Berzin the position of Buddhism in the modern world. The role of world religions in the modern world. Stupa of Enlightenment in Elista
Like Christianity and Islam, Buddhism is one of the most widespread monotheistic religions in terms of the number of followers. But unlike them, Buddhism has other cultural and historical roots and place of development. As a religious and philosophical teaching, Buddhism ( buddhad- harma() originated in northern India in the 6th century. BC. The founder of the doctrine was the prince of one of the Indian principalities in the Ganges valley, Siddhartha Gautama, who later received the name Buddha Shakyamuni. The doctrine of Buddhism is based on the so-called four noble truths, which are followed by all its schools. These principles were formulated by the Buddha himself and can be summarized as follows: there is suffering; there is a cause of suffering - desire; there is a cessation of suffering - nirvana; there is a path that leads to the end of suffering.
Estimates of the number of followers of Buddhism around the world vary considerably depending on the method of counting, since in some countries of East Asia Buddhism is closely intertwined with local traditional beliefs ( Shinto in Japan) and philosophical teachings ( Taoism, Confucianism - in China and Korea). According to minimal estimates, the number of Buddhists in the world is 500-600 million people, most of whom are ethnic Chinese and Japanese. Countries with a predominantly Buddhist population also include Laos (over 95%), Cambodia (95%), Thailand (94%), Mongolia (over 90%), Tibet (90%), Myanmar (89%), Japan (73%), Sri Lanka ( 70), Bhutan (70). Buddhists make up a significant part of the population of Singapore (43), Vietnam, China, South Korea (23), Malaysia (20), Nepal (11%) (Fig. 11.6). In India - the birthplace of Buddhism - at present, the share of followers of the teachings of the Buddha does not exceed 1% (about 12 million people). In Russia, Buddhism is practiced by the majority of ethnic groups. Buryat, Kalmyks And Tuvans.
Rice. 11.6.The proportion of Buddhists in the total population of the countries of the world, 2015,%
Buddhism became the state religion in India in the middle of the 3rd century. BC. during the reign of King Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty. Since that time, Buddhism began to spread outside of India, soon becoming the dominant religion in Bactria 1, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Tokharistan. In the 1st century AD Buddhism entered China in the 4th century. - to Korea, and in the VI century. - to Japan, in the 7th century. - to Tibet. In Southeast Asia, Buddhism became the dominant religion in the 8th-9th centuries. In the XIV-XVI centuries. on the islands of the Sunda Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula (the modern territory of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei), Buddhism was supplanted by Islam. In India, after the fall of the Gupta dynasty in the 6th c. AD, Buddhism also began to be persecuted and by the end of the XII century. was completely supplanted by the resurgent Hinduism and Islam that came from the west. In the XIV century. Buddhism became the dominant religion in Mongolia.
Traditionally, Buddhism is divided into Hinayana (“small vehicle”) and Mahayana (“great vehicle”), the Vajrayana (“diamond vehicle”) is also often separated from the latter.
Hinayana is a doctrine whose followers strive for personal liberation. It is called the "little vehicle" because it can only lead to the liberation of the aspirant himself. According to modern research, initially Hinayana contained more than 20 different directions (schools), of which the largest number of followers to date has theravada. According to the tenets of the Hinayana (Theravada), only Buddhist monks can achieve nirvana. Lay people, on the other hand, must improve their karma by performing good deeds in order to become a monk in one of their next lives.
Formed as a holistic dogma in the middle of the III century. BC. In the reign of Emperor Ashoka, thanks to active missionary activity, the Hinayana spread widely outside of India. Currently, Hinayana is the main school of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and the countries of Southeast Asia (Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos). Theravada is also traditionally practiced by some ethnic minorities of Southwestern China (Yunnan and Guizhou provinces), Vietnam, the Chinese population of Malaysia and Singapore. In the modern world, there are about 200 million followers of Theravada.
Mahayana how the direction of Buddhism took shape in the 1st century. BC. and, unlike the Hinayana, became more widespread in Central and East Asia. The goal of the Mahayana schools, unlike the Hinayana schools, is not the attainment of nirvana, but full and final enlightenment. The basic principles of the Mahayana doctrine are based on the possibility of universal liberation from suffering for all beings. Today, Mahayana Buddhism is most widespread in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
Vajrayana is a tantric branch of Buddhism, formed within the Mahayana in the 5th century. AD The main means of achieving enlightenment in the Vajrayana are the use of mantras and logical meditation. For professing Mahayana, the veneration of spiritual mentors (gurus) is of great importance. Currently, the Vajrayana is widespread in Nepal, Tibet, and partly in Japan. From Tibet, the Vajrayana penetrated to Mongolia, and from there to Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva.
The ritual life of Buddhism
The question of the cult practice of Buddhism is connected with the question of the qualification of Buddhism as a religion in general. This is especially true of early Buddhism, which is associated directly with the Buddha. The ritual side was not only absent, inattention to rituals was the basis for opposing the existing religion, which had an extensive ritual system. Accordingly, it has often been argued that early Buddhism was not, strictly speaking, a religion.
Rather, it was an ethics that offered a scheme of the right way of life, supplemented by a specific picture of the world in the form of cosmogonic, anthropogonic and sociogonic myths. There was also no clear idea of the other world, like monotheistic religions, where the other world is associated with the opposition of the created and uncreated worlds, the creator and creation. To achieve the ideal, rituals were not required, only certain actions were needed to organize one's own life. Hence the pronounced elitism of the doctrine, which is accepted by those who are able to appreciate its depth.
It is obvious that the process of formation and transformation of Buddhism into a religion "familiar" to us proceeded slowly. The practices of the right life, especially those aimed at achieving psychophysical control over oneself, became ritualized, but this is rather a surrogate for rituals, and not a religious ritual in its purest form.
Expanded ritual practices appear later, in connection with the spread of Buddhism in the territories occupied by other religions, when he adopted the already existing rituals, integrating with them. This also corresponded to another important trend - the desire for missionary work, the dissemination of views and the expansion of influence. The departure from elitism and the focus on involving wide circles of people in religious life inevitably led to the need to leave in use at least part of the rituals that people were used to and did not want to part with. Thus, more and more syncretic elements appeared in Buddhism, which were alien to early Buddhism.
Naturally, the Mahayana turned out to be especially susceptible to the appearance and borrowing of rituals, with its characteristic softening of the principles of classical Buddhism, represented by the Hinayana. The lack of doctrinal clarity made this process even easier. Accordingly, in different regions, Buddhism was enriched by the rituals that were common there.
There is a cult of the Buddha himself with the already mentioned veneration of his ashes, other relics, places associated with his life. The festival of Buddha's Day appears, connecting, which is characteristic of the Buddhist worldview, the memory of three events: the birth of the Buddha, his enlightenment and death. This gradually gives rise to the practice of pilgrimage, completely alien to early Buddhism, which emphasized the separation of teaching and its implementation. The cult of many Buddhas characteristic of the Mahayana also gave rise to the multiplication of rites. We can mention the appearance of images (of the Buddha himself, symbolic pictures of the universe, other sacred symbols), funeral rituals, prayer practices that involve repeated repetition of relatively small mantras.
At the same time, Buddhism retains an attitude towards rituals as, in some respects, a second-rate phenomenon necessary for less perfect laymen. Those who pass through the more perfect path pay their main attention precisely to psychophysical practices.
The appearance of images formed a certain Buddhist canon based on the symbolic transmission of the main categories of the Buddhist worldview. Even anthropomorphic images contain a number of unexpected elements with a departure from similarity, which should reflect the variability, the fluid uncertainty of the world, the refusal to fix a certain finished image, whether it is purely earthly (European-type secular painting) or beyond, belonging to eternity (for example, Christian icon painting). Within the framework of the culture of Christian countries, such aesthetics, generally characteristic of Eastern religions, were often interpreted not only as unnatural and ugly, but also as demonic and even harmful magical, attracting unclean forces (we can also mention the persistent fear of objects of the Egyptian funeral ritual, reflected in fantastic works, horror films).
In some regions of Buddhism, rituals have become especially common and complex.
A striking example of this is the Buddhism of the Tibeto-Mongolian region, which even received a special name lamaism. In the XX century. many Tibetan Buddhists, led by the next Dalai Lama, emigrated because of the unfavorable political situation, but even in India they stand out among the bearers of typical Indian Buddhism. It was this branch of Buddhism that was represented in Russia among the Kalmyks, Buryats and Tuvans. The question was even raised about whether it should not be considered a separate religion that had gone beyond the boundaries of Buddhism and aspired to polytheism. However, at the present time, the term is falling into disuse, since there are no fundamental differences between this branch of Buddhism and others.
It is characterized by the introduction into the religious picture of previously existing local cults, which were not supplanted, but absorbed by Buddhism, strict centralization, the desire for uniformity of dogma, the appearance of a single head - Dalai Lamas (ocean llamas). This branch of Buddhism adopted a number of early shamanistic practices that existed in this territory, introduced new ritual elements (like a prayer mill, the spinning of which causes the movement of prayer texts and thus allows "speeding up" the practice of repeating prayers).
Buddhism in the modern world
Buddhism could not but affect the general processes of change in the social and religious environment, which was reflected in a number of phenomena.
