Pratitya Samutpada
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1 ● Pratitya samutpada - dynamic picture of how five aggregates interact to generate duhkha and bring cessation of duhkha ○ All things arise and pass away due to certain conditions. When necessary conditions are present to support a thing’s existence, it comes to be. As conditions change, the thing changes. When conditions are removed, the thing ceases to be. ○ Everything that comes into being has a cause ○ Everything that exists is impermanent and change when the cause ceases to exist ○ == dependent arising ● Anatman ○ Buddha’s teaching of no-self in response to rejecting the notion of the atman (the essential self) ○ The idea that there is a self is an illusion--we are attached to the idea that there is a self but we lack an underlying self ○ The self is actually continuously taking on new forms and is not continuous ○ The individual is a collection of karmic constituents called the Five Aggregates/Skandhas ■ 1. rupa (form), ■ 2. vedana (feeling), ■ 3. sanna (perception), ■ 4. sankhara (mental formations), ■ 5. vinnana (consciousness) ■ these skandhas constantly change and endure for different amounts of time, they are not permanent ■ as the cause of the aggregates begins to cease to exist the aggregates begin to go too (dependent arising) ■ sankhara is reactions to vedana and is where karma collects ● sankhara outlasts the other aggregates and at death, will attach itself to a new form in birth (process of rebirth) ● sankhara is exhausted when a person is enlightened and an enlightened person does not act angrily, ignorantly, or wrongly to vedana. ● Tripitika - canon, put together at first council which consisted of 500 monks; senior monks; within a few months of Buddha’s parinirvana ○ Three parts – Pitika = basket ■ Sutra pitika – recited at first council; Buddha’s teachings (Ananda made responsible at first council) ■ Vinaya pitika – recited at first council; rules/codes (Upali made responsible at first council) ■ Abhidharma – systematic philosophy; evolved later ● Vinaya 2 ○ is the code of monastic discipline whose rules are thought of as created by and coming from the Buddha in response to actual life events ○ All early Buddhist traditions shared the essential contents of the Vinaya, however as the Sangha expanded several additional rules have been added to its original context. ■ Theravada vinaya – 227 rules for bhikshus; 311 for bhikshunis ■ Mahasanghika vinaya – 219 rules for monks ■ Mulasarvastivadin (Tibetin Gelukpa) vinaya – 253 rules ○ Different vadas (views/ schools) had different number of rules. ■ The Theravada School had different amount of rules depending on gender (bhikshunis, ordained nuns, had more) ■ This divergence shows the division of the Sangha over time. ○ Vinaya Pitaka (the Discipline) expounded by Upali ■ Recorded changes which took place during the Sangha’s formative years ■ Move away from asceticism ■ Monks settled down to specific places and didn’t move ■ Individual possessions were limited, communal not so much ■ Lived life well enough not to be distracted by hunger, but not well off enough to over indulge ● Nikaya ○ literally means “volume” in Pali. It is most commonly used in reference to the Buddhist texts of the Sutra Piṭ aka. ○ monastic division - caused by differences in the vinaya that resulted in splits because of the recitation of the pratimoksha (the Mahayana is NOT a nikaya- nikaya divisions translated into Mahayana as well; they are splits caused by differences in vinaya translations, not fundamental ideals) ■ Different sects of monks who practice different Pratimokshas could not practice it together ● These separations arose not out of fundamental differences but rather because some different sects had more or less rules than others due to geographical constraints or dissensions over practice ● Sthaviravada ○ literally "School Of The Elders" in Sanskrit ○ one of the early Buddhist schools that resulted from the Great Schism ○ originated at the Second Buddhist Council at Vaisali ○ ancestors of the Theravadins ○ were labeled Hinayana, “lesser vehicle” by Mahayana adherents ● Theravada ○ literally "Teaching