Buddhism

[Rasputin]

Buddhism (known throughout the East as Buddha-Dharma) is a religion and philosophy focusing on the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni (Siddhārtha Gautama). He probably lived from the latter half of the sixth to the early 5th century BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the ancient Indian sub-continent in the five centuries following the Buddha's death, and propagated into Central, Southeast, and East Asia over the next two millennia. Today, Buddhism is divided primarily into three traditions: Theravāda (Sanskrit: Sthaviravāda), Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna. Buddhism continues to attract followers worldwide, and, with around 350 million followers, it is considered a major world religion.

When used in a generic sense, a Buddha is generally considered to be a person who discovers the true nature of reality through years of spiritual cultivation, investigation of the various religious practices of his time, and meditation. This transformational discovery is called bodhi - literally, "Awakening" (more commonly called "Enlightenment"). Any person who has become awakened from the "sleep of ignorance" by directly realizing the true nature of reality is called a Buddha. Śākyamuni is said to have been only the latest of many of these; there were other Buddhas before him and there will be others in the future. According to the Buddha, any person can follow his example and become enlightened through the study of his words "Dharma" and putting them into practice, by leading a virtuous, moral life, and purifying his mind. In general, the aim of Buddhist practice is to end all kinds of suffering in life. To achieve this state, adherents seek to purify and train the mind by following the Noble Eightfold Path, or the Middle Way, and eventually to gain true knowledge of reality and thus secure the ending (nirodha) of ignorance and of unhappiness and the attainment of liberation: moksha or nirvāṇa (Pāli nibbāna).

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[donsaeid]

موعود در آيين بودا


او براي مردم رفاه و بهروزي مي آورد و آموزه هاي بودا را ترويج مي كند. آنگاه كه چنين فضاي بهشت گونه اي فراهم شد، ميتريه از آسمان نزول مي كند و بودايي خويش را به كمال مي رساند.


پدر سدارته به شدت علاقه مند بود كه پسرش جهانشاه شود، و بر اساس يك پيشگويي، سعي داشت او را در كاخ نگه دارد و نگذارد او با رنج و دردهاي موجود در جهان آشنا شود. اما سدارته، كه اتفاقاً دردهاي جهان، مثل پيري، مريضي و مرگ را ديده بود، با مشاهده يك راهب ـ كه گويا از همه رنج ها آسوده بود ـ به اين نتيجه رسيد كه، اگر چه سراسر جهان، رنج است ، اما راهي براي رهايي از آن وجود دارد.

آشنايي با بوديسم

آيين بوديسم كه در حدود پنج قرن پيش از ميلاد در هندوستان پديد آمد، در واقع واكنشي در برابر تفكرات انحصارطلبانه برهمنان هندو بود. اگرچه در بوديسم، وجود شخص بودا و شناخت زندگي او در برابر اصل معنوي بودا شدن ، اهميت چنداني ندارد، ولي اصول كلي آيين بوديسم، به نحوي در مطالعه زندگي شخصي بودا روشن مي شود.

در مورد وجود و زندگي بودا اطلاع علمي دقيقي نداريم، و معلومات ما در اين مورد، به داستانها و افسانه هاي موجود در متون بوديسم ـ كه البته داراي يك نوع وحدت نظر است ـ منحصر مي شود.



پدر سدارته به شدت علاقه مند بود كه پسرش جهانشاه شود، و بر اساس يك پيشگويي، سعي داشت او را در كاخ نگه دارد و نگذارد او با رنج و دردهاي موجود در جهان آشنا شود. اما سدارته، كه اتفاقاً دردهاي جهان، مثل پيري، مريضي و مرگ را ديده بود، با مشاهده يك راهب ـ كه گويا از همه رنج ها آسوده بود ـ به اين نتيجه رسيد كه، اگر چه سراسر جهان، رنج است ، اما راهي براي رهايي از آن وجود دارد.

براي يافتن همين راه رهايي بود كه سدارته از كاخ فرار كرد و چند سال فراگيري تعاليم برهمنان و شش سال رياضت را تجربه كرد، اما در هيچ كدام راه رهايي را نيافت. سپس مدتي را به مراقبه و تفكر پرداخت و پس از مبارزه با شيطان، به مقام بودايي رسيد و حدود چهل و پنج سال از عمرش را به تبليغ آيين خود پرداخت؛ تبليغي كه ابتدا از شاگرداني شروع شد كه بودا را ترك كرده بودند.



