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Fransk- Hvordan fungerer det kosmiske hele ifølge den buddhistiske lære, og hvordan er det opdelt?
- Er begreberne Karma og Samsara forbundet udelukkende med buddhisme?
- Hvilke karaktertræk kendetegner ifølge redegørelserne i kilde 1 og 2 karmarelateret gengældelse og Samsara, og hvordan er forholdet mellem de to begreber?
- Hvilke af de verdener, der er fremstillet i kilde 3, er det at foretrække at blive genfødt i?
- Har denne genfødselscyklus et udspring?
- Hvordan adskiller dette syn på den kosmiske helhed sig fra kristendommens, jødedommens og Islams syn?
3. Main doctrines (1). Karma and Samsara - For teachers
Introduction
Buddhism borrowed from the earlier Indian religious context two pivotal concepts of Karman and Samsara, which provides a coherent model of the function and structure of the universe, which in turn forms the basis for the Buddhist explanations of the path of liberation from the world.
Sacred texts and other main texts: the Sutras
A Sutra is a sacred text of Buddhism said to contain the discourses of the Buddha as heard by his disciples. Apart from Sutra, Buddhist texts can also be classified as Vinaya, (monastic regulations) or Shastra, doctrinal treatises.
Acknowledged authority: the Incipit of a Sutra
Every Sutra, regardless of the origin, language, or date of production, starts with the phrase: "Thus I have heard". The Buddhist tradition holds that Ananda, the beloved disciples of Buddha, memorized each discourse, so that when time came to put them down in written form, he started his recitation with the phrase "thus I have heard (from the Master)". This is the traditional phrase that sanctions the authority of a Buddhist text as a Sutra, and it is found also in texts obviously postdating the death of Buddha.
Main doctrinal tenets: The Cycle of rebirth
Like Hindus, also for Buddhists all beings are doomed to death and rebirth in a recurring cycle over countless ages (the Samsara). Buddhism in particular divides the possibilities of rebirth in six states of existence. Unless they attain enlightenment, all beings are reborn after death into a lower or a higher realm, depending on their actions while still alive. This involves the concept of Karman and Karmic Retribution.
Main doctrinal tenets: Karman
The theory of Karman, another borrowing from earlier Hinduism, is the universal law of cause and effect, which binds man to his deeds. According to the theory of retribution of the acts, the actions that man performs have effect on him in the present and also in the future life. This effect could be positive, negative, or neutral. In each case, it binds man to the cycle of rebirth.
"Sources" Analysis and comment
Source 1: Excerpts from "Itivuttaka: The Group of Ones" (Iti 1-27)
"Blessed One" is the most common epithet found in Sutras; and "Arahat", is a technical term that indicate the person who has attained enlightenment.
The contents of the Sutra explain the fundamental idea of the cycle of rebirth. Man is entrapped inside the Samsara because of the attachment to the world. This attachment leads to actions, that create Karman, that lead to subsequent rebirths.
Source 2: Excerpts from "Cula-kammavibhanga Sutta: The Shorter Exposition of Kamma" (MN 135)
This Sutra deals with the ethical dimension of the Karman mechanism in the cycle of Rebirth, which explains why human condition varies from poor to rich, healthy to sick and so on. The Karmic mechanism is a important doctrinal point also for lay people who maybe can't afford to take the difficult spiritual path towards enlightenment, but nonetheless can hope for a better rebirth as a retribution for a righteous life.
Source 3: Wheel of Samsara
The Bhavacakra ("Wheel of existence") are symbolic diagrams typical of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. These powerful images summarize the fundamentals tenets of Buddhism. Here we will deal only with the representation of the six realms of rebirth, in which the Samsara is divided, that occupy the biggest layer of the wheel, divided in six sections. The fierce being holding the wheel is Yama, the god of death, which symbolize the impermanent nature of the cycle of rebirth (that is, always in motion).
These six realms can be divided into three higher realms and three lower realms. The three lower realms are:
1) Beings in Hell. The lowest and worst realm, wracked by torture and characterized by aggression.
2) Hungry Ghosts. The realm of hungry spirits; characterized by great craving and eternal starvation. Their appearance is a metaphor for their mental situation: they have enormous appetites, signified by their gigantic bellies, but can't satisfy those appetites, because of their slender necks.
3) Animals. The realm of animals and livestock, characterized by stupidity servitude and fear of being eaten by other animals.
The three higher realms are:
4) Ashura. The realm of anger, jealousy, and constant war; the Ashura are demigods, semi-blessed beings; they are powerful, fierce and quarrelsome.
5) Humans. The human realm. Even if most of humans are blinded and consumed by their desires, the human realm is considered to be the most suitable realm for practicing the teachings of Buddha, because humans are not completely distracted by pleasure (like the gods) or by pain and suffering (like the beings in the lower realms).
6) Devas. The realm of heavenly beings filled with bliss. Devas are another borrowing from Hinduism. They live for countless ages, but even the Devas belong to Samsara and thus grow old and die. Because they are distracted in meaningless pleasures, they forget to practice the teachings of Buddha and eventually are reborn in lower realms.
These realms can be understood as aspects of Buddhist cosmology and at the same time on the psychological level:
pride (Devas), jealousy (Ashura), desire (Human), ignorance (animals), greed (hungry ghost), and anger (Beings in Hell).
