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| Buddhist Society | |
|---|---|
| Name | Buddhist Society |
| Founder | Siddhartha Gautama |
| Founded in | 6th century BCE |
| Regions | South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, Sri Lanka |
| Scriptures | Tripitaka, Dhammapada, Pali Canon, Mahaparinibbana Sutta |
| Languages | Pali language, Sanskrit, Tibetan language, Chinese language, Japanese language |
Buddhist Society is a broad term referring to organized communities, institutions, and cultural formations that preserve, teach, and practice traditions stemming from Siddhartha Gautama and early schools recorded in the Pali Canon and Agamas. It encompasses monastic orders, lay associations, pilgrimage sites, and scholarly networks across regions such as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Tibet, and the Westminster Abbey-adjacent modern world. Its development intersects with rulers, councils, cathedrals of learning, and global movements including contacts with Alexander the Great, Ashoka, Hiuen Tsang, Zhu Xi, and D.T. Suzuki.
Early formation is traced to assemblies and councils like the First Council of Rajgir and the Third Buddhist Council under Ashoka; scriptures such as the Vinaya Pitaka and Dhammapada were codified alongside regional transmission routes like the Silk Road and maritime networks associated with Srivijaya and Chola dynasty. Monastic orders diversified into major schools: Theravada in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Mahayana in China and Korea, and Vajrayana in Tibet and Mongolia; schisms and reform movements involved figures like Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Bodhidharma, Huineng, Padmasambhava, and Atisha. Political patrons included Kushan Empire, Tang dynasty, Song dynasty, Yuan dynasty, Ming dynasty, Tokugawa shogunate, Goryeo, and Khmer Empire, while colonial encounters with British Raj, French Indochina, Dutch East Indies, and missionaries such as Robert Morrison shaped modern institutional change. Twentieth-century revitalizations involved activists and scholars like Anagarika Dharmapala, B. R. Ambedkar, Thich Nhat Hanh, D. T. Suzuki, Bhikkhu Bodhi, and organizations including World Fellowship of Buddhists, International Buddhist Confederation, FPMT, and Sōtō Zen networks.
Core doctrines derive from discourses like the Four Noble Truths and concepts conserved in texts such as the Pali Canon and Mahayana Sutras including the Heart Sutra and Lotus Sutra. Doctrinal elaborations by philosophers such as Nagarjuna (Madhyamaka) and Asanga (Yogācāra) informed schools like Zen, Pure Land, Tiantai, Huayan, and Nichiren. Key tenets involve lists like the Noble Eightfold Path and doctrines related to karma (Buddhism), rebirth, anatman, emptiness, bodhisattva ideal, and buddha-nature as discussed by commentators such as Shantideva, Śāntarakṣita, Tsongkhapa, Dogen Kigen, and modern interpreters including Thubten Yeshe and Pema Chödrön.
Ritual life includes śīla-based precepts preserved in the Vinaya, meditative techniques such as Vipassanā and samatha taught by teachers like Mahasi Sayadaw, Ajahn Chah, Goenka, and Shunryu Suzuki, devotional practices like chanting of sutras in Sanskrit or Pali, and ritual arts including mandala construction, thangka painting, calligraphy in Chinese calligraphy and Japanese calligraphy, and mudra performance in tantric rites championed by figures such as Padmasambhava and Marpa Lotsawa. Pilgrimage to sites like Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar, Shwedagon Pagoda, Jokhang Temple, and Angkor Wat remains central, and communal festivals include Vesak, Ullambana Festival, Kathina, and Chinese temple fairs linked to dynasties such as the Tang dynasty.
Monastic frameworks follow ordination systems in lineages like Theravada monasticism, Mahāyāna monasticism, and Tibetan Buddhism with instituions such as Mahavihara, Vihara, Gompa, Wat, and Kandé. Major centers include Nalanda University, Vikramashila, Sarnath monasteries, Shaolin Monastery, Haeinsa, Todai-ji, Kinkaku-ji, Potala Palace, and modern universities like University of Peradeniya, Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka, Lumbini Buddhist University, Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Centre for Buddhist Studies, Oxford, and Harvard University programs in Buddhist Studies. Lay organizations such as Soka Gakkai, Tzu Chi Foundation, Fo Guang Shan, and Triratna Buddhist Community organize social programs and international conferences coordinated with bodies like United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and United Nations forums on interfaith dialogue.
Artistic and intellectual influences appear in architecture exemplified by Stupa of Sanchi, Borobudur, Angkor Wat, Shwedagon Pagoda; literature from Pali Canon to Prajnaparamita commentaries; and performing arts like Noh theatre, Kabuki, Khon, and Cambodian classical dance. Legal and reform movements drew on doctrines in campaigns led by B. R. Ambedkar and social actors like Anagarika Dharmapala, Mahatma Gandhi interactions, and modern activists in Sri Lanka, Myanmar democratization movements, and Tibet advocacy involving Dalai Lama. Exchanges with thinkers such as Ernest Fenollosa, Paul Carus, Rudolf Otto, William James, Heinrich Zimmer, and Joseph Campbell influenced comparative religion and philosophy.
Scholarly traditions trace to monastic universities like Nalanda and travelers such as Xuanzang and Yijing whose translations enriched Chinese Buddhism. Modern academic study includes philology of Pali language and Sanskrit texts, editions of the Tripitaka, critical work by scholars like Edward Conze, H. G. Hopkins, Richard Gombrich, Masatoshi Nagatomi, Robert Thurman, Jan Nattier, Donald S. Lopez Jr., Paul Williams (scholar), José Ignacio Cabezón, and Erik Zürcher. Institutions include the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of Tokyo, University of Cambridge, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and research centers such as Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research and Dongguk University.
Contemporary dynamics involve diasporas in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Germany, France, Russia, and South Africa; engagements with secular movements like Mindfulness programs in NHS and corporate training, legal debates over monastic property in India and heritage disputes in Angkor and Tibet; human rights campaigns involving Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on issues in Myanmar and Tibet Autonomous Region; environmental activism linking temples with organizations like Greenpeace and WWF; and interfaith initiatives with Vatican delegations, World Council of Churches, and Parliament of the World's Religions. Contemporary leaders include Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ajahn Chah, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Sogyal Rinpoche, and institutions such as Zen Center of Los Angeles and Insight Meditation Society fostering global networks.