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A widely respected modern guru, once said, "The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based a religious sense arising from the experiences of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description... If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism". - Albert Einstein.

To Hindus, Brahman (God) pervades the world and as Atman is found eternally within each one of us. The experience of Atman can not be explained rationally as with music or the experience of poetry. The ideal of personal transcendence was embodied in a Yogi, who would leave his family, abandon all social ties and responsibilities and seek enlightenment. About 538 BCE, Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuri did it. He left and became a mendicant (wandering) ascetic. He had been appalled by the spectacle of the suffering he witness and wanted to discover a way to end the pain of the existence that he could see all round him. For six years he made no headway in his quest. It was not until he abandoned the conventional methods of orthodoxy and put himself into a trance that he gained enlightenment. There was a new hope of liberation from suffering and the attainment of nirvana, the end of pain. Gautama had become the Buddha, the Enlightened One. The Buddha agreed with the Gods to deliver his message, in this word of suffering, only one thing was stable and firm. This was Dharma, the truth about right living, which alone could free us from pain. Buddhism is the "Middle Way."

This had nothing to do with God. The Buddha implicitly believed in the existence of Brahma (God) and other gods. They were part of his upbringing, the cultural environment of which he was a part. But, he believed that the ideas of God had little use for mankind. They had not helped him reach enlightenment. The great Buddha did not deny God, but they did believe the ultimate reality was higher than gods. Humans through right living could achieve a state of bliss. Such states are natural to humans. They can be attained by anyone who lived the correct way. One must learn the techniques of the Yoga. Gautama Buddha.

Instead, of relying on God the Buddha urged those who would follow him to save themselves. What Buddha did deny was the belief that there is in reality God who is somehow outside the universe, who survives even when the universe ceases to be, and who is the source and Creator of all things. God first appeared when the universe came into being. He made a mistake: he was the first appearance when this universe came into being, and he thought that by being first that he must be the origin or creator of everything else. God is not quite nowhere but he is not outside the whole process of appearances that come to be.

Buddha insisted that nirvana was not heaven and that "God" was too limiting to express the concept of ultimate reality

This is largely because the word "God" is used by Christianity, Judaism and other theistic religions as an image not very different from us. We can not define nirvana or God because our words and concepts are tied to the world of sensate beings and are always in flux. The Buddha was trying to show that a person's theology or beliefs was not important. The only thing that counted was to live the correct and good life now. Because, if it were attempted, Buddhists would find that Dharma is pure and true even though it can not be expressed in logical terms. They would know the limits of logic and reason. They would successfully live in the NOW. The Buddha taught it was possible to escape the life of suffering by living a life of compassion for all living things, speaking, and behaving gently kindly and accurately and refraining from anything like drugs or intoxicants that cloud the mind.

INTRODUCTION

Buddhism is that religion and philosophy that developed from the teachings of the Buddha Gautama (or Gotama), who it is said lived as early as the 6th century BC. It spread from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan. Buddhism has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of the Eastern world. During the 20th century it has spread to the West. We will now consider Buddhism from its origins to its elaboration in various schools, sects, and regional developments.

Ancient Buddhist scripture and doctrine developed primarily in two closely related languages of ancient India: Pali and Sanskrit. Today some of this language has gained currency in English. However we retain the Pali and Sanskrit forms where it seems appropriate.

The Buddha

The state of the Buddha, the perfectly Enlightened One, is nirvana (Pali: nibbana),an attainment from which one does not return. It is beyond death, not caused, not born, not produced; it is beyond all becoming and devoid of all that makes up a human person.

There are two kinds of nirvana. One is achieved by the Buddha while still alive, but he remains alive only until the last and most tenuous remains of karma have been expended. When these disappear, the Buddha dies and then enters the nirvana that is not burdened by any karmic residue at all.

The Buddha has been given many other names, the most common of which are Arahant and Tathagata ("He Who Has Thus Attained").The Theravadin scriptures, in the later stages, express a belief in previous buddhas before Gotama (six in one list, more in others) and also in a future buddha, Metteyya (Sanskrit: Maitreya), who presently dwells in the Tuita Heaven and who will come into the world when the proper time arrives.

Meditation

In the Theravada tradition two basic forms of meditation (Pali: jhana; Sanskrit: dhyana ) have been practiced in various forms and combinations.

The first of these is closely related to a Hindu tradition of yoga practice involving a process of moral and intellectual purification associated with four stages of jhanic attainment. In the Theravada context the meditator achieves detachment from sensual desires and impure states of mind through analysis and reflection and thereby attains an emotional state of satisfaction and joy.

In the second stage, intellectual activities are abated to a complete inner serenity; the mind is in a state of "one-pointedness" or concentration, joy, and pleasantness.

In the third stage, every emotion, including joy, has disappeared, leaving the meditator indifferent to everything while remaining completely conscious.

The fourth stage is the abandoning of any sense of satisfaction, pain, or serenity because any inclination to a good or bad state of mind has disappeared. The meditator thus enters a state of supreme purity, indifference to everything, and pure consciousness.

At this point the meditator begins the samapattis (or the higher jhanic attainments). Beyond all perception of form, withdrawn from the influence of perception, immune to the perception of plurality, concentrating on infinite space. The meditator reposes in the condition of spatial infinity. Going beyond this fourth stage, the meditator concentrates on the limitlessness of consciousness and attains it. Proceeding even further and concentrating on the nonexistence of everything whatsoever, he or she achieves a state in which there is absolutely nothing. Finally, even further on, the meditator attains the highest level of realization in which there is neither perception nor non-perception.

Another form of Theravada meditation is called vipassana, or insight meditation.

This kind of meditation requires concentration (produced by exercises such as concentrating on one's breathing), which lead to one-pointedness of mind. This one-pointedness of mind is then used to attain,directly,Buddhist insight into a saving truth which is that all reality is without self and impermanent and is filled with suffering, even the exalted jhanic states of consciousness. This insight, from the Buddhist perspective, enables direct access to progress along the path and to the actual attainment of nirvana itself.

In the classical Theravada texts the emphasis is placed on the jhanic forms of meditation, though the vipassana forms are never completely ignored. In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on practices in which the vipassana approach is predominating.

The Pali canon ( Titicaca)

The earliest systematic and most complete collection of early Buddhist sacred literature is the Pali Titicaca ("The Three Baskets"; Sanskrit: Tropicana). Its arrangement reflects the importance that the early followers attached to the regulations of the monastic life. We have chosen to limit our review of the monastic life and its sanctifying rituals. The Parivara contains summaries and classifications of the disciplinary rules. It is a later supplement intended not only to help monks and nuns to remember the rules but also to make them aware of the circumstances that would bring them within the orbit of these rules.

The Sutta Piaka

By far the largest of the three "baskets" is the Sutta Piaka ("Basket of Discourse"), which consists of five collections (nikayas) containing the discourses attributed to the Buddha. The discourses, reported by the Buddha's disciples, begin with the affirmative statement "Thus I have heard" and then relate the place and occasion of the discourse. At the end they affirm that the listeners are delighted and that they rejoice in what the Buddha has said. It is obvious that these discourses do not represent the exact words of the Buddha, although some phrases may have been accurately remembered. Still, they reveal the personality, the didactic technique, and the spirit of the founder. The discourses are chiefly in prose, except for stanzas illustrating or summing up a particular point.

The Digha Nikaya ("Collection of Long Discourses") contains 34 suttas, some of considerable length, presenting a vivid picture of the different aspects of life and thought at the Buddha's time. Divided into three books, it contrasts superstitious beliefs, various doctrinal and philosophical speculations, and ascetic practices with Buddhist ethical ideas, which are elucidated with the help of similes and examples taken from the everyday life of the people. One of the most interesting suttantas ("discourses") is the Mahaparinibbana Sutta , which gives an account of the last days of the Buddha and stresses the importance of striving for emancipation.

