Lay Buddhism

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term lay Buddhism denotes Buddhist practice and teaching when it is not practiced or taught by monks or nuns . The way of life, practice and the position of lay and non-ordained practitioners in the Buddhist community ( Sangha ) vary greatly depending on the orientation of the individual schools .

Concept history

Historical background

A purely monastic orientation in life is often associated with Buddhist practice : Buddha Shakyamuni himself gave up the housekeeping life , withdrew into the woods and followed a secluded, contemplative life. He also ordained a large number of his students and they followed the celibate, world-renouncing lifestyle.

One of the Buddha's actions was to ensure that the four types of gatherings (the Buddha's disciples) came into existence before his death. All four are described as guarantors for the receipt and transmission of the teachings. They consist of lay followers, monks and nuns and are summarized under the term fourfold community .

After the Buddha's death, Buddhist teachings were mainly passed on through ordained people who were able to devote their entire lives to the study and practice of the teachings. Lay people, on the other hand, supported the ordained and received instructions from them. So Buddhism was mainly in monasteries handed down during lay an important role in the material support of the monasteries played.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Western people first came into contact with Buddhism through Christian missionaries who were themselves organized in a monastic manner . So the Buddhist teachings were initially conveyed with a Christian interpretation in Western countries such as England and Germany and the Buddhist community was seen from the perspective of its own form of organization.

Authors such as the sociologist Max Weber or the British Indologist Edward Conze came to the conclusion that Buddhism is an " elitist monastic religion ". They primarily referred to the Buddha's discourses for members of the order ( Vinaya ), which make up a large part of all discourses that are summarized in three baskets ( Tripitaka ). The second basket of discourses in the Pali Canon, the Suttapitaka , also contains over 360 discourses that are intended for the non-ordained disciples of the Buddha. This includes u. a. the " Book of the House Fathers " ( gahapativagga ). Great Indian monk scholars and tantrics, such as B. Nagarjuna wrote numerous treatises for lay people.

Definition

The terms “ monk / nun ” and “ layperson ” come from the Western Christian tradition and are therefore problematic in themselves for describing the Buddhist community, which includes everyone who follows Buddha's teachings. So in the current “ True. German dictionary "the layman defines as" someone who does not understand anything about a certain (subject) ". That is why the term “non-ordained” is preferred in some places. The word " layman " is still used frequently in Buddhist literature (Richard Gombrich, Edward Conze et al.), Since the term is not used as an antithesis to "expert", even in the Christian-religious context, but as an antithesis to " clergyman ".

Buddha himself used two terms for non-ordained persons: " gahapati " (house father) or " gahapatikā " (house mother) and " upāsaka / upāsikā", which literally means "sitting by", but is usually translated as "follower". The wandering ascetics (Pali: samana ), who lived in homelessness and had renounced material possessions, did not belong to the monastic community either, but to the lay students . These could even be wandering ascetics from other philosophical schools. The so-called lay students or followers were houseguests and other lay people who had taken refuge in Buddha and his teachings (Sanskrit: Dharma ).

Different structures due to different conditions

Basically, the historical Buddha Shakyamuni addressed all people. Due to their often very different social, cultural and individual conditions, there are different paths to the goal, namely enlightenment . Buddhism claims that this knowledge of the path and goal of practice and the experience of liberation and enlightenment can be imparted independently of cultural framework conditions or social positions. Today Buddhist practice paths from different epochs and regions stand side by side in great diversity. The emphases in meditations , rules of conduct and theoretical explanations, which differ depending on the school and tradition, also mean a different view of the non-ordained.

However, despite the differences in the way Buddhism is practiced, the basic content is the same regardless of whether one practices as a lay or ordained person. An important example of this is practicing the virtues of Paramitas , which also include the Five Silas .

Aspects of lay Buddhism in different schools and Asian countries of origin

Theravada

For the Theravada schools, the focus is on the earliest written teachings of the Buddha. The study of the texts and the passing on of teachings was carried out almost exclusively by ordained people. They were considered to be “the” community of practitioners (Sangha). The role of laypeople in everyday life was largely limited to the role of a “seated person” ( upāsaka ) who supported the monastic system. At certain times, such as For example, on the Uposatha holidays, it was customary for lay people to practice according to the requirements of the ordained.

In Thailand it is customary for young men to live as monks for one to three years, after which they resign again and only then start a family. Both ordination and the return to the laity are celebrated with a festival.

