Buddhism

Shakyamuni The Buddha

Shakyamuni The Buddha was originally named Prince Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha means Accomplisher of Aims. After his enlightenment, he was known as Shakyamuni, Sage of the Shakya clan or The Buddha, which means simply, The Enlightened One. Siddhartha was born in 564 BC, at the foothills of present-day Lumbini, southern Nepal. He was the only son of Shuddhodana, the king of the Shakyas, and his mother Queen Mayadevi.

Queen Mayadevi, wife of King Suddhodhana, had a dream foretelling the birth of a remarkable being. In the dream a white elephant with nine tusks descended from the heaven, carrying a white lotus in its trunk, entered her body through her right armpit and rested in her womb. After a few months, during a journey through the forest of Lumbini on full moon day of May, Queen Mayadevi stopped under a Sal tree, and when she raised her arm to rest it on a branch above, the baby Prince Siddhartha emerged from her right side. He immediately took seven steps in four directions and at each place his foot touched the ground, a lotus flower appeared.

A seer told the King that his son was destined to two possible paths. He could become a great ruler, or he could refuse the throne, leave the world, and become a great spiritual teacher.

Within a week of his birth, Siddhartha's mother died. His aunt, sister to Queen Maya assumed the role of his mother. Shuddhodana his father was both delighted and fearful of the seer's predictions. The King wanted his son to grow up and assume his rule over the Shakyas. Fearful of losing his son, the King isolated Prince Siddhartha in the Royal Palace where he spent the first part of his life in luxury. The Palace shielded him from the world of suffering. The King showered Siddhartha with everything desirable, so that he would have no reason to renounce the kingdom to seek enlightenment. Siddhartha displayed talents as an athlete, artist and scholar. At age 16, he married his cousin, the Beautiful Yashodhara.

As he grew older, the prince wondered what lay beyond the palace walls. At age 29, he began exploring the outside world in the company of his chariot driver. To his shock, he saw an old man and came to know that old age is inevitable. On other occasions, he encountered a sick man and a dead body. He realized life's inevitable sufferings—old age, sickness, and death. On a fourth trip beyond the palace, he met a sadhu, an ascetic wandering mendicant, who impressed Siddhartha with his peaceful demeanor.

Upon returning to the palace Siddhartha learned of his son's birth. Despite the affluence of palace life, Siddhartha realized that he had been kept in ignorance, shielded from the realities of life. Dissatisfaction overwhelmed him causing him to abandon his wife, his child, and the comforts of the palace to seek a teacher who would enable him to transcend the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Prince Siddhartha embarked on his journey to seek the truth, to find the ultimate cause of suffering and the way to end it. He cast aside his beautiful garments, cut his long hair, and began the life of a wandering ascetic.

Siddhartha studied under three different renowned gurus, mastering their teachings. His first guru introduced him to the stage of sphere of no-thing. His second teacher taught him to attain the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, a higher mystical state than the previous one. However, Siddhartha remained dissatisfied. He was in quest of ultimate truth, nirvana. Hence, Siddhartha practiced severe austerities and self-mortification, but he could not transcend suffering. He turned to extreme asceticism, hoping that through it he could reach his goal. For 6 years he ate a minimal diet, and he turned into a mere skeleton. Realizing that he would soon die if he continued his life of harsh asceticism, he accepted a meal of rice and honey, which a young cowherdress offered. Siddhartha's acceptance of food disillusioned some of his followers who left him in disgust. However, Siddhartha realized the necessity to avoid the extremes and the importance of the middle path. He had practiced asceticism as radically as anyone could and then renounced self-mortification for its inadequacy. After beginning the middle path, he applied himself to meditation with renewed vigor.

Vowing that he would not move until attaining enlightenment, he sat and meditated under the Bodhi Tree. The demon Lord Mara set out to foil Siddhartha's efforts to reach enlightenment, and he sent hordes of demons to attack Siddhartha as he meditated. The Buddha vanquished them. Seeing these demon armies as an illusion, Siddhartha turned their deluge of arrows into a shower of flowers. Mara summoned his three daughters and ordered them to seduce Siddhartha. Again the Siddhartha was unmoved. Finally Mara accepted defeat and withdrew.

