Buddhism

Triple Jewel

In a practically unanimous way Buddhism is founded on triple base called the Three Jewels : the Buddhists state to take refuge in the Bouddha, the founder of Buddhism, in the Dharma, the whole of the lesson of the Buddha and in the Sangha, the community of the followers, (only the monastic order for some). It is precisely on this division that this article is structured.

The catch of refuge is to some extent the Buddhist baptism, the starting point of its spiritual engagement. To take refuge means to take support on the combined forces of the three jewels in order to ensure its release of the torments of the Samsāra, the storm of dissatisfaction and suffering of which one puts oneself at the shelter. However:

the term of " sarana" , that one generally translates by " refuge" , is not to include/understand as a place where one takes refuge to flee or escape misfortune. Etymologiquement, " sarana" wants to say " not appui" , " source of lumière". The Three Jewels are thus the bases of the practice, on which one takes support to walk on the Way, Three Jewels which illuminate darkness of ignorance.

Refuge is however the devoted term, but śaraṇa means also sanctuary, which brings other connotations of withdrawal, dedication and meditation, so that one can include/understand the traditional catch of refuge as follows: I go towards Joyaux triple as in a sanctuary .

V oici finally this traditional text of the catch of refuge, in Sanskrit, with its literal translation:

बुद्धंशरणंगच्छामि।

Buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi

To the Buddha in refuge I go,

धम्मंशरणंगच्छामि ।

Dharmaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi

In Dharma in refuge I go,

संघंशरणंगच्छामि ।

Saṃghaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi

In Sangha in refuge I go. V oici also the catch of refuge Tibetan, which includes the aspiration with the universal Awakening:

SANGYE/TCHEU TANG/TSHOG KYI/TCHOG NAM the

In the Buddha, Dharma, and Noble Sangha,

DJANG TCHOUB/PAR TOU/DAG NI/KYAB PENNY TCHI

I take refuge until the complete awakening.

DA GUI/DJIN SOG/GYI PEL/SEU NAM KYI

By the merit resulting from my practice from the gift and others perfections of virtue,

DRO LA/PEN TCHIR/SANGYE/DROUP BY SHOG

Which I can carry out the state of Buddha for the good of all the beings.

The Buddha

The Dharma, or the teaching of the Buddha

Four noble truths

The four noble truths (skt. catvāryāryasatyāni, stake. cattāri ariyasaccāni, tib. sdug bsngal gyi bden Pa):

the truth of the suffering : any life implies the Souffrance, the Insatisfaction;
the truth of the origin of the suffering : it rests in the Désir, the Attachements;
the truth of the suspension of the suffering : the end of the suffering is possible;
the truth of the way: the driving way at the end of the suffering is the center gate, which follows the Noble eightfold path.

Three characteristics of the existence

“Any phenomenon conditioned is unsatisfactory, any conditioned phenomenon is transitory and any thing is without oneself. ”

the not-oneself (skt. Anātman stake. Anatta ), or interdependence (rather conditioned coproduction) or impersonnality: atom with the universe - while passing by the human beings and their frames of mind - it has there nothing which has an independent and real existence by itself.
the impermanency (skt. Anitya stake. anicca ): all is constantly changing, all is flow, nothing is not fixed once and for all. " Nothing is constant if it is not the changement".
the dissatisfaction (skt. Duhkha stake. Dukkha ), or suffering: it is not only the physical suffering; because of impermanency of the things, nothing can satisfy us in an ultimate and final way.

These three characteristics of the conditioned existence universal, and known are once developed the direct vision of reality (stake. vipassanā , skt. vipashyanā ). With this intention, it is necessary to follow a drive to the development of our vigilance (stake. satipatthāna , skt. smrtipasthāna ).

The human being is thus not a thing in oneself, a indestructible entity containing a divine spark (in spite of the illusion that they A some), but the impermanent composition of the five aggregates which are the form (or corporeity), feelings, perceptions, mental formations and conscience. These aggregates (skt. skandhas stake. khandha) impermanent because is subjected them also to the “conditioned Coproduction” (skt. pratītya-samutpāda ), according to which all has a whole of causes and a whole of consequences. For the Buddhists, the me is thus only Vacuité (skt. Śūnyatā ).

To note that the Nirvāna escapes the characteristics from suffering and impermanency. A contrario , it is not one “in oneself” (skt. ātman ): it empty, but is inconditionné.

Three roots of the evil, or “ three poisons ”

The three poisons of the spirit can be as follows called:

Greed or Thirst ( trishnâ )
Anger or Aversion,
Ignorance or Indifference ( avidyâ ).

