1913 Myths Of The Hindus & Buddhists Deluxe Edition London 63/75 Sister Nivedita

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MYTHS OF THE HINDUS & BUDDHISTS  
DELUXE NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION No. 63/75 GEORGE G. HARRAP & COMPANY LONDON 1913
Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy and Sister Nivedita (Margaret E Noble), Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists, London: George G. Harrap and Company Ltd. 1913. This is an extremely rare book that was printed in limited edition of just 75 copies of which this is copy no. 63.  This book contains 400 pages with 32 very fine colour plates including a frontispiece, all the plates by Indian artists such as Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, K Venkatappa, Surendra Nath Kar, Kshitindra Nath Mazumdar and Asit Kumar Haldar all working under Tagore; finely printed on Japanese vellum, with captioned tissue guards for plates; publisher's vellum over boards, with gilt titles to spine and blind decoration of GANESHA to the upper board, top edge gilt; others untrimmed. 
This volume attempts to gather, in an accurate but condensed form, all the myths that would be available to an 'educated Indian, with whom I include all those illiterate but wise peasants and women.' As a result, it covers figures from all the major Indian religious traditions, and features separate chapters on the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Krishna, Buddha, and Shiva, accompanied by extraordinary colour plates. The project was begun by Sister Nivedita, a Scots-Irish convert to Hinduism and a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, who died in 1911 before completion. Coomaraswamy completed the remaining two thirds of the work according to Nivedita's aims and wishes.
Good condition. Size: 9.8 x 7 x 2.6 inch (24.5 x 17.5 x 6.5 cm)

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Sister Nivedita (Bengali pronunciation: [bhagini nibedita] audio speaker iconlisten (help·info) born Margaret Elizabeth Noble; 28 October 1867 – 13 October 1911)[1][2] was an Irish teacher, author, social activist, school founder and disciple of Swami Vivekananda.[3] She spent her childhood and early youth in Ireland. She was engaged to marry a Welsh youth, but he died soon after their engagement. Sister Nivedita met Swami Vivekananda in 1895 in London and travelled to Calcutta (present-day Kolkata), India in 1898. Swami Vivekananda gave her the name Nivedita (meaning "Dedicated to God") when he initiated her into the vow of Brahmacharya on 25 March 1898. In November 1898, she opened a girls' school in the Bagbazar area of North Calcutta. She wanted to educate girls who were deprived of even basic education. During the plague epidemic in Calcutta in 1899, Nivedita nursed and took care of the poor patients. Nivedita had close associations with the newly established Ramakrishna Mission. Because of her active contribution in the field of Indian Nationalism, she had to publicly dissociate herself from the activities of the Ramakrishna Mission under the then president, Swami Brahmananda. This had to be done in order to avoid their persecution at the hands of British Authorities in India. She was very close to Sarada Devi, the spiritual consort of Ramakrishna and one of the major influences behind Ramakrishna Mission, and also with all brother disciples of Swami Vivekananda. She died on 13 October 1911 in Darjeeling. Her epitaph reads, "Here lies Sister Nivedita who gave her all to India".[4] Contents 1 Early life 2 Seeker of Truth 3 Meeting with Swami Vivekananda 4 Travel to India 4.1 Brahmacharya 5 Relationship with Sarada Devi 6 Travels 7 Swami Vivekananda's death 8 Works of Sister Nivedita 8.1 Girls' school in Bagbazar 8.2 Work during plague epidemic 8.3 Cultivation of Indian culture 8.4 Contribution towards Indian nationalism 9 Death 10 Influence 11 Books 11.1 Biographies 12 See also 13 References 14 Cited sources 15 Further reading 16 External links Early life Margaret Elizabeth Noble was born on 28 October 1867 in the town of Dungannon in County Tyrone, Ireland to Mary Isabel and Samuel Richmond Noble; she was named for her paternal grandmother.[5]: 91  The Nobles were of Scottish descent, settled in Ireland for about five centuries.[6] Her father, who was a pastor, taught that service to mankind is the true service to God. The Nobles had six children of whom only Margaret (the eldest), May, and Richmond survived. When Margaret was one year old, Samuel moved to Manchester, England; there he enrolled as a theological student of the Wesleyan Church. Young Margaret stayed with her maternal grandfather, Hamilton, in Ireland. When she was four years old, she returned to live with her parents at Great Torrington in Devonshire.[1] Margaret was her father's favorite child. When Samuel Noble conducted services or visited the poor, she accompanied him. Margaret's father died in 1877 when she was ten years old. Margaret with her mother and two siblings returned to her grandfather Hamilton's home in Ireland. Margaret's mother, Mary, took up a kindergarten course in London and became a teacher. Later, Mary helped her father to run a guest-house near Belfast. Hamilton was one of the first-ranking leaders of the Irish nationalist movement. Besides her father's religious temperament, Margaret imbibed the spirit of freedom and love for her country through her grandfather Hamilton.[7] Margaret was educated at Halifax College, run by a member of the Congregationalist Church. The headmistress of this college taught her about personal sacrifice.[1] She studied subjects, including physics, arts, music, and literature. At the age of seventeen in 1884, she first started a career in teaching at a school in Keswick. In 1886, she went to Rugby to teach in an orphanage. A year later, she took up a post at the coal-mining area of Wrexham in North Wales. Here, she revived her spirit of service and love for the poor, which she had inherited from her father. At Wrexham, Margaret became engaged to be married to a Welsh youth, who died soon after the engagement. In 1889, Margaret moved to Chester. By this time, her sister May and brother Richmond were living in Liverpool. Soon, their mother Mary joined them. Margaret was happy to be reunited with her family. Occasionally, she went to Liverpool to stay with them.[8] Margaret resumed her studies in the field of education.[9] She became acquainted with the ideas of the Swiss education reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi and with the German Friedrich Fröbel. Both Pestalozzi and Froebel emphasized the importance of preschool education. They opined that education should begin by gratifying and cultivating the normal aptitude of the child for exercise, play, observation, imitation, and construction. A group of teachers in England was attracted to this novel method of teaching, and they tried to put it into practice. Thus, the 'New Education' was advocated and Margaret, too, became a part of it. Soon, she became a favourite writer and speaker at the Sunday Club and the Liverpool Science Club.[10] In 1891, Margaret settled in Wimbledon and helped, a Mrs. de Leeuw, to start a new school in London. The new experiment in teaching gave her great joy. After a year, in 1892, Margaret started her own independent school at Kingsleygate. At her school, there were no restrictive set methods and formal learning. Children learned through play. At this time, Margaret learned to be a critic of art from one of her staff teachers, Ebenezer Cooke, a well-known art master and reformer of art education.[10] As she gained mastery as an educator, she also became a prolific writer in paper and periodicals and a popular speaker. Soon she became a name among the intellectuals of London and became acquainted with some of the most learned and influential people of her time. Among them were Lady Ripon and Lady Isabel Margesson. They were the founders of a literary coterie, which came to be known as the Sesame Club. The Times of London of 26 October 1911, wrote about Margaret, "A trained teacher of exceptional gifts, she was one of a group of educationists who in the early nineties founded the Sesame Club." Famous writers, such as W.B. Yeats, Bernard Shaw and Thomas Huxley, were some of the regular speakers at the Sesame Club. [11]Discussions were held here on literature, ethics, politics, and other similar subjects.[10] In 1892, when the Home Rule Bill for Ireland was before the Parliament, Margaret spoke fearlessly in favor of it. Seeker of Truth Coming from a religious background, Margaret had learned Christian religious doctrines from a young age. From childhood, she had learned to venerate all religious teachings. The infant Jesus was her object of adoration and worship. However, as she bloomed into womanhood, doubt in the Christian doctrines crept in. She found the teachings were incompatible with Truth. As these doubts became stronger, her faith in Christianity was shaken. For seven long years, Margaret was unable to settle her mind, and this led to unhappiness. She tried to absorb herself in church service. However, her troubled soul could not find satisfaction, and she longed for Truth.[12] Search for truth made Margaret take up the study of natural science. Later, in a lecture delivered at the Hindu Ladies' Social Club in Bombay in 1902, she said: During the seven years of wavering it occurred to me that in the study of natural science I should surely find the Truth I was seeking. So I began ardently to study how this world was created and all things in it and I discovered that in the laws of Nature at least there was consistency, but it made the doctrines of the Christian religion seem all the more inconsistent. Just then I happened to get a life of Buddha and in it I found that here also was a child who lived ever so many centuries before the Child Christ, but whose sacrifices were no less self-abnegating than those of the other. This dear child Gautama took a strong hold on me and for the next three years I plunged into the study of the religion of Buddha, and became more and more convinced that the salvation he preached was decidedly more consistent with the Truth than the preachings of the Christian religion.[12] Meeting with Swami Vivekananda Sister Nivedita In November 1895, she met Swami Vivekananda for the first time, who had come from America to visit London and stayed there for three months.[13] On a cold afternoon, Swami Vivekananda was explaining Vedanta philosophy in the drawing room of an aristocratic family in London. Lady Isabel Margesson, a friend of Margaret, invited Ebenezer Cooke, who was part of the teaching staff at Margaret's 'Ruskin School', to this meeting. Margaret went with him, with much curiosity and interest. Margaret did not know this evening would change her life completely.[5] Margaret described her experience of the occasion. "A majestic personage, clad in a saffron gown and wearing a red waistband, sat there on the floor, cross-legged. As he spoke to the company, he recited Sanskrit verses in his deep, sonorous voice." Margaret had already delved deeply into the teachings of the East, and the novelty was not what she heard on this occasion, but the personality of Swamiji himself. She attended several other lectures by Swami Vivekananda. She asked a lot of questions, and his answers dispelled her doubts and established her faith and reverence for the speaker. Nivedita wrote in 1904 to a friend about her decision to follow Swami Vivekananda as a result of her meeting him in England in November 1895: Suppose he had not come to London that time! Life would have been a headless dream, for I always knew that I was waiting for something. I always said that a call would come. And it did. But if I had known more of life, I doubt whether, when the time came, I should certainly have recognized it. Fortunately, I knew little and was spared that torture ... Always I had this burning voice within, but nothing to utter. How often and often I sat down, pen in hand, to speak, and there was no speech! And now there is no end to it! As surely I am fitted to my world, so surely is my world in need of me, waiting – ready. The arrow has found its place in the bow. But if he had not come! If he had meditated, on the Himalayan peaks! ... I, for one, had never been here.[14] She started taking interest in the teachings of Gautama Buddha, and her discussions with Swami Vivekananda were an alternate source of peace and benediction. She wrote: To not a few of us, the words of Swami Vivekananda came as living water to men perishing of thirst. Many of us had been conscious for years past of that growing uncertainty and despair with regard to Religion, which has beset the intellectual life of Europe for half a century. Belief in the dogmas of Christianity had become impossible to us, and we had no means, such as we now hold, by which to separate the doctrinal shell from the kernel of reality in our faith. To these the Vedanta has given intellectual confirmation and philosophical expression of their own mistrusted intuitions.[15] Vivekananda's principles and teachings influenced her and this brought about a visible change in her. Seeing the fire and passion in her, Swami Vivekananda could foresee her future role in India. 25 March 1898, was the holiest and most unforgettable day of Nivedita's (Margaret) life. That was the day on which her guru dedicated her to God and to the service of India. Vivekananda had toured the Indian subcontinent extensively, acquiring first-hand knowledge of the conditions prevailing in British India. In his opinion, education was the panacea for all evils plaguing contemporary Indian society,[16] especially that of Indian women. Margaret was chosen for the role of educating Indian women. In his letter to Margaret, Vivekananda wrote, "Let me tell you frankly that I am now convinced that you have a great future in the work for India. What was wanted was not a man but a woman, a real lioness, to work for the Indians, women especially."[17] Travel to India Responding to Swami Vivekananda's call, Margaret travelled to India, leaving behind her friends and family, including her mother. Mombasa, the ship bringing Margaret to India, reached Calcutta on 28 January 1898.[5] On 22 February, Margaret visited Dakshineshwar temple, the place where Ramakrishna did his sadhana.[7] Swami Vivekananda devoted the initial few days in teaching her about India and its people, and helping her develop the love for the people; he was broadening her character. He explained India's history, philosophy, literature, the life of the common mass, social traditions, and also the lives of great personalities, both ancient and modern, to her. A few weeks later, two of Swami Vivekananda's women disciples in America, Sara C. Bull, wife of famous Norwegian violinist and composer Ole Bull and Josephine MacLeod arrived in India. The three became lifelong friends. On 11 March 1898, Swami Vivekananda organized a public meeting at Star Theatre to introduce Sister Nivedita to the people of Calcutta. In his speech, Swami Vivekananda said – "England has sent us another gift in Miss Margaret Noble." In this meeting, Margaret expressed her desire to serve India and its people.[7] On 17 March she met Sarada Devi who greeted Margaret affectionately as Khooki (i.e. little girl).[7] Brahmacharya On 25 March 1898, at Nilambar Mukherjee Garden,[18] Swami Vivekananda formally initiated Margaret in the vow of Brahmacharya (lifelong celibacy) and gave her the name of "Nivedita", the dedicated one.[19][20] Swami Vivekananda said to her "Go thou and follow Him, Who was born and gave His life for others five hundred times before He attained the vision of the Buddha."[7] Though Sister Nivedita expressed her desire to take the ultimate vow of Sannyasa, Swami Vivekananda did not approve of it. Later, after the demise of Swami Vivekananda, on 28 July 1902, Nivedita wrote to the Editor of the Statesman the following letter: ... Mr own position towards this religious treasure is that of the humblest learner, merely a Brahmacharini, or novice, not a Sannyasini or fully professed religious, without any pretentions to Sanskrit learning, and set free by the great kindness of my superiors to pursue my social, literary and educational work and studies, entirely outside their direction and supervision.[21] Swami Vivekananda was anxious to mold Nivedita as a Hindu Brahmacharini. He wanted her to be a Hindu in thoughts and actions. He encouraged her to visit Hindu ladies to observe their way of life.[22] He told her: You have to set yourself to Hinduize your thoughts, your needs, your conceptions and your habits. Your life, internal and external, has to become all that an orthodox Brahmana Brahmacharini's ought to be. The method will come to you, if only you desire it sufficiently. But you have to forget your own past and to cause it to be forgotten. You have to lose even its memory.[23] Relationship with Sarada Devi Image of Sarada Devi and Sister Nivedita siting Sarada Devi (left) and Sister Nivedita Within a few days of her arrival in India, on 17 March 1898, Margaret met Sarada Devi, wife and spiritual consort of Ramakrishna, who, surpassing all language and cultural barriers, embraced her as "khooki" or "little girl" in Bengali.[7] It was St.Patrick's Day, a very holy & special day in Margaret's life, and Nivedita recounted it as her "day of days."[24] Until her death in 1911, Nivedita remained one of the closest associates of Sarada Devi. On 13 November 1898, the Holy Mother Sarada Devi came to open Nivedita's newly founded school. After worshiping Ramakrishna, she consecrated the school and blessed it, saying: ‘I pray that the blessings of the Divine Mother may be upon the school and the girls; and the girls trained from the school may become ideal girls.’ Nivedita was delighted and recorded her feelings later as "I cannot imagine a grander omen than her blessings, spoken over the educated Hindu womanhood of the future."[25] The first photograph of Sarada Devi was taken at Nivedita's house. Nivedita wrote in a letter to her friend Nell Hammond about Sarada Devi after her first few meetings with her, "She really is, under the simplest, most unassuming guise, one of the strongest and greatest of women."[26] An excerpt is provided here from the Gospel of Holy Mother, where Sarada Devi's impressions about Nivedita are captured vividly: Referring to Nivedita, she [Sarada Devi] said, "What sincere devotion Nivedita had! She never considered anything too much that she might do for me. She would often come to see me at night. Once seeing that light struck my eyes, she put a shade of paper on the lamp. She would prostrate herself before me and, with great tenderness, take the dust off my feet with her handkerchief. I felt that she not even hesitated to touch my feet." The thought of Nivedita opened the floodgate of her mind and she suddenly became grave... The Mother now and then expressed her feelings towards the Sister. She said at last, "The inner soul feels for a sincere devotee."[27] Travels Nivedita travelled to many places in India, including Kashmir, with Swami Vivekananda, Josephine MacLeod, and Sara Bull. This helped her in connecting to the Indian masses, Indian culture, and its history. She also went to the United States to raise awareness and get help for her cause. On 11 May 1898, she went with Swami Vivekananda, Sara Bull, Josephine MacLeod, and Swami Turiyananda, on a journey to the Himalayas. From Nainital, they travelled to Almora. On 5 June 1898, she wrote a letter to her friend Nell Hammond exclaiming, "Oh Nell, Nell, India is indeed the Holy Land."[28] In Almora, she first learned the art of meditation. She wrote about this experience, "A mind must be brought to change its centre of gravity... again the open and disinterested state of mind welcomes truth."[29] She also started learning Bengali from Swami Swarupananda. From Almora, they went to Kashmir valley, where they stayed in houseboats. In the summer of 1898, Nivedita travelled to Amarnath with Swami Vivekananda.[30] Later in 1899, she travelled to the United States with Swami Vivekananda[31] and stayed in Ridgely Manor in upstate New York. She later recorded some of her tour and experiences with her master (guru) in the book The Master as I Saw Him and Notes on Some Wanderings with Swami Vivekananda. She often used to refer to Swami Vivekananda as "The King" and considered herself as his spiritual daughter (Manaskanya in Bengali).[32] Swami Vivekananda's death See also: Swami Vivekananda § Death Sister Nivedita saw Swami Vivekananda for the last time on 2 July 1902 at Belur Math.[33] Vivekananda was observing the Ekadashi fasting on that day. However, when his disciples took their meal, he himself served them joyfully. After the meal, Vivekananda poured water over Nivedita's hands, and dried them with a towel. Nivedita recorded it in The Master As I Saw Him in the following words: "It is I who should do these things for you, Swamiji! Not you, for me!" was the protest naturally offered. But his answer was startling in its solemnity – "Jesus washed the feet of His disciples!" Something checked the answer, "But that was the last time!" as it rose to the lips, and the words remained unuttered. This was well. For here also, the last time had come.