Siddhartha's realization of the ultimate Truth unfolded in stages like a lotus unfurling its petals. In the first stage, he entered a detached calmness. In the second stage, he transcended thoughts. In the third stage, he reached a state of blissful joy. In the fourth stage, even bliss faded away leaving his mind in its clear-light state to directly perceive reality. After these realizations, he spontaneously remembered all of his past existences. He recalled tens of thousands of lives in detail as if living them again in their entirety. After forty-nine days of intensive meditation, as the morning star rose over the eastern horizon, the full moon day in the Hindu calendar of Visakha, Siddhartha attained supreme enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree. He was age 35. Because of limitless compassion, Shakyamuni Buddha shared his wisdom so that others could also discover the Middle Path to end all suffering. He propagated dharma and advocated following the Middle path between worldly attachments and extremes of self-denial.

Seven weeks after his enlightenment, the Buddha gave his first discourse on The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. He spent the rest of his life teaching and guiding thousands of followers providing simple instructions for the path to freedom from suffering and development of compassion for all sentient beings. The Buddha turned 3 dharma wheels. The teachings of the Theravada, the teachings of Mahayana where he expounded the doctrine of emptiness and Vajrayana, and in the last turning of the dharma he taught tantra to 80 mahasiddhas.

After eating poison mushrooms, The Buddha entered parinirvana at the age of 81, on a full moon day of the month of Visakha, at Kushinagara. His followers positioned a couch between two sal trees in a meadow where The Buddha lay on his right side, with one leg resting on the other, mindful and self-possessed. As he lay on his death bed, he gave his final instructions. When his disciples asked how they could continue to follow his teaching after his death, he replied: "Do your best." His disciples cremated his body and scattered his remains at eight different places. Stupas were built at the eight places in honor of the Enlightened One.

After The Buddha's death his followers perpetuated his teachings. Perhaps the great propagation of Buddhism occurred under the Indian Emperor Asoka. Emperor Asoka was the grandson of Chandragupta, the founder of the Mauryan Dynasty. Asoka came to the throne circa 268 BC and died approximately 233 BC. After eight years of rule, he waged a fierce war against the kingdom of Kalinga, Orissa of today. Eventually, Asoka became horrified at the carnage that he caused, and he gave up violence and turned to Buddhism. In his efforts to propagate Buddhism, Asoka built shrines and monasteries and inscribed Buddhist teachings on rocks and pillars throughout India. He sent missionaries to countries as remote as Greece and Egypt; his own son became a monk and carried Buddhism to Sri Lanka. Despite Asoka's vigorous exertions of faith, he remained tolerant of other religions. The empire enjoyed remarkable prosperity during his reign; however, some Indian scholars contend that his policy of peace led to the downfall of the Mauryan Empire after Asoka's death.

Buddhist Theology

Buddhism developed in India in the fifth century BC, initially as a reaction against Hinduism. Buddhism contains two key Hindu concepts: Samsara and Karma. Like Hinduism, Buddhist Samsara holds that life is a series of rebirths and re-deaths in a continuous cycle. A person's actions during a life produce Karma, which determines the place and form of the next life and sometimes even succeeding lives. In Buddhism, the Wheel of Life symbolizes Samsara.

Samsara is powered by an engine prevents anyone from leaving—there is no getting off the merry-go-round while the engine turns. That engine is Karma, the cause and effect of actions. Physical, verbal and mental acts leave a residue; that residue is Karma, the accumulated effect of action that colors all further actions. Ignorance blinds us to reality. Ignorance leads us to believe that there exists a self in this ever-changing swirl. The ego-self imagines that it must struggle against anything that would threaten the ego-self. Thus belief in the ego-self causes us to expand our turf in the material world and defend ourselves against all comers. Unfortunately these thoughts and actions accumulate Karma, which powers the Wheel of Samsara. We suffer and die only to be reborn into a cycle of suffering.
Nirvana is a Sanskrit word meaning extinguish as we might extinguish a candle, or going out as a candle might do on its own. If we reach Nirvana do we cease to exist in any form? The Buddhist response — As long as a person thinks in terms of oneself, the person cannot leave Samsara and reach Nirvana. So, the question is pointless. But Buddhists do want to leave Samsara to attain Nirvana. So the question is, how? In the years since the Buddha's death three schools of thought have emerged to answer this question—the three vehicles.

