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Buddhism and its significance for modern society. The position of Buddhism in the modern world

Buddhism and its significance for modern society. The position of Buddhism in the modern world

30.09.2019

Conclusion

BUDDHISM IN THE MODERN WORLD

Every cult, every creed and every religion is a socio-cultural project. And most of them are implemented - if they are implemented - on a purely local scale, both geographically and socially. Only three such projects managed to overcome the local limits and turn into world, global religions.

Of these three projects, the Judeo-Christian project has the widest coverage. The Islamic project is inferior to the first in scale - however, given current trends, one can assume that this situation will change relatively soon (according to a recent statement by the Vatican, the number of Muslims in the world exceeded the number of Catholics). As for the Buddhist project, despite the strong interest in Buddhism in the Euro-Atlantic area, it still remains largely a local project; on the other hand, Buddhism is professed primarily in countries with the largest population, therefore, despite the relative geographical limitations of Buddhism, this creed is rightfully considered world-wide.

At home, in India, Buddhism actually ceased to exist, supplanted by Hinduism and Islam. Outside of India, several "reserves" of Buddhism have been preserved, preserving, to one degree or another, the original purity of the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni - Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma); late Buddhism was "mothballed" in Tibet. In other Asian countries, primarily in China and Japan, Indian Buddhism underwent a transformation, in some respects quite significant, which allowed researchers to consider national forms of Buddhism, primarily Chinese Chan Buddhism and Japanese Zen, as independent areas along with Theravada, Mahayana. and Vajrayana.

The status of a world religion implies the exit of a particular creed beyond the boundaries of the original territory: this is how Christianity and Islam acquired their current position, and that is why Hinduism cannot be considered a world religion, although the number of its adherents is 13 percent of the world's population (all Buddhists, according to various estimates, 6 to 8 percent). Buddhism went beyond the borders of Asia and spread throughout the world thanks to the penetration of Europeans into Asia and due to the fact that the West was seriously interested in Asian cultures and the Asian mentality; this interest led to the fact that the Western man began to comprehend the "eastern wisdom" and tried to fit it into the global context. As a result, from a predominantly Asian (even East Asian) creed, Buddhism turned into a religion of universal character, and this transformation gave rise to the American researcher M. Baumann to propose the term "global Buddhism"; thus, the current “global”, world Buddhism is separated from canonical Buddhism (from the emergence to the reign of King Ashoka, III century BC), historical (from Ashoka to the end of the 19th century) and reborn (from the end of the 19th century). Of course, this periodization looks too general and therefore controversial, but one cannot but admit that in relation to the modern, “transnational” stage of the development of Buddhism, it seems to be quite reasonable. The "globalization" of Buddhism is a natural consequence of globalization as such, affecting all spheres of life and activity of the current human community; unlike Christianity - remember the history of the Middle Ages and the New Age - Buddhism is not planted, but accepted on other soils, like a plant, the seeds of which, being carried by the wind far beyond the boundaries of their usual area, sprouted and sprouted in a foreign land.

Of course, the “globalization” of Buddhism does not mean that modern Buddhism is abandoning traditional values: what is happening is only an “adjustment” of these values, doctrines and practices to a broad, “non-Eastern” (and Eastern, by the way, too) perception. An example of such “tuning” is the technique of meditation. Domestic researcher of Buddhism A. Agadzhanyan writes: “Meditation has always been a central part of Buddhist esotericism, but exclusively monastic and “virtuoso”. In the 20th century, everything changes: meditation becomes the property of the laity, not only in the West, but also in Asia: mass lay meditation becomes a reality of urban Asian Buddhism from the 1950s and 1960s. (An exception is China, where, on the contrary, meditation has remained the lot of the conservative "clerical" groups of Ch'an Buddhism). This secularization and democratization of virtuoso monastic practice is very reminiscent of the classical Protestant trend. Naturally, the forms of meditation are thus simplified. Further, meditation becomes out-of-context to the extent that it not only mixes with other practices, but can also be completely detached from its own Buddhist roots (for example, in non-religious meditation centers or within New Age syncretism). The purpose of meditation is also changing to a large extent: from an esoteric form of deep mystical experience, it becomes a psychotherapeutic tool, more focused on healing and accessible to the mass of the laity.

Like other spiritual and religious doctrines, Buddhism exists in two "hypostases" - there is a more strict, more formalized monastic Buddhism and there is folk, popular Buddhism, often absorbing local traditions and elements of other religions. In addition, in recent years, especially in the West, there has been a tendency to divide the Buddhist communities into "native" and "newly converted" Buddhists. This demarcation gradually became so obvious that some researchers began to talk about the existence of "two Buddhisms" - traditional, characteristic of ethnic communities, and "dynamic", characteristic of neophytes. The first of these two Buddhisms can be called a secular variant of monastic Buddhism, while the second is much less formal and often seeks to combine Buddhist concepts with the doctrines and methods of other religious systems: especially often various yogic practices are “applied” to Buddhism, and Buddhist ideas themselves are interpreted in theosophical spirit, following such Western "gurus" as R. Steiner, A. Besant and others.