According to the Theravada doctrine, entry into nirvana is not possible for a layperson. However, charity in all areas of life (Sanskrit: dāna ) should create good conditions to achieve rebirth as a monk in the next life, which is considered to be a basic requirement to achieve enlightenment in the sense of an arhat .

Mahayana

According to the teachings of Mahayana , which also include Vajrayana , Zen and Chan , it is also possible for non-ordained (lay people) to attain enlightenment. This is closely related to the idea of ​​the bodhisattva ideal and that of the “spirit of enlightenment ” ( bodhicitta ). As a result, one's own need to achieve enlightenment for oneself is put aside in order to work for the best of all beings and thus to help them to step out of the cycle of existence of suffering ( samsara ) as well.

In the Vimalakirti - Sutra , an estimated Mahayana teaching text from a "housekeeper", that lay was given, it is said that one should " the happiness of seclusion not hold for the highest; do not cling to their own happiness, but rather enjoy the happiness of others ”.

A bodhisattva, according to Mahayana teachings, will ultimately choose the path in which he can be of most benefit to others, depending on whether he practices as an ordained or a lay person.

The Mahayana's stance that the highest goal of Buddhism - enlightenment - is not reserved for monks and nuns, contributed to the spread and acceptance of Buddhist teachings in many countries, for example in China and Japan.

Lay Buddhism in China

The development of Buddhism in China was influenced by the prevailing social ethic that one of the first human duties is to care for and maintain the family. As a result, laypeople already played an important role in the beginnings of Chinese Buddhism in the 3rd century. The number of monks and novices was accordingly rather small.

Another reason for a stronger orientation towards lay Buddhism was that the growth of the clergy was perceived by the rulers several times in the history of China as detrimental to the economy. They saw the risk of excessive labor losses and tax losses. In 845, during the Tang Dynasty , this resulted in nationwide monastery demolitions, book burnings, the forced return of ordained to laity, and even executions.

Lay Buddhism in Japan

In Japan, Buddhist lay groups developed increasingly in the Middle Ages , sometimes due to political backgrounds. The so-called hijiri ( 聖 ; lit. "saints"), lay people or former ordained monks, who wandered through the country and cities as wandering monks without recognition from the government , played an important role in this regard, for the first time in the 11th century . to spread their often eclectic teachings among the common people.

One of the most widespread schools in the Sino-Japanese area (China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore) with many lay followers is amidism . This is divided into several sub - schools , the largest of which is the Jōdo-Shinshū founded by Shinran Shōnin (* 1173; † 1263) (German: True School of the Pure Land ). It is often wrongly portrayed as a “pure lay movement”. In it, however, great emphasis is placed on the principle of " hisō hizoku ", "neither monk nor layman". Their temples are presided over by a priesthood that is not celibate. The leadership of the largest Jōdo Shinshū sects is passed on to biological children.

The first large, pure lay movement in Japan is the Sōka Gakkai, split off from the Nichiren Shōshū, with around 20 million members.

Both in amidism and in the new religions in Japan , which were shaped by Nichiren, the ancient Buddhist teachings play a subordinate role, which is why some religious scholars and Buddhologists sometimes speak of a "flattening" of Buddhism.

Lay Buddhism in Tibet

In the Tibetan Buddhist schools of the Nyingma , Sakya and Kagyüpa , both ordained and lay people have always been among the most important teachers. This also applies to the Gelugpa School , although it is strongly monastic oriented.

The Dalai Lama, as a high representative of the Gelugpa School, is of the opinion that full ordination is preferable to the laity, since he regards the freedom from family and property as an important factor of independence, which enables an intensification of one's own spiritual practice. The main purpose of sexuality for him is to father children. It is also more virtuous to follow the Vinaya rules , in which u. a. the rules of conduct for Buddhist monks and nuns are laid down and form the basis on which the religious community is built. Like most Buddhist teachers, however, he advises against making vows that cannot be guaranteed to be kept. Due to the preference for the monastic style of the Gelugpa, the Dalai Lama takes a critical look at some aspects and elements of practice in other Tibetan schools.

The earliest examples of a life devoted to the practice and attainment of enlightenment outside the community of monks and nuns were the Indian Mahasiddhas , who greatly influenced Buddhism in Tibet. Since the time of the Buddha, they have shown the realization from the most varied of living conditions. They included farmers and kings as well as free yogis on the fringes of society, who often preferred an unconventional lifestyle and, for example, spent years withdrawn in caves to meditate there.

