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THE FOUNDATIONS OF BUDDHISM
Adherents of Theravada accept as authoritative the Pali canon of ancient Indian Buddhism and trace their lineage back to the Sthaviras (Pali: Theras; "Elders"), who followed in the tradition of the senior monks of the first Buddhist sangha. The Mahavihara form of the Theravada tradition became dominant in Sri Lanka about the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD and gradually spread eastward, becoming established in Myanmar in the late 11th century, in Thailand in the 13th century, and in Kampuchea and Laos by the 14th century.
Beliefs, Doctrines, and Practices
Cosmology
In the Theravada view there is a plurality of universes surrounded by water and mountain chains. Every universe has three planes: (1) the sphere of desire (kama-dhatu ), (2) the sphere of material form (rupa-dhatu ), which is associated with meditational states in which sensuous desire is reduced to a minimum, and (3) the sphere of immateriality or formlessness ( arupa-dhatu ), which is associated with meditational states that are even more exalted and vacuous. Time moves in cycles (kalpas), involving a period of involution (destruction by fire, water, air), a period of stability, a period of renewal, and a period of duration, at the end of which the destruction comes again and the cycle continues.
Human existence is a privileged state because only as a human being can bodhisattvas become a Buddha. Moreover, human beings have the capability of choosing to do good works (which will result in a good birth) or bad works (which result in a bad birth). Above all, humans have the capacity to become perfected saints or even a Buddha. . All these capacities and activities are accounted for in terms of a series of dhammas (Sanskrit: dharmas), instant points in continual motion or changing states, subject to appearing, aging, and disappearing.
Classification of Dhammas
Dhammas are divided and subdivided into many groups. The essential ones that concern the psychophysical person are the five components ( skandhas; Pali: khandhas), the 12 bases (ayatana), and the 18 sensory elements (dhatu). The lists converge and overlap because the teaching was codified in a plethora of different ways.
The five components, or skandhas, are: (1) rupa , materiality, or form, (2) vedana , feelings of pleasure or pain or the absence of either one, (3) sanna , cognitive perception, (4) sankhara , the forces that cooperate to condition the psychic activity of an individual, and (5) vinna?a (Sanskrit: vijnana ), consciousness.
The 12 bases, or ayatanas, include the five sense organs and the mind ( manas ), as well as the five related sense fields and a cognizable object, that is, not an object as such but, rather, an object as it is reflected in mental perception. A capacity for abstract thinking is essential to Buddhism.
The 18 elements, or dhatus, comprise the five sense organs and the mano-dhatu (mind element), their six correlated objects, and the six consciousnesses (vinna?a) of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and manas.
Clearly in this Theravada version, Buddhism is not concerned with metaphysical problems. In the usual sense but with an analysis of the psychosomatic components of the human personality. This is because, from the Theravada perspective, it is only through an awareness of the interrelation and operation of these components; and of the way to cultivate some and to suppress others, that a person can arrive at the state of an arhat (Pali: arahant; "worthy one"). Its aim is not to promulgate metaphysics but to liberate human beings by employing their psychic mechanism in such a way as to stop the operation of karma (Pali: kamma).
Through the classification of dhammas a person comes to be seen as an aggregate of many elements working together. Though ruled by the law of karma, whether good or bad, one is destined to suffer good or bad consequences. Outside of time there is a psychosomatic aggregate situated in time. This aggregate has the freedom of choice that allows it to perform this or that act, which can be with or without outflows, and thus capable or not capable of generating consequences.
Such classifications are not purely doctrinal. They are preparatory distinctions that guide whoever accepts the teaching of the Buddha. These classifications of dhammas guide one in passing from the temporal to the atemporal plane and overcoming the cycle of rebirths. It is here that the seven factors of enlightenment come to play: clear memory; the exact investigation of the nature of things; energy and sympathy; tranquility; impartiality; and a disposition for concentration. These factors are assisted by the subsidiaries, such as love for all living creatures, compassion, delight in that which is good or well done, and, again, impartiality. The last four are known as the "four sublime states," the necessary preconditions for liberation from karma and samsara.
The Stages Leading to Arhatship
The Theravadins maintained that the ideal Buddhist is the arhat, the accomplished ascetic who attains nirvana through self-effort. Though the Theravadin arhat naturally "took refuge in the Buddha," his emphasis was not on the grace of the Saviour but on his dhamma . In their "theology," the Theravadins tended to make distinctions. They insisted that nirvana was beyond the realm of empirical reality. They say that the Buddha who had founded the religion could be distinguished from the dhamma he taught. They maintained that monks and laymen have different roles to play both in society and in religion. The way that leads the disciple to the stages of arhatship traverses an immense number of lives, during which the aspirant gains true insight into the nature of things. This could be discouraging to the laymen and it ceded greater power to the monks.
According to the Theravadins, one who gains true Buddhist insight passes through four stages.
The first stage is that of the stream winner or stream enterer, i.e., the one who has seen the truth, who has experienced the first real intimations of nirvana, and who will not undergo more than seven additional rebirths.
The second stage is that of the once-returned, i.e., the one who has moved further toward the goal so that no more than one additional rebirth will be required to attain it fully.
The third stage is that of the non-returner, who will achieve complete release in the present life, or, at the very least, before another rebirth occurs. One who has reached this stage has broken free from the lower bonds: belief in a permanent self, doubt, faith in the results generated by rituals, sensual passion and malice.
The fourth and final stage is that of the arhat, who has attained complete freedom by completing all that has to be done. The arhat is free from all bonds including the desire for existence in the formed or formless worlds, as well as ignorance, excitability, and ambition.
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
Acknowledgment: This compilation was prepared from the article-Buddhism, Encyclopedia Britannica, Ultimate Reference Suite 2005, and many other sources
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.