Buddhism

Buddhism is said to be founded in India in the 6th century BC by Siddhatha Gautama, the son of a nobleman and member of the Kshatriya caste near the present borders of India and Nepal.

The Budder

He is also known by the titles Sakyamuni (the sage of the Sakya family) and Tathagata (the follower of truth). It is said that at age 29 he was confronted with the sights of an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic. With eyes opened to aspects of life newly revealed to him, he broke from the material world and became an ascetic. Six years later, he gave up mystic concentration that at last brought him enlightenment under a bo tree. He then founded an order of mendicants and spent his next 45 years preaching his ideas until his death.
The Four Noble Truths preached by Gautama Buddhaare: first, that sorrow is the universal experience of mankind, and everyone is subjected to the trauma of birth, of sickness, decrepitude, and death; second, that the cause of sorrow is desire, especially the desire of the body and the desire for personal fulfillment, and the cycle of birth is perpetuated by the desire for existence; third, that the removal of sorrow can only come from the removal of desire, that is to say, that happiness can only be achieved if these desires are overcome; and fourth, that desire can be systematically abandoned if one follows the Noble Eight-Fold Path.
The Noble Eight-Fold path includes the following eight tenets:
First, the "Right Knowledge'' is to believe that all life is suffering, that suffering is caused by desire for personal gratification, that suffering can be overcome, and that the way to overcome it is to follow the Eight-Fold Path.
Second, the "Right Aspiration'' is to become passionately involved with the knowledge of what life 's problems basically are.

The Budder

Third, the "Right Speech'' is to avoid lies, idle talk, abuse, slander, and deceit because these things remove a person from the prospect of attaining happiness.
Fourth, the "Right Behavlour''is to show kindness and to avoid self-seeking and personal fulfillment in all actions. It also includes five rules: "Do not kill; " "do not steal; '' ''do not lie; " "do not be unchaste; ''and "do not drink intoxicants.''
Fifth, the "Right Livelihood''is to engage in a suitable activity to earn a living. Buddha considered spiritual progress impossible if one's occupation, such as slave-dealing or prostitution, pulled in the opposite direction.
Sixth, the "Right Effort'' is the will to develop virtues and to curb passions.
Seventh, the "Right Mindfulness'' is to practise self-examination and to cultivate knowledge of oneself, to oneself, to overcome the state of semi-alertness, and to become aware of what is happening to oneself.
Eighth, the "Right Absorption'' is the way to god through psychological exercises, the mental exercises to penetrate deep into the psyche where the real problems and answers lie and to achieve a personal experience of what lies hidden within. By following the Noble Eight-Fold Path the Buddhist aims to attain "nirvana'', a condition beyond the limits of the mind, thoughts, feelings, desire, the will, and a state of bliss and ecstasy. There are two types of Buddhism in China, Mahayana (Big Raft)Buddhism and Hinayana (Little Raft)Buddhism.

MAHAYANA BUDDHISM

Mahayana Buddhism was introduced into regions inhabited by the Han people, the largest ethnic group in China, about the first century. The earliest temple, the Baima Temple (White Horse Temple), was built in Luoyang during the reign of Emperor Ming Di of the Eastern Han Dynasty in 68 AD with the help of two Indian monks. Buddhism reached its peak of popularity during the Sui and Tang (581-907) dynasties. Mahayana Buddhism emphasizes the existence of many Buddhas. It focuses attention on Buddhas in heaven and on people who will become Budddhas in the future. It believes that these present and future Buddhas can save people through compassion and grace. Today there are eight main sects of Mahayana Buddhism. These are the Sanlun (Three Treaties) Sect; the Faxiang (Dharma Characteristic) Sect also known as the Yoga Sect; the Tiantai Sect; the Huayan (Flowery Splendor) Sect; the Jingtu (Pure Land) Sect; the Chan(Zen) Sect; the Ritsugaku Sect; and the Esoteric Sect. The doctrines of the various Mahayana sects played an important part in the development of philosophical ideas in China. Mahayana Buddhist influence is seen in the thousands of Chinese classics. Many of these are of high literary value. The Vimalakirti, Saddharma-pundarika-sutra (Lotus Sutra) and Surangamasamadhi-sutra have always been special favorites of scholars. Buddhism brought to Chinese literature new conceptions, literary styles, and techniques of wording and phrasing. The first Chinese woodblock printing was a series of pictures based on the Tripitaka in Chinese. Buddhist paintings and sculptures have left a rich source of material for the study of Chinese art and history. Whether it is the murals of the Dunhuang caves or the stone carvings of the Longmen, Yungang, and Dazu grottoes, the works highlight a brilliant chapter in China's cultural history. China's pagoda architecture and statue art are mostly the work of Mahayana Buddhist designers. China's music, astronomy, medicine, and gymnastics also reveal Mahayana Buddhist influences. As early as the 2 nd century, Buddhist songs were being sung by the Chinese. Yi Xing (673-727), a monk of the Tang Dynasty, was the first to compute the length of the meridian. He complied a number of books on astronomy and mathematics. In medicine, there were more than ten prescription texts from India Buddhists translated into Chinese and they were used in China during the Tang Dynasty. Finally, in gymnastics, the monks of the Shaolin Temple developed various exercise methods imported from India into special form of wushu through the incorporation of Chinese martial arts techniques.
Four mountains in China are particularly sacred to Mahayana Buddhists. These are Wutai in Shanxi Province, Putuo in Zhejiang Province, Emei in Sichuan Province, and Jiuhua in Anhui Province.