Another phenomenon that is practically unknown to classical Buddhism is also characteristic of modern "global" Buddhism - this is the emergence of the institution of missionary work precisely as a social phenomenon. Even Buddha Shakyamuni called for spreading the Dharma, but missionary work in the Western understanding of this phenomenon did not exist in Buddhism. The appearance of Buddhist missionaries is an obvious result of the interaction between East and West; moreover, this missionary work, primarily, of course, in the West, has acquired such a scope that sociologists have proposed the term "evangelical Buddhism."

It was within the framework of "evangelical Buddhism" that such a phenomenon as network Buddhism arose: transnational spiritual networks scattered around the world. According to A. Agadzhanyan, “the growth of such forms was facilitated by the fact that in Buddhism, as well as in Protestantism (unlike Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism), there is no pronounced managerial or even sacral-symbolic center. Global "networks" are usually formed around charismatic teachers, usually practicing in the West, and sometimes of Western origin, however, identifying themselves with a certain tradition or school: most often these are different sub-traditions of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, less often the traditions of the "pure land and Theravada.

The most striking example of network Buddhism is the Society for Illumination Through Meditation (USA), created after World War II on the basis of the Theravada tradition around the Burmese teachers U Ba Khin and Mahasi; today this society has more than 50 permanent centers around the world. Another example is the English organization Friends of Western Buddhism. You can also recall the numerous groups of Zen zealots and followers of Tibetan Buddhism (in particular, the network organized by the Danish adept of the Karma-Kagyu school Lama Ole Nydahl) and the Japanese organization Soka Gakkai International, and in Russia - various "Dharma centers", as well as the Manjushri Society, which promotes Tibetan Buddhism of the Gelug-pa school.

As for Buddhism in its "original" territory, in Southeast Asia, in the last decades of the 20th century, it largely abandoned traditional apolitical and asocialism. In this region (and further around the world) "engaged Buddhism" is spreading - Buddhism, interested in the life of an "illusory" society, committed to charity and allowing active participation in political activities.

So, in Sri Lanka in the 1980s, they tried to introduce a “Buddhist economic model” (in the spirit of the natural “Buddhist economy” of E. Schumacher). In the same Sri Lanka and in other Theravada countries, the Buddhist sangha is actively involved in political activities and even from time to time resorts to radical methods of influencing society (suffice it to mention the recent monastic uprisings in Myanmar). In Japan, the Buddhist political party Komeito is popular and has a steady influence. The most illustrative example of "engaged Buddhism" is the activity of the XIV Dalai Lama. Forced to leave Tibet after the Chinese aggression, this man, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, by the end of the 20th century acquired the symbolic status of the “all-Buddhist father”, a kind of Buddhist pope. He is a public figure, the personification of freedom, non-violence and Eastern "spirituality"; among other things, the surge in the popularity of Tibetan Buddhism in the West is largely due to the activities of this Dalai Lama.

As A. Agadzhanyan writes, “Buddhism in the global era is, as it were, re-constructed and interpreted based on a specific context and specific interests. Traditional, archaic Buddhism does not meet the requirements of globality, and therefore a purely reformist attitude towards a “return to the true teaching”, “clearing the core” is included. For example, Buddhism is being "cleared" of traditional syncretism, of "historical layers", of non-Buddhist beliefs and practices. This trend led to the formation of a kind of intellectual, rational, and even “scientific” Buddhism, based on such, somewhat exaggerated and taken out of context, features of the postulated “true Buddhism”, as a reliance on experience, critical thinking, knowledge of the internal connections of the world, the absence of “ monotheistic god. Although an institutionally similar rational Buddhism in its purest form has never been a prominent phenomenon, this image has had a huge impact on the perception of Buddhism as a whole and on the flexibility with which its individual elements acquired a global distribution. It was such simple, rational blocks that were included in the dialogue with other ideas and practices. Purified from "archaic", historically spontaneous syncretism, the so-called "pure Buddhism" became part of a new, intentional syncretism.

However, at the end of the 20th century, there was - again, primarily in the West - an interest in the so-called "Buddhism of the flesh." This term refers to the totality of Buddhist psychopractices, mainly Vajrayana, Tantric, postulating the unity of the body and soul, as well as all kinds of recipes and rules of "oriental medicine". The growing popularity of such Buddhism is causing concern among representatives of other faiths: for example, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) once called this Buddhism a dangerous form of autoerotic spirituality.

In general, the position of Buddhism in the modern world is stable and stable, especially in comparison with the position of Christianity. Probably the reason for this is that, as M. Malherbe wrote, "Buddhism, and this is its specificity, keeps viable all forms of spirituality, which it gave rise to over the long history of its development." Buddhism is extremely tolerant - history, for example, knows no Buddhist religious wars - and is in perfect harmony with the Western concept of "universal human values." Moreover, Buddhism willingly accepts other religions and cults or coexists with them. The Dalai Lama XIV in one of his interviews, when asked if he sees any possibility of integrating Christianity and Buddhism in the West, answered as follows:

“It depends on what you mean by integration. If you mean the possibility of integrating Buddhism and Christianity within society, their coexistence, then my answer will be in the affirmative. However, if you see integration as the creation of some kind of complex religion that is essentially neither pure Buddhism nor pure Christianity, then I consider this form of integration impossible.