همه فرقه هاي بودايي در اعتقاد به جوهر نظريات بودا، كه به چهار حقيقت مطلق مشهور است، مشترك هستند.
اين چهار حقيقت عبارت اند از:
حقيقت رنج: اين جهان پر از رنج و محنت است.
حقيقت علت رنج: سبب رنج آدمي، شوق و علاقه جسم خاكي و هواهاي دنيوي است.
حقيقت پايان رنج: وقتي ميل و هوس از بين برود، همه رنج ها پايان مي پذيرد.
حقيقت راه رهايي از رنج: راه رهايي از اين رنج در هشت چيز خلاصه مي شود:
بينش درست، انديشه درست، گفتار درست، كردار درست، معاش درست، تلاش درست، حضور ذهن و آگاهي درست، تمركز حواس و يكدلي درست.

بعد از مرگ بودا و در حالي كه تنها راه انتقال آموزه هاي او، سنت شفاهي بود، در اثر تفاسير مختلف گفته هاي او، فرقه هاي گوناگون بودايي پديد آمد. دو فرقه مهم كه در آيين بودا وجود دارد، عبارت اند از: "هينه يانه" و "مهايانه"





موعود در بوديسم



بودا به نجات دهندگاني گفته مي شود كه در زمان گذشته به دنيا آمده اند و ابتدا صورت بشري داشته اند، سپس به مرتبه اشراق رسيده و پس از اينكه انسان ها را به راه درست زندگي رهنمون شده اند، به مقام نيروانا (فناي مطلق) رسيده اند. سدارته گوتمه (بودا) از اين نوع است. در اعتقاد بوداييان، بودا يك نوع اصل است كه در زمان هاي مختلف، خود را توسط شخصيت هاي مختلف متجلي مي كند.

اما بود ستوه ها، در حقيقت، بوداهاي بالقوه هستند كه حيات جسمي فعلي ندارند . هر فرد بودايي، قبل از رسيدن به مقام بوداييت، يك بوديستوه است، مثلاً سدارته پيش از بيداري، يك بوديستوه بود. مفهوم بوديستوه اگر چه در متن تفكرات اصيل بودايي وجود داشت، ولي بيشتر توسط مهايانه مورد توجه و پردازش قرار گرفت.


اما در مهايانه توجه بيشتري به اين موجودات علوي شده است . در اين مكتب، سدارته (بودا) چهارمين بودا از بودايان زميني است كه به دنيا آمده است و پنجمين بودا كه خواهد آمد و اكنون بوديستوه است، همان ميتريه است.

ميتريه؛ منجي موعود بوديسم

همان طور كه گفته شد، مفهوم منجي و موعود در بودا را مي توان در همين مفهوم ميتريه ـ كه علي رغم اختلافات موجود، در هر دو مكتب عمده بودايي مشترك است ـ به وضوح ديد.
ميتريه بود يستوه اي است كه در آينده مي آيد، و هم اكنون در حال كمون است. او منتظر است كه زمان بروز و ظهور او در روي زمين اقتضا شود؛ در آن وقت، مرتبه شهود و اشراق را حاصل كرده، خلايق را در عصر خويش، همانند گوتمه، به سرمنزل سعادت رهبري كند، و به همگان مژده رهايي داده آنها را از چرخه برگشت به دنياي سراسر رنج نجات مي دهد.
مفهوم ميتريه در بوديسم ـ و خصوصاً در مهايانه ـ مورد احترام و بزرگي خاصي است، و از او تمثالها و پيكرهايي ساخته شده، و او را در نهايت مجد و بزرگي، به هيئت مردي نشسته كه آماده برخاستن است، نشان داده اند.
اگر چه در مورد جزئيات اتفاقات و زندگي ميتريه به هنگام زندگي در اين دنيا، معلومات يكسان و زيادي در متون مقدس بودايي وجود ندارد، ولي اعتقاد به آمدن او در بوديسم، يك اصل انكارناپذير است.

[Rasputin]

One with nature

To the contemporary Buddhist thinkers, violence is the result of the development of greed, aversion, and different views and beliefs hrough science, technology, and modern society.

The development of 'lobba', the Buddhist term for desire and greed, through technology and modern society has increased violence in our world. Technology is used as a tool for acquiring material wealth. Through technology industrialized enterprises such as factories are able to get the most productivity out of their workers. Hourly wages and measurement of the productiveness, has motivated workers to work harder in order to better their material standard of living.

This striving for money has increased greed and competition between people. Our laws today enforce the supremacy of individual profit making. The modern capitalist society is based on greed and material acquisitiveness. The values of capitalism include getting the largest share, and beating out all competitors. Capitalism redesigned society by separating human material desires and thus expanding its importance. This increases the value of material wealth and so results in more competition between people.

Buddhists see 'dosa' or aversion as one of the causes of violence in today's society. The technology that is used for acquiring resources has increased greed and thus created hatred through contention and dispute over material wealth. People compete for wealth and scarce natural resources. This competition intensifies hatred between them. This hatred and competition over material wealth and resources can also lead to wars between countries.

