Where did Buddhism begin?

Buddhism began in Northeastern India around 500 years before Christ.

What are the three jewels of Buddhism?

The three jewels are the Buddha, the Sangha (community), and the Dharma (teachings).

Who was the first patron of Buddhism?

Emperor Ashoka was one of the first patrons, promoting Buddhist ideals across India 200 years after Buddha's death.

What is the significance of Bodh Gaya?

Bodh Gaya is where the Buddha attained Enlightenment under a Bodhi tree.

What is karma in Buddhism?

Karma refers to the belief that intentional actions bring about consequences that affect our future lives.

Samsara is the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that Buddhists aim to transcend through Enlightenment.

What is the ultimate goal of Buddhism?

The ultimate goal is to achieve Enlightenment, or Nirvana, escaping the cycle of samsara.

How did Buddhism spread globally?

Buddhism spread through grassroots support, royal patronage, and adaptation to various cultures as it traveled across Asia.

Seven wonders of the buddhist world BBC FULL Documentary 2015

01:14:03

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0wq1LKICZQ

Resumo

TLDRBuddhism is an ancient belief system that blends religion and philosophy, emphasizing individual empowerment and personal understanding to escape suffering. Practiced by over 350 million people worldwide, Buddhism traces back to Northeastern India, where Prince Siddhartha Gautama attained Enlightenment and became the Buddha. This exploration visits seven wonders of the Buddhist world, including Bodh Gaya, the Mahabodhi Temple, and various other monumental sites which provide insight into Buddhism's long history and key concepts. Central to Buddhist belief are the 'three jewels': the Buddha, the community (Sangha), and the teachings (Dharma). These elements emphasize that enlightenment is achieved through personal effort, without reliance on divine beings, which was radically different from prevailing religious traditions in ancient India. Buddhist teachings have expanded globally, thanks in part to patrons like Emperor Ashoka who spread the message across India and beyond. The philosophy has adapted to various cultures, evolving into branches like Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. Key Buddhist concepts such as karma (the moral law of cause and effect) and samsara (the cycle of rebirth) stress the importance of ethical life and attaining Nirvana—the ultimate escape from suffering and rebirth. Cultural shifts and historic figures have influenced the architectural and philosophical growth of Buddhism, reflected in the diverse landscapes from stupa reliquaries to grand temples. Buddhism continues to evolve, maintaining its significant impact on both ancient and modern societies worldwide.

Conclusões

📜 Buddhism began around 500 years BC in Northeastern India.
🌳 Bodh Gaya is the site where Buddha attained Enlightenment under a Bodhi tree.
🪔 The 'three jewels' of Buddhism are Buddha, the Sangha (community), and Dharma (teachings).
🔄 Samsara refers to the cycle of birth and rebirth in Buddhism.
🕉️ Karma in Buddhism emphasizes moral cause and effect affecting future lives.
🚶‍♂️ Buddhism spread throughout Asia, significantly supported by Emperor Ashoka.
🧘 Enlightenment, or Nirvana, is the ultimate goal, liberating one from samsara.
🏯 Bodh Gaya and other sites illustrate Buddhism's historical and cultural influences.
✨ Buddhist philosophy and its adaptability have fostered diverse regional practices.
🌏 Buddhism has influenced cultures globally and continues to evolve with modernity.

Linha do tempo

00:00:00 - 00:05:00
Buddhism is both an ancient religion and philosophy practiced by 350 million people. It focuses on personal understanding to overcome suffering. The journey explores the 'Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World' to understand key Buddhist concepts and its enduring attraction.
00:05:00 - 00:10:00
Bodhgaya in India marks the origin of Buddhism where Prince Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment and became the Buddha. The site's history symbolizes Buddhism's journey from ancient to modern times.
00:10:00 - 00:15:00
The Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya signifies the Buddha's enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. It draws global pilgrims, highlighting Buddhism's emphasis on personal morality and self-reliance over divine intervention.
00:15:00 - 00:20:00
The Bodhnath Stupa in Nepal embodies the 'Three Jewels of Buddhism': the Buddha, the Sangha (community), and the Dharma (teachings). It emphasizes personal responsibility and spiritual practice.
00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Buddhism's Sangha offers a refuge for spiritual development free from societal obligations. The acceptance of women as nuns highlights its progressive stance. The Dharma focuses on reducing suffering for all beings.
00:25:00 - 00:30:00
Buddha's teachings on karma stress the significance of intentional actions in shaping future experiences. In Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth, sacred relics link physical presence to spiritual legacy.
00:30:00 - 00:35:00
Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth exemplifies karma, illustrating the Buddhist belief in cyclical lives and influences of past actions on future rebirths. The temple highlights symbiosis between Buddhist relics and royal authority.
00:35:00 - 00:40:00
Wat Pho in Thailand illustrates how Buddhism intertwines with state power. The Reclining Buddha symbolizes enlightenment and the escape from samsara, emphasizing moderation to improve future rebirths.
00:40:00 - 00:45:00
Buddhism in Cambodia thrived on royal patronage at Angkor Wat, reflecting a shift from Hindu to Buddhist influence. Meditation is pivotal, focusing on mental clarity and liberation from worldly distractions.
00:45:00 - 00:50:00
In Cambodia, despite historical oppression, Buddhism is resurging. Meditation is central to achieving Nirvana, representing mental liberation despite past violence, highlighted by the blending of Hindu and Buddhist influences.
00:50:00 - 00:55:00
Hong Kong's Giant Buddha reflects Buddhism's legacy within modern contexts. Zen Buddhism, originating in China, thrives, emphasizing intuition and simplicity. The statue signifies meditation and spiritual awakening.
00:55:00 - 01:00:00
Zen Buddhism, part of the Mahayana tradition, seeks enlightenment through meditation and mindfulness, rejecting rational thought. The Giant Buddha represents interconnectedness of mind and practice.
01:00:00 - 01:05:00
Zen emphasizes living in the moment with simplicity, attracting those seeking relief from modern pressures. The Giant Buddha embodies Buddhist teachings of compassion and universal wisdom, appealing across cultures.
01:05:00 - 01:14:03
In the USA, Buddhism flourishes, offering spirituality without authoritarianism. Temples like Hsi Lai provide a serene refuge and promote meditation and mindfulness in the pursuit of Nirvana as a state of enlightened peace.

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Mapa mental

Perguntas frequentes

Where did Buddhism begin?
Buddhism began in Northeastern India around 500 years before Christ.
What are the three jewels of Buddhism?
The three jewels are the Buddha, the Sangha (community), and the Dharma (teachings).
Who was the first patron of Buddhism?
Emperor Ashoka was one of the first patrons, promoting Buddhist ideals across India 200 years after Buddha's death.
What is the significance of Bodh Gaya?
Bodh Gaya is where the Buddha attained Enlightenment under a Bodhi tree.
What is karma in Buddhism?
Karma refers to the belief that intentional actions bring about consequences that affect our future lives.
What is samsara?
Samsara is the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that Buddhists aim to transcend through Enlightenment.
What is the ultimate goal of Buddhism?
The ultimate goal is to achieve Enlightenment, or Nirvana, escaping the cycle of samsara.
How did Buddhism spread globally?
Buddhism spread through grassroots support, royal patronage, and adaptation to various cultures as it traveled across Asia.

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Rolagem automática:

