Unit 2, Lecture 5: Mahayana and Vajrayana

Mahayana: “The Great Vehicle” - Sees themselves as inheritors of the Buddha’s higher teachings - AKA Hinayana (“The Little Vehicle” - South and East Asia (Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam) - Sanskit Sutruas (additional, higher teachings of the Buddha) - Teaches emptiness, mind-only, and Buddha-nature - “Samsara is nirvana” Goal: enlightenment for all sentient beings “bodhisattva (a being who is working towards their enlightenment and the enlightenment of all sentient beings; sacrifices that quick nirvana) - Laypeople can also reach full enlightenment - Many buddhas and bodhisattvas are worshipped - Buddha are active helper in the present - Eternal buddha Upaya - A means or a strategy, skillful/means Mahayana: the buddha will lie/teach thngs that are not true, if he thinks it will be helpful to people o Lotus Sutra: the buddha gives analogy of burning house; father tries to get children to leave so the father lies that there are better toys outside --> justified as they would die and does buy them toys § Buddha sometimes tells us things aren’t fully true as it’s only way to slap sense into us Founder of the religious tradiion explicity says that sometimes he’ll lie, but when he does, it will be good for you Dharma-s Irreducible things; when you break it down and can’t break it down anymore; breaking something down to an atomic level - That which cannot be broken down further Physical things or single moments of consciousness/mind that can’t be broken down is real to Theravada Emptiness view for Mahayana: you never come to anything irreducible, and you never find anything to be ultimately real; everything is emptiness of existence in the way we think of it The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras - Can go all the way to one syllable: “a” like the prefix negating any word Mind-Only Physical Skandha doesn’t exist; there’s only the mental Skandha; once you understand the basic skandhas, you can move onto the higher teachings and break attachment to the physical beings Vajrayana Buddhism - “The Diamond Vehicle” - Developed within Mahayana Buddhism - Origins ca 6th c. CE - AKA Tanta and Esoteric Buddhism (secret practices) o Tantra evolved both Hindu and Buddha texts Provides esoteric techniques (initiations, visualizations, mantras) and non-dualist teachings said to provide a short-cut to enlightenment o Unlike the other 2 where only need to follow the 3 Jewells, “short-cut” as they believe it takes lifetimes. Thinks samsara is nirvana (life rn) o Mantra: sacred formula, short, repeated prayer § Ex. OM mani padme HUM (sacred jewell) non-dualism of impure vs pure (passions/desires can become enlightened) -> can be dangerous if not under guru (Aryadeva’s Purification of the Mind) - Especially important in Tibetan Buddhism (all schools) Mandalas: used as ritual elements, or individually as object of mediation - Symbol of entire cosmos or world within