A complex of phenomena began to form, vaguely referred to as neo-Buddhism. On the one hand, this is sometimes called the adaptation of Buddhist teachings for bearers of a typically European or American culture. Already in the XIX century. Buddhism became attractive to some philosophers, such as A. Schopenhauer (1788–1860), who kept a statue of Buddha in his apartment along with a bust of I. Kant, whom he considered a teacher. They were interested in the very view of Buddhism on the world (what they began to designate as "Buddhist philosophy"), and its religious content remained indifferent to them. Later, against the background of a general lack of knowledge about religion and a fascination with "Eastern culture", the ideas of Buddhism began to mix with elements of other Eastern religions, bizarrely transformed, sometimes strongly departing from typical Buddhism and contributing to the formation of some new religious movements (see paragraph 10.6). The popularity of the ideas of Chan Buddhism coincided with the enthusiasm for "Eastern philosophy", of which Buddhism became a variety. It was perceived as an alternative to rationalism and Western culture in general and a number of religions, including Christianity in particular.
The enthusiasm for these ideas expanded in youth circles, taking exaggerated forms of social protest, and reached its maximum in the 1960s. Representatives of youth movements, such as hippies, were also attracted by the loose organizational structure of Buddhism, the great possibilities of its individualistic interpretation, contemplation, often interpreted as idleness and asociality, the absence of the usual eschatology of the monotheistic type, interpreted as pure impunity and a decrease in personal responsibility and subordination.
Such neo-Buddhism became the basis for peaceful anarchism. At the same time, on the basis of superficial knowledge about Buddhism itself, his ideas were often simplified and vulgarized. Often such Buddhism turns into one of the types of occultism, whose supporters set themselves completely magical goals, seeking not to renounce the world, but just to take possession of it by gaining special powers, including through meditation, yogic practices, etc. .
On the other hand, neo-Buddhism is understood as the desire of a number of representatives of Buddhism to adapt it to the interests of modernity through the introduction of new, uncharacteristic elements. In particular, in the interest of closer rapprochement with monotheistic religions, attempts were made to introduce into Buddhism eschatological concepts of monotheism like heaven and hell, which is initially atypical and inorganic for Buddhism, to rationalize ideas about nirvana, etc. This also includes the strengthening of missionary activity and participation in public and political life. One can speak of the emergence in Buddhism of some tendencies of religious modernism, although due to the lack of a rigidly standardized unified dogma, the emergence of typical modernism is difficult, since in this case it is difficult to oppose innovations to a fixed tradition.
At present, Buddhism, as we already know, has spread throughout the world. Buddhists can be found everywhere: in Europe, America, Asia, Africa.
It should be said that until 1959 there was a country, the head of which was the supreme minister of one of the Buddhist movements - Lamaism. We are talking about Tibet, which was a theocratic state, and its official ruler, the Dalai Lama. In 1959, Tibet was invaded by China.
At the time of the arrival of the Chinese, Tibet was a feudal society. Half of the six million population of Tibet led a nomadic lifestyle, a third of the adult population was engaged in agriculture; 15% of the population of Tibet were monks, in other words, beggars who led a certain, long-established lifestyle. Since it has been the duty of believers in Buddhist countries for centuries to give alms, begging there does not meet with such disapproval as in Western countries. However, this state of affairs affected life in the region as a whole. Although it is unlikely that anyone will disagree with the fact that a beggar monk is different from a beggar who trades in megacities, who seeks to profit at the expense of others.
In addition to the role of guardians of spiritual traditions, the monks in Tibet performed other activities, sometimes extremely unpleasant. For example, some of the monks were engaged in preparing corpses for cremation. The traditional concern for their neighbor required them to separate the meat from the bones, cremate the meat, and grind the bones into flour so that birds and animals could feed on it. The corpses of the poor were simply let down the river so that the fish could eat them.
Villages provided themselves with everything they needed themselves. Surplus funds went to donations to temples, monasteries and the poor. There was no unemployment in Tibet, social development was not the dominant idea. Tibet lived on its own and had no desire to change anything. The head of state and church in Tibet, as we have already said, was the Dalai Lama, who was considered the incarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
After the Chinese invasion, many monasteries were destroyed. But the worst thing for the Tibetans was that the Dalai Lama was forced to leave the country. One hundred thousand Tibetans chose to go into exile in the wake of their leader. They still consider Buddhism to be their religion and the core of their national culture.
Immediately after the invasion, the Dalai Lama asked the United Nations about the fate of Tibet. The General Assembly adopted three resolutions, however, China was in no hurry to give a positive response to any of them. Meanwhile, Tibet was shaken by social, economic, political and military changes. Outbreaks of local resistance were systematically suppressed.
It would seem that in the years that have passed since the Chinese invasion, the situation in Tibet should have changed for the better. Yes, I would very much like to end the story about Tibet on this optimistic note, but alas ... And if things are going on with varying success in other Buddhist countries of the world (as, indeed, in the non-Buddhist world), life for the Tibetans has not improved at all. Anti-government protests have become commonplace. Tibetans now live in the People's Republic of China with no political rights whatsoever, with no way to communicate with their government, which is still in exile. For many indigenous people, there was a real threat of resettlement in ghettos, equipped in a hard-to-reach part of the mountains. The Chinese government in Beijing made it quite clear that after the death of the current fourteenth Dalai Lama, it is China that will look for his new incarnation ...
Desperate monks commit public acts of suicide by setting themselves on fire near government offices, but this is unlikely to improve the situation in any way.
It got to the point that the Dalai Lama, who is in exile, who heads there a tiny - in the planetary sense - community, which today is about one hundred and fifty thousand people and whose opinion the world does not particularly listen to, announced that he was leaving his post as head of state . A man known for his enlightenment, an unbending supporter of the idea of peace throughout the world, a Nobel Prize winner and a person who enjoys incredible authority both among the Tibetans and, by the way, among the Chinese (which, however, did not prevent the capture of his homeland by this country), the current Dalai Lama has always taken an active life position. And since the Chinese invasion of Tibet, he has tirelessly fought to restore peace and tranquility there. Now, the 76-year-old Dalai Lama has come up with the idea of free democratic elections (the very possibility of which, in principle, is provided for by his own new constitution, issued to Tibetans after the Chinese invasion) of the government and the separation of the state from religion. Despite the fact that the Dalai Lama cannot give up the role of spiritual leader with all his desire (perhaps he does not have such an intention), millions of his compatriots, for whom the word of the Dalai Lama has always been an indisputable truth, beg him to change his mind.
It is unlikely that China will be very concerned about such a step by the Tibetan leader, who is in distant exile, by which he, apparently, is trying to convey to the Beijing government the idea that neither with his departure nor with death, the problem of Tibet will not disappear anywhere and, sooner or later, will have to be settled.
It is bitter to realize that even the seemingly benevolent and humane world of Buddhism is not able to avoid tragic cataclysms. Well, samsara is samsara, here no one is safe from anything.
Nevertheless, as we have already understood, Buddhism is one of the most striking and original phenomena, thanks to the existence of which high human ideals will never lose their value even in such a complex, unstable and contradictory place as our material world.
Buddhism has left to descendants an incredible number of monuments of culture, art, architecture and continues to create new ones that our children and grandchildren will have the opportunity to see.
Statues of Buddha, as well as figures of Jesus Christ in churches, are always present in every Buddhist temple. And many of them have their own history. But among them there are certainly unique sculptures, and one of them is the Golden Buddha from Wat Traimit in Bangkok.
Take at least its size: this huge statue is almost three meters high and it weighs five and a half tons! The eyes of the Golden Buddha are made of black Thai sapphires, and the whites of the eyes are made of pearls.
For a long time this miracle of the Buddhist tradition was hidden from human eyes. While the figure was in one of the temples of the former capital of Thailand, it was believed that it was cast in plaster. The thing is that during the war with Burma, many precious statues were covered with cement or plaster so that they would not be damaged during the bombing or from marauders. And, as we can see, the idea was a success!
The history of the new discovery of the Golden Buddha is full of mystical coincidences. For example, when a new temple was built in Bangkok, they decided not to cast a new sculpture for it, but to take one of the existing ones. It was then, during loading, that the precious statue was dropped. From the gap in the plaster, gold shone! The washed and cleaned huge sculpture turned out to be completely golden!
Besides the fact that the statue of the Golden Buddha is one of the largest, it is also very ancient! It is believed that it was cast 700 years ago, during the reign of King Ramkhamhen, who not only sought to impress the viewer with a majestic work of art, but also pursued a different goal: it is believed that he invested all the gold of the country in the Golden Buddha, and thus it served spiritual purposes rather than being squandered on luxury items.
In addition to statues of the Buddha, monasteries and temples are constant companions of the Buddhist tradition, which amaze with their original beauty. For example, the Golden Temple of Dambulla, the largest Buddhist cave complex in South Asia, has become widely known. It was carved in the 1st century BC. e. in the rocks. It was presented as a gift to Buddhist monks by the ruler of Sri Lanka. It houses the most famous 14-meter statue of the reclining Buddha with his devoted disciple Ananda at his feet. It recreates the moment of Buddha's entry into nirvana. The largest cave houses the Temple of the Great Rulers, which features 16 standing Buddha statues and 40 Buddha statues in meditation.