00:00:13
Buddhism is one of the most ancient
00:00:16
belief systems in the
00:00:18
world Buddhism is both a religion and a
00:00:21
philosophy only your own understanding
00:00:23
saves you from suffering it is practiced
00:00:27
by over 350 million people people today
00:00:31
there are many people who feel attracted
00:00:34
to a religion which empowers the human
00:00:38
individual I'm going to travel to seven
00:00:41
wonders of the Buddhist World Seven
00:00:43
Wonders that give an insight to the long
00:00:46
and Rich history of Buddhism at each
00:00:49
location I'll meet Buddhists who will
00:00:51
help me to understand a different
00:00:53
concept that forms the core of Buddhist
00:00:56
belief I'm going to explore how it
00:00:59
started
00:01:00
Ed where it traveled and some of the
00:01:03
most spectacular monuments built by
00:01:06
Buddhists right across the
00:01:13
globe and to try to get to the bottom of
00:01:16
the attraction of this philosophy for
00:01:18
mankind for close on
00:01:21
2,500
00:01:24
years buddhism's numbers grow year on
00:01:28
year and I'll be uncovering why as I
00:01:31
experience seven modern and ancient
00:01:35
wonders of the Buddhist
00:01:52
world this is Northeastern India where
00:01:55
Buddhism began around 500 years before
00:01:59
Christ
00:02:00
millions of pilgrims come to this
00:02:01
country and to the Sacred City of
00:02:03
bodgaya to visit the place where a young
00:02:06
Indian Prince underwent a life-changing
00:02:08
personal
00:02:09
transformation and came to be known as
00:02:12
the Buddha I've studied the period in
00:02:15
history when the Buddha lived for over
00:02:17
20 years and I just love it because this
00:02:22
was such a radical age this was a time
00:02:25
when men like the Buddha and Socrates in
00:02:28
ancient Greece turned the world of
00:02:31
belief upside down instead of focusing
00:02:34
on tradition and Convention and
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ritual they dealt with ethics and the
00:02:42
possibilities of the human
00:02:47
mind and I'm particularly fascinated to
00:02:50
F in the trail of Buddhism because as
00:02:53
the philosophy has traveled through 25
00:02:55
centuries it marked out a path that
00:02:59
leads directly from ancient Society to
00:03:03
the modern
00:03:06
world this is mahab Bodi the Great
00:03:09
Awakening temple in bodgaya in
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northeastern
00:03:12
India our first wonder of the Buddhist
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world the reason bodar is here at all is
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because 2 and a half Mill I ago one man
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had an internal personal revelation
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while he sat underneath a people tree
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it's a very quiet simple beginning to
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end up with all of
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this that man was called sedata gouta
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and we're told he renounced his
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Privileges and family to embark on a
00:03:55
rigorous Quest a journey to understand
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the inherent challenges of The Human
00:04:01
Condition sparked by the suffering
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sorrow and deprivation that he saw all
00:04:07
around
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him it was a long and difficult Journey
00:04:13
sadata renounced the Comforts of the
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material world he meditated for weeks on
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end he broke with the status quo in a
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region that had been dominated by the
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old gods for the previous Thousand
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Years finally he achieved Nar
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what we Loosely translate as
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Enlightenment and became known as the
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Buddha or the enlightened
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one the Buddha according to Buddhist
00:04:42
scriptures made his way to this spot and
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determined not to move until he found an
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answer to the world's
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suffering so it was here on one warm
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spring evening
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2,500 years ago that the Buddha came to
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sit it we're told that all night he was
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tormented by
00:05:04
demons but then as the sun began to rise
00:05:06
in the east he found
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Enlightenment the bodgaya temple is the
00:05:18
mecca of Buddhism it is where the Buddha
00:05:21
attained Enlightenment according to
00:05:23
their belief and the bod tree or a great
00:05:25
grandson of the bod tree still grows
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there and so Buddhist go there to
00:05:30
remember the great breakthrough that was
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the Buddha's discovery of the true
00:05:34
nature of the universe and inspired by
00:05:37
the Buddha example you'll find visitors
00:05:39
here from every corner of the globe from
00:05:41
the 90 or so countries where Buddhism
00:05:44
still flourishes
00:05:46
today bodgaya is one of the key sites
00:05:49
for um all Buddhists worldwide it serves
00:05:52
as a magnet as a center point for
00:05:54
Buddhists from around the world you
00:05:57
could say it's the place exactly where
00:06:00
Buddhism
00:06:02
started I'm not a Buddhist but if you
00:06:05
ask anyone who's involved in Buddhism
00:06:07
they'll tell you that it's a very
00:06:09
difficult philosophy to teach or to
00:06:11
explain and that the very best way to
00:06:14
understand it is to experience
00:06:17
it and so by experiencing Buddhism I'm
00:06:21
going to try to get to the heart of a
00:06:22
philosophy that can sometimes seem
00:06:25
complicated Out Of Reach and I'll start
00:06:28
with the three key principles of
00:06:30
Buddhism but are known as its three
00:06:35
jewels the first is the life and example
00:06:39
of Buddha
00:06:42
himself all Buddhists are encouraged to
00:06:44
model their approach to life on
00:06:50
his the most important single point in
00:06:54
the Buddha's teaching and one which
00:06:56
distinguishes it very sharply from other
00:06:59
Rel religions is that the Buddha taught
00:07:02
that each of us is entirely and solely
00:07:08
responsible for our own lives and our
00:07:11
own salvation no one else can be
00:07:17
responsible the Buddha didn't claim any
00:07:19
Divine status nor did he profess to be a
00:07:22
personal savior he called himself a
00:07:25
guide and a teacher his message appealed
00:07:28
to people of all social classes in
00:07:30
Ancient India to Merchants to Farmers
00:07:33
and to the Untouchable cast the Buddha
00:07:36
in the course of his spiritual awakening
00:07:39
rejected a good number of aspects of
00:07:41
Hinduism he rejected some philosophical
00:07:44
components of Hindu beliefs um he was
00:07:47
very critical of the position of the
00:07:49
brahans or priests in society at that
00:07:52
time which was a very elitist position
00:07:55
he was similarly critical of the cast
00:07:57
system he positioned himself as a result
00:07:59
outside the cast
00:08:02
system the Buddha spent his remaining
00:08:04
years traveling through deep forests
00:08:07
across mango Groves from Village to
00:08:09
Village the Curious would bring food and
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clothing for the philosopher and his
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band of followers and in turn he
00:08:16
encouraged them to reconsider the
00:08:19
purpose and point of life to recalibrate
00:08:23
their moral
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compass although the Buddha didn't
00:08:28
establish a church or Temple system as
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such over time the significant locations
00:08:33
in his life were gradually turned into
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shrines originally bodgaya was just a
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pastoral Sanctuary marked out with a
00:08:44
stone ballustrade 200 years or so after
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his death but by the 6th Century ad a
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full-blown Temple the mahabodhi temple
00:08:54
marked the
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spot about 400 years after the first
00:08:59
temple that was built here for the
00:09:01
worshipping of the Bodhi Tree was
00:09:03
replaced by this kind of a temple built
00:09:06
to enshrine the iconic image of Buddha
00:09:09