The veils of the spirit comprise for example:

Ignorance, illusion about the three characteristics of the existence;
Desire, greed, covetousness, attachment;
Hatred, anger against various objects;

The Bouddha estimated that the causes of the human suffering come from the incapacity to perceive reality correctly. This ignorance (which, as curious as that can appear, is a emotion, a disturbing mental factor) and the illusions which it causes lead to the greed of the men, with their desire to have more than the others, with the attachment and hatred tested for people or things.

Its philosophy is such as: the suffering is born from the desire or the desire. By removing them all two it succeeded in reaching the Nirvāna: the desire generates the desire. The desire, so not perceived, generates the sadness, the Frustration and the Colère.

Rebirths

Because of the three poisons on the one hand, and coproduction conditioned of the other, the men are brought to reappear in the Saṃsāra (the cycle of the rebirths). The " monde" (Loka) in which they will reappear will depend on their Karma, i.e. their actions. This rebirth thus makes only indefinitely prolong the suffering (“ don't you have enough of it to gorge the cemeteries? ” says a text). To note that in accordance with not-oneself, it is neither the same one, nor another which reappears (it is not, as in other religions, an immortal heart which “réincarne”). The Buddha proposes to awake of this nightmare, to drive out the clouds of confusion and the illusion to be illuminated by reality. Thus, the suffering and the cycle karmic will be broken. He defines the ultimate goal of his teaching as being “the delivery”, the “outcome”, “the release of the suffering” or Nirvāna.

Buddhism indicates that twelve bonds of interdependence are connected, generating the following, until the effect of the twelfth turns over to the first. This cycle of control produces finally births and death, and stops only when the nirvāṇa is reached. Finally the wheel of the karmic existence represents the three poisons by a pig (ignorance), a cock (attachment) and a snake (aversion). In addition, if these three poisons are factors of suffering (Duḥkha), the birth it, can result only from initial, original ignorance would say one.

The noble eightfold path

Buddhist ethics and precepts

In Buddhism, ethics is based on the fact that the actions of the body , of the word and the spirit have consequences for ourselves and for what surrounds us, the others like our environment. There are two kinds of actions, the actions kusala (meaning word Pali healthy, skilful, favorable, positive) and the actions akusala (unhealthy, clumsy, unfavourable, negative).

The clumsy actions are those which take their roots in the three basic poisons: greed, aversion and mental confusion or ignorance. They tend to have consequences bad for us or the others. The skilful actions are those which are of greed, hatred and mental confusion and which, instead of that, are justified by generosity, by the love , the compassion and comprehension. They tend to have positive consequences for us or the others. In Buddhism, an action is thus neither well nor badly in itself, but is favorable or unfavourable depending on the motivation and the frame of mind which underlies it.

Buddhist ethics thus invites us to become aware of the frames of mind in which we are and from which we act, speak or think and of being responsible as well for these frames of mind as consequences of our actions.

These principles are declined in precepts, which are not rules of interdicts, but of the guides of ethical behavior face to which we can measure ourselves and progress. They can also be seen like the natural operating process of an waked up person.

दिसोदिसंयंतंकयिरावेरीवापनवेरिनम् ।
मिच्छापनिहितंचित्तंपापियोनंततोकरे ॥

Diso disaṃ yaṃ taṃ kayirā verī vā breaded verinam,
Micchāpanihitaṃ cittaṃ pāpiyo naṃ taṃ kare.

Whatever the evil which an enemy makes with an enemy or heinous with heinous,
a badly directed heart makes an evil even larger.

( Dhammapada , “Cittavaggo tatiyo” on the heart, verse 42)

5 precepts

The precepts or sila most frequently followed are the five precepts, generally presented in a negative form:

to endeavor not to harm the living beings nor to withdraw the life,
to endeavor not to take what is not given,
to endeavor not to have an incorrect sexual control ─ more generally to keep the control of the directions (the mental one also forming part of the direction),
to endeavor not to use of false or untrue words,
to endeavor not to introduce very produced poisonous decreasing the self-control and the awakening (alcohol, Drogue S, Tabac).

They have also a positive form or Dharma , very useful, here with the first nobody:

With benevolent actions, I purify my body,
With a generosity without reserve, I purify my body,
With calm, simplicity and satisfaction, I purify my body,
With a true communication, I purify my word,
With an attention clear and radiant, I purify my spirit.

10 precepts

One uses sometimes a distinction in 10 precepts, which one can consider as correspondent with a refinement, a kind of prolongation of the 5 precepts above. These ten precepts are found in several canonical texts (for example Kutadana Sutta, in Digha-Nikaya).