Views and beliefs, known as 'dittbi' by Buddhists, have also increased violence. Ideologies, religious beliefs, and social values are the views that strengthen greed and hatred in our society. The beliefs that control modern society are categorized into three groups. The first belief is that humans are separate form nature and so they must control and manipulate it according to their desires. The second belief states there are differences between humans. And the third belief is that happiness is dependent on plenty of material possession.

The belief that humans are separate from nature has resulted into heedless consumption and thus limiting our natural resources. The combination of this idea and the use of modern technology have resulted in a large consumption of our natural resources. Many industrial enterprises disregard the damages done to the environment and continue to consume the resources to their own benefit. Hatred and discrimination are the products of the competition for the limited natural resources and material wealth.

Violence can result from ideologies based on the belief that humans are different from one another. This belief originates from set of institutions including religion. Religious groups address humans in terms of small groups and not on a global level. This creates division between the different groups. Anti-Semitism was created by Christians. Humans have been classified into different groups, social classes, and races.

The Nazi ideology was a combination of racism, social Darwinism, and Manichaeism. Nazis singled out Jews for these ideological reasons. The dehumanization of the Jews and the use of modern technology enabled the Nazis to perform the mass murder of Jews. Through technology the Nazis focused on instrumental reasoning rather than decision making. So, the murders were performed without thinking and any moral sense. The technological and bureaucratic structure made the Nazi ideology seem natural.

The belief that happiness is dependent on abundance of material wealth results in greed, competition, hatred, and violence. The goal of this belief is to acquire the material wealth by the power to control other things such as nature or other humans. So the freedom and human happiness is associated with the power to control external circumstances.

To resolve this issue of violence in our society, equality and freedom among humanity is required. In our society, equality is divisive since it is based on competition, suspicion, and fear. In order to have equality, there must be unity and humans should see each other as equal beings. Today freedom and happiness is expressed by being free from external restrictions such as nature and other humans in order obtain more material wealth.

True happiness comes from physical, social, and inner freedom. Physical freedom is to live with nature and environment, free from want and deprivation. Social freedom is people living together without being exploited. The foundation of total happiness is the inner freedom which is being free on the personal level. This solution will free us from oppressive influence of greed, hatred and delusion.

[Rasputin]

Difference between Buddhism, Hinduism significant

Hinduism is not only one of the world's major religions with approximately 900 million adherents, but in its roots also lie three other major religions of the world: Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. This column focuses on Buddhism. This faith has its beginnings in about 560 B.C.E. and gets its name from the person who established it, Gautama Buddha.

Gautama Buddha was born into a Hindu royal family in northeastern India and was named Siddhartha. When he was born, a sage told his father that Siddhartha would either be a ruler or a wandering monk. Afraid of the latter possibility, the father reared his son in the sheltered confines of his palace and endeavored to protect him from the life and the inevitable suffering that lay beyond the palace walls. Siddhartha, however, was a restless soul and would not be limited by his father's concerns.

When, as a young man, he wandered away from the palace compound, he encountered human suffering in many forms. The only contented and fulfilled person he met was a wandering monk. Siddhartha was so influenced by the contrast between those immersed in matters of this world and one who had renounced it that he vowed to follow the monk's example.

He left his royal abode and immersed himself in seeking salvation through meditation and a complete life of the spirit.

After a time he is said to have attained enlightenment, and as Gautama Buddha began preaching the knowledge and wisdom he had attained. He did so for about 40 years, and his teachings are embodied in the faith that bears his name.

Though Buddha is revered as the founder of Buddhism, he did not consider himself a savior or a messiah in any sense of the term.

Buddhism and Hinduism have much in common, but there are significant differences between them.

Buddhism does not recognize any sacred books or divine personalities, or any form of authoritarianism. Even more than Hinduism it preaches that individuals are creators of their own destiny. Buddhists believe that suffering is a universal characteristic of all existence, that it is caused by ignorance, desires, and greed. Suffering can be overcome by following the faith's Eightfold Path, which can be summarized as a life of simplicity that is pure in thought and action and driven by the journey toward Nirvana - eternal bliss or release from the cycle of birth and death.

Buddhism teaches that until a soul attains Nirvana, it can be reborn but does not have the karmic burdens of a previous existence - a key teaching of Hinduism.

Buddhism rejects all ritual aspects of the faith from which it derives, and hence sometimes it is thought of as Hinduism cleansed of one of its aspects that can lead to corruption. Buddhism advocates a monastic life as the prime way to attain Nirvana. Hinduism, by contrast, teaches that Moksha/eternal salvation is equally attainable by all people if they rigorously follow its teachings.

It is interesting to note that though founded in India, Buddhism failed to take deep root in the country.

The faith is prevalent in Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Cambodia, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Tibet, Thailand, Sikkim, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.