which had gained currency by that time
00:09:12
the temple particularly the mahabodhi
00:09:15
temple is representative of how
00:09:17
important Buddhist temples were and how
00:09:19
you know this idea of building a temple
00:09:22
to enshrine statues started from
00:09:28
here
00:09:32
as buddhism's travel through the
00:09:33
centuries perhaps inevitably it's taken
00:09:36
on more the aspect of a religion with
00:09:39
temples and pilgrims and a religious
00:09:45
hierarchy you could be forgiven for
00:09:47
mistaking Buddhism as one of the great
00:09:49
God driven faiths of the world but there
00:09:53
is a key Difference by putting such an
00:09:56
emphasis on a system of personal
00:09:58
morality and breaking with the
00:10:00
conventions and traditions and rituals
00:10:03
of the past in many ways the Buddha was
00:10:06
one of those men who gave us the modern
00:10:09
world and although he never denied that
00:10:11
there were Gods he simply said you don't
00:10:15
have to rely on the gods to make
00:10:17
everything
00:10:20
okay according to Buddhist sources
00:10:23
having seeded a radical New World View
00:10:26
the Buddha died at the age of 84
00:10:29
his body was chromated but his bones
00:10:32
remained
00:10:34
unburned they were distributed amongst
00:10:36
the various tribes rulers and kingdoms
00:10:39
who are now starting to follow the
00:10:40
Buddhist way and who honored its founder
00:10:43
by building monuments or sters over his
00:10:48
remains in Katmandu the capital city of
00:10:51
Napal stands the bodart stoer our second
00:10:55
wonder of the Buddhist
00:10:58
world
00:11:00
it was first built in the fifth or early
00:11:01
6th centuries ad then rebuilt and
00:11:04
restored a number of times finally as
00:11:07
this giant enclosed tomb in the 14th
00:11:11
century it is the largest in the Indian
00:11:14
subcontinent a sacred place for
00:11:17
thousands of Buddhists throughout the
00:11:21
world here at Boden art I'm going to
00:11:23
find out more about the three jewels of
00:11:27
Buddhism Buddhism assists as far as
00:11:30
Buddhists are concerned in three things
00:11:32
which they call the three jewels and
00:11:34
those three things are closely connected
00:11:36
the first is the Buddha the founder of
00:11:39
their religion the second is called the
00:11:42
S and that is the community of monks and
00:11:45
nuns the third is called the Dharma the
00:11:49
Dharma refers to the preaching the
00:11:52
teaching of the Buddha in other words
00:11:55
it's what the Buddha discovered and it's
00:11:57
also the truth
00:11:59
as you walk around the budhut here uh
00:12:01
you always have this sense that you're
00:12:02
being watched and that's because the
00:12:04
Buddha's allseeing eyes are always
00:12:08
staring down at you that squiggle in the
00:12:10
middle of his face incidentally is not
00:12:12
his nose it's actually the Sanskrit
00:12:14
character for the number one to
00:12:16
represent a kind of unity in the
00:12:18
Buddhist Faith something you won't find
00:12:21
represented up there are the Buddha's
00:12:23
ears and there is a particular reason
00:12:25
for that we're told that the Buddhist
00:12:28
said never wanted to hear that he was
00:12:31
being
00:12:33
worshiped and of course that is what is
00:12:36
so unique about Buddhism this is a
00:12:39
religion without a central authority
00:12:41
figure instead there's just this Credo
00:12:44
that man is his own Lord and Master that
00:12:47
mankind itself can control Humanity's
00:12:55
Destiny it's not atheistic because they
00:12:58
do believe in the ex existence of sort
00:12:59
of gods and angels and so on but they
00:13:02
simply don't believe that those beings
00:13:04
have the universe under control and
00:13:06
therefore they cannot save us from
00:13:07
suffering they themselves need saving
00:13:10
from suffering from a future time when
00:13:12
they cease being gods and they become uh
00:13:14
beings vulnerable to pain and
00:13:20
suffering at the binart stuper one of
00:13:23
the many people who come to
00:13:24
circumambulate and to pay their respects
00:13:26
to the Buddha is Annie choing a Buddhist
00:13:29
nun famous throughout Nepal for her
00:13:32
sweet singing
00:13:34
voice she is in fact known as The
00:13:37
Singing Nun this is a very highly
00:13:40
spiritual place we consider it's a holy
00:13:43
place and we believe that all the great
00:13:45
relics of the Buddhas are in the stupa
00:13:48
and then it holds a very special
00:13:51
religious spot and every PE every people
00:13:54
who comes around here are always
00:13:56
reciting mantras and really focused fing
00:13:59
on meditation they do the circum
00:14:01
imulation frustration to keep the
00:14:03
physical health healthy and the mind to
00:14:07
be energy clean chanting mantras as well
00:14:12
as doing prayers so trying to put
00:14:14
yourself in a very good positive
00:14:17
discipline this is a very very highly
00:14:19
blessed
00:14:22
place Annie is originally from Tibet
00:14:25
thousands of Tibetan Buddhists now live
00:14:27
in nepo as refugees
00:14:29
the brand of Buddhism here is as much
00:14:31
Tibetan as it is
00:14:33
nepes flexibility and diversity has
00:14:35
always been one of buddhism's strengths
00:14:38
the Buddha himself said there should be
00:14:40
no one official Buddhist language
00:14:44
instead Buddhists are encouraged to
00:14:46
focus on the universal relevance of the
00:14:48
Buddha's
00:14:51
wisdom there are some people here who
00:14:53
will tell you that buried deep in that
00:14:55
stuper there's a fragment of the
00:14:57
Buddha's bone
00:15:00
not certain we're ever actually going to
00:15:01
be able to prove that um but what is
00:15:03
sure is that this is the biggest stoer
00:15:06
in the whole of the nepo and one of the
00:15:09
largest in the world and it is immensely
00:15:13
impressive but do you know what's
00:15:15
significant about it actually it's not
00:15:17
how it looks but what it means because
00:15:20
this was built to represent something
00:15:22
very special for the men who created
00:15:25
this this was nothing less than an
00:15:27
incarnation
00:15:29
the budha
00:15:36
mind the symbolism of stupa is very
00:15:38
interesting because it takes the
00:15:40
elements of earth water fire wind and
00:15:43
space know different shapes that
00:15:45
represent those and they put them in a
00:15:47
kind of Ideal aesthetic form and so the
00:15:50
idea is that the Buddha's mind is the
00:15:53
awareness that the universe is the ideal
00:15:56
environment for a human being to a
00:15:58
achieve freedom from
00:16:01
suffering around the Buddha gathered men
00:16:03
who shared with him a common vision and
00:16:06
goal gradually this group came to be a
00:16:08
formalized community a body that took
00:16:11
its name from the old aristocratic
00:16:13
councils of the day the
00:16:15
sang the Buddhist sang became a monastic
00:16:18
tradition comprising ordained monks and
00:16:21
nuns and it's one of the three jewels of
00:16:27
Buddhism
00:16:32
my first experience of the sang came up
00:16:35
what felt like an ungodly
00:16:38
hour at Boden art every morning just
00:16:40
after Dawn monks of all ages gather to
00:16:44
perform the first of many rituals of the
00:16:46
day the sang is one of the oldest
00:16:49
continuously active spiritual
00:16:52
organizations in the
00:16:57
world
00:17:02
what's being recited here is a Tara Puja
00:17:05
um it's a chant that aims to ensure a
00:17:07
kind of Liberation from suffering um and
00:17:10
it's really interesting because Tara is
00:17:12
thought to be a female manifestation of
00:17:15
Buddha's wisdom something which is
00:17:17
incredibly potent I me this isn't just
00:17:19
an abstract idea of wisdom this is
00:17:21
thought to be able to be healing to
00:17:23
actually be stronger than medicine
00:17:27
itself
00:17:32
the sang includes women and was set up
00:17:35
to allow those who wish to practice
00:17:37
Buddha's teachings a disciplined
00:17:39
environment and maximum time to focus on
00:17:42
the Philosopher's ideas free from the
00:17:45
responsibilities and distractions of a
00:17:47
domestic or conventional
00:17:52
lifestyle a few miles outside catmandu
00:17:55
Annie The Singing Nun runs her own nunar
00:18:01
it's a refuge for girls many as young as
00:18:04
10 the age both sexes can embark on the
00:18:07
life of a Buddhist
00:18:17
novice I have here mostly girls from
00:18:20
families who are facing some
00:18:23
difficulties obviously poverty and then
00:18:26
other thing is the others are a little
00:18:29
bit very ignorantly carried away with
00:18:31
the alcoholic Behavior as well very
00:18:34
abusive behaviors and who doesn't think
00:18:36
that it's good to send their girls to
00:18:38
school so I try to collect them here and
00:18:42
give them as much as I what I can give
00:18:44
them controversial for its time was the
00:18:47
inclusion of women among the ranks of
00:18:48
the sang the Buddha allowed women to
00:18:51
become nuns to lead a life devoted to
00:18:54
Spiritual
00:18:55
Development like Buddhist monks nuns are
00:18:58
expected to remain celibate pure since
00:19:01
they are one of the three jewels of
00:19:03
Buddhism not just Buddha's foot soldiers
00:19:06
but an incarnation of the belief system
00:19:11
itself so I've learned about two of the
00:19:14
three jewels of Buddhism the S and the
00:19:17
life of the Buddha but what about the
