Dharmaguptaka school
The Dharmaguptaka is one of the 18 schools of early Buddhism that flourished in India. The Dharmaguptaka derived from the Mahisasaka school, which in one version (the Singhalese) was derived from the Theravada. An alternative tradition (the Sammatiya) is that both Dharmaguptaka and Mahisasaka derived from the Mulasarvas-tivadins, a section of the Sthaviravadins. And a third tradition, from the Kashmir region, derives the Dharmaguptaka from the Mahisasakis, who descended from the Sarvastivadins, who in turn were from the Sthaviravada school. Regardless of exact lineage, the Dharmaguptaka school was named after one Dharmagupta, a follower of the Buddha’s disciple Maudgalyayana. Dharmagupta is considered by many to be a legendary figure.
Although there were doctrinal differences between the Dharmaguptakas and their predecessors, the Mahisasaskans, the two groups most probably split simply because of geographic and temperamental differences. The Dharmaguptakas were active in the northwest region near modern-day Afghanistan and Iran, from the third century b.c.e. They used the Gandhari language. By the 300s c.e. they had become one of the major Buddhist schools. By the time of the Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang’s visit to India in the early 600s the school had declined in influence.
However, the Dharmaguptaka school remained important because of its influence on China. Many of the first Vinaya texts translated into Chinese were from the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, written in Gandhari. These were joined later by additional Vinaya translations into Chinese, including those of the Sarvastivadin, Mahasanghikan, and Mahisasaka schools. The Dharmaguptakan version had high prestige, however, because the first ordinations in China were performed with the Dharmaguptakan Vinaya. Eventually the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya became the only Vinaya used in Chinese ordination and study.
The Dharmagupta Vinaya also contains the bhiksunivibhanga, which gives rules for ordination of nuns. Therefore the term Dharmagupta also refers to the lineage of bhlksunls, or nuns, introduced from Sri Lanka to China in the fifth century. Unlike the Theravada and Mulasarvasti-vada lineages for nuns, the Dharmagupta lineage has survived to this day.
Dharma heir
A Dharma heir is a designated successor to a Buddhist master. It is a term used often in Zen (Chan) Buddhism, since it involves the notion of transmission. What can be transmitted between master and disciple is of great importance to the Zen ideological message. A successor is a designated leader for a lineage. Finding and designating a successor are essential to ensuring the continuity of a lineage tradition after the death of a master.
The first instance of a succession was from the Buddha to his designated successor, Mahakasyapa. In the Chan tradition perhaps the most famous example is the fifth patriarch Hong Ren’s (601-674) designation of Hui Neng (638-713) as his Dharma heir and successor as patriarch. In passing over the brilliant Dharma heir Shen Xiu (605?-706) in favor of the relatively uncultured Hui Neng, Hong Ren confirmed the principle that enlightenment is accessible to all.
Today a master may have many Dharma heirs; the term becomes a generic way to refer to major followers trained in and carrying on a master’s work. The Taiwanese monk Sheng Yen, for example, has introduced four non-Chinese monks (John Crook, Simon Child, Max Kalin, and Zarko Andricevic) as Dharma heirs. In Zen the students will in principle also attain a level of wisdom and understanding equal to the master’s, but strictly speaking this does not occur through receiving anything from the master. The master serves only as catalyst for the student’s own enlightenment experience. There is no material or content transmitted. Once one receives the inkashomei, a kind of designation from the master, one can become a Dharma successor.
Dharmakaya
The dharmakaya is the "dharma body" of the Buddha. The dharma body is the essence of the Buddha, which is eternal and bears no dualities. Yogacara school authors mention the dharmakaya as the principle that allows one to move to the final stage of enlightenment. Therefore, the dharmakaya is the body of the Buddha, which represents his ultimate reality—his essence.
Dharmapala, Angarika
(1864-1933) Buddhist reformer
Dharmapala, who founded the Maha Bodhi Society and became a major figure in the revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the early 20th century, was born David Hewivitane at a time when England dominated Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon. When the island was subjected to government-supported attempts to convert the population to Christianity, Hewivitane was raised a Buddhist and survived his years at St. Benedict’s Anglican School and St. Thomas’ Collegiate School. He finally left school at the age of 19 after he was repulsed by what he saw as the extremely hypocritical behavior of the Christian leadership.
