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Buddhist
Schools
(Beware of scholarly and sectarian
categorizations of Bon & Buddhism. These are often outdated classifications
based on erroneous or politically motivated propaganda.)
There are many recognized schools of Buddhism,
and different ways they are categorized. Many think all of them derive
from one Indian teacher - Sidhartha. The ancient Bon form of Buddhism rejects
this idea and traces their Buddhist dharma to another ancient teacher named
Shenrab. The Order of Nazorean Essenes recognizes the influence of both
these types of Buddhism in almost all Buddhist schools, rejecting the idea
that all originate with Sidhartha in India. The strongest influence of
Sidhartha's views are found in the Theravadic schools of Buddhism. All
other Mahayana schools are dominated, in our view, with the other type
of non Indian Buddhism despite their attempts to connect themselves with
Indian dharma. Beware of scholarly and sectarian categorizations of Buddhism.
These are often outdated classifications based on erroneous or politically
motivated propaganda.
ANCIENT BUDDHISM
The roots of Buddhism go back beyond Sidhartha's
alterations of Jainism, and back beyond the beginnings of Pashva's and
Mahavira's historical Jainism. They even go back beyond the first Mt. Kailish
Buddhas recognized by both the Jains of India and by the Bonpos of Tibet.
Buddhism is a very ancient religion which the Bonpos tell us came from
Persian speaking lands west of Tibet. Ancient buddhas like Shenrab taught
the dharma centuries before it flourished in the ancient kingdom of Zhang-zhung.
The Order totally rejects the notion that Mahayana Buddhism grew out of
a redefining of Sidhartha's Hinayana or Theravadic Buddhism. Mahayana and
Vajrayana Buddhism, although mixed with some elements of Indian Buddhism,
have their true origins in Middle Eastern and Central Asian lands.
MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
This Buddhism is often called reformed Buddhism
but in reality it is the product of another flow of gnosis that did not
originate in India. It is called the "Greater Vehicle", or "The Greater
Ox-Cart", or Mahayana. Mahayanist oft refer to Theravada as Hinayana, or
"The Lesser Vehicle." and teach that they correctly present the teachings
of the original Buddha. Mahayanists present Buddhism in various levels
of bodhisattvahood that terminate in Buddhahood. Mahayana Buddhism divided
into two central schools, the Madhyamika, or "Doctrine of the Middle Position,"
and the Vijnanavada, or "Doctrine of Consciousness." Each of these schools
believed that all of physical reality was an illusion. The only thing that
existed was Void or Emptiness. Mahayanist often consider Sidhartha the
historical Buddha as their founder, but this is false.
VAJRAYANA BUDDHISM
Mahayana eventully developed into Vajrayana,
of which there are 5 main schools. The Bonpo and the Nyingma are considered
to be the oldest and are the most harmonious with Manichaean and Gnostic
philosophy and practice.
The Tantric Buddhists taught that just because
the physical world doesn't exist doesn't mean that one should reject it.
One could use the physical world and one's perceptions of it as a
means towards enlightenment. All activities, including sex, can be used
as a meditative technique. This was called Vajrayana, or "The Vehicle of
the Thunder-Bolt." Many believe that Tantric Buddhism was taught by Sidhartha
Buddha, but this is unlikely. Tibetan Buddhists consider Sidhartha the
historical Buddha as their founder, but this is only partially true. Much
of what has become Vajrayana Buddhism actually comes from the Older Bonpo
faith and various versions of central Asian Buddhism and Manichaeism. Later
some admixture did came from India and all older ideas were disassociated
from their true source as much as possible.
CHAN & ZEN BUDDHISM
The modern forms of Ch'an and Zen originating
in China, but have their roots in an older strata of teachings that also
gave birth to Dzogchen teachings preserved in Bonpo
and Nyingma sects of Tibet. Buddhism in China
was first brought there by Silk Road caravans by Persian Buddhists in the
178-316 AD period. This was the central Asian form of Buddhism, a
form quite different from the Sidhartha based Indian form that was a watered
down version of Jainism.
Ch'an is a form of Mahayana
Buddhism that includes some Taoist elements and which stresses sudden
enlightenment and a self sufficient vegetarian lifestyle. This focus on
a pure diet and monastic farming is quite unique in Buddhism, since most
other forms eschew farming, beg for their food, and only give lip service
to animal kindness. An excellent example of modern Ch'an Buddhism is seen
in the recent life of Hsu Yun who lived from 1839 to 1959. The Order
of Nazorean Essenes considers the Ch'an Buddhism of Hsu-Yun to be one of
the most pure forms due to its noble stance on both diet and farming. It
is note worthy that Hsu-Yun was a life long vegetarian and gardener and
was active and alert until the ripe old age of 120 - a fitting testimony
to the worthiness of the vegan diet and monastic lifestyle.
By
the seventh century C.E., significant numbers of Ch'an monks were gathering
in organized monasteries in China to practice and study. Chinese
Buddhism went through a phase where it sought to legitimize itself by fabricating
a false line back to Indian Buddhism and Sidhartha's watered down version
of Jainism. This obscurs the real origins of Ch'an. One scholar writes:
"Once Ch'an began to be organized
into an independent sect, it required a history and a tradition which would
provide it with the respectability already possessed by the longer established
Buddhist schools. In the manufacture of this history, accuracy was not
a consideration; a tradition traceable to the Indian Patriarchs was the
objective . . . To this end, they not only perpetuated some of the old
legends, but also devised new ones, which were repeated continuously until
they were accepted as fact. Indeed, in the eyes of later viewers the two
are virtually indistinguishable. These legends were, in most instances,
not the invention of any one person, but rather the general property of
the society as a whole. Various priests used various legends; some were
abandoned, some adopted, but for the most part they were refined and adjusted
until a relatively palatable whole emerged. To achieve the aura of legitimacy
so urgently needed, histories were compiled, tracing the Ch'an sect back
to the historical Buddha, and at the same time stories of the Patriarchs
in China were composed, their teachings outlined, their histories written,
and their legends collected. Treatises were manufactured to which the names
of the Patriarchs, the heroes of Ch'an, were attached, so as to lend such
works the dignity and the authority of the Patriarch's name."
- Philip Yampolsky's The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
HINAYANA & THERAVEDA
BUDDHISM
Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC.), the founder of
these types of Buddhism, was the junior contemporary of Mahävïra.
We possess no authentic accounts of his life and teachings. Having taught
for forty-five years from his supposed enlightenment to his death,
Gautama supposedly left behind a large compendium of oral teachings that
were memorized by various of his disciples, yet none of his teachings were
written down until several hundred years later. There is much controversy
on just what is authentic in these suppossed teachings. The gnostic prophet
Mani taught that these teachings were not preserved in purity and contain
error.
Mrs. Rhys Davis, and other scholars, have observed
that "Buddha" found his two teachers Alara and Uddaka at Vaisali and started
his religious life as a Jain.
(Mrs. Rhys Davis, Diwakar S. C., Glimpse of Jainism )
It is the position of the Order of Nazorean
Essenes that Sidhartha was not an enlightened being and that most of the
changes he made in the Jain faith were not for the best. Do not be misled!
Be discerning when encoutnering Buddhist teachings and gain the insight
necessary to distinguish purity from chaff.
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