Buddhism

Mahayana Buddhism

REL 133

11/18/14

Marcial Lopez

Introduction

As a young man growing up in East San Jose I knew nothing about Buddhism, and very little about any type of religion. Although there were at least ten churches and places of worship within walking distance from my house, I never knew what religion was practiced in them. In the late 1980’s I witnessed a temple being built just two blocks from my home, and rumor was that it was going to be a Buddhist temple. When the temple was completed, it became somewhat of a landmark in the area because it really stood out among the predominantly suburban neighborhood. As time went on I never really gave much thought as to what went on behind walls surrounding the temple, but as I began the research for this project, the Pao Hue Buddhist temple was the first thing that came to mind. Now that I am a grown man, with a better understanding of how the world works, I have questions about that temple and what went on behind those walls, questions like where did the Buddha and Buddhism come from, what do Buddhist teach, and what is so special about Mahayana Buddhism?

Buddha & Buddhism

Buddhism is one of the world’s oldest religions, dating back to 580 BCE, and started by a young man named Siddhartha Gautama. As a child, priests foretold that his life could go in one of two directions: either he would follow in his father’s footsteps, inheriting his position and becoming a great king, a “world ruler”; or, if he were exposed to the sight of suffering,

he would become a great spiritual leader, a “world teacher” (Molloy, p125). Siddhartha’s father did what he could to shelter him from the sight of suffering, but as any young man would do he allowed curiosity to get the better of him. When Siddhartha left the royal grounds, he saw what would be called the Four Passing Sights, the toothless broken old man, the sick man, the dead man, and the wondering man with no possessions, but seemed to be at peace. What he...