00:19:20
third Jewel the Dharma or teachings you
00:19:24
can perhaps help me out a bit how do you
00:19:27
Des describe Dharma what what does
00:19:30
Dharma mean to you according to my
00:19:34
understanding what Dharma is to do
00:19:37
whatever you
00:19:39
do very practically
00:19:43
skillfully for benefit of the all
00:19:46
beings without causing any harm and for
00:19:50
their well-being including oneself and
00:19:53
all is
00:19:57
Dharma
00:20:17
Dharma means the purity of
00:20:19
heart Dharma means peace and Dharma
00:20:23
means well-being of all human
00:20:27
society special ways that you can
00:20:29
achieve Dharma are there rules and
00:20:31
regulations that show you what to do we
00:20:34
are taught what causes
00:20:37
suffering and what can cause suffering
00:20:40
and how to avoid causing suffering in
00:20:44
life one's own life and when you
00:20:47
implement those
00:20:49
teachings I think that is what really
00:20:52
contributes towards one's own well-being
00:20:54
and others well-being and I think that
00:20:57
is considered
00:21:00
Dharma in a Buddhist context the word
00:21:03
Dharma refers above all to the teachings
00:21:06
of the Buddha as he rediscovered them uh
00:21:10
in the process of his progress towards
00:21:14
Enlightenment the reality of the Dharma
00:21:18
uh which holds you free from suffering
00:21:20
is what uh they take the root of the
00:21:22
word Dharma which means to hold and the
00:21:25
Buddha said Dharma holds a being free
00:21:27
from suffering
00:21:35
coming here to Nepal it has been
00:21:37
relatively straightforward to identify
00:21:39
two of the jewels of the triple jewels
00:21:42
of Buddhism the Buddha himself both
00:21:45
ideas about him and his image are
00:21:46
absolutely everywhere as is the sang um
00:21:50
here in katman do there are monks and
00:21:52
nuns at every street
00:21:54
corner but what has been harder to pin
00:21:57
down is is the Dharma itself um the
00:22:01
belief system the philosophy the
00:22:02
religion whatever you want to call it of
00:22:05
Buddhism maybe it's unrealistic of me to
00:22:07
expect there to be one single definition
00:22:10
for such a broad concept um the Buddha
00:22:13
himself said the Dharma was like the
00:22:15
salt of the oceans of the world a
00:22:18
universal taste so the Buddha implied
00:22:21
the Dharma could be tasted anywhere by
00:22:25
anyone but the question for me as a
00:22:27
historian
00:22:28
is how that taste of the Buddhist Dharma
00:22:31
could become Universal practically how
00:22:35
Buddhism established itself as a global
00:22:38
belief system Buddha's teachings were
00:22:41
charismatic and radical for their time
00:22:43
but as with all big new ideas they
00:22:46
needed a ground swell of popular support
00:22:48
or a patron or both to gain a firm
00:22:51
foothold and to really
00:22:53
fly while there was Grassroots interest
00:22:55
in what he had to say it was about 200
00:22:58
years after the Buddha's death that
00:22:59
Buddhism got a major
00:23:01
boost in 250 BC the ruthless all
00:23:06
powerful Emperor Asoka who controlled
00:23:09
most of ancient India proved buddhism's
00:23:12
greatest
00:23:14
Ally Hoka was haunted by the memory of
00:23:18
the blood that he' acquired on his hands
00:23:21
as a result of the cut and thrust of his
00:23:23
rise to power and he decided to turn to
00:23:27
the good
00:23:28
and in order to realize that ambition he
00:23:31
vigorously promoted Buddhist ideals
00:23:34
right across the Indian
00:23:37
subcontinent according to Buddhist
00:23:39
tradition in the centuries following
00:23:41
ashoka's sponsorship of Buddha's ideas
00:23:43
the philosophy involved into at least 18
00:23:45
different
00:23:46
schools one of these the thraa still
00:23:49
survives today and is mainly associated
00:23:52
with South and Southeast Asia another
00:23:55
came to be called the Mahayana the great
00:23:58
vehicle or way now most often found in
00:24:00
North and East
00:24:03
Asia aoka by embracing Buddhism put a
00:24:07
particular emphasis on the consequences
00:24:09
of his actions on what he thought and
00:24:12
how he lived in the world on his
00:24:15
karma karma is a word well known in the
00:24:18
west today it has its roots in early
00:24:21
Indian belief systems but the value of
00:24:24
karma became a fundamentally important
00:24:27
Buddhist concept and one that I'm going
00:24:30
to explore at the Temple of the tooth in
00:24:33
Candi Sri Lanka our next wonder of the
00:24:36
Buddhist
00:24:52
World Sri Lankan Buddhists believe that
00:24:55
the tooth Relic was brought to their
00:24:57
country around 300
00:25:00
BC safeguarding The Relic became the
00:25:02
responsibility of kings and over the
00:25:05
years the custodianship of the Relic
00:25:08
came to symbolize the right to
00:25:14
rule the Buddha is said to have given
00:25:16
two legacies to Future Generations the
00:25:19
body of his teachings the Dharma and
00:25:23
also relics of his physical body itself
00:25:26
which are now scatter said in shrines
00:25:28
right across the globe and one of the
00:25:31
most precious is kept in here in the
00:25:35
temple of the
00:25:38
tooth that Relic makes the presence of
00:25:41
the Buddha more graphic to people so it
00:25:44
gives them a power actually many
00:25:45
Buddhist temples around the Buddhist
00:25:47
world have little relics piece of bone
00:25:50
or something just like in Europe you
00:25:52
have relics of the Saints so it's a way
00:25:54
of making the person's presence feel
00:25:56
more immediate that gives the temple
00:25:58
more power as a magnet to draw the
00:26:02
worshipper the shrine stands right at
00:26:05
the center of a paved Courtyard the
00:26:08
ceiling is decorated with moonstones and
00:26:10
floral
00:26:15
designs there are ivory reliefs on the
00:26:20
doorways the inner chamber contains the
00:26:23
tooth Relic and other sacred
00:26:25
objects and all around there is a
00:26:28
brightly painted
00:26:49
Corridor monks conduct daily Worship in
00:26:52
the inner chamber of the
00:26:54
temple rituals are performed at dawn at
00:26:58
noon and in the
00:27:00
evening the tooth is in this upper
00:27:02
chamber in a casket of gold and is only
00:27:05
revealed to a Chosen
00:27:09
Few the sacred Relic is symbolically
00:27:12
bathed with a herbal preparation made
00:27:14
from scented water and fragrant
00:27:19
flowers this holy water is believed to
00:27:21
contain healing properties and is
00:27:23
distributed among those
00:27:26
present
00:27:30
once a week mothers gather at the temple
00:27:33
with their
00:27:34
babies all these little babies are
00:27:36
waiting to be taken in to be blessed by
00:27:39
the priest so that they have Buddha's
00:27:41
power with them for the rest of their
00:27:43
lives they're given a little white piece
00:27:45
of string to wrap around their wrist
00:27:47
which shows that the Buddha is with them
00:27:49
from now until they die and it's sort
00:27:51
incredibly important they get the
00:27:53
Buddha's blessing right at this early
00:27:55
stage because everything that they do
00:27:57
from from now on all their intentional
00:27:59
actions what they think what they say
00:28:02
and what they do their karma will affect
00:28:05
how they are then reborn in the next
00:28:08
life karma is one of the main concepts
00:28:11
of Buddhism it's a belief that any of
00:28:14
our intentional actions both thought and
00:28:17
deed will be mirrored by something
00:28:19
similar happening to us in the future so
00:28:21
if you harm someone someone will harm
00:28:25
you this principle of cause and effect
00:28:27
can bring consequences that are either
00:28:29
good or bad depending on what it is that
00:28:31
you've done because Buddhists believe we
00:28:34
have many lives this good and bad karma
00:28:37
can generate consequences both
00:28:39
throughout this life and long into the
00:28:44
next karma is what you do the word
00:28:48
literally means deed or
00:28:50
action but the Buddha said that all
00:28:53
Karma that matters is what is morally
00:28:56
good or morally bad and you decide what
00:29:01
to
00:29:02
do now we must remember that for
00:29:06
Buddhists your life goes on beyond what
00:29:08
we normally think of as this life in
00:29:11
fact you are reborn an infinite number
00:29:15
of times until you manage to bring that
00:29:18
to an
00:29:22
end Buddhists use a metaphor to help
00:29:25
explain what karma is they say that if
00:29:28
you seow thistle seed then you can't
00:29:30
expect apple trees to grow and that is
00:29:34
very clear it's the basic principle of
00:29:36
cause and effect and as a historian I
00:29:39
know that that principle has real
00:29:42
validity we are all affected by our past
00:29:45
and our past and our present together
00:29:48
informs our future so when the Buddha
00:29:51
said that we should be mindful of our
00:29:53
intentional actions of our Karma and
00:29:56
that our highest Authority is our
00:29:58
conscience then he was making real sense
00:30:02
and he was also clarifying something
00:30:04
about what it is to be
00:30:12
human of course the issue is that Karma
00:30:15
can be both good and bad and in Sri
00:30:18
Lanka The Fallout of action and reaction
00:30:21
of cause and effect has been brutally
00:30:23
tested in recent years for nearly three
00:30:27
decades the country has been locked in a
00:30:29
