David QuinterThe Life Story of the Buddha“Unlike genes, and other nonsymbolic information sources, which are only models for,not models of, culture patterns have an intrinsic double aspect: they give meaning, thatis, objective conceptual form, to social and psychological reality both by shaping themselves to it and by shaping it to themselves.”“The Problem of Meaning… is a matter of affirming, or at least recognizing, the inescapability of ignorance, pain, and injustice on the human plane while simultaneouslydenying that these irrationalities are characteristic of the world as a whole. And it is interms of religious symbolism, a symbolism relating man’s sphere of existence to a widersphere within which it is conceived to rest, that both the affirmation and the denial aremade.”1Key termsHagiography: Sacred biographyThe Buddha (“Awakened One”): the historical Buddha (566-486 BCE or c. 480-400 BCE)Shakyamuni: “Sage of the Shakya clan,” referring to the historical BuddhaSiddhartha (“he who has achieved his goal”): given name for the BuddhaJataka tales: Stories of the previous lives of the Buddha5 paths of rebirth: helldwellers, restless spirits, animals, humans, and gods (+ashuras=6)karma: “action;” the moral law of cause and effectMara: “Death,” the highest god of the realm of desire, foe of the Buddhathe Bodhi tree: the tree of “awakening” or “enlightenment”The “Threefold Knowledge” attained by the Buddha:1) memory of own previous lives2) seeing rebirth of others according to their karma3) recognition of the causally conditioned nature of realityThe “4 Noble Truths” of:1) Suffering (There’s a disease): all life is characterized by suffering and impermanence2) Origin of suffering (This is the cause): craving, leads to rebirth3) Cessation of suffering (There’s a cure): removal of craving removes suffering4) Path leading to cessation of suffering (This is the cure):=the Eightfold Path (traditionally divided into the Three Trainings)leads to nirvana, the “cessation” of karmic consequences and rebirth The “Middle Way” teachings:between sensual indulgence and extreme asceticismbetween existence and non-existence The Three Trainings: morality (shila), meditation (samadhi), and wisdom (prajna)1 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973), pp. 93, 108.
