Buddhism

Disclaimer

Buddhism is such a vast and varied field that professional scholars who have studied it admit that it is impossible, or virtually so, for a single scholar to keep track of the whole field. As a result, all accounts of Buddhism, including this one, are unreliable.

A further difficulty is that recent scholarship tends to avoid generalization, so the general statements making up most of this article may be unrepresentative.

Yet a further problem is that scholars have mostly tended to study scriptures and other classical literature rather than real live Buddhism (Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, volume 30, page 282). (But Buddhist sources are even worse. Would you trust the Pope or Billy Graham for a reliable unbiased account of Christianity?)

Introduction

Most people, including most Buddhists, consider Buddhism to be a religion, and modern western textbooks on religions regularly include a chapter on it, though most scholars agree that there is not a clear-cut distinction between religion and philosophy in Buddhism. It is the oldest of the three religions that have transcended ethnicity and spread round the world on a large scale. It is the official religion in Bhutan, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. There are significantly large communities of Buddhists in 126 countries. More than half the world population is located in areas where Buddhism has been dominant at some point in history. Most scholars estimate the world Buddhist population as around 480,000,000 (Understanding the Religions of the World, ed Deming, Wiley Blackwell, 2015, page 63).

Scholars do not try to identify any essence or defining characterization of Buddhism, though its different forms have family resemblances (Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2012, page 4).

Teachings

The received wisdom among American and European scholars, though contested, is that the central teachings of all or most traditions of Buddhism are the Four Noble Truths, of

1. suffering
2. the cause of suffering,
3. the cessation of suffering,
4. the path leading to the cessation of suffering;

there are a variety of interpretations.

Institutions

Buddhism is dominated by the monastic Order, though in Japan nearly all male clergy are married. The Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese traditions preserve an order of nuns subordinate to the monks.

Schools

Buddhists identify themselves as either Theravada or Mahayana. These are different vehicles for going along the same path.

Most scholars agree with Theravada's claim to be extremely conservative. It can be regarded as a single denomination.

There is a growing consensus among scholars that Mahayana is not characterized by a collection of beliefs or practices. It emphasizes adapting the teachings to suit different people, and is thus very diverse. The most popular form of Buddhism is Pure Land. It offers a way of salvation based on faith alone. It believes the Buddha Amitabha has the power to take his devotees to his Pure Land.

Religious practices

Nearly all Buddhists use ritual for spiritual ends.

Devotion is a major part of the lives of most Buddhists.

Virtually all forms of Buddhism regard meditation as the main way to enlightenment, but, for most of Buddhist history, it has been mainly monastic, and in a minority even in that context.

Morality

Buddhism has no tradition of moral theory (Routledge Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2007, pages 345f).

The most basic code of Buddhist morality is the Five Precepts (Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume Two), page 673): to refrain from

1. taking life
2. stealing
3. sexual misconduct
4. lying
5. intoxicants

Texts

Different branches of Buddhism use different collections, though with some overlap.

History

The founder of Buddhism is known as the Buddha, a title meaning "awakened" or "enlightened". He was born in what is now Nepal, and taught there and in nearby areas now in India. His family name was Gotama. There is now a more or less established, though not final, consensus among specialist historians that the Buddha died some time around 400 BC. Certain teachings are found with such frequency throughout the early texts that most historians conclude that he must have taught at least something of the sort. Over the first few centuries of its existence Buddhism evolved into a number of schools, of which Theravada is the only survivor. Little or nothing is known of the origins of Mahayana. Buddhism eventually virtually died out in India.

Theravada Budhism was introduced into Ceylon around 250 BC and spread from there to Burma in the 11th century, and from there to what are now Thailand, Cambodia and Laos over the next two centuries or so.

Buddhism spread through Central Asia to China, where it is first recorded in AD 65. It spread from there to Korea in the late 4th century, and was officially introduced from there to Japan in 538.

Buddhism was introduced to Tibet in the 7th or 8th century. The Mongols were converted to the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism in the 16th century. A migrating Mongol tribe settled Buddhism in Europe in the 17th century.

Buddhism has made significant numbers of converts in the West in the last couple of centuries, almost entirely of a style that emphasizes modernist elements.

Suggested reading

• The World of Buddhism: Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Society and Culture, edited by Heinz Bechert and Richard Gombrich; texts by [11 scholars]; with 297 illustrations, 82 in colour; 215 photographs, drawings and maps ... Thames and Hudson ... 1984 ... London: "by far the most scholarly and comprehensive survey of Buddhism for the general reader." (Macmillan Encyclopedia of Religion, volume 2, page 382)
• The Path of the Buddha, edited by Kenneth W. Morgan, Ronald Press, New York, 1956; reprint Motilal, Delhi: the editor says (pages iiif} he "visited Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Burma, India, and Ceylon interviewing leading Buddhists in each community ... getting their recommendations for men qualified to write the different sections. On the basis of their recommendations, the authors of this book were selected and commissioned ..."; coincidentally, this book also has 11 contributors
• See also Buddhist anthologies in English

External links

• Buddhanet
• directory
• Virtual Library
• account of Buddhism by Dr Paul Flesher of the University of Wyoming