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Four Stages Of Enlightenment
The four stages of awakening in Early Buddhism and Theravada are four progressive stages culminating in full awakening (''Bodhi'') as an Arahant (SN 22.122). These four stages are Sotāpanna, Sakadāgāmi, Anāgāmi, and Arahant. The oldest Buddhist texts portray the Buddha as referring to people who are at one of these four stages as noble people (''ariya-puggala'') and the community of such persons as the noble sangha (''ariya-sangha''). The teaching of the four stages of awakening is a central element of the early Buddhist schools, including the Theravada school of Buddhism, which still survives. Origins In the Sutta Pitaka several types of Buddhist practitioners are described, according to their level of attainment. The standard is four, but there are also longer descriptions with more types. The four are the Stream-enterer, Once-returner, Non-returner and the Arahant. In the Visuddhimagga the five stages are the culmination of the seven purifications. The description ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Buddhist Schools
The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which the Buddhist monastic saṅgha split early in the history of Buddhism. The divisions were originally due to differences in Vinaya and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separation of groups of monks. The original saṅgha split into the first early schools (generally believed to be the Sthavira nikāya and the Mahāsāṃghika) during or after the reign of Aśoka. Later, these first early schools were further divided into schools such as the Sarvāstivādins, the Dharmaguptakas, and the Vibhajyavāda, and ended up numbering 18 or 20 schools according to traditional accounts. The textual material shared by the early schools is often termed the Early Buddhist Texts and these are an important source for understanding their doctrinal similarities and differences. Formation and development The first council According to the scriptures ('' Cullavagga'' XI.1 ff), three months after the pari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arahant
In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated from the endless cycle of rebirth. Mahayana Buddhist traditions have used the term for people far advanced along the path of Enlightenment, but who may not have reached full Buddhahood. The understanding of the concept has changed over the centuries, and varies between different schools of Buddhism and different regions. A range of views on the attainment of arhats existed in the early Buddhist schools. The Sarvāstivāda, Kāśyapīya, Mahāsāṃghika, Ekavyāvahārika, Lokottaravāda, Bahuśrutīya, Prajñaptivāda, and Caitika schools all regarded arhats as imperfect in their attainments compared to buddhas.Sree Padma. Barber, Anthony W. ''Buddhism in the Krishna River Valley of Andhra''. 2008. p. 44Warder, A.K. ''Indian Buddhism ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting impact on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Old Indo-Aryan language varieties. The most archaic of these is the Vedic Sanskrit found in the Rig Veda, a colle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddhism.Stargardt, Janice. ''Tracing Thoughts Through Things: The Oldest Pali Texts and the Early Buddhist Archaeology of India and Burma.'', Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2000, page 25. Early in the language's history, it was written in the Brahmi script. Origin and development Etymology The word 'Pali' is used as a name for the language of the Theravada canon. The word seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions, wherein the (in the sense of the line of original text quoted) was distinguished from the commentary or vernacular translation that followed it in the manuscript. K. R. Norman suggests that its emergence was based on a misunderstanding of the compound , with being interpreted as the name of a particula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhist Geeks
''Buddhist Geeks'' is a podcast, online magazine and annual conference with a primary focus on American Buddhism. It was established in 2006 by Vince Horn and Ryan Oelke. Past guests have included Brad Warner, Shinzen Young, and B. Alan Wallace. Jack Kornfield commented on the first Buddhist Geeks conference was: "It's clear that the electronic virtual interconnected web and on-line world is the wild way the Dharma stream is flowing, and the geeks have their minds dialed into the revolutionary next generation." In 2012, Vincent Horn and Rohan Gunatillake were featured in Wired UK's Smart List 2012. History Founders Vince Horn and Ryan Oelke noticed how there was little in the media specifically addressing the interests of Westerners in Buddhism, and decided to create a podcast to fill the gap. It first appeared in 2007. Horn and Oelke were both Religious Studies students of Naropa University, a Buddhist-inspired liberal arts college in Boulder, Colorado. Gwen Bell j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
U Nārada
U Nārada ( my, နာရဒ; 1868–1955),Robert H. Sharf, ''Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience,'' Numen 42 (1995) pg 242 also Mingun Jetawun Sayādaw or Mingun Jetavana Sayādaw, was a Burmese monk in the Theravada tradition credited with being one of the key figures in the revival of Vipassana ''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ... meditation. His prominent students, particularly Mahasi Sayadaw, helped popularize what is now known as the "New Burmese Method" or the "Mahasi method." ''Sayadaw'' is a Burmese term of respect when addressing major Buddhist monks and means "great master". Creation of the New Burmese method Nyanaponika Thera, himself a student of Mahasi Sayadaw, describes the manner in which U Nārada developed the New Burme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hakuin