violent Civil War in which close on
00:30:33
100,000 people have been
00:30:35
killed Sri Lanka is only now emerging
00:30:38
from this debilitating conflict between
00:30:40
the Hindu Tamil minority and a Buddhist
00:30:43
singes
00:30:45
majority the Temple of the tooth was
00:30:47
badly hit and partially destroyed during
00:30:49
the war it's now been fully
00:30:52
restored Buddhists believe this cycle of
00:30:55
death and destruction
00:30:57
can be
00:30:58
broken they assert that by following a
00:31:01
certain path it's possible to break out
00:31:04
of a continuous round of life and death
00:31:07
and rebirth which in Buddhism has a name
00:31:11
samsara and samsara is the concept I'm
00:31:13
going to investigate now as I move to
00:31:17
the next wonder of the Buddhist
00:31:26
world once Buddhist ideas had flourished
00:31:28
in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan monarchs sent
00:31:31
emissaries to adjoining Kingdoms in
00:31:33
Southeast Asia to carry the Buddhist
00:31:36
message by the 11th century thraen
00:31:39
Buddhism was well established in
00:31:41
Thailand and here in Bangkok close on
00:31:43
90% of TI are now
00:31:47
Buddhist the reason that Buddhism has
00:31:49
thrived so vigorously and tenaciously
00:31:52
here is because right from its very
00:31:54
outset it's had the support of High
00:31:57
Kings um a king here can aspire to be a
00:32:00
Buddha himself and there was one king
00:32:03
who was actually a monk for 25 years
00:32:05
before he came to the throne every time
00:32:08
the royal family builds a new Palace for
00:32:10
itself it will also construct next door
00:32:12
a monry and a temple complex as a kind
00:32:15
of outward sign of its righteousness and
00:32:17
commitment to the Buddhist cause and
00:32:20
here in bangco the temple complex is
00:32:23
certainly Fit For A
00:32:26
King
00:32:29
this is wat Poe our next wonder of the
00:32:32
Buddhist world it's the largest and
00:32:35
oldest Temple complex in Bangkok it's
00:32:39
home to more than 1,000 Buddha images
00:32:42
the complex includes a temple a working
00:32:45
Monastery and a large Courtyard with a
00:32:47
forest of sters thick with exquisite
00:32:50
handmade Lotus
00:32:54
motifs and hidden within its own own
00:32:57
palacial
00:32:58
Hall the golden reclining
00:33:08
Buddha the gold Buddha is 141 ft long
00:33:13
and 49 ft High started in 1788 it took
00:33:18
over 5 years to
00:33:25
build
00:33:35
this is one of the most stunning Gob
00:33:38
smacking works of monumental art I've
00:33:40
ever seen I have to say I love its
00:33:43
audacity I love the fact that it says
00:33:45
look at me look at what mankind can do
00:33:48
when he manipulates raw materials to
00:33:50
create a thing of beauty uh because here
00:33:53
there are thousands of fragments of
00:33:55
mother of pearl used and
00:33:57
153 plates of
00:34:00
gold but what it doesn't seem to me to
00:34:03
say is that this is an incarnation of
00:34:05
the middle path um that essential
00:34:08
Buddhist notion that extremes and
00:34:11
excesses should be avoided at all costs
00:34:14
because there's no doubt that this is a
00:34:16
thing of opulence it's enormous it's
00:34:19
gorgeous and it's very
00:34:24
sensuous in history of time Island there
00:34:28
are a lot of large scale uh reclining
00:34:31
Buddhas built uh all over uh central
00:34:35
part of Thailand uh because to build uh
00:34:39
reclining Buddha it's not a very easy
00:34:42
process because most of the reclining
00:34:46
Buddha is not made from casting it's
00:34:49
made from bricks plaster or
00:34:54
cement is considered very uh
00:34:57
respectful image so it must be decorated
00:35:01
with uh a very valuable materials and of
00:35:05
course the most valuable materials for
00:35:08
decorating the image of the Lord Buddha
00:35:11
should be
00:35:13
gold gold in Buddhism symbolizes the Sun
00:35:17
or fire the most valuable of metals it's
00:35:20
accorded a sacred status through its
00:35:23
association with suria the sun god of
00:35:26
the Hindu Ian for Buddhists in Thailand
00:35:29
and other South Asian countries gold is
00:35:31
an element that signifies homage a gift
00:35:35
of gold is the ultimate demonstration of
00:35:38
one's
00:35:39
piety the meritorious act of putting
00:35:42
gold leaf on the surface of the Buddha's
00:35:45
skin is to commemorate the living Buddha
00:35:48
who had a kind of golden like Aura and
00:35:50
or Radiance they
00:35:52
believe but gold and its association
00:35:55
with wealth and might is also the way
00:35:57
the time monarchs have used a showy form
00:36:00
of piety to forge a strong relationship
00:36:03
between budd's ideas and the power of
00:36:06
the
00:36:07
state it was King Rama iiii who had the
00:36:10
statue of the reclining Buddha opulently
00:36:12
restored at the height of his reign in
00:36:15
the mid 19th
00:36:16
century it's called The Lion pose says
00:36:20
he lay there in the lion pose as he was
00:36:23
preparing to die it's described that he
00:36:26
lay down on his right side and he rested
00:36:29
his head on his right
00:36:32
hand there's a reason that this Buddha
00:36:35
has got such a Serene smile it's because
00:36:38
he's achieved Enlightenment Nirvana it
00:36:41
means that he's escaped what Buddhists
00:36:43
call
00:36:44
samsara an endless cycle of Life of
00:36:48
birth and death of passion and desire
00:36:51
and delusion that can only lead to pain
00:36:55
and suffering
00:37:00
samsara effectively constitutes a cycle
00:37:03
of birth and rebirth and as long as we
00:37:06
are in samsara we are reborn innumerable
00:37:09
times moving from one existence to the
00:37:12
next we can be reborn as a human being
00:37:14
as a Divinity or you can be reborn as an
00:37:16
animal
00:37:21
Etc tell me what you think samsara is
00:37:25
for me uh it's not just the physical
00:37:29
picture of you know the circle of being
00:37:31
born and aging and dying for me it's it
00:37:35
has something to do with the state of
00:37:37
mind as well that you have to deal with
00:37:40
your bad emotions you feel you have
00:37:44
problems you feel suffering you have
00:37:46
feel frustrated you don't know how to
00:37:48
deal with it but this is just a small
00:37:50
samples of bad things that happen to you
00:37:52
you just keep go on and on and on you
00:37:54
know you can find a real peie or
00:37:59
happiness The Wheel of Life is a common
00:38:01
visual depiction in Buddhism at the time
00:38:04
Buddha started to teach many understood
00:38:06
Life as a Relentless cycle where all
00:38:08
were born grew old died and were reborn
00:38:11
in another life it was an eternal morass
00:38:15
from which there was no
00:38:17
release but Buddha felt that an escape
00:38:20
was possible he taught that through
00:38:23
one's actions Karma and through a way of
00:38:26
life that was characterized by wisdom
00:38:28
morality and compassion via meditation
00:38:31
and the Triumph of the Mind Over craving
00:38:33
desire and excess it was possible to
00:38:36
achieve enlightenment
00:38:40
Nirvana he believed that this
00:38:42
Enlightenment would Empower Ordinary
00:38:44
People to break free from
00:38:48
samsara this idea gives Buddhist
00:38:51
funerals a distinctive
00:38:52
character those present mourn their loss
00:38:56
but also hope that thanks to their
00:38:58
beloved's Good Karma the dead are at
00:39:00
least one step closer to Enlightenment
00:39:03
that they have the chance of a rebirth
00:39:06
as a better being who one day can escape
00:39:13
samsara what goes around comes around
00:39:16
that's what I believe this body is just
00:39:18
like a house that we ran for a while
00:39:21
after we die we have to find a new place
00:39:23
to live it's impermanent it's just
00:39:26
temporary so good Buddhists believe that
00:39:29
we should do our best in this life to
00:39:32
guarantee the better place after we
00:39:53
die Buddhists say that there is only one
00:39:56
uncertain way to break free from samsara
00:39:59
to eliminate the desires and the
00:40:02
passions and the distractions of
00:40:04
everyday life now of course that is very
00:40:07
easy to say and it's very hard to do so
00:40:11
over the centuries Buddhists have
00:40:12
employed specific rigorous methods to
00:40:16
break free from all of this from the
00:40:18
troubles and The Temptations of the real
00:40:20
world and to set themselves on the path
00:40:23
to Enlightenment to
00:40:24
Nana and that is the truly radical thing
00:40:28
about the Buddha's example his belief
00:40:31
that each and every one of us has the
00:40:34
capacity to achieve Liberation to
00:40:37
achieve our own
00:40:42
Enlightenment it took the Buddha years
00:40:44
to arrive at this radical belief ideas
00:40:47
he developed through his own personal
00:40:49
experience in particular an intense form
00:40:52
of
00:40:53
meditation and it is Buddhist Meditation
00:40:56
that I'm now going to experience in our
00:40:59
next wonder of the Buddhist
00:41:02
World Buddhism continued to spread
00:41:05
throughout the medieval period come the
00:41:07
13th century and Buddhism was
00:41:09
flourishing in the KEH Kingdom modern
00:41:12
day
00:41:14
Cambodia the temple complexes here at
00:41:16
Anor are our fifth
00:41:20
Wonder anle W began life as the sacred
00:41:23
Palace complex of a Chim Emperor who in
00:41:26
fact favored Hinduism over Buddhist
00:41:30
ideas these aren't just buildings but