Intercultural, interdisciplinary information
There is no Buddhist myth about how the universe was originally created, as the Buddhist universe has no beginning in the sense that the Christian universe does. Early Buddhism shared an understanding of time and the nature of the universe with early-Hinduism of the time, which taught that the universe had been created and destroyed over and over again. Buddhism has thus a so-called cyclical vision of time. In contrast, Judaism, Christianity and lslam have a historical vision of time: world has a origin, a development upon which God acts, and an end.
Moreover, especially for the first Buddhism, the metaphysical question such as the finitude or eternity of the world are rejected as non important and as mere distractions towards the liberation from suffering.
Link to other modules
Christianity II .Themes section 3
Judaism II. Themes section 2
Islam I . History section 4, 5
Islam II Themes section 3
To go Deeper
This link leads to a web page where the arguments presented in this page and in section 4 are explained in a interactive Image of a Wheel of Life. Other more-in depth-arguments are also provided.
Introduction to religious traditions | Introduction to Buddhism I. A brief overview
3. De vigtigste doktriner 1. Karma og Samsara
”Cula-kammavibhanga Sutta
Uddrag af ”Itivuttaka, The Group of Ones”
"Monks, I don't envision even one other fetter — fettered by which beings conjoined go wandering & transmigrating on for a long, long time — like the fetter of craving. Fettered with the fetter of craving, beings conjoined go wandering & transmigrating on for a long, long time."
Uddrag af ”Itivuttaka, The Group of Ones” (Iti 1-15), oversat fra pali af Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30. november 2013
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/iti/iti.1.001-027.than.html
(oversættelse let bearbejdet)
Dette er et uddrag (§15) af Itivuttaka (“Som det blev sagt”) –sutraen, skrevet på pali, hvilket er en dialekt af sanskrit. Den er formentlig skrevet i det første århundrede f.v.t. En sutra er en hellig, buddhistisk tekst, der menes at indeholde Buddhas egne ord. Dette uddrag bekræfter, at mennesker er fanget i et cyklus af genfødsler (Samsara).
Uddrag af ”Cula-kammavibhanga Sutta: The Shorter Exposition of Kamma”
Dette er et uddrag af begyndelsen af Cula-kammavibhanga (”Den korte redegørelse for Karma”) –sutraen, skrevet på pali, som er en dialekt af sanskrit. Den er formentlig skrevet i det første århundrede f.v.t. En sutra er en hellig, buddhistisk tekst, der menes at indeholde Buddhas egne ord. Dette uddrag forklarer gengældelsesmekanismen indeholdt i begrebet Karma.
- "1. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savatthi in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park. Then Subha the student, went to the Blessed One and exchanged greetings with him, and when the courteous and amiable talk was finished, he sat down at one side. When he had done so, Subha the student said to the Blessed One:
- 2. "Master Goutama, what is the reason, what is the condition, why inferiority and superiority are met with among human beings, among mankind? For one meets with short-lived and long-lived people, sick and healthy people, ugly and beautiful people, insignificant and influential people, poor and rich people, low-born and high-born people, stupid and wise people. What is the reason, what is the condition, why superiority and inferiority are met with among human beings, among mankind?"
- 3. "Student, beings are owners of karman, heirs of karman, they have karman as their progenitor, karman as their kin, karman as their homing-place. It is karman that differentiate beings according to inferiority and superiority."
- 4. "I do not understand the detailed meaning of Master Goutama's utterance spoken in brief without expounding the detailed meaning. It would be good if Master Goutama taught me the Dharma so that I might understand the detailed meaning of Master Goutama's utterance spoken in brief without expounding the detailed meaning."
"Then listen, student, and heed well what I shall say."
"Even so, Master Goutama," Subha the student replied. The Blessed One said this: - 5. "Here, student, some woman or man is a killer of living beings, murderous, bloody-handed, given to blows and violence, merciless to living beings. Due to having performed and completed such karman, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a state of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, in hell. If, on the dissolution of the body, after death, instead of his reappearing in a state of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, in hell, he comes to the human state, he is short-lived wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to short life, that is to say, to be a killer of living beings, murderous, bloody-handed, given to blows and violence, merciless to living beings.
- 6. "But here some woman or man, having abandoned the killing of living beings, abstains from killing living beings, lays aside the rod and lays aside the knife, is considerate and merciful and dwells compassionate for the welfare of all living beings. Due to having performed and completed such Karman, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a happy destination, in the heavenly world. If, on the dissolution of the body, after death, instead of his reappearing in a happy destination, in the heavenly world, he comes to the human state, he is long-lived wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to long life, that is to say, to have abandoned the killing of living beings, to abstain from killing living beings, to lay aside the rod and lay aside the knife, to be considerate and merciful, and to dwell compassionate for the welfare of all living beings".
Uddrag af ”Cula-kammavibhanga Sutta: The Shorter Exposition of Kamma” (MN 135), oversat fra pali af Ñanamoli Thera. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30. november 2013
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.135.nymo.html
(oversættelse let bearbejdet)
Livshjulet
![[ img load fail ]](images/wheel_of_samsara_4478094_768x1024.jpg)
Billedet viser et Bhavacakra (”Livshjul”), som er en symbolsk fremstilling af Samsara. Dette eksempel findes på indersiden af Trongsa-fæstningens mur, grundlagt 1647 i Bhutan.
Fotografi af Stephen Shephard
CC-BY-SA-2.5