Of The Elders" in Pali ○ oldest surviving branch of Buddhism. ○ descend from the Sthaviravadans. ○ Theravadin accounts of its own origins mention that it received the teachings that were agreed upon during the Third Buddhist Council under the patronage of the 3 Indian Emperor Ashoka, around 250 BCE. These teachings were known as the Vibhajjavada. ● Hinayana ○ a Sanskrit term literally meaning: the "Inferior Vehicle", "Deficient Vehicle", the "Abandoned Vehicle", or the "Defective Vehicle", applied to the Śrāvakayāna, the Buddhist path followed by a śrāvaka who wishes to become an arhat. ○ often contrasted with Mahāyāna, which means the "Great Vehicle." ○ Difference between Mahayanists and Hinayanists is that Mahayanists venerate the bodhisattvas and read the Mahāyāna sūtras, while Hinayanists venerate the arhats. They both, however, use the Vinaya, abide by the 5 precepts, and practice the Four Noble Truths. ● Bhikshu/Bhikshuni ○ an ordained male Buddhist monastic. A female monastic is called a Bhikshuni (Skt: Bhikṣ u ṇ ī). The life of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis is governed by a set of rules called the patimokkha within the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline.Their lifestyle is shaped to support their spiritual practice, to live a simple and meditative life, and attain Nirvana. ○ Task of monks (BHIKSHU/BHIKSHUNI) ■ pursue own path to Nirvana n ■ serve as a field of merit for the laity ■ teaching and performing rituals for the laity ■ preserving teachings ● Pancha Śila - Five precepts (precepts that the laity would follow) ○ Abstain from killing things (killing) ○ Abstain from taking things that are not given (stealing) ○ Abstain from sexual misconduct (sex) ○ Abstain from telling lies (lying) ○ Abstain from alcohol and other intoxicants (intoxicants) ● Ten precepts- ○ abstain from killing living things ○ abstain from taking things that are not given (stealing) ○ abstain from sexual misconduct ○ abstain from false speech (lies, slander) ○ abstain from alcohol and other intoxications ○ abstain from eating at inappropriate times (afternoon) ○ abstain from entertainment (singing, dancing, performing) ○ refrain from decorative accessories (cosmetics, perfumes, garlands, ointments) ○ refrain from sleeping on high beds ○ abstain from using gold or silver (handling money) 4 ○ *observed by monks, novices, and the laypeople (only one day a month/when they choose) ○ laypeople are expected to only observe the five precepts (the first 5 of the 10 precepts) ● Pratimoksha - rules governing the monks’ individual lives ○ Individual examples given to lend character and credence to each rule ○ Allowed monks to publicly confess faults they had committed and submit themselves to the penalty, however many time’s the singular act of confessing the fault was in itself punishment. ○ Was expressive of the Sangha’s purity ○ Monk must attend at least once every fortnight ○ Meant as a way to keep the Sangha as one unitary body ○ Groups of monks who practice a different Pratimoksha cannot practice it together, they must perform it separately ○ Separate pratimokshas arose from dissensions over practice, as well as differences in geographic location ● Paramita (be able to name them, at least in English) ○ Giving (dana) ○ Morality (sila) ○ Patience (ksanti) ○ Vigor (virya) ○ Meditation (dhyana) ○ Wisdom (pragna/pragya) ○ Skillful means (upaya) ○ Resolution/Determination (pranidhana) ○ Strength/spiritual power (bala) ○ Knowledge (jnana) ● A perfection (there are six, sometimes ten depending on the literature) that is to be cultivated in Buddhist spirituality; to a person who has attained Nirvana, these perfections flow naturally from the mind and heart of the person- they do not have to struggle or toil to cultivate them anymore; the Jataka Tales that the Buddha relays during his teachings are tales of the perfection of different paramitas such as the perfection of giving in the Jataka Tale about the Buddha (in a former life) giving away his kingdom, possessions, wife, and children ● Mahayana ○ Formed during time of 3rd Buddhist council ○ Key characteristics: emergence of Boddhisattva as a figure and an ideal.