00:41:33
have a grand
00:41:35
ambition the whole complex is said to be
00:41:38
a symbolic representation of Hindu
00:41:47
cosmology the original Temple honored
00:41:49
the Hindu god Vishnu and incarnates the
00:41:52
center of the physical and spiritual
00:41:55
universe a mythical
00:41:59
Mountain a series of five rectangular
00:42:02
walls represent other mountains and the
00:42:05
moats here evoke the cosmic
00:42:19
ocean this place reeks of a combination
00:42:23
of Earthly and divine power and of the
00:42:27
close-knit relationship between gods and
00:42:30
Kings and of course it was a belief in
00:42:33
that relationship that inspired the
00:42:34
creation of this complex in the first
00:42:36
place but for some people it was just
00:42:40
too exclusive too strictly
00:42:43
hierarchical and Buddhism offered a
00:42:47
solution it was the CH Emperor Garman I
00:42:50
7th who converted to Buddhism and his
00:42:53
regime marked a clear dividing line with
00:42:55
the old old Hindu past before 1200 art
00:43:00
and the temples mostly portrayed scenes
00:43:02
from the Hindu Pantheon after his
00:43:04
conversion Buddhist scenes begin to
00:43:06
appear as standard
00:43:08
motifs during his Reign there was a
00:43:10
focus on building libraries monastic
00:43:13
dwellings Public Works and more Earthly
00:43:16
projects accessible to the common
00:43:19
people so history in Cambodia takes a
00:43:22
humanist turn um as Buddhism rises in
00:43:25
popular ity you find images of the
00:43:28
Buddha and his followers emerging
00:43:30
everywhere in the architecture in Gates
00:43:33
in walls and in temples so now Anor is
00:43:37
showing the world a more human
00:43:41
face the Anor complex is a prime example
00:43:45
of the classical style of K
00:43:47
architecture by the 12th century CH
00:43:50
Architects had become skilled and
00:43:52
confident in masonry Facing The
00:43:54
Monuments with intricate sand stone
00:43:57
blocks ankle wat is famous for the
00:44:00
harmony of its worldclass
00:44:02
design architecturally Towers shaped
00:44:06
like Lotus buds are
00:44:08
characteristic half galleries broaden
00:44:11
the passageways other galleries connect
00:44:14
enclosures and Terraces appear along the
00:44:16
main Pathways of the
00:44:18
temple the walls are decorated with bass
00:44:21
reliefs showing Hindu mythological
00:44:23
figures and detailed narrative scenes
00:44:28
this one depicts the churning of the
00:44:33
oceans other elements of the design have
00:44:36
been destroyed by looting and the
00:44:38
passage of time they included gilded
00:44:41
stucco gold on some figures and
00:44:44
elaborate carved ceiling panels and
00:44:47
doors this was the largest sacred
00:44:50
building in the
00:44:52
world although there is an eerie
00:44:55
crumbling Beauty to this place now you
00:44:58
have to try to imagine it in its Heyday
00:45:01
all this stonework would have been
00:45:03
brightly painted and in this Corridor
00:45:06
there had been many hundreds of statues
00:45:08
of the bdha wrought out of precious gold
00:45:12
uh the light from the statues would have
00:45:13
been reflected back from the walls which
00:45:15
would have been studded with emeralds
00:45:17
and sapphires and
00:45:19
rubies and outside there would have been
00:45:22
crowds of monks their eyes closed in
00:45:26
meditation their faces lit by the glow
00:45:29
of torches made out of jungle
00:45:33
resin since Buddhism is primarily an
00:45:36
educational
00:45:37
system meditation is a key component of
00:45:40
that educational system meditation is
00:45:43
the way you become viscerally and
00:45:45
directly aware of all these deep
00:45:47
connections and connectedness is to the
00:45:49
universe and you have to become directly
00:45:51
aware of it to become free of being
00:45:53
controlled by unconscious processes
00:45:56
and that freedom is Liberation that
00:45:58
freedom is
00:46:00
nirvana I've been invited by a group of
00:46:03
traine Buist monks to experience
00:46:05
meditation for
00:46:08
myself members of the S can spend hours
00:46:11
each day
00:46:13
meditating the way they sit the position
00:46:17
of their hands is copied from the
00:46:18
practice of the Buddha
00:46:21
himself they are still and concentrate
00:46:24
on their breathing not doing anything to
00:46:27
alter the way they breathe not worrying
00:46:29
about whether they're doing it right or
00:46:32
wrong clearing their minds of thoughts
00:46:35
of feelings of fear and anger of the
00:46:38
distractions of the outside
00:46:40
world just following the breathing and
00:46:44
becoming one with each
00:46:50
breath I can't say I've managed to
00:46:53
completely block out the sound of the
00:46:55
world going going on and it feels hard
00:46:58
to stay this still for so long but if
00:47:02
someone were to ask me if I had any
00:47:04
anger in my head or my heart right now I
00:47:08
would have to say there is
00:47:18
none the parley Cannon advises that
00:47:21
there are particularly good places to
00:47:24
meditate a Mountain a hillside a Rock
00:47:28
cave a cemetery an open field open
00:47:32
Forest the root of a tree deep in the
00:47:36
jungle and this place certainly fits
00:47:38
some of those criteria but I have to say
00:47:41
I think I'm probably going to carry on
00:47:43
meditating in my own sweet way for a
00:47:45
while um I'm not quite ready yet to do
00:47:47
the deep breathing and the Lotus
00:47:49
position but still I have huge respect
00:47:52
for the practice of meditation not least
00:47:56
because it is a firm vote of confidence
00:47:58
in the power of the human mind it
00:48:01
suggests that in order to transcend the
00:48:03
difficulties of this world we don't just
00:48:06
need to appeal to a higher Divine
00:48:09
Authority but can look to our own
00:48:14
Consciousness well certainly the people
00:48:16
of Cambodia have had more cause than
00:48:18
most to find internal resources to deal
00:48:21
with the troubles that the world has
00:48:22
thrown at
00:48:24
them Cambodia has suffered some of the
00:48:26
worst violence and genocide of the last
00:48:30
century between 1968 and
00:48:33
1976 over 3 million cambodians were
00:48:36
killed in the war that engulfed Vietnam
00:48:38
and other countries of Southeast
00:48:41
Asia This Was Then followed by the
00:48:43
terror and genocide Unleashed by the CH
00:48:46
Rouge a communist movement that ruled
00:48:48
Cambodia for four
00:48:53
years the K Rouge dealt particularly
00:48:56
viciously with
00:48:58
Buddhism thousands of monks were
00:49:00
slaughtered and monasteries were
00:49:02
destroyed and if people try to hold on
00:49:04
to their beliefs they were often
00:49:06
tortured and killed but gradually as the
00:49:10
nightmare is beginning to fade Buddhism
00:49:12
is finding its feet here again and when
00:49:15
you come to Anor you'll find little
00:49:18
active shrines like this tucked away
00:49:20
into
00:49:22
Corners in Cambodia Buddhism is slowly
00:49:26
reasserting
00:49:27
itself this country which had
00:49:29
experienced such Horrors is now peaceful
00:49:33
an anchor which had been brutalized by
00:49:35
the Kam Rouge regime is now a world
00:49:38
tourist site once
00:49:40
again it's been very moving coming here
00:49:42
to Cambodia because this place has been
00:49:45
the home to the most dramatic twists and
00:49:48
turns in the fortunes of Buddhism for
00:49:51
centuries Buddhism was the philosophy of
00:49:54
choice for both both the Kings and the
00:49:56
people and then thanks to the horrors of
00:49:59
the Chim Rouge there was a chance that
00:50:01
it was going to be eradicated virtually
00:50:05
overnight but gradually gently it is now
00:50:09
making a comeback and there's even a
00:50:12
possibility that this place which is
00:50:14
once the biggest and most active
00:50:17
Buddhist complex in the world could be
00:50:20
that again sometime in the
00:50:24
future
00:50:27
while in Cambodia Buddhism is emerging
00:50:29
out of the darkness of the CH Rouge
00:50:32
regime Buddhism in mainland China and
00:50:35
here in Hong Kong is also reasserting
00:50:38
itself an ancient tradition reappearing
00:50:41
in modern
00:50:43
society Buddhism is on the rise once
00:50:46
again partly perhaps because its
00:50:49
positive attitude feels well suited to
00:50:51
an emerging
00:50:53
superpower particularly popular is is
00:50:55
the Zen form of Buddhism little surprise
00:50:58
given that Zen although now typically
00:51:01
associated with Japan started off life
00:51:04
in China and I'm going to explore Zen in
00:51:08
one of the places in the world where it
00:51:10
is most
00:51:11
vigorous Hong
00:51:14
Kong our sixth wonder is the Giant
00:51:17
Buddha that overlooks this great Asian
00:51:22
City this Mammoth bronze statue was
00:51:24
completed in
00:51:26
1993 it symbolizes the relationship
00:51:29
between man and nature people and
00:51:32
religion well the building of the Giant
00:51:34
Buddha in Hong Kong was a reassertion of
00:51:36
an old Buddhist tradition of
00:51:39
constructing massive uh Buddhist images
00:51:42
and the monks who uh initiated the
00:51:45
project in Hong Kong had visited Japan
00:51:47
and they' visited various sites in
00:51:49
mainland China and seen medieval massive
00:51:52
images of Buddhas and this was something
00:51:54
they were trying to recre create in
00:51:57
lant it's the only statue of Buddha to
