Four noble truths. Life is suffering

The Sanskrit word duhkha is used here, which is usually translated as "suffering", but it would be better to translate it - although this is somewhat cumbersome - as "dissatisfaction". Perhaps it is best to turn to its etymology: although the traditional account of the origin of the word duhkha is no longer generally accepted, it still gives us a correct and accurate picture.

"Spirit-" is a prefix for anything that is not good - bad, sick, wrong or inappropriate, and "kha", the main part of the word, is believed to be related to the Sanskrit word "chakra", which means "wheel". Therefore, it is said that the word duhkha originally meant a poorly fitted wagon wheel, which resulted in a jolting, unpleasant journey, and the journey could not be comfortable or easy.

All this concerns the ordinary form of duhkha. However, if we take a closer look, we will see that this discomfort or suffering comes upon us in many different forms - and the Buddha usually speaks of seven. First, he says that birth is suffering: human life begins with suffering. To put it more poetically in the words of Oscar Wilde, "There is pain in the birth of a child or a star." However we may express it, it is a great spiritual truth; it is important that our life begins with suffering.

Of course, childbirth is physically painful for the mother and, as a result, often emotionally painful for the father, while for the baby, it is said to be a traumatic experience. It is very unpleasant to be suddenly thrown out of the world of complete harmony in the womb into a cold, strange world, in which the first greeting, most likely, is a slap on the buttocks.

Secondly, as the Buddha says, old age is suffering. One of the disadvantages of old age is physical weakness: you can no longer move around with ease and mobility as before. In addition, memory loss occurs: you cannot remember names or where you put things. Your mind is no longer as flexible and quick as it used to be. When this degeneration turns into senility, it is terrible to watch, especially in those people who were once famous. Perhaps most painful of all, as you get older, you are forced to depend on others: you cannot take care of yourself, you may even need constant supervision from a nurse or relatives. Despite all modern conveniences and devices - and often as a result of modern medical advances - many of us will experience this suffering, especially if we live to a very old age.

Thirdly, illness is suffering. Whether it's a toothache or an incurable disease like cancer, no illness can be pleasant. Suffering is not only physical pain: there is also helplessness, fear and despair. Medicine can sometimes alleviate suffering from disease, but there is no sign that it will ever be able to completely eradicate it. It seems that as soon as we get rid of one disease, another appears. As soon as one virus is defeated, a new, more powerful strain of the virus arises. And as soon as we feel physically quite healthy, we begin to develop all sorts of mental disorders, more and more complex neuroses and mysterious symptoms, all accompanied by suffering. Almost any sense of imperfection in our lives can lead to some kind of illness: stress leads to heart attacks, fatigue becomes a syndrome, a habit becomes an abuse. Therefore, although it seems that the disease can change its appearance, it does not recede.

Fourth, death is suffering. We suffer when loved ones die, we suffer when we watch life drop by drop from the physical body with which we have associated a loved one for so long. We suffer because we know that the person we love will soon die, we suffer because we know that we too will be destroyed. Much of our suffering associated with death is, of course, simply fear. Most of us will endure a great deal of suffering before choosing to die, so great is the horror of the inevitable end of our existence:

The most boring and disgusting life in the world

What age, pain, need and confinement

Can burden nature - paradise

Compared to our terrifying death.

People don't always feel ready to die. They are sorry to leave the place where they spent their lives in labors, pleasures and achievements. Even if they want to leave, even if they are quite happy that they will move on to a new life or to something they do not know, still the physical process of destruction is accompanied by pain. And sometimes a lot of mental suffering comes along with it. Sometimes remorse overtakes people on their deathbed: they remember the terrible injustices that they did, the terrible harm and pain that they caused to certain people, and, as a result, they have fears and fears about their future. All this makes death for many people a terrifying experience, which they do their best not to think about until it occurs.

Fifth, contact with what we don't like is suffering. We all know about it. Perhaps even among the members of our own family there are people with whom we do not want to deal. It's very sad, especially we don't like our own parents or children. Since there is a blood connection, even affection, we still have to communicate with them one way or another, and this can be very painful.

The work we do can also be a source of suffering if we do it only to earn a living and if it is the only job we can find. Perhaps here again we have to put up with what we do not like and work with people who seem alien to us in spirit, for an extended period of time, despite the fact that we would be better off doing something else.

There are also various environmental conditions that can cause us discomfort: pollution, noise, weather. Undoubtedly, not everyone can leave and settle in a villa in Greece. So there seems to be no way out—and certainly no final way out. You just have to live among people and things, in places and conditions that you don't like at all.

Sixth, parting with what we like causes suffering. This kind of suffering can actually be very painful. There are people with whom we want to be close, to meet more often - relatives, friends, but circumstances intervene, and this becomes simply impossible. This often happens during times of war when families are torn apart - men are drafted and sent to distant battlefields, children are sent to safety, and many simply disappear into exile.

