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In Buddhism, a bodhisattva struggles to achieve ten perfections. Only when these have been achieved can the bodhisattva become a Buddha.
The ten perfections are charity, right conduct, dispassionateness, wisdom, steadfastness, forbearance, truthfulness, determination, loving compassion, nonattachability.
Think about the ten perfections. How do you think they can be achieved? Choose one perfection. Describe how a person could achieve it.
Do you remember learning how to read? Most people are taught the letters of the alphabet and are told that these letters can form sounds. But this is a new way of thinking, and it takes time to adjust to it. For most people, the next step, recognizing words and sounds, is a breakthrough. Suddenly, the marks on the page make sense. They can read.
According to Zen Buddhism, enlightenment also calls for a new way of thinking. We are used to solving problems using reason. But enlightenment isn’t reasonable. So Zen uses unreasonable ways of teaching to help students reach enlightenment.
One unreasonable teaching method is the use of koans. These are problems, but problems that rational thinking can’t solve. In order to find an answer to a koan, the student must think in a different way. One koan asks, “What was the appearance of your face before your ancestors were born?”
How do you think it would feel to be given problems like this one to solve? Try to imagine your reaction to solving koans. Describe your reaction.
Tibetan Buddhists have a visualization practice called tonglen. This is a way of awakening the compassion that lies within all people, as well as a way of overcoming the fear of suffering.
Try practicing tonglen yourself. Think of a person with a specific problem like sickness, greed, or meanness. Try to pick a person you don’t especially like. Close your eyes. Imagine that you are lifting this problem out of his or her body and taking it into your own body, where it is destroyed.
How did your attempt at tonglen feel? Do you think that practicing it often would change your attitude to the person you chose? Explain.
Another Buddhist practice is bowing to the Buddha. This is not a slight bow from the waist, but a full prostration. The practitioner’s knees, forearms, and forehead all touch the ground.
Bowing sounds like an easy way to practice Buddhism. Proper bowing, though, requires physical, mental, and spiritual awareness. It is not enough to bow because other people bow, or because you want other people to think well of you because you are devoted.
While you are bowing, your mind can’t wander. You can’t think about getting something to eat as soon as you’re done bowing. You need to focus on bowing, on the Buddha’s teachings, and on the Buddha-nature.
How do you think that bowing in this way could help a student of Buddhism?
Everyone wants to be happy, but according to Buddhism, there is no such thing as individual happiness. Because all people are interconnected, the happiness of one person depends on the happiness of all people. In order to be happy, all people must develop positive attitudes toward all other people and sentient beings. One way to do this is through the Four Immeasurables.
The Four Immeasurables are four positive states of mind. They are call immeasurable both because they are directed toward an immeasurable number of other beings and because the amount of good karma they create is immeasurable.
The Four Immearusables are loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity.
Loving-kindness is the wish that all sentient beings should be happy – not just the people we like, but all people and animals.
Compassion is the wish for all sentient beings to be free from suffering.
Appreciative joy involves rejoicing in the happiness of others, not just our own happiness.
Equanimity calls for regarding all sentient beings as our equals.
How do you think developing the Four Immeasurables can contribute to happiness? Explain.
The Buddha was a person and not a god. The lesson of his life is that people can live without suffering in a state of happiness. What can a person do to stop his or her suffering?
Like the Buddha, each person has to experiment to find a way to enlightenment. The first step is to identify habits that interfere with happiness and habits that can help lead to enlightenment.
List your own bothersome bad habits. Also list some good habits of yours that might lead to profound happiness.
Hinduism developed over a long period of time; although the religion is about 3,000 years old, some elements are much older. Hinduism is not based on the teachings or words of any one person. Although there have been many teachers within Hinduism, it has no single fundamental teacher and no prophets. Hinduism does not have one holy book that lays out tenets of the religion. It combines ideas from different cultures and periods.
In what ways does this make Hinduism different from other major world religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism?
Here are some facts about Hinduism.
- Has about 800 million followers worldwide
- Has no founder or prophets
- Not a single, unified religion
- About 80% of the population of India considers themselves Hindus
- Over 3,000 years old
- Includes the concept of a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth
- Has many deities, including Krishna, Shiva, and Rama
Use these facts to write a paragraph about this ancient religion.
About 3,000 years ago, Hinduism began near the Indus River of northwestern India. It spread throughout India and across East Asia. Although many of the countries in this region later adopted Buddhism or Islam as their primary religion, Hindu influence is still seen in the culture and literature of much of Southeast Asia. Today Nepal is the only official Hindu state in the world. (Although many Indians are Hindu, India has no official state religion.)
Find Nepal on a map. Why do you think this country has stayed primarily Hindu while other countries converted to other religions?
Hinduism is the Western name for traditional Indian religion. The Indian name is Sanatana Dharma, or “Universal Religion.” The word Hindu is probably a Persian mispronunciation of “Sindhu,” another name for the Indus River. This name was first used for traditional Indian religion in the early 1800s. Since then, it has become the accepted English term.
Think about other instances where ideas from one culture are given a different name by another culture. How would you react if an idea that is important to you were referred to by a different name? Do you think it is appropriate to use our own words for ideas from other cultures, or should we use the original culture’s terms?