[34] Swami Vivekananda died at 9:10 p.m. on 4 July 1902. On that night, Nivedita dreamed Sri Ramakrishna was leaving his body a second time.[35] On the next morning, Swami Saradananda from Belur Math sent a monk with a letter to Sister Nivedita and conveying the message of Vivekananda's death. Instantly everything around Nivedita's eyes became blank. She immediately rushed to the Math and reached the place around 7 a.m. and entered the room of Vivekananda. There she found Swamiji's body was laid on the floor. She sat near Vivekananda's head and fanned his body with a hand fan until his body was taken down at 2 p.m. to the porch leading to the courtyard.[35][7]: 34  In the afternoon of 5 July, Swami Vivekananda's body was taken for cremation. Vivekananda's body was wrapped in a saffron cloth. Nivedita wished to take a small portion of that cloth so that she could send it as a memento to Josephine MacLeod. Understanding the mind of Nivedita Swami Saradananda asked her to cut a small portion of the Swami's cloth. But, Nivedita was unsure whether the act would be proper or not and decided not to take it. When Vivekananda's body was being cremated, she sat all the while looking at the burning pyre. Around six o'clock in the evening, the burning flame was about to go out. Suddenly, Nivedita felt somebody had pulled her sleeve. She turned around and found a small piece of saffron cloth which had somehow come out of the pyre during cremation. Nivedita lifted and took the cloth, considering it as a message from the Swami. In her letter to Josephine MacLeod on 14 September 1902, Nivedita wrote: ...But your real message came at the burning pyre itself... At 6 o'clock... as if I were twitched by the sleeve, I looked down, and there, safe out of all that burning and blackness, there blew to my feet the very two or three inches I had desired out of the border of the cloth. I took it as a Letter from Him to you, from beyond the grave.[36] Works of Sister Nivedita Sister Nivedita, reading a book Girls' school in Bagbazar See also: Ramakrishna Sarada Mission Sister Nivedita Girls' School Nivedita was planning to open a school for girls who were deprived of even basic education.[37] She toured England and America on a lecture tour designed to raise money to establish a girls' school.[38] The main reason why Swamiji invited Nivedita to India was to spread education to the women of the country. This is why, when Nivedita informed Vivekananda about her planning, he felt very excited. He organized a meeting at Balaram Bose's house on this issue. Many lay devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, including Mahendranath Gupta (popularly known as Sri M., the chronicler of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna), Suresh Dutta, Haramohan etc. attended this meeting. In this meeting, Nivedita explained her plan of the proposed school and requested everyone to send their girls to the school to study. During her speech, Vivekananda entered the room and took a seat behind everyone. Nivedita did not notice it. But, when Nivedita appealed to collect girl students for the school, she suddenly discovered Vivekananda in the room pushing others and prompting – "Ye, get up, get up! It’s not good enough to just become girls’ fathers. All of you must co-operate in the matter of their education as per national ideals. Stand up and commit. Reply to her appeal. Say, 'We all agree. We shall send our girls to you." But no one stood up to support Nivedita's proposal. Finally, Vivekananda forced Haramohan to agree to the proposal and behalf of Haramohan, Vivekananda promised to send his girls to the school.[7]: 21–22  A memorial plaque in the house of Bagbazar where Sister Nivedita started her school On 13 November 1898, on the day of Kali Puja, at 16 Bosepara Lane in the Bagbazar area of North Calcutta, she started the school.[39] The school was inaugurated by Sarada Devi, in the presence of Swami Vivekananda and some of the other disciples of Ramakrishna.[40] Sarada Devi blessed and prayed for the school saying – "I pray that the blessings of the Divine Mother may be upon the school and the girls; and the girls trained from the school may become ideal girls."[7]: 22 Nivedita went from home to home in educating girls, many of whom were in pitiable condition owing to the socio-economic condition of early 20th century India. In many cases, she encountered refusal from the male members of the girl's family. Nivedita had widows and adult women among her students. She taught sewing, elementary rules of hygiene, nursing, etc., apart from regular courses. Collecting money for the school was not an easy task. She had to earn money from her writings and giving lectures, and later she spent all to meet the expenses of the school.[7]: 14  She took part in altruistic activities. She worked to improve the lives of Indian women of all castes. Work during plague epidemic During the outbreak of a plague epidemic in Calcutta in 1899, Nivedita nursed and took care of the patients,[1][4] cleaned rubbish from the area, and inspired and motivated many youths to render voluntary service. She inserted appeals for help in the English newspapers and requested for financial support for her plague relief activities.[38] She also organized the day-to-day activities, inspected the work and personally handed over the written instructions for the preventive measures by moving around. She was a friend to many intellectuals and artists in the Bengali community, including Rabindranath Tagore, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Abala Bose, and Abanindranath Tagore. Later, she took up the cause of Indian independence. Sri Aurobindo was one of her friends as well.[37] Cultivation of Indian culture She took an active interest in promoting Indian history, culture, and science. She actively encouraged Dr. Jagadish Chandra Bose, the Indian scientist and philosopher, to pursue original scientific research and helped him financially as well in getting due recognition when he was faced with an indifferent attitude from the colonial government. Bose, whom she called "khoka" or the "little one" in Bengali, and his wife Abala Bose, were in very close terms with her. Keeping in view Nivedita's contribution to the scientific research work of Jagadish Chandra, Rabindranath Tagore said: "In the day of his success, Jagadish gained an invaluable energizer and helper in Sister Nivedita, and in any record of his life’s work her name must be given a place of honour." Sister Nivedita was one of the important influences on Jagadish Chandra Bose. She supported him by organizing the financial support and editing his manuscripts and made sure that Bose was able to continue with and share his work. [41]Her identity as both a westerner by birth and a disciple of Swami Vivekananda enabled her to do several things that might have been difficult for Indians. For example, she promoted pan-Indian nationalism.[42][43] Contribution towards Indian nationalism See also: Aurobindo and Anushilan samiti Nivedita became a prolific writer and toured India extensively to deliver lectures, especially on Indian culture and religions. She appealed to the youth of India to work selflessly for the cause of their country along the ideals of Swami Vivekananda. Before coming to India, Nivedita expressed a positive view towards continued colonial rule in India, a prevailing sentiment amongst her contemporaries in Europe. However, during the course of her time in India, Nivedita grew disillusioned with colonial rule and grew to support the nascent independence movement, concluding that it was necessary for India to gain independence to prosper. In February 1902, lawyer (and future leader of the independence movement) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi visited Nivedita in Calcutta.[44] After Vivekananda's death, being acutely aware of the inconvenience of the newly formed Ramakrishna Mission on account of her political activities, she publicly dissociated herself from it. However, until her last days, she had a very cordial relationship with the brother disciples of Swami Vivekananda like Swami Brahmananda, Baburam Maharaj (Swami Premananda) and Swami Saradananda, who helped her in her charitable and educational activities in every possible way; she was very close to the holy mother, Sarada Devi. Nivedita had initially worked with Okakura of Japan and Sarala Ghoshal who was related to the Tagore family. She later started working on her own and maintained a direct relationship with many of the young revolutionaries of Bengal, including those of Anushilan Samity, a secret organization. She inspired many youths in taking up the cause of Indian independence through her lectures. She also attacked Lord Curzon after his speech at the University of Calcutta in 1905 where he mentioned that truth was given a higher place in the moral codes of the West, than in the East. Nivedita undertook her own research and made it public that in the book Problems of The Far East by Curzon, he had proudly described how he had given false statements about his age and marriage to the President of the Korean Foreign Office to win his favour. This statement when published in newspapers like Amrita Bazar Patrika and The Statesman caused a furore and forced Curzon to apologize.[citation needed] In 1905, the colonial government, under the direction of Lord Curzon, initiated the partition of Bengal which proved to be a major turning point in the Indian independence movement. Nivedita played a pioneering role in organizing the movement.[45] She provided financial and logistical support and leveraged her contacts to get information from government agencies and forewarn independence activists. She met Indian artists like Abanindranath Tagore, Ananda Coomaraswamy and E. B. Havell and inspired them to develop a pure Indian school of art. She always inspired and guided the talented students of the Calcutta Art School to move along the forgotten tracks of ancient Indian art like Nandalal Bose, Asit Kumar Haldar and Surendranath Gangopadhyay. She exerted great influence on the famous Tamil poet, Subramania Bharati, who met her only briefly in 1906. She influenced Bharati to work for the freedom of the women in the country, which he did all through his life. Nivedita had also designed a national flag for India with the thunderbolt as the emblem against a red background.[46] Nivedita tried her utmost to inculcate the nationalist spirit in the minds of her students through all their daily activities. She introduced singing of the song Vande Mataram in her school as a prayer. Nivedita provided guarded support to Annie Besant and was very close to Aurobindo Ghosh (later Sri Aurobindo), one of the major contributors towards the early nationalist movement. She edited Karma Yogin, the nationalist newspaper of Aurobindo.[47]The following piece is from an editorial in Karma Yogin, written by Nivedita, which depicts her intense respect for India: The whole history of the world shows that the Indian intellect is second to none. This must be proved by the performance of a task beyond the power of others, the seizing of the first place in the intellectual advance of the world. Is there any inherent weakness that would make it impossible for us to do this? Are the countrymen of Bhaskaracharya and Shankaracharya inferior to the countrymen of Newton and Darwin? We trust not. It is for us, by the power of our thought, to break down the iron walls of opposition that confront us, and to seize and enjoy the intellectual sovereignty of the world.[48] Manuscript of "Blessings to Nivedita" a poem written by Swami Vivekananda in his own handwriting[49] Death Nivedita died on 13 October 1911, aged 43, at Roy Villa, Darjeeling.[50] Today, her memorial is located below the Railway station on the way to the Victoria Falls (of Darjeeling)[51] with these words inscribed in her epitaph – "Here lies Sister Nivedita who gave her all to India".[4][50]Swami Vivekananda wrote a poem to Sister Nivedita, A benediction to Sister Nivedita. In this poem, Vivekananda condensed all his hopes, aspirations, and good wishes for his disciple,[52] Nivedita as The mistress, servant, friend in one to India's future son–[53] The mother's heart, the hero's will The sweetness of the southern breeze, The sacred charm and strength that dwell On Aryan altars, flaming, free; All these be yours and many more No ancient soul could dream before- Be thou to India's future son The mistress, servant, friend in one. Influence Sister Nivedita on a 1968 stamp of India Name plaque of Nivedita Bhawan at Baranagore Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama High School Sister Nivedita remains one of the most influential female figures of India. Her book Kali, the Mother influenced Abanindranath Tagore who painted Bharat Mata.[54] In 2010, the office of the board of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in Salt Lake City, Kolkata was named after Sister Nivedita.[55] The Sister Nivedita Academy, an institution dedicated to her memory has been established in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.[56] Several schools and colleges have been named after her. In 1968, the Indian Government issued a postal stamp in her memory. The Nivedita bridge near Dakshineswar, Kolkata is named in her honour.[57] In 2015, a new Government Degree College at Hastings House, Alipur, Kolkata was named after Sister Nivedita.[58] In 2018, the higher secondary section school building of Baranagore Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama High School at Kolkata named after Sister Nivedita as "Nivedita Bhawan".[59] Books Title page of Sister's 1913 book Cradle Tales of Hinduism Her works included The Web of Indian Life, which sought to rectify many myths in the Western world about Indian culture and customs, Kali the Mother, The Master as I Saw Him on Swami Vivekananda, Notes of Some Wanderings with the Swami Vivekananda on her travels from Nainital, Almora and other places with Swamiji,[60] Cradle Tales of Hinduism on the stories from Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata, Studies from an Eastern Home, Civil Ideal and Indian Nationality, Hints on National Education in India, Glimpses of Famine and Flood in East Bengal—1906. Kali the Mother, Swan Sonnenschein & Co.,. 1900. The Web of Indian Life, W. Heinemann 1904 Cradle Tales of Hinduism, Longmans 1907 An Indian Study of Love and Death, Longmans, Green & Co., The Master as I Saw Him, 1910 Select essays of Sister Nivedita, 1911 Ganesh & Co., Studies from an Eastern Home, Longmans, Green & Co., 1913 Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists, London : George G. Harrap & Co., 1913 Notes of some wanderings with the Swami Vivekananda, 1913 Footfalls of Indian History, Longmans, Green & Co., 1915 Religion and Dharma, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915 Civic & national ideals. Udbodhan Office. 1929. Ananda Kentish Muthu Coomaraswamy (Tamil: ஆனந்த குமாரசுவாமி, Ānanda Kentiś Muthū Kumāraswāmī; Sinhala: ආනන්ද කුමාරස්වාමි; 22 August 1877 − 9 September 1947) was a Ceylonese metaphysician, pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art who was an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West.[1] In particular, he is described as "the groundbreaking theorist who was largely responsible for introducing ancient Indian art to the West".[2] Contents 1 Life 2 Contributions 3 Methodology 4 Traditional symbolism 5 Perennial philosophy 6 Works 7 See also 8 References 9 Sources 10 Further reading 11 External links Life See also: Ponnambalam–Coomaraswamy family Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was born in Colombo, British Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, to the Ceylonese Tamil legislator and philosopher Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy of the Ponnambalam–Coomaraswamy family and his English wife Elizabeth Beeby.[3][4][5] His father died when Ananda was two years old, and Ananda spent much of his childhood and education abroad.[6] Coomaraswamy moved to England in 1879 and attended Wycliffe College, a preparatory school in Stroud, Gloucestershire, at the age of twelve. In 1900, he graduated from University College, London, with a degree in geology and botany. On 19 June 1902, Coomaraswamy married Ethel Mary Partridge, an English photographer, who then traveled with him to Ceylon. Their marriage lasted until 1913. Coomaraswamy's field work between 1902 and 1906 earned him a doctor of science for his study of Ceylonese mineralogy, and prompted the formation of the Geological Survey of Ceylon which he initially directed.[7] While in Ceylon, the couple collaborated on Mediaeval Sinhalese Art; Coomaraswamy wrote the text and Ethel provided the photographs. His work in Ceylon fueled Coomaraswamy's anti-Westernization sentiments.[8] After their divorce, Partridge returned to England, where she became a famous weaver and later married the writer Philip Mairet. By 1906, Coomaraswamy had made it his mission to educate the West about Indian art, and was back in London with a large collection of photographs, actively seeking out artists to try to influence. He knew he could not rely on museum curators or other members of the cultural establishment – in 1908 he wrote "The main difficulty so far seems to have been that Indian art has been studied so far only by archaeologists. It is not archaeologists, but artists … who are the best qualified to judge of the significance of works of art considered as art." By 1909, he was firmly acquainted with Jacob Epstein and Eric Gill, the city's two most important early Modernists, and soon both of them had begun to incorporate Indian aesthetics into their work. The curiously hybrid sculptures that were produced as a result can be seen to form the very roots of what is now considered British Modernism.[9][10] His second wife: Alice Coomaraswamy (Ratan Devi) with Roshanara Coomaraswamy then met and married a British woman Alice Ethel Richardson and together they went to India and stayed on a houseboat in Srinagar in Kashmir. Commaraswamy studied Rajput painting while his wife studied Indian music with Abdul Rahim of Kapurthala. When they returned to England, Alice performed Indian song under the stage name Ratan Devi. Alice was successful and both went to America when Ratan Devi did a concert tour.[11] While they were there, Coomaraswamy was invited to serve as the first Keeper of Indian art in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1917.[12] The couple had two children, a son, Narada, and daughter, Rohini. Portrait of Ananda Coomaraswamy, published 1907 Coomaraswamy divorced his second wife after they arrived in America.[12] He married the American artist Stella Bloch, 20 years his junior, in November 1922. Through the 1920s, Coomaraswamy and his wife were part of the bohemian art circles in New York City, Coomaraswamy befriended Alfred Stieglitz and the artists who exhibited at Stieglitz's gallery. At the same time, he studied Sanskrit and Pali religious literature as well as Western religious works. He wrote catalogues for the Museum of Fine Arts and published his History of Indian and Indonesian Art in 1927. After the couple divorced in 1930, they remained friends. Shortly thereafter, on 18 November 1930, Coomaraswamy married Argentine Luisa Runstein, 28 years younger, who was working as a society photographer under the professional name Xlata Llamas. They had a son, Coomaraswamy's third child, Rama Ponnambalam (1929-2006), who became a physician and convert at age 22 to the Roman Catholic Church. Following Vatican II, Rama became a critic of the reforms and author of Catholic Traditionalist works.[13] He was also ordained a Traditionalist Roman Catholic priest, despite the fact that he was married and had a living wife.[14] Rama Coomaraswamy studied in England and then in India, learning Hindi and Sanskrit.[15] Became a psychiatrist in the United States, he was an opponent of Pope John Paul II[15] and remain a wider correspondent of mother Teresa of Calcutta, whose first healing attribution was recognized by Wojtyła in 2002.[16] In 1933 Coomaraswamy's title at the Museum of Fine Arts changed from curator to Fellow for Research in Indian, Persian, and Mohammedan Art.[8] He served as curator in the Museum of Fine Arts until his death in Needham, Massachusetts, in 1947. During his long career, he was instrumental in bringing Eastern art to the West. In fact, while at the Museum of Fine Arts, he built the first substantial collection of Indian art in the United States.[17] He also helped with[clarification needed] the collections of Persian Art at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Museum of Fine Arts. After Coomaraswamy's death, his widow, Doña Luisa Runstein, acted as a guide and resource for students of his work. Contributions Coomaraswamy made important contributions to the philosophy of art, literature, and religion. In Ceylon, he applied the lessons of William Morris to Ceylonese culture[citation needed] and, with his wife Ethel, produced a groundbreaking study of Ceylonese crafts and culture. While in India, he was part of the literary circle around Rabindranath Tagore, and he contributed to the "Swadeshi" movement, an early phase of the struggle for Indian independence.