Of course, it is realistic that in a country where the dominant religion is Christianity, someone decides to follow the Buddhist path. I think it is also very likely that a person who is generally a Christian, who accepts the idea of the existence of God and believes in him, decides at some stage to include in his practice some of the ideas and techniques of Buddhism. The doctrine of love, compassion and kindness is present in both Christianity and Buddhism. In particular, many techniques aimed at developing compassion, kindness, and the like can be found in the Bodhisattva Vehicle. These techniques can be practiced by both Buddhists and Christians. It is perfectly acceptable for a person, while remaining an adherent of Christianity, to decide to undergo training in the techniques of meditation, concentration and one-pointed concentration of the mind. While remaining a Christian, a person can practice some of the provisions of Buddhism. This is another acceptable and very viable kind of integration.”

Perhaps that is why, despite its very respectable age, Buddhism remains relevant and in demand to this day.

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Since its inception, Buddhism has gone through three main stages: it began as a monastic community that preached escapism (escapism), then turned into a kind of religion of civilization that united the various cultures and traditions of many Asian countries, and finally became a cultural religion, i. e. a religion that forms a culture that has entered the cultural traditions of many countries and peoples in different ways. At the present stage in Buddhism, one can distinguish both the features of a sectarian religion (for example, in countries where Buddhists are forced to hide their religion, as was the case in the USSR), and the features of the religion of civilization (new international associations of Buddhists from different countries, for example, the World Brotherhood of Buddhists), and , of course, the features of a cultural religion (new Buddhist societies in the West).

Perhaps, none of the Eastern religions evoked such complex and contradictory feelings among Europeans as Buddhism. And this is quite understandable - Buddhism, as it were, challenged all the basic values of the Christian European civilization. It lacked the idea of a creator god and the almighty of the universe, he abandoned the concept of the soul, and there was no religious organization in him, like the Christian church. And most importantly, instead of heavenly bliss and salvation, he offered believers nirvana, taken for complete non-existence, nothing. It is not surprising that a person of the West, brought up in Christian traditions, such a religion seemed paradoxical, strange. He saw in it a deviation from the very concept of religion, of which, naturally, Christianity was considered a model.

For some Western thinkers, the idea of Buddhism as a religion opposite to Christianity, but just as widespread and revered in the world, has become an important tool for criticizing Western culture, the Western system of values, and Christianity itself.

These thinkers primarily include Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche and their followers. It was thanks to them, as well as the founders of new synthetic religious movements, which in many ways opposed themselves to Christianity (for example, Helena Blavatsky and her associate Colonel Olcott, the founders of the Theosophical Society), at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. Buddhism began to spread in the West and in Russia.

By the end of the 20th century, the West had already experienced many waves of enthusiasm for Buddhism in its various forms, and all of them left a noticeable mark on Western culture.

If at the beginning of the XX century. Europeans read the texts of the Pali canon in the translations of the most prominent Buddhist scholars, then after the Second World War, thanks to the translations of E. Conze, the European world got acquainted with the Mahayana sutras. Around the same time, the famous Japanese Buddhist Suzuki introduced Zen to the West, a craze for which has not faded to this day.

Buddhism has become widespread in most European countries: Buddhist organizations, centers and small groups exist in almost all countries of Western Europe, as well as in individual countries of Eastern Europe. Almost all Western European countries have branches of the international Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International. The oldest in Europe are Buddhist organizations in Germany (since 1903), Great Britain (since 1907), France (since 1929). In Hamburg, in 1955, the German Buddhist Union was formed, i.e. a center uniting Buddhist organizations in Germany. The Friends of Buddhism Society was founded in France. The Buddhist Society of Great Britain was also considered the largest and most influential organization in Europe. There are also the Buddhist Mission in Great Britain (since 1926), the London Buddhist Vihara, the Temple of Buddhaladin, the Tibetan Center and other societies (about forty in total). Many members of Buddhist societies in Europe were well-known Buddhist scholars and preachers of Buddhism.

Tibetan Buddhism is growing in popularity these days. The high authority of the current Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India due to the persecution of the Chinese authorities, contributed a lot to the popularity of the teachings of the Gelukpa school. All this allows us to say that Buddhism, which influenced the movement of beatniks and hippies, the work of American writers such as Jerome Salinger, Jack Kerouac and others, has become an integral part of modern Western culture.

In Russia, the influence of Buddhism was practically not felt for a long time, although peoples professing Buddhism in the Mongolian version (Buryats, Kalmyks, Tuvans) live on its territory. Now, in the wake of a general religious revival, there is a revival of Buddhist activity. A Buddhist society and a Buddhist university have been created, old Buddhist temples and monasteries (datsans) are being restored and new ones are being opened, and a large amount of Buddhist literature is being published. In both Russian capitals and in a number of other cities there are centers of several Buddhist traditions at once.

The most influential Buddhist organization is the worldwide brotherhood of Buddhists, founded in 1950. The Buddhist literature is extensive and includes writings in Pali, Sanskrit, hybrid Sanskrit, Sinhalese, Burmese, Khmer, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan.

