c. 624 BC Birth of Siddhartha Gautama ofthe Sakyas/Shakyas (Shakyamuni)

Brought up to be great world king

The Four Sights (old man, diseased man,corpse, hermit monk)

The Great Going Forth

Searching for the truth

The bhodi (wisdom) tree, Mara (Death), andbecoming the Buddha (Enlightened One)

The Four Noble Truths:

Noble Truth of Sorrow

Noble Truth of the Arising of Sorrow

Noble Truth of the Stopping of Sorrow

Noble Truth of the Way that Leads to theStopping of Sorrow (Eightfold Pathleading to nirvana)

The growth of the sangha (community)

Guidelines for monasticism, incl.

Chastity

No possessions

Begging for food

Nonviolence

483 BC The Buddha dies and entersparinirvana

Sharing the relics

Major Buddhist texts

Sutra Pitaka - sermons and dialogues

Vinaya Pitaka - rules for monks and nuns

Abhidharma - discussions of doctrine

Theravada (Path of the Elders) Buddhism

Claiming to follow Buddha’s teachingmost closely

Monastic communities supported by laycommunity

Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) Buddhism- grew out of:

Discontent with behaviour of arhants(enlightened monks), egalitariansentiments

Impact of Hindu bhakti (devotional)practice

New philosophical approaches toBuddhism

Course of the bodhisattva (Buddhain the making): voluntarily remainingin samsara

Buddha as the Dharma with “Dharma Body”and other forms

Vajrayana (Diamond Vehicle) Buddhism

Developed in India, influenced by HinduTantricism

Sacred cosmos replicated in human body

Use of forbidden substances andpractices

Claiming can reach Buddha-hood inthis life

Chan/Zen (Meditation) Buddhism

Buddha-nature within

Dispensing with distractions of goals/rewards/verbal logic

Use of koans (riddles) by some

Tibetan Buddhism

Geluk-pa (Virtuous School, Yellow Hats)

Tsongkhapa (1357-1419)

Learning, discipline, celibacy, traditionalmonasticism, Tantric magic

Sonam Gyatsho (1543-1588)

Altan, Mongol Khan

Dalai Lama (Ocean of Wisdom Teacher)

Avalokiteshvara (bodhisattva)

Reincarnation of Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama (b. 1935)

A mixed position

Impact of secularism and other religionse.g. Chinese takeover of Tibet, fromwhich Dalai Lama fled in 1959

Challenges leading to revitalisation

Popularity in rest of world