[18] In the 1920s, he made pioneering discoveries in the history of Indian art, particularly some distinctions between Rajput and Moghul painting, and published his book Rajput Painting. At the same time he amassed an unmatched collection of Rajput and Moghul paintings, which he took with him to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, when he joined its curatorial staff in 1917. Through 1932, from his base in Boston, he produced two kinds of publications: brilliant scholarship in his curatorial field but also graceful introductions to Indian and Asian art and culture, typified by The Dance of Shiva, a collection of essays that remain in print to this day. Deeply influenced by René Guénon, he became one of the founders of the Traditionalist School. His books and essays on art and culture, symbolism and metaphysics, scripture, folklore and myth, and still other topics, offer a remarkable education to readers who accept the challenges of his resolutely cross-cultural perspective and insistence on tying every point he makes back to sources in multiple traditions. He once remarked, "I actually think in both Eastern and Christian terms—Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Pali, and to some extent Persian and Chinese."[19] Alongside the deep and not infrequently difficult writings of this period, he also delighted in polemical writings created for a larger audience—essays such as "Why exhibit works of art?" (1943).[20] In his book The Information Society: An Introduction (Sage, 2003, p. 44), Armand Mattelart credits Coomaraswamy for coining the term 'post-industrial' in 1913. Methodology Coomaraswamy was a firm believer in the comparative method. The analysis of both texts and symbols across a wide variety of cultures and time periods allowed him to see below the surface of local interpretations and religious exclusivism to locate the bedrock of tradition. By tradition, he meant that which has been handed down from time beyond memory. The folk has thus preserved, without understanding, the remains of old traditions that go back sometimes to the indeterminably distant past, to which we can only refer as “prehistoric”.[21] Had the folk beliefs not indeed been once understood, we could not now speak of them as metaphysically intelligible, or explain the accuracy of their formulations.[22] His extensive knowledge of ancient languages allowed him access to primary sources and his understanding of metaphysics helped him discern the deeper meanings that other scholars often missed. Given the specialization and compartmentation of knowledge that was part of the Western academic tradition, his efforts were not always appreciated. He expressed some of his feelings in a letter to Graham Carey: What the secular mind does is to assert that we (symbolists) are reading meaning into things that originally had none: our assertion is that they are reading out the meaning. The proof of our contention lies in the perfection, consistency and universality of the pattern in which these meanings are united.[23] His criticism of the academic world was centered around a number of related issues. First, the academic method, by itself, was ill-equipped to deal with the way in which ideas where transmitted in non-literate cultures, due to an over-reliance on written documentation. Too much was left out. By “folklore” we mean the whole and consistent body of culture which has been handed down, not in books but by word of mouth and in practice, from time beyond the reach of historical research, in the form of legends, fairy tales, ballads, games, toys, crafts, medicine, agriculture, and other rites, and forms of social organization, especially those that we call “tribal.” This is a cultural complex independent of national and even racial boundaries, and of remarkable similarity throughout the world.[24] A second point of conflict was the obsessive tendency of Western scholarship to divide cultures, religions, and time periods into discrete categories in order to fit into academic organizational and mental structures. It is equally surprising that so many scholars, meeting with some universal doctrine in a given context, so often think of it as a local peculiarity.[25] As a traditionalist, Coomaraswamy emphasized the continuity of culture. He was well aware of historical change but he felt that the connecting elements had been lost by the extreme emphasis placed on change and “progress”. Conflict between a new religion and an older one often obscured the commonalities that linked them. The opposition of religion to folklore is often a kind of rivalry set up as between a new dispensation and an older tradition, the gods of the older cult becoming the evil spirits of the newer.[26] He pointed out that the Greek word daimon, which at root indicates something given, was synonymous with the Christian Holy Spirit, God’s gift of life. If Christian propagandists chose to emphasize the demonic at the expense of the daimon it was only to further their own cause. Ideas like this did not go over well with other scholars and his correspondence has its share of angry or condescending responses to his work which he deflected with a combination of erudition, tact, and humor.[27] A third issue that raised his ire was the racism inherent in the Western world’s criticism and misinterpretation of traditional and tribal cultures, attitudes tied closely to literacy and the attendant idea of progress. It was possible for Aristotle, starting from the premise that a man, being actually cultured, may also become literate, to ask whether there is a necessary or merely an accidental connection of literacy with culture. Such a question can hardly arise for those to whom illiteracy implies, as a matter of course, ignorance, backwardness, unfitness for self-government: for you, unlettered people are uncivilized peoples and vice versa—as a recent publisher’s blurb expresses it: “The greatest force in civilization is the collective wisdom of a literate people."[28] Like Franz Boas and a handful of others, Coomaraswamy waged a constant war against racism with the press and academic world. He was a strong advocate for Indian independence and was pressured to leave England for publicly suggesting that Indians not fight in the First World War.[29] Unlike Rene Guenon and others who shared many of his understandings, he was not content to describe traditional ideas from the inside out, in metaphysical terms alone. His commitment to the Western intellectual tradition was deep. He didn’t believe that science and metaphysics were in opposition but were two different ways of looking at the world.[30] He was trained as a geologist and was well equipped to deal with science as well as metaphysics. Nor did his work suffer from the oversimplifications and distortions that can afflict comparative studies. He was critical of the writings of Carl Jung and of Theosophy which he believed distorted the meaning of traditional ideas.[31] The details he provided in support of his arguments could daunt the ablest scholar; his footnotes sometimes took up more room on a page than the text. The comparative method has achieved a good deal of success in linguistics but its application to culture had rarely gone beyond mere documentation before Ananda Coomaraswamy. Traditional symbolism One of Coomaraswamy’s most important contributions was his profound understanding of how people communicated in early times and how their ideas were transmitted and preserved in the absence of writing. He felt that traditional symbolism could best be understood by means of images, which preceded writing and which contained ideas that had been handed down from the earliest times and preserved in a vast array of media. To have lost the art of thinking in images is precisely to have lost the proper linguistic of metaphysics and to have descended to the verbal logic of “philosophy.[32] His study of traditional symbols had taught him that symbols were meant to express ideas and not emotions and that a study of “styles” and “influences” would reveal little of significance. An adequate knowledge of theology and cosmology is then indispensable to an understanding of the history of art, insofar as the actual shapes and structures of works of art are determined by their real content. Christian art, for example, begins with the representation of deity by abstract symbols, which may be geometrical, vegetable, or theriomorphic, and are devoid of any sentimental appeal whatever. An anthropomorphic symbol follows, but this is still a form and not a figuration; not made as though to function biologically or as if to illustrate a text book of anatomy or dramatic expression. Still later, the form is sentimentalised; the features of the crucified are made to exhibit human suffering, the type is completely humanised, and where we began with the shape of humanity as an analogical representation of the idea of God, we end with the portrait of the artist’s mistress posing as the Madonna and a representation of an all-too-human baby; the Christ is no longer a man-God, but the sort of man we can approve of.[33] In keeping with his traditionalist stance, he saw this process as one of gradual decay in which the human life world began to encroach gradually on the divine with an attendant growth of sentimentality and loss of meaning. He was fond of quoting the curator, John Lodge: “From the Stone Age until now, quelle dégringolade.”[34] Coomaraswamy spent a lot of his time documenting themes and images that appeared to be very old, given their widespread distribution. Major areas of study included: • Solar symbolism • Symbolism of the wheel • The Flood story • The “Water Cosmology” and the “Plant Style” • Soma and the Water of Life • Traditional cosmologies (the three worlds) • The symbolism of snakes and reptiles • The symbolism of birds and other “psychopomps” (soul carriers) • The heavenly ladder • The cosmic dome and the hole in the sky with its guardian figure • The Thread-spirit (sutratman) doctrine that underlies the symbolism of the fiber arts • The concept of ether and the symbolism of fire • Divine bi-unity (male/female) as one • The inverted tree and arboreal symbolism • The Symplegades (Clashing Rocks) and the Coincidence of Opposites He found these symbols in many cultures and time periods, both in religious writings and in folklore. He saw little opposition between religion and folklore. Folklore was transmitted in the vernacular as compared to the sacred languages in which scripture was delivered and interpreted. Folklore was less moralistic but its themes shared a common source with those of religion; Jack’s beanstalk was Jacob’s ladder. Religion was not “contaminated” by folklore but used it to express the same ideas in a more rationalized and moralized setting, just as Plato used myths to explain his philosophy. The designs we found in Neolithic times were derived from older images. Thus the continuity of tradition reveals itself best in art, which expresses ideas. Even when religious philosophies developed with writing, a continuity of meaning could be observed often because the change was gradual and the old and the new existed side by side. In the Vedas, the belief {that all life began in the “Waters”} appears in the form of an old popular theory, for which are substituted the successively more philosophical concepts of Space Cosmology, of a belief in the origin of the world in Non-being, in an origin of the world from Being, and finally in the conception of Brahman (the Absolute) as world-ground. The Water Cosmology, it is true, persists side by side with, and linked with these deeper views, even in post-Vedic literature; but it is typically not a creation of the Vedas and seems to belong to an even older stratum of ideas than that which is developed in the Vedas.[35] The ideas expressed by images were made explicit by writing, which allowed for a greater degree of abstraction and elaboration but since the concrete preceded the abstract, all philosophy started with images. In the absence of writing, the tribal cultures of the world have preserved a good deal of this older symbolism. Coomaraswamy also maintained that traditional technologies (like the needle or the fire drill) were applications of metaphysical ideas, just as modern technology is an expression of scientific principles. Primitive man knew nothing of a possible divorce of function and meaning: all his inventions were applied meaning.[36] The American art historian, Carl Schuster, who corresponded with Coomarawamy and learned much from him, would go on to identify some of the Paleolithic sources of this symbolism.[37] Perennial philosophy Portrait of Coomaraswamy printed in the April 1916 issue of The Hindusthanee Student He was described by Heinrich Zimmer as "That noble scholar upon whose shoulders we are still standing."[38] While serving as a curator to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the latter part of his life, he devoted his work to the explication of traditional metaphysics and symbolism. His writings of this period are filled with references to Plato, Plotinus, Clement, Philo, Augustine, Aquinas, Shankara, Eckhart, Rumi and other mystics. When asked how he defined himself foremost, Coomaraswamy said he was a "metaphysician", referring to the concept of perennial philosophy, or sophia perennis. Along with René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon, Coomaraswamy is regarded as one of the three founders of Perennialism, also called the Traditionalist School. Several articles by Coomaraswamy on the subject of Hinduism and the perennial philosophy were published posthumously in the quarterly journal Studies in Comparative Religion alongside articles by Schuon and Guénon among others. Although he agrees with Guénon on the universal principles, Coomaraswamy's works are very different in form. By vocation, he was a scholar who dedicated the last decades of his life to "searching the Scriptures".[clarification needed] He offers a perspective on the tradition that complements Guénon's.[clarification needed] He was extremely perceptive regarding aesthetics and wrote dozens of articles on traditional arts and mythology. His works are also finely balanced intellectually. Although born in the Hindu tradition, he had a deep knowledge of the Western tradition as well as a great expertise in, and love for, Greek metaphysics, especially that of Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism. Coomaraswamy built a bridge between East and West that was designed to be two-way: among other things, his metaphysical writings aimed at demonstrating the unity of the Vedanta and Platonism. His works also sought to rehabilitate original Buddhism, as he believed that the distance (i.e. differences) between Buddhism and Hinduism was artificially created by Western Indologists. In his book, Hinduism and Buddhism, he wrote: The more superficially one studies Buddhism, the more it seems to differ from the Brahmanism in which it originated; the more profound our study, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish Buddhism from Brahmanism, or to say in what respects, if any, Buddhism is really unorthodox.[39] Works For a complete bibliography, see James S. Crouch, A Bibliography of Ananda Kentish Coomarswamy. Indira Gandhi, National Center for the Arts, Manohar, New Delhi, (2002). Traditional art Elements of Buddhist Iconography, Harvard University Press, 1935. Figures of Speech or Figures of Thought?: The Traditional View of Art, (World Wisdom 2007) Introduction To Indian Art, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) Buddhist Art, (Kessinger Publishing, 2005) Guardians of the Sundoor: Late Iconographic Essays, (Fons Vitae, 2004) Buddhism (/ˈbʊdɪzəm/, US: /ˈbuːd-/)[1][2] is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on a series of original teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha.[3] It originated in ancient India as a Sramana tradition sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, spreading through much of Asia. It is the world's fourth-largest religion[4][5] with over 520 million followers, or over 7% of the global population, known as Buddhists.[6][7] Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on the Buddha's teachings (born Siddhārtha Gautama in the 5th or 4th century BCE) and resulting interpreted philosophies. As expressed in the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, the goal of Buddhism is to overcome suffering (duḥkha) caused by desire and ignorance of reality's true nature, including impermanence (anicca) and the non-existence of the self (anattā).[8] Most Buddhist traditions emphasize transcending the individual self through the attainment of Nirvana or by following the path of Buddhahood, ending the cycle of death and rebirth.[9][10][11] Buddhist schools vary in their interpretation of the path to liberation, the relative importance and canonicity assigned to the various Buddhist texts, and their specific teachings and practices.[12][13] Widely observed practices include meditation, observance of moral precepts, monasticism, taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, and the cultivation of the Paramitas (perfections, or virtues).[14] Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars: Theravāda (Pali: "The School of the Elders") and Mahāyāna (Sanskrit: "The Great Vehicle"). Theravada has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Zen, Pure Land, Nichiren Buddhism, Tiantai Buddhism (Tendai), and Shingon, is practiced prominently in Nepal, Malaysia, Bhutan, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian adepts, may be viewed as a separate branch or as an aspect of Mahayana Buddhism.[15] Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth-century India, is practised in the countries of the Himalayan region, Mongolia,[16] and Kalmykia.[17] Historically, until the early 2nd millennium, Buddhism was also widely practised in Afghanistan and it also had a foothold to some extent in other places including the Philippines, the Maldives, and Uzbekistan. Contents 1 Life of the Buddha 2 Worldview 2.1 Four Noble Truths – dukkha and its ending 2.2 The cycle of rebirth 2.3 Liberation 2.4 Dependent arising 2.5 Not-Self and Emptiness 2.6 The Three Jewels 2.7 Other key Mahāyāna views 3 Paths to liberation 3.1 Paths to liberation in the early texts 3.2 Theravada presentations of the path 3.3 Mahayana presentations of the path 4 Common Buddhist practices 4.1 Hearing and learning the Dharma 4.2 Refuge 4.3 Śīla – Buddhist ethics 4.4 Restraint and renunciation 4.5 Mindfulness and clear comprehension 4.6 Meditation – Samādhi and Dhyāna 4.7 Insight and knowledge 4.8 Devotion 4.9 Vegetarianism and animal ethics 5 Buddhist texts 5.1 Early Buddhist texts 5.2 The Tripitakas 5.3 Abhidharma and the commentaries 5.4 Mahāyāna texts 5.5 Tantric texts 6 History 6.1 Historical roots 6.2 Indian Buddhism 6.3 Post-Ashokan expansion 6.4 Mahāyāna Buddhism 6.5 Late Indian Buddhism and Tantra 6.6 Spread to East and Southeast Asia 7 Schools and traditions 7.1 Theravāda school 7.2 Mahāyāna traditions 8 Monasteries and temples 9 Buddhism in the modern era 9.1 Colonial era 9.2 Buddhism in the West 9.3 Neo-Buddhism movements 9.4 Sexual abuse and misconduct 10 Cultural influence 10.1 Modern influence 10.2 Relationships with other religious traditions 11 Demographics 12 See also 13 Explanatory notes 13.1 Subnotes 14 Citations 15 Cited sources 15.1 Printed sources 15.2 Online sources 16 External links Life of the Buddha Ancient kingdoms and cities of India during the time of the Buddha (circa 500 BCE) – modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan The gilded "Emaciated Buddha statue" in an Ubosoth in Bangkok representing the stage of his asceticism Enlightenment of Buddha, Kushan dynasty, late 2nd to early 3rd century CE, Gandhara. Main article: Gautama Buddha Buddhism is an Indian religion[18] founded on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, a Śramaṇa also called Shakyamuni (sage of the Shakya's), or "the Buddha" ("the Awakened One"), who lived c. 5th to 4th century BCE.[19][20] Early texts have the Buddha's family name as "Gautama" (Pali: Gotama). The details of Buddha's life are mentioned in many Early Buddhist Texts but are inconsistent. His social background and life details are difficult to prove, and the precise dates are uncertain.[21][note 1] The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini, present-day Nepal and grew up in Kapilavastu,[note 2] a town in the Ganges Plain, near the modern Nepal–India border, and that he spent his life in what is now modern Bihar[note 3] and Uttar Pradesh.[29][21] Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother was Queen Maya.[30] Scholars such as Richard Gombrich consider this a dubious claim because a combination of evidence suggests he was born in the Shakya community, which was governed by a small oligarchy or republic-like council where there were no ranks but where seniority mattered instead.