Schools and Teachers

061. THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM

Along with precious stones and metals, ivory, silk and other commodities, Buddhism spread along the Silk Route which traversed China and Russia and connected great empires such as Persia and Rome, and also Egypt and the Mediterranean, with the East. The faith took root in central and southeast Asia, Nepal, Mongolia, China, Japan, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The wide spread of Buddhism is traditionally likened to a lion’s powerful roar.

062. CHALLENGES OVERCOME

Buddhism died out in India following the destruction of Nalanda University, the great seat of Buddhist learning in India, and the widespread eradication of Buddhist practice by Muslim expansion in the 11th century. More recently, Communism virtually obliterated Buddhism in China. However, today Buddhism is thriving in Sri Lanka, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and countries in the West, and it is beginning to re-emerge in China and Mongolia. The appeal of Buddhism is universal: as Albert Einstein said, “If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism.”

063. THREE SCHOOLS

Many schools and traditions arose after the death of the Buddha, but over the centuries most of them either vanished or were absorbed into other schools. In the first century BCE new ideas within the existing schools in India came to form the Mahayana or “Great Vehicle” teachings, which eventually became the Northern tradition of Buddhism that spread to Tibet, China and Japan. Today there are three main traditions of Buddhism: the Theravada (or Southern tradition), whose texts are based on the Nikayas in the Pali language; the Mahayana (or Northern tradition), which mostly uses texts originally written in Sanskrit; and the Vajrayana (or Tibetan tradition). Each tradition has its own history and also different schools within it.

064. COMMON FEATURES

The fundamental principles of the Dharma and the vinaya (the disciplinary rules of monastic life) date back to the Second Council, which took place 100 years after the Buddha’s death, before there was any division. The Dharma and the vinaya are thus common to all Buddhist traditions.

065. MAHAYANA

The Northern tradition is so named because it was particularly successful in the north of India and in China, Korea and Japan. The Mahayana emphasizes the bodhisattva ideal, that each person should work for the happiness and welfare of all beings by cultivating aspiration toward enlightenment (bodhicitta) and the practice of the paramitas (virtues). Different schools (such as Zen) developed, each with its own monasteries and teaching lineages. Each school was based on one or more of the Mahayana sutras which stressed particular teachings, themes or ways to practise (see entry 71).

066. THERAVADA – THE WAY OF THE ELDERS

Pronounced “terra-vah-dah”, this school of Buddhism is known as the Southern tradition because it is most firmly established in south and southeast Asian countries such as Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Theravada Buddhists today number well over 100 million worldwide. Theravada monks wear orange robes – perhaps the most recognized symbol of Buddhism in Western eyes.

067. TANTRA AND VAJRAYANA

Tantra (meaning “principle” or “weave”) developed in the 7th century, influenced by both Hinduism and the Mahayana. It eventually led to the founding of the Vajrayana (Tibetan) school. The Mahayana and the Vajrayana share the aim of attaining Buddhahood, but the esoteric Tantric practices claim to offer a shortcut.

068. THE PALI CANON

After the Third Council, convened by Emperor Asoka of India in the 3rd century BCE, missions were sent to spread the standardized teaching of the Buddha. This teaching, brought to Sri Lanka by Mahinda and Sanghamitta, was written down in Pali in about 25 BCE as the Pali canon. It is also known as the Tipitaka (Three Baskets).

069. THE SUTRAS

The second part of the Pali canon contains the sutras (suttas in Pali), called agamas or nikayas outside the Theravada school. When new schools developed, new sutras or texts were composed, similar in form to the existing ones but expounding new ideas. The word sutra, meaning “thread”, is derived from the Vedic word siv – “to sew”.

070. TIBETAN SCHOOLS

The oldest school of Buddhism in Tibet, Nyingma was founded in the second half of the 8th century, during the early spread of the Dharma, by the great teacher Padmasambhava. With a particularly strong Tantric identity, and so having esoteric traditions, Nyingma does not require all its lamas (teachers) to be monks. The later Tibetan schools, the Sakya, Kagyu and Gelug, are collectively known as sarma, or “new schools”. These later schools assumed political control over Tibet.

071. ZEN

The meditation school of Japanese Buddhism, Zen is a transliteration of the Chinese word chan, which is itself an abbreviation of chan-na, from the Sanskrit word dhyana, meaning meditation, or absolute stillness of the mind.

072. THE MIND-ONLY SUTRA

Bodhidharma is said to have brought the Lankavatara sutra with him to China. This sutra is the exposition of the “Mind-only” school, which maintains that consciousness is the only reality, and that all outside objects are merely manifestations of our minds. This belief is also known as "non-duality".

073. THE SIXTH PATRIARCH

Hui-neng (638–713) was the sixth patriarch of Zen Buddhism and the founder of the southern school of chan, which became the dominant school of Zen. Hui-neng was a poor, illiterate peasant boy from the Guangdong province of China. One day, after delivering firewood to a shop, he overheard a man reciting a line from the Diamond Sutra: “Depending upon nothing, you must find your own mind.” Instantly, Hui-neng was enlightened. The verse went on to say: “All bodhisattvas should develop a pure mind and heart which cling to nothing.”

074. NO NONSENSE

Lin-Chi (Rinzai in Japanese) (died 866) was a Chinese master who taught directly and simply: “When you walk, just walk. When you sit, just sit. Just be your ordinary, natural self in ordinary life, unconcerned in seeking for Buddhahood. When you’re tired, lie down. The fool will laugh at you but the wise man will understand.”

075. A GREAT REFORMER

Hakuin (1685–1768) lived in a remote temple and became known for his challenging teachings, which aroused the Rinzai school from complacency. Hakuin maintained, “Where there is thorough questioning there will be thorough experience of awakening.”