1.
Theravada
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Theravāda is a branch of Buddhism that uses the Buddhas teaching preserved in the Pāli Canon as its doctrinal core. The Pali canon is the only complete Buddhist canon which survives in a classical Indic Language, Pali, another feature of Theravada is that it tends to be very conservative about matters of doctrine and monastic discipline. As a distinct sect, Theravada Buddhism developed in Sri Lanka, Theravada also includes a rich diversity of traditions and practices that have developed over its long history of interactions with varying cultures and religious communities. It is the dominant form of religion in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is practiced by minority groups in Bangladesh, China, Nepal, and Vietnam. In addition, the diaspora of all of these groups as well as converts around the world practice Theravāda Buddhism, contemporary expressions include Buddhist modernism, the Vipassana movement and the Thai Forest Tradition. The name Theravāda comes from the ancestral Sthāvirīya, one of the early Buddhist schools, according to its own accounts, the Theravāda school is fundamentally derived from the Vibhajjavāda doctrine of analysis grouping, which was a division of the Sthāvirīya. Significantly, the Sthāviras in turn comprise three sub-nikāyas, the Jetavanīyas, the Abhayagirivāsins, and the Mahāvihāravāsins, according to Damien Keown, there is no historical evidence that the Theravāda school arose until around two centuries after the Great Schism which occurred at the Third Council. These teachings were known as the Vibhajjavada, emperor Ashoka is supposed to have assisted in purifying the sangha by expelling monks who failed to agree to the terms of Third Council. The elder monk Moggaliputta-Tissa was at the head of the Third council and compiled the Kathavatthu, later, the Vibhajjavādins in turn is said to have split into four groups, the Mahīśāsaka, Kāśyapīya, Dharmaguptaka, and the Tāmraparṇīya. The Theravāda is said to be descended from the Tāmraparṇīya sect, the most distinctive features of this phase and virtually the only contemporary historical material, are the numerous Brahmi inscriptions associated with these caves. They record gifts to the sangha, significantly by householders and chiefs rather than by kings, the Buddhist religion itself does not seem to have established undisputed authority until the reigns of Dutthagamani and Vattagamani. The first records of Buddha images come from the reign of king Vasabha, in the 7th century, the Chinese pilgrim monks Xuanzang and Yijing refer to the Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka as Shàngzuòbù, corresponding to the Sanskrit Sthavira nikāya and Pali Thera Nikāya. Yijing writes, In Sri Lanka the Sthavira school alone flourishes, the school has been using the name Theravāda for itself in a written form since at least the 4th century, about one thousand years after the Buddhas death, when the term appears in the Dīpavaṁsa. According to Buddhist scholar A. K. Warder, the Theravāda, spread rapidly south from Avanti into Maharashtra and Andhra and down to the Chola country, as well as Sri Lanka. According to Richard Gombrich this is the earliest record we have of Buddhist scriptures being committed to writing anywhere, the Theravada Pali texts which have survived are derived from the Mahavihara of Anuradhapura, the ancient Sri Lankan capital. Later developments included the formation and recording of the Theravada commentary literature, the Theravada tradition records that even during the early days of Mahinda, there was already a tradition of Indian commentaries on the scriptures. Of great importance to the tradition is the work of the great Theravada scholastic Buddhaghosa. Buddhaghosa wrote in Pali, and after him, most Sri Lankan Buddhist scholastics did as well and this allowed the Sri Lankan tradition to become more international through a lingua franca so as to converse with monks in India and later Southeast Asia
2.
Buddhism in Bangladesh
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While it was the predominant faith of the region until about the 11th century, Buddhism is now the third largest religion in Bangladesh with about 0. 7% of population adhering to Theravada Buddhism. Buddhist communities are present in the centers of Bangladesh, particularly Chittagong. Other tribal, notably those who practice Animism, have come under some Buddhist influence, and this is true in the case of the Khumi and the Mru, and to a lesser extent on the other tribals. Legend said that Gautama Buddha came to the region to spread Buddhism, however, Buddhism did not gain much support until under the reign of Asoka when Buddhism gained a toehold. The Pala Empire that controlled the Indian subcontinent spread many Buddhist ideologies in modern Bangladesh and built many such as the Mahasthangarh. During the Pala Dynasty, a teacher named Atisha was born in the city of Bikrampur. Chandra Dynastys Puranchandra and Subarnachandra adopted Buddhism, as did their successors Trailokyachandra and Srichandra who ruled Harikel, the Khadga Dynasty was a Buddhist dynasty of kings that carried the surname Bhatt. They made several temples and monasteries, king Rajabhata was for example a very committed Mahayanist Buddhist. Buddhism in various forms appears to have been prevalent at the time of the Turkish conquest in 1202, the invading armies apparently found numerous monasteries, which they destroyed. With the destruction of centers of Buddhist learning, such as Nalanda University, in subsequent centuries and up through the 1980s nearly all the remaining Buddhists lived in the region around Chittagong, which had not been entirely conquered until the time of the British Raj. During the 19th century, a movement developed that led to the development of two orders of Theravada monks, the Sangharaj Nikaya and the Mahasthabir Nikaya. In the Chittagong Hills, Buddhist tribes formed the majority of the population, according to the 1981 census, there were approximately 538,000 Buddhists in Bangladesh, representing less than 1 percent of the population. There are several monasteries in the Chittagong, and in most Buddhist villages there is a school where boys live and learn to read Bengali and it is common for men who have finished their schooling to return at regular intervals for periods of residence in the school. The local Buddhist shrine is often an important center of village life, Buddhism outside the monastic retreats has absorbed and adapted indigenous popular creeds and beliefs of the regions to which it has spread. In most areas religious ritual focuses on the image of the Buddha, the Ministry of Religious Affairs provides assistance for the maintenance of Buddhist places of worship and relics. The ancient monasteries at Paharpur and Mainamati, dating from the seventh to ninth century A. D. are considered unique for their size, jyotipala Mahathera Rajguru Aggavamsa Mahathera Ven. Prajnananda Mahathera Administration Deputy secretary and above Barrister Devasish Roy, Chakma Raja Politics Dilip Barua
3.
Buddhism in Cambodia
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Buddhism in Cambodia is currently a form of Theravada Buddhism. Buddhism has existed in Cambodia since at least the 5th century, Theravada Buddhism has been the Cambodian state religion since the 13th century, and is currently estimated to be the faith of 95% of the population. The history of Buddhism in Cambodia spans across a number of successive kingdoms, Buddhism entered Cambodia through two different streams. The earliest forms of Buddhism, along with Hindu influences, entered the Funan kingdom with Hindu merchants, in later history, a second stream of Buddhism entered Khmer culture during the Angkor empire when Cambodia absorbed the various Buddhist traditions of the Mon kingdoms of Dvaravati and Haripunchai. A variety of Buddhist traditions co-existed peacefully throughout Cambodian lands, under the tolerant auspices of Hindu kings, unconfirmed Singhalese sources assert that missionaries of King Ashoka introduced Buddhism into Southeast Asia in the 3rd century BC. Various Buddhist sects competed with Brahamanism and indigenous animistic religions over approximately the next millennium, during this period, the Funan Kingdom that flourished between 100 BC and 500 AD was Hindu, with the kings of Funan sponsoring the worship of Vishnu and Shiva. Buddhism was already present in Funan as a religion in this era. Buddhism began to assert its presence from about year 450 onward, two Buddhist monks from Funan, named Mandrasena and Saṃghabara, took up residency in China in the 5th to 6th centuries, and translated several Buddhist sūtras from Sanskrit into Chinese. Among these texts is the Mahāyāna Mahāprajñāpāramitā Mañjuśrīparivarta Sūtra and this text was separately translated by both monks. The bodhisattva Mañjuśrī is a prominent figure in this text, the Kingdom of Chenla replaced Funan and endured from 500-700. Buddhism was weakened in the Chenla period, but survived, as seen in the inscriptions of Sambor Prei Kuk, some pre-Angkorean statuary in the Mekong Delta region indicate the existence of Sanskrit-based Sarvāstivāda Buddhism. Khmer-style Buddha images are abundant from the period of 600-800, many Mahāyāna bodhisattva images also date from this period, often found alongside the predominantly Hindu images of Shiva and Vishnu. An inscription from Ta Prohm temple in Siem Reap province, dated about 625, states, the transition from Hindu god-king to Mahayana bodhisattva-king was probably gradual and imperceptible. The prevailing Vaishnavite and Shaivite faith traditions gave way to the worship of the Gautama Buddha, the Buddhist Sailendra kingdom exercised suzerainty over Cambodia as a vassal state during the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth centuries. King Jayavarman II, the first real Khmer king of the Angkor Empire, proclaimed himself god-king, nevertheless, he was increasingly friendly to and supportive of Mahayana Buddhist influence throughout his kingdom. Mahayana Buddhism became increasingly established in his empire, the form of Mahayana Buddhism that was propagated in the Srivijaya lands was similar to the Pala Dynasty Buddhism of Bengal, and of the Nalanda University in northern India. The Bengal University of Nalanda in Megadha was the center of Mahayana Buddhism under the protection of the Pala Dynasty. Shivaist interpretations of Buddhism, tinged with Tantric mysticism were worked out in Megadha and then were exported throughout insular and peninsular Southeast Asia, particularly to Java
4.