I myself remember that when I served as a signalman in India during the war, many of my friends received letters from home regularly, every week or so, and then the day came when the letters stopped coming. They usually did not know what had happened, but they knew that bombs were falling on England, so after a while they began to suspect the worst. Over time, they may have received word, either from another relative or from official authorities, that their wife and children, or parents, or siblings, had been killed in an aerial bombardment. This is the most terrible suffering - the constant separation from those we love. Some people never recover from this torment and carry this loss with them for the rest of their lives.

Seventh, not getting what we want is suffering. There is no need to talk much about it. When you are passionate about someone or something and you fail to achieve the goal, when the reward does not fall on you from above, then you feel disappointment, despair and even bitterness. We've all had similar short-term experiences when we didn't get a job we particularly enjoyed, or we weren't selected for a purpose, or we found that someone or something had been given to us before us.

Some people's lives are full of disappointment, despair and bitterness because they feel that life hasn't given them something - and of course, the stronger the desire, the more painful the suffering. But even in small things, we encounter this every day, if not every hour - for example, when we find that the pie is over.

These are the seven different aspects of duhkha described by the Buddha. In one place the Buddha states, "All I teach is suffering and the cessation of suffering." And, indeed, liberation from the fetters of suffering is the key point of his teaching. In the writings of the Pali Canon, he compares himself to a doctor who is trying to rid his patient of a painful disease - the disease of conditional existence, which we all are infected with. Of course, we are not always obedient patients, as the Buddha undoubtedly discovered. But in many cases, speaking about suffering and trying to help people put it into perspective, he ended his sermon with the words that existence as a whole is painful, that the fullness of the experience of conditioned living beings, in which form, sensation, perception, acts of will are combined and consciousness, does not bring satisfaction.

Here, most people would say that this has gone too far, that this is a pessimistic, if not pathological, outlook on life. They would say that human existence is by no means unsatisfying and painful all the time. They will admit that birth is painful, they will agree that illness, aging and, yes, death are indeed painful. But at the same time, they are reluctant to accept the conclusion that follows from all this: that conditioned existence itself is suffering. It is as if they recognized all the components of the sum separately, but do not want to accept the amount that they make up. They say, yes, there is a certain amount of suffering in the world, but overall it's not such a bad place. Why be so pessimistic? There are many reasons to smile. As long as there is life, there is hope.

And of course it is. We have pleasant experiences as well as unpleasant ones. But from a Buddhist perspective, even pleasant experiences are inherently painful. In fact, there is only suffering in them, hidden, obscured, delayed - ostentatious optimism. And the extent to which we can see this, see suffering behind the gilding of pleasure, “a skull under the skin”, depends on our spiritual maturity.

Edward Conze identified four aspects of hidden suffering. First, what gives pleasure to one person can lead to the suffering of other people, other living beings. Of course, we don't tend to think about it. If we're okay, if we're doing well, we don't care too much or too often about others. "It's all right, Jack" is a phrase that more or less summarizes this attitude. The simplest example of this is how sincerely people rejoice when they eat the flesh of slaughtered animals. They cheerfully wield a fork and knife, consciously not thinking about the suffering of living beings.

But the unconscious mind is not so easily deceived. You can consciously shut out some unpleasant facts, but unconsciously you notice everything and do not forget anything. You may not be consciously aware of this fact at all, but it will have an effect on your state of mind, all the more powerful because it is invisible. This is how we develop "irrational" guilt, because deep down we know that our pleasure is bought at the cost of the suffering of other living beings. This guilt is a source of constant anxiety and worry.

Conze cites the example of rich people who are almost always afraid of becoming poor. He says that this happens because unconsciously they feel that they do not deserve this money. Unconsciously they feel that they should be taken away from them, and consciously they worry that this money will someday be taken from them. On the contrary, you may notice that poor people, who may not even know what they will be eating next week, rarely worry about it. They are usually more relaxed and optimistic than the rich.

Perhaps wealthy people suffer from an unconscious sense of guilt because, however much they consciously deny it, they know that their wealth is "tainted": its acquisition has brought suffering to other people, directly or indirectly. Accordingly, they feel a constant need to justify themselves. They say, “I make money, I contribute to the well-being of the community, I provide services that people need, I provide jobs…” I'm taking risks - at least I'm not asking for handouts ... "

If the feeling of guilt goes too far, then powerful remedies are needed to alleviate it, and the most powerful of these is to give a part of the wealth to the church, hospital, or somewhere else. Hospitals are the most popular, because you can make up for the suffering caused by gaining wealth by giving away some of it to relieve the suffering of others. This is called "anonymous damages". If someone deals with religious organizations, he will soon learn to recognize such donations. Sometimes they are simply put in the mailbox in an envelope signed "from an anonymous donor." Then you understand that someone is really gnawed by conscience.