00:52:00
face north towards Beijing and is named
00:52:04
jantan after the Temple of Heaven in
00:52:06
that
00:52:10
City when Buddhism first starts out it
00:52:13
seems that people actively choose not to
00:52:16
represent the Buddha
00:52:18
figuratively but then as the philosophy
00:52:21
passes through regions like Afghanistan
00:52:23
which had a really strong Greek fluence
00:52:26
thanks to the invasion of Alexander the
00:52:27
Great it becomes the done thing to
00:52:31
represent the Buddha in human form now
00:52:35
once the belief system enters China a
00:52:37
new tradition gains popularity but not
00:52:40
just to represent the Buddha in human
00:52:42
form but to do so on a Monumental scale
00:52:48
and that's an art form that's now being
00:52:50
revived here in Hong
00:52:54
Kong
00:52:59
everything about this statue means
00:53:02
something the Buddha is sitting in a
00:53:04
Lotus position which shows that he was
00:53:06
like the beauty of a Lotus Flower
00:53:09
emerging From the Muddy Waters of a pond
00:53:13
his face is that beautiful round shape
00:53:15
which is supposed to be a reflection of
00:53:17
the Perfection of the Moon and his head
00:53:20
is domed which tells us just how wise he
00:53:23
is and his hands are interesting because
00:53:26
the right hand is raised in a gesture of
00:53:28
blessing this is the Buddha's vow that
00:53:31
he will release the entire world from
00:53:33
its suffering and on his chest he's got
00:53:36
that so-called swastika symbol now of
00:53:39
course the swastika was unfortunately
00:53:41
appropriated by the Nazis even though
00:53:43
they got it the wrong way around but
00:53:45
what it actually means is the power of
00:53:48
the universe so this tells us that the
00:53:51
Buddha's compassion and wisdom is
00:53:53
available to all
00:54:00
the Buddha statue sits on a Lotus Throne
00:54:03
on top of an
00:54:05
altar it's surrounded by six smaller
00:54:07
Bronze Statues they're shown offering
00:54:10
gifts like fruit and incense gifts that
00:54:13
symbolize different aspects of Buddhist
00:54:15
philosophy all virtues which are
00:54:18
necessary to achieve
00:54:24
enlightenment
00:54:30
the Giant Buddha is part of the poin
00:54:32
monry and Temple complex set up nearly
00:54:35
100 Years Ago by three Zen
00:54:39
Masters Zen has developed as a part of
00:54:42
Mahayana Buddhism the school of Buddhism
00:54:45
practiced in China and other Northern
00:54:47
Asian
00:54:48
countries Zen Buddhists believe that all
00:54:50
people have the qualities that the
00:54:52
Buddha had and emphasize that these can
00:54:54
be divers veloped and were not unique to
00:54:57
the Buddha
00:55:09
only the aim of Zen is to discover this
00:55:13
quality within each person through
00:55:15
meditation and practice of the Buddha's
00:55:20
teachings the ultimate goal is to become
00:55:23
a completely enl en lightened
00:55:28
Buddha meditation has always been
00:55:31
Central to Buddhism but here in China a
00:55:34
new brand of meditation was born and it
00:55:37
took its name from a Sanskrit word Diana
00:55:40
which is actually very hard to translate
00:55:42
but means a kind of alert productive
00:55:45
State of Mind in China it was called
00:55:48
Chan and when it travels to Japan it
00:55:52
becomes
00:55:54
senen
00:55:55
it's a school of Buddhism which lays
00:55:59
enormous emphasis on certain kinds of
00:56:02
meditative practice what you try to do
00:56:04
is purely to empty your mind it has a
00:56:08
sort of ideology that rational thought
00:56:11
is not going to get you to Enlightenment
00:56:13
or
00:56:17
NADA it's practiced here in a small
00:56:20
secluded Monastery minutes away from the
00:56:22
Giant
00:56:23
Buddha
00:56:26
formal silent meditation is Central to
00:56:29
Zen and is practiced by both the Ley and
00:56:32
the ordained
00:56:37
together some people find the concept of
00:56:40
Zen quite difficult to grasp so how
00:56:42
would you define it so s means we never
00:56:45
separate our life and our practice Zen
00:56:49
is uh like 24 hours when you are
00:56:52
standing sitting walking lying down so
00:56:58
never separate you know our everyday
00:57:00
life and our practice cannot separate is
00:57:03
not two thing s also means inside inside
00:57:07
you know our mind and outside the object
00:57:09
inside outside boom become one that's
00:57:19
Z so if you're not making that
00:57:21
separation uh between Zen practice and
00:57:24
everyday life does that mean that when
00:57:26
you do everything when you sweep the
00:57:28
floor or prepare food that or clean
00:57:31
something that that actually is an act
00:57:34
of Zen itself Zen means what are you
00:57:37
doing now you know so somebody might get
00:57:40
Enlightenment while they eating
00:57:42
meal washing
00:57:44
bat all these we designed to help people
00:57:48
to be in the moment and maybe at that
00:57:51
moment your mind become clear and your
00:57:53
life become clear
00:58:23
for
00:58:35
this is called water balll meditation
00:58:37
and the purpose is to carry the water
00:58:39
without spilling a single drop now the
00:58:42
idea is that you can do this through the
00:58:44
application of Zen because if you think
00:58:47
you're carrying a bowl of water then
00:58:48
you're bound to shake and lose some but
00:58:51
if you clear your mind completely you
00:58:53
will complete the task
00:59:01
successfully in the west a lot of people
00:59:03
have heard of Zen it is something that's
00:59:05
quite popular do you think that's partly
00:59:07
because people's lives are so demanding
00:59:10
and Zen offers a kind of a way out from
00:59:13
that I think not only the West are very
00:59:16
busy now Asia is more busy it's true
00:59:19
it's very like uh money orientated
00:59:22
everybody worry about the living so it's
00:59:25
very important now mind know how to
00:59:28
relax and to be living at this moment
00:59:31
and to keep clear so if you can live in
00:59:34
this present even there's a some problem
00:59:37
up here it's okay you know you have this
00:59:39
clear mind and you are not agitated I
00:59:42
think these are very important practice
00:59:45
for for for
00:59:53
everybody
00:59:55
Zen practitioners today don't like to
00:59:57
use specific words to limit what Zen is
01:00:01
but if you want to find a definition for
01:00:03
the practice probably as close as you'll
01:00:05
get is that this is something that
01:00:08
really believes in the power of
01:00:10
intuition and in a kind of productive
01:00:13
Simplicity and I can see that cherishing
01:00:16
intuition Living For The Moment living
01:00:19
day by day with a clear mind is a very
01:00:22
productive way to spend your time
01:00:25
perhaps it explains why of all brands of
01:00:27
Buddhism Zen has become particularly
01:00:30
attractive to those who live in our
01:00:32
demanding 21st
01:00:44
century Zen and its ancestor Chan is a
01:00:48
very practical form of Buddhist wisdom
01:00:51
it encourages a process of rediscovery
01:00:53
by living
01:00:57
simply the Zen tradition emphasizes that
01:00:59
Enlightenment is possible Here and
01:01:03
Now is it then very different from other
01:01:06
forms of
01:01:08
Buddhism Zen means pting directly to our
01:01:12
mind means right now wake up you know
01:01:16
and be clear what are you doing now
01:01:19
actually our mind is not complicated is
01:01:21
our thinking our life very complicated
01:01:24
so Zen is a tool to help us to bring
01:01:28
back our mind to our everyday life and
01:01:31
be
01:01:34
simple Zen like all Buddhist practice
01:01:37
turns philosophy into a tool to help in
01:01:39
day-to-day life meditation is used to
01:01:42
bring about a tangible outcome either in
01:01:44
the understanding of the world or in our
01:01:47
ability to deal with it and with the
01:01:49
suffering we see all around and feel
01:01:51
within us one thing that struck me is is
01:01:54
that whatever the regional variations of
01:01:56
Buddhism issues of suffering are right
01:02:00
at the core of the philosophy now that
01:02:03
is really interesting because in general
01:02:05
over the last 2 and a half thousand
01:02:06
years cultures of the East have actually
01:02:09
been very unabashed about suffering but
01:02:11
they don't mind putting it Center Stage
01:02:14
whereas in the west these are issues
01:02:16
that we can sometimes try to brush under
01:02:17
the carpets um in the modern age for
01:02:20
instance we've been accused of trying to
01:02:22
cheat death itself but just look at that
01:02:26
statue there's the Buddha promising to
01:02:28
deal with all the suffering in the world
01:02:31
so it does make you wonder what future
01:02:34
Buddhism has as a global belief system
01:02:37
what's going to happen when ideas of the
01:02:39
East which put suffering to the Fall
01:02:42
start to take root in the
01:02:53
west but goodest ideas and philosophy
01:02:56
have become increasingly popular in the
01:02:58
fast-paced and highly competitive world
01:03:01
of
01:03:02
California New Age Concepts mixed with
01:03:04
the counterculture of the hippies in the
01:03:06
1970s have made words like Karma and
01:03:10
Nirvana Common Place Buddhism offered a
01:03:13
spiritual life and an emphasis on
01:03:15
morality without being too
01:03:18
authoritarian budism initially spread
01:03:21
into the west and especially the west
01:03:22
coast of the United States is in the