History of Buddhism in India
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Buddhism is a world religion, which arose in and around the ancient Kingdom of Magadha, and is based on the teachings of Siddhārtha Gautama who was deemed a Buddha. Buddhism spread outside of Magadha starting in the Buddhas lifetime, in modern times, two major branches of Buddhism exist, the Theravāda in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and the Mahāyāna throughout the Himalayas and East Asia. Except for Himalayan region and south India, Buddhism almost became extinct in India after the arrival of Islam in late 12th century, remains have also been found in Andhra Pradesh, the origin of Mahayana Buddhism. According to the 2001 census, Buddhists make up 0. 8% of Indias population, Buddha was born in Lumbini, in Nepal, to a Kapilvastu King of the Shakya Kingdom named Suddhodana. After asceticism and meditation which was a Samana practice, the Buddha discovered the Buddhist Middle Way—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence, Siddhārtha Gautama attained enlightenment sitting under a pipal tree, now known as the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India. Gautama, from then on, was known as The Perfectly Self-Awakened One, Buddha found patronage in the ruler of Magadha, emperor Bimbisāra. The emperor accepted Buddhism as personal faith and allowed the establishment of many Buddhist Vihāras and this eventually led to the renaming of the entire region as Bihar. They, together with the Buddha, formed the first Saṅgha, the company of Buddhist monks, and hence, for the remaining years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain of Northern India and other regions. Buddha died in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, followers of Buddhism, called Buddhists in English, referred to themselves as Saugata. Other terms were Sakyans or Sakyabhiksu in ancient India, sakyaputto was another term used by Buddhists, as well as Ariyasavako and Jinaputto. Buddhist scholar Donald S. Lopez states they also used the term Bauddha, the Buddha did not appoint any successor, and asked his followers to work toward liberation. The teachings of the Buddha existed only in oral traditions, the Sangha held a number of Buddhist councils in order to reach consensus on matters of Buddhist doctrine and practice. Mahākāśyapa, a disciple of the Buddha, presided over the first Buddhist council held at Rājagṛha and its purpose was to recite and agree on the Buddhas actual teachings and on monastic discipline. Some scholars consider this council fictitious, the Second Buddhist Council is said to have taken place at Vaiśālī. Its purpose was to deal with questionable monastic practices like the use of money, the drinking of wine, and other irregularities. What is commonly called the Third Buddhist Council was held at Pāṭaliputra, organized by the monk Moggaliputta Tissa, it was held in order to rid the sangha of the large number of monks who had joined the order because of its royal patronage. Most scholars now believe this council was exclusively Theravada, and that the dispatch of missionaries to various countries at about this time was nothing to do with it and it is generally believed to have been a council of the Sarvastivāda school. The Early Buddhist Schools were the schools in which pre-sectarian Buddhism split in the first few centuries after the passing away of the Buddha
5.
Buddhism in Nepal
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Buddha was born in Shakya Kingdom of Kapilvastu which lies in present-day Rupandehi district, Lumbini zone of Nepal. It has not been possible to assign with certainty the year in which Prince Siddhartha was born,10. 74% of Nepals population practice Buddhism, consisting mainly of Tibeto-Burman-speaking ethnicities. In Nepals hill and mountain regions Hinduism has absorbed Buddhist tenets to such an extent that in many cases they have shared deities as well as temples, for instance, the Muktinath Temple is sacred and a common house of worship for both Hindus and Buddhists. During the reign of King Aṃśuvarman, the Nepalese princess Bhrikuti played a significant role in spreading and developing Buddhism in Tibet, Tibetan Buddhist architecture has long been influenced by Nepalese artists and sculptors like Araniko. The sacred Buddhist texts in Mahayana Buddhism are mainly written in the Ranjana alphabet, the script of the Newars, or scripts like Lantsa, Newar Buddhism is a form of Vajrayana influenced by Theravada Buddhism. Many Buddhist groups are also influenced by Hinduism, Buddhism is the dominant religion of the thinly populated northern areas, which are inhabited by Tibetan-related peoples, namely the Sherpa, Lopa, Manangi, Thakali, Lhomi, Dolpa and Nyimba. They constitute a minority of the countrys population. Ethnic groups that live in central Nepal such as the Gurungs, Lepcha, Tamang, Magar, Newars, Yakkha, Thami, Chhantyal and these ethnic groups have larger populations compared to their northern neighbours. They came under the influence of Hinduism due to their contacts with the Hindu castes. In turn, many of them eventually adopted Hinduism and have largely integrated into the caste system. The Kirati people, especially the Limbu and the Rai people, have also adopted Tibetan Buddhist practises from their Buddhist neighbours, the Jirel people, who are considered a Kirati, have also adopted Tibetan Buddhism. Buddha was born as Prince Siddhartha in Nepal and he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya, in present-day Bihar, India. He there preached his teachings and thus Buddhism came into existence, emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire put up a pillar at Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, in the second century BCE. After the Third Buddhist council, Ashoka missionaries to Nepal and it is also believed that Ashoka went to Patan and had four stupas built there. It is believed that his daughter Charumati established the village of Chabahil, the Licchavi period saw the flourishing of both Hinduism and Buddhism in Nepal. Ancient Buddhist texts claim that Mulasarvasti Vadavinaya came to Nepal, then known as Newal, another Buddhist text, the Manjushrimula Kalpa, mentioned Manadeva as the King of Nepal Mandala. Researchers believe the Mulasarvastivadavinaya was written in the 2nd century CE, the Swayambhu Purana, the ancient Buddhist Purana text, and a Licchavi inscription all mentioned Nepal Mandala. Buddhist inscriptions and chronicles and Tibetan sources also record a few tantric Buddhist deities, namely Aksyobhya, Amitabha, Vajrayogini, Vajrabhairava, Usnisavijaya, strong influence from Animism resulted in belief in Buddhist deities such as the Pancaraksas
6.
Buddhism in Sri Lanka
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Theravada Buddhism is the religion of 70. 1% of the population of Sri Lanka. Throughout most of its history, Sinhalese kings have played a role in the maintenance. During the 19th century, a modern Buddhist revival took place on the island which promoted Buddhist education, there are around 6,000 Buddhist monasteries on Sri Lanka with approximately 15,000 monks. During this time, a sapling of the Bodhi Tree was brought to Sri Lanka, among these, the Isurumuniya and the Vessagiri remain important centers of worship. He is also credited with the construction of the Pathamaka cetiya, the Jambukola vihāra and the Hatthālhaka vihāra, the Pali Canon, having previously been preserved as an oral tradition, was first committed to writing in Sri Lanka around 30 BCE. As a result of the work of Buddhaghosa and other such as Dhammapala. The compilation of the Atthakatha along with the Nikāyas and other Pitakas were committed to writing for the first time in the Aluvihare Rock Temple during the first century BCE. Buddhist literature in Sinhalese also thrived and by 410, Sri Lankan monks traveled widely throughout India and Asia introducing their works. The Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya was the first tradition to be established while Abhayagiri vihāra, warder, the Indian Mahīśāsaka established itself in Sri Lanka alongside the Theravadas, into which they were later absorbed. Northern regions of Sri Lanka also seem to have ceded to sects from India at certain times. In Pali commentaries, terms used for the Mahayanins of Abhayagiri were Vaitulya, Vaipulya and Vaidalya and this created form and Ānanda, who learned from it, preached the doctrine. They also held that nothing given to the Order bears fruit, for the Sangha. According to them any human pair may enter upon sexual intercourse by mutual consent, in the 5th century, Faxian visited Sri Lanka and lived there for two years with the monks. Faxian obtained a Sanskrit copy of the Vinaya of the Mahīśāsaka at the Abhayagiri vihāra c, the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya was then translated into Chinese in 434 by Buddhajiva and Zhu Daosheng. This translation of the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya remains extant in the Chinese Buddhist canon as Taishō Tripiṭaka 1421, the 7th century pilgrim Xuanzang first learned for several years at Nalanda and then intended to go to Sri Lanka to seek out further instruction. On the pilgrim telling them of his visit to Ceylon for instruction. Then the pilgrim discussed some Yoga texts with them and found that their explanations could not excel those given to him by Śīlabhadra at Nālandā. From the 5th century to the century, the island of Sri Lanka saw continuous warfare between local kings, pretenders and foreign invaders such as the South Indian Chola and Pandyan dynasties
7.
Buddhism in Thailand
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Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school, which is followed by 93.6 percent of the population. Buddhism in Thailand has also integrated with folk religion as well as Chinese religions from the large Thai Chinese population. During the 5th to 13th centuries, Southeast Asian empires were influenced directly from India, the Chinese pilgrim Yijing noted in his travels that in these areas, all major sects of Indian Buddhism flourished. Srivijaya to the south and the Khmer Empire to the north competed for influence, from the 9th to the 13th centuries, the Mahāyāna and Hindu Khmer Empire dominated much of the Southeast Asian peninsula. Under the Khmer Empire, more than 900 temples were built in Cambodia, Theravada Buddhism was made the state religion only with the establishment of the Sukhothai Kingdom in the 13th century. Religion and polity, however, remained separate domains, and in times the organizational links between the sangha and the king were not close. That control was coupled with support and patronage of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. When a king was weak, however, protection and supervision of the sangha also weakened, and this fluctuating pattern appears to have continued until the emergence of the Chakri Dynasty in the last quarter of the 18th century. As a monk, Mongkut was a scholar of Pali Buddhist scripture. Moreover, at time the immigration of numbers of monks from Burma was introducing the more rigorous discipline characteristic of the Mon sangha. Influenced by the Mon and guided by his own understanding of the Tipitaka and this more rigorous discipline was adopted in its entirety by only a small minority of monasteries and monks. The administrative and sangha reforms that Mongkut started were continued by his successor, in 1902 King Chulalongkorn made the new sangha hierarchy formal and permanent through the Sangha Law of 1902, which remained the foundation of sangha administration in modern Thailand. Three major forces have influenced the development of Buddhism in Thailand, the most visible influence is that of the Theravada school of Buddhism, imported from Sri Lanka. While there are significant local and regional variations, the Theravada school provides most of the themes of Thai Buddhism. By tradition, Pāli is the language of religion in Thailand, scriptures are recorded in Pāli, using either the modern Thai script or the older Khom and Tham scripts. Pāli is also used in liturgy, despite the fact that most Thais understand very little of this ancient language. The Pāli Tipiṭaka is the religious text of Thailand, though many local texts have been composed in order to summarise the vast number of teachings found in the Tipiṭaka. The monastic code followed by Thai monks is taken from the Pāli Theravada Canon, the second major influence on Thai Buddhism is Hindu beliefs received from Cambodia, particularly during the Sukhothai Kingdom
8.
