#buddhism

[journeytothewestresearch]

Monkey King Buddha

I commissioned this lovely drawing of Sun Wukong as Yuddhajaya (Sk: युद्धजय), the historical "Buddha Victorious in Strife / Victorious Fighting Buddha" (Ch: Dou zhansheng fo, 鬥戰勝佛), using his traditional iconography.

My thanks to the masterful @ningadudexx

It is based on this devotional image.

[commonplacebuddhism]

Don’t believe a word the mind is saying. You don’t believe everything it says outside of meditation. So why should you believe what it says during meditation?

— Being Nobody, Going Nowhere by Ayya Khema

[aquaglow]

when my mind is troubled and loud, I go back to the basics, to those simple words that can fix the soul: nam myōhō renge kyō, nam myōhō renge kyō, nam myōhō renge kyō. until the mind goes soft; until the monkey is soothed; until the lake becomes a mirror. 🌿

[whencyclopedia]

A Short History of the Buddhist Schools

The different Buddhist schools of thought, still operating in the present day, developed after the death of the Buddha (l. c. 563 - c. 483 BCE) in an effort to perpetuate his teachings and honor his example. Each of the schools claimed to represent Buddha's original vision and still do so in the modern era.

Although Buddha himself is said to have requested that, following his death, no leader was to be chosen to lead anything like a school, this was ignored and his disciples seem to have fairly quickly institutionalized Buddhist thought with rules, regulations, and a hierarchy.

At first, there may have been a unified vision of what Buddha had taught but, in time, disagreements over what constituted the “true teaching” resulted in fragmentation and the establishment of three main schools:

Theravada Buddhism (The School of the Elders)

Mahayana Buddhism (The Great Vehicle)

Vajrayana Buddhism (The Way of the Diamond)

Theravada Buddhism claims to be the oldest school and to maintain Buddha's original vision and teachings. Mahayana Buddhism is said to have split off from Theravada in the belief that it was too self-centered and had lost the true vision; this school also claims it holds to the Buddha's original teaching. Actually, however, the two schools may have been established around the same time, just with different focus, and probably emerged from two earlier schools: the Sthaviravada (possible precursor to Theravada) and the Mahasanghika (also given as Mahasamghika, considered by some the earlier Mahayana). The connection between these earlier schools and the later ones, however, has been challenged. Vajrayana Buddhism developed, largely in Tibet, in response to what were perceived as too many rules in Mahayana Buddhism and emphasized living the Buddhist walk naturally without regard to ideas of what one was “supposed” to do and so it, too, claims to be the most authentic.

All three schools maintain a belief in the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path as preached by the Buddha but differ – sometimes significantly – in how they choose to follow that path. Objectively, none are considered any more legitimate than the others, nor are the many minor schools which have developed, although adherents of each believe otherwise while, at the same time, recognizing they are all part of Ekayana ("One Vehicle" or "One Path") in that all embrace Buddha's central vision and seek to promote harmony and compassion in the world.

Although Buddhism is often perceived by non-adherents as a uniform belief system, it is as varied as any other in practice but, theoretically at least, a modern-day secular Buddhist can participate in rituals with a religious Buddhist without concern or conflict and all work toward the same essential goals.

Buddha & Buddhism

According to the foundational account of Buddha's life, he was born Siddhartha Gautama, a Hindu prince, and his father, hoping to prevent him from following a spiritual path instead of succeeding him as king, kept him from any experiences which might have made him aware of suffering and death. The king's plan succeeded for 29 years until Siddhartha witnessed the famous Four Signs while out riding one day – an aged man, a sick man, a dead man, and a spiritual ascetic – and became aware of the reality of sickness, old age, and death.

He renounced his wealth and position and followed the example of the spiritual ascetic, eventually attaining enlightenment upon recognizing the inherent impermanence of all aspects of life and realizing how one could live without suffering. He developed the concept of the Four Noble Truths, which state that suffering in life is caused by attachment to the things of life, and the Eightfold Path, the spiritual discipline one should follow to achieve release from attachment and the pain of craving and loss. Scholar John M. Koller comments:

The Buddha's teaching of . (64)

Buddha illustrated these conditions through the Wheel of Becoming which has in its hub the triad of ignorance, craving, and aversion, between the hub and rim the six types of suffering existence, and on the rim the conditions which give rise to duhkha (translated as “suffering”). Ignorance of the true nature of life encourages craving for those things one believes are desirable and aversion to things one fears and rejects. Caught on this wheel, the soul is blinded to the true nature of life and so condemns itself to samsara, the endless repetition of rebirth and death.

Continue reading...

[anti-american-action]

- Siddhartha Gautama after meditating for 7 weeks under a sacred fig tree

I want to consume less and create more!!!!!

[e-n-d-a-s-h]

Liz Toohey-Wiese, 2024.

"A sign installed in the largest wildfire burn I’ve ever seen, along the BC/YK border. Borrowing the aesthetics of BC Recreation Site signs, once again pointing to the overlaps of outdoor recreation, resource extraction, and the consequences of the climate crisis. Most recreation sites in BC exist along previously built logging and mining roads.

“Forced into a great and difficult transformation” was a line I heard in a lecture on Buddhist philosophy I was listening to on my drive up north. But it became another mantra I thought about while living in a place that’s been utterly transformed by resource extraction over the past century, and as I thought about the burnt landscapes I drove through."

More here.

[awakefor48hours]

I saw a post about this so now I'm curious

New poll with more options if you want there

please consider reblogging for a larger sample size unless you're planning to say something that's anti-theistic

[salmonella-destroyer-of-worlds]

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I was getting arranged married to Jesus Christ on the beach. I was super upset, but my family kept telling me that I didn't have a choice. I'm a Buddhist lesbian...

[meta-marphosis]

to no end

[vintage-russia]

Gusinoozerskiy datsan.Masks of the Gods,Russia (19th-20th century)

[balkanparamo]

Bodhisattva

[lazyyogi]

To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.

Thich Nhat Hanh

[charlesoberonn]

AITA for breaking out of an eternal cycle of death and rebirth?

My (28M) inner Atman (155trillionNB) recently escaped the cycle of Samsara by quenching all earthly desires and achieving Nirvana. But I kinda feel bad for abandoning all of the trillions of souls still suffering on Earth.

Should I become a bodhisattva and guide others on the path to enlightenment or is it okay if I rejoin the Brahman right now?

[american-boyboss]