See also: A practice in many Zen monasteries and centers is a daily liturgy service. Practitioners chant major sutras such as the, chapter 25 of the (often called the ' Sutra'),, the, and other minor mantras.

The is the altar in a monastery where offerings are made to the images of the Buddha. The same term is also used in Japanese homes for the altar where one prays to and communicates with deceased family members. As such, reciting liturgy in Zen can be seen as a means to connect with the Bodhisattvas of the past.

Liturgy is often used during funerals, memorials, and other special events as means to invoke the aid of supernatural powers. [ ] Chanting usually centers on major bodhisattvas like (see ) and. According to Buddhism, bodhisattvas are beings who have taken vows to remain in to help all beings achieve liberation from it. Since the Zen practitioner's aim is to walk the bodhisattva path, chanting can be used as a means to connect with these beings and realize this ideal within oneself. Lay services [ ] Though in western Zen the emphasis is on zen-meditation, and the application of Zen-teachings in daily life, Japanese Zen also serves a function in public religion. Play an important role as a point of contact between the monks and the laity.

Emperor of Rome from AD 306 to 337, who is best known for being the first Roman emperor to become a Christian. He ceased persecutions of Christians and.

Statistics published by the Sōtō school state that 80 percent of Sōtō laymen visit their temple only for reasons having to do with funerals and death. Seventeen percent visit for spiritual reasons and 3 percent visit a Zen priest at a time of personal trouble or crisis.

Zen teachings [ ]. Main article: Though Zen-narrative states that it is a 'special transmission outside scriptures' which 'did not stand upon words', Zen does have a rich doctrinal background, which is firmly grounded in the Buddhist tradition. It was thoroughly influenced by the Chinese understanding of Yogacara and the Buddha-nature doctrine, Zen integrates both Yogacara and Madhyamaka, and the influence of Madhyamaka can be discerned in the stress on non-conceptual insight and the paradoxical language of the koans. Most essential are 'the most fundamental teaching that we are already ', and the Bodhisattva ideal, which supplements with, compassion with all sentient beings. To point out 'essential Zen-teachings' is almost impossible, given the variety of schools, the extended history of 1500 years, and the emphasis on, reality just-as-it-is, which has to be expressed in daily life, not in words.

[ ] But common to most schools and teachings is this emphasis on suchness and Buddha-nature, the Bodhisattva-ideal, and the priority of zazen. [ ] Zen teachings can be likened to 'the finger pointing at the moon'. Zen teachings point to the moon,, 'a realization of the unimpeded interpenetration of the '. But the Zen-tradition also warns against taking its teachings, the pointing finger, to be this insight itself. The various traditions lay various emphases in their teachings and practices: There are two different ways of understanding and actually practicing Zen. These two different ways are termed in Chinese pen chueh and shih-chueh respectively. The term pen chueh refers to the belief that one’s mind is from the beginning of time fully enlightened, while shih-chueh refers to the belief that at some point in time we pass from imprisonment in ignorance and delusion to a true vision of Zen realization: “Our enlightenment is timeless, yet our realization of it occurs in time.” According to this belief experiencing a moment of awakening in this life is of central importance.

Main article: The Rinzai school is the Japanese lineage of the Chinese Linji school, which was founded during the by.The Rinzai school emphasizes, insight into one's true nature. This is followed by so-called, further practice to attain Buddhahood. Other Zen-teachers have also expressed sudden insight followed by gradual cultivation., a 12th-century master, followed Zongmi, and also emphasized that insight into our true nature is sudden, but is to be followed by practice to ripen the insight and attain full buddhahood. This is also the standpoint of the contemporary, according to whom kenshō is at the start of the path to full enlightenment. To attain this primary insight and to deepen it, zazen and kōan-study is deemed essential. This trajectory of initial insight followed by a gradual deepening and ripening is expressed by Linji in his and.

Another example of depiction of stages on the path are the, which detail the steps on the path. Main article: Sōtō is the Japanese line of the Chinese, which was founded during the Tang Dynasty. The Sōtō-school has de-emphasized kōans since (circa 1800), and instead emphasized. Dogen, the founder of Soto in Japan, emphasised that practice and awakening cannot be separated. By practicing shikantaza, attainment and Buddhahood are already being expressed. For Dogen, zazen, or shikantaza, is the essence of Buddhist practice.

Gradual cultivation was also recognized by Dongshan Liangjie. Sanbo Kyodan [ ] The combines Soto and Rinzai teachings. It is a Japanese lay organization, which is highly influential in the West through the work of,,, and. Yasutani mentions three goals of Zen: development of concentration ( joriki), awakening ( kensho-godo), and realization of Zen in daily life ( mujodo no taigen). Kensho is stressed, but also post-satori practice. Zen scripture [ ].

Main articles:,,, and Religion is not only an individual matter, but 'also a collective endeavour'. Though individual experience and the iconoclastic picture of Zen are emphasised in the Western world, the Zen-tradition is maintained and transferred by a high degree of institutionalisation and hierarchy. In Japan, modernity has led to criticism of the formal system and the commencement of lay-oriented Zen-schools such as the and the. How to organize the continuity of the Zen-tradition in the West, constraining and the derailment it may bring on the one hand, and maintaining the legitimacy and authority by limiting the number of authorized teachers on the other hand, is a challenge for the developing Zen-communities in the West. Zen narratives [ ]. Blue-eyed monk and East-Asian monk.

A fresco from the, of China, dated to the 9th century; although (1913) assumed the, monk was a, modern scholarship has identified similar of (No. 9) as ethnic, an who inhabited as an ethnic minority community during the phases of (7th–8th century) and (9th–13th century). The (755–763) led to a loss of control by the Tang-dynasty, and changed the Chan scene again. Metropolitan Chan began to lose its status, while 'other schools were arising in out-lying areas controlled by warlords.

These are the forerunners of the Chan we know today.' The most important of these schools is the (洪州宗) of, to which also belong,, and.

This school became the archetypal expression of Zen, with its emphasis on the personal expression of insight, and its rejection of positive statements of this insight. Shitou is regarded as the Patriarch of (Jp. ), while Linji is regarded as the founder of. During 845–846 persecuted the Buddhist schools in China. This persecution was devastating for metropolitan Chan, but the Chan school of Mazu and his likes survived, and took a leading role in the Chan of the later Tang.