[31][note 4] Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, and claims about the society he grew up in may have been invented and interpolated at a later time into the Buddhist texts.[34][35] According to early texts such as the Pali Ariyapariyesanā-sutta ("The discourse on the noble quest," MN 26) and its Chinese parallel at MĀ 204, Gautama was moved by the suffering (dukkha) of life and death, and its endless repetition due to rebirth.[36] He thus set out on a quest to find liberation from suffering (also known as "nirvana").[37] Early texts and biographies state that Gautama first studied under two teachers of meditation, namely Alara Kalama (Sanskrit: Arada Kalama) and Uddaka Ramaputta (Sanskrit: Udraka Ramaputra), learning meditation and philosophy, particularly the meditative attainment of "the sphere of nothingness" from the former, and "the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception" from the latter.[38][39][note 5] Finding these teachings to be insufficient to attain his goal, he turned to the practice of severe asceticism, which included a strict fasting regime and various forms of breath control.[42] This too fell short of attaining his goal, and then he turned to the meditative practice of dhyana. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya and attained "Awakening" (Bodhi).[43] According to various early texts like the Mahāsaccaka-sutta, and the Samaññaphala Sutta, on awakening, the Buddha gained insight into the workings of karma and his former lives, as well as achieving the ending of the mental defilements (asavas), the ending of suffering, and the end of rebirth in saṃsāra.[42] This event also brought certainty about the Middle Way as the right path of spiritual practice to end suffering.[44][45] As a fully enlightened Buddha, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha (monastic order).[46] He spent the rest of his life teaching the Dharma he had discovered, and then died, achieving "final nirvana," at the age of 80 in Kushinagar, India.[47][24] Buddha's teachings were propagated by his followers, which in the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE became various Buddhist schools of thought, each with its own basket of texts containing different interpretations and authentic teachings of the Buddha;[48][49][50] these over time evolved into many traditions of which the more well known and widespread in the modern era are Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism.[51][52][note 6] Worldview Main article: Glossary of Buddhism The term "Buddhism" is an occidental neologism, commonly (and "rather roughly" according to Donald S. Lopez Jr.) used as a translation for the Dharma of the Buddha, fójiào in Chinese, bukkyō in Japanese, nang pa sangs rgyas pa'i chos in Tibetan, buddhadharma in Sanskrit, buddhaśāsana in Pali.[55] Four Noble Truths – dukkha and its ending Main articles: Dukkha and Four Noble Truths color manuscript illustration of Buddha teaching the Four Noble Truths, Nalanda, Bihar, India The Buddha teaching the Four Noble Truths. Sanskrit manuscript. Nalanda, Bihar, India. The Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism: we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, "incapable of satisfying" and painful.[56][57] This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the endless cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha and dying again.[note 7] But there is a way to liberation from this endless cycle[63] to the state of nirvana, namely following the Noble Eightfold Path.[note 8] The truth of dukkha is the basic insight that life in this mundane world, with its clinging and craving to impermanent states and things[56] is dukkha, and unsatisfactory.[58][69][web 1] Dukkha can be translated as "incapable of satisfying,"[web 5] "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; or "painful."[56][57] Dukkha is most commonly translated as "suffering," but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences.[note 9] We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness. In Buddhism, dukkha is one of the three marks of existence, along with impermanence and anattā (non-self).[75] Buddhism, like other major Indian religions, asserts that everything is impermanent (anicca), but, unlike them, also asserts that there is no permanent self or soul in living beings (anattā).[76][77][78] The ignorance or misperception (avijjā) that anything is permanent or that there is self in any being is considered a wrong understanding, and the primary source of clinging and dukkha.[79][80][81] Dukkha arises when we crave (Pali: taṇhā) and cling to these changing phenomena. The clinging and craving produces karma, which ties us to samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth.[82][web 6][note 10] Craving includes kama-tanha, craving for sense-pleasures; bhava-tanha, craving to continue the cycle of life and death, including rebirth; and vibhava-tanha, craving to not experience the world and painful feelings.[82][83][84] Dukkha ceases, or can be confined,[85] when craving and clinging cease or are confined. This also means that no more karma is being produced, and rebirth ends.[note 11] Cessation is nirvana, "blowing out," and peace of mind.[87][88] By following the Buddhist path to moksha, liberation,[65] one starts to disengage from craving and clinging to impermanent states and things. The term "path" is usually taken to mean the Noble Eightfold Path, but other versions of "the path" can also be found in the Nikayas.[89] The Theravada tradition regards insight into the four truths as liberating in itself.[71] The cycle of rebirth Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Thangka depicting the Wheel of Life with its six realms Saṃsāra Main article: Saṃsāra (Buddhism) Saṃsāra means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change.[90][91] It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions.[91][92] Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be dukkha, unsatisfactory and painful,[93] perpetuated by desire and avidya (ignorance), and the resulting karma.[91][94][95] Liberation from this cycle of existence, nirvana, has been the foundation and the most important historical justification of Buddhism.[96][97] Buddhist texts assert that rebirth can occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, hungry ghosts, hellish).[note 12] Samsara ends if a person attains nirvana, the "blowing out" of the afflictions through insight into impermanence and non-self.[99][100][101] Rebirth A very large hill behind two palm trees and a boulevard, where the Buddha is believed to have been cremated Ramabhar Stupa in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India is regionally believed to be Buddha's cremation site. Main article: Rebirth (Buddhism) 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.[102] In Buddhist thought, this rebirth does not involve a soul or any fixed substance. This is because the Buddhist doctrine of anattā (Sanskrit: anātman, no-self doctrine) rejects the concepts of a permanent self or an unchanging, eternal soul found in other religions.[103][104] The Buddhist traditions have traditionally disagreed on what it is in a person that is reborn, as well as how quickly the rebirth occurs after death.[105][106] Some Buddhist traditions assert that "no self" doctrine means that there is no enduring self, but there is avacya (inexpressible) personality (pudgala) which migrates from one life to another.[105] The majority of Buddhist traditions, in contrast, assert that vijñāna (a person's consciousness) though evolving, exists as a continuum and is the mechanistic basis of what undergoes the rebirth process.[58][105] The quality of one's rebirth depends on the merit or demerit gained by one's karma (i.e. actions), as well as that accrued on one's behalf by a family member.[note 13] Buddhism also developed a complex cosmology to explain the various realms or planes of rebirth.[93] Each individual rebirth takes place within one of five realms according to theravadins, or six according to other schools – heavenly, demi-gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts and hellish.[108][109][note 14] In East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism, rebirth is not instantaneous, and there is an intermediate state (Tibetan "bardo") between one life and the next.[119][120] The orthodox Theravada position rejects the intermediate state, and asserts that rebirth of a being is immediate.[119] However there are passages in the Samyutta Nikaya of the Pali Canon that seem to lend support to the idea that the Buddha taught about an intermediate stage between one life and the next.[121][122] Karma Main article: Karma in Buddhism In Buddhism, karma (from Sanskrit: "action, work") drives saṃsāra – the endless cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skilful deeds (Pāli: kusala) and bad, unskilful deeds (Pāli: akusala) produce "seeds" in the unconscious receptacle (ālaya) that mature later either in this life or in a subsequent rebirth.[123][124] The existence of karma is a core belief in Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions, and it implies neither fatalism nor that everything that happens to a person is caused by karma.[125][note 15] A central aspect of Buddhist theory of karma is that intent (cetanā) matters and is essential to bring about a consequence or phala "fruit" or vipāka "result".[126][note 16] However, good or bad karma accumulates even if there is no physical action, and just having ill or good thoughts creates karmic seeds; thus, actions of body, speech or mind all lead to karmic seeds.[125] In the Buddhist traditions, life aspects affected by the law of karma in past and current births of a being include the form of rebirth, realm of rebirth, social class, character and major circumstances of a lifetime.[125][130][131] It operates like the laws of physics, without external intervention, on every being in all six realms of existence including human beings and gods.[125][132] A notable aspect of the karma theory in Buddhism is merit transfer.[133][134] A person accumulates merit not only through intentions and ethical living, but also is able to gain merit from others by exchanging goods and services, such as through dāna (charity to monks or nuns).[135] Further, a person can transfer one's own good karma to living family members and ancestors.[134][note 17] Liberation An aniconic depiction of the Buddha's spiritual liberation (moksha) or awakening (bodhi), at Sanchi. The Buddha is not depicted, only symbolized by the Bodhi tree and the empty seat. Main articles: Moksha and Nirvana (Buddhism) The cessation of the kleshas and the attainment of nirvana (nibbāna), with which the cycle of rebirth ends, has been the primary and the soteriological goal of the Buddhist path for monastic life since the time of the Buddha.[65][138][139] The term "path" is usually taken to mean the Noble Eightfold Path, but other versions of "the path" can also be found in the Nikayas.[note 18] In some passages in the Pali Canon, a distinction is being made between right knowledge or insight (sammā-ñāṇa), and right liberation or release (sammā-vimutti), as the means to attain cessation and liberation.[140][141] Nirvana literally means "blowing out, quenching, becoming extinguished".[142][143] In early Buddhist texts, it is the state of restraint and self-control that leads to the "blowing out" and the ending of the cycles of sufferings associated with rebirths and redeaths.[144][145][146] Many later Buddhist texts describe nirvana as identical with anatta with complete "emptiness, nothingness".[147][148][149][note 19] In some texts, the state is described with greater detail, such as passing through the gate of emptiness (sunyata) – realising that there is no soul or self in any living being, then passing through the gate of signlessness (animitta) – realising that nirvana cannot be perceived, and finally passing through the gate of wishlessness (apranihita) – realising that nirvana is the state of not even wishing for nirvana.[138][151][note 20] The nirvana state has been described in Buddhist texts partly in a manner similar to other Indian religions, as the state of complete liberation, enlightenment, highest happiness, bliss, fearlessness, freedom, permanence, non-dependent origination, unfathomable, and indescribable.[153][154] It has also been described in part differently, as a state of spiritual release marked by "emptiness" and realisation of non-self.[155][156][157][note 21] While Buddhism considers the liberation from saṃsāra as the ultimate spiritual goal, in traditional practice, the primary focus of a vast majority of lay Buddhists has been to seek and accumulate merit through good deeds, donations to monks and various Buddhist rituals in order to gain better rebirths rather than nirvana.[160][114][note 22] Dependent arising Main articles: Pratītyasamutpāda and Twelve Nidānas Pratityasamutpada, also called "dependent arising, or dependent origination", is the Buddhist theory to explain the nature and relations of being, becoming, existence and ultimate reality. Buddhism asserts that there is nothing independent, except the state of nirvana.[161] All physical and mental states depend on and arise from other pre-existing states, and in turn from them arise other dependent states while they cease.[162] The 'dependent arisings' have a causal conditioning, and thus Pratityasamutpada is the Buddhist belief that causality is the basis of ontology, not a creator God nor the ontological Vedic concept called universal Self (Brahman) nor any other 'transcendent creative principle'.[163][164] However, Buddhist thought does not understand causality in terms of Newtonian mechanics, rather it understands it as conditioned arising.[165][166] In Buddhism, dependent arising refers to conditions created by a plurality of causes that necessarily co-originate a phenomenon within and across lifetimes, such as karma in one life creating conditions that lead to rebirth in one of the realms of existence for another lifetime.[167][168][169] Buddhism applies the theory of dependent arising to explain origination of endless cycles of dukkha and rebirth, through Twelve Nidānas or "twelve links". It states that because Avidyā (ignorance) exists Saṃskāras (karmic formations) exists, because Saṃskāras exists therefore Vijñāna (consciousness) exists, and in a similar manner it links Nāmarūpa (sentient body), Ṣaḍāyatana (six senses), Sparśa (sensory stimulation), Vedanā (feeling), Taṇhā (craving), Upādāna (grasping), Bhava (becoming), Jāti (birth), and Jarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, pain).[170][171] By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained.[172] Not-Self and Emptiness  The Five Aggregates (pañca khandha) according to the Pali Canon.     form (rūpa)   4 elements (mahābhūta)       ↓   contact (phassa)     ↓ ↑   consciousness (viññāna)           → ←       ←   mental factors (cetasika)     feeling (vedanā)       perception (sañña)       formation (saṅkhāra)         Form is derived from the Four Great Elements. Consciousness arises from other aggregates. Mental Factors arise from the Contact of Consciousness and other aggregates.  Source: MN 109 (Thanissaro, 2001)  |  diagram details Main articles: Anātman and Śūnyatā A related doctrine in Buddhism is that of anattā (Pali) or anātman (Sanskrit). It is the view that there is no unchanging, permanent self, soul or essence in phenomena.[173] The Buddha and Buddhist philosophers who follow him such as Vasubandhu and Buddhaghosa, generally argue for this view by analyzing the person through the schema of the five aggregates, and then attempting to show that none of these five components of personality can be permanent or absolute.[174] This can be seen in Buddhist discourses such as the Anattalakkhana Sutta. "Emptiness" or "voidness" (Skt: Śūnyatā, Pali: Suññatā), is a related concept with many different interpretations throughout the various Buddhisms. In early Buddhism, it was commonly stated that all five aggregates are void (rittaka), hollow (tucchaka), coreless (asāraka), for example as in the Pheṇapiṇḍūpama Sutta (SN 22:95).[175] Similarly, in Theravada Buddhism, it often simply means that the five aggregates are empty of a Self.[176] Emptiness is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism, especially in Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka school, and in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. In Madhyamaka philosophy, emptiness is the view which holds that all phenomena (dharmas) are without any svabhava (literally "own-nature" or "self-nature"), and are thus without any underlying essence, and so are "empty" of being independent. This doctrine sought to refute the heterodox theories of svabhava circulating at the time.[177] The Three Jewels Dharma Wheel and triratna symbols from Sanchi Stupa number 2. Main article: Three Jewels All forms of Buddhism revere and take spiritual refuge in the "three jewels" (triratna): Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.[178] Buddha Main article: Buddhahood While all varieties of Buddhism revere "Buddha" and "buddhahood", they have different views on what these are. Whatever that may be, "Buddha" is still central to all forms of Buddhism. In Theravada Buddhism, a Buddha is someone who has become awake through their own efforts and insight. They have put an end to their cycle of rebirths and have ended all unwholesome mental states which lead to bad action and thus are morally perfected.[179] While subject to the limitations of the human body in certain ways (for example, in the early texts, the Buddha suffers from backaches), a Buddha is said to be "deep, immeasurable, hard-to-fathom as is the great ocean," and also has immense psychic powers (abhijñā).[180] Theravada generally sees Gautama Buddha (the historical Buddha Sakyamuni) as the only Buddha of the current era. While he is no longer in this world, he has left us the Dharma (Teaching), the Vinaya (Discipline) and the Sangha (Community).[181] There are also said to be two types of Buddhas, a sammasambuddha is also said to teach the Dharma to others, while a paccekabuddha (solitary buddha) does not teach.[179] Mahāyāna Buddhism meanwhile, has a vastly expanded cosmology, with various Buddhas and other holy beings (aryas) residing in different realms. Mahāyāna texts not only revere numerous Buddhas besides Sakyamuni, such as Amitabha and Vairocana, but also see them as transcendental or supramundane (lokuttara) beings.[182] Mahāyāna Buddhism holds that these other Buddhas in other realms can be contacted and are able to benefit beings in this world.[183] In Mahāyāna, a Buddha is a kind of "spiritual king", a "protector of all creatures" with a lifetime that is countless of eons long, rather than just a human teacher who has transcended the world after death.[184] Buddha Sakyamuni's life and death on earth is then usually understood as a "mere appearance" or "a manifestation skilfully projected into earthly life by a long-enlightened transcendent being, who is still available to teach the faithful through visionary experiences."[184][185] Dharma Main article: Dharma "Dharma" (Pali: Dhamma) in Buddhism refers to the Buddha's teaching, which includes all of the main ideas outlined above. While this teaching reflects the true nature of reality, it is not a belief to be clung to, but a pragmatic teaching to be put into practice. It is likened to a raft which is "for crossing over" (to nirvana) not for holding on to.[186] It also refers to the universal law and cosmic order which that teaching both reveals and relies upon.[187] It is an everlasting principle which applies to all beings and worlds. In that sense it is also the ultimate truth and reality about the universe, it is thus "the way that things really are." The Dharma is the second of the three jewels which all Buddhists take refuge in. All Buddhas in all worlds, in the past, present and in the future, are believed by Buddhists to understand and teach the Dharma. Indeed, it is part of what makes them a Buddha that they do so. Sangha Main articles: Sangha, Bodhisattva, and Arhat Buddhist monks and nuns praying in the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple of Singapore The third "jewel" which Buddhists take refuge in is the "Sangha", which refers to the monastic community of monks and nuns who follow Gautama Buddha's monastic discipline which was "designed to shape the Sangha as an ideal community, with the optimum conditions for spiritual growth."[188] The Sangha consists of those who have chosen to follow the Buddha's ideal way of life, which is one of celibate monastic renunciation with minimal material possessions (such as an alms bowl and robes).[189] The Sangha is seen as important because they preserve and pass down Buddha Dharma. As Gethin states "the Sangha lives the teaching, preserves the teaching as Scriptures and teaches the wider community. Without the Sangha there is no Buddhism."[190] The Sangha also acts as a "field of merit" for laypersons, allowing them to make spiritual merit or goodness by donating to the Sangha and supporting them. In return, they keep their duty to preserve and spread the Dharma everywhere for the good of the world.