The temple complex is built in a picturesque mountainous area and includes several caves located at an altitude of 350 meters above sea level. In addition, it has many niches, the surface of which is painted with amazing Buddhist wall paintings. The temple has 5 main caves and 25 rock cells, or rather what is left of them. In different caves there are 153 figures of Buddha, three statues of the rulers of Sri Lanka, several statues of gods and goddesses; the walls are covered with paintings in Buddhist style (total area 2100 m2). It is believed that this temple has the largest collection of Buddha statues, many of which are truly ancient - they are more than two thousand years old.
The Dambulla temple got its name - "golden" - due to the fact that seventy-three of his statues are covered with real gold. This temple is located in the Central Province of Sri Lanka, near the city of Matale, and has been a place of pilgrimage for many centuries. To date, the Golden Temple of Dambulla is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and is protected by law.
Another famous temple that cannot be left out is the White Horse Temple, 13 km east of the Chinese city of Luoyang, built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This is the most revered Buddhist temple in China (after the Tibetan ones). The history of the foundation of the temple is interesting: in 67 AD. e. The second emperor of the Han Dynasty sent two envoys to India to collect Buddhist scriptures. When the ambassadors reached Afghanistan, they met with two Indian monks who gave them Buddhist sutras and statues and agreed to go to China, to Luoyang, where the country's first Buddhist temple was founded. Since the statues and scriptures were transported on the back of a white horse, the temple was called the Temple of the White Horse. In front of it, during the Song Dynasty, two stone statues depicting horses were erected. In the east rises a 13-story pagoda built in the 10th-11th centuries.
Another example is the amazing Mogao Cave, which means “cave not for tall people” – the largest cave of the early Buddhist cave temple complex Qianfodong, erected in 353–366. n. e. 25 km from the Dunhuang oasis in China. This temple complex will not leave indifferent any connoisseur of beauty. Qianfodong, which is often called Mogao (after the name of the main cave), unites 492 sanctuaries, which were decorated with frescoes and sculptures for a whole millennium (IV-XIV centuries)!
Mogao is one of the earliest Buddhist temples in China. Its appearance on the very border of the Taklamakan desert is not accidental: it was here that caravans with silk once passed, with which Buddhist teachings filtered into China. Unlike the later cave temples - Longmen and Yungang - in Mogao, it is not sculpture that dominates, but fresco painting, the area of \u200b\u200bwhich is equal to 42,000 m 2!
At the very beginning of the 20th century, a huge warehouse of manuscripts was discovered in one of the caves of the complex, consisting of approximately 20,000 objects! Scientists suggest that they were built here in the 11th century, when the manuscripts began to be forced out of use by printed books.
The manuscript fund of Mogao is diverse in content and dating: these are Buddhist, Taoist and other texts, treatises on philosophy, mathematics, medicine, dictionaries, classical Chinese poetry, and official documents. Among the handwritten monuments of Mogao there is also the "Book of Divination" - a unique text written in Turkic runic script and, in addition, the first printed "Diamond Sutra", dated around 868.
Most of the frescoes of Mogao are dedicated to the Buddha and his sermons, as well as bodhisattvas, apsara fairies, monks and believers. Many of the murals reproduce authentic events from the history of the spread of Buddhism.
In almost all caves there are images of flying apsaras, which have long multi-colored ribbons instead of wings. Other frescoes are devoted to the events of everyday life. Here you can see scenes of hunting, fishing, agricultural work, there are also images of warriors, musicians, wedding ceremonies, and the frescoes depict people of different nationalities and social strata.
The next cave complex associated with Buddhism that needs to be mentioned is Longmen.
The Longmen Cave Temples (literally: "Stone Caves at the Dragon Gate") are located 12 km south of Luoyang. Along with Mogao and Yungang, they are considered one of the three most significant cave temple complexes in China. The caves stretch south of Luoyang for a kilometer along the slopes of Xianshan (Eastern Mountains) and Longmenshan (Western Mountains), between which the Yi River flows. They got their name Longmen (Dragon Gate) due to the fact that two mountains through which the river I passes, they look like a gate.
The Longmen Caves are the pinnacle of Buddhist cave temple art in China. According to official estimates, there are 1352 caves, 2345 grottoes and recesses with 43 temples, which contain about 2800 inscriptions, 785 icon cases, 97 thousand Buddha statues and more than 3680 monuments and sculptures with calligraphic inscriptions, in total about 100 thousand images of a religious nature. The total length of rocks with artificial caves is 1 km. The bas-reliefs traditionally depicted the Buddha surrounded by bodhisattvas, sometimes the Buddha in the company of his first disciples, Ananda and Kashyapa.
The Longmen Caves have gone through two stages of development. The creation of temples began in 493 during the Northern Wei Dynasty, but almost 60% of the statues date back to the Tang Dynasty (7th-10th centuries), when a large number of caves were created, which contain true masterpieces of Buddhist art. Thus, the history of Longmen caves has more than 400 years.
Unfortunately, many sculptures were stolen by foreigners in the 19th and early 20th centuries and ended up in state museums and private collections in the West. So, two large frescoes are in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and Atkinson in Kansas City. It is surprising that the Red Guard brigades during the "cultural revolution" did not touch the caves at all, although they stood without any protection.
Guyang-dong Cave is one of the oldest Long-men caves, created between 428 and 488. The cave is covered with randomly arranged niches, on which the names of the masters, the time and the reason for the creation of each cave room are carved. It also contains images of members of the imperial family and aristocrats from the Northern Wei Dynasty. Three rows of Buddha statues of various sizes are carved into the northern and southern walls.
The main part of the cave temples is located on the western bank of the river and is called Bingyang caves. They stretch along the face of the cliff along a north-south axis.
The Three Bingyang Caves were created by Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty in memory of his parents and later himself. However, only in one cave - the middle one - the work was completed. It took 802,326 workers and 24 years of hard work to build this cave. Inside the entrance, on two walls, there are two large sculptural images "The Emperor and the Empress present a gift to the Buddha."
The Fengtian Si Cave, which is the largest of the Longmen caves, houses the sculptural complex of the Temple of Honoring the Memory of Ancestors, created by order of Empress Wu Zetian, the first and only woman who formally legitimately single-handedly ruled China in its entire history.
The complex consists of a central statue - Buddha Lusheng 17.14 m high; statues of students of Lusheng, Tianwang (God of Heaven), paired statues of heroes and donors to the temple. The Buddha statue is considered the pinnacle of Buddhist art in China.
A short walk south of Bingyang is another famous complex, Ten Thousand Buddha Cave. Thousands of buddhas are actually small bas-reliefs on the cave walls. There is also a large and beautiful statue of the Buddha and images of apsaras - celestial liberated creatures, and musicians. The Ten Thousand Buddha Cave in Longmen is another masterpiece of the Tang era. It was created in 680 AD. e. in honor of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu.
In 2000, a decision was made to inscribe the Longmen Caves on the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List.
It is also impossible not to mention Tanzhe - a large Buddhist temple complex, one of the most famous temples in China. It is located to the west of Beijing, in the Xishan mountains. It was built back in the Jin era (2nd half of the 3rd - beginning of the 5th century AD). The name of the complex comes from the name of Mount Tanzheshan, which, in turn, owes them to the nearby Dragon Pond (Longtan) and the zhe trees growing on its banks.
Interestingly, according to legend, the daughter of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, Princess Miaoyan, who at one time became a Buddhist nun, was once buried on the territory of Tanzhe.
And, of course, we cannot but tell about the Potala. The Potala Palace, located in the city of Lhasa in Tibet, is not only the court of the ruler, but also a Buddhist temple complex, which was the main residence of the Dalai Lama, until the time when the 14th Dalai Lama was forced to seek political asylum in India after the Chinese invasion to Tibet. The complex is located on a high hill near the city, its total area is 360 thousand m 2!
It is known that in 637 the ruler of Tibet erected the first building of the future complex in the place where he used to meditate. When he made Lhasa his capital, he built a palace, which was later expanded to 999 rooms. In addition, protective walls and towers were erected here and a bypass channel was dug.
A sad fate befell the palace in the second half of the 8th century: lightning struck it and the wooden buildings burned down. And even later, due to internecine wars, the palace was completely destroyed. To date, only the Fa-Vana cave and the Pabalakan hall have survived.
The palace in its present form began to be built in 1645 at the initiative of the Dalai Lama V. In 1648, the White Palace (Potrang Karpo) was rebuilt, and the Potala began to be used as the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas. The Red Palace (Potrang Marpo) was completed four decades later. It is known that the best craftsmen from Tibet, Nepal and China took part in this grandiose construction.
Researchers suggest that the name of the palace comes from the name of the legendary Mount Potala, on which, according to legend, lives the great bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, whose incarnation on Earth is the Dalai Lama.
The palace is located at an altitude of 3700 m on the Red Hill (Marpo Ri) in the middle of the Lhasa Valley. Numerous pilgrims go around the hill, making a kora - a ritual detour of the holy place. Along the bark are numerous prayer wheels and shopping arcades.
The White Palace consists of the Great Eastern Pavilion, the Solar Pavilion, the living quarters of the regent and mentor of the Dalai Lama, and government offices. The Great Eastern Pavilion was used for official ceremonies, and the Dalai Lama actually lived and worked in the Solar Pavilion.
The Red Palace served as a place of prayer and religious rituals, in which eight memorial stupas, including the fifth and thirteenth Dalai Lamas, are of great importance. In addition to stupas, the palace includes large and small halls - temples dedicated to the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, Dalai Lamas, as well as rooms for audiences and ceremonies. Various jewels and relics are on display in the halls: mandalas, memorial stupas, statues of deities, Dalai Lamas and gurus, books, ritual objects. The walls of the palace premises are covered with majestic paintings. The Great Western Hall usually hosted religious ceremonies, sacrifices and receptions.
