History of Buddhism

I'm so glad you've joined me on Lights Out Library tonight. If you'd like to listen ad-free and unlock bonus episodes, then please consider joining our Patreon. There is a link for it in the episode description. Now, a quick word from our sponsors before tonight's story begins. Hello, everyone. I'm Olympia thank you for being here with me in this wonderful place called Lights Out Library and I have a great story to tell you let's imagine ourselves sitting on lush grass by a river under the leaves of an old banyan tree and everything is calm and quiet except for the sweet sound of the babbling river and the light breeze that brings us the scent of lotus flowers as we dive into another chapter of human history. Tonight, I will tell you about the history of Buddhism and what this religion or spiritual tradition is about, how it appeared and how it spread and diversified. Buddhism also questions the Western concept of religion that we are quick to attribute to every spiritual belief, tradition or rite. So we will also discuss the word religion and its history as well. But first, I would like to take a few seconds of your time to let you know that we have a Patreon page for those of you who wish to and can support this project. Get more of it and listen ad-free on your favorite podcast app. Patreon is a platform that allows you to contribute directly to our work financially. Our least expensive tier is $3.50 per month, but it doesn't mean you will get less. We let people contribute what they wish or can, and everyone gets everything that is on our page. Because the world is a better place when the sun shines for everyone. You will gain access to several exclusive episodes and also all our episodes with and without background sounds. We offer advanced releases to our patrons as well. We have added links in the description of the episode to Patreon as well as different links to other streaming options which may be better suited for you. but now before we begin let's take a moment together to prepare for our journey ahead if you'd like gently close your eyes and let your daily concerns drift away Find a position that feels natural and cozy. Perhaps make small adjustments until you're perfectly comfortable. Now, draw in a deep, nourishing breath. And as you release it softly, notice how your body responds. Feel the warmth flowing from your neck down through your shoulders. melting away any tension let your facial muscles become soft your jaw loose your fingers naturally open and your legs completely at ease as you settle into this peaceful state. My voice will be your gentle companion as we begin our exploration together. And now, let's begin our journey, shall we? At the origin of Buddhism, there are original teachings attributed to a man, a religious teacher, who lived sometime between the 6th and the 5th century BC in ancient India. This man, Siddhartha Gautama, is not mere legend but did exist. It can be hard to distinguish what is historical fact and what is legend in his life. Because, to the Buddhists, he became the historical Buddha, a being that, in our world, reached a state of enlightenment that liberated him from suffering, from ignorance, craving, and from a never-ending cycle of rebirth. He achieved this by dedicating his life to finding and following a path, a path that culminated in nirvana, the ultimate state of liberation. Siddhartha Gautama was not really a prophet, someone who would have announced or revealed divine truth. He was even less so a messiah. in the buddhist tradition he is a guide and a model of what human beings can aspire to become a pioneer of sorts a spiritual explorer we will come back to his life but his teachings did not arise from nowhere they were deeply rooted in an intense spiritual activity that existed in india in the first millennium b c It was a time of intense questioning or speculation about the order of the cosmos, self-knowledge, and what beings became after their biological death. To understand all this, we have to look at what India was in terms of civilization, society, and beliefs at the time of the Buddha. India already had a long history before the 6th century BC. It had seen several cultures and civilizations rise and fall, especially in the Indus Valley, where about at the same time in Mesopotamia, early cities and complex societies had appeared. The Indus Valley is located in the northwest of India and Pakistan. Little is known about how these societies worked, their political life or their beliefs, but what we do know, or at least what we are able to discern, backed by archaeology, languages and genetics, among other factors, is that by the middle of the second millennium BC, a thousand years before the time of the Buddha, Indian societies and religions were strongly influenced by the arrival of a migration wave coming from Central Asia, the Indo-Aryan migration. It happened over several centuries, starting around four thousand years ago the indo-aryan peoples were an ethno-linguistic group meaning that they were ethnically and culturally related they shared cultural norms and languages and it left a strong mark on india the languages spoken to-day from pakistan to bangladesh from north india to sri lanka in the south all have Indo-Aryan origins. The Indo-Aryans are usually considered part of the larger Indo-European migrations, thought to have originated on the Pontic-Caspian steppe, north of the