[191] The Sangha is also supposed to follow the Vinaya (monastic rule) of the Buddha, thereby serving as an spiritual example for the world and future generations. The Vinaya rules also force the Sangha to live in dependence on the rest of the lay community (they must beg for food etc) and thus draw the Sangha into a relationship with the lay community.[192] A depiction of Siddhartha Gautama in a previous life prostrating before the past Buddha Dipankara. After making a resolve to be a Buddha, and receiving a prediction of future Buddhahood, he becomes a "bodhisattva". There is also a separate definition of Sangha, referring to those who have attained any stage of awakening, whether or not they are monastics. This sangha is called the āryasaṅgha "noble Sangha".[193] All forms of Buddhism generally reveres these āryas (Pali: ariya, "noble ones" or "holy ones") who are spiritually attained beings. Aryas have attained the fruits of the Buddhist path.[194] Becoming an arya is a goal in most forms of Buddhism. The āryasaṅgha includes holy beings such as bodhisattvas, arhats and stream-enterers. Bodhisattva Maitreya, Gandhara (3rd century), Metropolitan Museum of Art. In early Buddhism and in Theravada Buddhism, an arhat (literally meaning "worthy") is someone who reached the same awakening (bodhi) of a Buddha by following the teaching of a Buddha.[195] They are seen as having ended rebirth and all the mental defilements. A bodhisattva ("a being bound for awakening") meanwhile, is simply a name for someone who is working towards awakening (bodhi) as a Buddha. According to all the early buddhist schools as well as Theravada, to be considered a bodhisattva one has to have made a vow in front of a living Buddha and also has to have received a confirmation of one's future Buddhahood.[196] In Theravada, the future Buddha is called Metteyya (Maitreya) and he is revered as a bodhisattva currently working for future Buddhahood.[196] Mahāyāna Buddhism generally sees the attainment of the arhat as an inferior one, since it is seen as being done only for the sake of individual liberation. It thus promotes the bodhisattva path as the highest and most worthwhile.[197] While in Mahāyāna, anyone who has given rise to bodhicitta (the wish to become a Buddha that arises from a sense of compassion for all beings) is considered a bodhisattva,[198] some of these holy beings (such as Maitreya and Avalokiteshvara) have reached very high levels of spiritual attainment and are seen as being very powerful supramundane beings who provide aid to countless beings through their advanced powers.[199] Other key Mahāyāna views Main articles: Yogachara and Buddha-nature Mahāyāna Buddhism also differs from Theravada and the other schools of early Buddhism in promoting several unique doctrines which are contained in Mahāyāna sutras and philosophical treatises. One of these is the unique interpretation of emptiness and dependent origination found in the Madhyamaka school. Another very influential doctrine for Mahāyāna is the main philosophical view of the Yogācāra school variously, termed Vijñaptimātratā-vāda ("the doctrine that there are only ideas" or "mental impressions") or Vijñānavāda ("the doctrine of consciousness"). According to Mark Siderits, what classical Yogācāra thinkers like Vasubandhu had in mind is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions, which may appear as external objects, but "there is actually no such thing outside the mind."[200] There are several interpretations of this main theory, many scholars see it as a type of Idealism, others as a kind of phenomenology.[201] Another very influential concept unique to Mahāyāna is that of "Buddha-nature" (buddhadhātu) or "Tathagata-womb" (tathāgatagarbha). Buddha-nature is a concept found in some 1st-millennium CE Buddhist texts, such as the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras. According to Paul Williams these Sutras suggest that 'all sentient beings contain a Tathagata' as their 'essence, core inner nature, Self'.[202][note 23] According to Karl Brunnholzl "the earliest mahayana sutras that are based on and discuss the notion of tathāgatagarbha as the buddha potential that is innate in all sentient beings began to appear in written form in the late second and early third century."[204] For some, the doctrine seems to conflict with the Buddhist anatta doctrine (non-Self), leading scholars to posit that the Tathāgatagarbha Sutras were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists.[205][206] This can be seen in texts like the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, which state that Buddha-nature is taught to help those who have fear when they listen to the teaching of anatta.[207] Buddhist texts like the Ratnagotravibhāga clarify that the "Self" implied in Tathagatagarbha doctrine is actually "not-self".[208][209] Various interpretations of the concept have been advanced by Buddhist thinkers throughout the history of Buddhist thought and most attempt to avoid anything like the Hindu Atman doctrine. These Indian Buddhist ideas, in various synthetic ways, form the basis of subsequent Mahāyāna philosophy in Tibetan Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism. Paths to liberation Main article: Buddhist paths to liberation While the Noble Eightfold Path is best-known in the West, a wide variety of paths and models of progress have been used and described in the different Buddhist traditions. However, they generally share basic practices such as sila (ethics), samadhi (meditation, dhyana) and prajña (wisdom), which are known as the three trainings. An important additional practice is a kind and compassionate attitude toward every living being and the world. Devotion is also important in some Buddhist traditions, and in the Tibetan traditions visualisations of deities and mandalas are important. The value of textual study is regarded differently in the various Buddhist traditions. It is central to Theravada and highly important to Tibetan Buddhism, while the Zen tradition takes an ambiguous stance. An important guiding principle of Buddhist practice is the Middle Way (madhyamapratipad). It was a part of Buddha's first sermon, where he presented the Noble Eightfold Path that was a 'middle way' between the extremes of asceticism and hedonistic sense pleasures.[210][211] In Buddhism, states Harvey, the doctrine of "dependent arising" (conditioned arising, pratītyasamutpāda) to explain rebirth is viewed as the 'middle way' between the doctrines that a being has a "permanent soul" involved in rebirth (eternalism) and "death is final and there is no rebirth" (annihilationism).[212][213] Paths to liberation in the early texts A common presentation style of the path (mārga) to liberation in the Early Buddhist Texts is the "graduated talk", in which the Buddha lays out a step by step training.[214] In the early texts, numerous different sequences of the gradual path can be found.[215] One of the most important and widely used presentations among the various Buddhist schools is The Noble Eightfold Path, or "Eightfold Path of the Noble Ones" (Skt. 'āryāṣṭāṅgamārga'). This can be found in various discourses, most famously in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (The discourse on the turning of the Dharma wheel). Other suttas such as the Tevijja Sutta, and the Cula-Hatthipadopama-sutta give a different outline of the path, though with many similar elements such as ethics and meditation.[215] According to Rupert Gethin, the path to awakening is also frequently summarized by another a short formula: "abandoning the hindrances, practice of the four establishings of mindfulness, and development of the awakening factors."[216] Noble Eightfold Path Main article: Noble Eightfold Path The Eightfold Path consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha.[217] These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of dukkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness).[218][219] The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of rebirth and suffering.[220][221][222] The Noble Eightfold Path is grouped into three basic divisions, as follows:[223][224][225] Division Eightfold factor Sanskrit, Pali Description Wisdom (Sanskrit: prajñā, Pāli: paññā) 1. Right view samyag dṛṣṭi, sammā ditthi The belief that there is an afterlife and not everything ends with death, that Buddha taught and followed a successful path to nirvana;[223] according to Peter Harvey, the right view is held in Buddhism as a belief in the Buddhist principles of karma and rebirth, and the importance of the Four Noble Truths and the True Realities.[226] 2. Right intention samyag saṃkalpa, sammā saṅkappa Giving up home and adopting the life of a religious mendicant in order to follow the path;[223] this concept, states Harvey, aims at peaceful renunciation, into an environment of non-sensuality, non-ill-will (to lovingkindness), away from cruelty (to compassion).[226] Moral virtues[224] (Sanskrit: śīla, Pāli: sīla) 3. Right speech samyag vāc, sammā vāca No lying, no rude speech, no telling one person what another says about him, speaking that which leads to salvation.[223] 4. Right action samyag karman, sammā kammanta No killing or injuring, no taking what is not given; no sexual acts in monastic pursuit,[223] for lay Buddhists no sensual misconduct such as sexual involvement with someone married, or with an unmarried woman protected by her parents or relatives.[227][228][229] 5. Right livelihood samyag ājīvana, sammā ājīva For monks, beg to feed, only possessing what is essential to sustain life.[230] For lay Buddhists, the canonical texts state right livelihood as abstaining from wrong livelihood, explained as not becoming a source or means of suffering to sentient beings by cheating them, or harming or killing them in any way.[231][232] Meditation[224] (Sanskrit and Pāli: samādhi) 6. Right effort samyag vyāyāma, sammā vāyāma Guard against sensual thoughts; this concept, states Harvey, aims at preventing unwholesome states that disrupt meditation.[233] 7. Right mindfulness samyag smṛti, sammā sati Never be absent minded, conscious of what one is doing; this, states Harvey, encourages mindfulness about impermanence of the body, feelings and mind, as well as to experience the five skandhas, the five hindrances, the four True Realities and seven factors of awakening.[233] 8. Right concentration samyag samādhi, sammā samādhi Correct meditation or concentration (dhyana), explained as the four jhānas.[223][234] Theravada presentations of the path Theravada Buddhism is a diverse tradition and thus includes different explanations of the path to awakening. However, the teachings of the Buddha are often encapsulated by Theravadins in the basic framework of the Four Noble Truths and the Eighthfold Path.[235][236] Some Theravada Buddhists also follow the presentation of the path laid out in Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga. This presentation is known as the "Seven Purifications" (satta-visuddhi).[237] This schema and its accompanying outline of "insight knowledges" (vipassanā-ñāṇa) is used by modern influential Theravadin scholars, such Mahasi Sayadaw (in his "The Progress of Insight") and Nyanatiloka Thera (in "The Buddha's Path to Deliverance").[238][239] Mahayana presentations of the path Mahāyāna Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a Bodhisattva.[240] A Bodhisattva refers to one who is on the path to buddhahood.[241] The term Mahāyāna was originally a synonym for Bodhisattvayāna or "Bodhisattva Vehicle."[242][243][244] In the earliest texts of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the path of a bodhisattva was to awaken the bodhicitta.[245] Between the 1st and 3rd century CE, this tradition introduced the Ten Bhumi doctrine, which means ten levels or stages of awakening.[245] This development was followed by the acceptance that it is impossible to achieve Buddhahood in one (current) lifetime, and the best goal is not nirvana for oneself, but Buddhahood after climbing through the ten levels during multiple rebirths.[246] Mahāyāna scholars then outlined an elaborate path, for monks and laypeople, and the path includes the vow to help teach Buddhist knowledge to other beings, so as to help them cross samsara and liberate themselves, once one reaches the Buddhahood in a future rebirth.[240] One part of this path are the pāramitā (perfections, to cross over), derived from the Jatakas tales of Buddha's numerous rebirths.[247][248] The doctrine of the bodhisattva bhūmis was also eventually merged with the Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāṣika schema of the "five paths" by the Yogacara school.[249] This Mahāyāna "five paths" presentation can be seen in Asanga's Mahāyānasaṃgraha.[249] The Mahāyāna texts are inconsistent in their discussion of the pāramitās, and some texts include lists of two, others four, six, ten and fifty-two.[250][251][252] The six paramitas have been most studied, and these are:[247][252][253] Dāna pāramitā: perfection of giving; primarily to monks, nuns and the Buddhist monastic establishment dependent on the alms and gifts of the lay householders, in return for generating religious merit;[254] some texts recommend ritually transferring the merit so accumulated for better rebirth to someone else Śīla pāramitā: perfection of morality; it outlines ethical behaviour for both the laity and the Mahayana monastic community; this list is similar to Śīla in the Eightfold Path (i.e. Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood)[255] Kṣānti pāramitā: perfection of patience, willingness to endure hardship Vīrya pāramitā: perfection of vigour; this is similar to Right Effort in the Eightfold Path[255] Dhyāna pāramitā: perfection of meditation; this is similar to Right Concentration in the Eightfold Path Prajñā pāramitā: perfection of insight (wisdom), awakening to the characteristics of existence such as karma, rebirths, impermanence, no-self, dependent origination and emptiness;[252][256] this is complete acceptance of the Buddha teaching, then conviction, followed by ultimate realisation that "dharmas are non-arising".[247] In Mahāyāna Sutras that include ten pāramitā, the additional four perfections are "skillful means, vow, power and knowledge".[251] The most discussed pāramitā and the highest rated perfection in Mahayana texts is the "Prajna-paramita", or the "perfection of insight".[251] This insight in the Mahāyāna tradition, states Shōhei Ichimura, has been the "insight of non-duality or the absence of reality in all things".[257][258] East Asian Buddhism East Asian Buddhism in influenced by both the classic Indian Buddhist presentations of the path such as the eighth-fold path as well as classic Indian Mahāyāna presentations such as that found in the Da zhidu lun.[259] There many different presentations of soteriology, including numerous paths and vehicles (yanas) in the different traditions of East Asian Buddhism.[260] There is no single dominant presentation. In Zen Buddhism for example, one can find outlines of the path such as the Two Entrances and Four Practices, The Five ranks, The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures and The Three mysterious Gates of Linji. Indo-Tibetan Buddhism In Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, the path to liberation is outlined in the genre known as Lamrim ("Stages of the Path"). All the various Tibetan schools have their own Lamrim presentations. This genre can be traced to Atiśa's 11th-century A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment (Bodhipathapradīpa).[261] Common Buddhist practices Hearing and learning the Dharma Sermon in the Deer Park depicted at Wat Chedi Liam, near Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. In various suttas which present the graduated path taught by the Buddha, such as the Samaññaphala Sutta and the Cula-Hatthipadopama Sutta, the first step on the path is hearing the Buddha teach the Dharma.[215] This then said to lead to the acquiring of confidence or faith in the Buddha's teachings.[215] Mahayana Buddhist teachers such as Yin Shun also state that hearing the Dharma and study of the Buddhist discourses is necessary "if one wants to learn and practice the Buddha Dharma."[262] Likewise, in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, the "Stages of the Path" (Lamrim) texts generally place the activity of listening to the Buddhist teachings as an important early practice.[263] Refuge Main article: Refuge (Buddhism) Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires taking of the "Three Refuges", also called the Three Jewels (Sanskrit: triratna, Pali: tiratana) as the foundation of one's religious practice.[264] This practice may have been influenced by the Brahmanical motif of the triple refuge, found in the Rigveda 9.97.47, Rigveda 6.46.9 and Chandogya Upanishad 2.22.3–4.[265] Tibetan Buddhism sometimes adds a fourth refuge, in the lama. The three refuges are believed by Buddhists to be protective and a form of reverence.[264] The ancient formula which is repeated for taking refuge affirms that "I go to the Buddha as refuge, I go to the Dhamma as refuge, I go to the Sangha as refuge."[266] Reciting the three refuges, according to Harvey, is considered not as a place to hide, rather a thought that "purifies, uplifts and strengthens the heart".[178] Śīla – Buddhist ethics Main article: Buddhist ethics Buddhist monks collect alms in Si Phan Don, Laos. Giving is a key virtue in Buddhism. Śīla (Sanskrit) or sīla (Pāli) is the concept of "moral virtues", that is the second group and an integral part of the Noble Eightfold Path.[226] It generally consists of right speech, right action and right livelihood.[226] One of the most basic forms of ethics in Buddhism is the taking of "precepts". This includes the Five Precepts for laypeople, Eight or Ten Precepts for monastic life, as well as rules of Dhamma (Vinaya or Patimokkha) adopted by a monastery.[267][268] Other important elements of Buddhist ethics include giving or charity (dāna), Mettā (Good-Will), Heedfulness (Appamada), ‘self-respect’ (Hri) and 'regard for consequences' (Apatrapya). Precepts Main article: Five precepts Buddhist scriptures explain the five precepts (Pali: pañcasīla; Sanskrit: pañcaśīla) as the minimal standard of Buddhist morality.[227] It is the most important system of morality in Buddhism, together with the monastic rules.[269] The five precepts are seen as a basic training applicable to all Buddhists. They are:[267][270][271] "I undertake the training-precept (sikkha-padam) to abstain from onslaught on breathing beings." This includes ordering or causing someone else to kill. The Pali suttas also say one should not "approve of others killing" and that one should be "scrupulous, compassionate, trembling for the welfare of all living beings."[272] "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from taking what is not given." According to Harvey, this also covers fraud, cheating, forgery as well as "falsely denying that one is in debt to someone."[273] "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from misconduct concerning sense-pleasures." This generally refers to adultery, as well as rape and incest. It also applies to sex with those who are legally under the protection of a guardian. It is also interpreted in different ways in the varying Buddhist cultures.[274] "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from false speech." According to Harvey this includes "any form of lying, deception or exaggeration...even non-verbal deception by gesture or other indication...or misleading statements."[275] The precept is often also seen as including other forms of wrong speech such as "divisive speech, harsh, abusive, angry words, and even idle chatter."[276] "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from alcoholic drink or drugs that are an opportunity for heedlessness." According to Harvey, intoxication is seen as a way to mask rather than face the sufferings of life. It is seen as damaging to one's mental clarity, mindfulness and ability to keep the other four precepts.[277] Undertaking and upholding the five precepts is based on the principle of non-harming (Pāli and Sanskrit: ahiṃsa).[278] The Pali Canon recommends one to compare oneself with others, and on the basis of that, not to hurt others.[279] Compassion and a belief in karmic retribution form the foundation of the precepts.[280][281] Undertaking the five precepts is part of regular lay devotional practice, both at home and at the local temple.[282][283] However, the extent to which people keep them differs per region and time.[284][283] They are sometimes referred to as the śrāvakayāna precepts in the Mahāyāna tradition, contrasting them with the bodhisattva precepts.[285] The five precepts are not commandments and transgressions do not invite religious sanctions, but their power has been based on the Buddhist belief in karmic consequences and their impact in the afterlife. Killing in Buddhist belief leads to rebirth in the hell realms, and for a longer time in more severe conditions if the murder victim was a monk. Adultery, similarly, invites a rebirth as prostitute or in hell, depending on whether the partner was unmarried or married.