This surviving rural Chan developed into the (Ch. 五家) of Zen, or five 'schools'. These were not originally regarded as 'schools' or 'sects', but historically they have come to be understood that way.

Most Zen lineages throughout Asia and the rest of the world originally grew from or were heavily influenced by the original five houses of Zen. Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960/979) [ ]. Sojiji Temple, of the school, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Zen was not introduced as a separate school until the 12th century, when traveled to China and returned to establish a Linji lineage, which eventually perished. Decades later, ( 南浦紹明) (1235–1308) also studied Linji teachings in China before founding the Japanese lineage, the most influential and only surviving lineage of in Japan. In 1215,, a younger contemporary of Eisai's, journeyed to China himself, where he became a disciple of the Caodong master.

After his return, established the school, the Japanese branch of Caodong. The three traditional schools of Zen in contemporary are the ( 曹洞), ( 臨済), and ( 黃檗). Of these, Sōtō is the largest, and Ōbaku the smallest, with Rinzai in the middle. These schools are further divided into subschools by head temple, with two head temples for Sōtō ( and, with Sōji-ji having a much larger network), fourteen head temples for Rinzai, and one head temple () for Ōbaku, for a total of 17 head temples. The Rinzai head temples, which are most numerous, have substantial overlap with the traditional, and include,,,, and, among others. Besides these traditional organizations, there are modern Zen organisations which have especially attracted Western lay followers, namely the and the FAS Society. Zen in the Western world [ ].

See also: and Although it is difficult to trace the precise moment when the West first became aware of Zen as a distinct form of Buddhism, the visit of, a Japanese Zen monk, to during the in 1893 is often pointed to as an event that enhanced the profile of Zen in the Western world. It was during the late 1950s and the early 1960s that the number of Westerners other than the descendants of Asian immigrants who were pursuing a serious interest in Zen began to reach a significant level. Has gained the greatest popularity in the West. The various books on Zen by,, and [ ] published between 1950 and 1975, contributed to this growing interest in Zen in the West, as did the interest on the part of beat poets such as, and. In 1958, the literary magazine played a significant role in introducing Zen to the American literary community when it published a special issue on Zen featuring the aforementioned beat poets and works in translation. See also [ ] • • • • • Notes [ ].

• • • Buddhism ( or ) is a and that encompasses a variety of, and largely based on attributed to and resulting. Buddhism originated in sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of, whereafter it during the Middle Ages. Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars: (: 'The School of the Elders') and (: 'The Great Vehicle').

Buddhism is the, with over 520 million followers or over 7% of the global population, known as Buddhists. Vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and, and especially their respective practices. Practices of Buddhism include taking in the, the and the, study of, observance of, of and, the practice of (including and ), the cultivation of, and, the Mahayana practice of and the Vajrayana practices of and. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the cessation of the and the attainment of the sublime state of, achieved by practicing the (also known as the ), thus escaping what is seen as a of and.

Theravada has a widespread following in and. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of,,, and (), is found throughout. Rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to via the path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening., a body of teachings attributed to, may be viewed as a third branch or merely a part of Mahayana., which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the, and. Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood.

Main articles: and Buddhism is an attributed to the teachings of the Buddha, supposedly born Siddhārtha Gautama, and also known as the Tathagata ('thus-gone') and Sakyamuni ('sage of the Sakyas'). The details of Buddha's life are mentioned in many but are inconsistent, and his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. The evidence of the early texts suggests that he was born as Siddhārtha Gautama in and grew up in Kapilavasthu, a town in the plains region of the modern Nepal-India border, and that he spent his life in what is now modern and.

Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother was queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. However, scholars such as Richard Gombrich consider this a dubious claim because a combination of evidence suggests he was born in the Shakyas community – one that later gave him the title Shakyamuni, and the Shakya community was governed by a small oligarchy or republic-like council where there were no ranks but where seniority mattered instead.

Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, and claims about the society he grew up in may have been invented and interpolated at a later time into the Buddhist texts. In,, where the Buddha gave his first sermon. It was built. According to the Buddhist sutras, Gautama was moved by the innate suffering of humanity and its due to rebirth.

He set out on a quest to end this repeated suffering. Early Buddhist canonical texts and early biographies of Gautama state that Gautama first studied under teachers, namely Alara Kalama (Sanskrit: Arada Kalama) and Uddaka Ramaputta (Sanskrit: Udraka Ramaputra), learning meditation and ancient philosophies, particularly the concept of 'nothingness, emptiness' from the former, and 'what is neither seen nor unseen' from the latter.

Finding these teachings to be insufficient to attain his goal, he turned to the practice of. This too fell short of attaining his goal, and then he turned to the practice of dhyana, meditation, which he had already discovered in his youth.

He famously sat in under a tree now called the in the town of in the Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He gained insight into the workings of karma and his former lives, and attained, certainty about the (Skt. Madhyamā-pratipad) as the right path of spiritual practice to end suffering ( ) from rebirths in. Buddha statue depicting (Mahaparinirvana Temple,, Uttar Pradesh, ) As a (Skt. Samyaksaṃbuddha), he attracted followers and founded a (monastic order). New Bengali Movie Torrent Free Download Site. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his life teaching the he had discovered, and at the age of 80 in, India.

Buddha's teachings were propagated by his followers, which in the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE became over 18 Buddhist sub-schools of thought, each with its own containing different interpretations and authentic teachings of the Buddha; these over time evolved into many traditions of which the more well known and widespread in the modern era are, and Buddhism. The problem of life: endless rebirth.

The Buddha teaching the Four Noble Truths. Manuscript., Bihar, India. The Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism: we to, which is dukkha, 'incapable of satisfying' and painful. This keeps us caught in, the endless cycle of repeated, dukkha and dying again.

But there is a way to from this endless cycle to the state of, namely following the. The truth of is the basic insight that life in this mundane world, with its clinging and craving to is dukkha, and unsatisfactory. Dukkha can be translated as 'incapable of satisfying,' 'the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all '; or 'painful.' Dukkha is most commonly translated as 'suffering,' which is an incorrect translation, since it refers not to literal suffering, but to the ultimately unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences.