In all forms of Buddhism, the realm of Samsara divides into three main levels: heaven, earth and hell. Both heaven and hell have several levels. Inhabitants of these realms occupy six different states of existence symbolized as six types of creatures: gods, humans, ogre-like asuras, animals, hungry ghosts, and demons. Beings reach the highest three realms because of their good Karma. Beings enter the lowest realms because of their bad Karma. Gods exist in the higher heavens, asuras in the lower heavens, and humans on earth. Animals dwell on earth. Hungry ghosts have such long arms that they cannot put food in their mouths. Their mouths are so tiny, that if they could place food in their mouths their large stomachs would remain empty. Hungry ghosts live between earth and hell. The demons reside in hell.

In Buddhism all humans are equal; therefore, Samsara rotates souls through the different states of being rather than through different levels of the caste system. Because Buddhism rejected the Hindu caste system, it pulled many converts from Hinduism. Eventually Hinduism underwent reform in response to Buddhism.


The human problem and its solution: Shakyamuni, the Buddha, discussed the human problem and its solution together in statement called The Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths provide the Buddhist theological foundation, which differentiates Buddhism from other religions.

The first two Truths describe the problem:

Truth #1: All existence is suffering.

Truth #2: Suffering comes from desire.

Life is suffering because our desires are rarely fulfilled. In this context, suffering and desire must be considered together. By itself, suffering could refer to all kinds of misfortune, such as suffering inflicted upon us by circumstances or by other people—sickness, age, accidents, and assaults. Although these misfortunes lead to misery, they do not lead to the insidious suffering caused by unmet desire. Although illness causes discomfort, the discomfort only swells to suffering when we desire to be well. While losing a spouse causes heartache, heartache expands to suffering if we desire an exemption from personal loss. Once the problem is set up in this manner, the solution becomes apparent.

Truth #3: If people stop desiring, they will stop suffering.

The third Noble Truth is a logical deduction from the first two. Given the link between suffering and desire, we stop suffering if we cease desiring. But how can we accomplish this?

Truth #4: We can cease desire by following the Eightfold Path.

The Eight-Fold Path provides the roadmap to Nirvana. The Path's eight steps fall into three groups. First, we must believe and intend the right things. Second, we must carry out those intentions in society. Third, we must turn our minds to higher things and meditate to directly experience ultimate reality to perceive the ultimate truth.

Nirvana, the Goal of the Eight-fold Path: Nirvana means liberation, and it refers to liberation from Samsara. In many ways, the Buddhist goal of Nirvana resembles the Hindu goal of Moksha. It is the way out of Samsara, the cycle of rebirth and re-death. We can accomplish it through meditation, which requires removing ourselves from the regular activities of life. However, while Hindu's attain Moksha by realizing the unity of the cosmic essence, Buddhists reach Nirvana by extinguishing desire and eliminating suffering. Only a human can attain Nirvana. No other state of being, including that of god, can do so. While this is understandable for the three evil states of being, this seems surprising for the gods, but the gods live in such a state of bliss that they cannot conceive of suffering. Thus gods cannot comprehend the Four Noble Truths. Gods must die and be reborn in human form to attain liberation.

Impermanence and no-soul: The foundational idea of suffering has two components.
The Buddhist law of impermanence identifies the essence of samsara. It asserts that nothing remains the same—all things change. Thus existence is impermanent, and because impermanence leads to suffering, existence is suffering. Anitya is Buddhist jargon for impermanence.

Suffering’s second component, Anatman, focuses on the nature of our lives. Anatman literally means no soul. Buddhism asserts that no living being has a permanent soul. Instead, animals and humans fuse together five elements at birth. The five elements fall apart at death. They are not reborn together again. The five elements are the body, the emotions, the thoughts, the intentions, and the consciousness. We have no permanent soul that gets reborn from life to life. Thus, although Buddhism believes in reincarnation, it does not hold that any thing undergoes reincarnation. This leads to a conundrum that Buddhist monks have contemplated for millennia: What carries Karma if nothing continues from one life to another? There is no clear answer, and the Buddha refused to supply one. He believed that his job was to tell people how to make the journey to Nirvana, not to describe the details of the sights along the way. The Buddha should have known his previous lives, since all arahats reach a stage of meditation where they can know their previous lives. Using conventional reasoning, this implies that some part of a person continues from life to life, but Buddhism clearly denies the existence of a soul.

