Following is a rough and not-so-ready
HTML version of some of my notes from Huston Smith on
Buddhism, placed here for my students and other colleagues.
Smith, of course, is not responsible for my cites and
miscites from others' works, nor for my errors and asides.
Comments, additions, and corrections are welcome.
Please send them to:
email: KAGAN@maple.lemoyne.edu
Siddhartha Gautama of the Sakyas
Bring Campbell's HERO for tales.
N.B. some date Buddha back as being born in 624 BCE
(see HS, p. 359, n. 2). AT 16 married Yasodhara; one
son, called Rahula.
Bring Campbell's HERO for tales.
I. LIFE OF BUDDHA [APPROX 560 BCE - 480]
A. The four passing sights
1. Make sure to discuss the story of the four passing
sights; get student s to list them; relate this to
finitude; relate this to problem of ultimate meaning,
etc.
B. Age 29 left home (deserted wife and child?)
C. Discuss this issue before going on to IB in regular
notes. 6 years lived as forest dweller studying raja
yoga before joining a band of ascetics. Recommend
Hesse's SIDDHARTHA.
B. The Search
1. Yoga
2. Asceticism
3. The long sitting under the Bo tree
4. Enlightenment
(BEFORE TEACHING CAREER, DISCUSS METHOD OF "WITHDRAW
AND RETURN" IN TERMS OF YEARLY AND DAILY SCHEDULING.
RELATE THIS TO THE NECESSITY AND POSSIBILITY OF A
SABBATH.
II. TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA
A. Teaching Career
1. character of the teacher
a. head, heart, & bearing
b. could read character of others; e.g. tale of
Sunita, the flower scavenger
c. was accessible
d. tried to attract with Truth, not charisma (HS, 99)
B. Smith's six aspects of religion
1. Authority [certain ones have competence to
decide the affairs of the religious life]
2. Ritual [celebration and concern]
3. Speculation [e.g., concerning God, our
relation to G.,ultimate beginnings and ends, etc.
4. Tradition [doing for us what instinct does
for others]
5. "God's sovereignty and grace" "The
realization that one's existence is completely
dependent upon factors beyond one's control
6. Mystery
C. Smith sees Buddha's teaching as a response to
the overdoing of the 6:
1. Buddha preached a religion devoid of
authority.1
a. "I have not kept anything back" "The
Tathagata (the 'thus come') has no such thing as the
closed fist of the teacher." [Smith 104]
b. "Do not accept what you hear by report, do
not accept tradition, do not accept a statement because
it is found in our books, nor because it is in accord
with your belief, nor because it is the saying of your
teacher. . . . Be ye lamps unto yourselves. . . .
Those who, either now or after I am dead, shall rely
upon themselves only and not look for assistance to
anyone besides themselves, it is they who shall reach
the very topmost height."[Smith, 105, quoting from E.A.
Burtt's [ed.] TEACHINGS OF THE COMPASSIONATE BUDDHA,
pp. 49-50, Mentor Books, New York, 1955.}
2. Buddha preached a religion devoid of ritual.
a. "Trust in efficacy of rites and ceremonies"
is one of the ten fetters [see Noss, p. 121 for full
list].
3. Buddha preached a religion devoid of
speculation.
a. "Work out your salvation with diligence"
Pragmatic focus on misery and the elimination thereof;
certain questions "tend not to edification" [See page
289ff., SOURCEBOOK IN INDIAN PHILOSOPHY.]
1. Tell story of the arrow [106 Smith] (read &
discuss)
4. Buddha preached a religion devoid of
tradition.
5. Buddha preached a religion of intense self-
effort. Buddhas do but point out the way--work out
your salvation with diligence."
6. Buddha preached a religion devoid of the
supernatural.
a. "By this ye shall know that a man is NOT my
disciple--that he tries to work a miracle." [HUSTON
SMITH, 108]
D. Smith's summary of "original Buddhism":
1. It was empirical in terms of knowing for
one's self
2. Scientific in its concern with cause and
effect relationships
3. Pragmatic ["transcendental pragmatism"]
4. Therapeutic
a. Discuss this in terms of the Indian medical
model of diagnosis, aetiology, prescription &
prognosis.
5. Psychological {individual to universe, not
vice-versa}
6. Democratic
7. Directed to individuals
". . . be ye lamps unto yourselves. Be ye a refuge
unto yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external
refuge. Hold fast to the truth as a lamp. Hold fast
as a refuge to the truth. . . . Work out your own
salvation with diligence." [HUSTON SMITH 109 quoting
Burtt., p. 49, again.]
A. The three characteristics
1. Dukka [suffering]Use this note during
lecture2
2. Anitta [transience]
3. Anatta [ultimate unreality of the atman
self]3
F. The Four Noble Truths
{See SOURCEBOOK, p. 273 ff., for focused readings on
the following}
* 1. Life is DUKKA [suffering]
a. Birth is;
b. sickness is;
c. decrepitude is;
d. fear of death;
e. attachment to what one abhors
f. separation from what we love.
g. The Five SKANDAS4 are suffering as well
1. body [rupa];
2. perception [jamjna]
3. feelings [vedana]
4. samskharas ["configurations", "innate
tendencies" "predispositions"--patterns of repetition.5
or volitional dispositions.6
5. ideation, reasoning or intelligence [vijnana]
*2. Suffering is caused by desire [tanha, HUSTON
SMITH sees this as egoistic desire]
*3. Suffering can be eliminated by eliminating
tanha.
*4. Tanha can be eliminated by following the
Eightfold Path.
A. The Eightfold Path7 [9fold, allowing for
Smith's inference of the preliminary step of right
association, which does not seem [to me] to be a
necessary condition.
