Notes over Huston Smith's The World's Religions
Chapter Three - Buddhism

Budh - Sanskrit word meaning waking up to know (82)

Buddah was born in 563 B.C. in Nepal (83)

Full name - Siddhartha Guatana of Sakyas (83)

Buddah was born into wealth. For example he had exceptional unguents, three palaces filled with 40,000 dancing girls (83)
He was handsome and his dad was grooming him to be a king. (83)

Fortune tellers read Buddah's fate as a boy. If he stayed in the world he would be a Chakravartin - the world's greatest conqueror, but if he forsook the world he'd be the world's greatest redeemer (83)
MT: Sounds a little like Achilles and how his goddess mother told him that if he goes to battle, his name will live on and in that way he will achieve a certain immortality, however, if he declines to battle for Agammemnon, he will have a long, happy life, but nobody will tell his story through the ages.

The fleshly pleasures tarted to lose their charm, sumptuous feasts no longer held the same appeal (84)

At age 29, he kisses his wife and child and begins the Great Going Forth, clothing himself in poor quality raiment. (84)
The Great Going Forth would last a total of six years. (84)

First stop was joining up with Yogis, but Buddah quickly mastered all they had to offer. (85)
Next stop is assuming the life of an ascetic. He eats as little as six grains of rice per day (85)

Through these experiences he would later develop the Middle Way - a style of living halfway between ascetisim and indulgence (85).

Buddah thought the body should be given what it needs to perform optimally but no more (85)

One day in NE India, near PD Patna, he sits under the Bo tree (short for bodhi or enlightenment) (85).
This place would later be named The Immoveable Spot (86).

The Buddham faced a temptation not unlike that of Jesus. Kama, God of desire, tempted Buddha with voluptuous women and their delectable retinues. (86).

The tempter then shift-shaped into Mara, Lord of Death (86).

Soon Buddha was able to break through in what would be called The Great Awakening. At that moment, 10 thousand galaxies shuddered, lotuses bloomed on all the trees, the earth quaked six ways with wonder (86).

The bliss kept Buddha stuck to the ground for 7 days. On the 8th day he tried to rise from the ground but another wave of bliss kept him grounded. The waves of bliss did not let up for 49 days.

Mara still had one last temptation for Buddha. Mara asked Buddha, "Now that you are enlightened, who can possibly understand?" After all, the Buddha had experienced such a speech defying revelation. Mara continued, "Why even try to explain yourself to what is sure to be an uncomprehending audience." The Buddha replied, "There will be some who will understand" (87).

The Buddha from here went on to preach his ego-shattering, life-redeeming message (87).

Buddha would challenge Brahmin society (87).

For the rest of his life the Buddha would keep up a rigorous schedule of public speaking engagements, preaching and private counseling (87).

The Buddha probably maintained his energy because he would repeat the pattern of withdrawal from society followed by reemergence. Every rainy season, he retreated for three months to restore the source of his energy. Also, each day, he retreated three times a day for exercises. (87)

Buddha died in 483 B.C. from dysentary after eating dried boar's flesh served to him by Cunda the Smith (87).

Buddha said, "Please don't pray for me when I'm gone, because when I'm gone, I'm going to really be gone" (97).

Main aspects of the 4 Noble Truths (103)
Life is dukkha (suffering)
Life is tanha (desire)

The EightFold Path is about how to deal with tanha (desire)
Right views, intent, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration (113)

Q: What is Nirvana? Nirvana is that state where the faggots of private desire have been completely consumed and everything that restricts the boundless life has died (113)

Apparently, the west has had trouble seeing the state of nirvana in a positive way. But it is not necessarily negative. In the state of nirvana, individual awareness is eclipsed by the blazing light of total awareness (118).

Three important developments from Buddhism have been: (126)
Mayayana Buddhism - Korea, Japan, Tibet
Theravada Buddhism - Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand
Zen Buddhism - Japan, United States, Tibet

Basically, Mahayana is the equivalent of Protestant, whereas, Theravada is more traditional and strict, requiring a full time commitment, monastic orders, etc.

Zen Buddhism - 3 important words
Zazen- seated meditation
Koan - a problem, often a word problem that is somewhat unsolveable, pointing out the futility of language
Roshis - zen masters

The Koan can take a Buddhist a long time to solve, as much time as a doctoral dissertation. Koans use paradox, non-sequitur to exasperate, confound and ultimately exhaust the mind (134).