The second type of hidden suffering according to Conze is a pleasant experience that has a touch of anxiety because you are afraid to lose it. Such is political power: it is very nice to have power over other people, but you are always afraid to turn your back on someone because you don’t know if you can even trust your best friend or your own guard at the door. You are always afraid of losing your power, especially if you seized it by force, and others are just waiting for the opportunity to take it into their own hands. In this position, it is difficult for you to sleep at night.

Traditionally in Buddhism, such sensations are illustrated by the example of a hawk flying with a piece of meat in its claws. Of course, dozens of other hawks will surely rush after him, trying to snatch this piece of meat, and they will try to achieve their goal by attacking and pecking not a piece of meat, but the owner of this meat, hitting him with a beak on the body, wings, head, eyes . The world of finance, business and entertainment, a highly competitive world, is like this. Any pleasure that implies power or social position is mixed with a certain amount of anxiety due to the feeling that others will be happy to take a place on top of your personal dunghill.

The third hidden suffering, as Conze points out, is something that is pleasant but binds us to something that brings suffering with it. He gives the example of the human body. Although we experience all sorts of pleasant experiences, we also experience many unpleasant sensations. Therefore, our attachment to that which gives us pleasant sensations also attaches us to unpleasant sensations. We cannot have one without the other.

Finally, Conze suggests that hidden suffering can be found in the fact that the pleasures derived from the enjoyment of conditioned things cannot satisfy the deepest desires of our heart. In each of us there is something Unconditioned, something not of this world, something beyond, Buddha nature, whatever you want to call it. Whatever you call it, you can recognize it by the fact that it cannot be satisfied by anything conditioned. It can only be satisfied by the Unconditioned.

Therefore, whatever conditioned things we enjoy, there is always some lack, a void that only the Unconditioned can fill. Ultimately, it is for this reason - to return to the conclusion made by the Buddha - that all conditioned things, explicitly or implicitly, cannot bring satisfaction and cause pain. It is in the light of the Unconditioned that suffering, duhkha, is undoubtedly a characteristic of all forms of conditioned existence, especially the conditioned existence of living beings.

Today we will think about why for most people life is suffering, because it is far away. It's no secret that most people are unhappy with their lives these days.. Most people are really objectively unhappy, and there is no magic here, these are the usual, albeit rather cruel, statistics of their evil or simply sad life or even fate.

But why is there such a pattern or even a modern syndrome of a sad life in most people, while some people next to them are still happy. Wherein happy people don't always have much more money, do not always work on the most better job, they do not have the most gifted children, and even far from always the best education.

But why for happy people, life is a wonderful fairy tale, but for unhappy people, the biggest disappointment, or even the most sophisticated torture. Usually solution is bad happy life lies in the inability to discern the happy moments of one's own life, life lessons, well, or simply in the absence of at least minimal human wisdom.

evil life

Naturally, almost all the unfortunate, as always, with all the perseverance and stubbornness of a stupid donkey, ignore all the signs and wonderful lessons for their wise soul, given to them by fate, life and nature. And even more than that, they also manage to take offense at these precious life lessons, and sometimes even consider life itself boring, evil, and whatever else. In general, bringing them various, insidious and most sophisticated sorrows and suffering.

And some modern people went even further, they first began to drink alcohol and take drugs. And then, when they realized that it was too harmful for the body, they began to take more antidepressants in order to somehow drown out the impact on themselves of these not always clear lessons of wisdom and happiness.

But this is even more harmful to a happy life, it deprives people of such a wonderful experience of repelling the blows of the wise mistakes of fate. Yes and when all these miraculous drugs run out, people of course fall into the deepest depression, because an evil life is a continuous suffering and disillusionment.

Life and suffering

After all, even the Great Buddha himself, and after him Christ, constantly repeated that all external life and any of its manifestations is essentially suffering, or worse than that, evil life even just your mirror.

Yes really really all suffering in life is most likely an ordinary mirror of your feelings, thoughts, experiences, actions, emotions, beliefs and delusions of your soul. Well, in general life is a reflection of all the cockroaches that still reside inside you and your head.

And since most people have unhappy cockroaches in their heads, any beautiful and elegant cockroach of happiness that gets into such a dark and dirty head, of course, tries to escape from it as quickly as possible, because what should he do in this unfortunate and godforsaken place.

In this way in the life of such an unhappy person, happiness most likely will never come, Well or it will quickly and happily run away at the first opportunity. Therefore, without populating a whole family of happy thoughts in your head, and not paying attention to the wise lessons of fate, you may not even begin to dream of a happy life, then you will only get an aimless life and suffering.

