Buddhism on the Silk

Road
Or, Buddhism and Empires
 The Buddha in History: Context
The Laws (dharma) of Manu and the Three Aims of Life
Pleasure (kma) in youth
Wealth (artha) in middle age
Asceticism and piety (dharma) in old age
Buddha rejected this structure, and household life in general
Idea of rebirth and sasra
Codified sometime before the Buddha lived
Importance of liberation (moks a)
Renunciant movements (ramana)
The Buddha was one voice in a long and storied conversation
about dharma (as both what there is and what to do) and
liberation
The Buddha and His Story
Seeing things the way they really are:
Yathbhtadarana
Discovery, rather than Revelation
Buddhism as soteriology
Buddha discovered the way things are,
then taught it
Dharma is both the truth and the
teachings
Suffering comes from thirst ( trsn) and/or
ignorance (avidy)
 The Life of the Buddha, briefly

Name: Siddhrtha Gotama kya

Born at Lumbini, on the India-Nepal border
Left home at 29 after experiencing some sort of
profound existential crisis (in literature: an old
man, a sick man, a dead man, a hermit)
Studied with teachers, harsh austerities
Figures it out for himself
Enlightenment at 35, at Bodh Gaya
Visions: sees himself; others; the universe; causality
May have had a son, Rhula
Teacher for 45 years, beginning at Sarnath
Died at 80
 Sooo Whats a Buddha?
Woke up (budh) and Blown out (nirvna)
Nirvna vs. Mahparinirvna
Stops accumulating karma under the Bodhi tree;
exhausts all past karma at the age of 80
Three types of awakening:
Buddha: Realizes, teaches
Pratyekabuddha: Realizes, doesnt teach
Arhat: Realizes and teaches based on others
Early/mainstream Buddhism: the world doesnt
need that many Buddhas
Mahyna cosmology makes room for more Buddhas
Basic conduct (la)
Five Wrong Actions (abhicra)
Killing (harsh bodily action)
Lying (harsh speech, gossip)
Stealing (taking what is not given)
Sexual misconduct
Intoxication (that which clouds the mind)
Intoxication causes the other four wrong actions
Intention is everything
Monastic Conduct
Prtimoksa (toward liberation)
Novice monks and nuns: eight vows
In addition to the above five, one does not:
Eat after noon (midday meal)
Wear jewelry, sing, dance (dont be frivolous)
Sleep in high or luxurious beds (dont live in
luxury)
Fully ordained monks: 227 vows
Fully ordained nuns: 311
For Theravda; this varies by tradition
 Four Truths of the Noble One
(catvri ryasatyni)
First teaching as a Buddha
Stra Turning the Wheel of Dharma
(Dharmacakrapravrtana-stra)
Audience: the five ascetics

In brief: Truth of Suffering, Truth of the Cause,

Truth of Cessation, Truth of the Path
 All is suffering
(sarvam duhkham)
Suffering of Suffering (duhkha-duhkha)
Shit happens.
Suffering of Change (anitya-duhkha)
Good things dont remain; we get bored and
restless.
Pervasive Suffering (samskra-duhkha)
Or, habitual suffering
We imagine selves, imagine permanence
A Buddhist might say this is realistic, not
pessimistic (example: the monster in the closet)
Suffering has a Cause
Suffering doesnt happen randomly
Karma; cause and effect
Interdependent Origination (prattya-
samutpda)

Because suffering has a cause, it can cease.

(Third Truth)
Ignorance causes karma; cessation of
ignorance stops the cycle of karma
The Eightfold Path
Wisdom
Right view
Right intention
Action
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Concentration
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right concentration (samdhi)
Right View
Middle Path (madhyama-mrga)
Between eternalism and nihilism
Between indulgence and mortification
Selflessness (antman)
Milindas chariot
Impermanence (anitya)
Interdependence (prattya-samutpda)
Right Meditation
Calm abiding (amatha, samatha)
Develop presence and awareness, mindfulness
Common example: watch the breath

Clear insight (vipayana, vipassana)

Having developed mindfulness, investigate
Or, simply be aware
All Buddhist meditation systems will describe
their techniques through these two, but
sometimes unite them
Mauryan Empire (c. 321-185 BCE)
Buddhism and Ashoka
Rock edicts at major Buddhist sites
Bloody war against Kallingas (South India)
prompted non-violence, vegetarian leanings
Second Buddhist Council during Ashokas
reign Buddhism starts to become a
(proselytizing) Religion, missionaries to Sri
Lanka and Gandhara.
Kammatic vs. Nibannic Buddhism

Conduct of monks and nuns, combined with

vows, make them merit fields. Economy of
karma and alms-giving.
Karma: prosperity, health, etc. are products of
previous actions or, we control our own
destinies
Arhatship is a difficult and distant goal
Most practitioners aim to secure good rebirth
in future, particularly at the time of Maitreya
(Side note: Foltzs Atheism there are Gods,
even creator-gods, but theyre also in sasra)
 Mahayana in history
Possibly from 230 BCE, more likely c. 2 nd
century CE
Firm dates are mainly from Chinese sources,
translations from late 2nd c. CE (translator An
Xuan)
Tension in roots: South India vs. Gandhara;
Conservative Monastic vs. Popular Movement
These are all, in some sense, true; Mahayana
didnt arise as a unified entity.
New Sutras that the Buddhas contemporaries
werent ready to hear
 Some Mahyna doctrines
Wider cosmology Bodhisattvas arent
redundant
Development of Ekayna (Lotus Sutra),
emphasis on great compassion (karuna) and
Buddha-hood
Non-abiding nirvana: In the world but not of
it
The Nature of mind is clear light, Defilements
are adventitious (Dharmakirti, PV2)
Buddha Nature (Tathagata-Garbha) is this
empty clarity
Ineffability and Pragmatism: Not existent, not
non-existent (or: pull the arrow out!).
Kushan Empire
(c. 30-375 CE)
King of Kings, Kanishka the
Kushan (British Museum)
 Images in Buddhism

Images of Buddha become widespread c. 1 st-

2nd centuries CE. Importance of Buddhas
body and relics.
Some scholars (including Foltz) attribute the
earliest images of Buddha to Kanishkas reign
(c. 78-160 CE)
If this is the case, then images are roughly
contemporaneous with rise of Mahyna in
Gandhra
Gandhra Maitreya, 2nd century CE
Gandhra Buddha, c. 200 CE
Bodhisattvas: Tr, Manjur
Gupta Empire and Mahyna
Buddhists move in all directions: contemporary
Iran, toward the Middle East, China
Buddhism (so the story usually goes) moves
back into Northern India under the predominantly
Hindu Gupta Empire
Sanskrit and Yoga slowly enter the picture
Side note 1: Kmastra, Mahbharata, the
appearance of Hindu deities and the divinity of
kings
Side note 2: Buddhism moves from colloquial
languages (Magadhi, Pli) to Sanskrit, which the
Buddha evidently did not intend