1. Right knowledge;
a) of the three aspects and the 4 noble truths.
b) Smith makes the useful point that reason must
at least not interfere with a clear kavanah for it to
remain clear and effective.
2. Right aspiration/intention == kavanah;
3. Right speech;
a) charity [transego]
b) avoid deceit [ego protective]
4. Right behavior;
a) The first Five Precepts of the Ten Precepts
[quoting Noss 113, replacing Arabic with Roman
numerals]:
(1) Refrain from destroying life (the principle of
ahimsa). 160
(2) Do not take what is not given.
(3) Abstain from unchastity.
(4) Do not lie or deceive.
(5) Abstain from intoxicants.
(6) Eat moderately and not after noon.
(7) Do not look on at dancing, singing, or
dramatic spectacles.
(8) Do not affect the use of garlands, scents,
unguents, or ornaments.
(9) Do not use high or broad beds.
(10) Do not accept gold of silver.
5. Right occupation
6. Right effort [for the long haul, if necessary]
a) with an awareness that too much oil drowns the
wick.
7. Right mindfulness.[alertness, and self-
examination]
a) discuss the relation of this to psychological
theories of restriction of our experience, and the
Buddhist emphasis on attaining to the truth.
8. Right absorption [HUSTON SMITH], rapture of
concentration [SOURCEBOOK.]
G. Basic Buddhist Concepts [HUSTON SMITH 123ff.]
[May 8, 1986 11:49 AM]+++
1. Nirvana: "blowing out, extinction".
a. Again the problem of ineffability
i. relationship to mystics' "God"
2. Anatta"
a. Discuss in terms of Whiteheadian inheritance,
using the Buddhist example of transferring flame from
one candle to another through a series.
b. and in terms of the denial of substance,
c. relationship to questions such as "where does
the fire go when it's out"; "where did the light go
when I turned off the switch?".
III. "BIG RAFT AND LITTLE" [HUSTON SMITH PP.
132FF.]
A. HUSTON SMITH 3 questions that divide people:
(relate this to William James' distinction between
tough and tender minded===which will be looked at in
more detail in later section of philosophy 201/philosophical
perspectives) .
1. independence or interdependence of persons
2. relationship of individual to the universe
a. at odds or in harmony
3. which is best part of the individual, head or
heart?
B. Mahayana [focus on Buddha's LIFE]
1. individual salvation tied in with salvation
of others, the tender-minded school
2. the key virtue is karuna, compassion
3. Centers on laymen--bodhisattva ideal
C. Hinayana [Theravada==include this note8--
focus on Buddha's TEACHINGS]
1. The human person is fundamentally alone, and
each of us is responsible for his/her own salvation.
2. The key virtue is bodhi [wisdom]
3. Centers on Monks--Arhat ideal
CHART P 138 SMITH:
THERAVADA MAHAYANA9
Person as individual Person as involved
with
others
Emancipation by self-effort Salvation by grace
Key virtue: Wisdom Compassion
Religion full-time {monks central} Lay people important
Arhat ideal Bodhisattva ideal
Buddha a saint Buddha a savior
Eschews metaphysics Elaborates
metaphysics
Eschews ritual Includes Ritual
Confines prayer to meditation Includes petitionary
prayers
Conservative Liberal
Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Mongolia Tibet China
Cambodia Korea Japan
according to HS, unified 5 Major divisions
including Zen
IV. ZEN [TRACES ITSELF BACK TO THE FLOWER SERMON]
a. The problem of words [the five colors . . .]
b. Bodhidharma [520 CE to China]"A special
transmission outside the scriptures."
c. The training: zazen, koan, sanzen
[consultation with the master]
1. Satori
i. Ordinariness involved [before I studied Zen,
mountains were mountains . . .]
ii. actor in circumstance [work]
iii. Peak experience, full awareness
iv. not-two
v. ox-herding pictures [314 ff. 3 PILLARS.]
2. Influence on Japanese culture
i. sumi [black ink landscape painting]
ii. gardening
iii. flower arrangement
iv. tea
v. bushido
V. VAJRAYANA: THE DIAMOND WAY
Orig, "thunderbolt of Indra, in Mahayana, becomes
B's diamond scepter.
HS sees it Tibetan Buddhism as Tantric Buddhism,
with Tantra explained as "Extension" and as
"interpenetration" (as in weaving). The system is
distinguished in that it claims to allow one to gain
nirvana in one lifetime. By employing all energies.
Known for its inclusion of sexual energy. HS thinks
"What distinguishes Tantra is the way it wholeheartedly
espouses sex as a spiritual ally, working with it
explicitly and intentionally" keeping "the physical
and spiritual components of the love/sex splice in
strict conjunction . . . "[p. 141]
Movement and sound and image in meditation and
prayer.
Mantras, Mudras, Mandalas
Dalai Lama as bodhisattva manifestation of
compassion
"an activity of presence" 144, discuss_
END NOTES
1Though my notes on Buddhism and Hinduism are all
in deep debt to and close followings of Smith, the
"Buddha preached a religion devoid of . . ." sections
are direct quotes and should be presented with
acknowledgment.
2SMith, p. 111f, discusses the Pali term as having
to do with being off-center, or out of joint--
dislocated, like HHH's shoulders..
3Here I am relying on Noss, 118.
4Smith describes the word as meaning SKEINS on p.
129.
5Here I am relying on Noss, p. 116.
6See SOURCEBOOK IN INDIAN PHILOSOPHY, p. 272.
Note that there is a reference there to a SOURCEBOOK IN
BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY then [1957] being planned; try to
find it.
7 115 ff., Smith; p.277f., SOURCEBOOK IN INDIAN
PHILOSOPHY.
8"Little raft--Way of the Elders"
9Very close rendering of HUSTON SMITH, p. 138.
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