The Majjhima Nikaya ("Collection of the Middle Length Sayings") contains 152 suttas in its present version, while the Chinese one, preserving the lost Sarvastivada collection, has 222, some of which are also found in other nikayas of the Pali canon. Like the Digha, the suttas in the Majjhima present Buddhist ideas and ideals, illustrating them by similes of great literary beauty.

The Satyutta Nikaya ("Collection of Kindred Discourses") has altogether 2,941 suttas, classed in 59 divisions (called satyutta) grouped in five parts (vagga). The first vagga has suttas that contain stanzas. The suttas begin with a description of the particular occasion when the stanzas were spoken; the stanzas themselves represent a kind of questioning and answering. The second vagga deals with the important principle of dependent origination,the chain of cause and effect affecting all things. The third vagga presents the anatman (no-self) doctrine, which is the rejection of an abiding principle that could be termed a self or a pure ego. The fourth vagga is very similar to the previous one, but here it is not the philosophical principle underlying the analysis that is stressed but the transitoriness of the elements constituting reality. The fifth vagga is devoted to a discussion of the basic principles of Buddhist philosophy, religion, and culture.
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The collection of books, quotations, verses. etc. is vast. We present but a few and humbly ask for indulgence by learned scholars of this religion.

1. Dhammapada ("Verses on the Dhamma"). This work contains 423 verses in 26 chapters. Presenting the maxims of Buddhist ethics, it not only occupies an eminent place in the religious life of the peoples in Buddhist countries but is also of universal appeal, as it recommends a life of peace and nonviolence and declares that enmity can never be overcome by enmity, only by kindness.
2. Udana ("Utterances"). This contains 80 utterances attributed to the Buddha or his chief disciples, when they had achieved the bliss of their emancipation or spoke in appreciation of a sublime state.
3. Itivuttaka ("Thus Said"). This contains 112 short pieces dealing with ethical principles, such as generosity, good and evil, greed, passion, and malice.
4. Suttanipata ("Collection of Suttas"). This is one of the oldest Buddhist texts in existence today. It is partly in verse, partly in a mixed style of prose and verse. The verse part is of high poetic quality.
5. Theragatha ("Hymns of the Elders"). This collection contains songs attributed to 264 personal disciples of the Buddha. The songs are said to have been composed when their authors experienced the bliss of emancipation.
6. Therigatha ("Hymns of the Senior Nuns"). These are the songs attributed to about 100 female disciples of the Buddha. They provide rich material for the study of the position of women at the time of the Buddha. Their merit consists in their revealing the deep impression the Buddha's teaching made upon their life. A personal tone is unmistakable.
   
7. Patisambhida-magga ("The Way of Analysis"). This is a kind of encyclopedia of the philosophical ideas in the Sutta Piaka. It is primarily meant for reference and intensive study.
8. Buddhavasa ("Lineage of the Buddha"). This work relates the lives of 24 previous Buddhas, of Gotama (the historical Buddha), and of Metteyya (Sanskrit: Maitreya; the future Buddha). According to the text, the stories are told by the historical Buddha himself.

The Abhidhamma Piaka

The third of the three "baskets," the Abhidhamma Pitaka ("Basket of Scholasticism"), comprises seven works that based on the contents of the Buddha's discourses, deal with selected and specific topics which form the basis for the later philosophical interpretations.

The non-canonical literature of Theravada Buddhism consists, to a large extent, of commentaries on the Titicaca texts but also includes independent works. Among the Pali writers and exponents of ancient Buddhism who attempted to harmonize the apparently conflicting teachings and to grasp the inner meaning of the doctrines.

The Milinda-panha is one of the great literary achievements in the field of Indian prose writing. The author begins his work with an account of the past lives of himself and King Menander; it is because of events in these past lives that the two are to meet again in this life. Menander, a well-informed scholar and keen debater, was disheartened when he could find no one to solve his problems regarding Buddhist teachings. But one day he saw Nagasena going on his begging round. The monk's serenity made a deep impression on the king, who visited him in his monastery. They had a conversation that was later resumed at the palace and that forms the subject matter of the Milinda-panha. The Milinda-panha presents a profound and comprehensive exposition of Buddhist doctrine, ethics, and psychology. This work, like several others, contains the famous statement that, just as the parts of a chariot put together in a specific way constitute the chariot and there is no chariot as such over and above its parts, similarly the different components of an individual make up the individual and there is no other additional entity to hold the components together.

The Pali canon ( Tipiaka)

The earliest systematic and most complete collection of early Buddhist sacred literature is the Pali Tripiaka ("The Three Baskets"; Sanskrit: Tripiaka). Its arrangement reflects the importance that the early followers attached to the regulations of the monastic life (Vinaya ), to the discourses of the Buddha ( Sutta ), and subsequently to the interest in scholasticism (Abhidhamma ).

The Aguttara Nikaya ("Collection of the Gradual Sayings") contains as many as 2,308 small suttas arranged according to the number of topics discussed, ranging from one to eleven. One sutta relates that loving kindness practiced for a fraction of a second only will yield great merit. Other suttas state that there are three areas in which training is needed,in conduct, concentration, and insight,and that there are eight worldly concerns,gain, loss, fame, blame, rebuke, praise, pleasure, and pain. Here, too, similes enliven an otherwise dry presentation.

1. Dhammapada ("Verses on the Dhamma"). This work contains 423 verses in 26 chapters. Presenting the maxims of Buddhist ethics, it not only occupies an eminent place in the religious life of the peoples in Buddhist countries but is also of universal appeal, as it recommends a life of peace and nonviolence and declares that enmity can never be overcome by enmity, only by kindness.
2. Udana ("Utterances"). This contains 80 utterances attributed to the Buddha or his chief disciples, when they had achieved the bliss of their emancipation or spoke in appreciation of a sublime state.
3. Itivuttaka ("Thus Said"). This contains 112 short pieces dealing with ethical principles, such as generosity, good and evil, greed, passion, and malice.
4. Theragatha ("Hymns of the Elders"). This collection contains songs attributed to 264 personal disciples of the Buddha. The songs are said to have been composed when their authors experienced the bliss of emancipation.

Buddhist scholars can provide thousands of examples of early sources.

Arising in India, the Mahayana version of Buddhism spread to Central Asia, China, Japan, mainland Southeast Asia, Java, Sumatra, and even Sri Lanka (Abhayagiri monastery). It became the Pan-Asiatic form of Buddhism and involved basic shifts in doctrine and approach. However, there were precedents in earlier schools.

Mahayana taught that neither the self nor the dharmas exist. Moreover, for the elite arhat ideal, it substituted the bodhisattva,i.e., the one who possesses the innate tendency to become a Buddha. Still, it is a disposition inherent in all persons. In Mahayana, love for creatures is exalted to the highest. A bodhisattva is encouraged to offer the merit he derives from good deeds for the good of others. The tension between morality and mysticism that agitated India also entered the Mahayana.

Nature and Characteristics

Mahayana is not merely metaphysics. It deals with the basic structure and principles of reality and also it is primarily a theoretical primer to the achievement of a desired state or condition. Thus there coexists theoretical investigation and supreme experience: the former is the premise while the latter is the consequence. The convergence of meditative exercises leads to an emptying of the mind to reach a point in where one proceeds from voidness to voidness and finally to the ultimate. There even the most attenuated thought vanishes. Rational activity is exercised until it becomes quiescent: prajna itself. The supreme wisdom, by successive emptyings becomes nullified, and only by doing so does one identify with the unutterable ultimate reality.