Buddhism in Vietnam
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Buddhism in Vietnam as practiced by the ethnic Vietnamese is mainly of the Mahayana tradition. Buddhism may have first come to Vietnam as early as the 3rd or 2nd century BCE from South Asia or from China in the 1st or 2nd century CE, Vietnamese Buddhism has had a symbiotic relationship with certain elements of Taoism, Chinese spirituality, and the Vietnamese folk religion. There are conflicting theories regarding whether Buddhism first reached Vietnam during the 3rd or 2nd century BCE via delegations from India, luy Lâu was the capital of the Han region of Jiaozhi and was a popular place visited by many Indian Buddhist missionary monks en route to China. The monks followed the trade route from the Indian sub-continent to China used by Indian traders. A number of Mahayana sutras and the āgamas were translated into Classical Chinese there, including the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters, Jiaozhi was the birthplace of Buddhist missionary Kang Senghui who was of Sogdian origin. Over the next eighteen centuries, Vietnam and China shared many features of cultural, philosophical. This was due to proximity to one another and Vietnam being annexed twice by China. Vietnamese Buddhism is thus related to Chinese Buddhism in general, Theravada Buddhism, on the other hand, would become incorporated through the southern annexation of Khmer people and territories. During the Đinh dynasty, Buddhism was recognized by the state as an official faith, the Early Lê dynasty also afforded the same recognition to the Buddhist church. The growth of Buddhism during this time is attributed to the recruitment of erudite monks to the court as the independent state needed an ideological basis on which to build a country. Subsequently this role was ceded to Confucianism, Vietnamese Buddhism reached its zenith during the Lý dynasty beginning with the founder Lý Thái Tổ, who was raised in a pagoda. All of the kings during the Lý dynasty professed and sanctioned Buddhism as the state religion and this endured with the Trần dynasty but Buddhism had to share the stage with the emerging growth of Confucianism. By the 15th century, Buddhism fell out of favor with the court during the Later Lê dynasty, officials like Lê Quát attacked it as heretical and wasteful. It was not until the 19th century that Buddhism regained some stature under the Nguyễn dynasty who accorded royal support, the movement continued into the 1950s. From 1954 to 1975, Vietnam was split into North and South Vietnam, in a country where surveys of the religious composition estimated the Buddhist majority to be approximately 50 to 70 percent, President Ngô Đình Diệms policies generated claims of religious bias. As a member of the Catholic Vietnamese minority, he pursued policies that antagonized many Buddhists. This led to widespread protest against the government, troops were sent in and this led to mass rallies against Diệms government, termed as the Buddhist crisis. The conflicts culminated in Thích Quảng Đứcs self-immolation, President Diệms younger brother Ngô Đình Nhu favored strong-armed tactics and Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces engaged in the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids, killing estimated hundreds
9.
Religion in China
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China has long been a cradle and host to a variety of the most enduring religio-philosophical traditions of the world. Confucianism and Taoism, later joined by Buddhism, constitute the three teachings that historically have shaped Chinese culture, there are no clear boundaries between these intertwined religious systems, which do not claim to be exclusive, and elements of each enrich popular or folk religion. The emperors of China claimed the Mandate of Heaven and participated in Chinese religious practices, since 1949, China has been governed by the Communist Party of China, an atheist institution that prohibits party members from practicing religion while in office. Religious movements and institutions were first placed under government control, then during the Cultural Revolution suppressed, under following leaders, religious organisations were given more autonomy. The government formally recognises five religious doctrines, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism, in the early twenty-first century there has been increasing institutional recognition of Confucianism and Chinese folk religion. Folk or popular religion, the most widespread system of beliefs and practices, has evolved and adapted since at least the Shang, during this Axial Age fundamental elements of a theology and spiritual explanation for the nature of the universe emerged. Among widespread cults, some officially promoted in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, are those of Mazu, at the same time, China is often considered a home to humanist and secularist, this-worldly thought beginning in the time of Confucius. Chinese Buddhism has developed since the 1st century, significantly influenced the aboriginal religion, folk religious sects constitute 2–3% to 13% of the population, while Confucianism as a religious self-designation is espoused among intellectuals. In addition, ethnic minority groups practice distinctve religions, including Tibetan Buddhism and Islam among the Hui, the history of Christianity in China begins in the 7th century, but did not take root until it was reintroduced in the 16th century by Jesuit missionaries. Protestant missionaries of the 19th century initially found few converts although the Taiping Rebellion was inspired by Protestant doctrine, under Communism, foreign missionaries were expelled, most churches closed and their schools, hospitals and orphanages seized. During the Cultural Revolution, many priests were imprisoned, after the late 1970s, religious freedoms for Christians improved. Prior to the formation of Chinese civilisation and the spread of religions in the region known today as East Asia. Mediatory individuals such as shamans communicated prayers, sacrifices or offerings directly to the spiritual world, ancient shamanism is especially connected to ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture. The Flemish philosopher Ulrich Libbrecht traces the origins of some features of Taoism to what Jan Jakob Maria de Groot called Wuism, or Chinese shamanism. Libbrecht distinguishes two layers in the development of the Chinese theology and religion continues to this day, traditions derived respectively from the Shang. The religion of the Shang was based on veneration of the ancestors and they were not transcendental gods as seen in some parts of the world, but exalted human beings. The universe was by itself so, not created by a force outside of it but had existed, governed by internal rhythms. The royal ancestors were called di, deities, and the greatest of them was Shangdi, Shangdi is identified with the dragon, symbol of the universal power in its yang aspect
10.
Pre-sectarian Buddhism
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Pre-sectarian Buddhism, also called early Buddhism, the earliest Buddhism, and original Buddhism, is the Buddhism that existed before the various subsects of Buddhism came into being. Some of the contents and teachings of this pre-sectarian Buddhism may be deduced from the earliest Buddhist texts, various terms are being used to refer to the earliest period of Buddhism, Pre-sectarian Buddhism Early Buddhism, The earliest Buddhism, Original Buddhism, The Buddhism of the Buddha himself. Precanonical Buddhism Some Japanese scholars refer to the subsequent period of the early Buddhist schools as sectarian Buddhism, Pre-sectarian Buddhism may refer to the earliest Buddhism, the ideas and practices of Gautama Buddha himself. It may also refer to early Buddhism as existing until about one hundred years after the Parinirvana of the Buddha, contrary to the claim of doctrinal stability, early Buddhism was a dynamic movement. Pre-sectarian Buddhism may have included or incorporated other Śramaṇic schools of thought, as well as Vedic and Jain ideas, the first documented split occurred, according to most scholars, between the second Buddhist council and the third Buddhist council. The first post-schismatic groups are stated to be the Sthaviravada. Eventually, eighteen different schools came into existence, Pre-sectarian Buddhism was originally one of the Śramaṇa movements. The time of the Buddha was a time of urbanisation in India and this release was the central aim of the Śramaṇa movements. The oldest recorded teachings are the texts of the four main nikayas of the Sutta Pitaka, together with the body of monastic rules. Scholars have also claimed there is a core within this core, referring to some poems. The reliability of sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Tillman Vetter, the comparison of the oldest extant texts does not just simply lead to the oldest nucleus of the doctrine. A Sthavira canon dating from c.270 B. C. when the activities during Asokas reign as well as dogmatic disputes had not yet created divisions within the Shtavira tradition. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies. Exemplary studies are the study on descriptions of liberating insight by Lambert Schmithausen, the overview of early Buddhism by Tilmann Vetter, Norman, the textual studies by Richard Gombrich, and the research on early meditation methods by Johannes Bronkhorst. A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight, the Buddhist tradition has incorporated two traditions regarding the use of dhyana. There is a tradition that stresses attaining insight as the means to awakening, but it has also incorporated the yogic tradition, as reflected in the use of jhana, which is rejected in other sutras as not achieving the final result of liberation. The problem was famously voiced in 1936 by Louis de La Vallee Poussin, in his text Musila et Narada and this problem has been elaborated by several well-known scholars, including Tilman Vetter, Johannes Bronkhorst, and Richard Gombrich
11.