We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness. In Buddhism, dukkha is one of the, along with and (non-self). Buddhism, like other major Indian religions, asserts that everything is impermanent (anicca), but, unlike them, also asserts that there is no permanent self or soul in living beings ( anattā). The ignorance or misperception ( ) that anything is permanent or that there is self in any being is considered a wrong understanding, and the primary source of clinging and dukkha. Dukkha when we crave (Pali: ) and cling to these changing phenomena.

The clinging and craving produces, which ties us to samsara, the round of death and rebirth. Craving includes kama-tanha, craving for sense-pleasures; -tanha, craving to continue the cycle of life and death, including rebirth; and vibhava-tanha, craving to not experience the world and painful feelings. Dukkha ceases, or can be confined, when craving and clinging cease or are confined. This also means that no more karma is being produced, and rebirth ends. Cessation is, 'blowing out,' and peace of mind. By following the Buddhist path to, liberation, one starts to disengage from craving and clinging to impermanent states and things.

The term 'path' is usually taken to mean the, but of 'the path' can also be found in the Nikayas. The Theravada tradition regards insight into the four truths as liberating in itself. The cycle of rebirth. Main article: Saṃsāra means 'wandering' or 'world', with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change. It refers to the theory of rebirth and 'cyclicality of all life, matter, existence', a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions.

Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be, unsatisfactory and painful, perpetuated by desire and (ignorance), and the resulting. The theory of rebirths, and realms in which these rebirths can occur, is extensively developed in Buddhism, in particular Tibetan Buddhism with its wheel of existence ( Bhavacakra) doctrine. Liberation from this cycle of existence, Nirvana, has been the foundation and the most important historical justification of Buddhism. The later Buddhist texts assert that rebirth can occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, hungry ghosts, hellish). Samsara ends if a person attains, the 'blowing out' of the desires and the gaining of true insight into and reality.

Main article: Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of many possible forms of, each running from conception to death. In Buddhist thought, this rebirth does not involve any soul, because of its doctrine of (Sanskrit: anātman, no-self doctrine) which rejects the concepts of a permanent self or an unchanging, eternal soul, as it is called in and. According to Buddhism there ultimately is no such thing as a self in any being or any essence in any thing. The Buddhist traditions have traditionally disagreed on what it is in a person that is reborn, as well as how quickly the rebirth occurs after each death. Some Buddhist traditions assert that 'no self' doctrine means that there is no perduring self, but there is avacya (inexpressible) self which migrates from one life to another.

The majority of Buddhist traditions, in contrast, assert that (a person's consciousness) though evolving, exists as a continuum and is the mechanistic basis of what undergoes rebirth, rebecoming and redeath. The rebirth depends on the or demerit gained by one's karma, as well as that accrued on one's behalf by a family member. Each rebirth takes place within one of five realms according to Theravadins, or six according to other schools – heavenly, demi-gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts and hellish. In East Asian and, rebirth is not instantaneous, and there is an intermediate state (Tibetan ') between one life and the next. The orthodox Theravada position rejects the wait, and asserts that rebirth of a being is immediate. However there are passages in the of the Pali Canon that seem to lend support to the idea that the Buddha taught about an intermediate stage between one life and the next.

Main article:, (from: 'action, work') drives —the endless cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skilful deeds (Pali: 'kusala') and bad, unskilful deeds (Pāli: 'akusala') produce 'seeds' in the unconscious receptacle ( ālaya) that mature later either in this life or in a subsequent. The existence of Karma is a core belief in Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions, it implies neither fatalism nor that everything that happens to a person is caused by Karma. A central aspect of Buddhist theory of karma is that intent () matters and is essential to bring about a consequence or 'fruit' or 'result'. However, good or bad karma accumulates even if there is no physical action, and just having ill or good thoughts create karmic seeds; thus, actions of body, speech or mind all lead to karmic seeds.

In the Buddhist traditions, life aspects affected by the law of karma in past and current births of a being include the form of rebirth, realm of rebirth, social class, character and major circumstances of a lifetime. It operates like the laws of physics, without external intervention, on every being in all of existence including human beings and gods. A notable aspect of the karma theory in Buddhism is merit transfer. A person accumulates merit not only through intentions and ethical living, but also is able to gain merit from others by exchanging goods and services, such as through dāna (charity to monks or nuns). Further, a person can transfer one's own good karma to living family members and ancestors. Main articles: and Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires taking Three Refuges, also called the Three Jewels (: triratna,: tiratana) as the foundation of one's religious practice. Pali texts employ the motif of the triple refuge, found in the 9.97.47, Rigveda 6.46.9 and 2.22.3–4.

Tibetan Buddhism sometimes adds a fourth refuge, in the. The three refuges are believed by Buddhists to be protective and a form of reverence. The Three Jewels are: • The, the Gotama, the Blessed One, the Awakened with true knowledge • The, the precepts, the practice, the Four Truths, the Eightfold Path • The, order of monks, the community of Buddha's disciples Reciting the three refuges is considered in Buddhism not as a place to hide, rather a thought that purifies, uplifts and strengthens. The Buddhist path Theravada - Noble Eightfold Path. Monks performing a ceremony in, China is the specific code of conduct for a sangha of monks or nuns.

It includes the, a set of 227 offences including 75 rules of decorum for monks, along with penalties for transgression, in the Theravadin tradition. The precise content of the (scriptures on the Vinaya) differs in different schools and tradition, and different monasteries set their own standards on its implementation.

The list of pattimokkha is recited every fortnight in a ritual gathering of all monks. Buddhist text with vinaya rules for monasteries have been traced in all Buddhist traditions, with the oldest surviving being the ancient Chinese translations. Monastic communities in the Buddhist tradition cut normal social ties to family and community, and live as 'islands unto themselves'. Within a monastic fraternity, a sangha has its own rules. A monk abides by these institutionalized rules, and living life as the vinaya prescribes it is not merely a means, but very nearly the end in itself.

Transgressions by a monk on Sangha vinaya rules invites enforcement, which can include temporary or permanent expulsion. Samadhi ( dhyana) – meditation.