Mahayana Basic Teachings -The Buddha: Divinization and Multiplicity

In the Mahayana tradition, the Buddha is viewed not merely as a human master and model but also as a supra-mundane being. He multiplies himself and is reflected in a pentad of Buddhas: Vairocana, Akobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi. Some of these, taking the place of Sakyamuni, are revealers of doctrines and of elaborate, complicated, liturgies.

As Mahayana developed, a great deal of literature. It was called Buddhavacana (Revelation of the Buddha) and was circulated. But it went far beyond the ancient canons. The Revelation was proposed as the highest revelation, superseding prior texts. In this literature teaching is viewed as not merely of one kind but also as on various levels that were adapted to the intellectual capacity and karmic propensities of those who heard it. Thereby the Buddha is no longer simply the historical sage of the Sakyas but is now supra-mundane (lokottara ). Even the sangha is of two types: that of this world and that beyond it.

The Bodhisattva Ideal

The essential premise of the bodhisattva ideal is to generate in one's own self the thought of enlightenment. One is to fulfill the vow to become a Buddha, foregoing entrance into nirvana in order to remain in the world as long as there are creatures to be saved from suffering. With that vow the aspirant begins the career of a bodhisattva, which traverses 10 stages or spiritual levels ( bhumi ) and achieves purification through the practice of the 10 perfections ( paramitas). These levels, which become progressively higher, elevate the bodhisattva to the condition of a Buddha. The first six levels are preliminary, representing the true practice of the six perfections (generosity, morality, patience, vigor, concentration, and wisdom). Irreversibility occurs as soon as the seventh stage is reached.

From this seventh moment the bodhisattva assumes the true Buddha nature, even though further purification and fortification must be achieved in the stages that follow. This is the moment when, having performed his duty, he engages in activity aimed at completely fulfilling the obligations of a bodhisattva. The difference between this and the preceding six stages is that now the activity is explained as an innate unconstrained and spontaneous impulse. Therefore it is not subjected to doubts. Everything is now uncreated and ungenerated. Thus, the body of the bodhisattva becomes identified more and more completely with the essential body (dharma-kaya), with Buddhahood, and with omniscience.

The Three Buddha Bodies

The three bodies ( trikaya ; i.e., modes of being) of the Buddha, became a subject of major discussion within the Mahayana sect. They are rooted in the Theravada teachings concerning the physical body (which consists of four elements), the mental body, and the body of the law. It is with the Mahayana, however, that the theory of the three bodies enters into the salvation process and assumes central significance in the doctrine. The phenomenal body (nirmaa-kaya ) is a manifestation of the Buddha among creatures to teach them the path to liberation. For some schools this body is nothing but an illusory appearance of eternal reality. The enjoyment (or bliss) body (sambhoga-kaya ) is the body to which contemplation can ascend. At the higher stages of supra-mundane contemplation it is that body which manifests to the bodhisattva its splendor and reveals doctrines unintelligible to those who are unenlightened. The un-manifested body of the law (dharma-kaya ) already appears in the Saddharmapu arika, or Lotus Sutra, a transitional text that became central in many Mahayana devotional schools (see below Saddharmapu arika and Nichiren). In many Mahayana texts Buddhas are infinite, and all partake of an identical nature,the dharma-kaya .

As anticipated in ancient schools, the Buddha is the law (dharma). "He who sees the law sees me; he who sees me sees the law." There is identification of the Buddha with an eternal dharma, with enlightenment (bodhi), and hence with nirvana. Still later, real existence will be opposed to the mere appearance of existence, and voidness, the "thingness of things," an indefinable condition, present and immutable within the Buddhas, will be stressed. All is in the dharma-kaya; nothing is outside of it, just as nothing is outside of space; transcendence and immanence come together. Other schools posit a presence that is innate within all human beings, even if it is not perceived. It is like a gem hidden in dross, which shines in its purity as soon as the veil of ignorance is removed.

Newer Revelations

New revelations are made not only to human beings on earth but also in the heavenly paradises by Sakyamuni and other Buddhas. The teaching is expounded uninterruptedly in the universe because worlds and paradises are infinite and all Buddhas are consubstantiate with the essential body. The assemblies to which they speak consist not only of sraakas (disciples) but also of bodhisattvas, gods, and demons. The authors of the new doctrines were captivated by exaltations that often make their discourses logically implausible: phantasmagoria of celestial choruses, fabulous visions in which shine flashes of new speculations, and trains of thought under the influence of speculative and mystical Indian traditions. The texts, from which new trends spring, overflow with repetitions and modulate the same arguments with a variety of readings.

The task of Mahayana thinkers was very difficult because it was not easy to produce a completely logical arrangement from this prolix literature. The appearance of some of these books is surrounded with legend. The Prajnaparamita hdaya-sutra, famous in English as the Heart Sutra among them. . The Prajnaparamita-sutras announce that the world as it appears to us does not exist, that reality is the indefinable "thingness of things" (tathata; dharmaam dharmata), that voidness ( sunyata ) is an absolute "without signs or characteristics" (animitta).

The fundamental assumption of the Prajnaparamita is expounded in a famous verse: "like light, a mirage, a lamp, an illusion, a drop of water, a dream, and a lightning flash; thus must all compounded things be considered." Not only is there no "self," but all things lack a real nature (svabhava) of their own. There are two truths: relative truth, which "applies to things as they appear," and absolute truth, the intuition of voidness (it can be of 10, 14, 18, or 20 kinds).

In 2005, Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dali Lama authored the Essence of the Heart Sutra- Heart of Wisdom Teachings. The Dali Lama masterfully presents the teachings of Buddha to help others release themselves from suffering and live true compassion. The MeetingHouse recommends this seminal Buddhist Engliish-text of one of religions world heritages. (See reference at he end of this text).

Mahayana comprises the following main schools: the Madhyamika; the Yogaara or Vijnanavada (Vijnaptamatrata). The Avatasaka; the school of the identity of the paths to salvation (ekayana). It is represented by the Saddharmapu,arika ("Lotus of the True Law"; the Lotus Sutra); the various devotional (Pure Land) schools; and the Dhyana School (Ch'an in China, Zen in Japan).

MADHYAMIKA (San-lun/Sanron)

The Madhyamika ("Doctrine of the Middle Way"), also known as Sunyavada ("Theory of Negativity or Relativity"), system,which held both subject and object to be unreal,is the systematized form of the doctrine of sunyata (cosmic emptiness) contained in the Prajnaparamita literature.

The most famous exponent of this system was the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna (c. AD 150 - c. 250), the presumed author of the voluminous Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra ("The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom"), preserved in its Chinese translation (402 - 405) by Kumarajia; of the Mulamadhyamakakarika (more commonly known as Madhyamika Karika; "Fundamentals of the Middle Way"), which is the Madhyamika work par excellence; of the Sunyatasaptati. It expounds the unreality of all elements of reality; of the Vigrahavyavartani, a refutation of possible objections to the doctrine of sunyata; of the Vyavaharasiddhi, teaching that absoluteness and relativity can coexist in practice. In addition, Yukti-a,ika, dealing with relativity. Together with Nagarjuna, Aryadeva is the real founder of the Mahyamika system.

Nagarjuna and his followers attempted to arrive at a middle position, devoid of name and character and beyond all thought and words. They began by employing a rigorous logic to demonstrate the absurdity of various philosophical positions, including those of the Hindus and those of other Buddhists. On the assumption that any contradiction is proof of error, Nagarjuna took any point of view that would reveal the error of his opponents. Yet, he did not therefore accept the opposing point of view but only used it as a means to show the relativity of the system he was attacking. He was just as willing to refute his first position. In this way he claimed adherence to no doctrine. With this method of reduction to absurdity or to contradiction, Nagarjuna attempted to prove that all worldly thought is empty (sunya) or relative, and to point to his belief that the true path is that of the middle, the path that is between or, more correctly, above extremes. This belief has been called the doctrine of emptiness of all things; however, as has been pointed out, this too is relative and should be seen only as a means of argumentation, which must itself be transcended.