As arahats approach Nirvana they attain an understanding of non-dualism. There is no difference between subject and object, between knower and that which is known. Buddhists explain non-dualism using a candle metaphor. One way to light a candle is to touch its wick to the flame of a burning candle. Once the two candles are burning, what is the relationship between the flame of the first and the flame of the second? They are not the same flame, yet one flame caused the other. It is the same with life. The Karma of one life causes the next life, yet they are not the same life.

Enlightenment: Ignorance is the greatest cause of suffering, ignorance of the true nature of reality. The opposite of ignorance is wisdom. And true and complete prajna comes when we reach enlightenment. The Buddhists call enlightenment bodhi. The title Buddha derives from the word bodhi. The first individual to reach enlightment is called The Buddha. The root meaning of bodhi is to awaken; thus, the Buddha is the Awakened One. The rest of humanity is asleep. Enlightenment comes abruptly essentially one step before nirvana. In enlightenment, we realize the true nature of the cosmos, the link between Samsara and Nirvana. At this point we can view our past lives.

The Major Schools of Buddhism:

The Buddha never wrote down his theology; instead, he taught his disciples by speaking to them, and they memorized his teachings. After the Buddha's passing, five-hundred Arahats gathered for the First Council to keep all the teachings intact. The monks recited the Buddha's teachings and formally established the foundation of Buddhist doctrine. However as Buddhism grew and spread, the various communities interpreted the foundation doctrines differently. Around 410 BC, about 110 years after the Buddha's death, the Second Council of Vaishali convened to resolve differences among the diverse Buddhist communities. The differences were discussed and argued over, but in the end the monks could not resolve all issues, and as a result Buddhism underwent a split. Numerous early sects arose, but only Theravada remains today.

Theravada Buddhism: Of Buddhism's earliest sects only Theravada, School of the Elders, remains in practice. It is a dynamic, changing school, but holds most closely to what we know of the early teachings of Buddhism. At the Second Council of Vaishalia, the Theravadins opposed change and pursued the original teachings agreed to at the first Council following the Buddha's passing. Theravadins assert that all phenomena exist. They teach that Buddhas are men, rejecting any notion of Buddhas being transcendental.

Theravada emphasizes attaining enlightenment on our own with the Dharma as the guide. Most Theravadin scriptures come from the Pali Canon, the main collection of early Buddhist teachings. The basic teachings of the Buddha's life are the most important teachings in Theravada. The Buddha's life provides the model for leaving home and engaging in a strict but balanced meditative life, which Theravadin monks and nuns follow. Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, and doctrines such as impermanence, Karma, and rebirth implied in those teachings form the basis for Theravadin philosophy and practice. The Three Treasures provide a refuge for Theravada Buddhists. The Three Treasures include the Buddha, the Sangha or monastic orders, and the Dharma or religious teachings. Theravadin practice is primarily for monks and nuns, though lay people support the monasteries and temples, learn from the teachings, and highly respect the monastic life. The Vinaya contains training rules for monks and nuns. These rules provide a self-disciplined life, which helps the disciples to remain mindful of their actions and their inner desires. Introspection and awareness lead to enlightenment.

Theravadins seek to become an arahat, a person who has completed spiritual training and ended all attachments, hatred, greed, and anger. Arahats have perfectly calm minds that no longer suffer because they recognize that there is no self to be suffering. An arahat has compassion for all beings and acts spontaneously to teach and assist others. Some arahats are particularly good at teaching, while others specialize in ascetic practices or psychic states reached during meditation. They each benefit humans in ways that fit the situation at that moment. By becoming arahats, they gain release from Samsara. Released from Samsara, they pass to a state of being beyond the realm of Samsara, a state of being that has no form, no place, and no time—everywhere and nowhere, no form and all forms, everywhen and neverwas.

Mahayana Cosmic View—Same Problem, Different Solution: Mahayana, the Great Vehicle, refers to the ability of all beings, not just humans or monks, to become enlightened. Mahayana arose from several groups of teachers who focused on new sutras attributed to the Buddha: The Lotus Sutra and Perfection of Wisdom. The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra claimed to be a substitute for the body and word of the Buddha; thus, setting Mahayana up to focus on other deities. Mahayana arose partly as a reaction against the institution of Theravada, which installed monks and nuns as privileged people. Mahayana challenged Theravada with its more inclusive path. As Mahayana developed, it created a doctrinal system and rules of its own. Mahayana asserts that all sentient beings have Buddha nature, an innate ability to become a Buddha, to be enlightened. Since all things are truly without self and empty, Buddhas, people, and animals all have the same nature. This basic nature is called Buddha nature. We usually do not recognize our Buddha nature due to the layers of attachments and delusions that obstruct our clear insight. Three schools of Buddhist philosophy reside under the umbrella of Mahayana: Madyamika or Doctrine of the Middle Position, Yogacara or Yoga Practice, and Pure Land.