The 10 precepts are:

to endeavor not to harm the living beings nor to withdraw the life,
to endeavor not to take what is not given,
to endeavor not to have an incorrect sexual control ─ more generally to keep the control of the directions,
to endeavor not to use of false or untrue words,
to endeavor to abstain from words hard or wounding,
to endeavor to abstain from useless words,
to endeavor to abstain from libelous words,
to endeavor not to have covetousness,
to endeavor to abstain fromanimosity,
to endeavor to abstain from false sights.

In their positive form, it is:

With benevolent actions, I purify my body,
With a generosity without reserve, I purify my body,
With calm, simplicity and satisfaction, I purify my body,
With a true communication, I purify my word,
With words salutary and harmonious, I purify my word,
With words benevolent and gracious, I purify my word,
Giving up covetousness for peace, I purify my spirit,
Changing hatred into compassion, I purify my spirit,
Transforming ignorance into wisdom, I purify my spirit.

(In this positive formulation, 6th and 7th “negative” precepts are gathered in only one).

Interpretation of the precepts

It was seen, these precepts are not absolute rules, but guides of ethical behavior. The application of some of them varies according to the people, of course, but also according to the traditions. If the first list of 5 precepts is considered, it is in particular the case:

Of the first precept. For some, this precept (that one takes it in his positive formulation or his negative formulation) implies in an unquestionable way the Végétarisme, for others not. It should be noted that in their region, the Tibetans did not practice it in general: this is probably due to the fact that the breeding was a source of development of grounds difficult to cultivate. Some practiced the vegetarianism, however, and nowadays a certain number of those which practice Buddhism Tibetan in Occident are vegetarians.
Of the fifth precept. For some, this precept, in particular if one considers it in his positive form of attention and awakening, implies the total abstention from alcoholic drinks, drugs, of tobacco, which all decrease the awakening and develop greed or the attachment. For others, which attach undoubtedly more to letter that to spirit of precept (or for traditions which to the wire of the centuries moved away from the spirit to stick to the letter of the precept), the ingestion of an minor amount of alcohol is possible, just like the consumption of cigarettes; thus for example, these last frequently form part of the offerings given to the monks in Sri Lanka.

The four incommensurable ones

The four will brahmavihāras , meaning led, pious feelings but also residences of Brahmā , is also called the incommensurable Four or unlimited , because they can be developed indefinitely. Cultivated without the intention to lead all the beings to the ultimate release, these four thoughts lead to a rebirth in the celestial world of Brahmā; developed with this intention, the four become incommensurable and lead to the perfect Awakening, as bases of the Bodhicitta.

They are extremely powerful positive emotions, developed by suitable practices. It is about:

the universal Benevolence ( mettā in pāli, maitrī in Sanskrit), developed by the practice of Meditation called the mettā bhāvanā;
the Compassion ( karunā ), born from the meeting of the benevolence and the suffering of others, developed by the meditation called Karunā bhāvanā;
the joy sympathetic nerve ( muditā ), which consists in being delighted by the happiness of others (Muditā bhāvanā);
the equanimity ( uppekkā, upeksā ) or peace, which goes beyond the compassion and of the joy sympathetic nerve is a state of peace vis-a-vis any circumstance, happy, sad or indifferent (Uppekkā bhāvanā).

See Four incommensurable like Samatha bhāvanā, for the whole of the méditatives practices.

The awakening (bodhi)

For the theravādins, the awakening is perfect comprehension and the realization of the four truths; it is a question of awaking nightmare with repetition of the successive rebirths, and of making spout out the truth. For the followers of the Mahāyāna on the other hand, the awakening has to see more with the wisdom and the awakening of its clean natural of Buddha.

The awakening makes it possible the man to enter the nirvāṇa, then to reach with its death the Parinirvāna, the complete extinction. The cycle karmic is thus broken forever.

Where Buddhism theravāda insists on the complete and irreversible extinction of the Saṃsāra, the mahāyāna leaves with the Bodhisattva S the possibility of being maintained there, without however producing karma, by compassion for the living beings, which they then will guide towards the awakening.

Vacuity

Three bodies (or kāyas) of Buddha

The Canon pāli indicates three bodies of Gautama Bouddha:

its body formal makes of the four elements (pāli caturmahābhūtikāya ), that is to say the historical body of Gautama.
the mental body (pāli manomayakāya ) by which Gautama went in the divine kingdoms
the body of the doctrines (pāli dhammakāya ), the whole of the lesson, which remains a certain time after the death of Gautama.