Main articles:,,, and A wide range of meditation practices has developed in the Buddhist traditions, but 'meditation' primarily refers to the practice of dhyana c.q. It is a practice in which the attention of the mind is first narrowed to the focus on one specific object, such as the breath, a concrete object, or a specific thought, mental image or mantra.

After this initial focussing of the mind, the focus is coupled to mindfulness, maintaining a calm mind while being aware of one's surroundings. The practice of dhyana aids in maintaining a calm mind, and avoiding disturbance of this calm mind by mindfulness of disturbing thoughts and feelings. Origins The earliest evidence of yogis and their meditative tradition, states Karel Werner, is found in the hymn 10.136 of the. While evidence suggests was practiced in the centuries preceding the Buddha, the meditative methodologies described in the Buddhist texts are some of the earliest among texts that have survived into the modern era.

These methodologies likely incorporate what existed before the Buddha as well as those first developed within Buddhism. According to Bronkhorst, the Four Dhyanas was a Buddhist invention.

Bronkhorst notes that the Buddhist canon has a mass of contradictory statements, little is known about their relative chronology, and 'there can be no doubt that the canon – including the older parts, the Sutra and Vinaya Pitaka – was composed over a long period of time'. Meditative practices were incorporated from other movements; the Buddhist texts describe how Buddha learnt the practice of the formless dhyana from Brahmanical practices, in the Nikayas ascribed to Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. The Buddhist canon also describes and criticizes alternative dhyana practices, which likely mean the pre-existing mainstream meditation practices of Jainism and Hinduism. Buddha added a new focus and interpretation, particularly through the Four Dhyanas methodology, in which mindfulness is maintained. Further, the focus of meditation and the underlying theory of liberation guiding the meditation has been different in Buddhism.

For example, states Bronkhorst, the verse 4.4.23 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad with its 'become calm, subdued, quiet, patiently enduring, concentrated, one sees soul in oneself' is most probably a meditative state. The Buddhist discussion of meditation is without the concept of soul and the discussion criticizes both the ascetic meditation of Jainism and the 'real self, soul' meditation of Hinduism. Four rupa-jhāna and four arupa-jhāna. Buddhist monuments in the For Nirvana, Buddhist texts teach various meditation methodologies, of which rupa-jhana (four meditations in the realm of form) and arupa-jhana (four meditations in the formless realm) have been the most studied. These are described in the Pali Canon as trance-like states in the world of desirelessness. The four dhyanas under rupa-jhanas are: • First dhyana: detach from all sensory desires and sinful states that are a source of unwholesome karma. Success here is described in Buddhist texts as leading to discursive thinking, deliberation, detachment, sukha (pleasure) and priti (rapture).

• Second dhyana: cease deliberation and all discursive thoughts. Success leads to one-pointed thinking, serenity, pleasure and rapture. • Third dhyana: lose feeling of rapture. Success leads to equanimity, mindfulness and pleasure, without rapture. • Fourth dhyana: cease all effects, lose all happiness and sadness. Success in the fourth meditation stage leads to pure equanimity and mindfulness, without any pleasure or pain.

The arupa-jhanas (formless realm meditation) are also four, which are entered by those who have mastered the rupa-jhanas (). The first formless dhyana gets to infinite space without form or colour or shape, the second to infinity of perception base of the infinite space, the third formless dhyana transcends object-subject perception base, while the fourth is where he dwells in nothing-at-all where there are no feelings, no ideas, nor are there non-ideas, unto total cessation. The four rupa-dhyanas in Buddhist practice lead to rebirth in successfully better rupa Brahma heavenly realms, while arupa-dhyanas lead into arupa heavens. Richard Gombrich notes that the sequence of the four rupa-jhanas describes two different cognitive states. The first two describe a narrowing of attention, while in the third and fourth jhana attention is expanded again. Alexander Wynne further explains that the dhyana-scheme is poorly understood. According to Wynne, words expressing the inculcation of awareness, such as sati, sampajāno, and upekkhā, are mistranslated or understood as particular factors of meditative states, whereas they refer to a particular way of perceiving the sense objects.

Meditation and insight. See also: and The Buddhist tradition has incorporated two traditions regarding the use of (meditation, Pali jhāna). There is a tradition that stresses attaining (insight,,, ) as the means to awakening and liberation. But it has also incorporated the, as reflected in the use of jhana, which is rejected in other sutras as not resulting in the final result of liberation. Schmithausen discerns three possible roads to liberation as described in the suttas, to which Vetter adds the sole practice of dhyana itself. According to Vetter and Bronkhorst, the earliest Buddhist path consisted of a set of practices which culminate in the practice of dhyana, leading to a calm of mind which according to Vetter is the liberation which is being sought.

Later on, 'liberating insight' came to be regarded as equally liberating. This 'liberating insight' came to be exemplified by prajna, or the insight in the 'four truths,' but also by other elements of the Buddhist teachings. The Brahma-vihara. Main article: The four immeasurables or four abodes, also called Brahma-viharas, are virtues or directions for meditation in Buddhist traditions, which helps a person be reborn in the heavenly (Brahma) realm. These are traditionally believed to be a characteristic of the deity Brahma and the heavenly abode he resides in. The four Brahma-vihara are: • Loving-kindness (Pāli:, Sanskrit: maitrī) is active good will towards all; • Compassion (Pāli and Sanskrit: ) results from metta; it is identifying the suffering of others as one's own; • Empathetic joy (Pāli and Sanskrit: ): is the feeling of joy because others are happy, even if one did not contribute to it; it is a form of sympathetic joy; • Equanimity (Pāli:, Sanskrit: upekṣā): is even-mindedness and serenity, treating everyone impartially. According to Peter Harvey, the Buddhist scriptures acknowledge that the four Brahmavihara meditation practices 'did not originate within the Buddhist tradition'.

