Mahayana Buddhism

Status: MODERATED

Grade Level: High School

Keywords: Mahayana, Basic Buddhism

Objectives:

• The students will be able to recall two of the ideas/concepts

• The students will be able to recall one of the things that Nagarjuna is known for

• The students will be able to recall one of the things that Vasubandhu is known for

Materials:

Attached below.

• Presentation: "Mahayana Buddhism"

• Worksheet

Preparation:

1. Make sure to have printed sufficient copies of the Worksheet.

2. Prepare lined paper and pens for copying the sutras

3. Bring sufficient copies of a sutra to chant

4. Have sufficient cleaning materials

Method:

1. Opening Gassho

2. Presentation

Have students fill out the worksheet while watching the presentation

2. 1. Origins of Mahayana

      1. Wasn’t a sect or a separate organization. Often Mahayanans were in same monastery as the Theravadans.

      2. Started from belief in the Boddhisatva nature of the historical Buddha.

      3. Thought to have begun around Ghandara

   2. Who was Nagarjuna?

      1. Thought to have lived in India between 150 - 250 CE

      2. Head of Nalanda University

      3. Healer 

      4. Central concepts

         1. Co-dependent origination

            1. Things arise from multiple factors that together cause things to become what they are.

            2. Ex: Co-dependent genes

         2. Madhyamaka (Middle Way)

            1. All phenomena are “empty” because they arise from co-dependent origination.

            2. Nothing has independent reality on its own.

         3. Sunyata (Emptiness)

            1. Every phenomena is empty on its own, because it cannot exist without everything else.

         4. Did not like the exclusivity of Abhidharma Pitakas

            1. To him it was just one way to looking/classifying the world in relationship to everything else. 

            2. Felt that people were too focused on the Abhidharma words and classifications.

   3. Who was Vasubandhu?

      1. Lived in India between 300-500 CE

      2. Mahayana monk

      3. Originator of Yogacara along with his brother

         1. Meditative techniques

         2. Breathing techniques

      4. Wrote several commentaries on all Mahayanan thoughts

      5. Much of our concepts of the Pure Land are from his commentaries

3. Practices: Students will do the practices of the Mahayanan monk. (These are identical to the Theravadan monks of the age)

   1. Sitting Meditation

   2. Chanting (They should chant to themselves)

   3. Copying scripts (Copy an English translation of one of the sutras; pre-determine number of verses to hand-copy)

   4. Listening to Dharma Talks (Pre select a short Dharma Talk video to listen to)

   5. Cleaning (working meditation)

4. Evaluations

   1. Questions/Discussion

5. Summary

6. Closing Gassho

Evaluation:

• Ask questions that correspond to the opening objectives during the Question/Discussion. Ask for something different from each responder (unless you run out of topics).

Note:

• Gauge how much the students should copy and chant carefully.  If one has to guess, then guess on the shorter side depending on the length of your class.

Author:

Mas Nishimura nish221.at.gmail.com, San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin, 2024