Of particular importance in the history of the palace is the Fa-Wana cave, which we mentioned above, in which, even before construction began, the ruler of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo, the founder of the complex, read the sacred texts.
Today, the Potala Palace is a museum actively visited by tourists, while remaining a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists. It continues to perform Buddhist rituals. Due to its enormous cultural, religious, artistic and historical value, in 1994 it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
However, not only temples, palaces and monasteries remind us of the Buddhist tradition, there are even entire Buddhist islands! For example, the Chinese island of Putuoshan, located southeast of Shanghai.
This island is known in Chinese Buddhism as bodhimanda, or the place of enlightenment of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, revered in Chinese tradition as the goddess of mercy, Kuan Yin. In addition, Putuo is one of the four sacred mountains of China (together with Wutai, Jiuhuashan and Emeishan). The name Putuo comes from Potalak, the mountain retreat of Kuan Yin mentioned in the Avatamsaka Sutra, as does the name of the Potala Palace, the former residence of the Dalai Lamas.
The island has many Buddhist temples, pagodas and incredible natural beauty. This is a 33-meter statue of the goddess of mercy Kuan Yin herself, holding the Wheel of Dharma in her left hand - a symbol of Buddhist teachings; and Puji - the largest temple complex, built in 1080, during the Song Dynasty, with subsequent additions to the later. The main hall of the complex contains a large statue of Kuan Yin and 32 small sculptures depicting her incarnations. The Pagoda of All Treasures is also very interesting - the oldest pagoda on the island, erected next to the Puji Temple in 1334, during the Yuan Dynasty. Currently, the island, like the monuments mentioned above, is a protected tourist site.
In addition, speaking of Buddhism, it is necessary to pay special attention to such a concept as holy, or pilgrimage, places. Pilgrimage sites are associated with the stages of the life path of the Buddha. There are eight centers of worship for the Buddha, four of which are the main ones for believers. It is not surprising that the bulk of the pilgrimage sites are located in India - after all, it is exactly where, as we already know, Gautama Buddha was born and preached.
The first center of worship is located on the territory of the modern town of Lumbini (Nepal). Here, as we remember, in 543 BC. e. Siddhartha Gautama was born. Nearby are the ruins of the palace where he lived until he was 29 years old. There are more than 20 monasteries in Lumbini today!
The second center is Bodhgaya (India). It was here that the Buddha was bestowed enlightenment. The center of pilgrimage is the Mahabodhi Mandir, a temple located on the spot where the Buddha attained enlightenment.
The third center - Sarnath (India) is located near the city of Varanasi. Here the Buddha delivered his first sermon on the four noble truths.
The fourth center - Kushinagara (India) is located near the town of Gorakhpur. This is where the Buddha left his body.
Other centers of veneration for the Buddha are located in the cities of Rajgar (India), where the Buddha told the world his teaching about emptiness; there is a cave in which the first Buddhist cathedral was held; Vaishali (India) - here the Buddha read his sermons and predicted his imminent departure from the earthly world; as well as in the state of Maharashtra, where the cave temples of Ajanta and Ellora are located. There are 29 temples in total, they were built in the rocks of the gorge hanging over the river.
The main pilgrimage center of Tibet is its capital, the city of Lhasa with the Potala Palace, which have already been mentioned above. In addition, the most important pilgrimage site in Tibet is the sacred Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar, located nearby. Interestingly, Mount Kailash is a sacred mountain for representatives of four religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and the ancient Tibetan Bon religion. Around Mount Kailash, pilgrims follow the outer and inner circles. It is customary to enter the inner circle if the pilgrim has passed through the outer circle at least 12 times. Pilgrims bypass Mount Kailash in the outer circle in about 30 hours (the length of the circle is 55 km, it is located at an altitude of 4800-5600 m above sea level). Bypassing Mount Kailash with prostrations is also practiced (pilgrims lie down on the ground in an act of worship), but then this process takes one to two weeks. There are four Tibetan monasteries on the outer circle, two on the inner circle.
The second largest city in Tibet, Shigatse, is also a center of worship. It is located on the Kathmandu-Lhasa highway. Here tourists visit Tashilungpo Monastery, the residence of the Panchen Lama.
In Japan, one of the most revered Buddhist places is the city of Nara. At one time it was the capital of the Japanese state. In our time, Nara is visited annually by about 3 million pilgrims! On the territory of the city there are several Buddhist and Shinto temples and kumiren. The most famous Buddhist temple is Todaizi, which houses one of the largest Buddha statues in the world and the largest in Japan. The height of this sculpture is 22 meters.
On the territory of Sri Lanka, the centers of worship are primarily the royal city of Kandy, in which, on the shore of an artificial lake, stands the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha.
The city of Anuradhapura also attracts thousands of pilgrims every year. Here are eight holy places, among which is the place where the sapling of the Bodhi tree grows, under which, according to legend, Prince Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment. In addition - Tupa-rama, the first religious building and a stupa, where a particle of the collarbone of the Buddha is kept. In the city of Polonaruwa there is a second Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha and the famous Stone Temple, where four colossal Buddha statues are carved into the granite rock.
There are more than 18 thousand Buddhist temples and monasteries in Thailand! Of these, more than 400 - in the City of Angels - Bangkok. The most famous is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is located on the territory of the royal palace. On the way from Bangkok to the city of Kanchanaburi, you can see the highest Buddhist monument in the world - Phre Pakhtom Chedi.
In Cambodia, a place of pilgrimage is the famous temple complex of Angkor Wat, its area is 260 km 2 and includes about 200 different places of worship.
In Indonesia, on the island of Java, the world-famous Borobudur temple complex is located.
So, we see that history has given us an innumerable number of wonderful cultural monuments, one way or another connected with Buddhism. However, in the modern world, this tradition is not interrupted. For example, in Kalmykia, in 1996, the construction of the Buddhist complex Gedden Sheddup Choykorming, the largest temple in Europe, which houses a gilded statue of Buddha, was completed.
In the Urals, a Buddhist monastery and a place of meditative retreat on Mount Kachkanar are currently under construction. The monastery already has a name - Shad Tchup Ling, which in Tibetan means "a place of practice and realization." It is built among the rocks on the northeastern slope of Mount Kachkanar, at an altitude of 843 meters above sea level. Construction according to the ancient Tibetan and Mongolian canons of monastic architecture allows you to preserve the local ecosystem and harmoniously fit the complex into the picturesque local landscape.
Unfortunately, beautiful monuments of history and culture in our cruel world sometimes serve far from peaceful purposes. An example is the infamous Hindu Shiva Temple of Preah Vihear. Built in the 11th century and included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, the temple has already been severely damaged during the newly erupted border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. For more than half a century, these two Buddhist (!) states have been fighting for a temple, which neither one nor the other needs for religious purposes. The conflict, which broke out for the first time in 1904, continues to this day with varying success and intervals. Everything is involved in the battles, even heavy artillery. Blood is shed, people are dying, thousands of refugees are trying to hide from bullets, going deep into their countries.
Thailand and Cambodia are alternately trying to gain a foothold in the disputed Hindu temple site; the question of the ownership of the land on which it was erected has not been clarified so far.
In 2009, the conflict between the two states escalated to such an extent that the parties mutually recalled their ambassadors. However, in August 2010, Thailand and Cambodia restored diplomatic relations, which, however, did not help to solve the problem.
There are not so many Hindus living in the territories of both states to assume that their interests became the cause of the conflict. What then? Experts believe that there is a banal struggle between the two states for the “client”, which in this case is a tourist. Like it or not, in any case, the war goes on and there is no end in sight. And, as usual in such cases, innocent people suffer, and it is very sad to admit that the peaceful teachings of Gautama Buddha, as in the case of the conflict between China and Tibet, did not help the leaders of states at all...
Epilogue
The greatest difficulty in accepting any teaching, including that of the Buddha, lies in the constant need of the human mind to find proof of its validity. And although Buddhism is an exclusively practical teaching, the Buddha never urged anyone to take his word for it, nevertheless, until we are enlightened, we are unlikely to receive a satisfactory confirmation of the ideas of Buddhism.
It cannot be said that today the entire human race, without exception, considers Buddha a prophet. But the same cannot be said about Jesus Christ or Muhammad. There have always been and will always be doubters, and in a world where no one can be sure of anything, this is a common occurrence. The main thing here, probably, is not the title, but the fact that the teachings of the Buddha, like Christ, Muhammad and other prophets, helped and to this day helps hundreds, thousands, even millions of people survive in difficult life situations, maintain faith in goodness, justice and in high human ideals, without which this world would have turned into nothing but a place of slaughter and chaos, and much earlier than the Armageddon predicted by many.
In this regard, I would like to note the following. In fact, all world religions, regardless of how they are called, when they arose and what prophets or teachers were conveyed to the masses, in general, they call for the same thing: do no harm to living beings, lead a highly moral lifestyle and tune your mind (whether by mantras or prayers) to some higher, bright and good authority, in the hope that it will accept us after our death and place us in a world cleansed of any manifestations of suffering. To a world where “death will be no more; there will be no more crying, no crying, no sickness; for the former things have passed away…” (Revelation of St. John the Theologian: 21:4).