Development of Buddhism since 1990

In Buryatia, Kalmykia, Tuva, St. Petersburg, the surviving Buddhist temples are being restored and new ones are being opened, educational institutions are being created at monasteries, and Tibetan teachers are being invited.

In Russia, Buddhism is also gaining popularity among Russians and other peoples.

At present, many Buddhist schools are represented in Russia: Theravada, several Mahayana schools, including Japanese Zen, Korean Son, and practically all schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Buddhism in the Russian Federation is proclaimed one of the four traditional religions for Russia, along with Orthodoxy, Sunni Islam and Judaism.

May 18 - May 19, 2009 in Moscow for the first time in Russia the forum "Days of Traditional Russian Buddhism" was held. Representatives of Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva took part in this event. Within the framework of the forum, a dialogue took place between various schools of Buddhism, practicing Buddhists and representatives of the Russian Buddhist school. The forum was held at the International Center-Museum named after N.K. Roerich

Currently, there are many Buddhist schools and temples, here are some of them:

Buddhavihara (full name: Wat Buddhavihara) is a house in the village of Gorelovo (St. Petersburg). Privately owned by Thai citizen Phra Chatri Hemapandha since October 15, 2006, he declared it a Buddhist temple.

Etymology

Wat is the Indochinese word for monastery. Buddha Vihara can be translated as "Buddha's Abode"

Gusinoozersky datsan (also Tamchimnsky, Khulunnomrsky, formerly Hambimnsky; the Tibetan Mongolized name is “Dashim Gandamn Darzhalimng”) - a Buddhist monastery on the territory of the Republic of Buryatia; from 1809 to the 1930s - the residence of Pandito-hambo lamas, the center of traditional Buddhism in Russia. Monument of history and architecture.

Datsan is a Buddhist monastery-university among the Russian Buryats. Also in Tibet, individual “faculties” of Buddhist monasteries are called datsans.

Before the revolution, there were 35 datsans in Russia (32 - in the Trans-Baikal region, 2 - in the Irkutsk province, 1 - in St. Petersburg), currently there are about 30.

Education system in datsans

The largest datsans had three faculties - general (philosophical - tsanid), medical and tantric (gyu; jud), in small datsans there was only a general faculty; only monks who had received general philosophical training were admitted to the tantric faculty, and only the most capable of those admitted to the study of tantras were admitted to groups for the study of the Kalachakra Tantra.

The tsanid system involved the sequential study of five disciplines, which took about fifteen years (as a rule, parents sent their children to monasteries at a very early age):

1. Logic (pramana) - according to the writings of Dharmakirti.

2. Paramita (the path of Mahayana) - according to the text of Maitreya-Asanga "Abhisamayalankara").

3. Madhyamaka (according to the treatise of Chandrakirti "Madhyamakavatara").

4. Vinaya (primarily the Vinaya of the Mulasarvastivadins).

5. Abhidharma (according to Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosha and Asanga's Abhidharmasamucchaya).

Buddhist Temple in St. Petersburg (modern official name: St. Petersburg Buddhist Temple "Datsan Gunzechoinei") is the first Buddhist temple in Europe.

Story

The representative of the Dalai Lama in Russia, Agvan Dorzhiev, received permission to build a temple in the capital in 1900. The money for the construction was donated by the 13th Dalai Lama, Agvan Dorzhiev, and also collected by the Buddhists of the Russian Empire. The temple was built by the architect G.V. Baranovsky in accordance with the canons of Tibetan architecture. For the scientific management of the construction, a committee of oriental scientists was created, which included V.V. Radlov, S.F. Oldenburg, E.E. Ukhtomsky, V.L. Kotvich, A.D. Rudnev, F.I. Shcherbatskaya, N.K. Roerich, V.P. Schneider. Construction continued from 1909 to 1915, but the first services in the temple began in 1913. The consecration of the temple took place on August 10, 1915. The abbot was Lama Agvan Lobsan Dorzhiev.

In 1919 the temple was plundered. In 1924, it began to function again until 1935, when the temple was closed and the Buddhist monks were repressed.

During the Great Patriotic War, a military radio station was set up in the church. She remained in the building until the 1960s, used as a "jammer". November 25, 1968 the building was declared an architectural monument of local importance. On July 9, 1990, by decision of the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council, the temple was handed over to Buddhists.

The Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni (Kalm. Burkhn Bagshin altn s?m) is the largest Buddhist temple in the Republic of Kalmykia and Europe [source not specified 96 days]. Consecrated on December 27, 2005. The temple houses the tallest Buddha statue in Europe.

Ivolgimnsky datsamn "Khambymn Sumem" (also "Gandamn Dashim Choynhorlimn"; Buryat. T?ges Bayasgalantai?lzy nomoy Kh?rdyn Khid - "monastery Wheel of teaching, bringing happiness and full of joy") - a large Buddhist monastic complex, the center of Buddhism in Russia, the spiritual capital of the Buddhist traditional sangha of Russia, a monument of history and architecture. Located in the Republic of Buryatia in the village of Upper Ivolga.

There is also the Russian Association of Buddhists of the Karma Kagyu school.