Madyamika Buddhism accepts most aspects of orthodox Buddhism, but it differs in believing that the enlightened are supramundane and transcendental. The enlightened have no defiling elements, and their lives and powers are infinite. While in Theravada Buddhism the enlightened are called Arahats, in Madyamika enlightened people are Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas are freed from the cycle of Samsara by following the teachings of the Buddha, by the cultivation of good conduct, engaging in meditation, and finding transcendental wisdom. In Theravada, Arahats pass directly into Nirvana. While in Madyamika, Bodhisattvas postpone liberation so that they can help guide other people to enlightenment. The Mahayanists consider the Theravada Arahat-concept selfish because it limits enlightenment to oneself.

Madyamika asserts that the mind's original nature is pure, but it can be contaminated by passions and defilements. Meditation provides the means of discovering the conscious mind. Consciousness is the ultimate reality. Madyamika introduced the concept of Sunyata or Emptiness or Void. All finite phenomena have relative existence, but no finite thing absolutely exists. All of existence can be reduced to a single, underlying essence, a stream of existence with an everlasting becoming. Only Void has Infinite Reality. The everyday world exists, but it is composed of finite phenomena, which lack Infinite Reality. The Void is Nirvana. The phenomenal world arises from the Infinite, so Nirvana is already present—we just need to realize it. Madyamika deemphasizes the cycle of rebirths; since, Nirvana is present. The portrayal of the Void is an important part of Chinese and Japanese art.

Madyamika Buddhism ruthlessly negates all dichotomies—good versus bad, beautiful versus ugly—to distinguish relative truth from Ultimate Truth. Relative truth derives from phenomena experienced by the senses, while the Ultimate Truth is realized through transcendent intuitive insight.

Madyamika Buddhism teaches that not only the self is non-existent, but also all things in the world are non-existent. All elements are derived from the mind. Madyamika negates phenomena through a kind of anti-logic to arrive at the ineffable absolute or Void that is the only Reality. Ultimate Truth can only be known through meditation. Buddhist scriptures occupy the realm of relative truth, and they are subject to change and constant improvement. Scriptures resemble a finger pointing at the moon. When we recognize the moon and its brightness, the finger is of no more use. As the finger has no brightness, likewise the scriptures are not sacred. The scripture is religious currency representing spiritual wealth. What scripture represents is of paramount importance, but by itself scripture is only as valuable as paper and ink.

Yogācāra provides a comprehensive, framework of the Bodhisattva path. Meditation serves as the laboratory where we study how the mind operates. Yogācāra focused on the question of consciousness from a variety of approaches, including meditation, psychological analysis, epistemology—how we know what we know, how perception operates, what validates knowledge, scholastic categorization, and Karmic analysis. Yogācāra doctrine is summarized in the term vijñapti-mātra, "nothing-but-cognition". Consciousness is not the ultimate reality or the solution; instead, consciousness is the root problem. What we think using our consciousness is really self-consciousness. The human problem emerges from ordinary mental operations, and it can only be solved by bringing those operations to an end. We are like the mythological Prince suffers amnesia and wanders his kingdom in rags, not knowing that he has everything worth having. Our consciousness leads us to seek Enlightenment, to reach Nirvana, to ascend into Heaven. Consciousness leads us to believe that Heaven is elusive, when in reality, we cannot escape it.

Mahayana Buddhism agrees with Theravada Buddhism that the human problem is suffering; it holds the Four Noble Truths as fundamental. But in Theravada Buddhism the individual strives alone on the Eight-fold Path, while Mahayana adds helpers who provide shortcuts and assistance to those who suffer. Bodhisattvas are people who have reached enlightenment, but rather than enter nirvana once they can, they help others along the same path. This simple idea has a number of ramifications for the goal of humanity.

• All humans possess the Buddha nature, and Mahayana Buddhism hopes that all humans will realize their true Buddha nature. Theravada Buddhists seek to realize their Buddha nature to gain release from samsara, but for Mahayana Buddhists, the Buddha nature is the end in itself.

