Buddhism: Sources of Wisdom and Authority
Notes
● Dhamma - Life and teachings of the Buddha - GCSE RS Revision - BBC Bitesize
● Buddhism and the Origin of Evil - BBC Bitesize
● 7 Reasons Why MB is the Greater Vehicle - Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
● Arhats and Boddhisattvas - A-Level Philosophy and Religion
● The Trikaya - Learn Religions
● Dharmakaya - Encyclopedia of Buddhism
● Sambhokagaya - Learn Religions
● Nirmanakaya - Learn Religions
● Nirmanakaya - Yogapedia
● Pali Canon - A-Level Philosophy and Religion
● The specification mentions under SOWA: "The relevance of philosophical enquiry for religious faith, with
particular reference to the debate about the nature of faith as ‘belief in’ or ‘belief that’"
○ ‘Philosophical enquiry’: this is asking you to look into how philosophy can be applied to Buddhism
(to support or go against it).
○ Belief in vs. belief that - H.H. Price makes this distinction:
■ Belief in = faith in something, e.g., God.
■ Belief that = accepting that something exists, e.g., a belief that God exists.
■ The spec is asking you to explore the philosophical discussion on belief and truth (in
relation to Buddhism), e.g., religious language (Flew (religious statements are not fact
claims (because they can’t be falsified) and are 'expressions of wishes' ∴ meaningless.
Hare says they are opinions and beliefs (as Flew says), but they are meaningful to the
believer and Mitchell they are fact claims and are meaningful (significant articles of faith).
■ Could also link ‘belief in’ to miracles, religious experience etc.
● Upaya Kusala - an enlightened person’s ability to tailor their message to a specific audience.
● Karmic deficiency of women - (TBs believe) being born a woman is a result of your bad karma.
● Karuna - Compassion.
● Hagiography - the biography of a saint; considered a sub-genre of sacred narrative, a ‘myth’ used to convey
what the tradition regards as deep truths.
● Three Poisons/Fires - The 3 ultimate things that perpetuate human suffering: greed, ignorance, and hatred.
● Paticcasamuppada - ‘Dependent origination’, everything is tied to everything, ‘chain of causation’; all things
depend on other things for their existence.
● Dharma (AKA the Buddhadharma) - The teachings of the Buddha.
● Dharmas - What reality is made up of; phenomena sometimes referred to as ‘the building blocks of life’.
● Religious authority - an ultimate source of authority containing accurate and authoritative knowledge
about the founder and teachings of a religion and can give guidance on how their believers should behave.
The Significance of the Buddha
● Theravada Buddhists believe the Buddha is not supernatural, nor is he accessible today - he is not an
interventionist. This is largely because of the Buddha’s teachings in the Pali Canon, specifically about
enlightenment and the end of suffering. Mahayana Buddhists believe the very opposite due to the Trikaya
Doctrine - they believe the Buddha is a supernatural being and that he is accessible to us now, as well as all
the Bodhisattvas in their realm. They believe that the Dalai Lama is a human manifestation of a Bodhisattva.
● The Buddha is not considered as a God but rather a person who is looked to for help and guidance. There is no
belief in a creator God in Buddhism.
● The two Buddhist schools strive towards different things:
, The Significance of the Buddha’s Life
Some Buddhists believe the Buddha’s birth story was hagiographical, not biographical. The Four Sights and other
stories of Gautama’s life (particularly before nirvana) are not real for all Buddhists - they are a myth for some.
Birth Stories and Early Life -
● The Buddha was born on the present-day border between Nepal and India. His family was royal, meaning he
had a very privileged background with everything he could desire at his feet.
● His mother had a dream where a baby elephant blessed her with its trunk - this was seen as auspicious.
Furthermore, his mother had a painless birth, describing it ‘like a rush of water’. Gentle rain fell on his mother
when the Buddha was born.
● The Buddha could speak almost right after his birth, and told his mother that he was there to free mankind
from suffering.
● The Buddha walked in all four directions and a lotus flower grew after each of his footsteps. This reference to
the four directions suggests he is significant for everyone.
● The Buddha’s father did not want him to become a religious leader, as the holy man (Asita) had predicted (he
said he would either become a religious leader or a political ruler), but rather a ruler. Therefore, his father
locked him in the palace. He lived a life of luxury with no suffering or pain, avoiding seeing death or old age. In
fact, his father only employed young people and fired them when they began to show signs of ageing.
● The fact that he was not born as a regular baby shows his relevance as an authority figure - he is special, and
not like the rest of us.
● The Buddha’s story appeals to both the rich and the poor. The rich are more likely to heed his word and
respect him because he comes from riches and royalty, and the poor are likely to listen to him because he
gave it all up to search for the cause of suffering.
The Four Sights -
● The Buddha once saw a swan die by the palace, and decided to escape. He left the palace at the age of 29,
leaving his wife and son behind. After he broke out of the palace, he came across four key sights: an old man,
a sick man, a corpse, and a holy man. Each of these sights shocked him and made him realise his path in life
was to understand why it all happened and how to stop it, not the path of luxury, riches, and royal
responsibilities.
● The first three sights made the Buddha realise he had been hidden away from the truth his whole life, and the
fourth sight gave him a path into finding out the truth about suffering. The holy man was calm and happy in
the midst of suffering and chaos, and Siddhartha wanted to find out why and how this was. He made
Siddhartha curious as he said he was looking to understand truth.
Renunciation and Ascetic Life -
● After Siddhartha left the palace, he joined a group of Sramanas. They were ascetics: they gave up all material
possessions to concentrate on developing their understanding of religious ideas and pursuing spiritual goals.
This group was led by Alara Kalama and it was in this group that Gautama mastered the meditation state
known as the ‘sphere of nothingness’, a mystical trance attained by deep concentration in which the mind
goes beyond perceiving objects, and dwells in the blissful awareness of nothing. This did not help him
understand why suffering happened.