Therefore, even the most ardent atheist, after a cursory examination of the relevant research, will sooner or later ask himself: “Are there too many coincidences? Maybe there is something in it after all? Something that, perhaps, sometime, a very long time ago, was twisted, turned upside down and (whether intentionally or by mistake) reported in a form in which there was little left of the true truth.
It is also true that many people on Earth consider the hope of an afterlife to be the result of a life of failure, who has nothing else to hope for, except for joy in the other world (incarnation). Or vice versa, the result of absolute satiety with today's abundance, when nothing of what is "here" is no longer interesting, therefore - for a change - the question begins to worry: "What about there?.." A there, like Here, I want, of course, everything and a lot. Moreover, such a philosophy completely excludes the selfless, pure and noble impulses of the human soul.
What can I say? This dispute, apparently, will be judged only by the very last line that everyone will someday have to cross.
Another important, but rather sad moment is as follows. Probably, none of the existing and / or existing religions and creeds (with the exception, perhaps, of the philosophy of scientific communism, the fate of which is no secret to anyone) claims that in our world, by the forces of the population of the planet itself, that is, without the intervention of some higher forces, it is possible to build an ideal society in which all people, without exception, will be happy even during this life. And apparently, for good reason. In addition to insurmountable external obstacles, this is unfortunately prevented by too different ideas about the happiness of each individual set of five elements, in other words, a representative of the human race. In connection with this state of affairs, the dream of the common good began to be called utopian, that is, unrealizable. It's a pity…
reincarnation- a theory corresponding to Hinduism and some other currents that after death a person is born again in the form of a human, animal, mortal deity, and so on, until, with the help of working off past sins and not committing new ones, he is freed from rebirth and leaves forever to a happy spiritual world. The Buddhist theory of reincarnation is essentially different from the above (see text).
Sadhu- a holy man who vowed to renounce the world.
Guru is a spiritual teacher in India.
Samsara- a material world full of illusion (delusions), in which immortality does not exist, consisting of three planetary levels (heavenly, hellish and middle worlds; the Earth belongs to the latter).
Meditation(in a broad sense) - calming the mind by eliminating the thought flow with the help of concentration and concentration of consciousness; in the narrow, a certain transcendental state into which the meditator enters. It is believed that a spiritually advanced yogi in a state of meditation can see extraordinary things, travel to other worlds, create planets, and so on.
Mayan- illusion, a philosophical category in Hinduism and Buddhism. It is believed that the entire material world, including the world of people, is an illusion. One who manages to get rid of the illusions of maya begins to see the true essence of things. Seeing the essence of things is the most important step towards liberation from the cycle of samsara.
Dharma(Skt. "truth, law, teaching") - the general name of the Buddhist practice.
Brahma God is the creator in Hinduism.
A mile is about 1.61 km.
Nirvana- unlike anything known in the material world, a transcendental state in which neither physical nor mental pain is present. Although the Buddha did not give a specific - but only poetic - definition of nirvana; it is believed that any being who enters it acquires (after death) - or experiences - the most beautiful state of all possible.
Since morning(Sanskrit "thread") - collections of texts of the spiritual canon.
Dukkha, duhkha(Sanskrit “soreness, trouble, suffering, pain”). In the Four Noble Truths of Gautama Buddha, the term "dukkha" can hardly be translated as "suffering" proper. Dukkha means impatience, impermanence, intolerance. Some researchers propose to translate this word as "anxiety", "excitement" or as "restless dissatisfaction".
The meaning of the words "compassion", "sympathize" and the like in modern society is often distorted. In fact, to sympathize, to condole is not to be sad in passing over someone's misfortune, not to express one's pity about what happened, but to have the ability feel someone else's pain just as exactly like your own. The ability to feel the pain of others is developed, in fact, only in a very few, and the development of such an ability is considered the most important step on the path of spiritual growth.
Sangha, samgha,(Skt. "assembly, multitude") - the name of the Buddhist community. This term can be used to refer to the religious brotherhood as a whole. In a narrower sense, a host of beings who have reached a certain degree of enlightenment.
In a broad sense, the term "fourfold sangha" is used: a community of monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen. It is important to note that laymen and laywomen do not constitute a separate sangha, but monks and nuns can be called a sangha regardless of laymen.
Ajiviki- followers of the philosophical and ascetic teachings in ancient India, which preceded Buddhism. They were wandering wanderers who believed that human destiny does not depend on a person, but is determined by a harsh impersonal cosmic law.
Jains- (from the Sanskrit "gin" - the winner) - followers of a large, extremely mystical religious community in India. The direction is close to Buddhism, but arose many centuries earlier. Jainism claimed that in fact Gautama Buddha was only a disciple of one of their saints. Jainism does not recognize the authority of the Vedas, they believe in the eternity of matter, the cyclical nature of the Universe and the immortality of the minds of people and animals.
buddha amitabha(from Sanskrit literally - "limitless light") - one of the main buddhas in the Mahayana and Vajrayana, the most revered figure in the Buddhist school of the Pure Land. It is believed that he has many worthy qualities: he explains the universal law of being in the Western Paradise and takes under his protection all who sincerely appealed to him, regardless of their origin, position or virtues.
Bodhisattva(Sanskrit "bodhi" - awakening, enlightenment; "sattva" - being) is one of the most important concepts of Buddhism.
Bodhichitta– because Skt. “chitta” is the content of the mind that needs to be controlled, the word “bodhichitta” can be translated as “enlightened mind”, “mind correctly taken under control”.
Metaphysics(from the Greek “what is after physics”) is a branch of philosophy that studies the original nature of things, being and the world as such.
Taoism- a traditional Chinese teaching, which includes elements of mysticism, shamanism, religion, meditative practices, science and philosophy.
Vinay School(Sanskrit “rules, discipline”), otherwise the Lu school is one of the varieties of Far Eastern Buddhism. The main thing in this school was the fulfillment by the monks of certain rules and norms. Vinaya in a broad sense is a set of rules of the Buddhist monastic community, recorded in the canonical literature. As new branches of Buddhism emerged, new variants of the Vinaya emerged.
Bhagawan- a Sanskrit term used in Hinduism in relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead or Absolute Truth (approximately the same as God in the Christian sense). In Buddhism, this title is also used to refer to Gautama Buddha, other Buddhas and bodhisattvas. In the modern world, the term is often used when referring to spiritual teachers in India.
Mantra(Sanskrit “a tool for the implementation of a mental act”) - combinations of sounds and / or words in Sanskrit that have a deep sacred meaning and require accurate reproduction. Mantras are of Vedic Hindu origin; later adopted by Buddhism and Jainism. For a better understanding, mantras can be compared to prayers and spells.
Pratyekabuddha- a being that becomes a person who has achieved enlightenment, but prefers not to preach the dharma to other people.
In its modern meaning, the term "kung fu" ("gong fu") is often used to refer to Chinese martial arts, but its original meaning is not necessarily associated with martial arts. The term consists of two hieroglyphs - “kung”, or “gun” (“work”, “mastery”, “achievements”), and “fu” (“person”) - and literally means “work on oneself”, as well as the results any activity. These hieroglyphs are combined to describe any acquired skill, achievements obtained in the process of long hard work, including the art of mastering one's body, mind, energy. It is believed that the term "kungfu" in the modern sense (in the sense of "Chinese martial art") first began to be used in the West and was not used in China until the 20th century, and in this sense it does not appear in ancient texts. In Chinese texts, martial arts were referred to as wu shu or (more commonly) wu yi.
This country is now called Myanmar.
Armageddon in Christianity is the last, decisive battle between Good and Evil, when the legendary “end of the world” should occur. It is perceived both in a negative (like any war, it is associated with fear, pain, death and destruction), and in a positive (the end of the world in which Evil rules, the beginning of the world of Good and justice) meaning.
Buddhism in the modern world
buddhism india ethical
In recent years, Buddhism has become known to the general public, and those who are interested can study the various Buddhist schools and traditions. An outside observer may be confused by the many currents and outward differences in the forms in which Buddhism manifests itself. Some are unable to see the Dharma behind these currents. They may be repulsed by the fact that they were looking for unity in a world divided by sects and confessions. Misguided by some sect's claim that "my school is better and higher than your school," they may not see the value of the Dharma. The Buddha teaches various paths leading to Enlightenment (bodhi), and each of them is of equal value, otherwise the Buddha would not have taught them. We can call it the Buddha (Buddhayana) Chariot. The important qualities in the Teaching are Loving Kindness (metta), Compassion (karuna), and Wisdom (panya). They are central to any school of Buddhism.
Since the time of the First Teaching of the Buddha, which is about 26 centuries, Buddhism has spread throughout Asia. Before the victory of communism in China, about a third of the world's population professed Buddhism. Each country has developed its own special form. The main Buddhist countries are: Cambodia, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Tibet. There are also Buddhists in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Nepal and Vietnam.
Among the many different schools we can distinguish the following: Theravada: Early Buddhism, mainly practiced in Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka and Thailand - this school uses the early texts written in Pali. Emphasis is placed on the path of the Arhat-Buddha, but the path of Samma-Sambuddha is also practiced. There are far fewer rituals here than in most other schools.
