Buddhism

Siir Tecirlioglu12

20 November 2011

• A religion and philosophy based on teachings

of Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha.

• Lived and taught in northeastern Indian subcontinent. • Exact time periodunknown6th to 4th centuries

BCE.• Scholarshesitant to make claims about

historical facts of Buddha’s life.• Estimates: from 230 million to 1.691 billion**

• 2 major branches– Theravada: followed in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia

– Mahayana: followed throughout East Asia

Refuge in the Three Jewels

First step in most Buddhist schools requires

taking refuge in the 3 Jewels as the foundation

of one’s religious practice.

1. Dharma: teachings or law of nature as

expounded by the Gautama Buddha

2. Sangha: those who have attained to any of

the 4 stages of Enlightenment

3. Buddha: a title for those who have attained

Nirvana

Buddhist Concepts

Karma

Force that drives samsara (cycle of suffering and rebirth for each

being).

Action of bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation

My experiences:

What comes around, goes around. I believe in it. But not in the reincarnation

part.

Many times if I make fun of something, it happens to me too

Q: To what extent is this karma? Maybe, my actions make my expectation

happen.

Rebirth

Force that drives samsara (cycle of suffering and rebirth for each

being).

Action of bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation

Each rebirth takes place within one of six realms:

• naraka beings: those who live in one of many Narakas (Hells)•Preta: sometimes sharing some space with humans, but invisible to most people•Animals: sharing space with humans but considered another type of life•Asuras: demons, ttans, antigods etc.•Devas: gods, spirits, angels etc.

My experiences:

I discussed what I could possibly have been in another life or in my previous

life…

Hard to accept the concept and apply in my life. But I am not completely

rejecting it.

Q: How can this even be proven?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-OApQ_iXvw

The 4 Noble Truths

1. Life as we know it ultimately is or leads to suffering

2. Suffering is caused by cravingoften expressed as a deluded clinging to a certain sense of existence or to things

3. Suffering ends when craving ends. Reach a liberated state.

4. Reaching the liberated statefollow the path laid out by the Buddha.

My experiences:

Couldn’t apply because understanding these concepts is so hard.

Jealousy? Then I always see it

The Noble

Eightfold Path

Way to the end of suffering. 8 sections:1. drsti: viewing reality as it is and not just

as it appears to be2. Samkalpa: intention of denial, freedom

and harmlessness3. Vac: honesty (speaking the truth)

4. Karman: acting in a non-harmful way5. Ajvana: non-harmful livelihood

6. Vyayama: trying to improve7. Smrti: awareness of present reality

without any craving8. Samadhi: correct meditation.

My experiences:

Intention of harmlessness, honesty to everyone, no craving, trying to improve.

HARD TO DO ALL OF THEM AT ONCE.

I was getting used to acting in this way. But it takes time to apply them all

flawlessly. I needed more time.

3 Marks of

Existence

1. Impermanence: all things and experiences are inconstant, unsteady and impermanent.

Existence is dependent on external conditions.

2. Suffering: to exist, you have to have suffering. Nothing is perfect.

3. Not-self: no such things as “I” or “mine”. They are constructed by

the mind.

My experiences:

Impermanence: I have always accepted this in a way. Many things affect our lives and changes can happen so easily.Suffering: I agree that nothing is perfect and just like happiness, suffering is a part of our lives. Not-self: I tried avoiding the concepts “I” or “mine” and thinking of a more general concept,but its just impossible to do it for everything. I don’t believe in this. I have control over myself.

Nirvana

• departure from the cycle of unhappiness and entry into an entirely different mode of existence.

• requires complete overcoming of the three unwholesome roots--undisciplined-desire, hatred, and delusion

• unconditioned consciousness. • pausing the activities of the mind

in a state of consciousness.

Yoga and Meditati

on

• brings mind, body and spirit into balance

• Transform the mind and use it to explore itself and other phenomena.

My experiences:

I did the yoga exercises on a youtube video but honestly, I didn’t feel any difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoaH7u0fKCE

• Primarily vegetariangeneral Buddhist rule of ahmsa (non-violence)negative karma

• Monks and nunseat whatever leftover foods that were given to them, even if there’s meat.

• Avoidance of killing plant lifestrictly speakingno root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onion etc)

• Some mahayana Buddhists avoid eating strong-smelling plants, such as garlic.

• Beans or fruits are common

Buddhist Cuisine

My experiences

• I have a small Buddha statue in my house in Turkey

• Hard to apply in real life because:

– Understanding and keeping in mind the concepts

– Believing/accepting these concepts

– Translation of these concepts are not clear

– The environment I live in

• I realized that most of these concepts are applied

in one way or another.

• I realized that I do believe in some parts (not

because of Buddhism).

• FoodI don’t eat meat so much anyway.

Sources

•http

://en.w

ikipedia.org/wiki/B

uddhism

•http

://www.ju

stsymbol.c

om/images/b

uddhist-s

ymbol-3.jp

g

•http

://home.sw

ipnet.se/gosta

ratna/Buddha18.

jpg

•http

://dict

ionary.reference

.com/browse

/karm

a

•http

://www.bbc.c

o.uk/relig

ion/relig

ions/buddhi

sm/

•http

://www.pbs.o

rg/edens/thaila

nd/buddhism.

htm

•http

://www.re

ligiousto

lerance.org/buddhism

.h

tm

•http

://websp

ace.sh

ip.edu/cgboer/b

uddhaintro.

html

•http

://selfk

nowledge.com/109719.htm

Thank you!