The centralized religious organization "Russian Association of Buddhists of the Karma Kagyu School" (formerly known as the International, hereinafter referred to as the Association) was established in 1993 by Buddhist centers and groups in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the post-Soviet space to preserve, develop and spread Buddhism of the Karma Kagyu school and a diverse assistance to our Centers in their work, what is called in clerical newspeak the assistance to associations that are members of the Association in exercising the right to freedom of religion.

It is governed democratically: by the highest body - the Conference of Representatives of the Centers, and in the intervals between conferences - by the Council of these representatives, of which Lama Ole Nydahl is a permanent member. There is a President for representation in various institutions and signing various papers. The headquarters of the Association (and legal address) is located in St. Petersburg.

The Association carries out coordinating-information-organization-communication- and other unifying "-communication" functions - in everything that concerns not one, but many or all centers - teachers' travel schedules and the organization of large courses, information support, publication of literature, assistance in construction projects.

With the release in October 1997 of a new religious law prohibiting the full-fledged activity of religious associations that have existed for less than 15 years in a given place or do not belong to any centralized organization, the Association has another important official role. The Association, as a centralized all-Russian religious organization, recognized as traditional at the government level, establishes new centers and confirms that existing ones belong to the Buddhist tradition, which is the basis for their state registration.

The magazine "Buddhism of Russia" is dedicated to the history and current situation of Buddhism in Russia, publication and explanation of Buddhist texts, support for the non-violent resistance of the Tibetan people to the Chinese occupation regime. In addition to the archive of the most interesting materials of the magazine published since 1992, the site contains the most relevant current news of Buddhism.

Magazine "Buddhism.ru"

Published by the Religious Organization Russian Association of Buddhists of the Karma Kagyu school since 1994, published twice a year.

In each issue you will find materials on the theory and practice of Buddhism, the work of Karma Kagyu centers, the life of modern Russian and Western Buddhists.

The section "Buddhology" regularly publishes works by famous historians and orientalists. The "Art" section provides an opportunity to plunge into the world of Buddhist painting and sculpture, and "Rain of Wisdom" - these are masterpieces of Indian and Tibetan spiritual poetry.

Materials on the topic "Buddhism and Science" show the relationship between the ancient teachings about the nature of the mind and the latest discoveries in science.

Not only magazines are published, but books, for example, books published by the Diamond Way publishing house:

Lama Ole Nydahl “What everything is. Buddha's Teachings in Modern Life"

Lama Ole Nydahl “The depth of the Slavic mind. Buddhism in questions and answers. Volume I"

V.P. Androsov, Buddhist Classics of Ancient India. The word of the Buddha and the treatises of Nagarjuna"

Kalu Rinpoche "We all have Buddha nature"

- "Vajrayana Buddhism in Russia: History and Modernity", a collection of articles

Audiobook “WHAT EVERYTHING IS. LAMA OLE NIDAL"

Art projects.

In early 2011, it is planned to publish a Russian-English version of the illustrated book "Space and Bliss", published in 2004 by the Buddhist publishing house in Wuppertal (Germany) in German and English ("Raum & Freude, Space & Bliss")

Photo exhibition "Buddhism in the modern world"

The opening of the exhibition took place within the framework of the III International Festival "Buddhism.RU", which took place in October 2008 in St. Petersburg. The exposition is presented in three sections, such as: "Tradition of Living Transfer of Experience from Teacher to Student", "Symbolism of Buddha Aspects" and "Buddhist Stupas - Monuments of Peace and Happiness on Earth". All works are made by professional photographers who are also practicing Buddhists.

Here are some building projects:

Stupa of Enlightenment in Elista

In 1995, during Shamar Rinpoche's visit to Russia, it was decided to build a Stupa of Enlightenment in the capital of Kalmykia - a monument symbolizing the enlightened mind of the Buddha.

In the autumn of 1998, construction began under the guidance of qualified lamas.

The ceremonial opening of the Stupa in Elista took place on July 28, 1999. The opening and consecration ceremonies were conducted by Tsechu Rinpoche himself. The opening was attended by about 2,500 local and 500 visiting Buddhists.

City Center in Vladivostok

The epic construction of the center building began in 1995 with the purchase of a site located on the highest hill in the city. This place offers a fantastic view of the Golden Horn Bay, the central harbor of Vladivostok and the Sea of Japan.

Altai Center

In Altai, not far from the city of Gorno-altaysk, a center for meditation courses is being built. The idea of creating a place for practices in the Altai Mountains arose simultaneously with the appearance in Novosibirsk of a Kagyu meditation group - students of Lama Ole Nydahl.

The Nizhny Novgorod Buddhist Center of the Diamond Way is building a two-story building with a residential semi-basement and a flat exploitable roof, the project was carried out by a Nizhny Novgorod architect.

And of course City Center in Krasnoyarsk.

During the Mahamudra course in 2002, Lama Ole blessed the purchase of a land plot of about 15 acres. This place offers a breathtaking view of the western part of the city, the Sayans and the Yenisei. The new building is a three-story building, oriented exactly to the cardinal points.

The purpose of these centers is to provide an opportunity for all those interested to get to know modern Diamond Way Buddhism, and the opportunity to start practicing with them.

