Shobo
(Chinese zhengfa, or cheng-fa)
Shobo is a Japanese term for the true Dharma, the correct doctrine. in the Buddhist context the true Dharma is, of course, the entirety of the Buddha’s teachings.
When the Japanese Zen Buddhism master Dogen wrote his masterpiece Shobogenzo the term shobo had another sense, of things that are present prior to their being named or thought of. Dharma (Japanese -bo) in this sense refers to something already present.
Shobo also refers to the first of the three periods of Buddhist history, as foretold in the Lotus Sutra. The shobo is that period in which the Dharma is healthy and revered; it will last 500 (in some versions, 1,000) years. It is followed by the zobo, the Middle (semblance) period, of 1,000 years; and, finally, by the mappo, Latter Period, of 10,000 years. Teachings revolving around the three periods are key in Nichiren and other Lotus Sutra-based teachings.
Shobogenzo
Shobogenzo (Treasury of knowledge regarding the true dharma), a major text in Japanese Buddhism, was written in the 13th century by Dogen (1200-53), who introduced Caodong Chan Buddhism to Japan (where it is known as Soto Zen). The shobogenzo is a collection of more than 300 koans, with commentaries. Less known is that Dogen wrote two books with very similar names, the Kana shobogenzo and the Mana Gozobenzo.
In the Treasury of Knowledge (the Kana Gozo-benzo), Dogen discussed the use of single-minded seated meditation (zazen) as the primary practice, the daily life of practitioners, and the rules and teachings of the Soto school, among other topics.
The book became standard reading for Soto Zen monks.
It is also the case that in 1235 Dogen assembled a collection of some 300 koans from Song dynasty Zen texts. This work is entitled the Mana Shobogenzo, or Sambyaku-soku shobogenzo (The Shobogenzo of three hundred koans). This topicwas largely lost until 1934, when Professor oya Tokujo discovered it and made it available to his scholarly colleagues. only in the 1990s was it confirmed as a true work of Dogen.
Shotoku
(574-622) early patron of Japanese Buddhism
Considered by many as the real founder of Buddhism in Japan, Crown Prince Shotoku Tai-shi actively supported the initial transmission of Buddhism from China and wrote some of the first Japanese Buddhist texts. He was born in Yamato, Japan, the son of Emperor Yomei (r. 586-587), who during his short reign had expressed interest in converting to Buddhism. Yomei was succeeded by Sujun (r. 587-592). Sujun’s reign ended with his assassination and the installation of Shotoku’s aunt as the empress Suiko (r. 592-628). In 593, Shotoku was named crown prince and regent, titles he retained until his death.
By the time she rose to the throne, the Empress Suiko was herself a Buddhist, but Shotoku became the active force in establishing Buddhism in Japan. Without giving up the throne, Suiko took vows as a Buddhist nun and gradually withdrew from her duties as a ruler. Thus without the title, Shotoku assumed more and more power. He was also a scholar who read the Chinese classics, and he wrote voluminously on a wide range of subjects.
Early in his public career, he sent envoys to China to begin a significant influx of Chinese learning and culture into the country. A secular ruler, he made his most notable accomplishment through writing a new constitution (604) based on Confucian ideals. The reorganized government was a major step in installing a government administration in which officials obtained their jobs by their accomplishments rather than family connections. Japan also adopted the Chinese calendar. While largely Confucian in orientation, the second article of the new constitution enjoins the Japanese ruler to value the Three Treasures of Buddhism—the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
Shotoku primarily turned his scholarship to Buddhism and is known to have lectured on various Buddhist themes such as the Lotus Sutra, upon which he authored a commentary. He sponsored temples and saw to the creation of many images of the Buddha, the most impressive a 16-foot bronze Buddha. He supported Japanese monks-scholars on long-term visits to China. By the time of his death, there were a reported 46 temples, 816 priests, and 569 nuns serving a thriving Japanese Buddhist community.
Shrines
The shrine developed as an extension of Buddhist practice centered on the posadha. The posadha was a form of sabbath. in ancient india, it was one night on which a community of ascetics (srama-nas) assembled to discuss doctrine. It took place on the eighth, 14th, and 15 th days of each lunar half-month—in other words, on the full moon and then weekly thereafter. The institution was first proposed by King Bimbisara and approved by the Buddha after his initial enlightenment. The Buddha also suggested that the monks recite their rules of training at this time.
The Buddha did visit shrines to meditate. He preferred to visit them at night because there would be few local people to disturb him. Most of these shrines were in forests and may have involved sacred trees seen as residences of spirits. There was no formal system of shrines proposed by the Buddha; however, some scholars believe he did try to hold posadha assemblies at fixed locations.