The Brahmavihara (sometimes as Brahmaloka), along with the tradition of meditation and the above four immeasurables are found in pre-Buddha and post-Buddha Vedic and Sramanic literature. Aspects of the Brahmavihara practice for rebirths into the heavenly realm have been an important part of Buddhist meditation tradition. According to Gombrich, the Buddhist usage of the brahma-vihāra originally referred to an awakened state of mind, and a concrete attitude toward other beings which was equal to 'living with Brahman' here and now. The later tradition took those descriptions too literally, linking them to cosmology and understanding them as 'living with Brahman' by rebirth in the Brahma-world. According to Gombrich, 'the Buddha taught that kindness – what Christians tend to call love – was a way to salvation.' Visualizations: deities, mandalas. — Lambert Schmithausen, In the Pali Canon liberating insight is attained in the fourth dhyana.

However, states Vetter, modern scholarship on the Pali Canon has uncovered a 'whole series of inconsistencies in the transmission of the Buddha's word', and there are many conflicting versions of what constitutes higher knowledge and samadhi that leads to the liberation from rebirth and suffering. Even within the Four Dhyana methodology of meditation, Vetter notes that 'penetrating abstract truths and penetrating them successively does not seem possible in a state of mind which is without contemplation and reflection.' According to Vetter, dhyāna itself constituted the original 'liberating practice'. Carol Anderson notes that insight is often depicted in the Vinaya as the opening of the Dhamma eye, which sets one on the Buddhist path to liberation.

Main articles: and Pratityasamutpada, also called 'dependent arising, or dependent origination', is the Buddhist theory to explain the nature and relations of being, becoming, existence and ultimate reality. Buddhism asserts that there is nothing independent, except the state of nirvana. All physical and mental states depend on and arise from other pre-existing states, and in turn from them arise other dependent states while they cease. The 'dependent arisings' have a causal conditioning, and thus Pratityasamutpada is the Buddhist belief that causality is the basis of, not a creator God nor the ontological Vedic concept called universal Self () nor any other 'transcendent creative principle'. However, the Buddhist thought does not understand causality in terms of Newtonian mechanics, rather it understands it as conditioned arising.

In Buddhism, dependent arising is referring to conditions created by a plurality of causes that necessarily co-originate a phenomenon within and across lifetimes, such as karma in one life creating conditions that lead to rebirth in one of the realms of existence for another lifetime. Buddhism applies the dependent arising theory to explain origination of endless cycles of dukkha and rebirth, through its or 'twelve links' doctrine. It states that because (ignorance) exists (karmic formations) exists, because Saṃskāras exists therefore (consciousness) exists, and in a similar manner it links (sentient body), (six senses), (sensory stimulation), (feeling), (craving), (grasping), (becoming), (birth), and (old age, death, sorrow, pain). By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained. Main articles: and, or 'emptiness', is a central concept in 's school, and widely attested in the sutras.

It brings together key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and, to refute the metaphysics of and (extinct non-Mahayana schools). Not only sentient beings are empty of; all phenomena () are without any (literally 'own-nature' or 'self-nature'), and thus without any underlying essence, and 'empty' of being independent; thus the heterodox theories of svabhava circulating at the time were refuted on the basis of the doctrines of early Buddhism. Representation-ony c.q. Main article: Buddha-nature is a concept found in some 1st-millennium CE Buddhist texts, such as the. This concept has been controversial in Buddhism, but has a following in East Asian Buddhism. These suggest, states Paul Williams, that 'all sentient beings contain a Tathagata' as their 'essence, core inner nature, Self'.

The Tathagatagarbha doctrine, at its earliest probably appeared about the later part of the 3rd century CE, and it contradicts the Anatta doctrine (non-Self) in a vast majority of Buddhist texts, leading scholars to posit that the Tathagatagarbha Sutras were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists. However, the Buddhist text Ratnagotravibhāga states that the 'Self' implied in Tathagatagarbha doctrine is actually 'not-Self'. Bhatti (devotion) at a Buddhist temple, Tibet. Chanting during (devotional worship) is often a part of the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Devotion is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists. Devotional practices include ritual prayer, prostration, offerings, pilgrimage, and chanting.

In Pure Land Buddhism, devotion to the Buddha Amitabha is the main practice. In Nichiren Buddhism, devotion to the Lotus Sutra is the main practice. Bhakti (called Bhatti in Pali) has been a common practice in Theravada Buddhism, where offerings and group prayers are made to deities and particularly images of Buddha. According to Karel Werner and other scholars, devotional worship has been a significant practice in Buddhism, and deep devotion is part of Buddhist traditions starting from the earliest days. Guru devotion is a central practice of Tibetan Buddhism.

The guru is considered essential and to the Buddhist devotee, the guru is the 'enlightened teacher and ritual master' in Vajrayana spiritual pursuits. For someone seeking Buddhahood, the guru is the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, wrote the 12th-century Buddhist scholar Sadhanamala.

The veneration of and obedience to teachers is also important in Theravada and Zen Buddhism. Buddhist texts. Main article: Buddhism, like all Indian religions, was an oral tradition in ancient times.

The Buddha's words, the early doctrines and concepts, and the interpretations were transmitted from one generation to the next by the word of mouth in monasteries, and not through written texts. The first Buddhist canonical texts were likely written down in Sri Lanka, about 400 years after the Buddha died. The texts were part of the Tripitakas, and many versions appeared thereafter claiming to be the words of the Buddha. Scholarly Buddhist commentary texts, with named authors, appeared in India, around the 2nd century CE. These texts were written in Pali or Sanskrit, sometimes regional languages, as, birch bark, painted scrolls, carved into temple walls, and later on paper. Unlike what the Bible is to Christianity and the Quran is to Islam, but like all major ancient Indian religions, there is no consensus among the different Buddhist traditions as to what constitutes the scriptures or a common canon in Buddhism.

The general belief among Buddhists is that the canonical corpus is vast. This corpus includes the ancient Sutras organized into Nikayas, itself the part of three basket of texts called the Tripitakas. Each Buddhist tradition has its own collection of texts, much of which is translation of ancient Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist texts of India. The Chinese Buddhist canon, for example, includes 2184 texts in 55 volumes, while the Tibetan canon comprises 1108 texts – all claimed to have been spoken by the Buddha – and another 3461 texts composed by Indian scholars revered in the Tibetan tradition. The Buddhist textual history has been vast; over 40,000 manuscripts mostly Buddhist, some non-Buddhist, were discovered in 1900 in the Dunhuang Chinese cave alone. Pāli Tipitaka.