HINAYANA BUDDHISM

Hinayna (also called Pali) Buddhism was introduced from Burma, about the 9 th century A .D., into regions inhabited by the Dai, Bulang, Achang, and De' ang ethnic minorities in Yunnan Province. Today its followers are mainly people from these ethnic minorities, as well as part of the Bai, Jing (Ginzu), and Lahu people. In China it is called Pali Buddhism because Pali is the language that was spoke in the temples in ancient India. Hinayana Buddhism emphasizes the importance of Buddha as a historical figure, the virtues of monastic life, and the authority of the Tripitaka.

LAMAISM

Budala

Lamaism is a form of Buddhism intermingled with indigenous Tibetan religion known as Bon. Tibetan Buddhism slowly adopted some of the Bon rites, while Bon eventually took on Buddhiat teachings and disappeared. Lamaism mainly gained its Buddhist knowledge from Han Mahayana Buddhist sources.
Of the various sects that eventually developed within Lamaist Buddhism, the main ones are Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu,Bon, and Gelug. The Hyingma Sect was founded by Padmasambhava, or "the Lotus-born one'',

an Indian master of Esoteric Buddhism who was invited to preach Buddhism during the latter half of the 8 th century. This sect is also called the "Red Sect'' because the monks of this school wear red hats. The Sakya Sect is also known as the "Striped Sect ''because of the three stripes of red, white, and black that are painted on the walls of all its monasteries.

lama

The Kagyu Sect is also called the "White Sect'' because its monks wore white robes in the past. The Bon Sect is also known as the "Black Sect''. It grew directly as an overlay of Buddhism on top of Bon tradition.
By far the most powerful of the Lamaist sects is the Gelug, or the "Yellow Sect'', so called because the wear yellow hats. It was founded in 1392 by Tsongkapa, an advocate of religious reform, and it grew rapidly into sect with the largest following. Part of the reason for this is the political support the Yellow Sect received from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) government, which appointed their leader, the Fifth Dalai Lama, to "unify the tribes" in Tibet. Ganden, Sera, Drepung. Tashilhunpo, Ta' er, and Labrang are the principal monasteries of this sect.

THE LIVING BUDDHA

In taking on some of the traditions of Bon, Lamaism created its own system of leadership, that of rule by persons designated as Living Buddhas. Such persons are believed to be the reincarnations of deceased Living Buddhas. Thus, in Lamasim special persons are literally born into Buddha hood, whereas in Han Buddhism, followers move toward Nirvana only through good work and in Pali Buddhism they can attain the same condition through devotion. The system for designating Living Buddhas was formulated by the Kagyu Sect more than one hundred years before the Yellow Sect came into existence. It relies on a committee of monks who search for a soul boy (one into whom the soul of a precious Living Buddha has settled). The monks start this search one year after the death of previous Living Buddha. They travel in different directions from their temple to find all male children born at the time the former Living Buddha died. When such soul boys are found (there may be several), each is presented with a group of utensils, some of which were possessions of the previous Living Buddha. If the child takes an interest in one of the utensils owned by the previous Living Buddha, the boy is assumed to be the possible reincarnation. A second test is then administered to make sure. This involves the ritual of asking advice from a protecting spirit. If two or more potential soul boys pass these two tests, lots are drawn from a gold urn to determine the correct identity. The process of selection and control remains in the hands of a select group of monks-the search committee. One of their members acts as regent until the boy reaches an age when he can be elevated in a grand ceremony to the position of Living Buddha, usually sometime between the age of 12 and 18. The members of the search committee remain as the Living Buddha' s assistants until he is old enough to replace them. Should the new Living Buddha die young, the same groups of monks become the committee to select the next Living Buddha.