Nagarjuna presented this middle path above extremes most clearly in the following statement of what he considered to be the Eightfold Truth of Buddhism:

"Nothing comes into being, nor does anything disappear. Nothing is eternal, nor has anything an end. Nothing is identical, nor is anything differentiated. Nothing moves here, nor does anything move there."

To a westerner this seems to be the extreme of the uncertainty principle found in Nuclear Physics.

In presenting these pairs of opposites, Nagarjuna taught that anything that can be conceptualized or put into words is relative. This led to the Madhyamika identification of nirvana and samsara. Both are empty concepts with the truth lying somewhere beyond. After the emptiness or relativity of the world has been proved, the question arises as to how one is to go beyond this position.

Nagarjuna answered that humans are not irreconcilably caught in this world, for this world can be used as a ladder leading to the absolute,beyond all duality. This has been called Nagarjuna's doctrine of two truths. The relative truth is of this existence. This leads to the realization that all is emptiness and from this to the intuition of an absolute truth beyond all conceptions. The link between these two truths, the relative and the absolute, is the Buddha. He experienced the absolute truth, which is niprapanca ,i.e., inexplicable in speech and unrealizable in ordinary thought, and yet he returned to point to this truth in the phenomenal world. By following this path, one can be saved. Both the Svatantrika tradition and the Prasagika tradition (reasserted by Atisa) had a great influence on Buddhist philosophy in Tibet.

The Madhyamika school of thought was spread to China from India by Kumarajiva, a missionary translator of Indian-Kuchan parentage, in the 5th century (CE). Three of the texts that he translated from Sanskrit into Chinese, the Madhyamika Karika and the Dvadasamukha-sastra or Dvadasa-dvara-sastra ("The Twelve Topics or Gates Treatise") of Nagarjuna and the Sata-sastra ("One Hundred Verses Treatise") of Aryadeva,became the basic texts of the Chinese San-lun (Japanese Sanron) or "Three Treatise" school ofMahyamika.-kuan) then spread San-lun(Korean Samnon) to Japan in 625, thus completing the rapid spread of Madhyamika thought from India to China and to Japan. This school, despite its profound and widespread influence, never gained popularity among the masses; it remained rather the basis for logical and philosophical thought among the learned few, rarely forming a separate or independent sect.

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POPULAR RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS

Like other great religious traditions, Buddhism has generated a wide range of popular practices. Among these, there are two simple practices that are deeply rooted in the experience of the earliest Buddhist community and that have remained basic to all Buddhist traditions.

The first of these is the practice of venerating the Buddha or other Buddhas, bodhisattvas, or saints who manifest the same reality. This sometimes takes the form of showing respect, meditating on the qualities of the Buddha, or giving gifts. About the beginning of the Common Era (CE ), anthropomorphic images of the Buddha were produced, and they took their place alongside relics and stupas as focal points for venerating the Buddha. Still later, in the context of the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, the veneration of other Buddhas and bodhisattvas came to supplement or replace the veneration of the Buddha Gautama. In the course of Buddhist history the practice of honoring and even worshiping the Buddha or Buddha-figure has remained a central component in all Buddhist traditions.

The second basic practice is the reciprocal exchange that takes place between Buddhist monks and Buddhist laypersons. Like the Buddha himself, the monks embody or represent the higher levels of spiritual achievement. They make themselves available in various ways to the laity. The laity makes merits for themselves by giving the monks material gifts that function as sacrificial offerings. Though the exchange is structured differently in different Buddhist traditions, it has remained until recently a component in virtually all forms of Buddhist community life.

Both of these fundamental forms of Buddhist practice appear independently within the tradition. The veneration of the Buddha or Buddha figure is a common ritual often practiced independently of other rituals. So, too, the practice of exchange between monks and lay persons often structures rituals such as the dana (gift-giving) in the Theravada tradition. The gift giving is performed independent of other rituals. Both of these forms of practice, however, are embedded in one way or another in virtually all other Buddhist rituals, including calendric rituals, pilgrimage rituals, rites of passage, and protective rites.

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CALENDRIC RITES AND PILGRIMAGES

Uposatha

The four monthly holy days of ancient Buddhism continue to be observed in the Theravada countries of Southeast Asia. These uposatha days,the new moon and full moon days of each lunar month and the eighth day following the new and full moons, have their origin in the fast days that preceded the Vedic soma sacrifices. In the Buddhist context lay-persons and monks are expected to perform religious duties during the uposatha days.

The uposatha service typically includes the repetition of the precepts, the offering of flowers to the Buddha image, the recitation of Palisutras, meditation practices, and a sermon by one of the monks for the benefit of the visitors. The more pious laymen may vow to observe the eight precepts for the duration of the uposatha. These are the five precepts normally observed by all Buddhists,not to kill, steal, lie, take intoxicants, or commit sexual offenses, upgraded to include complete sexual continence, plus injunctions against eating food after noon, attending entertainments or wearing bodily adornments, and sleeping on a luxurious bed. The monks observe the uposatha days by listening to the recitation by one of their members of the Patimokkha, or rules of conduct, contained in the Vinaya Piaka and by confessing any infractions of the rules they have committed.

The three major events of the Buddha's life, his birth, Enlightenment, and entrance into final nirvana,are commemorated in all Buddhist countries but not everywhere on the same day. In the Theravada countries the three events are all observed together on Vesak, the full moon day of the sixth lunar month (Vesakha), which usually occurs in May. (The Magha Puja takes place three months earlier,on the full moon of February,and celebrates the Buddha's first exposition of the Patimokkha.)

In Japan and other Mahayana countries, the three anniversaries of the Buddha are observed on separate days (in some countries the birth date is April 8, the Enlightenment date is December 8, and the death date is February 15). Festival days honoring other buddhas and bodhisattvas of the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions are also observed.

Vassa

The beginning of vassa, the three-month rainy-season retreat from July to October, and its conclusion are two of the major festivals of the year among Theravada Buddhists, particularly in Myanmar, Kampuchea, Thailand, and Laos. The retreat has largely been given up by Mahayana Buddhists. It is an accepted practice in countries such as Thailand for a layman to take monastic vows for the vassa period and then to return to lay life. Commonly, the number of years a monk has spent in monastic life is expressed by counting up the number of vassas he has observed.

The end of vassa is marked by joyous celebration. The following month is a major occasion for presenting gifts to monks and acquiring the consequent merit. The kahina , or robe-offering ceremony, is a public event during this period and usually involves a collective effort by a village, a group of villages, or a company to bestow gifts on an entire monastery. A public feast and display of the robes and other presents on a "wishing-tree" are the usual components of the ceremony. The kahina season is climaxed by the making and presentation of the mahakahina ("great robe"), a particularly meritorious gift that requires the cooperation of a number of people who, theoretically at least, must produce it, from spinning the thread to stitching the cloth, in a single day and night. The robe commemorates the act of the Buddha's mother, who on hearing that he was about to renounce worldly life, wove his first mendicant robes in one night.