Black and Caspian Seas, around 6,000 years ago. Over many centuries, Indo-European languages and cultural influences spread across Europe, parts of the Middle East, and into South Asia. There is still debate over how much of this expansion involved migration, as opposed to slower cultural and linguistic exchange. Now, the Indo-Aryan wave was a late one in the second millennium B.C., and it involved a movement toward the south of people from the Indo-European linguistic group, who had settled and stayed in Central Asia for centuries before moving south. It seems that in India, like in all other parts of the world where they arrived, these Indo-European migration waves had a strong influence on the regions where they settled. We do not know the numbers exactly, and it is well possible that they were only a minority in these new lands. It is believed that their social norms and organization, their beliefs, or maybe their military capabilities were persuasive or powerful, because in the north of India, as in Europe or Persia, they prevailed over more ancient cultures. In the case of India, it is possible that Indo-Aryan chiefs provided protection to non-Aryan populations living from agriculture, establishing a hierarchy in which the Indo-Aryans became a kind of elite class. These elites made alliances and mixed with the old elites, and after generations, Indo-Aryans converted the dominant class to their culture and language, which then trickled down to the rest of the population. These are all hypotheses, but in any case, the Indo-Aryan migrations reshaped Indian societies. They mixed with local elements, giving birth to new cultures. For example, Sanskrit, the language that is also the sacred language of Hinduism and many historical texts of Buddhism, is one of the numerous Indo-Aryan languages. It served as a link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, somewhat like Latin in Roman and medieval Europe. by the middle of the second millennium new indo-aryan kingdoms were forming in india mainly in the northwest and their way of life was starting to take on new and recognizable traits society was organized into castes priests known as brahmins warriors and nobles ordinary people and servants this system which largely placed individuals into a caste by birth has very deep roots in india it began to take shape in the second millennium b c and although it was officially abolished in nineteen forty nine something so deeply embedded doesn't simply disappear its influence can still be felt in indian society to-day The religious beliefs and practices of the Indo-Aryan peoples were centered on a collection of texts known as the Vedas. Today the Vedas are considered the oldest sacred scriptures of Hinduism, which is now the largest religion in India by number of followers. but early on this Vedic religion was just one of several major traditions gradually blending with others and helping shape Hinduism into what it would become over time. It was believed and is still believed in Hinduism that the Vedas are revealed texts In other words, they're not thought to have human authors. Instead, their verses were said to be heard by ancient sages. During Deep States of Meditation During the first millennium BC, this historical Vedic religion evolved into another religious tradition called Ramanism. Brahminism included other texts than the original Vedas and gave a central role to the priestly class of society, the caste of the Brahmins. In the West, historically, Brahminism became a name for Hinduism in the 18th and 19th century. The two words were used interchangeably. The religion that historians called Brahminism has marked differences with modern Hinduism. It is only one of its main inspirations. Now, over a millennium from the mid-second millennium to the first millennium B.C., by the time of the buddha the historical vedic religion went through a lot of changes and the introduction of new concepts the earliest texts the earliest vedas mentioned a belief in an after-life a place or another dimension where people rather their spirits or their souls went after their earthly life but with time and the likely influence of local beliefs this evolved into a belief in the doctrine of karma and rebirth the idea of reincarnation the term karma is a popular one but what is karma exactly karma is a sanskrit word that means action work or deed good actions and good deeds contribute to good karma the concept of karma is closely associated with the idea of rebirth in many indian religions including buddhism hinduism or sikhism good or bad karma in the present will affect one's future not only in this life but will also affect the nature and quality of future lives it is less known than karma but maybe you have heard the term samsara the cycle of reincarnation is a fundamental belief of most indian religions and it formed along the centuries as the historical vedic religion evolved when the historical buddha was born the concepts of karma of samsara and the existence of the vedas as religious scriptures were widespread in the indian societies where he lived This is why this little historical perspective is necessary to explain, because these concepts were not born with Buddhism, but were instead embraced by Buddhism Buddhism provided what would be like a road map to concepts that people were already familiar with But by the 6th century BC, Brahmanism was not the only aspect of religious