01:03:24
19th century thanks to Japanese and
01:03:26
Chinese laborers brought in to work on
01:03:28
the railways in Los Angeles the first
01:03:31
Buddhist temples were set up at the turn
01:03:33
of the
01:03:35
century today the city is home to one of
01:03:38
the largest Buddhist temples in the West
01:03:41
shayai Temple at Hender Heights our
01:03:44
seventh wonder of the Buddhist
01:03:50
World here I'm going to try to
01:03:53
understand what has to be the most
01:03:55
important Buddhist concept the ultimate
01:03:58
goal for Buddhists
01:04:07
Nana the planning and construction of
01:04:09
the temple in the 1980s was met with
01:04:11
suspicion and resistance from local
01:04:14
communities the building of the temple
01:04:16
at its current location survived six
01:04:18
public hearings and 165 explanatory
01:04:22
sessions finally in 1985 the temple was
01:04:25
granted a building permit and it was
01:04:28
completed in
01:04:33
1988 I tell you what there is definitely
01:04:35
a wealth of here and that is Buddhas
01:04:38
I've never seen so many they must be
01:04:41
what 10,000 or something at least 10,000
01:04:44
Buddhas right here big and small and if
01:04:47
you look at all the Buddhas uh you may
01:04:49
find some names there it's it's a
01:04:51
Chinese practice that the people make an
01:04:53
offering and then to have the name of
01:04:55
the family there is their Buddha okay
01:04:58
and it's also a form of supporting the
01:05:00
temple and they they come in and they
01:05:03
say I have a Buddha in there it's it's
01:05:04
like the connection between the Buddha
01:05:07
outside and the Buddha
01:05:09
inside one of the American Buddhists who
01:05:12
come to the temple is Mario C he became
01:05:15
a Buddhist 6 years
01:05:20
ago there are some who'd say that the
01:05:22
attraction of Buddhism for many
01:05:23
Americans
01:05:24
is that it's pleasingly mystical it
01:05:26
comes from the East but at the same time
01:05:28
it ties in with a kind of anything goes
01:05:31
materialist lifestyle how do you speak
01:05:35
to I don't mean any disrespect by this
01:05:37
but I have some friends who use Buddhism
01:05:39
and Eastern religion Eastern philosophy
01:05:41
and they sort of mix it up with new age
01:05:43
and that's okay if it works for them
01:05:45
that's fine but my concern is that it is
01:05:48
that sort of anything goes you know it's
01:05:50
a free market in spirituality so
01:05:53
whatever I'm saying or thinking today is
01:05:55
fine because we have these core
01:05:57
teachings in Buddhism it keeps us in
01:05:59
check so we don't sort of go into
01:06:02
anything that if it feels good it's okay
01:06:03
we're really trying to avoid that this
01:06:06
Buddhism gave me a discipline without
01:06:08
the necessity of a God to reward me or
01:06:12
punish
01:06:13
me there has been a tenfold increase in
01:06:16
the number of Buddhists in Europe and
01:06:17
America over the last 40 years most
01:06:20
observers put the figure at between 2 to
01:06:22
3 million practic ing Buddhists in
01:06:24
America with a number of Buddhist
01:06:27
sympathizers estimated at over 10
01:06:31
million the shayai temple is one example
01:06:34
of the modern expansionism of
01:06:43
Buddhism many Buddhists come to the
01:06:45
shayi temple for
01:06:47
worship others come to practice
01:06:53
meditation
01:06:55
in the west there's recently been great
01:06:57
interest in yoga simply as a way to keep
01:07:00
fit and as a form of
01:07:02
meditation yoga has its roots in Indian
01:07:05
traditions that predate both Hinduism
01:07:07
and Buddhism and it's sometimes used by
01:07:09
Hindus to assert mind over matter for
01:07:13
Buddhists yoga's key purpose is to
01:07:16
Achieve Personal
01:07:20
Enlightenment it is a very ancient
01:07:23
philosophy Buddhism but in some ways do
01:07:25
you think it's very suited to American
01:07:28
life because it does have this this kind
01:07:30
of C do attitude it's it's very suited
01:07:33
to America uh one reason is that we've
01:07:37
been materialistic we're we're known for
01:07:41
it and I found in my experience it
01:07:43
doesn't get you to where you want to be
01:07:46
and I can't believe that I'm alone in
01:07:48
that I can't believe
01:07:51
that it offers uh reasons why that is
01:07:56
I'm sure other people like me who can't
01:08:00
understand why all this stuff didn't
01:08:03
make them
01:08:04
happy would be looking for something
01:08:06
else so I'm not surprised that it is um
01:08:12
popular um it's not against any other
01:08:16
religion and it's not against science
01:08:18
it's very in line with
01:08:21
everything the temple then offers a
01:08:23
American Buddhists lots of reasons to
01:08:27
visit but if you're a devotee of
01:08:29
Buddhism then one of your main
01:08:31
motivations for coming here is to seek
01:08:33
Enlightenment
01:08:35
Nana now I'd love to be able to tell you
01:08:37
that I've got a textbook definition for
01:08:39
what Nan actually is but considering the
01:08:43
Buddha himself said that it was beyond
01:08:45
words Beyond logic I suspect this is
01:08:48
going to be quite a tricky concept to
01:08:50
pin
01:08:51
down Nana certainly is a state of mind
01:08:55
and it's a state of mind in which you
01:08:57
have
01:08:58
abolished strong emotions of very much
01:09:02
wanting things or very much hating
01:09:05
things or being confused it's a state of
01:09:08
mind which you attain and at that moment
01:09:12
and
01:09:13
thereafter you enjoy a kind of blissful
01:09:19
calm and that path is the end of that
01:09:23
path n is that your goal yes Nirvana
01:09:27
Enlightenment full understanding
01:09:29
Awakening those are all terms that are
01:09:31
very similar and to me it's
01:09:34
understanding the truth understanding
01:09:36
what this is what it really
01:09:39
is how confident are you that Nana is a
01:09:42
goal you're going to attain I am
01:09:44
cautiously optimistic how about
01:09:48
that uh there are people that say that
01:09:50
it's very possible and these are people
01:09:53
that are very smart people and uh I'm
01:09:56
following uh their
01:09:58
advice and
01:10:01
uh I think it can be done I think it can
01:10:04
be
01:10:05
done like so much in Buddhism Nana
01:10:08
clearly has to be experienced not
01:10:12
explained but for Buddhists the journey
01:10:14
to get there the path you take seems to
01:10:18
be as important as the
01:10:21
arriving Buddhists will tell you that
01:10:23
Nana has no fixed point in time or space
01:10:28
and that's actually a little ironic
01:10:30
because one of the few accepted fixtures
01:10:32
of the Buddhist story is where the
01:10:34
Buddha himself found Enlightenment we're
01:10:37
told that that took place in Northern
01:10:39
India under the spreading branches of a
01:10:43
people
01:10:46
tree which is where my quest had started
01:10:50
at
01:10:51
bulaya at this spot where it it said
01:10:54
Buddhist philosophy really began 2,500
01:10:57
years ago in this journey I've explored
01:11:00
key facets of Buddhist belief and got a
01:11:02
little closer to understanding something
01:11:04
vital about the core of Buddhist
01:11:06
philosophy the Dharma the Dharma is
01:11:10
simply the way the world is and we can
01:11:13
all best live our lives if we follow a
01:11:15
path that allows us to deal with the
01:11:17
world as passionately as compassionately
01:11:21
as positively and as wisely as
01:11:25
possible now whatever the permutations
01:11:28
and interpretations of Buddhism that
01:11:31
seems to me to be pretty
01:11:33
simple and pretty
01:11:35
enlightened I've learned about Karma how
01:11:38
mindful actions impact on our lives
01:11:41
about samsara the cycle of Life birth
01:11:44
and death about meditation about
01:11:48
Zen and the final goal for all Buddhists
01:11:52
Nana I've seen some of the most
01:11:54
beautiful architecture inspired by
01:11:56
Buddhist ideas and how after 25
01:11:59
centuries Buddhism still attracts
01:12:01
Millions across the globe a philosophy
01:12:04
that is rooted in its ancient past and
01:12:07
yet gives character to the modern world
01:12:10
how Buddhism places the responsibility
01:12:12
to realize the truth on all of
01:12:16
us as Buddhism traveled it transformed
01:12:20
the cultures it came into contact with
01:12:22
just as it too was
01:12:24
transformed you wonder if the Buddha
01:12:27
could ever possibly have imagined the
01:12:29
impact that his ideas would have on
01:12:31
human history particularly given the one
01:12:34
thing he was certain about was that
01:12:36
impermanence and change were the only
01:12:39
things that were definite in this world
01:12:42
um just listen to this it's one of his
01:12:44
most poetic
01:12:46
epithets so shall you think of all this
01:12:48
fleeting World a star at dawn a bubble
01:12:53
in a stream a flash of lightning in a
01:12:55
summer Cloud a flickering lamp a phantom
01:13:00
and a
01:13:02
Dream well the Buddha's dreams of 2,500
01:13:06
years ago are still with us and they've
01:13:09
been made incarnates in one of the most
01:13:11
tenacious belief systems of all time and
01:13:15
in some of the most iconic and beautiful
01:13:18
monuments in the
01:13:22
world
01:13:38
tomorrow night on bbc2 a tumultuous true
01:13:40
story retold Kiera nightly and ra fine
01:13:43
star in The Duchess at
01:13:52
9:
01:14:01
morning

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