All Souls Festival

The importance of the virtues of filial piety and the reverence of ancestors in China and Japan have established Ullambana, or All Souls Day, as one of the major Buddhist festivals in those countries. In China, worshipers in Buddhist temples make "boats of the law" ( fa-ch'uan) out of paper, some very large, which are then burned in the evening. The purpose of the celebration is twofold: to remember the dead and to free and let ascend to heaven the pretas. The pretas are the spirits of those who died as a result of an accident or a drowning and as a consequence were never buried; their presence among men is thought to be dangerous. Under the guidance of Buddhist temples, societies (hui, Yu-lan-hui) are formed to carry out ceremonies for the pretas,lanterns are lit, monks are invited to recite sacred verses, and offerings of fruit are presented. An 8th-century Indian monk, Amoghavajra, is said to have introduced the ceremony into China, from where it was transmitted to Japan. During the Japanese festival of Bon, two altars are constructed, one to make offerings to the spirits of dead ancestors and the other to the souls of those dead who have no peace. Odorinembutsu (the chanting of invocations accompanied by dancing and singing) and invocations to Amida are features of the Bon celebrations.

New Year's and Harvest Festivals

New Year's festivals and harvest festivals are examples of Buddhism's involvement in preexisting local traditions. On the occasion of the New Year, images of the Buddha are taken in procession through the streets. Worshipers visit Buddhist sanctuaries and circumambulate the stupa, or sacred image, and monks are fed and presented with gifts. In Tibet, during the more public propitiatory rites, the sangha cooperated with the laity by invoking the merciful forces that watch over good order, and processions, fireworks, and various amusements created an atmosphere of hopefulness. Through the collaboration of the monastic community and the laity, a general reserve of good karma was accumulated to see everyone through the dangerous moment of passage from the old year to the new.

The harvest festival celebrated in the Tibetan villages during the eighth lunar month was quite different in nature from the New Year ceremonies. Most commonly, offerings of thanks were made to local deities in rites that were only externally Buddhist. The same interplay between Buddhism and folk tradition is observable elsewhere. In Sri Lanka at harvest time, for example, there is a "first fruits" ceremony that entails offering the Buddha a large bowl of milk and rice.

An integral part of the harvest celebrations in many Buddhist countries is the sacred performance of an episode in the life of a buddha or a bodhisattva. In Tibet, troupes of actors specialize in performances of Buddhist legends. In Thailand, the recitation of the story of Phra Wes (Pali: Vessantara) constitutes one of the most important festival events of the agricultural calendar.

Buddhist Pilgrimage

Within the first two centuries following the Buddha's death, pilgrimage had already become an important component in the life of the Buddhist community. During these early centuries of Buddhist history there were at least four major pilgrimage centers,the place of the Buddha's birth at Lumbini, the place of his Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, the Deer Park in Varanasi (Benares) where he supposedly preached his first sermon, and the village of Kusinara, which was recognized as the place of his Parinirvana. During this period, the place of the Buddha's Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya was the most important pilgrimage centre; it continued to hold a preeminent position through much of Buddhist history, and it is the major pilgrimage site of world Buddhism today.

In addition to these four primary sites, major pilgrimage centers have emerged in every region or country where Buddhism has been established. Many local temples have their own festivals associated with a relic enshrined there or an event in the life of a sacred figure. Some of these, such as the display of the tooth relic at Kandy, Sri Lanka, are occasions for great celebrations attracting many pilgrims. In many Buddhist countries famous mountains have become sacred sites that draw pilgrims from both near and far. In China, for example, four such mountain sites are especially important: O-mei, Wu t'ai, P'u-t'o, and Chiu-hua. Each is devoted to a different bodhisattva whose temples and monasteries are located on the mountainside. In many Buddhist regions there are pilgrimages that include stops at a whole series of sacred places. One of the most interesting of these is the Shikoku pilgrimage in Japan, which involves visits to 88 temples located along a route that extends for more than 700 miles.

Buddhist pilgrimages, like pilgrimages in other religions, are undertaken for a wide range of reasons. For some Buddhists, pilgrimage is a discipline that fosters spiritual development; for others it is the fulfillment of a vow,as, for example, after recovery from an illness; and for others it is simply an occasion for travel and enjoyment. Whatever the motivations that support it may be, pilgrimage is one of the most important Buddhist practices.

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RITES OF PASSAGE AND PROTECTIVE RITES

Initiation & Ordination

Admission to the sangha involves two distinct acts: pabbajja , which consists of renunciation of secular life and acceptance of monasticism as a novice, and upasampada , the official consecration as a monk. The evolution of the procedure is not entirely clear; in early times, the two acts probably occurred at the same time. Subsequently, the Vinaya established that upasampada, or full acceptance into the monastic community, should not occur before the age of 20, which, if the pabbajja ceremony took place as early as the age of 8, would mean after 12 years of training. Ordination could not occur without the permission of the aspirant's parents. The initial Pali formula was "Ehi bhikkhu," "Come, O monk!"

The rite established in ancient Buddhism remains essentially the same in the Theravada tradition. To be accepted, the postulant shaves his hair and beard and dons the yellow robes of the monk. He bows to the abbot or senior monk, to whom he makes his petition for admittance, and then seats himself with legs crossed and hands folded, pronouncing three times the formula of the Triple Refuge ("I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the dhamma, I take refuge in the sangha.") He repeats after the officiating monk the Ten Precepts and vows to observe them. Thereafter, in the presence of at least 10 monks (fewer in some cases) the postulant is questioned in detail by the abbot, as to the name of the master under whom he studied, whether he is free of faults and defects that would prevent his admission, and whether he has committed any infamous sins, is diseased, mutilated, or in debt. The abbot, when satisfied, thrice proposes acceptance of the petition; the chapter's silence signifies consent. Nuns were once ordained in basically the same way.

Bodhisattva Vows

In Mahayana Buddhism, new rituals were added onto the ceremony of ordination prescribed by the Pali Vinaya. The declaration of the Triple Refuge is as central an assertion as ever, but special emphasis is placed on the candidate's intention to achieve enlightenment and his undertaking of the vow to become a bodhisattva. Five monks are required for the ordination: the head monk, one who guards the ceremony, a master of secrets (the esoteric teachings, such as mantras), and two assisting officiants.

Abhieka

The esoteric content of Vajrayana tradition requires a more complex ceremony of consecration. In addition to the other ordination rites, preparatory study, and training in yoga, the Tantric neophyte receives abhieka (literally, "sprinkling," of water). This initiation takes several forms, each of which has its own corresponding "wisdom" (vidya), rituals, and esoteric formulas; each form of initiation is associated with one of the Five Buddhas of the supreme pentad. The initiate meditates on the vajra ("thunderbolt") as a symbol of Vajrasattva Buddha (the Adamantine Being), on the bell as a symbol of the void, and on the mudra (ritual gesture) as "seal." The intent of the initiation ceremony is to produce an experience that anticipates the moment of death. The candidate emerges reborn as a new being, a state marked by his receipt of a new name.

Funeral Rites

The origin of the Buddhist funeral observances can be traced back to Indian customs. The cremation of the body of the Buddha and the subsequent distribution of his ashes are told in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta ("Sutra on the Great Final Deliverance"). Early Chinese travelers such as Fa-hsien described cremations of venerable monks. After cremation, the ashes and bones of the monk were collected and a stupa built over them. That this custom was widely observed is evident from the large number of stupas found near monasteries . With less pomp, cremation is also used for ordinary monks and laymen, though not universally. In Sri Lanka, for example, burial is also common. In Tibet because of the scarcity of wood, cremation is rare. The bodies of great lamas, such as the Dalai and Panchen lamas, are placed in rich stupas in attitudes of meditation, while lay corpses are exposed in remote places to be devoured by vultures and wild animals.

