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Intensive Lecture Mahayana Buddhism: How Buddha's Teachings Were Transformed

Sep 06, 20246 min read

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Why are the teachings different even though they are the same Buddhism? “Buddhism of the Buddha”, which was supposed to have emerged for the purpose of “self-training”, when, where, why, and how did it change into Mahayana Buddhism” with the aim of “saving sentient beings”? This is an unprecedented overview of Buddhism that explores the essence of Mahayana Buddhism through a dialogue between a leading original Buddhism expert and a working student who visited his laboratory. [Contents Lecture 1: From “Buddha’s Buddhism” to Mahayana Buddhism Lecture 2: The spread of the idea of “hollow” - “Prajnaparamita Sutra”. Lecture 3: The Buddha of the Long Ago - “Lotus Sutra” Lecture 4: The Power of Amitabha - Pure Land Buddhism Lecture 5: The Buddha Who Illuminates the Truth of the Universe - “Avatamska sutra”, Esoteric Buddhism. Lecture 6: Where Is Mahayana Buddhism Headed?

I now know I can call myself a Buddhist.

  • It is encouraging that we can now explain the rationale for this (see below: Changing the definition of a broken monk).
  • Flow up to now
    • 1: When I was a child, I somehow got involved in Buddhism by “participating in the rituals my parents were doing,” and I vaguely perceived it as “Buddhism” X.
    • 2: As you grow up and become more clear about your idea Y, you begin to think “this idea X is different from my idea Y”.
    • 3: As I learned more about Buddhism, I began to feel that “there should be a distinction between the Buddhism commonly seen in Japan and the Buddhism of Buddha. - 2024-08-31My religious beliefs
  • I learned that (3) has the name “Mahayana non-Buddhist theory”.
    • p.102

    • Tominaga Nakamoto, a historian of thought from the mid-Edo period (1603-1868), argued that all Buddhist scriptures were not based on the teachings of a single historical Buddha, but were established by successive additions of later generations in response to the religious needs of each era / Mahayana non-Buddhist theory / Today it is a common theory in the academic world

    • At the time, there was fierce opposition from the Buddhist community, but Nobunaga Motoya praised it highly.
  • Then the question, “Is today’s Buddhism, which is not the doctrine of the Buddha, Buddhism?” is Buddhism?
    • This is related to the “redefinition of a broken monk” by King Ashoka in the 3rd century B.C.
    • p.24

    • In an old book titled “Māyāsāgi Rituals,” it is clearly stated, “Even if there are those in the Sangha who insist on a different interpretation from that of the Buddha and there is a dispute, as long as they live together in the same place and perform group rituals together, they are not broken monks. If they begin to perform the rituals separately, then they are broken monks.

    • p.25 Abhidharma Clubhouse theory - Wikipedia 5th century

    • In the Buddhist philosophical treatise “Kusha-ron,” which was written much later than the Māyāsāgi-ryĆ«, there are two definitions of a monk-breaker: “There are two kinds of monk-breakers,” he writes. There are two kinds of monks. The first is to teach doctrines that are contrary to the Buddha’s teachings, which is called havorin (chakravada). The other is to refrain from performing rituals together, which is called hakkoma (karma veda).

    • In other words, the definition of “if you participate in the same group ritual, you are one of us”.
    • (Of course, since this is a story after the Buddha’s death, there are those who do not recognize it. I take the position that “when I explicitly call it ‘the Buddhism of Buddha,’ I am speaking in the narrow sense that does not recognize this, and when I call it ‘Buddhism,’ I am speaking in the broad sense that recognizes this, and it is the latter that I take refuge in.)
  • Participation in one’s own collective rituals - I attended the first anniversary of my wife’s father’s death on 2024-09-03 hokkaido, which means that I participated in a group ritual. - the wish to have one’s ashes scattered before one’s eyes read Jodo Shinshu (offshoot of the Jodo sect), so it must be Jodo Shinshu (offshoot of the Jodo sect) [White bones (Gobun) - Wikipedia https://ja. wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BD%E9%AA%A8_(%E5%BE%A1%E6%96%87)] Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji 8th Rennyo.
  • This means that people can participate in more than one community and that their participation forms their identity

altruism of the Buddha

  • p.41
  • Make others aware of your training by showing them how hard you work at your practice.
    • make an example of
  • ↔ Altruism in Mahayana Buddhism
    • Sacrificing yourself to save someone else.
      • self-sacrifice
  • This is related to The Spirit of Selfishness.

p.66

  • Dharma body.
    • The idea that “the teaching itself” (the Dharma body) is Buddha, not Buddha in human form.
    • Prajnaparamita Sutra
  • This is the same as my idea that “the physical body is not the main body, but the information transmitted is the main body.

p.71

  • Placebo is Latin for “I will comfort you.”
    • Useful Miscellaneous

Lotus Sutra

  • commodity that serves as a convenient means of delivery

p.84

  • Interesting as a thought development process.
  • A → B is stronger than A → B is stronger than A. Since the existence of a difference between B and A is not acceptable, a unified C is introduced → C and A contradict each other → it is a convenience. - the end justifies the means
  • Don’t associate this with Markdown standardization.
  • https://xkcd.com/927/

Meeting legal challenges is the basis of righteousness. - Sadaparibhuta (bodhisattva)

  • It’s like a social justice warrior.

p.104 - pragmatism

p.180

  • Rules for maintaining the community of sangha
  • (in traditional Eastern music) step (corresponding to a Western semitone) Chinese Buddhism emphasized the Law, but it collapsed when it was imported to Japan. That’s because it was used for the purpose of sedition.
  • There was no need to create a community that was not a country.
  • p.146
    • The Kegon Sutra is useful in creating a centralized state structure

Proximity of Mahayana Buddhism to Hinduism - D. I. Suzuki

all plants, all trees, and all things in the land are created equal

Intensive Lectures on Mahayana Buddhism

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