or spiritual activity in India. As I mentioned earlier, there was a state of intense questioning and speculation about spirituality, about the world, the visible and the invisible, and what happened after death. At the margins of Brahminism, many individuals tried to explore or to answer these mysteries of existence. they often isolated themselves from society to meditate and think. Many practiced asceticism, which is a lifestyle of voluntary abstinence from sensual pleasures for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Typical ascetics adopt a very frugal lifestyle. rejecting material possessions and physical indulgences of every kind. They spend a lot of their time fasting and concentrating on the practice of religion or reflecting on spiritual matters. Many believed that the action of purifying the body or reducing its needs was a way of finding inner peace. or a greater connection with the divine the practice of asceticism has been historically observed in many religions and traditions around the world but india could have been the place where it first emerged the concept was mentioned in some vedic texts which are the most ancient texts we know of that talk about asceticism by the time of the buddha the practice was widespread in india it was still a marginal lifestyle of course but it became relatively familiar and common and it seems there was a belief that controlling one's vital functions the ability to be detached from one's body was a way of acquiring supernatural powers or of reaching a state of ecstasy and intense happiness another ascetic practice was yoga yet another sanskrit term yoga was already ancient by the sixth century b c and had been mentioned long before in the vedas but it became increasingly popular among ascetics they believed that practicing a variety of techniques particularly physical and mental exercises was a way of strengthening one's mind and connecting with the divine i'm telling you all of this to illustrate the context and society into which the historical buddha was born concepts like karma or samsara arose from the evolution and mixing of all these influences both indo-arian and indigenous also there were a number of religious and spiritual practices that had already become widespread in india moreover it was a time by the sixth and fifth century b c a spiritual fervor one could say for many people probably more so in the same period in other parts of the world like china or the mediterranean world spirituality beliefs and the divine or the single most important reason to live, or the most important goal. Now that we have the background in place, let's talk about the life and achievements of Siddhartha Gautama. It can be very hard to distinguish facts from claims, so let's just focus on the historical figure. was he a real man the answer is most probably yes almost old historians agree on this because his teachings and followers all left a multiplicity of traces on history It is harder to know exact details like his dates of birth and death, for example, but the traditional date of his death observed in the Eastern Buddhist tradition in China, Japan, or Korea is 949 B.C., more than 500 years earlier than what most historians believe. A century ago, the consensus was that he was born and lived in the 6th century BC, but now it is considered to have been during the 5th century BC. He was most likely born into an aristocratic family, and tradition places his birth in the ancient city of Lumbini. in what is now modern-day nepal just north of india there is a broad agreement that he travelled widely across northern india during his lifetime and the traditions described his life as unfolding in a series of stages birth and maturity followed by a radical renunciation of wealth and pleasure than a long spiritual search that led to his awakening or liberation. After that came years of teaching, a period that continued until his death. The dates and, in many cases, the places are hard to establish because no biographies or detailed accounts were written during his lifetime, lifetime, nor in the one or two centuries thereafter either. The ancient Indians generally were unconcerned with chronologies. They focused more on philosophy and events. The earliest written records are from the mid-third century BC, with references carved on pillars. The oldest known surviving manuscripts were found in Afghanistan and they are from the first century BC which is already a dozen generations after his death. As Buddhism gained importance several biographies were written in the first centuries of our era. They represent different traditions and do not necessarily agree on everything. But from these different sources and historical research, the following biography can be established. After his birth in Lambini, Gautama would have spent his childhood in Kapilavastu, a city that could have been either in Nepal or in India in the modern state of Uttar, Radesh. Both places at the same time belong to the same state the Theri of Shakyat. He could have been a prince. Later traditions tend to assign to him a very high social origin, and the fact that he didn't have to work as a child supports this, but still his exact social origin is mysterious. In the Shakya tradition, his mother was a queen, Queen Maya, and the night Siddhartha was conceived, she was said to have dreamed of a white elephant and ten months later he was born. Early biographies say