Early Buddhist schools
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The original saṅgha split into the first early schools a significant number of years after the passing away of Gautama Buddha. According to scholar Collett Cox most scholars would agree that even though the roots of the earliest recognized groups predate Aśoka, their actual separation did not occur until after his death. Later, these first early schools split into divisions such as the Sarvāstivādins and the Dharmaguptakas. In fact, there are several overlapping lists of 18 schools preserved in the Buddhist tradition, totaling about twice as many and it is thought likely that the number is merely conventional. According to the scriptures, three months after the passing of Gautama Buddha, the first council was held at Rajagaha by some of his disciples who had attained arahantship, the accounts of the council in the scriptures of the schools differ as to what was actually recited there. Some scholars deny that the first council took place. The Second Buddhist council took place one hundred years after Gautama Buddhas parinirvāṇa. Virtually all scholars agree that the council was a historical event. The textual sources agree that the first split was between the Sthaviravāda and the Mahāsāṃghika, however, after this initial division, more were to follow. Some modern scholars argue that the first split occurred in the period between the second and third councils, and was probably about monastic discipline. However, only two ancient sources place the first schism before Aśoka, and none attribute the schism to a dispute on Vinaya practice. Tradition largely holds that Buddhism split into 18 schools, but different sources give different lists of them, and scholars conclude that the number is merely conventional. Theravādin sources state that, in the 3rd century BCE, a council was convened under the patronage of Aśoka. Some scholars argue there are certain implausible features of the Theravādin account which imply that the third council was ahistorical. The remainder consider it a purely Theravāda-Vibhajjavāda council, the Sthavira school had, by the time of Aśoka, divided into three sub-schools, doctrinally speaking, but these did not become separate monastic orders until later. According to the Theravādin account, this council was convened primarily for the purpose of establishing an official orthodoxy, at the council, small groups raised questions about the specifics of the vinaya and the interpretation of doctrine. The chairman of the council, Moggaliputta Tissa, compiled a book, the Kathavatthu, the council sided with Moggaliputta and his version of Buddhism as orthodox, it was then adopted by Emperor Aśoka as his empires official religion. In Pali, this school of thought was termed Vibhajjavāda, literally thesis of a distinction, the distinction involved was as to the existence of phenomena in the past, future and present
12.
Third Buddhist council
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The Third Buddhist council was convened in about 250 BCE at Asokarama in Pataliputra, supposedly under the patronage of Emperor Ashoka. This is however disputed, as mention of the council never appears in the Edicts of Ashoka, the traditional reason for convening the Third Buddhist Council is reported to have been to rid the Sangha of corruption and bogus monks who held heretical views. It was presided over by the elder monk Moggaliputta-Tissa and one thousand monks participated in the Council, the council is recognized and known to both the Theravada and Mahayana schools, though its importance is central only to the Theravada. The account of the background to the Third Council is as follows, at first he paid only token homage to the Dhamma and the Sangha and also supported members of other religious sects as his father had done before him. However, all changed when he met the pious novice-monk Nigrodha who preached him Appamada-vagga verses from the Dhammapada. Thereafter he ceased supporting other groups and his interest in. He used his enormous wealth to build, it is said, eighty-four thousand pagodas and viharas and his son Mahinda and his daughter Sanghamitta were ordained and admitted to the Sangha. Eventually, his generosity was to cause problems within the Sangha. Large numbers of faithless, greedy men espousing wrong views tried to join the order but were deemed unfit for ordination, despite this they seized the chance to exploit the Emperors generosity for their own ends and donned robes and joined the order without having been ordained properly. Consequently, respect for the Sangha diminished, when this came to light some of the genuine monks refused to hold the prescribed purification or Uposatha ceremony in the company of the corrupt, heretical monks. When the Emperor heard about this he sought to rectify the situation, however, the Emperor had given the minister no specific orders as to what means were to be used to carry out his command. The monks refused to obey and hold the ceremony in the company of their false, the horrified minister stopped the slaughter and fled the hall and reported back to the Emperor. Asoka was deeply grieved and upset by what had happened and blamed himself for the killings and he sought Thera Moggaliputta Tissas counsel. He proposed that the heretical monks be expelled from the order, so it was that in the seventeenth year of the Emperors reign the Third Council was called. The Emperor himself questioned monks from a number of monasteries about the teachings of the Buddha and those who held wrong views were exposed and expelled from the Sangha immediately. In this way the Bhikkhu Sangha was purged of heretics and bogus bhikkhus and this book consists of twenty-three chapters, and is a collection of discussions on the points of controversy. It gives refutations of the views held by various Buddhist sects on matters philosophical. The Kathavatthu is the fifth of the seven books of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, however, the historicity of this has been questioned, as the account preserved in the San Jian Lu Pi Po Sho, although otherwise almost identical, does not mention the Kathavatthu
13.
Mahinda (Buddhist monk)
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Mahinda was a Buddhist monk depicted in Buddhist sources as bringing Buddhism to Sri Lanka. He was the son of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka from his wife Devi. Ashoka named him Mahendra, meaning conqueror of the world, but Mahendra, inspired by his mother, became a Buddhist monk. The Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa, Sri Lankas two great religious chronicles, contain accounts of Mahinda travelling to Sri Lanka and converting King Devanampiyatissa and these are the primary sources for accounts of his life and deeds. Inscriptions and literary references also establish that Buddhism became prevalent in Sri Lanka around the 3rd century BCE, the Mahavamsa says that Mahinda, the son of Ashoka, came to Sri Lanka and that Ashokas daughter became a nun and brought the Bodhi Tree. But not only does Ashoka not mention them, but there arent any sculptures or frescoes of them in the earliest period of Singhalese art, even the most ancient stupas on Mihintale dont contain anything like this. The historical accuracy of Mahinda converting the Sri Lankan king to Buddhism is also debated, professor Hermann Oldenberg, a German scholar of Indology who has published studies on the Buddha and translated many Pali texts, considers this story a pure invention. V. A. Smith also refers to this story as a tissue of absurdities, there is also an inconsistency with the year on which Ashoka sent Buddhist missionaries to Sri Lanka. According to the Mahavamsa the missionaries arrived in 255 BCE, Mahinda grew up at Vidisha, the residence of his mother and became a monk at the age of 20 with Moggaliputta-Tissa, his fathers spiritual teacher, guiding him and was well-versed with the Tripitaka. He was also accompanied by a lay disciple Bhankuka, who was a grandson of his aunt. Though texts describe Mahendras motive behind leaving for Sri Lanka is described to be spiritual, Ashoka had feared that Mahendra would be killed just like Sushima, so in order to keep him safe and to avoid any succession war, he sent to Sri Lanka. The party left from Vedasagiri vihara, believed to be modern day Sanchi, Mahavamsa and Dipavamsa, the chronicles of Sri Lanka, record the arrival of the party on the full moon of Jettha, a national festival at the time. At the time, King Devanampiyatissa was partaking in an expedition in the Mihintale hills. It is said that Ashoka and Devanampiyatissa were previously acquainted and on good terms, upon meeting the shaven-headed monks Devanampiyatissa was taken aback by their appearance and inquired as to who they were. After exchanging greetings, Mahinda preached the Chulahatthipadopama Sutra, and the hunting party converted to Buddhism. The party was invited to Anuradhapura, the seat of the throne for a royal reception. The royal park Mahamegha was then set aside as the residence for Mahindas party, and in later became the Mahavihara. The Chetiyagirivihara monastery was established in Mihintale
14.
Sanghamitta
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Saṅghamittā was the eldest daughter of Emperor Ashoka and his first wife, Devi. Together with Mahinda, her brother, she entered an order of Buddhist monks, the two siblings later went to Sri Lanka to spread the teachings of Buddha at the request of King Devanampiya Tissa who was a contemporary of Ashoka. At first she landed in Mathagal, the village Mathagal is situated 16 km away from Jaffna town, in the north of Sri Lanka, along the shores of the Indian Ocean. Ashoka, after adopting Buddhism, took to spreading tenets of Buddhism in nine countries of the region. His contemporary in Sri Lanka, King Devanampiya Tissa, in alliance with Ashoka. Moggaliputta presided over the Council meeting where it was decided to send nine delegations to different regions to spread Buddhism, King Ashoka then sent out missionaries in nine different directions. The delegation that was sent south to Sri Lanka, at the request of Tissa, was led by Ashokas son Mahendra, before taking the long journey, Mahendra sought blessings of his mother. The delegation comprised six other Arhats, namely Ittiya, Uttiya, Sambala, Bhaddasala, young Samanera, all members of the mission belonged to the royal family, indicating the importance Ashoka attached to spreading Buddhism in Sri Lanka. However, it was only King Tissa, realising the poor status of the religion in his country, Mahendra arrived with his delegation at Anuradhapura where King Tissa, accompanied by his sister-in-law Princess Anula with her entourage of 500 women, met him at the Mahamegha Garden. The Mahendra mission was successful in introducing Buddhism to Sri Lanka. He established the Bhikkhu Order for men, however, thousands of women, starting with Anula, who had converted to Buddhism along with the King Tissa, wished to be ordained into the Bhikkuni Order. Thera Mahindra expressed his inability to do so since this ordination had to be performed by a priestess or a Theri Arahat. He therefore advised the King to write to Emperor Ashoka and seek the services of his younger sister Theri Sangamitta and he also desired that a sapling of the right branch of the Bodhi-Tree from Bodh Gaya should also be brought by her to Sri Lanka. Sangamittas parents were the Emperor Ashoka and his first wife, Devi and her birth in 285 BC, as popularly known in published texts was as the second child of Ashoka and younger sister of brother Mahindra. Her mother did not join Ashoka when he was crowned and her two children had embraced Buddhism and she was married at the age of 14 to Agribrahmi, a nephew of Emperor Ashoka, who was also an Arhant. She had a son, Saamanera Sumana who also became an Arhant and went along with his uncle Mahindra to Sri Lanka to preach Buddhism. She was ordained at the age of 18 into Theravada Buddhism Order by their preceptor Dhammapala and her brother was also ordained at the same time. With her dedicated perseverance to Dhamma she became an Arhant Theri, mahindra’s mission in Sri Lanka was very successful
15.