Mahayana: New Schools called:
Tibetan Buddhism: In Tibetan Buddhism, the emphasis is on the path of Samma-Sambuddha. They divide their system into Hinayana (Little Vehicle), Mahayana (Great Vehicle) and Vajrayana (Diamond or Supreme Vehicle). The Buddha's teachings are in Tibetan. Although the Dalai Lama is sometimes regarded as the head of all Buddhists, he is exclusively the head of Tibetan Buddhism.
Zen: This form of Buddhism developed the Samadhi meditation aimed at achieving dhyana (Chan in Chinese) and is especially popular in Japan. The teachings of the Zen Masters play an important role. The teachings of the Buddha himself, as a rule, play a secondary role.
Chinese Buddhism: Along with the texts (in Chinese and Sanskrit), the sayings of the Patriarchs play an important role. As in other Mahayana schools, there is a strong connection with the Bodhisattva ideal, i.e. working for the benefit of all sentient beings and postponing one's own Enlightenment until all beings can achieve the same enlightenment. The main role is played by Kuan Yin (in Tibetan Buddhism, Chenrezig or Avalokiteshvara).
Each country has its own Buddhist culture, but the essence of the Buddha's Teachings is the same everywhere.
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Lecture No. 11. Buddhism: the foundations of dogma and worship
1. History of Buddhism
2. Teachings of Buddhism
3. Currents of Buddhism
4. Buddhism in the modern world
History of Buddhism
Buddhism is a religious and philosophical doctrine (dharma) about spiritual awakening (bodhi), which arose in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. in ancient India. The founder of the teaching is Siddhartha Gautama, who later received the name Buddha Shakyamuni.
The followers of this teaching themselves called it "Dharma" (Law, Teaching) or "Buddhadharma" (Teaching of the Buddha). The term "Buddhism" was created by Europeans in the 19th century. Various researchers have defined Buddhism in different ways - as a religion, philosophy, ethical teaching, cultural tradition, civilization, education, as "the science of consciousness."
Buddhism is the oldest of the world's religions, recognized by numerous peoples with different traditions. According to E. A. Torchinov, “Without understanding Buddhism, it is impossible to understand the great cultures of the East - Indian, Chinese, not to mention the cultures of Tibet and Mongolia, permeated with the spirit of Buddhism to their last foundations.”
Buddhism arose in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. on the territory of India. According to the decision of UNESCO, which influenced the celebration of the 2500th anniversary of Buddhism in 1956, the conditional date for the emergence of Buddhism is 543 BC. when the Buddha entered parinirvana. Most modern researchers believe that the Buddha died in 486 BC. e. It also raises the question of shifting the period of the Buddha's life so that the year of his death refers to the period 430-350 BC. e.
Buddhism originated in the middle of the first millennium BC in the north of India as a current that was opposed to the prevailing Brahmanism at that time. In the middle of the VI century. BC. Indian society was going through a socio-economic and cultural crisis. The tribal organization and traditional ties disintegrated, and class relations were formed. At that time, there were a large number of wandering ascetics in India, they offered their vision of the world. Their opposition to the existing order aroused the sympathy of the people. Among the teachings of this kind was Buddhism, which gained the greatest influence in society.
Most researchers believe that the founder of Buddhism was a real person. He was the son of the head of the tribe Shakiev, born in 560 BC in northeast India. Tradition says that the Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama after a carefree and happy youth, he acutely felt the frailty and hopelessness of life, the horror of the idea of an endless series of reincarnations. He left home in order to communicate with the sages to find the answer to the question: how can a person be freed from suffering. The prince traveled for seven years, and one day, when he was sitting under a tree bodhi, illumination dawned on him. He found the answer to his question. Name Buddha means "enlightened". Shocked by his discovery, he sat under this tree for several days, and then went down to the valley to the people to whom he began to preach a new doctrine. He delivered his first sermon in Benares. At first, he was joined by five of his former students, who left him when he abandoned asceticism. Subsequently, he had many followers. His ideas were close to many. For 40 years he preached in North and Central India.
At present, Buddhism is widespread in the countries of South, Southeast, Central Asia and the Far East and has hundreds of millions of followers.
Tradition links the emergence of Buddhism with the name of Prince Siddhartha Gautama. His father hid bad things from Gautama, he lived in luxury, married his beloved girl, who bore him a son.
The impetus for a spiritual upheaval for the prince, as the legend says, was four meetings. At first he saw a decrepit old man, then a leprous sufferer and a funeral procession. This is how Gautama came to know old age, sickness and death – the fate of all people. Then he saw a peaceful, impoverished wanderer who needed nothing from life. All this shocked the prince, made him think about the fate of people. He secretly left the palace and family, at the age of 29 he became a hermit and tried to find the meaning of life. As a result of deep reflection at the age of 35, he became a Buddha - enlightened, awakened. For 45 years, the Buddha preached his teaching, which can briefly be reduced to the teaching of the four noble truths.
In 781, Buddhism was declared the state religion of Tibet by decree of the Tsenpo (King) Tisong Detsen.
Buddhism teachings
After several years of observing his consciousness, Shakyamuni Buddha came to the conclusion that the cause of people's suffering is themselves, their attachment to life, material values, faith in an unchanging soul, which is an attempt to create an illusion that opposes universal variability. It is possible to stop suffering (enter nirvana) and achieve awakening in which life is seen “as it is” by destroying attachments and illusions of stability through the practice of self-restraint (following the five commandments) and meditation.
The Buddha claimed that his teaching was not a divine revelation, but was received by him through meditative contemplation of his own spirit and all things. The doctrine is not a dogma, and the results depend on the person himself. The Buddha pointed out that it is necessary to accept his teaching only through verification through one's own experience: “Do not accept my teaching simply out of faith or out of respect for me. Just as a merchant in the market, when buying gold, checks it: heats it, melts it, cuts it - to make sure it is authentic, so check my teaching, and only when you are convinced of its truth, accept it!
For two and a half thousand years, Buddhism has absorbed many different beliefs and ritual practices in the process of spreading. Some followers of Buddhism emphasize self-knowledge through meditation, others - on good deeds, and others - on the worship of the Buddha. Differences in ideas and rules in different Buddhist schools force "to recognize as "Buddhism" any teaching that was considered Buddhist by the tradition itself." But all of them, as E. A. Torchinov notes, are based on the following doctrines:
1. Four Noble Truths:
1) There is dukkha (“everything is dukkha”) - suffering (not quite an accurate translation in the spirit of Christian understanding). More precisely, dukkha is understood as: dissatisfaction, anxiety, anxiety, preoccupation, fear, deep dissatisfaction with impermanence, "incompleteness", frustration.
2) Dukkha has a cause (Trishna or craving: sensual pleasures, existence or non-existence, change, as well as desire based on a person’s false idea of \u200b\u200bthe immutability of his “I”).
3) It is possible to get rid of dukkha (to stop its cause.
4) There is a path that leads to getting rid of dukkha (the eightfold path leading to nirvana).
2. the doctrine of causal origin and karma,
5. Buddhist cosmology.
Followers of Buddhist teachings believe that the Buddha himself pointed out these principles, but the interpretation of the doctrines in different schools can vary greatly. So the followers of Theravada consider these doctrines to be final, and the followers of the Mahayana point to their conditionality and consider them an intermediate stage in the knowledge of the doctrine.
Doctor of Philosophical Sciences V. G. Lysenko identifies another list of the main elements of teaching that are common to all schools:
The life story of Shakyamuni
Recognition of karma and rebirth (samsara),
The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path,
Doctrines of Anatmavada and Dependent Origination.
The interpretation of this list of elements in different schools is also ambiguous. Thus, in some texts of the Mahayana, these elements are characterized only as skillful means for attracting the attention of "people with ordinary spiritual abilities" to Buddhism.
The entire teaching of the Buddha is inextricably linked with the middle path, which the follower needs to find anew in each new situation. According to this path, the Buddha did not accept asceticism, nor its opposite, hedonism, expressed in excessive pursuit of pleasures. And in the doctrine of dependent origination using this path, the Buddha pointed out both the fallacy of belief in karmic determinism (kriyavada) and the fallacy of belief in the randomness of all events (yadrichchavada). The doctrine of the middle path in the form of "the removal of all oppositions and their dissolution in the emptiness of all that exists" was further developed by Nagarjuna, who founded the Madhyamaka school (lit. "middle").
In the Buddhist "Sutra of Untying the Knot of the Deepest Secret" (Sandhinirmochana), the well-known doctrine of the three turns of the wheel of Dharma is proclaimed, according to which:
1. During the first turn, the Buddha preached the doctrine of the Four Noble Truths and causal origin (this turn is associated with the teachings of the Hinayana);
2. During the second turn, the Buddha preached the doctrine of the emptiness and essencelessness of all dharmas (this turn is associated with the teachings of the Prajna-paramita of the Madhyamaka school, which considered the prajna-paramita sutras to be final, and the sutras of the third turn to be only intermediate);
3. During the third turn, the Buddha preached the doctrine of Buddha nature and the doctrine of “only consciousness”, according to which “all three worlds are only consciousness” (this turn, which the sutra characterizes as the most complete and final, is associated with the teaching of the Yogacara school ).
It is impossible to become a follower of the teaching “by birth”, one can become a Buddhist only through the conscious acceptance of “refuge”, which is understood as three treasures:
Buddha (buddha at different times was understood as Buddha Shakyamuni, as well as any buddha or enlightened person);
Dharma (the teaching of the Buddha, which includes both the experience of suchness “as it is” or the experience of Buddhahood, and the methods leading to this experience are different for different people. A summary of the Dharma is the Four Noble Truths);
Sangha (Buddhist community, which is understood as a small group of Buddhists, and all Buddhists in general).