almost nothing about the young Gautama's life, but later texts developed a dramatic narrative about prophecies made by Brahmin scholars when he was born, with priests announcing that young Siddhartha would become the first Buddha, or stories of him as a boy discovering the suffering of common people, whereas he lived a luxurious, spoiled life. Then, one day, when he was an adolescent or a young adult, he chose to renounce this life and seek a higher spiritual goal by becoming an ascetic. Earlier sources don't elaborate much on this. They just depict that the thought of old age, disease, and death was what led to his renunciation. Gautama believed there might be something better than just waiting for it to happen and trying to forget this sad fate with material possessions and entertainment. He held that home life was narrow, a place of impurity, whereas life as an ascetic, free and unencumbered, could provide a purer, holier kind of life. Biographies that are more rooted in legend than history add many unverifiable anecdotes to this narrative. For example, that one day Gautama left his palace and seeing the outside world for the first time was shocked by his encounters with poor suffering people, realities he had ignored until then, that he had been shielded from reality, or that while outside he encountered an ascetic who inspired him to become one too. Another legend is that his parents opposed this departure. He had been shielded from religious teachings because his father wanted him to become a king and not a priest. so he escaped in the middle of the night. In any case, these narratives all lead to him drastically changing his life and embarking on a spiritual quest and experimenting with different spiritual practices. First he was said to have tried to join two different teachers of ascetic meditation and even though he quickly excelled at their techniques he was unsatisfied because he felt these practices did not lead to calm to knowledge or to awakening they were a means of forgetting oneself than a means of elevation and so he next entered a phase into extreme asceticism drastically reducing his food intake and imposing forceful mind and forms of breath control historic texts report that he became so skinny so emaciated that his bones were visible through his skin. These extreme practices and the accompanying physical deterioration led to a revelation that the right path to spiritual awakening was not in the extremes, neither in self-indulgence nor in self-mortification, but rather somewhere in between. the middle way a path of moderation his notion of the middle way is very important to buddhists of all traditions to understand the teachings of the buddha first because it defines a spiritual practice that steers clear of extremes no exaggerated ascetism which is seen as a foolish quest for perfection that may well be inspired by egotism or masochism and on the other hand no self-indulgence no indulgence of sensual physical pleasures all of which take us away from the quest of awakening but beyond the practice it is also a call to react with moderation to issues encountered in life and not to fall into extremes like absolutism or radical intolerance or nihilism the middle of the way is instead the path that avoids these traps these blockages it is the path through which it is possible to advance rather than stay stuck and so after this discovery siddhartha gautama would have abandoned extreme asceticism and reoriented his search this middle way was the discovery of a path not a destination so it was time for him to follow this path he was said to have decided to sit down and to meditate determined not to get up until achieving a full awakening legend has it that he sat under a bodhi tree a sacred fig tree native to india located in the modern state of behar and it is there he practised a long meditation called a dhyana translated as meditation but this dhyana describes the training of the mind a way to redirect the mind away from automatic responses to the senses to clear it from distractions so that it can comprehend the world as it really is so this diana this meditation after a long time would have allowed him to awaken that is to say to clearly see the true nature of reality to see the world as it is gautama thus would have become a buddha an awakened one contrary to most people who are asleep to the true reality with this awakening he is said to have reached liberation known as nirvana nirvana is another sanskrit word and in the west it's often understood as a kind of perfect calm or lasting contentment but that's not quite the full picture it is a state of profound happiness and freedom yes but above all it's about release freedom from attachment to emotions to other people to possessions to the ego itself and even to suffering this liberation puts an end to samsara to the cycle of rebirth that makes us come back nirvana is a way out the only way out of this eternal repetition and the accompanying suffering the concept of nirvana does not only exist in buddhism but it also exists in other religions including hinduism traditions surrounding this crucial time beneath the tree tell slightly different stories about what happened as the future Buddha meditated According to legend just as he was nearing awakening a demon named Mara, a figure associated with desire and illusion, tried to stop him. Mara didn't want this path to liberation revealed to humanity. So