Buddhists generally agree that the thoughts held by a person at the moment of death are of essential significance. For this reason, sacred texts are sometimes read to the dying person to prepare the mind for the moment of death; similarly, sacred texts may be read to the newly dead, since the conscious principle is thought to remain in the body for about three days following death. In Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese lamaseries, a lama sometimes recites the famous Bardo Thödrol (commonly referred to in English as The Tibetan Book of the Dead).

Protective Rites

From a very early period in its development, Buddhism has included within its repertoire of religious practices specific rituals that are intended to protect against various kinds of danger and to exorcise evil influences.

In the Theravada tradition protective, exorcistic rituals are closely associated with texts called parittas, many of which are attributed directly to the Buddha. In Sri Lanka and the Theravada countries of Southeast Asia, parittas are traditionally chanted during large public rituals designed to avert collective, public danger. They are also very widely used in private rituals intended to protect the sponsor against illness and various other misfortunes.

In the Mahayana and Esoteric traditions, the role taken by protective and exorcistic rituals was even greater. For example, dharanis (short statements of doctrine that supposedly encapsulate its power) and mantras (a further reduction of the dharani, often to a single word) were widely used for this purpose. Protective and exorcistic rituals that used such dharanis and mantras were extremely important in the process through which the populations of Tibet and East Asia were converted to Buddhism. They have remained an integral part of the Buddhist traditions in these areas, reaching what was perhaps their fullest development in Tibet.

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BUDDISM IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

Modern Trends

During the 19th and 20th centuries Buddhism has been forced to respond to new challenges and opportunities that cut across the regional religious and cultural patterns that characterized the Buddhist world in the pre-modern period. A number of Buddhist countries were subjected to Western rule. Those that were not felt the heavy pressure of Western religious, political, economic, and cultural influence. Modern rationalistic and scientific modes of thinking, modern notions of liberal democracy and socialism, and modern patterns of economic organization were introduced. These ideas became important elements in the thought and life of Buddhists and non-Buddhists in these countries.

In this situation the Buddhists' response was twofold. They came to associate Buddhism with the religious and cultural identity that they sought to preserve and reassert in the face of Western domination. In addition, they sought to initiate reforms that would make Buddhism a more appealing and effective force in the modern world. The Buddhist concern to challenge Western domination manifested itself both in the specifically religious and in the religio-political sphere. In the former, Buddhists used a variety of measures to meet the challenge posed by the presence of Western Christian missionaries, often they would adopt modern Christian practices such as the establishment of Sunday schools, the distribution of tracts, and the like. They also attempted to strengthen the Buddhist cause through the initiation of Buddhist missions, including missions to the West. Also, ecumenical cooperation was promoted among various Buddhist groups. Organizations such as the World Fellowship of Buddhists (founded 1950) and the World Buddhist Sangha Council (1966) were established to promote cooperation among Buddhists from all countries and denominations.

In the religio-political sphere, many Buddhist leaders,including many politically active monks,sought to associate Buddhism with various nationalist movements that were struggling to achieve political, economic, and cultural independence. Where these leaders and the nationalist causes with which they associated themselves have been successful (as, for example, in Thailand), Buddhism has retained a central role in political life. Where they were superseded by other forces (as in China), Buddhism has been relegated to the periphery.

Three emphases are especially important in the various reform movements. First, many Buddhist leaders have put forward a highly rationalized, Protestant-type interpretation of Buddhism. It deemphasizes the supernormal and ritualized aspects of the older tradition and focuses on the supposed continuity between Buddhism and modern science. Of particular important are the centrality of ethics and morality. This interpretation, according to its proponents, represents a recovery of the true Buddhism of the Buddha.

A second, closely related emphasis that has been prominent among modern Buddhist reformers is to represent Buddhism as a form of religious teaching and practice that provides a basis for social, political, and economic life in the modern world. In some cases the focus has been on Buddhist ideas that supposedly provide a religious grounding for an international order supporting world peace. Other reformers have presented Buddhism as a basis for a modern democratic order or have advocated a Buddhist form of socialism.

Finally, Buddhist reformers have initiated and supported movements that give the Buddhist laity (and in some cases Buddhist women) a much stronger role than they have had in the past.

In the Theravada world, lay societies have been formed and lay-oriented meditation movements have enjoyed great success. In East Asia an anticlerical, lay-oriented trend that was evident even before the modern period has culminated in the formation and rapid expansion of new, thoroughly laicized Buddhist movements, particularly in Japan. in the westeren hemisphere buddhism is gaining adherents in part because it is more copmpatible with quantum physicists concepts of the universe.

After this review of the characteristics and attributes of the Spiritual Human Buddhist it is clear that such Spiritual Humans are on a life enhancing quest that follows the path toward a Buddha like state of enlightenment where every day we show our love for God by serving God by helping our fellow humans and acting to conserve Earth.One can gain greater insight to a new kind of human.

Ohso's Teachings About What the Buddha Said . . .

According to the great teacher Osho, a human can be one who has the capacity for inner transformation which will enable a Self that is capable of enjoying the earthly pleasures of Zorba the Greek and the silent serenity of Gautama Buddha. He presents Buddhism in modern English terms.

The limitation of the MeetingHouse's encyclopedic format for the world religions is that it does not permit the MeetingHouse to provide a detailed review of Osho's teachings and active meditations. Still, we urge you to take the next step and obtain a copy of Osho's The Buddha Said,Watkins Publishing,6th Floor, Castle House,7576 Wells Street, London, WIT 3QH, 2007. The book's radical wisdom will be a great aid in meeting the challenge of life's difficulties. Osho interprets the Sutra of Forty-two Changes using contemporary anecdotes to illustrate his points. As Osho says:

No belief is required to travel with Buddha.You can come to him with all your skepticism, he accepts and welcomes you and says,"Come with me"

20th Century Buddhism, Osho's "The Buddha Said. . . Meeting life's difficulties."

This version is another modern Buddhist movement that was started by, Osho, a master teacher in the oral tradition. Running through all aspects of his sayings is a vision that encompasses both the timeliness tradition of the Buddha of the East and the highest potential of Western science and technology.

His approach to meditation acknowledges the accelerated pace of contemporary life. [In 2007 Watkins Publishing (see Recommended Readings) published a book of transcriptions of a series of Osho's lecturers entitled: The Buddha Said, (Meeting life's difficulties.] In his modern style Osho takes a famous Chinese sutra (i.e. Buddhist says) "The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters" that never existed in India. But, of course, each saying comes from Gautama Buddha. (Note -Apparently a group of Buddhist masters from India were asked by an emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty CE 67 to prepare a small anthology as an introduction of Buddhism for the Chinese people.)

Osho uses that Sutra it as the base for his lectures. He is very direct. Osho makes it modern. Adding anecdotes and Sufi jokes. As the MeetingHouse's introduction of this already concise presentation of Buddha's message we have taken the following excerpts. The hope is that spiritual humans will obtain the full text from the publisher and learn even more.

The Buddha said: To be free from passions and to be calm, this is the most excellent way. Buddha always talks about the way, never the goal.If you know the goal, godliness - you know it. There is no way to figure it out before you reach it. He talks only about the way. Two paths have existed.Those who follow the path of grace believe you can not arrive (at the goal) by your own efforts.The help of Brahmin (i.e. God) will be needed.
The Shramana is the diametrical opposite. There is no possibility of grace because Buddha never talks about God. Buddha ways you don't know God. How can you pray to a God that you have never seen. You will be taking to the empty sky. You might as well be talking to yourself. Have you seen mad people talking Sitting alone talking to somebody. But everybody can see that there is no one there. They are talking to themselves. Do you know God If God exists then there is no need for prayer. God will take care by definition. You are alone here. You are lost. You must find your own way. Prayer avoids responsibility. In the Buddhist approach nothing like prayer exists, only meditation. Humans can meditate they can not pray.