Shortly thereafter he joined the Theosophi-cal Society, based in Madras, India, which had developed strong Buddhist leanings especially in the person of its president, Henry Steel Olcott. Dharmapala joined olcott in the effort to found Buddhist schools and in 1888 accompanied olcott on a visit to Buddhists in Japan.
In 1891, Dharmapala visited Bodhgaya, the site where Buddha gained his enlightenment. He found it rundown and in response founded the Maha Bodhi Society to raise funds to restore and maintain it. on all of his future travels, he made the founding of local Maha Bodhi Society topics part of his work.
In 1893, Olcott assisted Dharmapala in his journey to Chicago, where he became one of the spokespersons for Buddhism at the World’s Parliament of Religions. While there he met Paul Carus, an American editor, whom he persuaded to become the head of the society’s American chapter. He would later preside at a ceremony at which C. T. Strauss became the first American to take refuge in the Buddha (formally convert). On a later trip to America in 1896-97, he organized the first Wesak festival in America.
In the years after World War I, Dharmapala would make trips to England, where he founded the British Maha Bodhi Society and helped stimulate the growth of the small Buddhist community.
In 1933, he was honored at Sarnath, India, where the Buddha preached his first sermon, and finally was ordained as a bhiksu. This was the first such ordination on Indian soil in more than seven centuries. Dharmapala died later that year.
Dharmaraksa (1)
(239-316 or 233-310) translator of Buddhist scriptures
Dharmaraksa was originally from the Dunhuang region of western China. A monk since childhood, he was descended from the nomadic Yue Zhi (Yueh-chih) tribe, a group identified early in Chinese records who were probably related to the Tocharians of the Tarim Basin. Dharmaraksa traveled extensively throughout Central Asia and is said to have learned 36 languages. He arrived in the Chinese capitals of Chang An and Luoyang during the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316 c.e.), a time of frantic activity and interest in Buddhism. There was in particular a tremendous thirst for translations of texts from this foreign religion. until 308 Dharmaraksa devoted himself to translation work. He is said to have translated 159 separate scriptures. Dharmaraksa was the first to translate the Lotus of the True Law, the Lotus Sutra, into Chinese. He also translated the Vimal-akirti and Flower Garland (Hua Yan) Sutras.
Dharmaraksa (2)
(385-433 c.e.) first translator of the Nirvana Sutra
There are two significant figures named Dharma-raksa. The first (239-316 or 233-310) (Dharmaraksa (1)) was from the Dunhuang region. The second Dharmaraksa was also a foreign monk who settled in China and translated key texts. However, unlike the first Dharmaraksa, he was originally a Hinayana monk from India. He read the Nirvana Sutra and switched his allegiances to the Mahayana school. He settled in the northern China state of Liang Zhou in 412 c.e. He was taken on as an adviser to the ruler, Ju’chu Mengxun, and encouraged to translate Buddhist sutras. He eventually produced the first translation of the Nirvana Sutra, a massive task resulting in 40 volumes. He returned to India once to collect more texts. on a second return journey he was murdered by the very ruler of the Liang Zhou who sponsored him.
Dharmasala
Best known today as the site of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, Dharmasala sits in the middle of an area rich in Buddhist history, in the hill station region of northern India. Xuan Zang, the famous Chinese traveler, visited the area in 635 and noted 50 monasteries and thousands of monks.
Dharmasala is sited in a valley at a relatively high altitude—1,250-1,800 meters. Most of the Tibetan inhabitants are concentrated in the McLeod Gunj area, which is the town at the highest elevation. The Dalai Lama’s residence, the Tsuglag Khang, is also in McLeod Gunj. The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives was established there in 1971. other important institutions include the Norbulingka Institute of Tibetan Culture, the Amnye Machen Institute, a Tibetan studies center, and Namgyal Monastery, named after the Namgyal Monastery in the Potala Palace, which now has 180 monks.
Dhyana (jhana, chan)
Dhyana is the Sanskrit term meaning "trance," "absorptions," or "meditation." The Pali equivalent, jhana, refers to the four meditative states in Theravada tradition that lead to salvation. These four jhana are taught to all those who learn meditation in the Theravada tradition.
In Mahayana Buddhist teachings dhyana is the fifth paramita or perfection. Dhyana meditation is intended to overcome ego. In China dhyana was transliterated as "chan" and so became associated with the Chan (in Japanese, Zen) school of Buddhism.