• • • The Pāli Tipitaka (Sanskrit: Tripiṭaka, three pitakas), which means 'three baskets', refers to the Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutta Pitaka, and the Abhidhamma Pitaka. These constitute the oldest known canonical works of Buddhism.

The contains disciplinary rules for the Buddhist monasteries. The contains words attributed to the Buddha. The contain expositions and commentaries on the Sutta, and these vary significantly between Buddhist schools. The Pāli Tipitaka is the only surviving early Tipitaka. According to some sources, some early schools of Buddhism had five or seven pitakas. Much of the material in the Canon is not specifically 'Theravadin', but is instead the collection of teachings that this school preserved from the early, non-sectarian body of teachings.

According to Peter Harvey, it contains material at odds with later Theravadin orthodoxy. He states: 'The Theravadins, then, may have added texts to the Canon for some time, but they do not appear to have tampered with what they already had from an earlier period.' Theravada texts In addition to the Pali Canon, the important commentary texts of the Theravada tradition include the 5th-century by of the Mahavihara school.

It includes sections on shila (virtues), samadhi (concentration), panna (wisdom) as well as Theravada tradition's meditation methodology. Mahayana sutras. Main article: Pre-sectarian Buddhism is the earliest phase of Buddhism, recognized by nearly all scholars. Its main scriptures are the and the four principal Nikāyas or Agamas. Tracing the oldest teachings Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pāli Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute.

[ ] [ ] [ ] According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies. According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished: • 'Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;' • 'Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;' • 'Cautious optimism in this respect.' Core teachings. Buddhist Chakras at ASI Museum, Amaravathi According to Mitchell, certain basic teachings appear in many places throughout the early texts, which has led most scholars to conclude that Gautama Buddha must have taught something similar to the, the,, the, the,, and.

Yet critical analysis reveals discrepancies, which point to alternative possibilities. Bruce Matthews notes that there is no cohesive presentation of karma in the Sutta Pitaka, which may mean that the doctrine was incidental to the main perspective of early Buddhist soteriology. Schmithausen has questioned whether karma already played a role in the theory of rebirth of earliest Buddhism. [ ] According to Vetter, 'the Buddha at first sought 'the deathless' ( amata/amrta), which is concerned with the here and now. Only later did he become acquainted with the doctrine of rebirth.' Bronkhorst disagrees, and concludes that the Buddha 'introduced a concept of karma that differed considerably from the commonly held views of his time.'

According to Bronkhorst, not physical and mental activities as such were seen as responsible for rebirth, but intentions and desire. Another core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen states that the four noble truths as 'liberating insight', may be a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36. [ ] According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the became a substitution for prajna, or 'liberating insight', in the suttas in those texts where 'liberating insight' was preceded by the four jhānas. The four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of 'liberating insight'. Gotama's teachings may have been personal, 'adjusted to the need of each person.'

The – Dukkha, Annica, Anatta – may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his hearers.

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term 'the middle way'. In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path. Similarly nibbāna is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, yet many other terms can be found throughout the Nikāyas, which are not specified.

Early Buddhist schools. Buddha at, ca. 6th century CE According to the scriptures, soon after the (from Sanskrit: 'highest extinguishment') of Gautama Buddha, the was held.

As with any ancient Indian tradition, transmission of teaching was done orally. The primary purpose of the assembly was to collectively recite the teachings to ensure that no errors occurred in oral transmission. Richard Gombrich states that the monastic assembly recitations of the Buddha's teaching likely began during Buddha's lifetime, similar to the First Council, that helped compose Buddhist scriptures. The resulted in the first schism in the, probably caused by a group of reformists called Sthaviras who split from the conservative majority. After unsuccessfully trying to modify the, a small group of 'elderly members', i.e. Sthaviras, broke away from the majority during the Second Buddhist council, giving rise to the Sthavira sect.

The Sthaviras gave rise to several schools, one of which was the Theravada school. Originally, these schisms were caused by disputes over monastic disciplinary codes of various fraternities, but eventually, by about 100 CE if not earlier, schisms were being caused by doctrinal disagreements too. Buddhist monks of different fraternities became distinct schools and stopped doing official Sangha business together, but continued to study each other's doctrines. Following (or leading up to) the schisms, each Saṅgha started to accumulate their own version of (Pali Canons, triple basket of texts).

In their Tripiṭaka, each school included the Suttas of the Buddha, a Vinaya basket (disciplinary code) and added an basket which were texts on detailed scholastic classification, summary and interpretation of the Suttas. The doctrine details in the Abhidharmas of various Buddhist schools differ significantly, and these were composed starting about the third century BCE and through the 1st millennium CE. Eighteen early Buddhist schools are known, each with its own Tripitaka, but only one collection from Sri Lanka has survived, in a nearly complete state, into the modern era. Early Mahayana Buddhism. A Buddhist triad depicting, left to right, a, the future buddha,, the bodhisattva, and a. Second—third century.

Several scholars have suggested that the Mahayana Buddhism tradition started in south India (modern ), and it is there that sutras, among the earliest, developed among the along the region about the 1st century BCE. There is no evidence that Mahayana ever referred to a separate formal school or sect of Buddhism, but rather that it existed as a certain set of ideals, and later doctrines, for bodhisattvas. Initially it was known as Bodhisattvayāna (the 'Vehicle of the Bodhisattvas').

Paul Williams states that the Mahāyāna never had nor ever attempted to have a separate or ordination codes from the early schools of Buddhism. Records written by Chinese monks visiting India indicate that both Mahāyāna and non-Mahāyāna monks could be found in the same monasteries, with the difference that Mahayana monks worshipped figures of Bodhisattvas, while non-Mahayana monks did not. Much of the early extant evidence for the origins of Mahāyāna comes from early Chinese translations of Mahāyāna texts. These Mahayana teachings were first propagated into China by, the first translator of Mahayana sutras into Chinese during the 2nd century CE. Some scholars have traditionally considered the earliest Mahāyāna sūtras to include the very first versions of the Prajnaparamita series, along with texts concerning Akṣobhya, which were probably composed in the 1st century BCE in the south of India.

