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stuff

Quiz

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The will to believe 1897) Willing to believe (not

assessing truth of a belief) The Sick Man facts and values

We reside in the stream. Itshould be our guide

The problem of belief and thepassional nature

Sometimes there is no why towhy we believe

Genuine Choices (whatmatters is religion as achoice)

Be live Be forced Be momentous

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Life of Siddhartha Gautama (4thC. BCE)

Ascetic context!rama"a

History and MythJatakasFour sights

Old AgeDiseaseDeathAscetic

First attemptsRealization

Buddh to awakenFour Truths

Sarnath

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First Truth: Suffering (dukkha)

Suffering of Pain Suffering of Pleasure Anatman (anatta)

What is reborn? Cosmic Suffering

(suffering of

conditioning)

Five aggregates Form and matter Sensations Perceptions Psychic constructions Consciousness

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Second truth: Cause and thirst (karma, tanha)

Karma Oh Bhikkus it is volition

that I call karma. Havingwilled, one acts throughbody, speech and mind.

Anguttaranikaya60.

Jatakas Klesha Dependent Origination

(pratityasamutpada)

Desire, Hatred, Ignorance

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Third Truth: Nirvana (nibbana)

Rejection of theologicalrumination Nib banna Samsara nirodha Tanha nirodha Arhats

Sravaka Pratyekabuddha

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Final Truth: The Path Ethics (right speech, action,

livelihood) refraining from nonvirtuous deeds

Meditation (right effort,mindfulness, concentration)

Controlling the Drunken Monkey Calmness (Samatha) Insight (vipassana)

Wisdom (right view, intention) Realizing anatman Conceptual Practical

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The Questions of King Milinda

"The King Menander went up to the Venerable Nagasena, greeted him respectfully,and sat down . . . Then the Venerable Nagasena addressed the King. 'Your Majesty,

how did you come here -- on foot, or in a vehicle?' 'In a chariot'. Then tell me what is the chariot? Is the pole the chariot?' 'No, your Reverence.' 'Or the axle, wheels, frame, reins,

yoke, spokes, or goad?' 'None of these things is the chariot'.

'Then all these separate parts taken together are the chariot?' 'No, your Reverence.' 'Then is the chariot something other than the separate parts?' 'No, your Reverence.' 'Then for all my asking, your Majesty, I can find no chariot. The chariot is a mere

sound. What then is the chariot? Surely what your Majesty has said is false! There isno chariot! . . .

When he had spoken the five hundred Greeks cried 'Well done!' and said to theKing, 'Now, your Majesty, get out of that dilemma if you can!'

'What I said was not false,' replied the King. 'It's on account of all these variouscomponents, the pole, axle, wheels, and so on, that the vehicle is called a chariot.It's just a generally understood term, a practical designation.' 'Well said, yourMajesty! You know what the word 'chariot' means! And it's just the same with me.It's on account of the various components of my being that I'm known by thegenerally understood term, the practical designation Nagasena.

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The Questions of King Milinda

Milinda: When someone is reborn, Venerable Nagasena, is he the same as the one who justdied, or is he another?

Nagasena: He is neither the same nor another.

Milinda: Give me an illustration! Nagasena: If a man were to light a lamp, could it give light throughout the whole night? Milinda: Yes, it could. Nagasena: Is not the flame which burns in the first watch of the night the same as the one

which burns in the second?

Milinda: It is not the same. Nagasena: Or is the flame that burns in the second watch the same as the one which burns in

the last one? Milinda: It is not the same. Nagasena: Even so must we understand the collocation of a series of successive dharmas. At

rebirth one dharma arises, while another stops; but the two processes take place almostsimultaneously (i.e., they are continuous). Therefore the first act of consciousness in the newexistence is neither the same as the last act of consciousness in the previous existence, nor is itanother.

Milinda: Give me another simile! Nagasena: Milk, once the milking is done, turns after some time into curds; from curds it turns

into fresh butter, and from fresh butter into ghee. Would it now be correct to say that the milkis the same thing as the curds, or the fresh butter, or the ghee?

Milinda: No, it would not. But they have been produced because of it. Nagasena: Just so must be understood the collocation of a series of successive dharmas.

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Parable of the arrow smeared thickly with poison

It is as if a man had been wounded by an arrow thickly smearedwith poison, and his friends and kinsmen were to get a surgeon toheal him, and he were to say, I will not have this arrow pulled outuntil I know by what man I was wounded, whether he is of thewarrior caste, or a brahmin, or of the agricultural, or the lowestcaste. Or if he were to say, I will not have this arrow pulled outuntil I know of what name of family the man is -- or whether he istall, or short or of middle height ... Before knowing all this, the man

would die.

Similarly, it is not on the view that the world is eternal, that it isfinite, that body and soul are distinct, or that the Buddha existsafter death that a religious life depends. Whether these views ortheir opposite are held, there is still rebirth, there is old age, thereis death, and grief, lamentation, suffering, sorrow, and despair.... Ihave not spoken to these views because they do not conduce to anabsence of passion, to tranquility, and Nirvana. And what have Iexplained? Suffering have I explained, the cause of suffering, thedestruction of suffering, and the path that leads to the destructionof suffering have I explained. For this is useful."

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Wheel of Becoming