Some examples of well-known “lay people” in Buddhism

  • Laie P'ang , also P'ang-yün Tao-hsüan, (approx. * 704, † 808) from Heng-yang in China was a wealthy businessman who one day made his house available as a temple, his other possessions in sank in a lake and from then on went on pilgrimage with his daughter and visited many Ch'an masters. He was compared to Vimalakirti while he was still alive .
  • Saraha , wholivedin India in the late 8th century. After he had left monastery life and his position at the Buddhist University of Nalanda , he took a partner and said: " Only now am I a really pure bhikkhu ", which he questioned common values.
  • Marpa (* 1012; † 1097), a translator (Lotsawa) and Buddhist master, who lived as a housekeeper in his external way of life and who looked after the farm, business and family in addition to his practice - or even as part of the practice.
  • Drukpa Künleg , tantric master of the 16th century from Tibet, who with his " blasphemous chants " showed people their mistakes in a provocative but also very humorous way and is said to have led them to deeper insight, regardless of title or title To take status of person.

Lay Buddhism in the West

At the beginning of the 20th century, with the desire to establish Buddhist communities in the West, the question arose in what form this was possible. In 1908, the first attempts to found Buddhist monasteries in Germany failed. On the one hand, this was due to the lack of financial support from lay supporters, as their number was limited at the time. On the other hand, it was necessary to weigh up to what extent it would make sense to adopt forms of life that were directly related to the conditions in the Asian countries of origin of Buddhism and were thus tied to certain places and times. Alois Payer comments on this: “In addition, you couldn't do anything wrong than importing Asian forms which, for a European, tend to obscure the spirit and inner essence of Buddhism.” In addition, there was concern that certain rituals and traditions would be lost To create an impression of the exotic.

In the USA there were sometimes other development paths. For example, The Zen Mission Society was founded in 1969 and the Shasta Abbey Monastery in 1970 by Jiu Kennett Roshi in California, in which initially a communal life of ordained and married people as teachers and practitioners was attempted, whose areas of life are otherwise traditionally separate. When this led to friction due to the different lifestyles, it was decided that only ordained people would settle in the monasteries, while seminars and " days of contemplation " were given for lay people .

With the growing number of Buddhists in the industrialized nations, the foundation of monasteries became possible in principle. But one of the characteristics of Buddhism in the West is an increasing dissolution of the traditional distinction between lay and monasticism and a diminished importance of monastic Buddhism.

Overall, lay Buddhism is the preferred practice in the countries of Europe and the USA, as it hardly requires any changes to the lifestyle common in the West in order to be able to apply the Buddha's teachings. In addition, the materially favorable living conditions make it possible to spend time studying and practicing Buddhist teachings without having to withdraw completely from the world. In addition, the decision to become a Buddhist is a conscious rather than a traditional fact. “Because here in the West there are actually no passive Buddhist“ laypeople ”, as those who work and family are often called. Anyone who consciously decides in favor of Buddhism would like to study the teaching and implement it in practice, " as the then chairwoman of the German Buddhist Union summed up in 2005 . This applies not only to the schools of Mahayana, in which the role of the layman was a priori a more active one, but also to the schools of Theravada.

Developments in the West meet with criticism where the opinion is expressed that Buddhism is only rooted in a society when a religious community has been established and a decline in values ​​is seen in pure lay Buddhism.

Peter Riedl , founder and publisher of the magazine “ Cause & Effect ” and former President of the Austrian Buddhist Religious Society , said: “It will always be the practicing people who determine which path they take and which methods they adopt” .

Lama Ole Nydahl and Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche, on the other hand, teachers of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, see a strong lay Buddhism as an opportunity to keep Buddhism alive in the West as well as an opportunity to separate from outdated, rigid structures to mediate in a manner appropriate to the West, without rejecting the traditional way of ordination.

In general, lay Buddhism in the West aims to develop mindfulness, clarity and independence in today's world. In terms of content, it rests on three pillars: the study of the Buddha's teachings, meditation and the implementation of the Dharma in everyday life.