Conclusion

In conclusion of this essay, where we tried to present the main ideas of Buddhism and outline its influence on culture, I would like to quote the words

A. Govinda, from which one can get a holistic view of the view of Buddhism on the world: “The world is only a process. There is no stagnation anywhere, no limitation. Nothing exists by itself or separately in itself. Nothing is permanent; and instead of a world filled with dead things, there is a living cosmos, which finds its likeness in the consciousness of every individual and its focus in every atom, just as every moment, considered from the point of view of infinite divisibility, contains the infinity of time. Thus, we discover the presence within ourselves of eternity and fullness, which are inaccessible to us as long as we look for them in the phantasmagoria of the external world or a separate small ego.

One who enters the Buddha Path must give up any thought of "I" and "mine." But this rejection does not impoverish us, but, on the contrary, enriches us, for we cast off and break down the walls of our imprisonment, gaining in return a higher freedom, which should not be understood simply as dissolution in the whole or as a sense of identity with others, but as the perception of countless and endless relationships, in accordance with which each individual, in fact, is connected with everything that is, thus accommodating in his consciousness all living beings, taking part in their innermost experience, sharing their suffering and joy.

It must always be remembered that Buddhism is not a rigid teaching. Not the past, but the present. The teachings of the Buddha can be applied here and now, in any situation. We are not limited in our capabilities, there is something beyond the human.

Bibliography

1. Diamond Way Buddhism, Access Mode: http://www.buddhism.ru/

2. "Buddhism in Russia" Terentiev A., "History of Buddhism" Berezin A., Access mode: http://ariom.ru/

3. Introduction to Buddhism Torchinov E.A., Access mode: http://buddhism.org.ru/

4. Magazine "Buddhism of Russia" No. 40, 2006

5. Russian Buddhism - how is this possible? Article Vladimir Poresh

6. Russian Archipelago, 2002

7. Encyclopedia Bigtor, Buddhist temples and monasteries, Access mode: http://www.bigtor.ru/

Like Christianity and Islam, Buddhism is one of the most widespread monotheistic religions in terms of the number of followers. But unlike them, Buddhism has other cultural and historical roots and place of development. As a religious and philosophical teaching, Buddhism ( buddhad- harma() originated in northern India in the 6th century. BC. The founder of the doctrine was the prince of one of the Indian principalities in the Ganges valley, Siddhartha Gautama, who later received the name Buddha Shakyamuni. The doctrine of Buddhism is based on the so-called four noble truths, which are followed by all its schools. These principles were formulated by the Buddha himself and can be summarized as follows: there is suffering; there is a cause of suffering - desire; there is a cessation of suffering - nirvana; there is a path that leads to the end of suffering.

Estimates of the number of followers of Buddhism around the world vary considerably depending on the method of counting, since in some countries of East Asia Buddhism is closely intertwined with local traditional beliefs ( Shinto in Japan) and philosophical teachings ( Taoism, Confucianism - in China and Korea). According to minimal estimates, the number of Buddhists in the world is 500-600 million people, most of whom are ethnic Chinese and Japanese. Countries with a predominantly Buddhist population also include Laos (over 95%), Cambodia (95%), Thailand (94%), Mongolia (over 90%), Tibet (90%), Myanmar (89%), Japan (73%), Sri Lanka ( 70), Bhutan (70). Buddhists make up a significant part of the population of Singapore (43), Vietnam, China, South Korea (23), Malaysia (20), Nepal (11%) (Fig. 11.6). In India - the birthplace of Buddhism - at present, the share of followers of the teachings of the Buddha does not exceed 1% (about 12 million people). In Russia, Buddhism is practiced by the majority of ethnic groups. Buryat, Kalmyks and Tuvans.

Rice. 11.6.The proportion of Buddhists in the total population of the countries of the world, 2015,%

Buddhism became the state religion in India in the middle of the 3rd century. BC. during the reign of King Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty. Since that time, Buddhism began to spread outside of India, soon becoming the dominant religion in Bactria 1, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Tokharistan. In the 1st century AD Buddhism entered China in the 4th century. - to Korea, and in the VI century. - to Japan, in the 7th century. - to Tibet. In Southeast Asia, Buddhism became the dominant religion in the 8th-9th centuries. In the XIV-XVI centuries. on the islands of the Sunda Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula (the modern territory of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei), Buddhism was supplanted by Islam. In India, after the fall of the Gupta dynasty in the 6th c. AD, Buddhism also began to be persecuted and by the end of the XII century. was completely supplanted by the resurgent Hinduism and Islam that came from the west. In the XIV century. Buddhism became the dominant religion in Mongolia.

Traditionally, Buddhism is divided into Hinayana (“small vehicle”) and Mahayana (“great vehicle”), the Vajrayana (“diamond vehicle”) is also often separated from the latter.

Hinayana is a doctrine whose followers strive for personal liberation. It is called the "little vehicle" because it can only lead to the liberation of the aspirant himself. According to modern research, initially Hinayana contained more than 20 different directions (schools), of which the largest number of followers to date has theravada. According to the tenets of the Hinayana (Theravada), only Buddhist monks can achieve nirvana. Lay people, on the other hand, must improve their karma by performing good deeds in order to become a monk in one of their next lives.