There is a difference between meditation and prayer. Prayer needs a belief in God, meditation needs no belief. Meditation is purely scientific. It is said there are states of mind when thinking stops. Meditation says one can stop the thinking and become a silent state of mind . . . tranquil, a serene state of mind.It is in this state of mind that you get to the truth, it gives you a glimpse, opens the door. . . it comes through your own effort.

Buddha says that just because you feel a need, reality has no necessity to fulfill it. Reality does not change in accordance with your need. True, you have a need- you are alone and you would like a father (or mother) figure in the sky. That's why Christians call God "the Father": it is a father figure.

Buddha is all for maturation and maturity. He says drop all these figures, they don't exist. The Way is to become alone and accepting of one's aloneness so that there is no need for anybody's grace. Become so silent and alone that you are fulfilled within your own self. Then grace will start to happen to you but it is not a grace coming from God. It is a grace spreading out from your own center. You will become graceful. Be a Shramana seeking the truth.

The word "Buddha" is just like the word "Christ." Jesus is only one of the Christs, only one of those who attained to the ultimate flowering. There have been many Christs; there could be many more. Remember it. Buddhahood is not in any way confined to Gautama the Buddha, he is just one example of what Buddha- hood is.

A Buddha is not defined by his personality. He is defined by the ultimate state of his being which is beyond personality. If another Buddha comes to him, both will remain silent, two mirrors facing each other, nothing will be reflected. Nothing. Just two mirrors facing each other. If a Christ comes to see Buddha, or, if Buddha somewhere on the road of life comes upon Lao Tzu,they will be absolutely silent, there will be no echo. Like facing mirrors they will see nothing.

If you come to the mirror you will see your face, if a friend looks at the mirror he will see him or her self. The mirror will remain silent. Like the Buddha the mirror will simply reflect. That is why the Buddha (and Christ) can never seem consistent. A Buddha is bound to be contradictory because each time somebody faces him he reflects the something else that has arisen. It will depend upon the person who faces him.

Jesus is contradictory, Krishna is contradictory, and Lao Tzu is very contradictory. Buddha is a formless awareness. Remember it because otherwise you will come across many contradictions and you will not be able to figure out what is happening. When Gautama Buddha died there was much controversy. Those who would follow divided themselves into many sects. . . because someone had heard Buddha say one thing and someone else another. It was as though they wanted to turn him into a philosopher, logical and analytical, consistent.

Those who had lived with the Buddha knew that he had no fixed answer because he answered who was asking. When his contemporary disciples who had their own minds asked - there minds were reflected from him. When their minds became graceful they became meditators, and when they looked at Buddha there was nobody, just emptiness, a silence, valley, primal innocence, but nobody there.

In the case of the 42 sutras expounded by Osho, they have been collected, compiled, by a certain school of thought. Many sayings have been dropped that were apparently very contradictory. Osho supplements the sutras to illuminate the Way - Buddha's Way?

A man like Buddha has to be contradictory. He contains contradictions for he reflects all of humanity. He contains all possible questions and all possible answers. This is the meaning when the Buddha says,

"When you have come home, when your innermost being is luminous, all will be known, all that was past, present and future. Nothing remains unknown.. In that knowing light everything is revealed ."

But, everything and nothing are not consistent. Things have different qualities,. Different personalities. All things are there in their own way and Buddha is simply reflecting, a reflection, a mirror.

Buddha says, attain to clarity. Just see. Just be. Then you will be able to think thoughts that are unthinkable. You will be able to have a meeting with reality.

Religion's whole concern is the essential, the world of the essential. You have not earned it. It is nothing of your doing. It is a beneficent. It is a benediction. This gift has not been willed by you. But, people live in two dimensions. The dimensions of the doer and that of the non-doer. Trying to prove that you are somebody is non-essential . To be alive, aware is essential.

The Buddha says practice "not-doing." Don't continue to be only a doer. The major part of life should be like a happening. As the lightning happens to the sky, so life happens. As rivers go rushing toward the ocean to diffuse so love happens.

It is so that meditation happens. It has nothing to do with doing. You doing it is not essential for it to happen. It can happen when you are sitting and doing nothing. In fact, it happens only when you are not doing anything.One may do many things as methods of meditation. Kundalini Meditation, Dynamic Meditation, Hatha Yoga, Whatever, it is in non-doing that the real thing will happen.

It is real a meditation can be a meditator with you: Like as a person with you who can relax, sit and be silent, and allows who will feel that something, the presence - is happening. Remember one is not "doing meditation" Remember that language was developed by non-meditators. Meditation can not be expressed. When someone is sitting there like a tree, like a rock, not doing anything, it happens. Something from above descends, penetrates your whole being, A subtle light surrounds one (aura), a glow, a blessing can be felt around him or her, even by those people who don't know about meditation.

This sought after godliness is a benediction. One feels that God is not a person, it is a deep experience when you are not doing anything and existence simply flows in you. You are just there like a tree standing in the winds, or like a rock just silently sitting by the side of a river. In that moment you are not a self. You are a no-mind. . .

The ultimate truth is not bound by anything that you can see, that you can touch. It is not dependent on your senses. The ultimate truth is no material, it is immaterial. It is not earthly. It can not be caused by anything. That is why it can never become a part of science. You can mix hydrogen and oxygen and you can cause water to be there.There is no way to create ecstasy that way.There is no way to cause godliness that way, there is no way to cause truth that way. You can destroy water by separating hydrogen and oxygen, you can create water by mixing hydrogen and oxygen but there is no way to destroy truth or to cause it. It is not a chain of cause and effect. It is already there. You can not destroy it, because you are a part of it. It is the very life. You can only do one thing, either you can close your eyes to it, you can forget about it, you can become oblivious to it, or you can remember, see, and realize it!

Then your whole life will be transformed, transfigured. Then you will live in a totally different way, a new quality will be there, in your life, It had nothing to do with your doing. It is a gift, a benediction. Look into it for a single moment. Come close even a single inch. It is yours and it always has been yours. This is not a dogma;. This is Buddha's realization. He is simply trying to share his realization with you. He is not propounding a philosophy or a system of thought. He is simply pointing towards the moon, the reality. Don't look at the pointing finger. Forget the finger completely and look at the moon and you will become a buddha.

This is a problem that humanity has to settle. It is very much easier to become a Christian than to become a Christ. Very much easier to become a Buddhist than become a Buddha. By becoming a Christian or a Buddhist you are becoming a copy. Never be a Christian and never a Buddhist and never be a Hindu. Just be consciousness undefined, unbound, unmotivated. If you can do that much all else will follow of its own accord.

Those who transcend lust and desire, understand the futility of desire. They become understanding about the whole nonsense that the mind creates and the dreams that it manufactures have become arhats. Arhat is the goal, to become desireless, because only when you are desireless is their benediction.

The world's so-called religions are based on fear. Buddha's religion is based in an inner benediction. We worship God because we are afraid, because we don't know what to do with the rest of our lives. Death is coming and one doesn't know what to do, how to protect you. We need a protector out of fear. Buddha's religion is based on the Inner benediction, an inner blessing, it has nothing to do with fear.

The inner journey starts when you have dropped all beliefs and you have become aware of the fear, death, desire once you are in the interior, suddenly you see fears are disappearing; because in the deepest core of your being there has never been any death for there can not be. Your inner most core is absolutely a non-self. (Nothing) It can not be seen in the mirror.