Buddhist teachers consider the Dharma to be the most important treasure. Not all Buddhist mentors had a clear interpretation of taking refuge. For example, the sixth Chan patriarch Huineng recommended: "I advise those who understand to take refuge in the triple jewel of their own nature." After taking refuge, the layperson was also advised to observe the five Buddhist precepts (pancha shila): abstaining from murder, theft, debauchery, lying, and drunkenness. When preaching, the Buddha did not focus on punishment for non-compliance with the commandments, relying not on the fear or conscience of his followers, but on common sense, according to which “personal and social harmony” will become more possible when these commandments are fulfilled. In general, the methods of dealing with passions created by the Buddha differ from those of earlier ascetic schools. The Buddha pointed out the need not to suppress feelings, but to develop detachment from things and phenomena, the need for conscious control and the practice of self-observation (Pali sati, Skt. smirti).
In order to gain the ability to help living beings end their suffering, which is the main goal of Buddhism, Buddhists first of all try to destroy the "three poisons":
Ignorance about the true nature, which, according to the twelve-term formula of being, is the "root of samsara";
Passions and selfish desires;
Anger and intolerance.
Buddhist meditation played an important role in early and subsequent teachings. In a broad sense, it is a set of methods of physical and spiritual self-improvement associated with the three groups of practices of the eightfold path. In a narrow sense, Buddhist meditation is understood as bhavana or "cultivation", consisting of the practice of self-observation of smriti, concentration of attention (samadhi and dhyana) and intuitive insight (prajna) of the truth of the foundations of Buddhist teachings.
Life, according to Buddhism, is a manifestation of combinations or "flows" of dharmas, which are non-material particles or "individualized atomic events that make up the experience of living beings." This applies equally to a person, and, for example, to a stone. In the case when the combination of dharmas disintegrates, it is considered that death occurs. After that, the dharmas are formed into a new combination, thereby starting the process of reincarnation, which is influenced by the karma received in a past life. Denying any "immutable spiritual substance" that exists during rebirth, Buddhists often explained the process of rebirth using the following "processual" model: when a burning candle comes into contact with an unburned one, the flame is not transmitted, but is the reason due to which the second candle begins to burn. . The endless process of rebirth, during which the individual experiences suffering, can be stopped with the achievement of nirvana - "a state of peace, bliss, merging with the Buddha as the cosmic Absolute."
A person in Buddhism is a dynamic psychosomatic system of interacting dharmas, which are divided into five groups (skandhas): rupa - the body and sense organs; vedana - sensation (pleasant, unpleasant and neutral); sanjna - perception, recognition, identification of objects (vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch and thought); sanskaras - intention, favorable and unfavorable karmic or volitional impulses, expressed in speech, deeds, thoughts and influencing the formation of new karma; vijnana - six sensory consciousnesses or types of perceptions (awareness of the audible, visible, tangible, smelling, tasting and mental). The skandhas are combined into a single series of dharmas with the help of upadana or attachment to the "I" and thereby create the illusion of an individual and the conditions for further births and deaths. The cycle of births and deaths can be stopped only by eliminating the commitment to "understanding everything in terms of 'I', 'mine' and learning to consider one's psyche as an objective process of alternating dharmas." A special system of exercises was created to help in the elimination of attachment, which included meditation on the 32 elements of the body, during which the practitioner contemplates each element and says “this is not me, this is not mine, this is not my self, I am not contained in this, this is is not contained in the self.
Buddhism focuses on consciousness, psychology and liberation. To other issues not related to the search for liberation and enlightenment, Buddhism, in the words of Torchinov, "is very cool." The Buddha considered useless questions like metaphysical questions like "Is the universe eternal?" or "Does the Tathagata exist after death?" and refused to answer them, maintaining a "noble silence."
Currents of Buddhism
On the basis of Mahayana ideas, Buddhism is often divided into Hinayana ("Small Vehicle") and Mahayana ("Great Vehicle"), Vajrayana ("Diamond Vehicle") is also often separated from the latter. The Hinayana can also be divided into the Shravaka vehicle and the Pratyekabuddha vehicle, thus forming the Three Vehicles along with the Mahayana according to a different principle.
The designation of the term "Hinayana" of modern Theravada offends the followers of this school, for this reason, some of the modern Buddhist scholars have refused to use the word "Hinayana" in their writings. Also, those followers of Buddhism, whose representatives arrived at the sixth Buddhist council, held in the middle of the 20th century, refused to use this concept and concluded an agreement not to use the term for Theravada. Due to the fact that the followers of the Hinayana themselves do not consider themselves to be part of this tradition, modern Buddhist scholars use a number of neutral names to refer to this non-Mahayana direction: "southern Buddhism", "traditional Buddhism", "classical Buddhism", "mainstream Buddhism", abhidharma, nikaya , Theravada. Thus, modern Buddhism is sometimes divided into Mahayana (“great vehicle”), which includes the Tibetan and Far Eastern schools, and Theravada (“teaching of the elders”), the only surviving nikaya school of early Buddhism.
Some Buddhists, especially Theravada Buddhists, who consider themselves adherents of the original teaching, as well as the first Buddhist scholars, consider the process of development of Buddhism as a process of degradation of the Buddha's teaching. At the same time, V. G. Lysenko notes that all Buddhist trends and schools preserve the foundations of the teaching, and the spread of the teaching is fully consistent with the principle of upaya kaushalya, according to which “the teaching of the Buddha is not the truth, but only a tool for gaining the truth, which is higher than all teachings” . The Buddha explained this by comparing his teaching to a raft that can carry those in need across a stormy river, but after the crossing it must be abandoned.
The entire period of existence of Buddhism between the chariots continued the process of interpenetration. A distinct division of Buddhism into chariots began during the spread of Buddhism from India to other countries and continued after the disappearance of Buddhism in India.
Buddhism, widespread among some part of the laity and significantly different from Buddhism preached in a monastic environment, by the presence of various superstitions and pre-Buddhist local beliefs, is called common people.
Movements that "include elements of Buddhist doctrine and practices", but are not part of traditional Buddhism, are referred to as neo-Buddhism.
Hinayana (“Small vehicle”) is a vehicle whose followers strive for personal liberation. It is called the "small chariot" because it can lead to the liberation of only the follower himself. The name was introduced by Mahayana schools to refer to all non-Mahayana branches of Buddhism. The non-Mahayana schools themselves refused to refer to themselves as Hinayana and pointed to themselves through the self-name of each school separately. Modern Buddhist scholars often refer to these schools as "Traditional Buddhism" or "Southern Buddhism".
The Hinayana is divided into the vehicles of shravakas (listeners) and pratyekabuddhas who achieve nirvana without the support of the sangha. Southern Buddhism contained, according to modern research, from 23 to 30 schools, including the surviving Theravada school, as well as such schools as Sarvastivada (Vaibhashika), Sautrantaka, Vatsiputriya, Sammatiya, etc.
Theravada positions itself as "the only orthodox transmission of the teachings of the Buddha" and sees its task in combating any innovations of other schools and in criticizing the slightest deviations from the Buddha's own monastic rules and interpretations of the way of life. Modern Theravada claims its origin from the Vibhajavada that existed in Sri Lanka. In another sense, Theravada also means the direction of Sthaviravada, which included 18 schools and was formed after the initial division of the Sangha into Sthaviravada and Mahasanghika. Currently, Theravada has spread to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
Also connected with the Hinayana is the surviving school of Risshu, which in 1992 had 50-60 thousand followers and more than twenty temples. At the same time, this school is not a "purely Hinayana school" due to the use of Mahayana philosophy.
Hinayana is based on the Pali canon, the sacred language of Hinayana is Pali. In the Vaibhashika and Sautrantika schools, which were the main schools that formed the Hinayana philosophy, the text of the Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu "Abhidharmakosha" occupied an important place.
In Hinayana, for the first time, a structure in the form of a sangha of monks arose, which exists thanks to the laity. Hinayana also started building stupas for the first time.
Hinayana followed Buddhist cosmology, which divides being into several levels. The earth, according to this cosmology, was flat, with Mount Sumeru towering in the center. According to cosmology, there are three layers of existence in samsara: the “world of desires” (kama-loka), where most creatures live, the “world of forms” (rupa-loka), where the highest gods live, who do not have “gross sensual desires”, and “ the world of non-forms" (arupa-loka), where "beings who are completely freed from sensuality" live. These worlds are also related to the eight stages of dhyana.
Hinayana has a very negative attitude towards the samsara surrounding a person, considering it to be full of suffering, impurity and impermanence. Hinayana believes that meditation is the most effective method to achieve nirvana. The ancient Hinayana assigns an extremely significant role to psychopractice. External practice, consisting mainly of the worship of stupas, was given less importance. The Hinayana follower had to gradually improve mindfulness, concentration and wisdom. As a result, the Hinayanist in turn becomes one of the “four noble personalities”: “stream-enterer” (shrotapanna), “one who will return one more time” (sakridagamin), “non-returner” (anagamine) and “perfect” (arhat). According to Hinayana and Theravada, only Buddhist monks can achieve nirvana and become an arhat, and a large number of rebirths are also necessary. Lay people, on the other hand, must improve their karma by performing good deeds in order to become a monk in one of their next lives. The highest achievement of a layman without becoming a monk can only be "getting into heaven."