Formed as a holistic dogma in the middle of the III century. BC. In the reign of Emperor Ashoka, thanks to active missionary activity, the Hinayana spread widely outside of India. Currently, Hinayana is the main school of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and the countries of Southeast Asia (Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos). Theravada is also traditionally practiced by some ethnic minorities of Southwestern China (Yunnan and Guizhou provinces), Vietnam, the Chinese population of Malaysia and Singapore. In the modern world, there are about 200 million followers of Theravada.

Mahayana how the direction of Buddhism took shape in the 1st century. BC. and, unlike the Hinayana, became more widespread in Central and East Asia. The goal of the Mahayana schools, unlike the Hinayana schools, is not the attainment of nirvana, but full and final enlightenment. The basic principles of the Mahayana doctrine are based on the possibility of universal liberation from suffering for all beings. Today, Mahayana Buddhism is most widespread in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

Vajrayana is a tantric branch of Buddhism, formed within the Mahayana in the 5th century. AD The main means of achieving enlightenment in the Vajrayana are the use of mantras and logical meditation. For professing Mahayana, the veneration of spiritual mentors (gurus) is of great importance. Currently, the Vajrayana is widespread in Nepal, Tibet, and partly in Japan. From Tibet, the Vajrayana penetrated to Mongolia, and from there to Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva.

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Introduction

During the communist regime in the Soviet Union, religion as a state institution did not exist. And the definition of religion was as follows: “... Any religion is nothing more than a fantastic reflection in the minds of people of those external forces that dominate them in their daily life, a reflection in which earthly forces take the form of unearthly ones ...” (9; p. 328).

In recent years, the role of religion has been growing more and more, but, unfortunately, religion in our time is a means of profit for some and a tribute to fashion for others.

In order to clarify the role of world religions in the modern world, it is necessary to first single out the following structural elements, which are the main and binding for Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.

1. The original element of all three world religions is faith.

2. Teaching, the so-called set of principles, ideas and concepts.

3. Religious activities, the core of which is a cult - these are rituals, worship, prayers, sermons, religious holidays.

4. Religious associations - organized systems based on religious teachings. By them are meant churches, madrasas, sangha.

1. Give a description of each of the world religions;

2. Identify differences and relationships between Christianity, Islam and Buddhism;

3. Find out what role world religions play in the modern world.

Buddhism

“... Buddhism is the only true positivist religion in all history - even in its theory of knowledge ...” (4; p. 34).

Buddhism is a religious and philosophical doctrine that arose in ancient India in the 6th-5th centuries. BC. and turned in the course of its development into one of the three, along with Christianity and Islam, world religions.

The founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, son of King Shuddhodana, the ruler of the Shakyas, who left a luxurious life and became a wanderer on the paths of a world full of suffering. He sought liberation in asceticism, but convinced that the mortification of the flesh leads to the death of the mind, he abandoned it. Then he turned to meditation and after, according to various versions, four or seven weeks spent without food and drink, he achieved enlightenment and became a Buddha. After that, he preached his doctrine for forty-five years and died at the age of 80 (10, p. 68).

Tripitaka, Tipitaka (Skt. "three baskets") - three blocks of books of Buddhist scripture, perceived by believers as a set of revelations of the Buddha as presented by his disciples. Decorated in the 1st century. BC.

The first block is Vinaya Pitaka: 5 books characterizing the principles of organization of monastic communities, the history of Buddhist monasticism and fragments of the biography of Gautama Buddha. The second block is the Sutta Pitaka: 5 collections expounding the teachings of the Buddha in the form of parables, aphorisms, poems, as well as telling about the last days of the Buddha. The third block is Abhidharma Pitaka: 7 books interpreting the main ideas of Buddhism.

In 1871, in Mandalay (Burma), a council of 2,400 monks approved the single text of the Tripitaka, which was carved on 729 slabs of a memorial in Kuthodo, a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists from all over the world. The Vinaya occupied 111 plates, the Sutta 410, the Abhidharma 208 (2; p. 118).

In the first centuries of its existence, Buddhism was divided into 18 sects, and at the beginning of our era, Buddhism was divided into two branches, Hinayana and Mahayana. In 1-5 centuries. the main religious and philosophical schools of Buddhism were formed in the Hinayana - Vaibhashika and Sautrantika, in the Mahayana - Yogachara, or Vij-nyanavada, and Madhyamika.

Originating in the North-East of India, Buddhism soon spread throughout India, reaching its peak in the middle of the 1st millennium BC - the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. At the same time, starting from the 3rd c. BC, it covered Southeast and Central Asia, and partly also Central Asia and Siberia. Faced with the conditions and culture of the northern countries, the Mahayana gave rise to various currents that mixed with Taoism in China, Shintoism in Japan, local religions in Tibet, and so on. In its internal development, having broken up into a number of sects, northern Buddhism formed, in particular, the Zen sect (at present, it is most common in Japan). In the 5th c. Vajrayana appears, parallel to Hindu Tantrism, under the influence of which Lamaism arose, concentrated in Tibet.

