In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

3 A Brief Introduction to Buddhism In my experience, of all the major world religions, Christians tend to be the most positive, the most receptive toward Buddhism. I am sure there are a variety of reasons for this, but certainly one of the most important is that predominantly, the way in which Buddhism is understood and experienced in the West is as a philosophy—a way of life, rather than a competing religious tradition. Practices of mindfulness, meditation, simplicity, and nonviolence are easily and seamlessly incorporated into a Christian framework; and without a deity that demands worship, a single sacred text that demands fidelity, or a creed that requires adherence, it is no surprise that the phenomenon of “doublereligious belonging”—when one person holds dual religious identities, claiming to be an adherent of two different religions simultaneously—seems to occur most with Christianity and Buddhism (rather than, for example, Christianity and Islam). This is not the place to either critically examine or challenge any of this, although I will say that there certainly are some misconceptions behind this easy familiarity Christians presume with Buddhism. Instead, what I hope to do in this chapter is provide a basic introduction to Buddhism, correcting some of the most common misconceptions so that Christians are better able to understand, appreciate, and critically engage with both Buddhists themselves and the religion as a whole. Like all major world religious traditions, Buddhism is complex: rich, wide, and deep. Its doctrinal and institutional history spans two and a half millennia, and its tenets have been translated across multiple linguistic and cultural boundaries in its spread out of northeast India. Given this history, a comprehensive, detailed analysis is impossible in one short chapter, and I can do no more here than provide a general overview. 71 BUDDHISM’S ORIGINS Like Christianity, Buddhism has a historical founder, Siddhartha Gautama, whose origins can be dated with approximate accuracy. The word Buddha actually means “awakened one”; thus Gautama was not born with this title, but rather achieved it in the course of his lifetime. The Buddha also is sometimes referred to as Shakyamuni, which means “sage of the Shakya clan.” The life of Siddhartha Gautama was deeply shaped by the Indian context into which he was born.1 In his study on Buddhism, Donald Mitchell notes that “Gautama was born during a historical epoch when the Indian culture was open to his religious message of enlightenment, compassion, and peace.”2 The religious landscape of India at this time was fertile soil for a new religious teaching. In Hinduism, the recently composed Upanishads emphasized a move away from the ritual worship of different personal gods and presented a more contemplative path that focused on breaking the cycle of rebirth. One development within that movement saw this as being accomplished by the mystical union between the individual and an impersonal One, the spiritual reality called Brahman. These texts taught that through meditation and insight, one could realize the truth of this belief and attain liberation, moksha, from the endless cycles of suffering and death that characterize human existence in the world, known as samsara. This paradigm, in which the individual soul seeks release from the endless cycle of rebirths into a world characterized by change, decay, and illusion, was accepted not only by Hinduism but also by Buddhism and Jainism—both of which developed at this time in India. This move away from a focus on an established structure of ritual and rites, combined with the suspicion some people were feeling toward the priests, who were making a fine living from their participation in these rituals, led many people to leave the cities and reside in forests as “strivers,” or shramanas—those who were seeking liberation and contentment beyond the temporary pleasures of the world. This world of religious and philosophical restlessness is the world into which Siddhartha Gautama was born. WHO IS THE BUDDHA? Let me start this section by noting that the Buddha is not a “god” in the Christian sense of the term—at least not entirely. The understanding one most 1. Buddhism actually began in India, a somewhat ironic fact given that in subsequent centuries it died out there completely, for reasons still debated by scholars. Thus the forms of Buddhism practiced in India today actually were reintroduced from other parts of Asia, beginning in the nineteenth century. 2. Donald W. Mitchell, Buddhism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 9. 72 | Finding God among Our Neighbors [3.138.33.178...

Share