An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism: The Essentials of Buddhist Spirituality (4 page)

xi

In the tumultuous 1950s and ’60s, many of the discontented youth of

the period came to the conclusion that the solution to their dissatisfac-

tion must lie somewhere deeper than the immediately tangible realm.

This did not turn them to Christianity, however, as they associated

this religion with the complacent materialistic world of their parents,

against which, precisely, they were rebelling.

Consequently, many turned their gaze to the Eastern religions, and

in particular to Buddhism. Only a few, however, were serious enough

to acquire a deep or sufficient knowledge of genuine Buddhist teach-

ings. The majority had more enthusiasm than authenticity, and often, it

seemed, filled their heads with a Buddhism of their own making. This

was due not only to their lack of seriousness, but also to the unavail-

ability, or inaccessibility, of easily assimilable and reliable information.

It is this lack of information, and the resulting vagueness about Bud-

dhism—which persists to the present day—that this book seeks to ad-

dress.

As with the author’s previous books in the “Outline” series, the

purpose of
An Il ustrated Outline of Buddhism: The Essentials of Bud-

dhist Spirituality
is to provide a brief but comprehensive presentation

of the religion concerned. It aims at summarizing its essential doc-

trines and practices, as well as noting its principal schools and cultural

forms.

Because of Buddhism’s several perspectives and ethnicities, it is

difficult to write a “unitary” account of it without running the risk of

over-simplification. In particular, every effort has been made to do

justice to the
Hīnayāna
(
Theravāda
) and
Mahāyāna
views regarding

the nature of Ultimate Reality, namely whether this be looked on as a

Supreme State (
Nirvāna
) or a Supreme Being (variously referred to as

Ādi-Buddha
,
Vajradhara
,
Dharmakāya
,
Mahāvairochana
, or
Dainichi
Nyorai
). Neither school has a watertight viewpoint, in that each perspective contains the other within itself—at least implicitly. This com-

plex question is touched on briefly in chapters 1 and 8.

In this new edition, many il ustrations of Buddhist art are provid-

ed, as well as tables of detailed information—which may be encoun-

tered in the course of reading about Buddhism. There is also a bibliog-

raphy of suggested further reading.

William Stoddart

xii

An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism

Buddha in the supreme state of
Nirvāna
, Angkor Wat, Cambodia

I teach two things, O disciples: suffering and release from suffer-

ing
.

The Buddha (
Samyutta-Nikāya
, xxii, 86)

1

(1) Special Characteristics of Buddhism

Buddhism, at least in its
Theravāda
form,1 is virtual y unique amongst

the religions of the world, in that it envisages “Ultimate Reality”, not as a

Supreme Being (Almighty God), but as a Supreme State (
Nirvāna
).
Be-

cause of this seeming absence of the concept of God, at least in the man-

ner envisaged by the Semitic religions, some have gone so far as to cal

Buddhism an “atheistic religion”,—a contradiction in terms—, while

others have alleged that it is not a religion at al , but a “philosophy”.

Both of these views are incorrect. The “Supreme State” in Bud-

dhism and the “Supreme Being” in the other religions are each expres-

sions of the same transcendent Reality: That which is absolute, infinite,

and perfect. Thus, the apparent difference between Buddhism and the

other religions is in fact a difference of point of view or angle of vision.

The essence of the matter is that Buddhism, like the other religions,

has both its origin and its goal in the Eternal, the Sovereign Good. This

is the nature of Ultimate Reality, and it is with Ultimate Reality that

religion as such is concerned.

Buddhism is neither “atheistic” (in the usual connotation of this

term), nor a “philosophy” (in the sense of being man-made); it is a

revealed religion, coming from Ultimate Reality and leading to Ul-

timate Reality. There is no religion without revelation, that is to say:

without revealed truth and without revealed sacramental means of

liberation, deliverance, or salvation. These fundamentals are present

in Buddhism, as in every other traditional and orthodox religion, and

constitute its essence and its
raison d’être
.

Every religion—be it Semitic, Hindu, Buddhist, or Shamanist—

takes account of the two divine aspects of Transcendence and Imma-

nence. These can be expressed by different pairs of terms: Height and

Depth, Above and Within, Remoteness and Proximity, Transcendent

Being and Immanent Self, Divine Object and Divine Subject. One

could say that religious law pertains to Transcendence, whereas the

voice of conscience pertains to Immanence. Ultimate Reality is both

Transcendence and Immanence, and every religion, in its theology

and spirituality, expounds and has recourse to these two divine aspects

in its own way. In the history of religions, and particularly in mod-

ern times, some heresies have had their origin in the neglect of one or

other of these realities. In general terms, one might say that “transcen-

1 For the two main schools of Buddhism, see p. 53.

2

An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism

dentism” without “immanentism” can lead to a kind of deism, whereas

“immanentism” without “transcendentism” can lead to subjectivistic

il usion. The majority of contemporary cults could be said to be “im-

manentist” heresies.

The Semitic religions—except occasional y in the context of their

mysticism or spirituality—tend to emphasize the aspect of Transcen-

dence (the Divine Being), whereas Buddhism tends to emphasize the

aspect of Immanence (the Divine State). Nevertheless, the transcen-

dentist—or “theistic”—perspective is also present in Buddhism, and

characteristical y comes to the fore in the
Mahāyāna
school. In his
Out-

lines of Mahāyāna Buddhism
(chapter IX), D. T. Suzuki writes: “God,

or the religious Object of Buddhism, is general y called
Dharmakāya-

Buddha
and occasional y
Vairochana-Dharmakāya-Buddha
; still an-

other name for it is
Amitābha-Buddha
or
Amitāyus-Buddha
,
the last

two being mostly used by the followers of the
Sukhāvatī
(‘Pure Land’)

sect of Japan and China.” Suzuki states further: “The
Dharmakāya
as-

sumes three essential aspects: intelligence (
prajñā
),
love (
karunā
),
and will (
pranidhānabala
).”2

Even in the
Hīnayāna
branch, the theistic perspective is by no

means entirely absent. Moreover, it is an interesting and significant

fact that, in several
Theravāda
3 countries—Sri Lanka and Thailand,

amongst others—the nearness of Hinduism served to reinforce the

theistic component in the prevailing spiritual climate.

In summary: whereas most religions emphasize the “transcendent”

aspect of Ultimate Reality, namely the Supreme Being or God, Bud-

dhism characteristical y emphasizes the “immanent” aspect, namely

the Supreme State or
Nirvāna
.
Nevertheless, Buddhism, in its total

breadth, contains both aspects, the immanent and the transcendent,