Confucianism BIOGRAPHY Confucius (K'ung-fu-tzu), "Master Kong,” (September 28, 551 BC – 479 BC) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and Vietnamese thought and life. Confucius was born in 551 BC at the beginning of the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical movement. Confucius was born in or near the city of Qufu, in the Chinese State of Lu (now part of Shandong Province). After his resignation, he began a long journey around the small kingdoms of northeast and central China, including the states of Wei, Song, Chen and Cai. At the courts of these states, he expounded his political beliefs but did not see them implemented. He returned home at age 68. The Analects pictures him spending his last years teaching disciples and transmitting the old wisdom via a set of texts called the Five Classics. Burdened by the loss of both his son and his favorite disciples, he died at the age of 72 or 73. PHILOSOPHY
Arguments continue over whether it is a religion because Confucianism lacks an afterlife, its texts express complex and ambivalent views concerning deities, and it is relatively unconcerned with some spiritual matters often considered essential to religious thought, such as the nature of the soul. Confucius' principles gained wide acceptance primarily because of their basis in common Chinese tradition and belief. He championed strong familial loyalty, ancestor worship, respect of elders by their children (and, according to later interpreters, of husbands by their wives), and the family as a basis for an ideal government. He expressed the well-known principle, "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself" (similar to the Golden Rule).
In this regard, Confucius articulated an early version of the Golden Rule: •
"What one does not wish for oneself, one ought not to do to anyone else; what one recognises as desirable for oneself, one ought to be willing to grant to others." (Confucius and Confucianism, Richard Wilhelm)
Some well known Confucian quotes: "When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them." "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others" "With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my crooked arm for a pillow - is not joy to be found therein? Riches and honors acquired through unrighteousness are to me as the floating clouds"
HINDUISM BIOGRAPHY Hinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma, meaning "the eternal law". Hindu beliefs vary widely, with concepts of God and/or gods ranging from Panentheism, pantheism, monotheism, polytheism, and atheism with Vishnu and Shiva being the most popular deities. Other notable characteristics include a belief in reincarnation and karma, as well as personal duty, or dharma. Hinduism is often stated to be the "oldest religious tradition" and is the world's third largest religion after Christianity and Islam, with approximately a billion adherents, of whom about 905 million live in India. It is formed of diverse traditions and types and has no single founder. Hinduism's vast body of scriptures are divided into Śruti ("revealed") and Smriti ("remembered"). These scriptures discuss theology, philosophy and mythology, and provide information on the practice of dharma (religious living). Among these texts, the Vedas and the Upanishads are the foremost in authority, importance and antiquity. PHILOSOPHY Hindu philosophy is divided into six Sanskrit āstika ("orthodox") schools of thought, or darshanas (literally, "views"):
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Sankhya, a strongly dualist theoretical exposition of mind and matter. Yoga, a school emphasizing meditation closely based on Sankhya Nyaya or logics Vaisheshika, an empiricist school of atomism Mimamsa, an anti-ascetic and anti-mysticist school of orthopraxy Vedanta, opposing Vedic ritualism in favour of mysticism. Vedanta came to be the dominant current of Hinduism in the post-medieval period.
BUDDHISM BIOGRAPHY
Siddhārtha Gautama (Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is generally seen by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians date his lifetime from 563 BCE to 483 BCE. Gautama, is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. PHILOSOPHY Karma: Cause and Effect
Karma (action) is the energy which drives Saṃsāra, the cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skillful and bad, unskillful actions produce "seeds" in the mind which come to fruition either in this life or in a subsequent rebirth. The avoidance of unwholesome actions and the cultivation of positive actions is called Śīla (ethical conduct). Rebirth
Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of many possible forms of sentient life, each running from conception to death. Each rebirth takes place within one of six. These are further subdivided into 31 planes of existence: 1. Naraka beings: those who live in one of many Narakas (Hells) 2. Animals: sharing some space with humans, but considered another type of life 3. Preta: Sometimes sharing some space with humans, but invisible to most people; an important variety is the hungry ghost 4. Human beings: one of the realms of rebirth in which attaining Nirvana is possible 5. Asuras: variously translated as lowly deities, demons, titans, antigods; not recognized by Theravada (Mahavihara) tradition as a separate realm. 6. Devas including Brahmas: variously translated as gods, deities, spirits, angels, or left untranslated
The Cycle of Samsara
Sentient beings crave pleasure and are averse to pain from birth to death. In being controlled by these attitudes, they perpetuate the cycle of conditioned existence and suffering (Samsara), and produce the causes and conditions of the next rebirth after death. The Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths were the first teaching of Gautama Buddha after attaining Nirvana. They are sometimes considered as containing the essence of the Buddha's teachings and are presented in the manner of a medical diagnosis and remedial prescription – a style common at that time: 1. Life as we know it ultimately is or leads to suffering (dukkha) in one way or another. 2. Suffering is caused by craving or attachments to worldly pleasures of all kinds. This is often expressed as a deluded clinging to a certain sense of existence, to selfhood, or to the things or people that we consider the cause of happiness or unhappiness. 3. Suffering ends when craving ends, when one is freed from desire. This is achieved by eliminating all delusion, thereby reaching a liberated state of Enlightenment (bodhi); 4. Reaching this liberated state is achieved by following the path laid out by the Buddha. These "truths" do not represent mere statements, but are categories or aspects that most worldly phenomena fall into, grouped in two: 1. Suffering and causes of suffering 2. Cessation and the paths towards liberation from suffering. Thus they are: 1. 2. 3. 4.