However, after the Buddha’s parinirvana another institution, that of the stupa, or pagoda, was instituted to hold his ashes or relics. The practice of venerating the relics of the Buddha was specifically supported by the Mahaparinirvana Sutta, one of the oldest documents in the Pali Canon. in this text the Buddha gave instructions concerning his own burial: "As . . . they treat the body of a Wheel-Turning King, so should they treat the body of the Tathagata," spoke the Buddha to Ananda. The Mahaparinirvana Sutta also notes that the Buddha says his remains can be placed in a stupa. Furthermore, the maintenance of this stupa should be the responsibility of the laity, not the wandering monks. Since the sutra was written later, well after the Buddha’s death, it may have simply recorded an explanation for what was actual practice. This practice of building stupas to honor the Buddha may have sprung up spontaneously. Regardless of how it started, the stupa quickly became one of the most common Buddhist institutional and architectural forms.
Shugendo
Shugendo is an ascetic faith built around the sacred mountains of Japan. The individualistic nature of Shugendo makes estimation of the number of practitioners and adherents difficult.
Shugendo traces its beginnings to En no ozunu, a seventh-century figure, popularly called En the ascetic. A person around whom many legends have gathered, he appears to have been an unordained Buddhist practitioner of esotericism, beliefs and practices that are generally transmitted in secret, who was banished from society for trying to control others with his magical powers. He eventually went to dwell on Mt. Katsuragi.
En no ozunu became the exemplar for a group of very loosely organized ascetics who roamed the mountains. Their various ascetic practices, including ordeals, diets, and strenuous spiritual exercises, were pursued as a means to acquire magical and supernatural powers. The unregulated environment in the mountains allowed them the freedom to engage unhindered in almost any outrageous behavior they chose.
As Shugendo evolved, practitioners generally selected elements from the various religious communities active in the country. it, of course, drew on variant traditions that showed great respect for mountains and the ascetic elements of the Vinaya, the Buddhist rules for monastic life. It drew magical elements from Daoism and Vajrayana Buddhism—Tendai and later Shingon.
The foothills of the mountains became the site of meetings between the Shugendo practitioners and lay folk went to them for supernatural support. over the centuries, the practitioners, the yamabushi, developed a complex relationship with Shingon, Japan’s major community of esoteric Buddhists, and at times when Shingon was on the wane, the yamabushi became important in keeping esotericism alive and a vital element in Japanese religion.
Shwedagon
The primary Buddhist site in Yangon (Rangoon), the capital of Myanmar, Shwedagon is unique because it houses a large quantity relics of the Buddha. There are, it is said, in addition to eight hairs from the head of Gautama Buddha, remains of three previous Buddhas—in other words, Buddhas from before the time of the historical Buddha.
The Shwedagon is imposing. It consists of an extremely large (99 meters high) stupa, built in the 1770s, on a raised platform, surrounded by a series of smaller reliquaries, stupas, and halls. Around its base are four large devotional halls, called tazaung, in the center of each of the four sides surrounding the stupa. There are an additional 64 smaller shrines, called zeidi-yan, between each of the tazaung. These zeidi-yan were not added until the early 1900s. All of the stupa rests on a 6.5-meter-thick plinth, around which are placed an additional 64 stupas. At the very top of the stupa’s spire is the "diamond bud" (sein-bu), which holds an orb encrusted with 4,351 diamonds—including one 76-carat diamond.
The founding of Shwedagon harks back to the founding of Yangon itself. It was probably inhabited from the sixth century b.c.e.; since the area was then marshy, the Shwedagon hill may have been a relatively inhabitable location. At that time it may have been associated with a community of people from Orissa, in India. Legendary stories also relate that Asoka, the great Indian king and champion of Buddhism, visited Shwedagon and repaired the shrine.
The earliest written evidence of Shwedagon is found in an inscription dating from the 15 th century c.e., in both Mon and Burmese languages. The inscription records the hill and the visit of Burmese monks to Sri Lanka for ordination.
The pagoda today is the center of Buddhist life in Rangoon. It is managed by more than 100 staff people and a nine-member board, the Pagoda Trustees.