• Mahayana Buddhists contend that the Buddha was a Bodhisattva. Mahayana holds that The Buddha did not just attain nirvana. When he could have extinguished his existence in Samsara, he returned to this world and taught other people how to attain the Buddha nature. Buddha's compassion for humanity motivated him to remain in this life to teach for forty years after his enlightenment. Because The Buddha used his wisdom to help others along the path toward enlightenment, he was a Bodhisattva.

• Since humans should imitate the Buddha, we should all strive to become bodhisattvas and help others. The Theravadan goal of release from samsara is too selfish, without benefit for humanity in general. By emphasizing the bodhisattva, Mahayana shows that it cares about humanity as a whole.

• Once Mahayanan Buddhists attain the Buddha nature, they can create new paths to higher awareness that can be pursued by lay people as well as monks.

The Pure Land Mahayanan denomination focuses on its laity, almost to the exclusion of interest in priests or monks. Amitabha Buddha, who was initially a monk, then a Bodhisattva, and finally attained the Buddha nature, promised that the faithful could arrive in a Pure Land. He vowed that anyone who would call on his name could enter this land. There they could remain, or after reaching the Pure Land they could continue striving for enlightenment, which would be much closer. Pure Land Buddhism provides the faithful with an easier alternative to the near-impossible goal of reaching enlightenment. Theravada Buddhism provides little opportunity for the laity to pass beyond the suffering of samsara and reach nirvana. The best they can hope for is to be born in the next life as a monk who can attain nirvana. In Pure Land Buddhism, escape from samsara and suffering is available to the laity without extensive years of monkish discipline and meditation. Individuals who enter the Pure Land may stay there forever, or they may return to human form in an advantageous birth that will enable them to reach nirvana within a lifetime.

The Mahayana Cosmos and the Nature of Buddha: Bodhisattvas can exist in two different planes, the earthly plane and the Buddha-fields. When people take the path to enlightenment, they begin in this world, the world of samsara. But once they attain enlightenment, they pass beyond Samsara's bonds. While they have not yet entered nirvana as they remain in the world to help others, they occupy the Buddha-fields between samsara and nirvana. The Buddha-fields are described in geographical terms—in the west. Poorly educated lay people often envision them literally in the west, while the monks and knowledgeable faithful understand the symbolic character of these descriptions.

The Buddha-fields contain an uncountable number of bodhisattvas and Buddhas. For just as people rise to become bodhisattvas, bodhisattvas continue striving until they reach the final stage, which is Buddha-hood, the ultimate understanding of our own Buddha nature. There are many bodhisattvas and Buddhas in the Buddha-fields that people can call upon. Here are three:

• Avalokiteshvara is the Bodhisattva of Compassion and as such symbolizes that aspect of Buddha-hood in comparison to the other key aspect of wisdom. Avalokiteshvara protects people from natural disasters and blesses children. In Pure Land Buddhism, he sits at Amitabha Buddha's right hand as his helper. In China, Kuan Yin the Bodhisattva of Compassion appears in female form. She protects children and women in childbirth. Chinese Buddhism celebrates three annual festivals commemorating aspects of Kuan Yin's life. In Tibet, Avalokiteshvara is known as Chenrezig, who is the founding father of the Tibetan people. The Dalai Lama is his reincarnate.

• The Bodhisattva of Wisdom is known as Manjushri. He is usually depicted with the Sword of Wisdom and the Prajna-Paramita Sutra. Certain great Tibetan scholars have been considered his incarnation.

• Amitabha Buddha, who established the Pure Land, began as a dedicated monk, became a bodhisattva, and finally a Buddha.

Mahayana introduces one more complication to this scheme, the nature of The Buddha himself. Mahayana envisions The Buddha as having three bodies, one in each of three realms of being: the realm of samsara, the realm of the Buddha-fields, and the ultimate reality itself. The Buddha's Dharma body corresponds to Ultimate Reality. That is, Buddha IS Ultimate Reality. Everything that truly exists is Buddha. There is no dualism. In the final analysis, there is nothing other than Buddha; all is unity, all is one thing. The Buddha takes the Bliss Body, in the Buddha-field where those who have realized their true Buddha-nature represent the Buddha. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas take the Transformation Body when they enter the earthly realm.