Lessons of fate

And indeed the lessons of fate are sometimes just crazy, sometimes it seems that the whole world is just created against us, if we get used to some object, for some reason it will soon be lost or broken. If we become attached to a certain person in such a way that we even begin to think that we can no longer live without him, the universe quickly takes him away from us, and usually in the most unpleasant way for us.

Someone we love unexpectedly, and sometimes inappropriately, leaves us for another world due to an accident or illness. For some, we suddenly just get bored for no reason, although it seemed to us that before that everything was just perfect.

Our most reliable partners go to business competitors, ruining us to the last penny, and even driving us into big debts. The most faithful friends suddenly betray us for no reason, or simply by getting married or leaving for another city, they completely forget about us.

As if as a lesson of fate incomprehensible to us, those whom we love the most, suddenly suddenly find the one whom they love the most. And of course, those whom we do not love, on the contrary, still cannot leave us alone, and they pester us too much with their attention, no matter what we do.

AND generallyoften, as luck would have it, the more we love someone, and the more we begin to show signs of attention, the proportionally less we begin to like him. And the more we try to encourage or please someone, the faster they sit on our heads, and even hang our legs.

Evil is better than good

Yes, after this, even the most confident and convinced romantics give up, and the desire to love anyone disappears. Just as the famous classic wisely said: "how more woman we love, the less she likes us".

Then the maximum that remains is to love yourself, and why really love yourself? After all logically, if no one loves you, then there is nothing to love you for. This means that only an evil life without love remains, and maybe then no love exists, in general, not life, but continuous suffering.

And the most convinced altruists and philanthropists, after such cruel lessons of fate, even have sayings: what "No good should go unpunished". And evil is much better than good, because what's the point of doing good, when you will definitely be punished for it later. It after all very quickly bothers even purposeful people.

But not only that, when we work for someone else, we are always paid very little, but they are forced to work a lot. And when we work for ourselves, it’s even worse than that, we often lose even what we had before, or even get into big debts, and again start working for others for a penny, just to pay off our debts.

And if we suddenly light up with a new idea, hobby or hobby, then just as quickly then it bothers us, and of course relatives will never support your bold idea and dissuade you from implementing it.

Although it is possible that your happiness and self-realization was just in it, and now it only remains to regret that you didn’t try, didn’t risk blaming the cruel damn fate and its evil lessons. In the end, what did such relatives give us with their advice, evil or good, along with sadness for the rest of our lives?

sad life

And about a sad life with various unfulfilled promises to himself, for example, to start on Monday new life, go in for sports, go on a diet, read every day, improve yourself, meditate or just learn a foreign language, in general it is better to remain silent.

In short sad life is such a thing that all the misfortunes and failures are right in one pile and all at once on our heads. The most tasty food usually the most harmful, and vice versa, for some reason, the most tasteless is useful. Whatever we do, our kilograms keep growing and growing, even if we eat almost nothing.

And the only consolation in the form of alcohol, tobacco and drugs, not only kills the body and brain, but also quickly makes an already sad life even more miserable. Well, sex and even more disappointment, when you want it, then either nowhere, or with no one.

Well, when you no longer want it, or worse, you can’t even do it anymore, then ... Well, okay, then it’s too late to think about it anyway, just upset yourself once again, and why be surprised, because religious personalities spoke correctly that life is suffering.

mortal life

And in addition to this, we in this mortal universe are getting older every day and are approaching the last day of our mortal life. Girls quickly lose their beauty, which they used to be so proud of, and the guys, of course, do not become younger, stronger and more attractive. Some miserable 30-40 years, and that's it, life loses all meaning and former colors, all that remains is to live only for the sake of children, but you really don’t need anything anymore.

And all this without even remembering the deadly or simply unpleasant diseases, terrible ecology, frequent accidents and accidents that await us around every corner. Yes, those mountains of ineffective pills and antidepressants with all sorts of side effects, which have to be taken from all this in order to somehow survive and drown out the physical and heartache from being in this world, and living such a mortal life

But somehow almost none of all people living such a life ever wonders why all this happens to them all the time and even with quite enviable regularity. They simply prefer to live their lives as quickly as possible in order to finally get rid of all these misfortunes that have fallen on their heads.

Although if they think about it, it is not to find a constructive way out of negative situations, but only to complain a little about their unhappy life.

Yes and then quickly flooding these strange thoughts with a dose of painkillers and even more soul-killing alcohol. Well, about happiness in the family, great love, success at work, and the like, you shouldn’t even think about it, because this is some kind of fairy tale that at least sometimes happens to other people, but not to them.

But if you are already tired of wasting your life so aimlessly and not happily, then proceed to reading the next story where we will discuss these very life lessons, and how to get out of them a happy winner, and not a loser constantly complaining about life, for whose life is only suffering.

The Buddha himself formulated his religious program in the form of four main provisions ("four noble truths»).