he attempted to distract and intimidate him. First he sent his beautiful daughters to tempt him and when that failed he unleashed terrifying armies of monsters. But the future Buddha remained calm, unmoved and deeply grounded. And it was precisely this inner steadiness that allowed him to withstand and overcome every attack. After this awakening, the Buddha traveled again to the lower plains of the Ganges, to the east, teaching and building a religious community. His teachings included the middle way, this path between extremes, the training of the mind, dhyana, and meditation practices as a way to emulate his experience and to also reach Buddhahood. Buddhahood. Even though the title Buddha, which means enlightened or awakened one, appeared only a couple of centuries after his death, an aspect of early Buddhism is that the Buddha was critical of the caste system and the practices of the priests, the Brahmin caste. As we've seen, there was nothing in his path to nirvana that depended on his family of birth, his social status, or the worship of any particular gods. This new religious movement that emerged around him was a religion without gods, or if there were gods and supernatural entities, the way to awakening, to enlightenment and freedom, did not depend on them, and this clashed with the dominant social order. Buddhism in the 5th century BC was just a small movement that we would call a sect, but still, its doctrine could have been seen as a threat to the caste system dominated by the Brahmins, all the more that it, at least theoretically, appealed to the lower classes. In Brahminism, there was a pantheon of gods, many of whom continued to be worshipped in Hinduism. The path to gain favors in this life and future lives was to worship these gods, and the means to worship passed only through Brahmin caste, thus creating this intrinsic connection between religion, social order, and politics. And even though Buddhism did not necessarily attack all of this directly, it was disruptive. Keeping the striking differences in mind, there was something of this model in the success of early Christianity within the Roman Empire and beyond. Here was a religion, open to all, that promised a path to salvation, regardless of social origins or wealth, a promise to alleviate or suppress suffering for the poor, a system that proclaims equality between all men. This was appealing to many. But still, like Christianity at the start, Buddhism spread slowly in India. In the beginning it coexisted with other religions or traditions, especially with ancient Hinduism or late Brahmanism. It benefited in the third century from the conversion of several monarchs to Buddhism. India was politically fragmented, and there was a time when Buddhism reached every corner of India. But in the following centuries, it lost political support. and then much later there was the Muslim invasion of the north of India from the 10th to the 12th centuries. Buddhism did not fully disappear from India but it was significantly reduced and marginalized. However abroad, Buddhism experienced a remarkable expansion and success Even though it was a tradition born in India, it was adapted by and lasted much longer in other Asian countries. So let's take a look at the historical spread of Buddhism and the different traditions that were born from it. The heartland of Buddhism historically was the Ganges Valley. north-east of india from there the practice spread in every direction acquiring a presence in all of india as i said before as well as to the west in what is now pakistan and afghanistan to the north to central asia and even more so toward the east to china indochina korea japan and even parts of indonesia to the southeast but this didn't happen without the divergence of schools of thought and beliefs even though all maintained the same core concepts as i mentioned before in india buddhism had been almost entirely eliminated by the middle ages but it stayed in sri lanka to the south of india there were other regions where it lasted only a few centuries this was the case in the west of central asia and pakistan where the expansion of buddhism met the empire of alexander the great once alexander the greek king of macedonia had conquered the persian empire a cultural syncretism occurred a synthesis that is called greco-buddhism it is in this area that there were greek led kingdoms after the collapse of alexander's empire that overlapped with buddhists regions and buddhists populations it is also in this region that the first statues of the buddha were made and they have a distinctively greek influence in the third century b c for a short time a large part of india was unified under a single empire and its ruler was emperor ashoka he promoted buddhism including beyond his frontiers by sending buddhist monks abroad especially to central asia his empire extended from bangladesh in the east to afghanistan in the west which is why even though the buddhist presence in central asia has almost disappeared this part of the world has some of the most ancient buddhist statues and monuments the art that resulted from the greco-buddhist fusion is one of a kind because it mixes indian and greek influences but the blend of cultures was not limited only to art several greek philosophers were put in contact with indian philosophers and they returned to greece to found schools of philosophy influenced by their understanding of buddhism another