Fourth Buddhist council
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Fourth Buddhist Council is the name of two separate Buddhist council meetings. The first one was held in the 1st century BCE, in Sri Lanka, in this fourth Buddhist council the Theravadin Pali Canon was for the first time committed to writing, on palm leaves. The second one was held by the Sarvastivada school, in Kashmir around the 1st century CE, after the Council, palm-leaf manuscripts containing the completed Canon were taken to other countries such as Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The Fourth Buddhist Council of the Sarvastivada tradition is said to have been convened by the Kushan emperor Kanishka, the Fourth Council of Kashmir is not recognized as authoritative for the Theravadins, reports of this council can be found in scriptures which were kept in the Mahayana tradition. The Mahayana tradition based some of its scriptures on the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma texts, the main fruit of this Council was the vast commentary known as the Mahāvibhāṣā, an extensive compendium and reference work on a portion of the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma. Scholars believe that it was also around this time that a significant change was made in the language of the Sarvāstivādin canon, for this reason, all major Buddhist scholars in India thereafter wrote their commentaries and treatises in Sanskrit. Buddhist councils First Buddhist council Second Buddhist council Third Buddhist council Fifth Buddhist council Sixth Buddhist council Buswell, Robert, Lopez, Donald S
16.
Parakramabahu I
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Parākramabāhu I was king of the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa from 1153-86. During his reign from the city of Polonnaruwa, he unified the three lesser kingdoms of the island, becoming one of the last monarchs in Sri Lankan history to do so. The adage not even a water that comes from the rain must flow into the ocean without being made useful to man is one of his most famous utterances. He succeeded his uncle Kitti as king of Dakkhinadesa around 1140, following a protracted civil war, he secured power over the entire island around 1153 and remained in this position until his death in 1186. Within the island, he consecrated religious monuments, built hospitals, social units, canals and large reservoirs. The island of Sri Lanka was in part dominated by the powerful Chola polity of South India and these regions remained under Chola control until the reign of Vijayabahu I. Vijayabahu I successfully drove the Chola invaders out at the beginning of his reign and shifted the capital of Rajarata from Anuradhapura to a planned city, by the reign of Vikramabāhu I, the island was divided into three kingdoms—Rajarata, Dakkhinadesa, and Ruhuna. Vikramabāhu was however regarded as the greatest in dignity as he possessed Rajarata with its sites of religious, however, Manabharana, king of Dakkhinadesa, and his brothers Sri Vallabha and Kitti Sri Megha, the joint kings of Ruhuna, were formidable rivals for the crown. According to the ancient chronicle Culavamsa, Parākramabāhus birth was predicted by a figure akin to a god seen in a dream by his father, a son was duly born to Manabharanas wife Ratnavali, and was named Parākramabāhu because of his foe-crushing arms. Though the year of his birth cannot be known exactly confirmed, the location would almost certainly have been the capital of Dakkhinadesa, Punkhagama. Upon being informed of the birth, Vikramabāhu I in Polonnaruwa ordered that the boy be brought up as the heir to his throne. This kind of adoption may have been a branch of sorts on the part of Vikramabāhu. Manabharana, however, rejected the offer, stating that It is not, to send away such a jewel of a son. He also speculated that. if the boy is taken thither, will gleam with mighty, up-shooting flames, but our misfortune, alas so great, will become still worse. The schism that existed between the clans of Sri Lanka was too deep to allow for this manner of accommodation. Soon after the birth, Manabharana fell ill and died. His younger brother Kitti Sri Megha, who was joint king of Ruhuna, ascended the throne of Dakkhinadesa, Parākramabāhu, his mother Ratnavali and his two sisters Mitta and Pabhavati, were sent to live in Mahanagahula, the capital of Ruhuna, under the care of Sri Vallabha. The politics of Sri Lanka role in Parākramabāhus upbringing, whilst he was still young, his eldest sister Mitta was forcibly married to their cousin, Manabharana, the son of Sri Vallabha of Ruhuna, against the wishes of Queen Ratnavali
17.
Anagarika Dharmapala
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Anagārika Dharmapāla was a Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and writer. He was one of the contributors of non-violent Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism and Buddhism. He also inspired a movement of South Indian Dalits including Tamils to embrace Buddhism. At the latter stages of his life, he entered the order of Buddhist monks as Venerable Sri Devamitta Dharmapala and he was named Don David Hewavitharane. His younger brothers were Dr Charles Alwis Hewavitharana and Edmund Hewavitarne and this was a time of Buddhist revival. In 1875 in New York City, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott had founded the Theosophical Society. Colonel Olcott kept coming back to Ceylon and devoted himself there to the cause of Buddhist education, eventually setting up more than 300 Buddhist schools and it was in this period that Hewavitarne changed his name to Anagarika Dharmapala. Dharmapāla means protector of the dharma, Anagārika in Pāli means homeless one. It is a status between monk and layperson. As such, he took the eight precepts for life and these eight precepts were commonly taken by Ceylonese laypeople on observance days. But for a person to take them for life was highly unusual, Dharmapala was the first anagarika – that is, a celibate, full-time worker for Buddhism – in modern times. It seems that he took a vow of celibacy at the age of eight, although he wore a yellow robe, it was not of the traditional bhikkhu pattern, and he did not shave his head. He felt that the observance of all the rules would get in the way of his work. Neither the title nor the office became popular, but in this role and he is considered a bodhisattva in Sri Lanka. His trip to Bodh-Gaya was inspired by an 1885 visit there by Sir Edwin Arnold, author of The Light of Asia, Arnold was directed towards this endeavour by Weligama Sri Sumangala Thera. At the invitation of Paul Carus, he returned to the U. S. in 1896, and again in 1902-04, Dharmapala eventually broke with Olcott and the Theosophists because of Olcotts stance on universal religion. Dharmapala stated that Theosophy was only consolidating Krishna worship, the young Dharmapala helped Colonel Olcott in his work, particularly by acting as his translator. Dharmapala also became close to Madame Blavatsky, who advised him to study Pāli
18.
Sixth Buddhist council
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The Sixth Buddhist Council was a general council of Theravada Buddhism, held in a specially built cave and pagoda complex at Kaba Aye Pagoda in Yangon, Burma. The council was attended by 2500 monastics from eight Theravada Buddhist countries, the Council lasted from Vesak 1954 to Vesak 1956, its completion coinciding with the traditional 2500th anniversary of the Gautama Buddhas Parinibbāna. In the tradition of past Buddhist councils, a purpose of the Sixth Council was to preserve the Buddhas teachings. Over the two-year period, monks from different countries recited from their existing redaction of the Pāli Canon, as a result, the Council synthesized a new redaction of the Pali texts ultimately transcribed into several native scripts. The Council was convened 83 years after the Burmese Fifth Buddhist council was held in Mandalay, the Sixth Council was sponsored by the Burmese Government led by Prime Minister U Nu. He authorized the construction of the Kaba Aye Pagoda and the Mahapasana Guha or Great Cave in which the work of the council took place and this venue was designed to be like the cave in which the First Buddhist council was held. As in the councils, the Sixth Councils aim was to affirm and preserve the genuine Dhamma. The 2500 participating Theravadan Elders came from eight different countries, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, a temple in Japan also sent delegates. The only Western monks to participate were German-born, Sri-Lanka-residing Nyanatiloka and Nyanaponika Thera, mahasi Sayadaw was appointed to ask the required questions about the Dhamma to Mingun Sayadaw, who answered them. By the time this council met all the countries had had the Pali Tipiṭaka rendered into their native scripts. Not much difference was found in the content of any of the texts, finally, after the Council had officially approved the texts, all of the books of the Tipiṭaka and their commentaries were prepared for printing on modern presses. This notable achievement was made possible through the efforts of the 2500 monks. Their work came to an end with the rise of the moon on the evening of 24 May 1956. This Councils work was an achievement in Buddhist history. After the scriptures had been examined several times, they were put into print. At the end of this Council, all the countries had the Tipiṭaka rendered into their native scripts except India. Since the year 1999, the Dhamma Society Fund in Thailand has been revising the 1958 Sixth Council Edition with other editions to remove all printing and this romanized version in 40 volumes, known as the World Tipitaka Edition, was completed in 2005. The 40-volume Tipitaka Studies Reference appeared in 2007, the Dhamma Society Fund is currently printing the World Tipitaka Edition in Roman Script based on the B. E
19.