See also

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ GWLeibniz: The Latest from China , Novissima Sinica. Edited by Heinz-Günther Nesselrath and Hermann Reinbothe, Cologne, 1979, p. 9
  2. ↑ Arthur Schopenhauer : "About the Will in Nature", Zurich, 1977, p. 205
  3. ↑ Fritz Schäfer: The Buddha did not only speak for monks and nuns. The whole teaching for the first time after his speeches for non-ascetics , Werner Kristkeitz Verlag, Heidelberg-Leimen (2002), ISBN 3-921508-80-0
  4. ↑ Vimalakirti-Nirdesha, Jakob Fischer, Yokota Takezo, Kawase Kozyun: Vimalakirti-Sutra , Angkor-Verlag, new edition. (March 2005), ISBN 3-936018-31-6
  5. ^ Damien Keown: Lexikon des Buddhismus , Patmos-Verlag in coordination with Oxford University Press , Düsseldorf (2005), ISBN 3-491-72488-0
  6. ↑ Dennis Hirota, “Plain Words on the Pure Land Way,” in: George J. Tanabe, Jr. (Ed.): Religions of Japan in Practice , Princeton Readings in Religions , Princeton University Press, Princeton 1999. ISBN 0-691 -05788-5 . P. 268.
  7. ↑ u. a.:Frank Reiner Scheck; Manfred Görgens: Buddhismus , DuMont-Verlag, Cologne, 4th edition (2004), pp. 141f., ISBN 3-8321-3601-0
  8. ↑ Among other things: Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer: Der Buddhismus ; Heinz Bechert, Richard Gombrich (Hrsg.): Der Buddhismus. History and present
  9. ↑ Dalai Lama: The little book about right life , HERDER spectrum, Freiburg im Breisgau 1998, ISBN 978-3-451-04949-1
  10. ↑ XIV. Dalai Lama: The Tibetan Buddhism and the West , Bastei-Lübbe, Cologne Sept. 2005, ISBN 3-404-66401-9
  11. ↑ Thomas Laird, XIV. Dalai Lama: Tibet. The history of my country , Scherz-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, Oct 2006, ISBN 3-502-15000-1
  12. ^ Keith Dowman: The Masters of Mahamudra , Diederichs- Verlag, Munich (1991), ISBN 3-424-01076-6
  13. ↑ P'ang Yun: Recorded Sayings of Layman P'ang , Weather Hill (1972), ISBN 0-8348-0057-8
  14. ↑ Keith Dowman: THE HOLY FOOL; The dissolute life and the blasphemous chants of the tantric master Drukpa Künleg , p. 9, OW Barth-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main (1980), ISBN 3-502-61159-9
  15. ↑ Tsültrim Allione: Tibet's Wise Women , Theseus 2001, ISBN 3-89620-162-X
  16. ↑ Keith Dowman: THE HOLY FOOL; The dissolute life and the blasphemous chants of the tantric master Drukpa Künleg , OW Barth-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main (1980), ISBN 3-502-61159-9
  17. ↑ Lecture by Alois Payer (lecturer for Indology and Comparative Religious Studies at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen) "Buddhism in the West: Examples from Germany and the USA"
  18. ^ "For all the diversity of Buddhist practices in the West, general trends in the recent transformations of Buddhist practice ... can be identified. These include an erosion of the distinction between professional and lay Buddhists; a decentralization of doctrinal authority; a diminished role for Buddhist monastics; an increasing spirit of egalitarianism; greater leadership roles for women; greater social activism; and, in many cases, an increasing emphasis on the psychological, as opposed to the purely religious, nature of practice. “Wallace, Alan (2002). "The Spectrum of Buddhist Practice in the West" in Charles Prebish & Martin Baumann (eds.), Westward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia . Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22625-9 , p. 35 ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 110 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.alanwallace.org
  19. ^ Sangharakshita (founder of the Western Buddhist Order and the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order ): Buddhism in the West; The Integration of Buddhism in Western Society , DO publications, ISBN 3-929447-01-0
  20. ↑ Press release of the DBU 2005 ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dharma.de
  21. ↑ Friends of Theravada / Berlin: “The Theravada Buddhism in the West. Inventory and perspectives. ” ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ftbb.de
  22. ↑ View of a bhikkhu (buddh monk) on the need for abstinence
  23. ↑ U&W article, Univ.Prof. Dr. Peter Riedel: "Is there such a thing as a Western Buddhism?" ( Memento of the original from December 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.p-riedl.at
  24. ↑ Buddhism Today , No. 24 (1997) A Natural and Important Path, Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche on Lay Buddhism

Further sources and references