possible influence although speculative due to the lack of evidence is the potential influence of buddhist thought on the early development of christianity not on the doctrine itself but on the moral precepts that they have in common such as respect for life consideration for the weak and vulnerable the rejection of violence and forgiveness of sinners these are traits of christianity that are not usually present or prominent in most mediterranean religions this doesn't mean that buddhism was the influence that shaped christianity that would be a huge stretch as plenty of other factors were at play in the formation of the christian message that said there are real similarities between early buddhism and early christianity especially in their disregard for established social hierarchies their rejection of wealth as a measure of worth and the way they elevated the poor and the marginalized now having reached central asia buddhism was now in the middle of the silk road that linked china to the mediterranean sea but it did not expand further west instead finding its way east toward china the silk road was one of the ways through which buddhism traveled to china in the fourth and fifth centuries as well as through the tibet i'll tell you more about tibetan buddhism in a minute like many other large religions buddhism saw various traditions various schools appear it is hard to classify them individually because thousands of different institutions with different doctrines and philosophical approaches have existed or still exist within the buddhist world but the first broad distinction can be made between two main traditions theravada and mahayana both traditions except concepts that we discussed before the middle way the path to nirvana the characteristics of all existence and living beings that they call the three marks of existence the figure of the historical buddha obviously but they also have their differences theravada means teaching of the elders and it is the dominant form of buddhism in sri lanka and southeast asia including myamar thailand and cambodia the theravada focuses on a collection of buddhists texts that are among the most ancient and its followers see themselves as being closer to the early buddhist schools the second main tradition would be mahayana which means great vehicle and it is prominent in east asia A lot of this variation derives from the Chinese Buddhist traditions, and it dominates in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. This tradition accepts later texts, and generally the existence of other Buddhas that the Theravada tradition rejects. Most Buddhists place themselves within either the Theravada or Mahayana, but these two categories do not reflect the diversity of the Buddhist world. Modern scholars of Buddhism add at least one distinction inside Mahayana with a category called Vajrayana, also known as Tantric Buddhism or Esoteric Buddhism, that is mostly represented by Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. It is prominent in the Himalayan region, including Tibet and Bhutan, as well as Mongolia to the north. This branch emphasizes the study of Buddhist tantric materials and is to many Westerners the prominent face of Buddhism because everybody knows about Tibetan Buddhism via the Dalai Lama. What does this mean, tantric? It has more recently become a bit of a misleading term in English, because a lot of people now associate it with sex. It became a thing in popular culture because of 20th century Western occultists who presented it to the American and European public as a kind of esoteric or sexual practice. but this is not what tantra really means tantra is a broad range of esoteric meaning secret or mysterious traditions that developed in india from the middle of the first millennium these traditions exist in buddhism and hinduism as well to the buddhists the tantras are texts which outline the views and practices of their religious system spelling out what to believe and what practices exercises and techniques to follow from yoga exercises to meditation techniques to the use of mantras mantra is another term in buddhism and it means a word a syllable or a group of words or just a sound repeated during meditation that is believed by practitioners to have religious or magical powers this is also an ancient tradition that appeared long before buddhism the earliest mantras were composed in vedic sanskrit the language of the vedas the texts from the second millennium b c that i told you about before tantra and mantras are somewhat linked because the practitioners of tantra regard mantras as sacred formulas that become activated when recited mantras can be very simple as simple as the sounds or word om serves as a mantra this is the stereotypical sound most associate with meditation but to some hindus or buddhist tradition this is believed to be the very first sound that originated on earth it's a very famous simple written in sanskrit and though it is a very short mantra it can be used in entire melodic phrases believe to guide reveal calm and expand perception so as you can see despite popular cultural stereotypes buddhist or hinduist tantras are not about some kind of mix of yoga and sex they are a very esoteric and spiritual range of practices tibetan buddhism in addition to being based on mahayana texts emphasizes the study of tantras which places it in a separate category now china was also an important