Vipassana movement
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N. Goenka who studied with teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin. The vipassanā movement includes contemporary American Buddhist teachers such as Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Gil Fronsdal, Sharon Salzberg, Ruth Denison and Jack Kornfield. The vipassanā movement emphasizes the use of vipassanā to gain insight into the three marks of existence as the means to attain wisdom and eventually awakening. According to Lance Cousins the primary source of the Insight meditation movements practice is the writings of Buddhaghosa. The various movements espouse similar meditation techniques, teachers with the vipassanā movement teach forms of samatha and vipassanā meditation consistent with Buddhist meditation. The various vipassana teachers also use of the scheme of the insight knowledges, stages of insight which every practitioner passes through in their progress of meditation. The earliest modern writer of vipassana manuals was a Burmese monk named Medawi who was influential in reviving the Burmese interest in meditation practices, in the 19th and 20th century the Theravada traditions in Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka were rejuvenated in response to western colonialism. They were rallying points in the struggle against western hegemonism, giving voice to traditional values, but the Theravada-tradition was also reshaped, using the Pali scriptural materials to legitimize these reforms. Ironically, the Pali canon became widely accessible due to the western interest in texts. A major role was also being played by the Theosophical Society, which sought for ancient wisdom in south-East Asia, the Theosophical Society started a lay-Buddhist organisation in Sri Lanka, independent from power of conventional temples and monasteries. Interest in meditation was awakened by these developments, whereas the main Buddhist practice in temples was the recitation of texts, most influential in this renewed interest was the new Burmese method of Vipassana practice, as developed by U Naradah and popularized by Mahasi Sayadaw. This method spread over South and Southeast Asia, Europe and America, contemporary Burmese Theravāda Buddhism is one of the main creators of modern vipassanā practice, which has gained popularity from the 1950s onward. The New Burmese method was developed by U Nārada and popularized by his students Mahasi Sayadaw, most senior western vipassana teachers studied with Mahasi Sayadaw and his student Sayadaw U Pandita. Another prominent teacher is Bhikkhu Bodhi, a student of Nyanaponika, according to Gil Fronsdal, An important feature of the “Mahasi approach” is its dispensing with the traditional preliminary practice of fixed concentration or tranquilization. This notion of mindfulness is at variance with premodern Buddhist epistemologies in several respects, traditional Buddhist practices are oriented more toward acquiring correct view and proper ethical discernment, rather than no view and a non-judgmental attitude. The Ledi lineage begins with Ledi Sayadaw and his student Saya Thetgyi, S. N. Goenka was a well-known teacher in the Ledi-lineage who was taught by Sayagyi U Ba Khin. According to S. N. Goenka, vipassanā techniques are essentially non-sectarian in character, one need not convert to Buddhism to practice these styles of meditation. Meditation centers teaching the vipassanā popularized by S. N. Goenka exist now in Nepal, India, other parts of Asia, North and South America, Europe, Australia, Middle East and Africa
20.
Abhidharma
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Abhidharma or Abhidhamma are ancient Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic reworkings of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist sutras, according to schematic classifications. The Abhidhamma works do not contain systematic philosophical treatises, but summaries or abstract, according to Collett Cox, Abhidhamma started as an elaboration of the teachings of the suttas, but later developed independent doctrines. The literal translation of the term Abhidharma is unclear, compared to the colloquial sutras, Abhidharma texts are much more technical, analytic and systematic in content and style. They held that Abhidharma was taught by the Buddha to his most eminent disciples, Some in the West have considered the Abhidhamma to be the core of what is referred to as Buddhist Psychology. Other writers on the such as Nyanaponika Thera and Dan Lusthaus describe Abhidhamma as a Buddhist Phenomenology while Noa Ronkin. Bhikkhu Bodhi writes that the system of the Abhidhamma Pitaka is simultaneously a philosophy, a psychology, Abhidharma analysis also extended into the fields of ontology, epistemology and metaphysics. The prominent Western scholar of Abhidharma, Erich Frauwallner has said that these Buddhist systems are among the achievements of the classical period of Indian philosophy. In the commentaries of Theravada Buddhism it was held that the Abhidhamma was not an addition to the tradition. Optimistic devas created a beautiful jeweled chamber after spent 3rd week dispelling mistrust and his mind and body were so purified that six-coloured rays came out of his body — blue, yellow, red, white, orange and a mixture of these five. The mixed color represented all these noble qualities, later, he traveled to the Trāyastriṃśa and taught the Abhidhamma to the divine beings that dwelled there, including his deceased mother Māyā, who had re-arisen as a celestial being. The tradition holds that the Buddha gave daily summaries of the teachings given in the realm to the bhikkhu Sariputta. The Abhidhamma is thus presented as a pure and undiluted form of the teaching that was too difficult for most practitioners of the Buddhas time to grasp. Thus, there is a similarity between the traditions of the Adhidhamma and that of the Mahayana, which claimed to be too difficult for the people living in the Buddhas time. The Sarvastivadin Vaibhasikas held that the Buddha and his disciples taught the Abhidharma, only after his death was the Abhidharma compiled systematically by his elder disciples and was recited by Ananda at the first Buddhist council. Scholars generally believe that the Abhidharma emerged after the time of the Buddha, therefore, the seven Abhidhamma works are generally claimed by scholars not to represent the words of the Buddha himself, but those of disciples and scholars. Factors contributing to its development could have been the growth of monastic centers, the support for the Buddhist sangha. As the last major division of the canon, the Abhidhamma works have had a checkered history and they were not accepted as canonical by the Mahasanghika school and several other schools. Another school included most of the Khuddaka Nikaya within the Abhidhamma Pitaka, also, the Pali version of the Abhidhamma is a strictly Theravada collection, and has little in common with the Abhidhamma works recognized by other Buddhist schools
21.
Arhat
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Theravada Buddhism defines arhat or arahant as one who is worthy or as a perfected person having attained nirvana. Other Buddhist traditions have used the term for people far advanced along the path of Enlightenment, the understanding of the concept has changed over the centuries, and varies between different schools of Buddhism and different regions. A range of views on the attainment of arhats existed in the early Buddhist schools, the Sarvāstivāda, Kāśyapīya, Mahāsāṃghika, Ekavyāvahārika, Lokottaravāda, Bahuśrutīya, Prajñaptivāda, and Caitika schools all regarded arhats as imperfect in their attainments compared to buddhas. Mahayana Buddhist teachings urge followers to take up the path of a bodhisattva, the arhats, or at least the senior arhats, came to be widely regarded as moving beyond the state of personal freedom to join the Bodhisattva enterprise in their own way. They can be seen as the Buddhist equivalents of the Christian saints, apostles or early disciples and leaders of the faith. The Sanskrit word arhat is a present participle coming from the verbal root √arh to deserve, cf. arha meriting, deserving, arhaṇa having a claim, being entitled, the word is used in the Ṛgveda with this sense of deserving. A common folk etymology derives the word from ari and hanta from the root √han to strike, to kill, professor Richard Gombrich has argued that the present participle is jarring and seems out of place when there is an adjective from the same root. Since Jains used two Prakrit forms of the word arahanta and arihanta, the etymology may well be the correct etymology. Gombrich argues that this stems from the metaphor as the Jain title jina conqueror, whence jaina related to the conqueror. The term arhat is often translated into English as arahat, the term arhat was translated into some East Asian languages phonetically as a transliterated term, exemplified in the Chinese āluóhàn, often shortened to simply luóhàn. This may appear in English as luohan or lohan, in Japanese the pronunciation of the same Chinese characters is rakan or arakan. The Tibetan term for arhat was translated by meaning from Sanskrit and this translation, dgra bcom pa, means one who has destroyed the foes of afflictions. Thus the Tibetan translators also understood the meaning of arhat to be ari-hanta, a range of views on the attainment of arhats existed in the early Buddhist schools. The Dharmaguptaka sect believed that the Buddha and those of the Two Vehicles, although they have one, the Mahīśāsaka and the Theravada regarded arhats and buddhas as being similar to one another. The 5th century Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa regarded arhats as having completed the path to enlightenment, according to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the Pāli Canon portrays the Buddha declaring himself to be an arahant. The Mahayana discerned a hierarchy of attainments, with samyaksambuddhas at the top, mahāsattvas below that, pratyekabuddhas below that, but what was it that distinguished the bodhisattva from the sravaka, and ultimately the buddha from the arhat. The difference lay, more than anywhere else, in the orientation of the bodhisattva. In pre-Buddhist India, the arhat, denoting a saintly person in general, was closely associated with miraculous power
22.
Nirvana (Buddhism)
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Nirvana is the earliest and most common term used to describe the goal of the Buddhist path. The literal meaning is blowing out or quenching and it is the ultimate spiritual goal in Buddhism and marks the soteriological release from rebirths in saṃsāra. Nirvana is part of the Third Truth on cessation of dukkha in the Four Noble Truths, within the Buddhist tradition, this term has commonly been interpreted as the extinction of the three fires, or three poisons, passion, aversion and ignorance. When these fires are extinguished, release from the cycle of rebirth is attained, Nirvana has also been deemed in Buddhism to be identical with anatta and sunyata states. Buddhist scholastic tradition identifies two types of nirvana, sopadhishesa-nirvana, and parinirvana or anupadhishesa-nirvana, the founder of Buddhism, the Buddha, is believed to have reached both these states. Nirvana, or the liberation from cycles of rebirth, is the highest aim of the Theravada tradition, the term nirvana describes a state of freedom from suffering and rebirth, but different Buddhist traditions have interpreted the concept in different ways. The origin is probably pre-Buddhist, and its etymology may not be conclusive for its meaning, Nirvana has a wide range of meanings, although the literal meaning is blowing out or quenching. It refers both to the act and the effect of blowing to put it out, but also the process and outcome of burning out, becoming extinguished. The term nirvana in the sense of blown out, extinguished state of liberation does not appear in the Vedas nor in the pre-Buddhist Upanishads. According to Collins, the Buddhists seem to have been the first to call it nirvana. However, the ideas of spiritual liberation using different terminology, is found in ancient texts of non-Buddhist Indian traditions, the prevalent interpretation of nirvana as extinction is based on the etymology of nir√vā to blow out. Nir is a negative, while va is commonly taken to refer to to blow, The term nirvana is part of a metaphorical structure. According to Gombrich, the number of three fires alludes to the three fires which a Brahmin had to alight, and thereby symbolise life in the world. The meaning of this metaphor was lost in later Buddhism, not only passion, hatred and delusion were to extinguished, but also all cankers or defilements. The blowing out does not mean total annihilation, but the extinguishing of a flame, which returns, the term nirvana can also be used as a verb, he or she nirvāṇa-s, or he or she parinirvānṇa-s. The term nirvana, to out, has also been interpreted as the extinction of the three fires, or three poisons, namely of passion or sensuality, aversion or hate and of delusion or ignorance. Another explanation of nirvana is the absence of the weaving of activity of the mind, Matsumoto Shirō, for example, states that the original etymological root of nirvana should not be considered as nir√vā which means extinction, but should be considered to be nir√vŗ, to uncover. The problem with considering it as extinction or liberation, is that it presupposes a self to be extinguished or liberated, according to Matsumoto, the original meaning of nirvana was therefore not “to extinguish” but to uncover the atman from that which is anatman
23.