The Hinayana teaching includes all the early Buddhist elements: the three jewels, the anatmavada doctrine of "not-self", the Four Noble Truths, the doctrine of causal origin, and other elements. Additionally, Hinayana forms the doctrine of dharmas or "elementary particles of psychophysical experience", the combinations of which, according to Hinayana, form the whole reality. In total, there are 75 types of dharmas in the Hinayana, related to one of the five skandhas or five components from which a person is created. With the help of special practices, the Hinayanaist can realize prajna in himself, which makes it possible to discern the flow of dharmas.
In the process of development, the Hinayana did not agree with the position of the Mahayana and argued with it, but gradually it absorbed "a number of Mahayana ideas." Most Western Buddhist scholars until the early 1930s considered Hinayana "true Buddhism" and Mahayana a distorted version, but after studying Mahayana texts, Buddhist scholars revised their point of view.
Mahayana.
At the beginning of our era, the Mahayana began to designate a new Buddhist teaching, ideologically opposed to the Hinayana. There are several versions of the origin of the Mahayana. The early versions of lay descent and descent from the Mahasanghika school are now considered refuted. There continues to be a version of the origin of the Mahayana from places of worship and storage of sutras and a version of origin from a part of Buddhist ascetics who chose life in the forest. Recently, a version of the "text movement" has appeared, associated with the spread of the Mahayana sutras and the practices of copying, memorizing and reciting them.
According to one version, the Mahayana was finally formed in the south of India, according to another, in the northwest of India. In the future, the Mahayana actively spread during the reign of the Kushan kings (beginning of the 1st century - middle of the 3rd century). At the Fourth Buddhist Council, organized by King Kanishka I, the legitimization of the Mahayana doctrines takes place. Since the 6th century, the Mahayana has been actively spreading in Tibet, China, Japan and gradually ceases to exist in India. At present, many Mahayana Buddhists live in the Far East and Central Asia, and there are also significant numbers in the West.
The main pillars of the Mahayana tradition are prajna (intuitive wisdom) and karuna or compassion. With the help of karuna and skillful means or upai, the doctrine of bodhichitta is realized, which implies the desire for one's own awakening "for the benefit of all living beings." The salvation of all living beings without exception implies boundless love and compassion for them or the mahakaruna, which is embodied in a bodhisattva - a being who vowed to refuse the individual achievement of nirvana until he helps all beings to be freed from suffering. The Bodhisattva follows the path of six paramitas, among which the prajna paramita occupies a special place. The Prajnaparamita sutras describing the ultimate "transcendental wisdom" point to the emptiness and essencelessness of all phenomena of reality or dharmas. The entire existing world, according to the prajnaparamita, is Dharma or Buddhahood, and what "a person distinguishes in it, and many other things is an illusion (maya)". Thus, samsara or "the world of distinctions" is characterized as a dream] .
Most of the sutras in Buddhism are Mahayana sutras. The Mahayana believes that both the Mahayana sutras and the Pali Canon contain the words of the Buddha, in contrast to Theravada, which recognizes only the Pali Canon. The earliest Mahayana sutra is considered to be the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra, which appeared in the 1st century BC. The period of active creation of the Mahayana sutras in India is considered to be the 2nd-4th centuries. The most famous Mahayana sutras include the Lankavatara Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, the Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra, and the Avatamsaka Sutra.
The goal of the Mahayana schools, unlike the Hinayana schools, is not the achievement of nirvana, but full and final enlightenment (annutara samyak sambodhi). The followers of the Mahayana consider Hinayana Nirvana to be an intermediate stage, pointing out that even after destroying the kleshas or obscurations of consciousness, “obstacles of an epistemological nature (jneya avarana)” remain, which means “incorrect knowledge”. Thus, a fully awakened samyak sambuddha experiences a state "much higher than the nirvana of the Hinayana arhat."
The Mahayana tradition tests Buddhist philosophy mainly through the following "four pillars":
Reliance on the teaching, not on the teacher;
Reliance on the meaning, and not on the words that express it;
Reliance on the final meaning, and not on the intermediate;
Reliance on the perfect wisdom of deep experience, and not on simple knowledge.
Meditation is considered the main religious practice of the Mahayana schools; the veneration of various Buddhas and bodhisattvas in the Mahayana plays a secondary role.
For Mahayana schools, the Buddha is considered not just a historical figure, but "the true nature of all dharmas." According to the Mahayana, the Buddha is three interconnected "bodies" (trikaya), and the highest "dharmic body" of the Buddha corresponds to the "true nature of all phenomena." Buddha nature, according to the Mahayana, is also "the true nature of all phenomena" or dharmas. Based on this conclusion, the Mahayana schools point to the absolute identity of samsara and nirvana, which, according to the teachings, are only different aspects of each other. Also from the fact that "all dharmas are the dharmas of the Buddha," Mahayana followers conclude that any being is a Buddha, but "only has not awakened to the understanding of it."
Another difference between the Mahayana and the Hinayana was the lesser importance of monasticism. A Mahayana follower does not have to become a monk to realize his Buddha nature. Some texts also indicate that a number of lay people have achieved "higher levels of spiritual realization than most monks."
The followers of the Mahayana also showed greater flexibility and adaptability, using a variety of skillful means, without changing the basis of their teaching, and a much greater desire to preach in other countries than the Hinayana. For these reasons, it was the Mahayana tradition that transformed Buddhism from a regional religion into a global one.
One of the ways of dividing the Mahayana is its division into the Tibeto-Mongolian Mahayana, in which the texts in the Tibetan language are considered to be the main ones, and the Far Eastern Mahayana, based mostly on texts in Chinese.
Vajrayana
Vajrayana is a tantric branch of Buddhism, formed within the Mahayana in the 5th century AD. Practicing in the Vajrayana system involves receiving a special abhishek and its accompanying instructions from a realized teacher. The main means of achieving enlightenment in the Vajrayana is considered a secret mantra. Other methods are yogic meditation, visualization of images of meditative deities, mudras, and worship of the guru.
Vajrayana is widespread in Nepal, Tibet and partly in Japan. From Tibet came to Mongolia, from there - to Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia.
Main schools:
Tibetan schools
Nyingma
Jonang
Shingon (Japanese school)
The Dalai Lama also adds the pre-Buddhist Bon tradition to the Tibetan tradition, pointing out that in this case it does not matter whether Bon is considered a Buddhist tradition or not. Buddhologists' assessments of contemporary Bon range from a tradition that "borrowed a lot from Buddhism without becoming a Buddhist system" to "one of the not entirely 'orthodox' branches of Buddhism", features that are difficult to distinguish from Buddhism.
As noted by Tibetologist A. Berzin, the four Tibetan Buddhist traditions and Bon have in common that these traditions include monks and lay people, the study of sutras and tantras, similar meditative and ritual practices, the tulku institute, and mixed lineages. The differences are in the terminology and interpretation of terms, point of view (Gelug explains the teaching from the point of view of an ordinary being, Sakya from the point of view of those who have advanced along the path, Kagyu, Nyingma and Bon dzogchen from the point of view of a Buddha), the type of practitioners (Gelug and Sakya are focused on those who are advancing gradually). , while Kagyu, Nyingma and Bon are mainly on instantaneous insight), meditation emphasis, views on non-conceptual perception and the possibility of expressing voidness through words (only Gelug allows this possibility), and other features.
Buddhism in the modern world
In 2010, the number of Buddhists was estimated at 450-500 million people (according to Encyclopedia Britannica - 463 million people, according to the encyclopedia "Religions of the World" by J. Melton - 469 million, according to the report of the American research center Pew Research Center - 488 million). However, there are also larger estimates of the number of Buddhists, for example, Buddhologist A. A. Terentyev indicated for 2008 an estimate of the number of Buddhists at 600 to 1,300 million people. According to one estimate, 360 million Buddhists are Mahayana, 150 million are Theravada, and about 18 million belong to Tibetan Buddhism. At the same time, the number of Buddhists living outside of Asia is estimated at 7 million people. The number of monks among all Buddhists is about 1 million people.
The main number of Buddhists live in the countries of South, Southeast and East Asia: Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Cambodia, China (as well as the Chinese population of Singapore and Malaysia), Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Japan.
Kazakhstan is a secular country in which world religions are officially allowed, and since Buddhism is one of the three world religions, it is allowed by the official authorities of Kazakhstan. According to the US Embassy in Kazakhstan, Buddhism in the country is represented by 4 official organizations, 1 of which represents the Korean Buddhism of the Song tradition (the largest diaspora of Koreans in the CIS lives in Kazakhstan) and 1 official lineage of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism (this became possible thanks to the cooperation of Kazakhstan with India and Mongolia).
Currently, Buddhism in Kazakhstan is represented by such Buddhist schools and directions:
Followers of the Wonbulgyo school (Won Buddhism).
Followers of Tibetan Buddhism (Nyingma, Kagyu, Gelug).
followers of Zen Buddhism.
Buddhism in Kazakhstan is almost not developed. It is mainly practiced by a small part of the Korean diaspora, the Buryats and Kalmyks.
In the official educational literature of Kazakhstan, the ancient Turkic religion - Tengrianism is described in a separate column, the similarity of this national religion of the Kazakhs with Buddhism and Islam is noted.