centre for the spread of buddhism because it is from china that buddhism continued its expansion into korea japan or vietnam the canons of chinese buddhism were written in the classical chinese language and these are not considered authoritative in theravada and in china itself new schools appeared one of the most famous and successful was chan buddhism which spread abroad and that we know of by its japanese name zen buddhism zen draws from different sources of the mahayana tradition and for the most part it was a reaction against the importance of learning texts and doctrine instead of focusing on studying it emphasizes a more direct understanding and practice including self-restraint the practice of meditation insight into nature of the mind and the nature of things to understand or perceive what they really are and also the expression of this insight in daily life to the benefit of others so it includes a social dimension too the chan school was influenced by the taoist philosophy that was influential in china at the time then again buddhism also has plenty of different schools of thought in each country where it is present another difference between these various traditions whether we consider only the two big ones the theravada and mahayana or include more is that each acknowledges a different number of buddhas the term buddha generally refers to siddhartha gautama but buddha is a title attributed to any beings who have become fully awakened so there could theoretically be more than one buddha the theravada tradition includes tales of twenty-nine different buddhas twenty-seven of whom were before gautama the one who spread his teachings gautama himself is number twenty eight and there is a prophesied future twenty ninth buddha mahayana buddhists venerate numerous buddhas that are not included in theravada traditions and are sometimes seen as living in other realms in vashrayana buddhism or tibetan buddhism there are yet other buddhas including women the most famous female buddha is tara who in the mahayana world is considered a bodhisattva that is to say not yet a buddha but a person who is on the path towards buddhahood in tibetan buddhism she is a buddha and almost a deity revered as one who guides students to develop certain qualities like compassion tara emerges approximately in the first century a d in mahayana buddhism which is when the idea of bodhisattvas really develops now in vasrayana during the sixth and seventh centuries tara's role expanded dramatically she becomes a fully enlightened figure and not just a symbol buddhists believe you can actively call upon her through mantras visualization and rituals she truly flourished in tibetan buddhism where devotion to tara is widespread and deeply personal did she truly exist as a living human being probably not there is no historical evidence that tara was a living human figure with a life that can be reliably dated with a birthplace or geography so from a historian's point of view tara is a religious figure a symbolic figure and not a documented person so where does she come from she emerges in buddhists texts and devotional practices centuries after the buddha in other words she wasn't remembered she was revealed envisioned and cultivated there is a short legend of tara's origin however according to legend tara was once a princess who devoted herself deeply to the buddhist's path when monks told her she should pray to be reborn as a man in a future life to attain enlightenment she refused she declared that enlightenment had no gender and vowed that she would always appear in a female form to help beings escape suffering through this vow she became tara the embodiment of awakened compassion in action there is also a variety of representations of the buddha especially in statues all of which have different meanings maybe the least serious of these is the common representation of a fat and laughing buddha which does not really seem to embody the virtues of self-restraint detachment or the middle way this version of buddha is typically chinese and first appeared around the tenth century b c this is not actually buddha though this is a chinese buddhist monk called buddhai who was rumored to be good-hearted happy eccentric and fat he became a famous character in chinese folk tales the figure was endearing and this is why it spread from china and became popular in neighboring buddhist countries like japan and korea but having a statue or a picture of this happy buddha is more of a lucky charm than a religious artefact statues of gotama the historical buddha show him as skinnier and there are codes of sorts meaning embedded in these representations he is always represented in one of four possible postures referring to different stages of his life and his hand gestures provide further information the four postures include reclining sitting standing and more rarely walking the reclining buddha evokes the final stages of earthly life before reaching nirvana after death and it represents this elevation to the awakened state The most common depiction is of the sitting Buddha, which represents teaching or meditation. Sometimes the Buddha is very skinny, very emaciated, and this alludes to the period when he practiced extreme asceticism. The standing Buddha is a teacher and has already reached nirvana. his face reflects the gentle amusement and serenity that accompany this state. The position of his hands is also significant