Noble Eightfold Path
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The Noble Eightfold Path is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth. The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices, right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, in the earliest Buddhism these practices started with insight, culminating in dhyana/samadhi as the core soteriological practice. In later Buddhism insight became the central instrument, leading to a different concept. The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the teachings of Theravada Buddhism. In the Theravada tradition, this path is also summarized as sila, samadhi, in Mahayana Buddhism it is contrasted with the Bodhisattva path, which culminates in full Buddhahood. In Buddhist symbolism, the Noble Eightfold Path is often represented by means of the dharma wheel, the Pali terms ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo is typically translated in English as Noble Eightfold Path. This translation is a convention started by the translators of Buddhist texts into English. However, the phrase does not mean the path is noble, the term maggo means path, while aṭṭhaṅgiko means eightfold. An alternate rendering of ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo is eightfold path of the noble ones, all eight elements of the Path begin with the word samyañc or sammā which means right, proper, as it ought to be, best. The Buddhist texts contrast samma with its opposite miccha, according to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term the middle way. In time, this description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path. Vetter and Bucknell both note that descriptions of the path can be found, which can be condensed into the eightfold path. Such an environment aids contemplation of impermanence, suffering, and non-Self, Right samadhi, practicing four stages of meditation culminating into unification of the mind. That is the ancient path, the ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times, following it, I came to direct knowledge of birth. Consciousness, direct knowledge of the origination of consciousness, direct knowledge of the cessation of consciousness, yet, Majjhima Nikaya 117, Mahācattārīsaka Sutta, describes the first seven practices as requisites for right samadhi. According to Vetter, this may have been the original practice in early Buddhism. Moral virtues group consists of three paths, right speech, right action and right livelihood, the meditation group of the path progresses from moral restraints to training the mind. These two factors fall under the category of wisdom, the Noble Eightfold Path, in the Buddhist traditions, is the direct means to nirvana and brings a release from the cycle of life and death in the realms of samsara
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Four Noble Truths
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The Four Noble Truths are the truths of the Noble Ones, the truths or realities which are understood by the worthy ones who have attained Nirvana. The truths are dukkha, the arising of dukkha, the cessation of dukkha, the four truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in samsara, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha. But there is a way to real happiness and to end this cycle. The meaning of the truths is as follows, Dukkha, incapable of satisfying, Life in this mundane world, with its craving and clinging to impermanent states and things, is dukkha, unsatisfactory and painful, Samudaya, the origination or arising of dukkha. Dukkha, and repeated life in this world, arises with taṇhā, thirst, craving for and clinging to impermanent states. This craving and clinging produces karma which leads to renewed becoming, keeping us trapped in rebirth and renewed dissatisfaction, Nirodha, the four truths provide a conceptual framework for introducing and explaining Buddhist thought, which has to be personally understood or experienced. The formulation of the four truths, and their importance, developed over time, in the sutras, the four truths have both a symbolic and a propositional function. They represent the awakening and liberation of the Buddha, but also the possibility of liberation for all sentient beings, the four truths are of central importance in the Theravada tradition, which holds to the idea that insight into the four truths is liberating in itself. They are less prominent in the Mahayana traditions, which emphasize insight into sunyata, the four truths are best known from their presentation in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which contains two sets of the four truths, while various other sets can be found in the Pali Canon. According to the Buddhist tradition, the Buddha first taught the four noble truths in the very first teaching he gave after attaining enlightenment, as recorded in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. According to Norman, the Pali canon contains various shortened forms of the four truths, the mnemonic set, the earliest form of the mnemonic set was dukkham samudayo nirodho magga, without the reference to sacca or arya, which were later added to the formula. This full set contains grammatical errors, but were considered correct by the Pali tradition, as opposite to sukha, pleasure, it is better translated as pain. S. Cousins notes that the four truths are not restricted to the form where dukkha is the subject. Other forms take the world, the arising of the world or the āsavas, according to Cousins, the well-known form is simply shorthand for all of the forms. The world refers to the saṅkhāras, that is, all compounded things, the Pali terms ariya sacca are commonly translated as noble truths. This translation is a convention started by the earliest translators of Buddhist texts into English, Norman, this is just one of several possible translations. According to Paul Williams, here is no reason why the Pali expression ariyasaccani should be translated as noble truths
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Buddhist ethics
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Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on what Buddhists view as the enlightened perspective of the Buddha, or other enlightened beings such as Bodhisattvas. The Indian term for ethics or morality used in Buddhism is Śīla or sīla and it has been variously described as virtue, right conduct, morality, moral discipline and precept. Sīla is an internal, aware, and intentional ethical behavior and it is an ethical compass within self and relationships, rather than what is associated with the English word morality. Sīla is one of the three practices foundational to Buddhism and the non-sectarian Vipassana movement — sīla, samādhi, and paññā as well as the Theravadin foundations of sīla, Dāna and it is also the second pāramitā. Sīla is also wholehearted commitment to what is wholesome, two aspects of sīla are essential to the training, right performance, and right avoidance. Honoring the precepts of sīla is considered a gift to others, because it creates an atmosphere of trust, respect. It means the practitioner poses no threat to another life, property, family, rights. Moral instructions are included in Buddhist scriptures or handed down through tradition, the source for the ethics of Buddhists around the world are the Three Jewels of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The Buddha is seen as the discoverer of liberating knowledge and hence the foremost teacher, the Dharma is both the teachings of the Buddhas path and the truths of these teachings. The Sangha is the community of noble ones, who practice the Dhamma and have attained some knowledge and can provide guidance. Having proper understanding of the teachings is vital for proper ethical conduct, the Buddha taught that right view was a necessary prerequisite for right conduct. A central foundation for Buddhist morality is the law of Karma, Karma is a word which literally means action and is seen as a natural law of the universe which manifests as cause and effect. In the Buddhist conception, Karma is a type of moral action which has moral consequences on the actor. The core of karma is the intention, and hence the Buddha stated ‘It is intention, O monks. Therefore, accidentally hurting someone is not bad Karma, but having hurtful thoughts is, ones past actions are said to mold ones consciousness and to leave seeds which later ripen in the next life. The goal of Buddhist practice is generally to break the cycle, the root of ones intention is what conditions an action to be good or bad. There are three roots and three negative roots. Actions which produce good outcomes are termed merit and obtaining merit is an important goal of lay Buddhist practice, the early Buddhist texts mention three bases for effecting karmic fruitfulness’, giving, moral virtue and meditation
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Refuge (Buddhism)
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Buddhists take refuge in the Three Jewels or Triple Gem. The Three Jewels are, the Buddha, the Dharma, the teachings, Refuge is common to all major schools of Buddhism. Pali texts employ the Brahmanical motif of the refuge, found in Rig Veda 9.97.47, Rig Veda 6.46.9. Faith is an important teaching element in both Theravada and Mahayana traditions, in contrast to perceived Western notions of faith, faith in Buddhism arises from accumulated experience and reasoning. In the Kalama Sutra, the Buddha explicitly argues against simply following authority or tradition, there remains value for a degree of trusting confidence and belief in Buddhism, primarily in the spiritual attainment and salvation or enlightenment. Faith in Buddhism centres on belief in the Three Jewels, for someone who wishes to study and practice Buddhism, the five ethical precepts encouraged are to voluntarily undertake the practice to, refrain from killing. Note, The precepts may be listed in order of the gravity of harmful actions guarded against, improper sexual conduct can roughly mean hurtful or harmful sexual conduct. Refrain from sleeping on high and luxurious beddings Sanskrit version, बुद्धं शरणं गच्छामि। धर्मं शरणं गच्छामि। संघं शरणं गच्छामि। Buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi, I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha. Pāli version, बुद्धं सरणं गच्छामि। दम्मं सरणं गच्छामि। सङ्घं सरणं गच्छामि। Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, khmer characters, ទុតិយម្បិ ពុទ្ធំ សរណំ គច្ឆាមិ ។ ទុតិយម្បិ ធម្មំ សរណំ គច្ឆាមិ ។ ទុតិយម្បិ សង្ឃំ សរណំ គច្ឆាមិ ។ For the second time. Khmer characters, តតិយម្បិ ពុទ្ធំ សរណំ គច្ឆាមិ ។ តតិយម្បិ ធម្មំ សរណំ គច្ឆាមិ ។ តតិយម្បិ សង្ឃំ សរណំ គច្ឆាមិ ៕ For the third time, the Outer form is the Triple Gem, the Inner is the Three Roots and the Secret form is the Three Bodies or trikaya of a Buddha. These alternative refuge formulations are employed by those undertaking Deity Yoga, happiness is temporary, lifetimes are impermanent and ultimately refuge is taken until reaching unsurpassed awakening. Ceremony for Taking Refuge and Precepts by Ven, thubten Chodron A Buddhist View on Refuge Refuge, A Safe and Meaningful Direction in Life by Dr
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Vinaya