Sigalaka Sutta (Sigalovada Sutta)
The story within this early Buddha sutra is an early indication of Buddhist teachings on social relations. This section from the Pali canon (31st discourse of the Digha Nikaya) describes the Buddha’s meeting a man, Sigala, and performing a ritual of worshipping the six directions—north, south, east, west, zenith, and nadir. The Buddha further interprets each direction as representing an important human relationship and explains the mutual obligations involved in each relationship. The east is for parents, so children are urged to honor and take care of parents, while parents are obliged to urge children to take the path of goodness. The southerly direction is associated with the relation between teachers and students, the west stands for the connection between husband with wife and children, the north is for one’s ties to friends and relatives, the zenith symbolizes the relationship of sramanas (religious practitioners) with followers, and, finally, the nadir is associated with the way a master should treat servants and workers.
While the original ritual was a Brahmanic ceremony of worshipping the six directions, the Buddha’s commentary in this sutra transforms it into a code of ethics, a basic guide for human relations.
Sila
Sila, or ethical conduct, includes right speech, right action, and right livelihood. in Buddhist thought right speech means one should not lie; slander; be harsh, rude, or impolite; or gossip. Right action means not taking life, stealing, dealing dishonestly, or having improper sexual actions. in essence, ethical conduct means one should act morally. in practice these precepts have been interpreted variously in different cultural contexts. The Buddha did not require his followers to be vegetarian, for instance, yet some of the Buddhist cultures, such as China’s, have interpreted the injunction not to take life as requiring vegetarianism. in fact, all of these injunctions are subject to reinterpretation in different contexts. Right livelihood admonishes people to adopt a profession that will not cause harm to others. in practice what is interpreted as right livelihood has varied over time.
Silla
The Silla kingdom, which eventually unified the three Korean kingdoms into one, is significant as the period during which Buddhism spread from being a religion of the elites to a religion of all the people. in the early centuries of the Common Era, in part because of influence from China, the people of the Korean Peninsula began to unite into what would emerge as three kingdoms. on the southern half of the peninsula, two rival kingdoms came into existence, Paekche and Silla. Silla, occupying the southeastern part of the peninsula, was resistant to the new faith. While Paekche adopted Buddhism toward the end of the fourth century, not until the early sixth century (527 c.e.) would Silla’s ruler adopt it. However, once adopted, it received official support integrated into the country’s rigidly pyramidal hierarchical social organization and used to sanction it.
The three kingdoms existed side by side for several centuries. However, in 660, Silla made common cause with the China Tang rulers and began a conquest of the peninsula. Paekche fell first and was incorporated into Silla. Eight years later, Silla and China defeated Koguryo, and Silla was able to unite the whole of the Korean Peninsula into a single state.
In the early years of Unified Silla, Wonhyo (617-686) and his younger colleague, Uisang (625-702), would have their great impact with their basic idea of unifying the different schools of Buddhist thought and practice. They also worked to spread Buddhism, to that point largely limited to the elites of the society, as a popular movement among the masses. As Wonhyo was attempting to unify the older schools of Korean Buddhism, a new school, called Soen (or Son Buddhism), was imported from China, where it had been known as Chan Buddhism, a meditation-based form of practice.
One of the Unified Silla rulers, King Kyongdok (r. 742-765), is remembered for his support of Buddhism and the many temples and other Buddhist facilities erected during his reign. Among the most notable was Sokkuram, a grotto shrine constructed in 751 and nestled in the mountains near the Silla capital at Kyongju.
At the end of the ninth century, the Silla dynasty collapsed and for a brief time the old three kingdoms reemerged. These were reunited in 918 by Taejo (r. 918-943), who seized control of the land and established the Goryeo dynasty. During the next century, Son Buddhism would blossom and become the favored Buddhism of Korea’s rulers, who would favor it with many gifts and allow it privileges denied the other schools.
Singapore, Buddhism in
Buddhism is today one of the major religions in Singapore, with the number of adherents estimated at between 25 and 50 percent of the total population.
Buddhism originally spread into Singapore from China and India. Mahayana Buddhism was primarily based in the Chinese community when the British purchased Singapore in the early 19th century, and British rule in Singapore stimulated the growth of the Chinese community substantially. Today almost half of Singaporeans can be said to follow the Chinese traditional religions—a mixture of folk religion, Daoism, and Buddhism.
Buddhism exists on a spectrum from that practiced in the traditional Chinese temples that dot the island to the pristine practice found in the Theravada temples and in more recent ethnic forms of Buddhism imported from, for example, Tibet or Thailand.
Since Singapore’s emergence as an independent country, the Buddhist community has reorganized both to meet the needs of a rapidly progressing urban society and to slow the inroads of an aggressive Christian community. The primary organizations for Buddhists (estimated at between 500,000 and 2 million) are the Singapore Buddhist Federation and Singapore Buddhist Mission, both of which carry on outreach efforts among the Chinese population and work to modernize Buddhist thought and practice. In the 1980s, they began targeting college and university students. This effort has led to the formation of several campus organizations such as the National University of Singapore Buddhist Society.