when the Buddha is seated. His hands can be joined or separated and each of these positions holds meaning or refers to a particular episode in his life. for example when he rests his left hand palm up on his lap and his right hand is pulled down with fingers towards the earth it is a reference to the moment during his meditation when he was tempted by mara the demon when the buddha is standing if he presents the palms of his hands it is a way of dispelling conflict and promoting harmony before we conclude our overview of buddhism we should attempt to answer this question what is buddhism exactly is it a religion a philosophical or spiritual tradition or a way of looking at life the problem lies in trying to define it because the concept of religion is a primarily western construct historically it is a convenient term meant to describe systems of beliefs world views texts rituals organizations and moral values however this need to categorize and label these systems as separate entities as different religions is not universally understood or practiced outside of western languages there is often no direct translation from the word religion our perception of the word depends on the individual or cultural perspectives we adopt to better understand the world the word religion originated from the latin religio and appeared in old french and anglo-norman in the middle ages its original meaning in latin when it first appeared in european languages was not exactly the same as its modern meaning it denoted respect for what is right for what is sacred and deference to the gods after christianity replaced the polytheistic roman gods it became reverence for their one god in this sense religion is not a choice between different beliefs it is something that one either has or does not have It was not used in the plural form initially. The plural religions emerged much later in French or English, particularly in the 17th century after the Protestant Reformation. This occurred as Christendom was divided, and European explorers encountered multiple foreign cultures, thus emphasizing that one's beliefs were only a single component among many in a person's identity, such as, for example, nationality or race. To most scholars, the concept of religion as we understand it today is a Western conception and a relatively modern one having existed for only a few centuries. In other world cultures, there seemed to be no need to distinguish or separate everyday life from the sacred. There was no need to think of a belief system as a choice made by an individual. For example, even up until the 19th century, Jewish people did not call their religion practice, with its texts, morals, traditions, and rituals, Judaism. They considered their ancestral culture and ethnic identity to be one and the same as their spiritual practices, their natural rights as Jews. The same principle was applied by the West to many religions around the world. cultural identity and spiritual practice were treated as two separate things seen as independent from one another the terms buddhism hinduism or taoism are very recent additions appearing in western languages only in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in pre-columbian america in most of africa and most of asia there was no interest in separating different belief systems into religions there wasn't even a word for religion for example the japanese discovered the word and concept of religion in the mid nineteenth century when american warships appeared off their coast and forced their government to sign treaties that demanded among other things freedom of religion the idea that religion could be optional or that they themselves had a religion was alien to the japanese at the time if we choose to define religion as the belief in or worship of a divine power god or gods then buddhism cannot be classified as a religion it doesn't require or refer to the worship of any superhuman power while there are revered mythical figures in buddhism there is no pantheon or single god in theory a person could be buddhist and also practise a different religion but it's not that simple if we accept religion as a concept as we've discussed then other defined religions will likely clash with some of the beliefs of buddhism such as reincarnation or the possibility of finding a path to salvation without divine interference these concepts may not be acceptable with many other belief systems in the world however if we take religion as a social construct a community of believers who share rites practices and have a clergy and organization then buddhism can be considered a religion it has an impact on practitioners in their social interactions it at least in part defines their identity and helps fulfil their need for spirituality there is no clear answer to the question is buddhism a religion it ultimately depends on how we choose to define religion there is no scholarly consensus on this matter and it is acceptable to see it either as a religion or as a philosophical and spiritual practice this was just an overview and there is much more to learn about buddhism and indian religions i do hope tonight's story has at least sparked your curiosity to learn more But we have reached the end of our time together for tonight. Now you can let go and sleep. Or if you're not sleepy yet, you may pick another story from my ever-growing library. And until we meet again, good night. Sleep well.