[286] These moral precepts have been voluntarily self-enforced in lay Buddhist culture through the associated belief in karma and rebirth.[287] Within the Buddhist doctrine, the precepts are meant to develop mind and character to make progress on the path to enlightenment.[288] The monastic life in Buddhism has additional precepts as part of patimokkha, and unlike lay people, transgressions by monks do invite sanctions. Full expulsion from sangha follows any instance of killing, engaging in sexual intercourse, theft or false claims about one's knowledge. Temporary expulsion follows a lesser offence.[289] The sanctions vary per monastic fraternity (nikaya).[290] Lay people and novices in many Buddhist fraternities also uphold eight (asta shila) or ten (das shila) from time to time. Four of these are same as for the lay devotee: no killing, no stealing, no lying, and no intoxicants.[291] The other four precepts are:[292][291] No sexual activity; Abstain from eating at the wrong time (e.g. only eat solid food before noon); Abstain from jewellery, perfume, adornment, entertainment; Abstain from sleeping on high bed i.e. to sleep on a mat on the ground. All eight precepts are sometimes observed by lay people on uposatha days: full moon, new moon, the first and last quarter following the lunar calendar.[291] The ten precepts also include to abstain from accepting money.[291] In addition to these precepts, Buddhist monasteries have hundreds of rules of conduct, which are a part of its patimokkha.[293][note 24] Vinaya An ordination ceremony at Wat Yannawa in Bangkok. The Vinaya codes regulate the various sangha acts, including ordination. Vinaya is the specific code of conduct for a sangha of monks or nuns. It includes the Patimokkha, a set of 227 offences including 75 rules of decorum for monks, along with penalties for transgression, in the Theravadin tradition.[295] The precise content of the Vinaya Pitaka (scriptures on the Vinaya) differs in different schools and tradition, and different monasteries set their own standards on its implementation. The list of pattimokkha is recited every fortnight in a ritual gathering of all monks.[295] Buddhist text with vinaya rules for monasteries have been traced in all Buddhist traditions, with the oldest surviving being the ancient Chinese translations.[296] Monastic communities in the Buddhist tradition cut normal social ties to family and community, and live as "islands unto themselves".[297] Within a monastic fraternity, a sangha has its own rules.[297] A monk abides by these institutionalised rules, and living life as the vinaya prescribes it is not merely a means, but very nearly the end in itself.[297] Transgressions by a monk on Sangha vinaya rules invites enforcement, which can include temporary or permanent expulsion.[298] Restraint and renunciation Living at the root of a tree (trukkhamulik'anga) is one of the dhutaṅgas, a series of optional ascetic practices for Buddhist monastics. Another important practice taught by the Buddha is the restraint of the senses (indriyasamvara). In the various graduated paths, this is usually presented as a practice which is taught prior to formal sitting meditation, and which supports meditation by weakening sense desires that are a hindrance to meditation.[299] According to Anālayo, sense restraint is when one "guards the sense doors in order to prevent sense impressions from leading to desires and discontent."[299] This is not an avoidance of sense impression, but a kind of mindful attention towards the sense impressions which does not dwell on their main features or signs (nimitta). This is said to prevent harmful influences from entering the mind.[300] This practice is said to give rise to an inner peace and happiness which forms a basis for concentration and insight.[300] A related Buddhist virtue and practice is renunciation, or the intent for desirelessness (nekkhamma).[301] Generally, renunciation is the giving up of actions and desires that are seen as unwholesome on the path, such as lust for sensuality and worldly things.[302] Renunciation can be cultivated in different ways. The practice of giving for example, is one form of cultivating renunciation. Another one is the giving up of lay life and becoming a monastic (bhiksu o bhiksuni).[303] Practicing celibacy (whether for life as a monk, or temporarily) is also a form of renunciation.[304] Many Jataka stories such as the focus on how the Buddha practiced renunciation in past lives.[305] One way of cultivating renunciation taught by the Buddha is the contemplation (anupassana) of the "dangers" (or "negative consequences") of sensual pleasure (kāmānaṃ ādīnava). As part of the graduated discourse, this contemplation is taught after the practice of giving and morality.[306] Another related practice to renunciation and sense restraint taught by the Buddha is "restraint in eating" or moderation with food, which for monks generally means not eating after noon. Devout laypersons also follow this rule during special days of religious observance (uposatha).[307] Observing the Uposatha also includes other practices dealing with renunciation, mainly the eight precepts. For Buddhist monastics, renunciation can also be trained through several optional ascetic practices called dhutaṅga. In different Buddhist traditions, other related practices which focus on fasting are followed. Mindfulness and clear comprehension The training of the faculty called "mindfulness" (Pali: sati, Sanskrit: smṛti, literally meaning "recollection, remembering") is central in Buddhism. According to Analayo, mindfulness is a full awareness of the present moment which enhances and strengthens memory.[308] The Indian Buddhist philosopher Asanga defined mindfulness thus: "It is non-forgetting by the mind with regard to the object experienced. Its function is non-distraction."[309] According to Rupert Gethin, sati is also "an awareness of things in relation to things, and hence an awareness of their relative value."[310] There are different practices and exercises for training mindfulness in the early discourses, such as the four Satipaṭṭhānas (Sanskrit: smṛtyupasthāna, "establishments of mindfulness") and Ānāpānasati (Sanskrit: ānāpānasmṛti, "mindfulness of breathing"). A closely related mental faculty, which is often mentioned side by side with mindfulness, is sampajañña ("clear comprehension"). This faculty is the ability to comprehend what one is doing and is happening in the mind, and whether it is being influenced by unwholesome states or wholesome ones.[311] Meditation – Samādhi and Dhyāna Main articles: Buddhist meditation, Samadhi, Samatha, and Rupajhana Kōdō Sawaki practicing Zazen ("sitting dhyana") A wide range of meditation practices has developed in the Buddhist traditions, but "meditation" primarily refers to the attainment of samādhi and the practice of dhyāna (Pali: jhāna). Samādhi is a calm, undistracted, unified and concentrated state of consciousness. It is defined by Asanga as "one-pointedness of mind on the object to be investigated. Its function consists of giving a basis to knowledge (jñāna)."[309] Dhyāna is "state of perfect equanimity and awareness (upekkhā-sati-parisuddhi)," reached through focused mental training.[312] The practice of dhyāna aids in maintaining a calm mind, and avoiding disturbance of this calm mind by mindfulness of disturbing thoughts and feelings.[313][note 25] Origins The earliest evidence of yogis and their meditative tradition, states Karel Werner, is found in the Keśin hymn 10.136 of the Rigveda.[314] While evidence suggests meditation was practised in the centuries preceding the Buddha,[315] the meditative methodologies described in the Buddhist texts are some of the earliest among texts that have survived into the modern era.[316][317] These methodologies likely incorporate what existed before the Buddha as well as those first developed within Buddhism.[318][note 26] There is no scholarly agreement on the origin and source of the practice of dhyāna. Some scholars, like Bronkhorst, see the four dhyānas as a Buddhist invention.[322] Alexander Wynne argues that the Buddha learned dhyāna from brahmanical teachers.[323] Whatever the case, the Buddha taught meditation with a new focus and interpretation, particularly through the four dhyānas methodology,[324] in which mindfulness is maintained.[325][326] Further, the focus of meditation and the underlying theory of liberation guiding the meditation has been different in Buddhism.[315][327][328] For example, states Bronkhorst, the verse 4.4.23 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad with its "become calm, subdued, quiet, patiently enduring, concentrated, one sees soul in oneself" is most probably a meditative state.[329] The Buddhist discussion of meditation is without the concept of soul and the discussion criticises both the ascetic meditation of Jainism and the "real self, soul" meditation of Hinduism.[330] Four rupa-jhāna Seated Buddha, Gal Viharaya, Polonnawura, Sri Lanka. Buddhist texts teach various meditation schemas. One of the most prominent is that of the four rupa-jhānas (four meditations in the realm of form), which are "stages of progressively deepening concentration".[331] According to Gethin, they are states of "perfect mindfulness, stillness and lucidity."[332] They are described in the Pali Canon as trance-like states without desire.[333] In the early texts, the Buddha is depicted as entering jhāna both before his awakening under the bodhi tree and also before his final nirvana (see: the Mahāsaccaka-sutta and the Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta).[334][335] The four rupa-jhānas are:[331][336] First jhāna: the first dhyana can be entered when one is secluded from sensuality and unskillful qualities, due to withdrawal and right effort. There is pīti ("rapture") and non-sensual sukha ("pleasure") as the result of seclusion, while vitarka-vicara (thought and examination) continues. Second jhāna: there is pīti ("rapture") and non-sensual sukha ("pleasure") as the result of concentration (samadhi-ji, "born of samadhi"); ekaggata (unification of awareness) free from vitarka-vicara ("discursive thought"); sampasadana ("inner tranquility"). Third jhāna: pīti drops away, there is upekkhā (equanimous; "affective detachment"), and one is mindful, alert, and senses pleasure (sukha) with the body; Fourth jhāna: a stage of "pure equanimity and mindfulness" (upekkhāsatipārisuddhi), without any pleasure or pain, happiness or sadness. There is a wide variety of scholarly opinions (both from modern scholars and from traditional Buddhists) on the interpretation of these meditative states as well as varying opinions on how to practice them.[331][337] The formless attaiments Often grouped into the jhāna-scheme are four other meditative states, referred to in the early texts as arupa samāpattis (formless attainments). These are also referred to in commentarial literature as immaterial/formless jhānas (arūpajhānas). The first formless attainment is a place or realm of infinite space (ākāsānañcāyatana) without form or colour or shape. The second is termed the realm of infinite consciousness (viññāṇañcāyatana); the third is the realm of nothingness (ākiñcaññāyatana), while the fourth is the realm of "neither perception nor non-perception".[338] The four rupa-jhānas in Buddhist practice lead to rebirth in successfully better rupa Brahma heavenly realms, while arupa-jhānas lead into arupa heavens.[339][340] Meditation and insight Kamakura Daibutsu, Kōtoku-in, Kamakura, Japan. See also: Meditation and insight and Yoga In the Pali canon, the Buddha outlines two meditative qualities which are mutually supportive: samatha (Pāli; Sanskrit: śamatha; "calm") and vipassanā (Sanskrit: vipaśyanā, insight).[341] The Buddha compares these mental qualities to a "swift pair of messengers" who together help deliver the message of nibbana (SN 35.245).[342] The various Buddhist traditions generally see Buddhist meditation as being divided into those two main types.[343][344] Samatha is also called "calming meditation", and focuses on stilling and concentrating the mind i.e. developing samadhi and the four dhyānas. According to Damien Keown, vipassanā meanwhile, focuses on "the generation of penetrating and critical insight (paññā)".[345] There are numerous doctrinal positions and disagreements within the different Buddhist traditions regarding these qualities or forms of meditation. For example, in the Pali Four Ways to Arahantship Sutta (AN 4.170), it is said that one can develop calm and then insight, or insight and then calm, or both at the same time.[346] Meanwhile, in Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośakārikā, vipaśyanā is said to be practiced once one has reached samadhi by cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness (smṛtyupasthānas).[347] Beginning with comments by La Vallee Poussin, a series of scholars have argued that these two meditation types reflect a tension between two different ancient Buddhist traditions regarding the use of dhyāna, one which focused on insight based practice and the other which focused purely on dhyāna.[348][349] However, other scholars such as Analayo and Rupert Gethin have disagreed with this "two paths" thesis, instead seeing both of these practices as complementary.[349][350] The Brahma-vihara gilded statue of Buddha in Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat, Thailand Statue of Buddha in Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat, Phitsanulok, Thailand Main article: Brahmavihara The four immeasurables or four abodes, also called Brahma-viharas, are virtues or directions for meditation in Buddhist traditions, which helps a person be reborn in the heavenly (Brahma) realm.[351][352][353] These are traditionally believed to be a characteristic of the deity Brahma and the heavenly abode he resides in.[354] The four Brahma-vihara are: Loving-kindness (Pāli: mettā, Sanskrit: maitrī) is active good will towards all;[352][355] Compassion (Pāli and Sanskrit: karuṇā) results from metta; it is identifying the suffering of others as one's own;[352][355] Empathetic joy (Pāli and Sanskrit: muditā): is the feeling of joy because others are happy, even if one did not contribute to it; it is a form of sympathetic joy;[355] Equanimity (Pāli: upekkhā, Sanskrit: upekṣā): is even-mindedness and serenity, treating everyone impartially.[352][355] According to Peter Harvey, the Buddhist scriptures acknowledge that the four Brahmavihara meditation practices "did not originate within the Buddhist tradition".[356][note 27] The Brahmavihara (sometimes as Brahmaloka), along with the tradition of meditation and the above four immeasurables are found in pre-Buddha and post-Buddha Vedic and Sramanic literature.[358][359] Aspects of the Brahmavihara practice for rebirths into the heavenly realm have been an important part of Buddhist meditation tradition.[360][361] According to Gombrich, the Buddhist usage of the brahma-vihāra originally referred to an awakened state of mind, and a concrete attitude toward other beings which was equal to "living with Brahman" here and now. The later tradition took those descriptions too literally, linking them to cosmology and understanding them as "living with Brahman" by rebirth in the Brahma-world.[362] According to Gombrich, "the Buddha taught that kindness – what Christians tend to call love – was a way to salvation."[363] Tantra, visualization and the subtle body See also: Tibetan Tantric Practice and Vajrayana § Tantra_techniques An 18th century Mongolian miniature which depicts the generation of the Vairocana Mandala A section of the Northern wall mural at the Lukhang Temple depicting tummo, the three channels (nadis) and phowa Some Buddhist traditions, especially those associated with Tantric Buddhism (also known as Vajrayana and Secret Mantra) use images and symbols of deities and Buddhas in meditation. This is generally done by mentally visualizing a Buddha image (or some other mental image, like a symbol, a mandala, a syllable, etc.), and using that image to cultivate calm and insight. One may also visualize and identify oneself with the imagined deity.[364][365] While visualization practices have been particularly popular in Vajrayana, they may also found in Mahayana and Theravada traditions.[366] In Tibetan Buddhism, unique tantric techniques which include visualization (but also mantra recitation, mandalas, and other elements) are considered to be much more effective than non-tantric meditations and they are one of the most popular meditation methods.[367] The methods of Unsurpassable Yoga Tantra, (anuttarayogatantra) are in turn seen as the highest and most advanced. Anuttarayoga practice is divided into two stages, the Generation Stage and the Completion Stage. In the Generation Stage, one meditates on emptiness and visualizes oneself as a deity as well as visualizing its mandala. The focus is on developing clear appearance and divine pride (the understanding that oneself and the deity are one).[368] This method is also known as deity yoga (devata yoga). There are numerous meditation deities (yidam) used, each with a mandala, a circular symbolic map used in meditation.[369] In the Completion Stage, one meditates on ultimate reality based on the image that has been generated. Completion Stage practices also include techniques such as tummo and phowa. These are said to work with subtle body elements, like the energy channels (nadi), vital essences (bindu), "vital winds" (vayu), and chakras.[370] The subtle body energies are seen as influencing consciousness in powerful ways, and are thus used in order to generate the 'great bliss' (maha-sukha) which is used to attain the luminous nature of the mind and realization of the empty and illusory nature of all phenomena ("the illusory body"), which leads to enlightenment.[371][372] Completion practices are often grouped into different systems, such as the six dharmas of Naropa, and the six yogas of Kalachakra. In Tibetan Buddhism, there are also practices and methods which are sometimes seen as being outside of the two tantric stages, mainly Mahamudra and Dzogchen (Atiyoga). Practice: monks, laity According to Peter Harvey, whenever Buddhism has been healthy, not only ordained but also more committed lay people have practised formal meditation.[373] Loud devotional chanting however, adds Harvey, has been the most prevalent Buddhist practice and considered a form of meditation that produces "energy, joy, lovingkindness and calm", purifies mind and benefits the chanter.[374] Throughout most of Buddhist history, meditation has been primarily practised in Buddhist monastic tradition, and historical evidence suggests that serious meditation by lay people has been an exception.[375][376][377] In recent history, sustained meditation has been pursued by a minority of monks in Buddhist monasteries.[378] Western interest in meditation has led to a revival where ancient Buddhist ideas and precepts are adapted to Western mores and interpreted liberally, presenting Buddhism as a meditation-based form of spirituality.[378] Insight and knowledge Monks debating at Sera Monastery, Tibet Main articles: Prajñā, Bodhi, Kenshō, Satori, Subitism, and Vipassana Prajñā (Sanskrit) or paññā (Pāli) is wisdom, or knowledge of the true nature of existence. Another term which is associated with prajñā and sometimes is equivalent to it is vipassanā (Pāli) or vipaśyanā (Sanskrit), which is often translated as "insight". In Buddhist texts, the faculty of insight is often said to be cultivated through the four establishments of mindfulness.[379] In the early texts, Paññā is included as one of the "five faculties" (indriya) which are commonly listed as important spiritual elements to be cultivated (see for example: AN I 16). Paññā along with samadhi, is also listed as one of the "trainings in the higher states of mind" (adhicittasikkha).[379] The Buddhist tradition regards ignorance (avidyā), a fundamental ignorance, misunderstanding or mis-perception of the nature of reality, as one of the basic causes of dukkha and samsara. Overcoming this ignorance is part of the path to awakening. This overcoming includes the contemplation of impermanence and the non-self nature of reality,[380][381] and this develops dispassion for the objects of clinging, and liberates a being from dukkha and saṃsāra.[382][383][384] Prajñā is important in all Buddhist traditions. It is variously described as wisdom regarding the impermanent and not-self nature of dharmas (phenomena), the functioning of karma and rebirth, and knowledge of dependent origination.[385] Likewise, vipaśyanā is described in a similar way, such as in the Paṭisambhidāmagga, where it is said to be the contemplation of things as impermanent, unsatisfactory and not-self.[386] Some scholars such as Bronkhorst and Vetter have argued that the idea that insight leads to liberation was a later development in Buddhism and that there are inconsistencies with the early Buddhist presentation of samadhi and insight.