1. Life is suffering.

2. There is a reason for suffering.

3. Suffering can be ended.

4. There is a path leading to the end of suffering.

The cause of suffering is a terrible thirst, accompanied by sensual pleasures and seeking satisfaction here and there; it is the desire for sense gratification, for well-being. The changeability and inconstancy of a person who is never satisfied with the fulfillment of his desires, starting to desire more and more, is the true cause of suffering. According to the Buddha, truth is eternal and unchanging, and any change (including the rebirth of the human soul) is evil, acting as a source of human suffering. Desires cause suffering, since a person desires what is impermanent, changeable, and therefore subject to death, because it is the death of the object of desire that causes the greatest suffering to a person.

Since all pleasures are transient, and false desire arises from ignorance, then the end of suffering comes when knowledge is achieved, and ignorance and false desire are different sides of the same phenomenon. Ignorance is a theoretical side, it is embodied in practice in the form of the emergence of false desires that cannot be fully satisfied, and, accordingly, cannot give a person true pleasure. However, the Buddha does not seek to substantiate the need to obtain true knowledge, as opposed to those illusions that people usually entertain themselves with. Ignorance - necessary condition ordinary life: there is nothing in the world worth truly striving for, so any desire for by and large is false. In the world of samsara, in the world of constant rebirths and variability, there is nothing permanent: neither things, nor the "I" of a person, because bodily sensations, perception and awareness of the world external to a single person - all this is only an appearance, an illusion. What we think of as "I" is just a succession of empty appearances that appear to us as separate things. By isolating the individual stages of the existence of this stream in the general stream of the universe, considering the world as a collection of objects, not processes, people create a global and all-encompassing illusion, which they call the world.

Buddhism sees the elimination of the cause of suffering in the eradication of human desires and, accordingly, in the cessation of rebirth and falling into a state of nirvana. For a person, nirvana is a liberation from karma, when all sadness ceases, and the personality, in the usual sense of the word for us, disintegrates to make room for the awareness of its inseparable involvement in the world. The very word "nirvana" in Sanskrit means "fading" and "cooling down": damping resembles complete destruction, and cooling symbolizes incomplete destruction, accompanied not by physical death, but only by the dying of passions and desires. According to the expression attributed to the Buddha himself, “the liberated mind is like a fading flame,” that is, Shakyamuni compares nirvana to a fading flame that straw or firewood can no longer support.

According to canonical Buddhism, nirvana is not a state of bliss, since such a sensation would only be an extension of the desire to live. The Buddha is referring to the extinction of false desire, not of the whole existence; destruction of the flames of lust and ignorance. Therefore, he distinguishes between two types of nirvana: 1) upadhisesha(fading of human passion); 2) anupadhisesha(fading along with passion and life). The first kind of nirvana is more perfect than the second, because it is accompanied only by the destruction of desire, and not by the deprivation of a person's life. A person can achieve nirvana and continue to live on, or can achieve enlightenment only at the very moment when his soul is separated from the body.

Deciding which path is preferable, the Buddha came to the conclusion that the true path cannot be traversed by those who have lost their strength. There are two extremes that one who has decided on liberation from the constricting bonds of samsara should not follow: on the one hand, the habitual commitment to passions and pleasures derived from sensually comprehended things, and, on the other hand, the habitual commitment to self-mortification, which is painful, ungrateful and useless. There is a middle path that opens the eyes and endows with reason, leading to peace and insight, higher wisdom and nirvana. This path is called in Buddhism noble eightfold path, because it includes the required eight stages of perfection.

1. Right View are in the first step because what we do reflects what we think. Wrong actions come from wrong views, therefore, the best way to prevent wrong actions is the right knowledge and control over its observation.

2. Right aspiration is the result of right seeing. This is the desire for renunciation, the hope of living in love with all things and beings that are in this world, the desire for true humanity.

3. Correct speech. Even right aspirations, especially in order for them to lead to proper results, must be expressed, that is, they must be reflected in correct speech. It is necessary to refrain from lying, slander, rude expressions, frivolous conversation.

4. Right Action do not consist in sacrifice or worship of the gods, but in the renunciation of violence, active self-sacrifice and the willingness to give one's life for the good of other people. In Buddhism, there is a provision according to which a person who has secured immortality for himself can help another person achieve enlightenment by transferring part of his merits to him.

5. Right life. Right action leads to a moral life free from deceit, lies, fraud and intrigue. If up to now we have been talking about the outward behavior of a saved person, here attention is drawn to the inner cleansing. The goal of all efforts is to eliminate the cause of sadness, which requires subjective purification.