Chan meditation spells out eight stages of dhyana practice, four with form, and four formless. Typically, a meditator first focuses on any sense object. While meditating this way, achieving the first of the dhyanas involves detaching oneself from one’s negative tendencies. To achieve the second dhyana one goes beyond thoughts and attains the level of faith. in stages three and four one fights the tendency to grope toward the unknown with elation. By the fourth dhyana the cultivator is detached from the emotions of the self.
In practicing the next four dhyanas, the formless group, the cultivator continues to overcome the remains or vestiges of the sense object.
Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedika-prajnaparamita-sutra)
The Diamond Sutra is an early Mahayana text dating from 150-200 c.e. that has continued to be popular into modern times. The sutra means literally "The sutra of diamond-cutting ultimate wisdom." It is part of the vast prajnaparamita (perfection of wisdom) literature.
The Diamond Sutra is a sutra and so is believed by most Buddhists to record the words of the Buddha, passed down to later generations by disciples who were present when the words were spoken. The sutra tells how the Buddha answered a disciple’s question concerning the means to gain enlightenment. His answer focused on the understanding of emptiness (sunyata). Emptiness here refers not to a vacuum or meaninglessness, but to the conditioned nature of all phenomena, and the true absence of attachments among phenomena. All things are interrelated and connected, empty of isolated identity, and this is the nature of reality. Furthermore, emptiness itself is empty.
This train of thought remains difficult for many to accept, for it leads to difficult conclusions regarding the self. As topic 3 states:
A bodhisattva who creates the perception of a being cannot be called a "bodhisattva." And why not? Subhuti, no one can be called a bodhisattva who creates the perception of a self or who creates the perception of a being, a life, or a soul. (Red Pine, p. 71)
Fundamentally, there is no self. Realizing this is the key to liberation, in the Buddha’s teachings. There is no atman (self); no sattva (being), no jiva (life), and no pudgala (soul). Enlightened beings continue to have perceptions but do not have views (dristi). Attachment to the idea of a self, to the ultimate existence of a self, is such a view.
Diamond Way Buddhism
The Diamond Way is a Western association of Tibetan Buddhist centers that offer Karma Kagyu teachings as providing verifiable nondogmatic teachings, an easy means of meditation, and ways to solidify the levels of awareness one attains. There are now more than 200 Diamond Way centers. They recognize the authority of the 17 th Karmapa Thaye Dorje (1983- ).
The centers are tied together by the leadership of Lama Ole Nydahl, who, with his wife; Hannah, traveled to Nepal in 1968. There they met Lopon Tchechu Rinpoche, who became their teacher and under whose guidance they became Buddhists. He also arranged for the pair’s initial meeting with Rangjung Rigpe Dorje (1924-1981), the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Karmapa had settled at Runtek Monastery, in Sikkim. The Nydahls became his first Western students and spent three years (1969-72) in study of the Kagyu teachings and intensive practice. During this time they received a variety of empowerments (rituals designed to awaken the potentials in the individual).
The Gyalwa Karmapa recognized Ole as a protector of the Karma Kagyu lineage and gave him the mission of spreading the Karma Kagyu teachings in Europe and the West. Nydahl also received a transmission of a practice called Phowa. Phowa teaches an individual the way, at the moment of death, to transfer one’s consciousness to a state of high bliss.
Upon his return to Denmark in the early 1970s, Ole Nydahl began to teach and organize centers, while Hannah has spent most of her time translating Tibetan texts. His winsome down-to-earth persona drew many to Nydahl, and centers spread across Europe. The first North American center was opened in the 1980s. Nydahl has himself trained more than 30 students, who now work with the Diamond Way.
Disciples of the Buddha
The Buddha taught for 60 years before departing from the world of form in his PARINIRVANA. In this period he attracted a large group of followers. In Buddhist legend and history a key number of these figures receive great focus. The 10 major disciples are normally listed as follows:
1.Sariputra
2. Maudgalyayana (in Pali, Moggallana)
3. Ananda
4. Mahakasyapa (in Pali, Mahakassapa)
5. Aniruddha (in Pali, Anuruddha)
6. Katyayana (in Pali, Kacchayana or Kac-chana)
7. Upali
8. Subhuti (in Pali, Subhadda)
9. Purna (in Pali, Punna)
10. Rahula
Each of these figures became associated with special abilities or aspects of Buddhist practice.
