Buddhism
Buddhism is everywhere in the world of InuYasha. From monks to statues, you can’t escape it. To better understand some of the thinking that goes through the characters, Miroku for example, then you should know a little about the religion. But, if you want to write fanfiction for the series, especially for Miroku, then you should become familiar with it.
Buddhism, defined by The American Heritage College Dictionary, is:
1. The teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct, wisdom, and meditation releases one from desire, suffering, and rebirth 2. The religion of the many groups that profess varying forms of this doctrine and that venerate Buddha.
So what exactly does all of that mean? That’s what this article is going to tell you.
The religion we call Buddhism was founded around 525 B.C. in India by a man known as Siddhartha Gautama, or known by all as Buddha. As legend is told, Siddhartha Gautama was born the son of a king. At his birth it was foretold that he would be either a great king or a great philosopher. His father, wanting Siddhartha to become his successor made sure that Siddhartha was sheltered from anything that might lead him to religious life. At the age of 29, Siddhartha wanted to see more of what life had to offer besides luxury. He made four successive excursions out of the palace and saw on each journey an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a monk. Through the men Siddhartha learned about sickness and death, and through the monk he found his destiny. And so, he left his wife and son to a life of religion. He reached enlightenment at the age of 35, becoming a Buddha. At first he studied yogic meditation, but couldn’t find supreme enlightenment. After a while, he decided to sit under a tree, now know as the Bodhi Tree or Tree of Enlightenment, and swore that he would not stir until he found supreme enlightenment. It wasn’t until he overcame the evil one, or Mara, that he became a Buddha.
Siddhartha’s first sermon was dedicated to the four noble truths and the eightfold path. These two beliefs are basic beliefs in all forms of Buddhism, which will be discussed later. The four noble truths are as follows: dukhka - existence is suffering; trishna - suffering has a cause, namely craving and attachment; nirvana - cessation, or an end, of suffering; and a path to the cessation of suffering. The eightfold path is suppose to be the path to nirvana. It includes: right views, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
Other basic beliefs and practices contains the belief on experience. To Buddhists, experience is divided into five forms, or skandhas: rupa - material existence; vedana - sensations; samjna - perceptions; samskara - psychic constructs; and vijnana - consciousness. The central teaching of non-self, or anatman, states that in the five forms no soul or person can be found. It continues saying that all phenomena are created in connections and dependence on causes and conditions. This is the reason why we can’t escape decay and death. It is this view that causes the Buddhist to believe we are trapped in a continuous cycle of life and death. Each rebirth is a direct cause of our previous life’s actions, otherwise known as karma. Karma is not only based on what a person does physically, but also mentally. The Buddhist believes that when one reaches nirvana, you are finally released from this cycle.
One more basic practice to all Buddhists are their moral precepts. Members of monastic orders and the laity, or members of a given profession with no specialty, must refrain from taking life, stealing, acting unchastely, speaking falsely, and drinking alcoholic beverages. The members of monastic orders also take additional practices: refrain from eating at improper times, from viewing secular entertainments, from using garlands, perfumes, and other bodily adornments, from sleeping in high and wide beds, and from receiving money.
Buddhism is divided up into two major forms, or schools, and an older form: Theravada or Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. I won’t be discussing any further on the Theravada or Vajrayama schools. Instead, the rest of this article will be focused solely on the Mahayana school because that is what they practice in Japan.
Besides following the basic rules of Buddhism, the Mahayana form also believes that everything is “empty”. This goes right into the practice of sunyata. Sunyata is one of the main tenets in this form of Buddhism. It states that all dharmas, or truths, are “empty”, without self-nature or essence. It was a radical statement of anatman. Therefore, sunyata states that everything, not just ordinary objects, are empty. That includes the Buddha, nirvana, and even emptiness itself. The Mahayana form believes that this perception of the world will help the bodhisattva's, or future Buddha, vow to save all beings before entering nirvana himself. A lay or monastic Buddhist’s religious goal is to become this bodhisattva.
