East-Religions.5: Mahayana Buddhism - teachings
East-Religions.5.2: Jeffrey Huston (jhuston) Wed, 29 Oct 1997 08:21:25 CST (65 lines)
As time passed and Buddhism grew and expanded, so did its ideas of the role of Buddha as well. It seemed that the devotion that had most of the following in India at the time of expansion is the type of devotion that took hold as Buddhism expanded. By the time Buddhism reached Central and Eastern Asia, Mahayana Buddhism was the common denominator of the faith. Buddhism reached China by way of the famous silk roads.Buddhist missionaries and monks established monasteries along these routes. Buddhism was quickly accepted by merchants, travelers and often kings. Many belive that many of the advancemants and writings of the Mahayana tradition may have come out of this region. After the sixth cenury, the silk road lost most of its travelers because it became dangerous to pass. Because of this the ties between Indian and Chinese Buddhism were severed and Buddhism's center slowly became China.
As buddhism reached China, it was forced to compromise some of its importance because of traditional religions such as Daoism and Confucianism. Buddhism embraced several aspects of each but did not change drastically. However, after the fall of the Han dynasty, which was primarily under Confucianist control, collapsed Buddhism exploded onto the scene. It soon found itself at the forefront of religions in China. Many members of Confucianist followings wre converted to Buddhism. Soon the followers ranged from the elite down to common people. This launched the Golden Age of Buddhism in China which lasted over 250 years. New dynasties sponsored Buddhist monasteries and stupas during this time and Buddhism flourished.
Buddhism entered Korea by way of China around the 4thcentury C.E. Several lineages were created over time but in the 7th century, Wonhyo created the Popsong, or dharma essence. It became the model for typical Korean Buddhism because it attempted to unify all of the different teachings. Vietnam received Mahayanist teachings from China around the 6th and 17th centuries. It created its own form of Zen and combined it with Pure land practices like China and Korea. In 1963, all of the individual lineages of Buddhism were combined to form the United Buddhist Church Of Vietnam.
Buddhism came to Japan by way of Korea in the sixth century. On a diplomatic mission, Buddhist scriptures and other images were brought over and soon Buddhism had support of the royalty from where it soon reached the commoners. Two famous monks, Saicho and Kukai, went on a pilgrimage to China and returned to establish lineages in Japan. Saicho returned and established the Tendai lineage, which later gave seed to Chan (Zen) and Pure Land Buddhism, which are prominent in Japan to this day. Kukai came back with two ideas that stemmed from Chinese Vajrayana lineage, forming Shingon-shu.
As Mahayana Buddhism reached central and eastern Asia, its pantheon of Buddhas changed according to location. The pantheon took on mythologies and symbols, as well as indigenous deites from Eastern Asia. The historical Buddha's story resembled those of Chinese sages. Stories connected he buddhas to chinese life, and Buddhas and bodhisattvas were given attributes and powers of the original native deities. In Japan, buddhas were identifieds as indigenous spirits and dieties, or kama.
In most cases, Sakyamuni Buddha remained central in many of the different schools. However, in others, different aspects of the Buddha were central. An example is the Amitabha Buddha, who is the central figure of Pure Land Buddhism.
In essence, the power of Buddhism in this area depended on the political leaders. It flourished when it had the support of kings and dynasties, and decreased when it had lost favor. Also, in some places, the monastics became too rich and powerful, creating much tension between them and the peasants and the government. This is interesting because the reason Mahayana was created seemed to be to lessen the importance of the monastics. In Central and Eastern Asia, Buddhism found itself under tight political control in many places. Regardless of these controls, Buddhism still playss an important role in the culture and stability of these countries.
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East-Religions.5.3: Laura Schmutz (lauraann) Wed, 29 Oct 1997 08:23:19 CST (19 lines)
Community Development:
From the beginning, Mahayana Buddhism differed from Theravadan in the relations between the monastics and the laity. It allowed for all people, whether monastic or laity to have the potential to achieve liberation. The life of the layperson centered around the monastery. In order to achieve this liberation, the person must take a vow claiming that they were "earnestly seeking enlightenment for the sake of others" (Fenton, p.124). Anyone who had taken this vow was considered a bodhisattva. The moanstics and laity still maintained a traditional Buddhist relationship where the moastics provided religious ceremony, etc; and the laity provided food and clothing to the monastics. As wealthier perople began to sponsor the monasteries, the gifts of the laity became less important and the closeness between hte laity and monastics diminished. As Buddhism moved into East Asia, the laity began to adapt their roles in Buddhism to fit their social lives. Each class began to adapt their own religious practices, rituals and organizational structures to support these. According to Fenton, these reforms among the laity was responsible for keeping hte Buddhist traditions in East Asia alive and flourishing.
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East-Religions.5.4: Shanna Weaver (sweaver) Wed, 29 Oct 1997 11:36:43 CST
(12 lines)
As Buddhism moved out of India, views of Dharma changed and different schools were created. Eastern Asia schools were more ifluential, and "distinctively their own" (Fenton, p.145). The Tiantai system, for example wnet through five phases as it adapted to society. The first phase stated Buddah taught Mahayana stories from the Avatamsaka Sutra. The second phase began when Buddha discovered this to be "too profound and complex for his uninitiated hearers to understand" (Fenton, p.145) and teachings were shifted to different sources (including Great Perfection of Wisdom).
As Buddhism developed into other countries, the views altered. Some even adapeted Buddhist thoughts to encompass simularities from Western Christian cultures (Fenton, p. 152).
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East-Religions.5.5: Jeffrey Huston (jhuston) Wed, 29 Oct 1997 14:44:46 CST
(30 lines)
Michelle wrote this I'm just posting it:
Mahayana Buddhism, which means "Greater Vehicle," began around the beginning of the common era. Mahayana teaches that everyone has an equal chance of attaining liberation from the world, They also teach that Buddah are always in existence. Once someone becomes a Buddha, they will always be a Buddha and will always be enlightened. These Buddhas can be reached through "meditative visualization and in the worship of their properly consecrated images" (Fenton 118).
From the development of the ssutras by the Mahayana, two schools came about to explain them. One of these is the Madhyamika, based on the sutras called 'The Perfection of Wisdom.' These texts were a "protest against what the Mahayanists regarded as the mistakes of Conservative Buddhism (Fenton 121). 'The Perfection of Wisdom' said that "all entities, whether whole beings or songle dharmas, are empty of inherent existence" (121). The other school that came about was Yogacara. This school was mostly concerned with the nature of perception. They examined this through meditation. They came to the conclusionthat the things they see "have no absolute distinction" (121).
The Mahayana communities evolved from the "communities of bodhisattva-ganas" which contained forest monks and lay people. These communities eventually turned into monasteries. In the Mahayana communities, though, anyone could practice Buddhism. This is because the "true practice of Buddhism was not a matter of one's ordination...but of one's attitude"(Fenton 123). In order to do this, one had to take a vow and than that person is called a bodhisattva, someone who was seeking enlightenment "for the sake of others"(124). With this new way, new rituals and devotionals were developed. These rituals and devotionals paralleled the puja rituals of the Hindus.
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