6. Correct force consists in exercising power over passions, which should prevent the realization of bad qualities and contribute to strengthening good qualities with the help of detachment and concentration of the mind. To concentrate, it is necessary to dwell on some good thought, assess the danger of turning a bad thought into reality, divert attention from a bad thought, destroy the cause of its occurrence, divert the mind from the bad one with the help of bodily tension.

7. Right thinking cannot be separated from right effort. In order to avoid mental instability, we must subdue our mind, along with its tossings, distractions and absent-mindedness.

8. Proper calmness - the last stage of the noble eightfold path, which results in the renunciation of emotions and the attainment of a contemplative state.

"He showed me the brightness of this world."

This is how my teacher, Ajaan Fuang, once described what he owes to his teacher(source not specified), Ajaanu Lee. His words took me by surprise. I only recently began to study with him, recently from a university where I was taught that serious Buddhists look at the world nihilistically and pessimistically. But here was a man who gave his life to the practice of the teachings of the Buddha, and at the same time spoke of the brightness of this world. Of course, by flamboyance, he did not mean the pleasures associated with art, food, travel, sports, most likely family. life, or any other sections of the Sunday newspaper. He spoke of a deeper happiness, decisively comes from within. When I met him, I felt exactly how deep(that's exactly what it was!) he was happy. He may have been skeptical of many human claims, but I would never call him nihilistic or pessimistic. "Realistic" would be closer to the truth. For a long time, however, I could not shake off a sense of paradox about how the pessimism of the Buddhist texts could be embodied in such a happy person.

It was only when I began to look directly into the early texts that I realized that what I considered a paradox was precisely the irony - the irony of how Buddhism, which gives such a positive view of the human potential for finding, as it were, true happiness(source not specified) could be branded nihilistic and pessimistic in the West.

You have probably heard that "Life is suffering" is emphatically first(see source) the principle of Buddhism, the first noble truth of the Buddha. It is a well-established rumor spread by respected scholars as well as Dhamma teachers, but it is still a rumor. The truth about noble truths is decidedly much more interesting. The Buddha taught not one but four truths about life: "There is suffering, there is a cause of suffering, there is an end to suffering, there is a path of practice that ends suffering." These truths, taken as a whole, are far from pessimistic. They act as a practical, solution-oriented problems(see source) s of approach, the method by which a doctor copes with an illness, or a mechanic with a faulty machine. A person defines a problem and looks for its cause. Then he puts an end to the problem by eliminating its cause.

The peculiarity of the Buddha's approach is that he takes on the problem of all human suffering as a whole, and offers a solution that people can implement on their own. Just as a doctor with a reliable cure for measles is not afraid of measles, the Buddha is not afraid of any aspect of human suffering. And having experienced truly unconditional happiness, he is not afraid to point out the suffering and stress inherent in what most of us would not see them in - the conditioned pleasures to which we are attached. He teaches us not to deny or run away from these sufferings and stresses, but to face them calmly and examine them carefully. In this way, through understanding, we can track down their cause and put an end to them. Fully. How confident can you become?

A fair number of writers have pointed to the fundamental certainty inherent in the four noble truths, and yet the rumor of Buddhist pessimism lives on. I ask myself why this is happening. One possible explanation is that when we come to Buddhism, we subconsciously expect it to address issues that have a long history in our culture. Starting with suffering as the first noble truth, the Buddha would seem to lay down his position on a question that has a long history in the West: Is this world essentially bad or good?

According to Genesis, this was of course the first question that came into God's head after he completed his creation: did he do a good job? Then he looked at the world and saw that the world was good. Since then, the people of the West have agreed or objected to God's answer to this question, but in doing so they have confirmed that this question is worth starting with. When Theravada - the only form of Buddhism that opposed Christianity when Europe colonized Asia - was looking for ways to stop what it saw as a missionary threat, missionary-educated Buddhists believed the issue was relevant and presented the first noble truth as a refutation of the Christian God: look how miserable life is, they said, and most likely it is difficult agree with God's appreciation of his work. This arguing strategy at the time could score a few points, and it is easy to find Buddhist apologists who, while still living in the colonial past, are trying to score the same number of points. The real problem, however, is whether the Buddha meant his First Noble Truth primarily as an answer to God's question and, most importantly, whether we get the most out of the First Noble Truth when we see it in this light.

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  Guide to Meditation. Vipassanana Mindfulness Meditation (Vipassana) (Slowly, absorbing, read to yourself - or to a friend...

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  XXIV. The Desire Chapter 334 The desire of a carelessly living person grows like a malu. He rushes from existence to existence...

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  Diagnosis of reincarnations and life goals The karmic problems of the world of people are quite complex in themselves, and their study ...

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  Some quickly achieve success - as soon as they put on shabby clothes, start eating rough food and understand the principle of mindfulness....

Other categories and articles of the section "Religion"

Judaism

Judaism - selected publications on the topic Judaism. Judaism is the religious, national and ethical worldview of the Jewish people, the most ancient monotheistic religion. Jews must follow the laws and regulations described in scripture Judaism - Torah.