Late Mahayana Buddhism During the period of Late Mahayana Buddhism, four major types of thought developed: Madhyamaka, Yogachara, Tathagatagarbha, and as the last and most recent. In India, the two main philosophical schools of the Mahayana were the Madhyamaka and the later Yogachara. According to Dan Lusthaus, Madhyamaka and Yogachara have a great deal in common, and the commonality stems from early Buddhism. There were no great Indian teachers associated with tathagatagarbha thought. Vajrayana (Esoteric Buddhism). Coin depicting king, who, according to Buddhist tradition records in the, converted to the Buddhist faith and became an in the 2nd century BCE () In central and west Asia, Buddhist influence grew, through Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs and ancient Asian trade routes. An example of this is evidenced in Chinese and Pali Buddhist records, such as Milindapanha and the of.

The Milindapanha describes a conversation between a Buddhist monk and the 2nd-century BCE Greek king, after which Menander abdicates and himself goes into monastic life in the pursuit of nirvana. Some scholars have questioned the Milindapanha version, expressing doubts whether Menander was Buddhist or just favourably disposed to Buddhist monks. Other examples of the influence of can be seen in the history of the school of.

This early Buddhist school, active in north-western India, was in all probability founded by a Greek monk by the name, native of 'Alasanda' (which could be either or in modern, two cities of many. This school played a critical role in the spreading of Buddhism to central Asia and China and eventually to other parts of the far east. Further, some of the earliest written documents of the Buddhist faith are the, dating from about the 1st century CE, and connected to the Dharmaguptaka school. These texts are written in the Kharosthi script, a script that was predominantly used in the and kingdoms of northern India and that played a prominent role in the coinage and inscriptions of their kings. The Theravada school spread south from India in the 3rd century BCE, to Sri Lanka, and later to southeast Asia (,,,, and coastal ). The to China is most commonly thought to have started in the late 2nd or the 1st century CE, though the literary sources are all open to question.

The first documented translation efforts by foreign in China were in the 2nd century CE, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the into the Chinese territory of the. In the 2nd century CE, Mahayana Sutras spread to China, and then to Korea and Japan, and were translated into Chinese. During the Indian period of Esoteric Buddhism (from the 8th century onwards), Buddhism spread from India to Tibet and. Johannes Bronkhorst states that the esoteric form was attractive because it allowed both a secluded monastic community as well as the social rites and rituals important to laypersons and to kings for the maintenance of a political state during succession and wars to resist invasion. During the Middle Ages, Buddhism slowly declined in India, while it vanished from Persia and Central Asia as Islam became the state religion. Schools and traditions. Young monks in Some scholars use other schemes.

Buddhists themselves have a variety of other schemes. (literally 'lesser or inferior vehicle') is used by Mahayana followers to name the family of early philosophical schools and traditions from which contemporary Theravada emerged, but as the Hinayana term is considered derogatory, a variety of other terms are used instead, including, Nikaya Buddhism, early Buddhist schools, sectarian Buddhism and conservative Buddhism.

Not all traditions of Buddhism share the same philosophical outlook, or treat the same concepts as central. Main article: The Theravada tradition traces its roots to the words of the Buddha preserved in the Pali Canon, and considers itself to be the more orthodox form of Buddhism. Theravada flourished in south India and Sri Lanka in ancient times; from there it spread for the first time into mainland southeast Asia about the 11th century into its elite urban centres.

By the 13th century, Theravada had spread widely into the rural areas of mainland southeast Asia, displacing Mahayana Buddhism and some traditions of Hinduism which had arrived in places such as Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia around the mid-1st millennium CE. The later traditions were well established in south Thailand and Java by the 7th century, under the sponsorship of the Srivijaya dynasty. The political separation between Khmer and Sukhothai led the Sukhothai king to welcome Sri Lankan emissaries, helping them establish the first Theravada Buddhist sangha in the 13th century, in contrast to the Mahayana tradition of Khmer earlier. Sinhalese Buddhist reformers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries portrayed the as the original version of scripture. They also emphasized Theravada being rational and scientific. Theravāda is primarily practiced today in,,,, as well as small portions of China,, and.

It has a growing presence in the west. Mahayana traditions. The ideas of the 2nd century scholar Nagarjuna helped shape the Mahayana traditions. Mahayana schools consider the as authoritative scriptures and accurate rendering of Buddha's words. These traditions have been the more liberal form of Buddhism allowing different and new interpretations that emerged over time.

Mahayana flourished in India from the time of Ashoka, through to the dynasty of the (4th to 6th-century). Mahāyāna monastic foundations and centres of learning were established by the Buddhist kings, and the Hindu kings of the Gupta dynasty as evidenced by records left by three Chinese visitors to India. The Gupta dynasty, for example, helped establish the famed in Bihar. These monasteries and foundations helped Buddhist scholarship, as well as studies into non-Buddhist traditions and secular subjects such as medicine, host visitors and spread Buddhism into East and Central Asia. Native Mahayana Buddhism is practiced today in China, Japan,,, parts of Russia and most of (also commonly referred to as 'Eastern Buddhism'). The Buddhism practiced in Tibet, the Himalayan regions, and Mongolia is also Mahayana in origin, but is discussed below under the heading of Vajrayana (also commonly referred to as 'Northern Buddhism').

There are a variety of strands in Eastern Buddhism, of which 'the Pure Land school of Mahayana is the most widely practised today.' In most of this area however, they are fused into a single unified form of Buddhism., they form separate denominations with the five major ones being:, peculiar to Japan;;, a form of Vajrayana;, and. In Korea, nearly all Buddhists belong to the, which is officially Son (Zen), but with substantial elements from other traditions. Vajrayana traditions. 7th-century in Lhasa valley symbolizes Tibetan Buddhism and is a UNESCO world heritage site. The goal and philosophy of the Vajrayāna remains Mahāyānist, but its methods are seen by its followers as far more powerful, so as to lead to Buddhahood in just one lifetime. The practice of using was adopted from, where they were first used in the.