Sariputra and Maudgalyayana were childhood friends from privileged, Brahman families. They had become ascetics before the Buddha himself. Their search for spiritual masters took them to several individuals, and at the time of the Buddha’s enlightenment they were followers of one Sanjaya. Eventually they found the Buddha and joined him at Rajagaha, in a bamboo grove, taking several other students with them. Upon hearing the Buddha’s first teachings the entire group is said to have achieved the state of arahatship. The Buddha then appointed Sariputra to be his chief disciple and Maudgalyana to be his deputy. Sariputra was famous for his wisdom, while Maudgalyayana was known for his transcendent powers.
Ananda, the Buddha’s cousin, was known for his personal devotion to the Buddha. In addition to that he was an excellent listener and had a phenomenal memory. Therefore, he was central in the act of recording the Buddha’s teachings after the Buddha’s death. After Mahakasyapa, Ananda became the second of the Buddha’s 24 successors.
Mahakasyapa (also written as Kasyapa) was originally a fire worshipper and wandering ascetic. He is said to have been impressed with a demonstration of magical powers by the Buddha and took 500 followers into the Buddha’s sangha. He was foremost in ascetic practices, called dhuta. Although they were the same age, Mahakasyapa outlived the Buddha, and he presided over the first Buddhist Council. Upon his death he passed leadership of the Sangha to Ananda.
Another of the Buddha’s cousins, Aniruddha, was famous for his "divine insight." One story in the Agama Sutras narrates how he vowed never to sleep because he had fallen asleep during one of the Buddha’s lectures. His eyesight damaged to the state of blindness, Aniruddha gained a kind of extraordinary discernment of reality Katyayana was best known as a debater. He was originally a senior adviser to a ruler of Avanti in southwestern India. Sent by his ruler to investigate the Buddha, he converted on the spot and in turn converted the king.
Subhuti was the nephew of Sudatta, the patron who donated Jetavana Monastery to the Buddha. He was one of the four Voice Hearers who attained enlightenment upon first hearing the Buddha’s teachings. He was renowned for having a special understanding of the doctrine of nonsubstantiality, a concept that is troubling to many students of Buddhism today, just as it was in the past.
Purna excelled at preaching the Dharma of Buddhism and was able to convert hundreds through his sermons. There are conflicting accounts of his background. In one version he was an ascetic living on Snow Mountain who joined the Buddha and attained the state of ARHAT. In another version he was a merchant who was converted by fellow travelers who were lay Buddhists.
Originally a barber living the small state of Kapilavastu, Upali was an expert in Vinaya, the rules of discipline of the sangha. During the first Buddhist Council he recited the entire Vinaya from memory, just as Ananda recited the sutras.
When the Buddha returned home for the first time after leaving to follow his path of cultivation, his young son, Rahula, met his father for the first time. Rahula was converted and became one of the Buddha’s 10 major disciples. He is known as a symbol of "inconspicuous practice." This refers to his devotion to the precepts, the rules governing a monk’s life, and his constant study under fellow monks Sariputra and Maudgalyayana. He was earnest and did not find pride in his status as the son of the Buddha.
Dogen
(1200-1253) founder of Japanese Soto Zen Buddhism
Dogen, who introduced Chinese Caodong Chan BUDDHISM to Japan, was born into a well-to-do Japanese family and received a good education in Chinese literature. Orphaned by the age of seven, he was subsequently raised by an uncle who lived near Tendai Buddhism’s headquarters on Mt. Hiei. He affiliated with the Tendai and began a spiritual quest that eventually led him to the recently established Rinzai Zen center established by Eisai (1141-1215) in Kyoto. In 1223, he left for China, where he could explore the Chan centers directly.
Dogen began his stay in China at Diang Tong monastery, where Eisai had studied. However, he did not thrive under its then leader, Wu Ji. He left for a period and upon his return learned that Wu Ji had died and that the monastery had not only changed abbots but had moved from the Linji (Rinzai) camp to the Caodong fold. He placed himself under Ru Jing (1163-1228), from whom he received his acknowledgment of enlightenment.
Dogen returned to Japan in 1227 and settled back at Kyoto, where he wrote an initial short treatise, General Teaching for Zazen. He then moved on to Fukakusa around 1230; while there he would author his most notable work, the Treasury of Knowledge of the True Law (Shobogenzo), the basic text of what would come to be known as Soto Zen. There he would also build the first Zen temple in Japan, Koshohorin-ji. He emphasized the model of the Buddha, sitting in meditation (zazen) under the Bodhi tree.