The federation works with the Singapore Buddhist Sangha Organization and the Singapore Regional Centre of the World Fellowship of Buddhists to join Mahayana and Theravada Buddhists in cooperative activities. Also serving the larger Buddhist community is the Buddhist Library in Singapore, which not only houses Buddhist books and other resource materials for use of the general public, but provides a venue for a variety of Buddhist programs—classes, lectures, and religious events.
While Mahayana is the dominant Buddhism in Singapore, Theravada has a significant following, especially among residents of Sri Lankan heritage. Theravada Buddhists find their focus in the Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society, which carries on a substantial publication program in both Chinese and English. The small Thai community has been organized by the Dhammakaya Foundation founded in 1970 and based in Potumthani, Thailand. Societies have also been founded to serve the Korean, Burmese, and Tibetan communities. The primary Tibetan organization is affiliated with the Karma Kagyu Tibetan tradition under the guidance of the 17th Gyalwa karmapa. There is also a Chan Buddhism community operating primarily among ethnic Chinese.
More Westerners residing in Singapore have been attracted to Buddhism in the last generation. Soka Gakkai International leads the way along with Tibetan Buddhism in finding a home among European Singaporeans. Meanwhile, the five large Taiwan-based Buddhist groups—Foguangshan, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Association, Dharma Drum Mountain Association, Amitabha Buddhist Societies, and the True Buddha school—have also found a home in Singapore.
Sivaraksa, Sulak
(1933- ) Thai Buddhist social activist
A prominent Thai exponent of engaged Buddhism, Sivaraksa has been a strong, biting voice of a new spirit in Thai Buddhism. Sivaraksa attended school in England and received his law degree in 1961. He subsequently returned to his homeland to become a lecturer at several universities (1962) and launch his activist career by becoming the founding editor of the very influential social science Review.
Over the next years, Sivaraksa founded several nongovernmental movements in Thailand, including the Asian Cultural Forum on Development, the Coordinating Group for Religion and Society, and the Thai Inter-Religious Commission for Development. He also founded the International Network of Engaged Buddhists to focus on human rights and welfare issues on a regional basis. His actions are based on his own reinterpretation of Buddhist teachings in order to make them relevant to current issues. He criticizes commercial advertising, for example, as contrary to the fourth precept, the injunction against lying. He has also openly criticized Thai monasteries as being too affluent and comfortable.
His activism has generated problems for him. He was arrested briefly in 1984 and in 1991 went into exile overseas after an arrest warrant was issued.
Six realms of existence
Traditional Buddhist thought divides living beings into six categories, each of which resides in one "realm," or dhatu. These are the realms of gods (devas), demons (asuras), humans, animals, spirits or ghosts (pretas), and those in hell. An individual is born into a certain realm or path depending on past karma.
Humans in the realm of desire (kama dhatu), as well as animals, live on the surface of Mt Meru. The ghosts, demons, and those in hell live beneath the surface of the earth; gods live in the higher reaches of the mountain, in the realm of form (rupa dhatu) and, for some, in the realm of formlessness (arupya dhatu). Thus all beings live in one of the three realms, the tri-dhatu. And all living beings, including the more exalted gods living atop Mt. Sumeru, are subject to the law of karma and rebirth.
One psychological interpretation of this concept is that the six realms reflect internal states. We choose to live within a certain realm on the basis of our own volition and understanding. We may live as a preta, a "hungry ghost," constantly wanting more yet never achieving fulfillment, or we may live as a deva, a god, with ultimate awareness.
Skandhas
Literally meaning "bundles," the skandhas are in English normally referred to as the "five aggregates." The Buddha spelled out a theory for five types of skandhas, which in aggregate constitute the person: matter, feelings, perception, mind, and consciousness. The five Skandhas are also known as nama-rupa (name-form). The Skandhas form upon birth and the first thought and disperse upon death. This theory underlies the Buddha’s criticism of the concept of atman, or self.
The individual human is simply a "bundle of perceptions" (sankharapunja), which is labeled with individual names for convenience only. A common metaphor used to explain the function of the Skandhas is the chariot, which is a label for what are after all a collection of components. Significantly, there is no inner essence or soul that can be identified with any one of the five Skandhas.
An arhat was defined as one who was able to see the nature of the self, thoroughly understanding the truth that the Skandhas are impermanent and have no self. The association of the Skandhas with a sense of self leads to wrong views and, ultimately, to the suffering of human existence.