[387][388][note 28] However, others such as Collett Cox and Damien Keown have argued that insight is a key aspect of the early Buddhist process of liberation, which cooperates with samadhi to remove the obstacles to enlightenment (i.e., the āsavas).[390][391] In Theravāda Buddhism, the focus of vipassanā meditation is to continuously and thoroughly know how phenomena (dhammas) are impermanent (annica), not-self (anatta) and dukkha.[392][393] The most widely used method in modern Theravāda for the practice of vipassanā is that found in the Satipatthana Sutta.[394] There is some disagreement in contemporary Theravāda regarding samatha and vipassanā. Some in the Vipassana Movement strongly emphasize the practice of insight over samatha, and other Theravadins disagree with this.[394] In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the development of insight (vipaśyanā) and tranquility (śamatha) are also taught and practiced. The many different schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism have a large repertoire of meditation techniques to cultivate these qualities. These include visualization of various Buddhas, recitation of a Buddha's name, the use of tantric Buddhist mantras and dharanis.[395][396] Insight in Mahāyāna Buddhism also includes gaining a direct understanding of certain Mahāyāna philosophical views, such as the emptiness view and the consciousness-only view. This can be seen in meditation texts such as Kamalaśīla's Bhāvanākrama ( "Stages of Meditation", 9th century), which teaches insight (vipaśyanā) from the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka perspective.[397] Devotion Main article: Buddhist devotion Tibetan Buddhist prostration practice at Jokhang, Tibet. According to Harvey, most forms of Buddhism "consider saddhā (Skt śraddhā), ‘trustful confidence’ or ‘faith’, as a quality which must be balanced by wisdom, and as a preparation for, or accompaniment of, meditation."[398] Because of this devotion (Skt. bhakti; Pali: bhatti) is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists.[399] Devotional practices include ritual prayer, prostration, offerings, pilgrimage, and chanting.[400] Buddhist devotion is usually focused on some object, image or location that is seen as holy or spiritually influential. Examples of objects of devotion include paintings or statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, stupas, and bodhi trees.[401] Public group chanting for devotional and ceremonial is common to all Buddhist traditions and goes back to ancient India where chanting aided in the memorization of the orally transmitted teachings.[402] Rosaries called malas are used in all Buddhist traditions to count repeated chanting of common formulas or mantras. Chanting is thus a type of devotional group meditation which leads to tranquility and communicates the Buddhist teachings.[403] In East Asian Pure Land Buddhism, devotion to the Buddha Amitabha is the main practice. In Nichiren Buddhism, devotion to the Lotus Sutra is the main practice. Devotional practices such as pujas have been a common practice in Theravada Buddhism, where offerings and group prayers are made to deities and particularly images of Buddha.[404] According to Karel Werner and other scholars, devotional worship has been a significant practice in Theravada Buddhism, and deep devotion is part of Buddhist traditions starting from the earliest days.[405][406] Guru devotion is a central practice of Tibetan Buddhism.[407][408] The guru is considered essential and to the Buddhist devotee, the guru is the "enlightened teacher and ritual master" in Vajrayana spiritual pursuits.[407][409] For someone seeking Buddhahood, the guru is the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, wrote the 12th-century Buddhist scholar Sadhanamala.[409] The veneration of and obedience to teachers is also important in Theravada and Zen Buddhism.[410] Vegetarianism and animal ethics Main article: Buddhist vegetarianism Vegetarian meal at Buddhist temple. East Asian Buddhism tends to promote vegetarianism. Based on the Indian principle of ahimsa (non-harming), the Buddha's ethics strongly condemn the harming of all sentient beings, including all animals. He thus condemned the animal sacrifice of the brahmins as well hunting, and killing animals for food.[411] This led to various policies by Buddhist kings such as Asoka meant to protect animals, such as the establishing of 'no slaughter days' and the banning of hunting on certain circumstances.[412] However, early Buddhist texts depict the Buddha as allowing monastics to eat meat. This seems to be because monastics begged for their food and thus were supposed to accept whatever food was offered to them.[413] This was tempered by the rule that meat had to be "three times clean" which meant that "they had not seen, had not heard, and had no reason to suspect that the animal had been killed so that the meat could be given to them".[414] Also, while the Buddha did not explicitly promote vegetarianism in his discourses, he did state that gaining one's livelihood from the meat trade was unethical.[415] However, this rule was not a promotion of a specific diet, but a rule against the actual killing of animals for food.[416] There was also a famed schism which occurred in the Buddhist community when Devadatta attempted to make vegetarianism compulsory and the Buddha disagreed.[414] In contrast to this, various Mahayana sutras and texts like the Mahaparinirvana sutra, Surangama sutra and the Lankavatara sutra state that the Buddha promoted vegetarianism out of compassion.[417] Indian Mahayana thinkers like Shantideva promoted the avoidance of meat.[418] Throughout history, the issue of whether Buddhists should be vegetarian has remained a much debated topic and there is a variety of opinions on this issue among modern Buddhists. In the East Asian Buddhism, most monastics are expected to be vegetarian, and the practice is seen as very virtuous and it is taken up by some devout laypersons. Most Theravadins in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia do not practice vegetarianism and eat whatever is offered by the lay community, who are mostly also not vegetarians. But there are exceptions, some monks choose to be vegetarian and some abbots like Ajahn Sumedho have encouraged the lay community to donate vegetarian food to the monks.[419] Mahasi Sayadaw meanwhile, has recommended vegetarianism as the best way to make sure one's meal is pure in three ways.[420] Also, the new religious movement Santi Asoke, promotes vegetarianism. According to Peter Harvey, in the Theravada world, vegetarianism is "universally admired, but little practiced."[420] Because of the rule against killing, in many Buddhist countries, most butchers and others who work in the meat trade are non-Buddhists.[421] Likewise, most Tibetan Buddhists have historically tended not to be vegetarian, however, there have been some strong debates and pro-vegetarian arguments by some pro-vegetarian Tibetans.[422] Some influential figures have spoken and written in favor of vegetarianism throughout history, including well known figures like Shabkar and the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who has mandated vegetarianism in all his monasteries.[423] Buddhist texts Main article: Buddhist texts A depiction of the supposed First Buddhist council at Rajgir. Communal recitation was one of the original ways of transmitting and preserving Early Buddhist texts. Buddhism, like all Indian religions, was initially an oral tradition in ancient times.[424] The Buddha's words, the early doctrines, concepts, and their traditional interpretations were orally transmitted from one generation to the next. The earliest oral texts were transmitted in Middle Indo-Aryan languages called Prakrits, such as Pali, through the use of communal recitation and other mnemonic techniques.[425] The first Buddhist canonical texts were likely written down in Sri Lanka, about 400 years after the Buddha died.[424] The texts were part of the Tripitakas, and many versions appeared thereafter claiming to be the words of the Buddha. Scholarly Buddhist commentary texts, with named authors, appeared in India, around the 2nd century CE.[424] These texts were written in Pali or Sanskrit, sometimes regional languages, as palm-leaf manuscripts, birch bark, painted scrolls, carved into temple walls, and later on paper.[424] Unlike what the Bible is to Christianity and the Quran is to Islam, but like all major ancient Indian religions, there is no consensus among the different Buddhist traditions as to what constitutes the scriptures or a common canon in Buddhism.[424] The general belief among Buddhists is that the canonical corpus is vast.[426][427][428] This corpus includes the ancient Sutras organised into Nikayas or Agamas, itself the part of three basket of texts called the Tripitakas.[429] Each Buddhist tradition has its own collection of texts, much of which is translation of ancient Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist texts of India. The Chinese Buddhist canon, for example, includes 2184 texts in 55 volumes, while the Tibetan canon comprises 1108 texts – all claimed to have been spoken by the Buddha – and another 3461 texts composed by Indian scholars revered in the Tibetan tradition.[430] The Buddhist textual history is vast; over 40,000 manuscripts – mostly Buddhist, some non-Buddhist – were discovered in 1900 in the Dunhuang Chinese cave alone.[430] Early Buddhist texts Gandhara birchbark scroll fragments (c. 1st century) from British Library Collection Main article: Early Buddhist Texts The Early Buddhist Texts refers to the literature which is considered by modern scholars to be the earliest Buddhist material. The first four Pali Nikayas, and the corresponding Chinese Āgamas are generally considered to be among the earliest material.[431][432][433] Apart from these, there are also fragmentary collections of EBT materials in other languages such as Sanskrit, Khotanese, Tibetan and Gāndhārī. The modern study of early Buddhism often relies on comparative scholarship using these various early Buddhist sources to identify parallel texts and common doctrinal content.[434] One feature of these early texts are literary structures which reflect oral transmission, such as widespread repetition.[435] Pāli Canon Illustrated Sinhalese covers (inside) showing the events Wellcome L0031774.jpg 1. Vinaya Piṭaka 1. Suttavibhaṅga 2. Khandhaka 3. Parivāra 2. Sutta Piṭaka 1. Dīgha Nikāya 2. Majjhima Nikāya 3. Saṃyutta Nikāya 4. Aṅguttara Nikāya 5. Khuddaka Nikāya 3. Abhidhamma Piṭaka 1. Dhammasaṅgaṇī 2. Vibhaṅga 3. Dhātukathā 4. Puggalapaññatti 5. Kathāvatthu 6. Yamaka 7. Paṭṭhāna vte The Tripitakas Main articles: Tripiṭaka and Pali Canon After the development of the different early Buddhist schools, these schools began to develop their own textual collections, which were termed Tripiṭakas (Triple Baskets).[436] Many early Tripiṭakas, like the Pāli Tipitaka, were divided into three sections: Vinaya Pitaka (focuses on monastic rule), Sutta Pitaka (Buddhist discourses) and Abhidhamma Pitaka, which contain expositions and commentaries on the doctrine. The Pāli Tipitaka (also known as the Pali Canon) of the Theravada School constitutes the only complete collection of Buddhist texts in an Indic language which has survived until today.[437] However, many Sutras, Vinayas and Abhidharma works from other schools survive in Chinese translation, as part of the Chinese Buddhist Canon. According to some sources, some early schools of Buddhism had five or seven pitakas.[438] Much of the material in the Pali Canon is not specifically "Theravadin", but is instead the collection of teachings that this school preserved from the early, non-sectarian body of teachings. According to Peter Harvey, it contains material at odds with later Theravadin orthodoxy. He states: "The Theravadins, then, may have added texts to the Canon for some time, but they do not appear to have tampered with what they already had from an earlier period."[439] Abhidharma and the commentaries A distinctive feature of many Tripitaka collections is the inclusion of a genre called Abhidharma, which dates from the 3rd century BCE and later. According to Collett Cox, the genre began as explanations and elaborations of the teachings in the suttas but over time evolved into an independent system of doctrinal exposition.[440] Over time, the various Abhidharma traditions developed various disagreements which each other on points of doctrine, which were discussed in the different Abhidharma texts of these schools.[48] The major Abhidharma collections which modern scholars have the most information about are those of the Theravāda and Sarvāstivāda schools.[441] In Sri Lanka and South India, the Theravāda Abhidhamma system was the most influential. In addition to the Abhidharma project, some of the schools also began accumulating a literary tradition of scriptural commentary on their respective Tripitakas. These commentaries were particularly important in the Theravāda school, and the Pali commentaries (Aṭṭhakathā) remain influential today. Both Abhidhamma and the Pali commentaries influenced the Visuddhimagga, an important 5th-century text by the Theravada scholar Buddhaghosa, who also translated and compiled many of the Aṭṭhakathās from older Sinhalese sources.[442][443] The Sarvāstivāda school was one of the most influential Abhidharma traditions in North India.[444] The magnum opus of this tradition was the massive Abhidharma commentary called the Mahāvibhaṣa ('Great Commentary'), compiled at a great synod in Kashmir during the reign of Kanishka II (c. 158–176).[445] The Abhidharmakosha of Vasubandhu is another very influential Abhidharma work from the northern tradition, which continues to be studied in East Asian Buddhism and in Tibetan Buddhism.[446] Mahāyāna texts Main article: Mahayana sutras Tripiṭaka Koreana in South Korea, over 81,000 wood printing blocks stored in racks The Tripiṭaka Koreana in South Korea, an edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon carved and preserved in over 81,000 wood printing blocks The Mahāyāna sūtras are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures that the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition holds are original teachings of the Buddha. Modern historians generally hold that the first of these texts were composed probably around the 1st century BCE or 1st century CE.[447][448][449] In Mahāyāna, these texts are generally given greater authority than the early Āgamas and Abhidharma literature, which are called "Śrāvakayāna" or "Hinayana" to distinguish them from Mahāyāna sūtras.[450] Mahāyāna traditions mainly see these different classes of texts as being designed for different types of persons, with different levels of spiritual understanding. The Mahāyāna sūtras are mainly seen as being for those of "greater" capacity.[451][better source needed] The Mahāyāna sūtras often claim to articulate the Buddha's deeper, more advanced doctrines, reserved for those who follow the bodhisattva path. That path is explained as being built upon the motivation to liberate all living beings from unhappiness. Hence the name Mahāyāna (lit., the Great Vehicle). Besides the teaching of the bodhisattva, Mahāyāna texts also contain expanded cosmologies and mythologies, with many more Buddhas and powerful bodhisattvas, as well as new spiritual practices and ideas.[452] The modern Theravada school does not treat the Mahāyāna sūtras as authoritative or authentic teachings of the Buddha.[453] Likewise, these texts were not recognized as authoritative by many early Buddhist schools and in some cases, communities such as the Mahāsāṃghika school split up due to this disagreement.[454] Buddhist monk Geshe Konchog Wangdu in red robe reads Mahayana sutras on stand Buddhist monk Geshe Konchog Wangdu reads Mahayana sutras from an old woodblock copy of the Tibetan Kanjur. Recent scholarship has discovered many early Mahāyāna texts which shed light into the development of Mahāyāna. Among these is the Śālistamba Sutra which survives in Tibetan and Chinese translation. This text contains numerous sections which are remarkably similar to Pali suttas.[455][456] The Śālistamba Sutra was cited by Mahāyāna scholars such as the 8th-century Yasomitra to be authoritative.[457] This suggests that Buddhist literature of different traditions shared a common core of Buddhist texts in the early centuries of its history, until Mahāyāna literature diverged about and after the 1st century CE.[455] Mahāyāna also has a very large literature of philosophical and exegetical texts. These are often called śāstra (treatises) or vrittis (commentaries). Some of this literature was also written in verse form (karikās), the most famous of which is the Mūlamadhyamika-karikā (Root Verses on the Middle Way) by Nagarjuna, the foundational text of the Madhyamika school. Tantric texts Main article: Tantras (Buddhism) During the Gupta Empire, a new class of Buddhist sacred literature began to develop, which are called the Tantras.[458] By the 8th century, the tantric tradition was very influential in India and beyond. Besides drawing on a Mahāyāna Buddhist framework, these texts also borrowed deities and material from other Indian religious traditions, such as the Śaiva and Pancharatra traditions, local god/goddess cults, and local spirit worship (such as yaksha or nāga spirits).[459][460] Some features of these texts include the widespread use of mantras, meditation on the subtle body, worship of fierce deities, and antinomian and transgressive practices such as ingesting alcohol and performing sexual rituals.[461][462][463] History Main article: History of Buddhism Historical roots Mahākāśyapa meets an Ājīvika ascetic, one of the common Śramaṇa groups in ancient India Historically, the roots of Buddhism lie in the religious thought of Iron Age India around the middle of the first millennium BCE.[464] This was a period of great intellectual ferment and socio-cultural change known as the "Second urbanisation", marked by the growth of towns and trade, the composition of the Upanishads and the historical emergence of the Śramaṇa traditions.[465][466][note 29] New ideas developed both in the Vedic tradition in the form of the Upanishads, and outside of the Vedic tradition through the Śramaṇa movements.[469][470][471] The term Śramaṇa refers to several Indian religious movements parallel to but separate from the historical Vedic religion, including Buddhism, Jainism and others such as Ājīvika.[472] Several Śramaṇa movements are known to have existed in India before the 6th century BCE (pre-Buddha, pre-Mahavira), and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy.[473] According to Martin Wilshire, the Śramaṇa tradition evolved in India over two phases, namely Paccekabuddha and Savaka phases, the former being the tradition of individual ascetic and the latter of disciples, and that Buddhism and Jainism ultimately emerged from these.[474] Brahmanical and non-Brahmanical ascetic groups shared and used several similar ideas,[475] but the Śramaṇa traditions also drew upon already established Brahmanical concepts and philosophical roots, states Wiltshire, to formulate their own doctrines.[473][476] Brahmanical motifs can be found in the oldest Buddhist texts, using them to introduce and explain Buddhist ideas.[477] For example, prior to Buddhist developments, the Brahmanical tradition internalised and variously reinterpreted the three Vedic sacrificial fires as concepts such as Truth, Rite, Tranquility or Restraint.[478] Buddhist texts also refer to the three Vedic sacrificial fires, reinterpreting and explaining them as ethical conduct.[479] The Śramaṇa religions challenged and broke with the Brahmanic tradition on core assumptions such as Atman (soul, self), Brahman, the nature of afterlife, and they rejected the authority of the Vedas and Upanishads.[480][481][482] Buddhism was one among several Indian religions that did so.[482] Indian Buddhism Ajanta Caves, Cave 10, a first period type chaitya worship hall with stupa but no idols. Main article: History of Buddhism in India The history of Indian Buddhism may be divided into five periods:[483] Early Buddhism (occasionally called pre-sectarian Buddhism), Nikaya Buddhism or Sectarian Buddhism: The period of the early Buddhist schools, Early Mahayana Buddhism, Late Mahayana, and the era of Vajrayana or the "Tantric Age". Pre-sectarian Buddhism Main article: Pre-sectarian Buddhism According to Lambert Schmithausen Pre-sectarian Buddhism is "the canonical period prior to the development of different schools with their different positions."[484] The early Buddhist Texts include the four principal Pali Nikāyas [note 30] (and their parallel Agamas found in the Chinese canon) together with the main body of monastic rules, which survive in the various versions of the patimokkha.[485][486][487] However, these texts were revised over time, and it is unclear what constitutes the earliest layer of Buddhist teachings. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pāli Canon and other texts.[note 31] The reliability of the early sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute.[490] According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.