A characteristic feature of Buddhism is its ethical and practical orientation. Buddhism put forward as a central problem - the problem of the existence of the individual. The core of the content of Buddhism is the Buddha's preaching about the "four noble truths" - there is suffering, the cause of suffering, liberation from suffering, the path leading to liberation from suffering.

Suffering and liberation appear in Buddhism as different states of a single being - suffering - a state of being manifested, liberation - unmanifested.

Psychologically, suffering is defined, first of all, as the expectation of failures and losses, as the experience of anxiety in general, which is based on a feeling of fear, inseparable from the present hope. In essence, suffering is identical to the desire for satisfaction - the psychological cause of suffering, and ultimately just any internal movement, and is perceived not as any violation of the original good, but as a phenomenon organically inherent in life. Death, due to the acceptance of the concept of endless rebirths by Buddhism, without changing the nature of this experience, deepens it, turning it into an inevitable and devoid of end. Cosmically, suffering is revealed as an endless "excitement" (appearance, disappearance and reappearance) of eternal and unchanging elements of an impersonal life process, flashes of a kind of vital energy, psychophysical in composition - dharmas. This “excitement” is caused by the absence of the true reality of the “I” and the world (according to the Hinayana schools) and the dharmas themselves (according to the Mahayana schools, which extended the idea of unreality to its logical end and declared all visible being to be shunya, i.e. emptiness). The consequence of this is the denial of the existence of both material and spiritual substance, in particular the denial of the soul in the Hinayana, and the establishment of a kind of absolute - shunyata, emptiness, not subject to either understanding or explanation - in the Mahayana.

Buddhism imagines liberation, first of all, as the destruction of desire, more precisely, the quenching of their passion. The Buddhist principle of the middle path recommends avoiding extremes, both the desire for sensual pleasure and the complete suppression of this attraction. In the moral and emotional sphere, there is the concept of tolerance, “relativity”, from the standpoint of which moral prescriptions are not binding and can be violated (the absence of the concept of responsibility and guilt as something absolute, a reflection of this is the absence in Buddhism of a clear line between the ideals of religious and secular morality and, in particular, the mitigation and sometimes the negation of asceticism in its usual form). The moral ideal appears as an absolute non-harm to the environment (ahinsa) resulting from general softness, kindness, and a sense of perfect satisfaction. In the intellectual sphere, the difference between the sensual and rational forms of cognition is eliminated and the practice of contemplative reflection (meditation) is established, the result of which is the experience of the integrity of being (non-distinguishing between internal and external), complete self-absorption. The practice of contemplative reflection serves not so much as a means of understanding the world, but as one of the main means of transforming the psyche and psychophysiology of the individual - dhyanas, called Buddhist yoga, are especially popular as a specific method. The equivalent of extinguishing desires is liberation, or nirvana. On the cosmic plane, it acts as a stoppage of the agitation of dharmas, which is later described in the Hinayana schools as an immovable, unchanging element.

Buddhism is based on the assertion of the principle of personality, inseparable from the surrounding world, and the recognition of the existence of a kind of psychological process in which the world is also involved. The result of this is the absence in Buddhism of the opposition of subject and object, spirit and matter, a mixture of individual and cosmic, psychological and ontological, and at the same time emphasizing the special potential forces lurking in the integrity of this spiritual and material existence. The creative principle, the ultimate cause of being, is the mental activity of a person, which determines both the formation of the universe and its disintegration: this is a volitional decision of the “I”, understood as a kind of spiritual and bodily integrity, - not so much a philosophical subject, but a practically acting person as a moral and psychological reality. From the non-absolute meaning for Buddhism of everything that exists, regardless of the subject, from the absence of creative aspirations in the individual in Buddhism, the conclusion follows, on the one hand, that God as the highest being is immanent to man (the world), on the other hand, that in Buddhism there is no need for God as a creator, savior, provider, i.e. in general as, of course, the supreme being, transcendent to this community; this also implies the absence in Buddhism of the dualism of the divine and the non-divine, God and the world, and so on.

Starting with the denial of external religiosity, Buddhism in the course of its development came to its recognition. The Buddhist pantheon is growing due to the introduction into it of all kinds of mythological creatures, one way or another assimilating with Buddhism. Extremely early in Buddhism, a sangha appears - a monastic community, from which, over time, a kind of religious organization has grown.

The spread of Buddhism contributed to the creation of those syncretic cultural complexes, the totality of which forms the so-called. Buddhist culture (architecture, sculpture, painting). The most influential Buddhist organization is the World Society of Buddhists, founded in 1950 (2, p. 63).

At present, there are about 350 million followers of Buddhism in the world (5; p. 63).

In my opinion, Buddhism is a neutral religion, unlike Islam and Christianity, it does not force anyone to follow the teachings of the Buddha, it gives a choice to a person. And if a person wants to follow the path of the Buddha, then he must apply spiritual practices, mainly meditation, and then he will reach the state of nirvana. Buddhism, preaching the "principle of non-interference", plays a big role in the modern world and, in spite of everything, is gaining more and more followers.

Buddhism and its significance for modern society. The position of Buddhism in the modern world

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