day, for 45 years, he taught all classes of men and women and died at the age of 80 at Kusinara.
What did Buddha teach during his forty five years of public life?
The heart of the Buddha's teaching lies in the "Four Noble Truths" which he expounded in his very frist sermon to his old colleagues, the five ascetics.
The Four Noble Truths are:
1. Dukkha (suffering, imperfection, impermanence, emptiness)
2. Samudaya (the arising or orgin of dukkha)
3. Nirodha (the cessation of dukkha)
4. Magga (the way leading to the cessation of dukkha)
1. The First Noble Truth
The Buddha sees dukkha as the essence of human existence, the nature of life. He listed eight kinds of suffering in life: 1) birth, 2) old age, 3) sickness, 4) death, 5) association with unpleasant persons and conditions, 6) separation from beloved ones and pleasant conditions, 7) not getting what one desires, and 8) distress coming from attachment to five aggregates (matter, sensation, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness). Our function is to understand it as a fact, clearly and completely.
According to Buddhist philosophy, what we call a 'being', or an 'individual', or 'I' is only a combination of ever-changing physical and mental forces or energies. No existence is eternal. The greatest causes of dukkha are greed, ignorance, and anger.
The Buddha taught how to be freed from the dukkha. Jesus also preached that we could let go of the string of the suffering only if we follow him.
2. The Second Noble Truth
The Second Noble Truth is that of the arising or origin of dukkha. It is this "thirst", desire, greed, craving, manifesting itself in various ways, that gives rise to all forms of suffering and the continuity of beings. This thirst produces re-existence and re-becoming. Our function is to discard it, to eliminate, to destroy, and eradicate it.
3. The Third Noble Truth
The Third Noble Truth is that there is emancipation, liberation, freedom from suffering, from the continuity of dukkha. This is called the Noble Truth of the Cessation of dukkha , which is popularly known in its Sanskrit form of Nirvana. Nirvana is 'Extinction of Thirst', 'absence of desire', 'blowing out'. Our function is to realize it.
***The cycle of continuity (Samsara)
***The theory of karma (volitional action) is the theory of cause and effect, of action and reaction; it is a natural law, which has nothing to do with the idea of justice or reward and punishment. Every volitional action produces its effects or results. According to the karma theory, the effects of a volitional action may continue to manifest themselves even in a life after death. Will, volition, desire, thirst to exist, to continue, to become more and more is a tremendous force that moves whole lives, whole existence, that even moves the whole world. This force does not stop with the non-functioning of the body, which is death; but it continues manifesting itelf in another from, producing re-existence which is called rebirth.
4. The Fourth Noble Truth
The Fourth Noble Truth is that of the Way (path) leading to the Cessation of Dukkha. The Buddha introduced the Noble Eightfold Path which could lead to the Cessation of Dukkha. The essence of the Buddha's teaching is found in this Noble Eightfold Path.
1) Right Understanding
2) Right Thought
3) Right Speech
4) Right Action
5) Right Livelihood
6) Right Effort
7) Right Mindfulness
8) Right Concentration
These eight factors aim at promoting and perfecting the three essentials of Buddhist training and discipline: a) ethical conduct (Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood), b) mental discipline (Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration), and c) wisdom (Right Thought and Right Understanding).
A mere knowledge of the Path, however complete, will not do. In this case, our function is to follow it and keep to it.
What is Enlightenment?--The Doctrine of Conditioned Genesis (Thich Naht Han : "interbeing")
Nothing in the world is absolute. Everything is conditioned, relative, and interdependent. This is the Buddhist theory of relativity. The principle of this doctrine is given in a short formula of four lines:
When this is, that is;
This arising, that arises;
When this is not, that is not;
This ceasing, that ceases.
The wisdom of the Buddha is not only intellectual wisdom but also his compassion and mercy. There is a close relationship between 'interbeing' in Buddhism and 'love' in Christianity. In Buddhism, wisdom and compassion are inseparably linked together.
ex. ) tree
paper
my being alive
How do we know about God? It is only though relationships that we learn about God. Mother Seton said, "Find the will of God and perform it!" The will of God is not an abstract logic. We come to know the will of God through Jesus.
Matthew 25:40 "In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me." Jesus identified himself with the least of the brothers.
1 Corinthian 12: 12-21 " the parts are many but the body is one."
In Buddhism, all things in nature (the universe) is one body. It includes animals and plants as well as human beings.
On the other hand, in Christianity, ....
In Buddhism, ‘emptiness' is another expression of 'Conditioned Genesis'. ...
The question of Free Will has occupied an important place in Western thought and philosophy. But according to Conditioned Genesis, this question does not and cannot arise in Buddhist philosophy. If the whole of existence is relative, conditioned and interdependent, how can will alone be free? Will, like any other thought, is conditioned...There can be nothing absolutely free, physical or mental, as everything is interdependent and relative. If Free Will implies a will independent of conditions, independent of cause and effect, such a thing does not exist. How can a will, or anything for that matter, arise without conditions, away from cause and effect, when the whole of existence is conditioned and relative, and is within the law of cause and effect?
The doctrine of No-Soul: Atman
According to the doctrine of Conditioned Genesis, the idea of an abiding, immortal substance in man or outside, whether it is called Atman, I, Soul, Self, or Ego, is considered only a false belief, a mental projection. This is the Buddhist doctrine of Atman, No-Soul or No-Self.
Monk Dogen: "To learn Dharma (Truth, Teaching, doctrine, righteousness, piety, morality, justice, nature, all things and states conditioned or unconditioned) is to learn about oneself. To learn about oneself is to forget about oneself. Then, one can enter into Atman.
St. Paul ( ):
<2nd Lecture: Meditation __________>
What meditation did the Buddha practice?
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