In 1247, Dogen withdrew from the turmoil that his teachings had caused in the larger Japanese Buddhist world and moved to Echizen province, where in 1248 he founded Eihei-ji, the monastic complex that would become the major training center and point of dissemination for Soto Zen. With occasional side trips, he would remain there for the rest of his life. in 1253 he went for a visit to Kyoto to receive some medical care, but before he could return to Eihei-ji, he passed away. He was succeeded by his major disciple, Ejo (1198-1280).
Dojo (daochang)
Dojo is the Japanese term for a place of practice. in Buddhism this usually refers to a meditation room or, on a larger scale, an entire temple or monastery. The term is also used by martial arts disciplines such as judo to mean the place of practice or instruction.
Dojo is pronounced daochang in Chinese, and from this we see it is composed of the term DAo plus "chang," meaning place, hence "a place of the Way." The Chinese word daochang was also used to translate the Sanskrit term bodhimandala, or "truth-plot." A daochang is thus a sacred place, one used for teaching, worship, or ritual, which is therefore also the original sense of dojo.
A daochang may also refer to the entire field of the Dao. It also refers to a Buddha’s or bodhisatt-va’s field of influence. In this sense Amitabha’s field of influence, for instance, is the Western Paradise, and Vairocana Buddha’s field of influence is the transcendent or the universe. A bodhisattva’s field of Dao is, properly speaking, the world of sentient beings, since every bodhisattva makes the Mahay-ana vow not to move to nirvana until all suffering beings in samsara are freed of suffering.
In some Chinese texts daochang is used to indicate the place where Buddha attained enlightenment, or Bodhgaya, or the bodhi (pipal) tree under which he attained enlightenment. In very early Buddhist art, the Buddha himself was not depicted, and the tree stood as a symbol of the Buddha, his promise of enlightenment, and his power—in a word, his daochang.
Dong Zhongshu (Tung Chung-shu)
(195105 b.c.e.) early systematizer of Chinese thought
Dong Zhongshu is one of the great lights of Confucianism. Although not necessarily an original thinker, he was a first-rate systematizer and the chief architect of the basic metaphysical system of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.). During his life he was the acknowledged "leader of the literati," and he served as chief minister for two Han emperors. His work is preserved in the masterful anthology Chunqiu fanlu (Luxuriant gems of the spring and autumn annals), a collection of materials compiled in the early Middle Ages.
Dong Zhongshu’s system of Han Confucianism, based on the premise that the details of state must harmonize with heaven and earth, set the pattern for all later dynasties. It was a complex system governing all dimensions of political and religious life and became one of the hallmarks of Chinese civilization.
Dong’s thought is Confucian in orientation but decidedly syncretistic as well. He draws on other schools of thought, especially Daoism with its views of naturalness and self-cultivation. His imagery and language often resemble the Daode-JING. For Dong, the cosmos is a large organism in which human beings have a vital role. Because the cosmos is a large organism, it is a finely balanced, interactive system in which all parts are inter related. Disturbance in one area leads to disruptions in others. The world needs constant, careful attention, which is the responsibility of humanity. Human beings are fully integrated into the cosmic order, so much so that the human body replicates in miniature all the structures of the cosmos. Moreover, the cosmic order is also replicated in the sociopolitical order. Harmony, the overriding concern in all Chinese traditions, is thus a cosmic, political, and moral ideal.
For Dong, the emperor (tianzi, Son of Heaven) has the key role in the world. He is a man among men, the cosmic pivot. The emperor must model himself on heaven and its workings just as his ministers must model themselves on earth. His duties and responsibilities are awesome, for he must order the state in line with the cosmos. Above all he must be virtuous, for it is through his moral charisma (de) that he leads and educates the people. The emperor’s influence must sway the people to the good through imperial policy, promotion of the common good, and proper ritual performance.
Proper performance of the LI (rituals, rites) is central to the way the "Son of Heaven" leads his people. To do this, he needs the guidance of able Confucian ministers to ensure that his activities accord with the time and season. In actual practice, this required not just proper training in the various ritual procedures but also attention to the color of imperial clothes at each seasonal ritual, the direction in which the emperor traveled, the type of transportation used, and other details. It was also crucial to have the exact number of officials working with the emperor at all times.