The concept takes importance in the school Sarvāstivādin. But it acquires a significance thereafter strong différente.
Indeed, in the Mahāyāna, the Three bodies, demonstrations of a Buddha, are not separate entities but expressions of the ainsity (tathāta) which are one. They are there respectively,

the Nirmānakāya, body of demonstration, of emanation,
the Sambhogakāya, body of happiness, or pleasure,
the Dharmakāya, body of Reality, or ultimate.

Writings of Buddhism

The Saṅgha

See also: Buddhism in the world, Sangha (Buddhism), Sangha

Saṅgha is the community of the beings which follow the teaching of the Buddha. It is one of the three places of Refuge. One distinguishes “Noble Saṅgha” (skt. Arya Saṅgha ) consisted of the beings having reached an high level of release and ordinary Saṅgha, comprising all the beings according to the way of the Buddha.

There are today two principal branches of Buddhism: the Theravāda (often confused with the Hīnayāna, or “Small Vehicle”, a reducing name) and the Mahāyāna or “Large Vehicle”. Theravāda is the “Way of old”, and follows the faded gun established towards I er. It would be thus most faithful at the origins. It is now most widespread with the Sri Lanka, with the Myanmar, in Thailand, with the Laos and with the Kampuchea, while Mahāyāna, forms later and more popular, is rather widespread in China, with the Japan, in Korea and with the Tibet. The Zen and the amidism are the most known subdivisions of Mahāyāna. The Tantrisme Tibetan or Vajrayāna, the “vehicle hard” is sometimes quoted as a third branch of Buddhism, sometimes like an extension of Mahāyāna. The Japanese version of Vajrayāna Buddhism is the Shingon.

With died from the Buddha, Buddhism separated in several schools (called nikāya ). Dissensions, which were largely noted for example at the time of the third council (towards 250 before J. - C.), were not long in occurring and led to a scission. The Old ones ( Thera ) wanted to remain (or turn over) closest to the precepts of the Buddha, when their opponents, brought together within the “Large Parliament” (mahāsāmghika) sought to be dissociated from this “conservatism”, to adapt the teaching of the Buddha and to make it more accessible. This request will be later on exaucée by the appearance of the “Large Vehicle” the Mahāyāna, whose followers pejoratively called this Buddhism supposément original: Hīnayāna, small vehicle. This last tendency still diversified it also in various schools, whose only one alternative still exists: Theravâda (what explains why one employs today a term for the other). One should not however see there only one major Schisme, this series of ruptures being made gradually and more or less harmoniously, the two types of monks often living the same monasteries.

See also: Theravāda, Hīnayāna, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna

There exists today a certain number of movements in Asia and Occident seeking “to modernize” Buddhism. Although these minorities are sometimes looked like deviating of the real lesson of the Buddha, others support that they represent the thoughts and the philosophy of a considerable quantity of Buddhists, in particular Buddhist youths living in Asia. The main movements concerned are the Bouddhisme evangelic the universal Véhiculisme and the Sōka Gakkai.

The evaluations of the number of Buddhists oscillate between 230 and 500 million, generally around 350 million.

History and development of Buddhism by country

Buddhism was born in the Indian world, about at the same time as the Jaïnisme, with which it shares a certain tendency to the questioning of the Hindouisme, such as it was practiced at the time. Buddhism takes again many philosophical concepts of its environment, in their giving however an appreciably different direction.

Principal schools of Buddhist philosophy

Buddhism in France

Buddhism largely developed in France thanks to the arrival of large Masters of various traditions, which founded many centers. Let us quote among good of others: Taisen Deshimaru for Zen, Kalou Rinpoché and Guendune Rinpoché for Buddhism Tibetan.

Scenario writers as Arnaud Desjardins also contributed to make known the lesson in this country.

In France, several Buddhist organizations are recognized as religious congregations by the Central Office of the Worships which depends on the Ministry for the Interior, according to the law of the December 9th 1905 relating to the separation of the Church and the State. There are currently 10 in the tradition of the Bouddhisme Tibetan:

Congregation Ganden Ling
Congregation Karma Migyur Ling
Congregation Dashang Rhyme
Vajradhara-Ling Congregation (see also Vajradhara-Ling)
Congregation Karmé Dharma Chakra
Congregation Kundreul Ling
Congregation Pél Drukpay Tcheutsok
Congregation Kagyu Rintchen Tcheu Ling (see also Kagyu Rintchen Tcheu Ling)
Congregation Dashang Kagyu Ling
Lerab Ling

Always according to the Buddhist Union of France, there would be approximately 800.000 Buddhists in France from which the 3/4 would be of Asian origin. (Figure of 1986). In 1999, the sociologist Frederic Lenoir estimated at 5 million “the Buddhist sympathizers”.