"The noble truth that is suffering" "The noble truth that is the arising of suffering" "The noble truth that is the end of suffering" "The noble truth that is the way leading to the end of suffering"
The Noble Eightfold Path
The Noble Eightfold Path, the fourth of the Buddha's Noble Truths, is the way to the cessation of suffering (dukkha). It has eight sections, each starting with the word samyak (Sanskrit, meaning correctly, properly, or well, frequently translated into English as right), and presented in three groups:
•
Prajñā is the wisdom that purifies the mind, allowing it to attain spiritual insight into the true nature of all things. It includes:
1. dṛṣṭi (ditthi): viewing reality as it is, not just as it appears to be. 2. saṃkalpa (sankappa): intention of renunciation, freedom harmlessness. •
and
Śīla is the ethics or morality, or abstention from unwholesome deeds. It includes:
3. vāc (vāca): speaking in a truthful and non hurtful way 4. karman (kammanta): acting in a non harmful way 5. ājīvana (ājīva): a non harmful livelihood •
Samādhi is the mental discipline required to develop mastery over one’s own mind. This is done through the practice of various contemplative and meditative practices, and includes:
6. vyāyāma (vāyāma): making an effort to improve 7. smṛti (sati): awareness to see things for what they are with clear consciousness, being aware of the present reality within oneself, without any craving or aversion 8. samādhi (samādhi): correct meditation or concentration, explained as the first 4 dhyānas Middle Way
An important guiding principle of Buddhist practice is the Middle Way, which is said to have been discovered by Gautama Buddha prior to his enlightenment (bodhi). The Middle Way or Middle Path has several definitions: 1. The practice of non-extremism: a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification 2. The middle ground between certain metaphysical views (e.g., that things ultimately either do or do not exist) 3. An explanation of Nirvana (perfect enlightenment), a state wherein it becomes clear that all dualities apparent in the world are delusory (see Seongcheol) 4. Another term for emptiness, the ultimate nature of all phenomena, lack of inherent existence, which avoids the extremes of permanence and nihilism or inherent existence and nothingness
Impermanence, Dukkha and Non-Self
Impermanence expresses the Buddhist notion that all compounded or conditioned phenomena (things and experiences) are inconstant, unsteady, and impermanent. Nothing lasts. Dukkha is a central concept in Buddhism, the word roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, misery, and frustration. Anatta refers to the notion of "not-self". Dependent Arising
The doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda, often translated as "Dependent Arising," is an important part of Buddhist metaphysics. It states that phenomena arise together in a mutually interdependent web of cause and effect. The best-known application of the concept of Pratītyasamutpāda is the scheme of Twelve Nidānas, which explain the continuation of the cycle of suffering and rebirth (Samsara) in detail. The Twelve Nidānas describe a causal connection between the subsequent characteristics/conditions of cyclic existence, each giving rise to the next: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Avidyā: ignorance, specifically spiritual Saṃskāras: literally formations, explained as referring to Karma. Vijñāna: consciousness, specifically discriminative Nāmarūpa: literally name and form, referring to mind and body Ṣaḍāyatana: the six sense bases: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mindorgan 6. Sparśa: variously translated contact, impression, stimulation (by a sense object) 7. Vedanā: usually translated feeling: this is the "hedonic tone", i.e. whether something is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral 8. Tṛṣṇā: literally thirst, but in Buddhism nearly always used to mean craving 9. Upādāna: clinging or grasping; the word also means fuel, which feeds the continuing cycle of rebirth 10. Bhava: literally being (existence) or becoming. (The Theravada explains this as having two meanings: karma, which produces a new existence, and the existence itself.) 11. Jāti: literally birth, but life is understood as starting at conception 12. Jarāmaraṇa (old age and death) and also śokaparidevaduḥkhadaurmanasyopāyāsa (sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and misery)
Speculation versus Direct Experience: Buddhist Epistemology
Decisive in distinguishing Buddhism from what is commonly called Hinduism (the main philosophical tradition of the Buddha's time) is the issue of epistemological justification (theory of knowledge). Accordingly, most Buddhists agree that, to a greater or lesser extent, words are inadequate to describe the goal of the Buddhist path, but concerning the usefulness of words in the path itself, schools differ radically.