was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is regarded as the reviver of the Rinzai school from a moribund period of stagnation, focusing on rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice. Biography Early years Hakuin was born in 1686 in the small village of Hara, at the foot of Mount Fuji. His mother was a devout Nichiren Buddhist, and it is likely that her piety was a major influence on his decision to become a Buddhist monk. As a child, Hakuin attended a lecture by a Nichiren monk on the topic of the Eight Hot Hells. This deeply impressed the young Hakuin, and he developed a pressing fear of hell, seeking a way to escape it. He eventually came to the conclusion that it would be necessary to become a monk. Shōin-ji and Daishō-ji At the age of fifteen, he obtained consent from his parents to join the monastic life, and was ordained at the local Zen temple, Shōin-ji. When the head monk at Shōin-ji took ill, Hakuin was sent t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linji Yixuan
Linji Yixuan (; ja, 臨済義玄 ''Rinzai Gigen''; died 866 CE) was the founder of the Linji school of Chan Buddhism during Tang Dynasty China. Línjì yǔlù Information on Linji is based on the ''Línjì yǔlù'' (臨濟語錄; Japanese: ''Rinzai-goroku''), the Record of Linji. The standard form of these sayings was not completed until 250 years after Linji's death and likely reflect the teaching of Chán in the Linji school at the beginning of the Song Dynasty rather than those of Linji's in particular. This contains stories of his interactions with teachers, contemporaries, and students. The recorded lectures are a mixture of the conventional and the iconoclastic. Those who resented the iconoclasm saw Linji as “one of the most infamous Chinese Chan masters who censored traditional Buddhist practices and doctrines.” George A. Keyworth“How the Mount Wutai Cult Stimulated the Development of Chinese Chan in Southern China at Qingliang Monasteries,”''Studies in Chi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ten Bulls
Ten Bulls or Ten Ox Herding Pictures ( Chinese: ''shíniú'' 十牛 , Japanese: ''jūgyūzu'' 十牛図 , korean: ''sipwoo'' 십우) is a series of short poems and accompanying drawings used in the Zen tradition to describe the stages of a practitioner's progress toward enlightenment, and their return to society to enact wisdom and compassion. History Scriptural origins The calf, bull, or ox is one of the earliest similes for meditation practice. It comes from the Maha Gopalaka Sutta ( Majjhima Nikaya 33). It is also used in the commentaries, especially the one on the Maha Satipatthana Sutta (Digha Nikaya 22) and the Satipatthana Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 10). As Buddhism spread throughout South-East Asia, the simile of the bull spread with it. Chinese pictures The well-known ten ox-herding pictures emerged in China in the 12th century. D.T. Suzuki mentions four Chinese versions of the Oxherding Pictures, by Ching-chu (Jp. Seikyo)(11th century), Tzu-te Hui (Jp. Jitoku)(1090-115 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Five Ranks
The ''Five Ranks'' (; ) is a poem consisting of five stanzas describing the stages of realization in the practice of Zen Buddhism. It expresses the interplay of Two Truths Doctrine, absolute and relative truth and the fundamental Monism#Buddhism, non-dualism of Buddhist teaching. Origins The ranks are referenced in the Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi. This work is attributed to the Chinese monk Dongshan Liangjie (Japanese: Tōzan Ryōkan), who lived during the end of Tang Dynasty, as well as two sets of verse commentaries by him. The teachings of the Five Ranks may be inspired by the Sandokai, a poem attributed to Shitou Xiqian (traditional Chinese: 石頭希遷). The work is highly significant in both the Caodong/Sōtō and Linji school, Linji/Rinzai schools of Zen that exist today. Eihei Dogen, the founder of the Japanese Sōtō School, references the Five Ranks in the first paragraph of one of his most widely studied works, Genjōkōan. Hakuin integrated the Five Ranks in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chan Buddhism
Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit ''dhyāna in Buddhism, dhyāna'' (meaning "meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century Common Era, CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang dynasty, Tang and Song dynasty, Song dynasties. Chan is the originating tradition of Zen Buddhism (the Japanese pronunciation of the same Chinese characters, character, which is the most commonly used English name for the school). Chan Buddhism spread from China south to Vietnam as Vietnamese Thiền, Thiền and north to Korea as Korean Seon, Seon, and, in the 13th century, east to Japan as Japanese Zen. History The historical records required for a complete, accurate account of early Chan history no longer exist. Periodisation The history of Chan in China can be divided into several periods. Zen, as we know it today, is the result of a long history, with many changes and contingent factors. Each perio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
