SOR Term 1 Year 11 Assignment

Good morning/ afternoon everyone.
Today I will present to you the unique features of

Vajrayana, where it is practised most, the evolution of original Buddhism practice to the
Vajrayana school teachings and how it is still relevant today.
Before we get to the details let's get an overview of what Vajrayana really is. The word ‘vajra’
derives from the Sanskrit word for “thunderbolt and “diamond”. These symbolise how
human beings are indestructible, or you could think about it as the most common phrase,
the indomitable human spirit, but add a twist to it. People who follow this school aim to be
able to consciously live in every moment in-hand with emptiness, steaming from the belief
that the awake presence is always accompanied by emptiness. Then the second part of the
word ‘Yana’ is the pursuit of indestructibility in spiritual essence.
https://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/what-is-vajrayana-buddhism/
Now that we got that out of the way let’s examine the map on the board to get context on
who exactly follows the Vajrayana principles in modern times.
https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/Lumen_Learning/Book%3A_World_Religions-2_
%28Lumen%29/05%3A_Module_3%3A_Buddhism/05.5%3A_Three_Schools_of_Buddhism
As we can see Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and Mongolia all heavily practice Vajrayana as their
devoted school.
Furthermore, before we assess present-day Vajrayana, let's take a look at the evolution of
Vajrayana's belief starting from Buddha.
Buddha taught the “three marks of existence”, anicca, dukkha and anatta. In English
meaning impermanence, dissatisfaction, and not self. These factors contribute to all
conditional things, except nirvana. The belief of Nirvana, being that you finally reach
enlightenment when you evade all desire, and the cycle of reincarnation stops. Buddha also
taught wisdoms such as the 8-fold path, a guide to stop suffering and karma which is the
belief that the intention of action in this life or a previous one decides an individual's fate in
all future existences.
https://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/what-is-karma/
This leads us to Theravada. This is the most largely practised school of the Buddhist faith. It
has a considerable focus on self-liberation. I’m sure you have all seen the movies with the
monks sitting in solitude in deep meditation or under a waterfall, not giving in to the
pressure. That seclusion and deep discipline lead to detachment of desire which they believe
leads to Nirvana.
Though those who believe in the Mahayana school of belief disagree. The Mahayana came
after Theravada. And they say that self-liberation is just too self-centred and strays away
from the original teachings and meaning of what it means to be a Buddhist. Mahayana is less
conservative and believes that anyone can reach enlightenment since everyone possesses a
‘Buddha nature” (Joshua. J, 2020).
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/492/a-short-history-of-the-buddhist-schools/
This leads us to our main focus, Vajrayana. Vajrayana adopts beliefs from both Theravada
and Mahayana. But it consistently reflects Mahayana much more, even being referred to as
the off-shot version. To get a very specific understanding of Vajrayana, let’s explore the
unique attributes it has compared to Mahayana, since they're so similar, and its general
qualities. In both Theravada and Mahayana, there is an understanding that in order to reach
enlightenment and achieve spiritual discipline one must strictly follow the 8 fold path and
accept the four noble truths. Meanwhile Vajrayana believes that everyone already has
Buddha nature – similar to Mahayana except in Vajrayana they have to realise this in order
to fully awaken their inner buddha. This means that anyone can become a buddha? Even
those who are still unwilling to give up desire yet? Yep! Though those who continuously lose
submit to desire will find themselves losing allure. Its biggest difference to the other schools
being that rather than walking away from desire, they pursue it in the intention of finding
discipline through it and to reduce attachment.
Vajrayana has a large focus on meditation and all physical engagement to the mystical
spiritual aspect of religion. They practice this by engrossing themselves in complex
meditations, visualisations, and manta recitation. Though their day to day worshiping goes
to their focused buddhas including semi-divine beings. Vajrayana sacred text links to their
physical worship styles. The Buddhist Tantra establishes the pursues of worship through
mantra(speech), mudra (hand gestures), visualisations and vigorous energy from meditation
or yoga.
https://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/what-is-buddhist-tantra/
With all of this being said, how is Vajrayana relevant til today?
Well, that’s actually pretty simple, it fits the social agenda of ‘easier’ and more accessible
versus the other two sects. Vajrayana, as mentioned previously, is an effort of giving up
desires by exploring to detach, rather than completely walking away which requires an
immense amount of the discipline. It garners towards enlightenment much faster than the
other schools with its constant prayers and rituals fostered by the Buddhist Tantra actions.
And if that isn’t enough to convince you, let it be known that the present day Dalai Lama aka
the international Buddhist leader abides to the principals and is the spiritual head of the
Vajrayana school.
Thank you for listening.
Source:
 Hartney, Christopher, and Jonathan Noble. Studies of Religion - Stage 6. 2009. 4th
ed., Cambridge, 2020.
 Mark, Joshua J. “A Short History of the Buddhist Schools.” World History
Encyclopedia, 29 Sept. 2020, www.worldhistory.org/article/492/a-short-history-of-
the-buddhist-schools/.
 Thorp, charley. “5.5: Three Schools of Buddhism.” Chemistry LibreTexts, 8 Aug.
2020, https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/Lumen_Learning/Book
%3A_World_Religions-2_%28Lumen%29/05%3A_Module_3%3A_Buddhism/
05.5%3A_Three_Schools_of_Buddhism
 “What Did the Buddha Teach?” Buddhism for Beginners, 2019,
http://tricycle.org/beginners/decks/teachings/?continue=1
 “What Is Buddhist Tantra?” Buddhism for Beginners, 2019,
http://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/what-is-buddhist-tantra/.
 “What Is Vajrayana Buddhism?” Buddhism for Beginners,
http://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/what-is-vajrayana-buddhism/.
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Good morning/ afternoon everyone.

Today I will present to you the unique features of

Thank you for listening.

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