[488][note 32] According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:[495] "Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"[note 33] "Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"[note 34] "Cautious optimism in this respect."[note 35] The Core teachings According to Mitchell, certain basic teachings appear in many places throughout the early texts, which has led most scholars to conclude that Gautama Buddha must have taught something similar to the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, Nirvana, the three marks of existence, the five aggregates, dependent origination, karma and rebirth.[502] According to N. Ross Reat, all of these doctrines are shared by the Theravada Pali texts and the Mahasamghika school's Śālistamba Sūtra.[503] A recent study by Bhikkhu Analayo concludes that the Theravada Majjhima Nikaya and Sarvastivada Madhyama Agama contain mostly the same major doctrines.[504] Richard Salomon, in his study of the Gandharan texts (which are the earliest manuscripts containing early discourses), has confirmed that their teachings are "consistent with non-Mahayana Buddhism, which survives today in the Theravada school of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, but which in ancient times was represented by eighteen separate schools."[505] However, some scholars argue that critical analysis reveals discrepancies among the various doctrines found in these early texts, which point to alternative possibilities for early Buddhism.[506][507][508] The authenticity of certain teachings and doctrines have been questioned. For example, some scholars think that karma was not central to the teaching of the historical Buddha, while other disagree with this position.[509][510] Likewise, there is scholarly disagreement on whether insight was seen as liberating in early Buddhism or whether it was a later addition to the practice of the four jhānas.[491][511][512] Scholars such as Bronkhorst also think that the four noble truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight".[513] According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way".[144] In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.[144] Ashokan Era and the early schools Main articles: Early Buddhist schools, Buddhist councils, and Theravada Sanchi Stupa No. 3, near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, India. According to numerous Buddhist scriptures, soon after the parinirvāṇa (from Sanskrit: "highest extinguishment") of Gautama Buddha, the first Buddhist council was held to collectively recite the teachings to ensure that no errors occurred in oral transmission. Many modern scholars question the historicity of this event.[514] However, Richard Gombrich states that the monastic assembly recitations of the Buddha's teaching likely began during Buddha's lifetime, and they served a similar role of codifying the teachings.[515] The so called Second Buddhist council resulted in the first schism in the Sangha. Modern scholars believe that this was probably caused when a group of reformists called Sthaviras ("elders") sought to modify the Vinaya (monastic rule), and this caused a split with the conservatives who rejected this change, they were called Mahāsāṃghikas.[516][517] While most scholars accept that this happened at some point, there is no agreement on the dating, especially if it dates to before or after the reign of Ashoka.[518] Map of the Buddhist missions during the reign of Ashoka according to the Edicts of Ashoka. Buddhism may have spread only slowly throughout India until the time of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (304–232 BCE), who was a public supporter of the religion. The support of Aśoka and his descendants led to the construction of more stūpas (such as at Sanchi and Bharhut), temples (such as the Mahabodhi Temple) and to its spread throughout the Maurya Empire and into neighbouring lands such as Central Asia and to the island of Sri Lanka. During and after the Mauryan period (322–180 BCE), the Sthavira community gave rise to several schools, one of which was the Theravada school which tended to congregate in the south and another which was the Sarvāstivāda school, which was mainly in north India. Likewise, the Mahāsāṃghika groups also eventually split into different Sanghas. Originally, these schisms were caused by disputes over monastic disciplinary codes of various fraternities, but eventually, by about 100 CE if not earlier, schisms were being caused by doctrinal disagreements too.[519] Following (or leading up to) the schisms, each Saṅgha started to accumulate their own version of Tripiṭaka (triple basket of texts).[50][520] In their Tripiṭaka, each school included the Suttas of the Buddha, a Vinaya basket (disciplinary code) and some schools also added an Abhidharma basket which were texts on detailed scholastic classification, summary and interpretation of the Suttas.[50][521] The doctrine details in the Abhidharmas of various Buddhist schools differ significantly, and these were composed starting about the third century BCE and through the 1st millennium CE.[522][523][524] Post-Ashokan expansion Main article: Silk Road transmission of Buddhism Extent of Buddhism and trade routes in the 1st century CE. According to the edicts of Aśoka, the Mauryan emperor sent emissaries to various countries west of India to spread "Dharma", particularly in eastern provinces of the neighbouring Seleucid Empire, and even farther to Hellenistic kingdoms of the Mediterranean. It is a matter of disagreement among scholars whether or not these emissaries were accompanied by Buddhist missionaries.[525] Buddhist expansion throughout Asia In central and west Asia, Buddhist influence grew, through Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs and ancient Asian trade routes, a phenomenon known as Greco-Buddhism. An example of this is evidenced in Chinese and Pali Buddhist records, such as Milindapanha and the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhāra. The Milindapanha describes a conversation between a Buddhist monk and the 2nd-century BCE Greek king Menander, after which Menander abdicates and himself goes into monastic life in the pursuit of nirvana.[526][527] Some scholars have questioned the Milindapanha version, expressing doubts whether Menander was Buddhist or just favourably disposed to Buddhist monks.[528] The Kushan empire (30–375 CE) came to control the Silk Road trade through Central and South Asia, which brought them to interact with Gandharan Buddhism and the Buddhist institutions of these regions. The Kushans patronised Buddhism throughout their lands, and many Buddhist centers were built or renovated (the Sarvastivada school was particularly favored), especially by Emperor Kanishka (128–151 CE).[529][530] Kushan support helped Buddhism to expand into a world religion through their trade routes.[531] Buddhism spread to Khotan, the Tarim Basin, and China, eventually to other parts of the far east.[530] Some of the earliest written documents of the Buddhist faith are the Gandharan Buddhist texts, dating from about the 1st century CE, and connected to the Dharmaguptaka school.[532][533][534] The Islamic conquest of the Iranian Plateau in the 7th-century, followed by the Muslim conquests of Afghanistan and the later establishment of the Ghaznavid kingdom with Islam as the state religion in Central Asia between the 10th- and 12th-century led to the decline and disappearance of Buddhism from most of these regions.[535] Mahāyāna Buddhism Main article: Mahāyāna stone statue group, a Buddhist triad depicting, left to right, a Kushan, the future buddha Maitreya, Gautama Buddha, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, and a Buddhist monk. 2nd–3rd century. Guimet Museum A Buddhist triad depicting, left to right, a Kushan, the future buddha Maitreya, Gautama Buddha, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, and a monk. Second–third century. Guimet Museum The origins of Mahāyāna ("Great Vehicle") Buddhism are not well understood and there are various competing theories about how and where this movement arose. Theories include the idea that it began as various groups venerating certain texts or that it arose as a strict forest ascetic movement.[536] The first Mahāyāna works were written sometime between the 1st century BCE and the 2nd century CE.[448][536] Much of the early extant evidence for the origins of Mahāyāna comes from early Chinese translations of Mahāyāna texts, mainly those of Lokakṣema. (2nd century CE).[note 36] Some scholars have traditionally considered the earliest Mahāyāna sūtras to include the first versions of the Prajnaparamita series, along with texts concerning Akṣobhya, which were probably composed in the 1st century BCE in the south of India.[538][note 37] There is no evidence that Mahāyāna ever referred to a separate formal school or sect of Buddhism, with a separate monastic code (Vinaya), but rather that it existed as a certain set of ideals, and later doctrines, for bodhisattvas.[540][541] Records written by Chinese monks visiting India indicate that both Mahāyāna and non-Mahāyāna monks could be found in the same monasteries, with the difference that Mahāyāna monks worshipped figures of Bodhisattvas, while non-Mahayana monks did not.[542] Site of Nalanda University, a great center of Mahāyāna thought Mahāyāna initially seems to have remained a small minority movement that was in tension with other Buddhist groups, struggling for wider acceptance.[543] However, during the fifth and sixth centuries CE, there seems to have been a rapid growth of Mahāyāna Buddhism, which is shown by a large increase in epigraphic and manuscript evidence in this period. However, it still remained a minority in comparison to other Buddhist schools.[544] Mahāyāna Buddhist institutions continued to grow in influence during the following centuries, with large monastic university complexes such as Nalanda (established by the 5th-century CE Gupta emperor, Kumaragupta I) and Vikramashila (established under Dharmapala c. 783 to 820) becoming quite powerful and influential. During this period of Late Mahāyāna, four major types of thought developed: Mādhyamaka, Yogācāra, Buddha-nature (Tathāgatagarbha), and the epistemological tradition of Dignaga and Dharmakirti.[545] According to Dan Lusthaus, Mādhyamaka and Yogācāra have a great deal in common, and the commonality stems from early Buddhism.[546] Late Indian Buddhism and Tantra Main article: Vajrayana Vajrayana adopted deities such as Bhairava, known as Yamantaka in Tibetan Buddhism. During the Gupta period (4th–6th centuries) and the empire of Harṣavardana (c. 590–647 CE), Buddhism continued to be influential in India, and large Buddhist learning institutions such as Nalanda and Valabahi Universities were at their peak.[547] Buddhism also flourished under the support of the Pāla Empire (8th–12th centuries). Under the Guptas and Palas, Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana developed and rose to prominence. It promoted new practices such as the use of mantras, dharanis, mudras, mandalas and the visualization of deities and Buddhas and developed a new class of literature, the Buddhist Tantras. This new esoteric form of Buddhism can be traced back to groups of wandering yogi magicians called mahasiddhas.[548][549] The question of the origins of early Vajrayana has been taken up by various scholars. David Seyfort Ruegg has suggested that Buddhist tantra employed various elements of a "pan-Indian religious substrate" which is not specifically Buddhist, Shaiva or Vaishnava.[550] According to Indologist Alexis Sanderson, various classes of Vajrayana literature developed as a result of royal courts sponsoring both Buddhism and Saivism. Sanderson has argued that Buddhist tantras can be shown to have borrowed practices, terms, rituals and more form Shaiva tantras. He argues that Buddhist texts even directly copied various Shaiva tantras, especially the Bhairava Vidyapitha tantras.[551][552] Ronald M. Davidson meanwhile, argues that Sanderson's claims for direct influence from Shaiva Vidyapitha texts are problematic because "the chronology of the Vidyapitha tantras is by no means so well established"[553] and that the Shaiva tradition also appropriated non-Hindu deities, texts and traditions. Thus while "there can be no question that the Buddhist tantras were heavily influenced by Kapalika and other Saiva movements" argues Davidson, "the influence was apparently mutual."[554] Already during this later era, Buddhism was losing state support in other regions of India, including the lands of the Karkotas, the Pratiharas, the Rashtrakutas, the Pandyas and the Pallavas. This loss of support in favor of Hindu faiths like Vaishnavism and Shaivism, is the beginning of the long and complex period of the Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent.[555] The Islamic invasions and conquest of India (10th to 12th century), further damaged and destroyed many Buddhist institutions, leading to its eventual near disappearance from India by the 1200s.[556] Spread to East and Southeast Asia Angkor Thom build by Khmer King Jayavarman VII (c. 1120–1218). The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to China is most commonly thought to have started in the late 2nd or the 1st century CE, though the literary sources are all open to question.[557][note 38] The first documented translation efforts by foreign Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim Basin.[559] The first documented Buddhist texts translated into Chinese are those of the Parthian An Shigao (148–180 CE).[560] The first known Mahāyāna scriptural texts are translations into Chinese by the Kushan monk Lokakṣema in Luoyang, between 178 and 189 CE.[561] From China, Buddhism was introduced into its neighbours Korea (4th century), Japan (6th–7th centuries), and Vietnam (c. 1st–2nd centuries).[562][563] During the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907), Chinese Esoteric Buddhism was introduced from India and Chan Buddhism (Zen) became a major religion.[564][565] Chan continued to grow in the Song dynasty (960–1279) and it was during this era that it strongly influenced Korean Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism.[566] Pure Land Buddhism also became popular during this period and was often practised together with Chan.[567] It was also during the Song that the entire Chinese canon was printed using over 130,000 wooden printing blocks.[568] During the Indian period of Esoteric Buddhism (from the 8th century onwards), Buddhism spread from India to Tibet and Mongolia. Johannes Bronkhorst states that the esoteric form was attractive because it allowed both a secluded monastic community as well as the social rites and rituals important to laypersons and to kings for the maintenance of a political state during succession and wars to resist invasion.[569] During the Middle Ages, Buddhism slowly declined in India,[570] while it vanished from Persia and Central Asia as Islam became the state religion.[571][572] The Theravada school arrived in Sri Lanka sometime in the 3rd century BCE. Sri Lanka became a base for its later spread to Southeast Asia after the 5th century CE (Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and coastal Vietnam).[573][574] Theravada Buddhism was the dominant religion in Burma during the Mon Hanthawaddy Kingdom (1287–1552).[575] It also became dominant in the Khmer Empire during the 13th and 14th centuries and in the Thai Sukhothai Kingdom during the reign of Ram Khamhaeng (1237/1247–1298).[576][577] Schools and traditions Main articles: Schools of Buddhism and Timeline of Buddhism § Common Era color map showing Buddhism is a major religion worldwide Distribution of major Buddhist traditions Buddhists generally classify themselves as either Theravāda or Mahāyāna.[578] This classification is also used by some scholars[579] and is the one ordinarily used in the English language.[web 8] An alternative scheme used by some scholars divides Buddhism into the following three traditions or geographical or cultural areas: Theravāda (or "Southern Buddhism", "South Asian Buddhism"), East Asian Buddhism (or just "Eastern Buddhism") and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism (or "Northern Buddhism").[note 39] Buddhists of various traditions, Yeunten Ling Tibetan Institute Some scholars[note 40] use other schemes. Buddhists themselves have a variety of other schemes. Hinayana (literally "lesser or inferior vehicle") is sometimes used by Mahāyāna followers to name the family of early philosophical schools and traditions from which contemporary Theravāda emerged, but as the Hinayana term is considered derogatory, a variety of other terms are used instead, including: Śrāvakayāna, Nikaya Buddhism, early Buddhist schools, sectarian Buddhism and conservative Buddhism.[580][581] Not all traditions of Buddhism share the same philosophical outlook, or treat the same concepts as central. Each tradition, however, does have its own core concepts, and some comparisons can be drawn between them:[582][583] Both Theravāda and Mahāyāna accept and revere the Buddha Sakyamuni as the founder, Mahāyāna also reveres numerous other Buddhas, such as Amitabha or Vairocana as well as many other bodhisattvas not revered in Theravāda. Both accept the Middle Way, Dependent origination, the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Three Jewels, the Three marks of existence and the Bodhipakṣadharmas (aids to awakening). Mahāyāna focuses mainly on the bodhisattva path to Buddhahood which it sees as universal and to be practiced by all persons, while Theravāda does not focus on teaching this path and teaches the attainment of arhatship as a worthy goal to strive towards. The bodhisattva path is not denied in Theravāda, it is generally seen as a long and difficult path suitable for only a few.[584] Thus the Bodhisattva path is normative in Mahāyāna, while it is an optional path for a heroic few in Theravāda.[585] Mahāyāna sees the arhat's nirvana as being imperfect and inferior or preliminary to full Buddhahood. It sees arhatship as selfish, since bodhisattvas vow to save all beings while arhats save only themselves.[586] Theravāda meanwhile does not accept that the arhat's nirvana is an inferior or preliminary attainment, nor that it is a selfish deed to attain arhatship since not only are arhats described as compassionate but they have destroyed the root of greed, the sense of "I am".[585] Mahāyāna accepts the authority of the many Mahāyāna sutras along with the other Nikaya texts like the Agamas and the Pali canon (though it sees Mahāyāna texts as primary), while Theravāda does not accept that the Mahāyāna sutras are buddhavacana (word of the Buddha) at all.[587] Theravāda school Monastics and white clad laypersons celebrate Vesak, Vipassakna Dhaurak, Cambodia Main article: Theravāda The Theravāda tradition bases itself on the Pāli Canon, considers itself to be the more orthodox form of Buddhism and tends to be more conservative in doctrine and monastic discipline.[588][589][590] The Pāli Canon is the only complete Buddhist canon surviving in an ancient Indian language. This language, Pāli, serves as the school's sacred language and lingua franca.[591] Besides the Pāli Canon, Theravāda scholastics also often rely on a post-canonical Pāli literature which comments on and interprets the Pāli Canon. These later works such as the Visuddhimagga, a doctrinal summa written in the fifth century by the exegete Buddhaghosa also remain influential today.[592] Theravāda derives from the Mahāvihāra (Tāmraparṇīya) sect, a Sri Lankan branch of the Vibhajyavāda Sthaviras, which began to establish itself on the island from the 3rd century BCE onwards. Theravāda flourished in south India and Sri Lanka in ancient times; from there it spread for the first time into mainland Southeast Asia about the 11th century into its elite urban centres.[593] By the 13th century, Theravāda had spread widely into the rural areas of mainland Southeast Asia,[593] displacing Mahayana Buddhism and some traditions of Hinduism.[594][595][596] In the modern era, Buddhist figures such as Anagarika Dhammapala and King Mongkut sought to re-focus the tradition on the Pāli Canon, as well as emphasize the rational and "scientific" nature of Theravāda while also opposing "superstition".[597] This movement, often termed Buddhist modernism, has influenced most forms of modern Theravāda. Another influential modern turn in Theravāda is the Vipassana Movement, which led to the widespread adoption of meditation by laypersons. Theravāda is primarily practised today in Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia as well as small portions of China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bangladesh. It has a growing presence in the west, especially as part of the Vipassana Movement.
  • Condition: Good condition
  • Year Printed: 1913
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom
  • Topic: Buddhism
  • Binding: Fine Binding
  • Region: Asia
  • Subject: Philosophy
  • Original/Facsimile: Original
  • Language: English
  • Place of Publication: London
  • Special Attributes: 1st Edition, Illustrated, Limited Edition

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