Buddhism Huston Smith

1. What is the biggest problem faced when trying to understand some of the core ideas / beliefs of Buddhism? (pages 112 - 113)

He wrote nothing, and the first Buddhist records were written after 150 years, raising the question of authenticity. Presumably, Buddha’s actual words weren’t preserved.

2. How does Smith describe / define Nirvana? Is it possible to conceive of what Nirvana is? Why or why not?

Nirvana is a stage in which fire is deprived of fuel and thus extinguished. The fire means the boundaries of the finite self and consequent desires. Buddha insisted that Nirvana was incomprehensible, indescribable, inconceivable, and unutterable. Just like wind cannot be seen, Nirvana cannot be perceived in anyway, beyond mind, thoughts, feelings and other human abilities.

3. How or what is Anatta, according to Smith? (115)

Anatta means soullessness. Buddha stated that there wasn’t spiritual substance passing onto the next life or everlasting self. Because One becomes new or different after every moment, dictated by Karma, there is no everlasting soul.

4. How does Smith describe the concept of transmigration and its relation to karma? (115 - 116)

No spiritual substance is transmigrated. But fragments of oneself such as experience, feelings or desires gets passed onto future self, which could be the self in the next life or that in a minute, according to the state he is in (Karma)

5. According to Smith, why did the Buddha belabor the concept of Annica?

Nothing in nature is identical with what it was the moment before. By accepting its impermanence, we can be freed from material desires. Anatta, and annica are so closely related and interdependent that I almost use interchangeably.

6. What is the biggest problem, according to Smith, when trying to answer the question "Do humans survive bodily death?" (117 - 118)

The biggest problem is that the answer to the question is ambiguous. Buddha didn’t want to invoke two extreme answers in followers by saying a definite one since the right answer is not discernable. Anicca and Anatta state that humans don’t survive bodily death whereas enlightened beings transcend the limitation.

7. When trying to understand the split in Buddhism, Smith argues that the divisions arise from three basic questions: What are the three questions and how do they relate to Buddhism? (120 - 121)

The three questions are the question of whether people are independent or interdependent, the question of the relation in which human beings stand to the universe and the question of what the best part of the humans is. Due to these questions, there was a division in Buddhism.

8. Smith outlines the basic differences between the schools in a single paragraph on page 121 - what are the main divisions he points out and what do the different names Mahayana and Hinayana (Theravada) mean?

One group pursues wisdom through meditation and another hold compassion preciously. The first group insists that one has to surrender a worldly position and become a monk in order to get enlightened whereas the second is less demanding for enlightenment cannot be achieved alone. Additionally, the second group acknowledges cosmic help.

Yana means a raft that carry people across life’s sea to the shores of enlightenment. The second group is called Mahayana for it is a bigger raft that carries not only the monks but also laypeople. Another automatically became hinayana, which is a little raft, however they called themselves Theravada, The Way of Elders since they don’t prefer hinayana. By changing their name, they also claim that their teaching is original from Gautama Buddha.

9. Read pages 122 - 127 and outline the major differences Smith gives for the division between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism.

Mahayana focuses on Buddha’s life and his examples, claiming that the words from the Pali Canon are not adequate, whereas Theravada focuses on the Pali Canon, which is the earliest record, claiming their Buddhism is original for it studies the Canon. However the fact that Buddha came back from Nirvana to help others is an evidence for Mahayana to claim their authenticity.

Theravada	Mahayana
Individualistic	Interconnected
Self reliance, no gods	Brahamic existence
Wisdom, then everything follows	Compassion first
Sangha	laypeople
Arhat	Boddhisattva
Buddha as a sage	Buddha as a savior
Speculation is bad	Speculation is okay to make the concepts easier
Meditation to deepen faith and love	Rely on Buddha for spiritual strength
Fundamental to texts	Liberal to texts