Vajrayana Buddhism arose in India in the fifth and sixth centuries. Vajrayana leads to rapid enlightenment, in this body and this lifetime. Vajrayana arose from a group of texts called Tantras that described meditation and ritual techniques for advanced Mahayana practitioners. Tantric texts are said to have been taught by the Buddha to a select group of disciples, though they did not appear publicly until the seventh century. The defining features of Vajrayana are its esoteric practices. Esoteric teachings are often secret, taught by a master to a prepared initiate. Some esoteric practices use human emotion and energy in all its variety to go beyond attachments. They work in ways that seem magical or mysterious to outsiders, and they might create supernormal abilities in the practitioner. Tantric practices include: repetition of mantras and creation of and meditation on mandalas.

Vajrayana largely takes Mahayana's understanding of the cosmos, and its definition of the human problem. It differs primarily in its depiction of Cosmic Unity as the union of a duality. Vajrayana emphasizes the nature of the Buddha's Dharma Body, that the Buddha is Ultimate Reality. Samsara and Nirvana are one and the same. In Ultimate Reality Samsara and Nirvana are simultaneously diametric opposites and the same thing. Drawing upon the tantric writings, Vajrayana often represents this notion of opposites as male and female. The union of these opposites is thus depicted in sexual intercourse. Human sexuality is both a metaphor and a representation for the cosmos. To represent this union, called yab-yum, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have both male and female aspects; similar to the way Hinduism depicts Parvati as Shiva's female aspect. For example, the male Bodhisattva Chenrezig has a female form called Tara who embodies the female aspects of compassion. Furthermore, both male and female Bodhisattvas have two forms, peaceful and wrathful. Chenrezig's wrathful form, Mahakala, protects his worshippers and mediators from harm by demons.

Vajrayana’s emphasis of the Ultimate Unity changes its solution to the human problem. While Vajrayana keeps the notion of bodhisattvas and compassion, it adds to it in important ways. Vajrayana Buddhists call their path the Diamond Vehicle to enlightenment. Like a diamond tool the path is hard and sharp, and it can lead to enlightenment in a single lifetime. Vajrayana monks work closely with a guru, a teacher, who guides them at every step of the path until they become adept. Each novice must connect to a bodhisattva to establish a life-long link. The bodhisattva will help guide toward enlightenment. To progress quickly toward enlightenment, the entire body needs exercise. Thus meditation exercises the aspirant’s hearing with mantras, vision with mandalas, movement through hand gestures called mudras and body positions. The adept may also practice sex, in imitation of cosmic unity, to enhance their wisdom and power.

The Tibetans augment Vajrayana Buddhism with a rich mythology. Images of demons enrich their art. The gap between lifetimes is a terrifying melee of demons; hence, Tibetans focus much spiritual energy preparing for the demonic fracas that they enter upon death. In the Tibetan tradition, Siddhartha Gautama is the one and only Buddha. The Tibetan tradition says that, innumerable eons ago, the Buddha-to-be happened to be born as a bull in one of the hells and was pulling a cart. He felt compassion for a weaker bull beside him and informed Yama that he would like to pull the load alone. Yama burst into a rage and killed him with his trident whereupon his soul, propelled by this act of compassion was born immediately into the Thirty-three heaven. Here he accumulated merit during three incalculable eons. Having taken birth in the Tushita heaven, the future prince Siddhartha dwelt among the gods and taught the dharma to them. Then, in the form of a radiant white elephant, the Bodhisattva entered the womb of his mother Queen Mayadevi. He transformed the womb into a celestial palace and spent ten full months there to exemplify the certain procession of the ten bodhisattva bhumis. Queen Maya dreamt that her body extended into the sky and an elephant with six tusks entered her womb. She awoke the next morning knowing she was pregnant. At birth, Siddhartha took seven steps and proclaimed "I am the leader of the world, the guide of the world. This is my final birth." Lotus sprang forth from under his feet. Thereafter, two streams flowed freely from the heavens, one warm and one cold, cleansing the mother and child.

Zen: Zen focuses on one aspect of the Mahayana cosmos, namely, the idea that everyone has the Buddha-nature, which is part of the Ultimate Reality of Buddha. Zen rejects all other aspects of Mahayana ― the Bodhisattvas, the other Buddhas, the sacred texts — and teaches its followers to concentrate and meditate to reach the true understanding of their Buddha-nature. Although Zen takes some views from Buddhism, most Zen practitioners deny that Zen is a form of Buddhism, and most Buddhists agree.