A self can not die. The no-self can not die if there is something it can be destroyed. That is why the Buddha says there is nothing inside you, you are pure nothing. Once you understand it; you are nothing that can be destroyed by death, this nothingness is in itself so beautiful there is no need to go on stuffing it with money, power, prestige, fame. Nothing is so pure, so innocent, so beautiful that you are blessed in it. Having made the discovery you start dancing in it. Yes, that nothingness starts a dance! Buddha hints you toward that dance.

When Buddha was dying, Ananda started crying, and said, "What will I do now. You are leaving and I have not yet become enlightened." Buddha said, "Don't cry because I can not make you enlightened, only you can do that miracle for yourself. Be a light unto yourself." Buddha throws humanity into their interior most cores. Buddha says: Go within, there is nowhere else to go. You are the shrine. Go within, there is no other god there or anywhere else to worship. The more you move inward, the more a worshipping consciousness will arise - - without any object to or for to worship. A prayer will arise that is not addressed to anybody , a pure prayer that comes out of bliss, out of being, out of inner benediction.

Edwin Arnold wrote a beautiful book about Buddha, The light of Asia, a few lines sum up:

This is peace, to conquer self and lust of life, to tear deep-rooted passion from the breast, to still the inward strife; for love, to clasp eternal beauty close; for glory, to be lord of self; for pleasure, to live beyond the gods, for countless wealth to lay up lasting treasure of perfect service rendered, duties done in charity, soft speech and stainless days; these riches shall not fade away in life, nor any death dispraise. This is peace, no conquer love of self and lust of life."

This is the essence of Buddha's message. Peace is not to be practiced. It is a byproduct of awareness. Righteousness is not to be practiced; it is a by product of awareness. Awareness is the remedy for all ills, because awareness makes you healthy, whole, and of course holy.

The Buddha is the greatest anarchist in human history. He does not believe in any rule from the outside. Freedom is only when there is no outside rule. So the inner discipline is just a step to get out from the outer domination, of the society, of the state, of the masses, of civilization's culture, et, cetera. Once you are free of outer domination , Buddha wants your inner discipline to free your self to become a non-self.

So first Buddha says there is no God, because if there is a God along with belief in God, then man can never be free. Because then there is a dominator, a dictator. With a God in the world there is no democracy possible. If God created Man then he is the ultimate power. If he (God) is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, then how can freedom exist. You are never left alone. As religions teach us, "His eye is on the sparrow so you know he is watching you. He is, looking at you, wherever you are. You have no privacy. His eyes are looking wherever you go he is following you. His presence means that humans have no freedom.

Now we understand Nietzsche's declaration, that God is dead because thereby, man is free, free at last. This is not a Buddhist declaration. Buddha said that God is not and there is freedom. Freedom means humanity is not created by anybody and you are not dominated by anybody and you are not manipulated by anybody.

Generally, the West has been completely unaware of this great religion that has existed for centuries in the East. A religion that does not require belief. In fact, it says that belief is a barrier to understanding. It is very difficult for the religions of the Word to understand. It is difficult for Hindus and Jainism to conceive. Buddha says you should not believe you should see. Be aware. It is said that Jesus' disciples asked him." Have you brought a message of peace to the world (Note: Recall this was the Roman and Jewish world). Jesus' reply was: " No I have not brought peace to you but a sword." Further he said, " I will teach you how to hate your mother and how to hate your father and how to hate your wife and how to hate your husband and how to hate your children. And unless you are ready to hate your father and your mother, you can not follow me." Now these were words coming from Jesus, who says God is love, Look very contradictory, very inconsistent? It is difficult to correctly characterize what he meant.

But, follow, Like any great master he is saying drop the mind you have been given by your mother and father, by your family. If you do not drop that mindset from your past and completely forget what they (and society) have taught you, their ideas of good and evil, unless you drop the whole mind conditioning that society has inculcated in you, you can not follow me.

Like Jesus, Buddha's sutras are like swords. Buddha's sword cuts everything from its roots. Buddha is very hard because you can feel his great compassion. Still, he will not allow any escape-hatches from whence you can find your way back to slavery again. So, first drop all outer discipline, and then drop inner discipline too. In that undisciplined state of freedom is nirvana. Out of freedom whatever happens is virtue. Out of slavery comes sin.

Don't be too much entangled with theories and doctrines; they are part of the mythical peace of civilization and culture. Buddha says it is mind-games. Things are not better not different. The tree there, the rock, and you and animals and stars are the substance. Physicists see one reality as "electricity" communists see it as history, as it unfolds. Idealists call reality "mind." Buddha calls reality "nothingness." This is the greatness of Buddha, for he says that even his teachings, his methods, must ultimately be dropped. At the deepest core of being you are neither body nor a mind. You are eternal you are what "is." The tree "is"; the rock "is"; The cloud "is"; humanity "is." To look into the "isness" is what meditation is all about. And then to come to realize that "isness" is nirvana.

When Zarathustra was dying, the last thing that he said to his disciples has to be remembered. Keep it in your heart. Zarathustra said, "Now that I am going, this is my last message. Beware of Zarathustra, and he left.

Beware of Zarathustra. Beware of the master, because you can fall in love too much.You can become too attached. The real master is one who helps you to learn to fall in love and then helps you to stand on your own, so you can leave the master. A real master never becomes a crutch for you. Never! He or she knows that the ultimate goal is freedom from all crutches; freedom from all props; and freedom from every outside discipline; doctrine or method; freedom from all.Then when death disperses your gathered energy field your non-self will be free.

Now according to Osho, there are two types of masters in the world. The first type, he calls the teacher. He teaches you things such as : discipline, virtue, character, but then you forget. So next day he has to do the same, but you forget again.

The second type, Osho calls a master. He or she does not teach you virtue, he does not teach you character. Nor does he do ordinary humility, humbleness, poverty. No. He bores a hole into your being so that light can penetrate so you can see yourself. He tries to make you aware, full of light. That's the real master. In the East we call him or her satguru, the right master. Teachers are many, satgurus are very few, few and far between. Remember this distinction.

Learn how to bore a hole in your being so light can enter into your imprisonment. And in that light, everything starts happening of its own accord. When things happen of their own accord, they have a beauty to them. Then there is a great benediction.

The MeetingHouse teaches that there are many paths to God , but there is only one God. Humans may tread the path to nirvana by loving their neighbors and serving their fellow humans. Once they have learned to do that they can meet life's challenges and difficulties by reading Osho's treatise The Buddha Said . . . (See recommended readings below.) It could further enlightenment.

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The End

Recommended Websites:

www.tricycle.com , Interactive version of a popular magazine,References and links to Zen Buddhist Centers

www.dharmathecat.com, A good Way unlike the usual approach to Buddhism

www.Buddha.net, Australian way to nirvana

http://tibet.com; www.tibet.com/Buddhism/gelug.html

http://apollo.virtual-pc.com/buddha/buddhayana.html - Dutch Buddhist monks and nuns a school, meditation center, and publishing house.

Acknowledgments: This compilation was prepared from the article-Buddhism, Encyclopedia Britannica - Ultimate Reference Suite 2005, and many other sources

Source: Osho's The Buddha Said, Watkins Publishing, 6th Floor., Castle House,  75-76 Wells Street, London, WIT 3QH., 2007

Recommended Readings:

Armstrong, Karen, Buddha, (Viking Penguin) Penguin Group, New York, 2001

Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddha Within, Eight Steps to Enlightenment, Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World, Broadway Books, Bantam Doubleday, Dell Publishing, 1997.

Thurman, Robert, Essential Tibetan Buddhism, Harper-Collins, New York, NY, 1996

Hagen, Steve, Buddhism ,plain and simple, Tuttle Publishing, Periplus Editions, Boston, Mass. 19997.

Osho, The Buddha Said. . . Meeting the Challenges of Life's Difficulties, Watkins Publishing, London U.K. 2007.