What noble truths were revealed to the Buddha?

1. Life is suffering. Suffering is birth, illness, contact with the unpleasant, separation from those you love and coexistence with people alien to you, constant disappointment and dissatisfaction. The life of any person (rich or poor, fortunate or not) is reduced to suffering. Spinning in the wheel of rebirth, a person is doomed to eternal, reproducing suffering. 2. The cause of suffering is desire, the thirst for life, power and pleasure, which lead to the continuation of life and new suffering. Desires and the actions they cause give rise to karma (lit. - "retribution") - a chain of causality that determines the subsequent birth and destiny. From good deeds, a person is reborn in the realm of gods, demigods or people. From evil to lower worlds, among animals and evil spirits. In any case, one thing is inevitable: involvement in a new cycle of births and deaths, in new suffering. This cycle is called "samsara" - "the wheel of life." 3. The cessation of desire leads to the cessation of suffering. 4. There is a way to get rid of desires - the eightfold path. He avoids the extremes of asceticism, but also rejects hedonism, the desire for pleasure. From a person self-improvement is required.

The idea that life is full of suffering is not new in the Indian religious worldview. But it was taken to the extreme by the Buddha, when nothing other than suffering is recognized in life. Buddhism preaches complete renunciation of the world, of all spiritual movements. "The sage does not mourn in his heart neither the living nor those who have died." The man following the Buddha is called: "Do not strive for joys neither earthly nor heavenly", be calm, do not be surprised at anything, do not admire anything, do not strive for anything, do not desire anything. The feeling of love for persons is not compatible with Buddhism, one should wrest from oneself “any attraction to a species and a name”, that is, to an individual; a Buddhist should become deeply indifferent whether his brother is standing near him or a complete stranger whom he sees for the first time - because all attachment is pain, because personality is an illusion. one

The idea that the person, the “I”, and the corporality, in fact, do not exist is one of the most important in Buddhism. It is believed that everything in the world is a stream of ever-changing smallest particles-elements - dharm (“dharma” in Sanskrit means “holder”, “carrier”). The whole world is composed of them, any living being and what we call a person, his soul and consciousness. In fact (this is knowledge that ordinary ignorant people are deprived of) there is nothing stable and permanent in this world. There is no matter as a permanent substance, there is no what man calls "I"; today you have some thoughts, feelings and moods, and tomorrow - completely different; a new combination of dharmas changes both the body and the psyche. Dharmas can be called carriers of the psychophysical state, their combinations form a given individuality. Therefore, when reincarnating into another body, it is not the same unchanging soul that is infused, but some initial states, so that as a result a new complex of dharmas is formed. The well-known researcher of Buddhism O. Rosenberg likens this to a ribbon made up of different threads: you can weave a different pattern from the same threads, and although the base will be the same, the pattern (and hence the thing) is different 1 . The question is legitimate: “What then reincarnates if there is no stable personality? After all, neither the character traits characteristic of a given person, nor his memory, on which self-identification is based, i.e., a person’s self-consciousness, are preserved? There is no intelligible answer to it in Buddhism.

Initially, dharmas are passive, but they receive energy and are set in motion by thoughts, words, and volitional actions of a person. The Buddha discovered the method of "calming the dharmas", the result of which is the cessation of the chain of rebirths. The most important thing is the cessation of desires, the absence of aspirations in life. Of course, to achieve such a state is not easy, or rather impossible, if you live an ordinary worldly life.

The Eightfold Path of Salvation

The Eightfold Path discovered by the Buddha includes:

Correct views, that is, based on "noble truths."

Right determination, that is, the readiness to change one's life in accordance with Buddhist truths, to embark on the path leading to liberation. The first thing that is necessary for this is moral perfection. It further includes:

Correct speech, that is, benevolent, sincere, truthful. You can not conduct obscene conversations, use swear words.

Correct behavior, i.e., the fulfillment of the five commandments: not causing harm to the living (including animals), the prohibition of false testimony and slander, the prohibition of theft, the prohibition of adultery, the prohibition of the use of intoxicating drinks.

The right way of life, i.e. peaceful, honest, clean. Refrain from "dishonest" (in the broad sense of the word) sources of income, such as trafficking in living beings, alcoholic beverages, weapons, drugs, etc.

Right effort (zeal), i.e. self-education and self-control, struggle against temptations and bad thoughts.

Correct attention or direction of thought, i.e. getting rid of passions through awareness of the transient nature of everything that binds a person to life. Ideally - calming the mind, cessation of mental unrest.

Correct concentration, that is, correct methods of contemplation and meditation, which lead to detachment from the world; a feeling of inseparability of the subject of contemplation (the person himself), the object of contemplation (what his consciousness is directed to) and the process of contemplation itself. As a result, the world and man are perceived as a single whole.