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The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the sangha or monastic community of Buddhism based on the canonical texts called the Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Gautama Buddha can be divided into two categories, Dharma doctrine and Vinaya discipline. Extant vinaya texts include those of the Theravada, the Kāśyapīya, the Mahāsāṃghika, the Mahīśāsaka, the Dharmaguptaka, the Sarvāstivāda, at the heart of the Vinaya is a set of rules known as Patimokkha in Pāli and Prātimokṣa in Sanskrit. The Vinaya was orally passed down from the Buddha to his disciples, eventually, numerous different Vinayas arose in Buddhism, based upon geographical or cultural differences and the different schools of Buddhism that developed. Three of these are still in use, Theravadin, Mulasarvastivadin and Dharmaguptakin, the Vinayas are the same in substance and have only minor differences. The Prātimokṣa is traditionally a section of the Vinaya, the Theravada Vinaya is preserved in the Pāli Canon in the Vinaya Piṭaka. The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya is preserved in both the Tibetan Buddhist canon in the Kangyur, in a Chinese edition, and in an incomplete Sanskrit manuscript. As the nuns died out in all areas of the Theravada school, traditionally womens roles as renunciates were limited to taking eight or ten Precepts. Such women appears as maechi in Thai Buddhism, dasa sil mata in Sri Lanka, thilashin in Burma, some schools in Japan technically follow this, but many monks there are married, which can be considered a violation of the rules. Other Japanese monks follow the Bodhisattva Precepts only, which was excerpted from the Mahāyāna version of Brahmajālasutra, and the Bodhisattva Precepts contains two parts of precepts, for lay and clergy. According to Chinese Buddhist tradition, one who wants to observe the Bodhisattva Precepts for clergy, must observe the Ten Precepts and High Ordination first. Tibetan Buddhists in Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Ladakh and other follow the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. In addition to these rules, there are many supplementary ones. The Buddha constantly reminds his hearers that it is the spirit of the rules that counts, on the other hand, the rules themselves are designed to assure a satisfying life, and provide a perfect springboard for the higher attainments. Monastics are instructed by the Buddha to live as islands unto themselves, in this sense, living life as the vinaya prescribes it is, as one scholar puts it, more than merely a means to an end, it is very nearly the end in itself. Surrounding the rules is a range of texts, some of these explain the origins of the rules - it is possible to trace the development of the rules from responses to specific situations or actions to a general codification. There are also a number of texts that are more general statements about Buddhist doctrine, or that give biographical details of some of the great disciples. Other sections detail how the rules are to be applied, how breaches are to be dealt with and it is thought that originally there were no rules and the Buddha and his disciples just lived in harmony when they were together
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Burmese alphabet
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The Burmese script is an abugida used for writing Burmese. It is ultimately a brahmic script adapted from either the Kadamba or Pallava alphabet of South India, the Burmese alphabet is also used for the liturgical languages of Pali and Sanskrit. In recent decades, other, related alphabets, such as Shan, Burmese is written from left to right and requires no spaces between words, although modern writing usually contains spaces after each clause to enhance readability. The earliest evidence of the Burmese alphabet is dated to 1035, a stylus would rip these leaves when making straight lines. The alphabet has undergone considerable modification to suit the evolving phonology of the Burmese language, there are several systems of transliteration into the Latin alphabet, for this article, the MLC Transcription System is used. The Burmese alphabet is an adaptation of the Old Mon script or the Pyu script, as with other Brahmic scripts, the Burmese alphabet is arranged into groups of five letters for stop consonants called wek based on articulation. Within each group, the first letter is tenuis, the second is the aspirated homologue, the third and fourth are the voiced homologues, and this is true of the first twenty-five letters in the Burmese alphabet, which are called grouped together as wek byi. The remaining eight letters are grouped together as a wek, as they are not arranged in any particular pattern, a syllable onset is the consonant or consonant cluster that appears before the vowel of a syllable. The Burmese script has 33 letters to indicate the initial consonant of a syllable, like other abugidas, including the other members of the Brahmic family, vowels are indicated in Burmese script by diacritics, which are placed above, below, before or after the consonant character. With regard to pronunciation, the letters of the dentals. ရ is often pronounced Burmese pronunciation, in words of Pali or foreign origin, အ is nominally treated as a consonant in the Burmese alphabet, it represents an initial glottal stop in syllables with no other consonant. Consonant letters may be modified by one or more medial diacritics, the diacritic combination ိုဝ် disappeared in the mid-1750s, having been replaced with the ို combination, introduced in 1638. The standard tone markings found in modern Burmese can be traced to the 19th century, certain sequences of consonants are written one atop the other, or stacked. A pair of stacked consonants indicates that no vowel is pronounced between them, as for example the m-bh in ကမ္ဘာ kambha world. This is equivalent to using a virama ် on the first consonant, if the m and bh were not stacked, stacked consonants are always homorganic, which indicated by the traditional arrangement of the Burmese alphabet into five-letter rows of letters called ဝဂ်. When stacked, the first consonant is written as usual, while the consonant is subscripted beneath it. Stacked consonants are mostly confined to loan words from languages like Pali, Sanskrit, for instance, the Burmese word for paper is spelt စက္ကူ, not စက်ကူ, although both would be read the same. They are not found in native Burmese words except for the purpose of abbreviation, for example, the Burmese word သမီး daughter is sometimes abbreviated to သ္မီး, even though the stacked consonants do not belong to the same row and a vowel is pronounced between
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Specials (Unicode block)
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Specials is a short Unicode block allocated at the very end of the Basic Multilingual Plane, at U+FFF0–FFFF. Of these 16 codepoints, five are assigned as of Unicode 9, U+FFFD � REPLACEMENT CHARACTER used to replace an unknown, unrecognized or unrepresentable character U+FFFE <noncharacter-FFFE> not a character. FFFE and FFFF are not unassigned in the sense. They can be used to guess a texts encoding scheme, since any text containing these is by not a correctly encoded Unicode text. The replacement character � is a found in the Unicode standard at codepoint U+FFFD in the Specials table. It is used to indicate problems when a system is unable to render a stream of data to a correct symbol and it is usually seen when the data is invalid and does not match any character, Consider a text file containing the German word für in the ISO-8859-1 encoding. This file is now opened with an editor that assumes the input is UTF-8. The first and last byte are valid UTF-8 encodings of ASCII, therefore, a text editor could replace this byte with the replacement character symbol to produce a valid string of Unicode code points. The whole string now displays like this, f�r, a poorly implemented text editor might save the replacement in UTF-8 form, the text file data will then look like this, 0x66 0xEF 0xBF 0xBD 0x72, which will be displayed in ISO-8859-1 as f�r. Since the replacement is the same for all errors this makes it impossible to recover the original character, a better design is to preserve the original bytes, including the error, and only convert to the replacement when displaying the text. This will allow the text editor to save the original byte sequence and it has become increasingly common for software to interpret invalid UTF-8 by guessing the bytes are in another byte-based encoding such as ISO-8859-1. This allows correct display of both valid and invalid UTF-8 pasted together, Unicode control characters UTF-8 Mojibake Unicodes Specials table Decodeunicodes entry for the replacement character
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Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
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Myanmar
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Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma, is a sovereign state in South East Asia bordered by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. About one third of Myanmars total perimeter of 5,876 km, forms an uninterrupted coastline of 1,930 km along the Bay of Bengal, the countrys 2014 census revealed a much lower population than expected, with 51 million people recorded. Myanmar is 676,578 square kilometres in size and its capital city is Naypyidaw and its largest city and former capital city is Yangon. Early civilizations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Burma, the Pagan Kingdom fell due to the Mongol invasions and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty, the country was for a period the largest empire in the history of Mainland Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur. The British invaded Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the became a British colony. Myanmar became an independent nation in 1948, initially as a nation and then, following a coup détat in 1962. For most of its independent years, the country has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife, during this time, the United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the country. In 2011, the junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election. While former military leaders still wield enormous power in the country, there is, however, continuing criticism of the governments treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority and its poor response to the religious clashes. In the landmark 2015 election, Aung San Suu Kyis party won a majority in both houses, Myanmar is a country rich in jade and gems, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources. In 2013, its GDP stood at US$56.7 billion, the income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by supporters of the former military government. As of 2016, according to the Human Development Index, Myanmar had a level of human development. The renaming remains a contested issue, many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use Burma because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country. The countrys official name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Countries that do not officially recognise that name use the long form Union of Burma instead, in English, the country is popularly known as either Burma or Myanmar /ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/. Both these names are derived from the name of the majority Burmese Bamar ethnic group, Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of the name of the group, while Burma is derived from Bamar, the colloquial form of the groups name
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