Buddhism

5. BUDDHISM

Chapter Overview

Buddhism was born in the sixth-century BCE in the foothills of the Himalayas. It spread from

India throughout southern and southeastern Asia until it took root in China and later Japan. This

tradition offers timeless wisdom for dealing with life s real problems. Buddhism teaches that our

only hope for salvation comes through the realization that all of life is in some way unsatisfactory.

The goals of the chapter are these:

1. To sketch out a biography of Siddhartha, founder of Buddhism

2. To lay out the foundational tenets of Dharma, the wisdom of Buddha, especially the Four

Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path of Liberation

3. To show the distinctiveness of Buddhism s understanding of karma, reincarnation, and

Nirvana

4. To explain distinctions between important expressions of Buddhism; namely, Theravada

(also known as Hinayana, the Lesser Vehicle), and Mahayana (also known as the

Greater Vehicle), Zen, and Pure Land

Students should find the chapter section on the life of the Buddha lively and engaging. It may

be good to remind them throughout the chapter that Buddha is a religious title and not a proper

name. In history, we would not find a family called Mr., Ms., and baby Buddha-- one would not

have invited the Buddha s over for dinner. The rest of the chapter may be a challenge to

students powers of concentration. Approximately 50% of Chapter 5 is devoted to topics

concerning Dharma and the different expressions of Buddhism. The perennial problem of

missing the forest for the trees may be encountered due to the details involved with this rather

massive section of material. To help students keep their attention focused and thoughts

organized as they work through the information, an initial outline of significant topics and

subtopics may prove useful. One could make the following three-part outline available to

students.

I. Dharma (the truths of reality, and the right conduct for each person s state of...