Tantric Buddhism is largely concerned with ritual and meditative practices. Various classes of Vajrayana literature developed as a result of royal courts sponsoring both Buddhism and. The, which later came to classified under, states that mantras taught in the Saiva, Garuda and Vaisnava tantras will be effective if applied by Buddhists since they were all taught originally. The Guhyasiddhi of Padmavajra, a work associated with the, prescribes acting as a Saiva guru and initiating members into scriptures and mandalas. The texts adopted the list from the Saiva text Tantrasadbhava, introducing a copying error where a deity was mistaken for a place.

Preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth-century India. Tantric Buddhism is largely concerned with ritual and meditative practices. A central feature of Buddhist Tantra is which includes visualization and identification with an enlightened or meditation deity and its associated.

Another element of Tantra is the need for ritual initiation or empowerment (abhiṣeka) by a. Some Tantras like the features new forms of antinomian ritual practice such as the use taboo substances like alcohol,, and charnel ground practices which evoke.

A Zen temple in, Japan Zen Buddhism (禅), pronounced in Chinese, seon in Korean or zen in Japanese (derived from the Sanskrit term dhyāna, meaning 'meditation') is a form of Mahayana Buddhism found in China, Korea and Japan. It lays special emphasis on meditation, and direct discovery of the Buddha-nature.

Zen Buddhism is divided into two main schools: (臨済宗) and (曹洞宗), the former greatly favouring the use in meditation on the (公案, a meditative riddle or puzzle) as a device for spiritual break-through, and the latter (while certainly employing koans) focusing more on or 'just sitting'. Zen Buddhism is primarily found in Japan, with some presence in South Korea and Vietnam. The scholars of Japanese Soto Zen tradition in recent times have critiqued the mainstream Japanese Buddhism for dhatu-vada, that is assuming things have substantiality, a view they assert to be non-Buddhist and 'out of tune with the teachings of non-Self and conditioned arising', states Peter Harvey. Buddhism today. Afghanistan in 1896 (top) and after destruction in 2001 by the Islamists Modern influences increasingly lead to that are diverse and that significantly depart from traditional beliefs and practices. A number of modern movements or tendencies in Buddhism emerged during the second half of the 20th century, including the school and launched.

The Navayana (literally, 'new vehicle') rejects the foundational doctrines and practices accepted by traditional Theravada and Mahayana traditions, by discarding ideas such as monk lifestyle after renunciation, karma, rebirth, samsara, meditation, nirvana, Four Noble Truths and others. Ambedkar's Navayana Buddhism considers these as superstitions and re-interprets the original Buddha as someone who taught about and social equality. Modern Buddhist movements include in Korea, the in Thailand and several Japanese organizations, such as,.

Om Shanti Oshana Song Kattu Mooliyo Mp3 Download. Demographics Buddhism is practiced by an estimated 488 million, 495 million, or 535 million people as of the 2010s, representing 7% to 8% of the world's total population. Percentage of Buddhists by country, according to the, as of 2010 is the country with the largest population of Buddhists, approximately 244 million or 18.2% of its total population.

They are mostly followers of of, making this the largest body of Buddhist traditions. Mahayana, also practiced in broader, is followed by over half of world Buddhists. According to a demographic analysis reported by Peter Harvey (2013): Mahayana has 360 million adherents; has 150 million adherents; and has 18.2 million adherents. According to Johnson and Grim (2013), Buddhism has grown from a total of 138 million adherents in 1910, of which 137 million were in, to 495 million in 2010, of which 487 million are in Asia. Over 98% of all Buddhists live in the Asia-Pacific and South Asia region. North America had about 3.9 million Buddhists, Europe 1.3 million, while South America, Africa and the Middle East had an estimated combined total of about 1 million Buddhists in 2010. Buddhism is the dominant religion in,,,,,, and.

Large Buddhist populations live in (18.2%), (36.2%), (35%), (17%), (13.8%), (10.7%), (10%), (33%), (15%) and (22.9%). After China where nearly half of the worldwide Buddhists live, the 10 countries with the largest Buddhist population densities are: Buddhism by percentage as of 2010 Country Estimated Buddhist population Buddhists as% of total population 13,701,660 96.90% 64,419,840 93.20% 38,415,960 80.10% 563,000 74.70% 14,455,980 69.30% 4,092,000 66.00% 1,520,760 55.10% 45,807,480 or 84,653,000 36.20% or 67% 1,725,510 33.90% 4,945,600 or 8,000,000 21.10% or 35% 185,000,000+ 15.87% See also •. • The realms of rebirths in Buddhism are further subdivided into 31 planes of existence. Rebirths in some of the higher heavens, known as the or Pure Abodes, can be attained only by skilled Buddhist practitioners known as (non-returners).

Rebirths in the (formless realms) can be attained by only those who can meditate on the, the highest object of meditation. • According to A.K. Warder, in his 1970 publication 'Indian Buddhism', from the oldest extant texts a common kernel can be drawn out.

According to Warder, c.q. His publisher: 'This kernel of doctrine is presumably common Buddhism of the period before the great schisms of the fourth and third centuries BC. It may be substantially the Buddhism of the Buddha himself, although this cannot be proved: at any rate it is a Buddhism presupposed by the schools as existing about a hundred years after the parinirvana of the Buddha, and there is no evidence to suggest that it was formulated by anyone else than the Buddha and his immediate followers.' • Richard Gombrich: 'I have the greatest difficulty in accepting that the main edifice is not the work of a single genius.

By 'the main edifice' I mean the collections of the main body of sermons, the four Nikāyas, and of the main body of monastic rules.' • Ronald Davidson: 'While most scholars agree that there was a rough body of sacred literature (disputed)(sic) that a relatively early community (disputed)(sic) maintained and transmitted, we have little confidence that much, if any, of surviving Buddhist scripture is actually the word of the historic Buddha.' De Jong: 'It would be hypocritical to assert that nothing can be said about the doctrine of earliest Buddhism [.] the basic ideas of Buddhism found in the canonical writings could very well have been proclaimed by him [the Buddha], transmitted and developed by his disciples and, finally, codified in fixed formulas.' • Bronkhorst: 'This position is to be preferred to (ii) for purely methodological reasons: only those who seek nay find, even if no success is guaranteed.'

• Lopez: 'The original teachings of the historical Buddha are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover or reconstruct.'