Having reached perfection in the eightfold path, a person will be able to get rid of suffering and death, he will not incarnate again. This state is called "nirvana" (in Sanskrit it means "slow fading of fire", "extinguishing").

Nirvana

What is nirvana in essence? The immortality of the soul (although eternal soul, separate from the body does not exist, according to the theory of Buddhism) or the cessation of all existence, dispersion in the universe? The Buddha himself never gave an answer to this question.

Based on the reflections of philosophers, culturologists, religious scholars on the essence of nirvana, it seems to make sense to consider two forms of nirvana. The first is nirvana, which a person can achieve during his lifetime. Then we can definitely say that it is other being, as it were, existence in a special dimension. A person is freed from selfishness, pride and pride are alien to him, nothing can upset him, he feels peace and love for the whole world. Nirvana is the liberation from one's own "I", overcoming any worldly ties. This is a state of enduring spiritual freedom, joy and harmony; the imperfections of the earthly world cease to influence man. Nirvana is a state of intense spiritual activity, renunciation of action and desire, absolute calmness. "Nirvana is the destruction of the flame of lust, hatred and ignorance" 1 .

The second form - nirvana after death, exit from the chain of reincarnations - remains inexplicable. The Buddhists themselves at the 3rd Council (middle of the 3rd century BC) spoke in the sense that nirvana is incomprehensible to those who have not reached it. Our earthly concepts, our words cannot express the essence of this posthumous state. However, S. Radhakrishnan writes: “Nirvana or deliverance is not the dissolution of the soul, but its entry into a state of bliss that has no end. It is liberation from the body, but not from existence.” But what kind of existence can there be if there is no memory, no feelings, no own "I"? Who is blissful, and in what does such bliss consist? Another definition given by S. Radhakrishnan speaks rather of the transformation of a person into nothingness: “This is the extinction of a star in a brilliant sunrise or the melting of a white cloud in summer air…” 2 .

Religious practice of Buddhism

There was originally no place for God in the Buddha's teaching. From his statements, we can conclude that he did not deny the presence of gods in the world, but they did not play any role in the matter of salvation (getting rid of death). The gods are also subject to the law of reincarnation and karma, including a person who has reached nirvana is higher than the gods. It is legitimate to conclude that a Buddhist is not obliged to thank God, since he did not call on him during the struggle. The gods bow before him, not he before the gods.

Even a superficial analysis of the eightfold path of salvation proposed by the Buddha shows that only a few can follow it, since one must devote one's whole life to this.

Indeed, even during the life of the Buddha, the first monastic community, the sangha (literally, “society”), formed from his disciples. The monks were called bhikshus ("beggar"), they were ascetics. They renounced property, took a vow of celibacy, devoted all their time to spiritual work, and lived on alms from the laity. They could only eat vegetarian food until noon. They shaved their heads, wore a cassock yellow color, their personal belongings: begging mug, water bowl, razor, needle and staff. It was not allowed to save food - it had to be taken so much that it was enough for only one meal. At first, the bhikkhus roamed the country, hiding in caves during the rains, where they devoted time to contemplation and meditation. They were buried near their habitats and erected domed crypts. Gradually, residential buildings began to be erected around these monuments, they became monasteries. In Buddhism there is no priestly caste, no church organization. Monasteries became centers of Buddhism, libraries appeared in them, they became original universities.

The ethics of Buddhist monks is based on the following commandments: 1) not to kill; 2) do not steal; 3) not commit adultery; 4) do not lie; 5) do not drink alcohol; 6) do not eat after noon; 7) not to dance, not to sing, not to attend spectacles; 8) not to wear jewelry; 9) not to use luxury seats; 10) do not take gold and silver.

Denying attachment to specific people, Buddhism calls for an all-encompassing love for all living things, for suffering humanity. The benevolent spirit of a Buddhist embraces all the worlds, calls on everyone not to harm others either with lies, anger, or malice. Buddhism preaches tolerance and equality for all people.

Only a monk can achieve nirvana, while ordinary people should improve their karma by helping ascetic bhikkhus and hope to become a bhikkhu in future incarnations.

Development and spread of Buddhism

After the death of the Buddha, the most orthodox school of Buddhists, Theravada (“school of the old wisdom”), developed from his disciples. Buddhism began to spread successfully in India from the 4th century BC. BC e. It was especially popular in the 3rd century. BC e. under King Ashoka, when it became a kind of national religion. After the death of King Ashoka, the Shung dynasty reigned, which patronized Brahmanism. Then the center of Buddhism moved to Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The second after Ashoka, the patron of Buddhism in India was the king Kanishka (I - II centuries); at this time, Buddhism begins to spread from the northern borders of India to Central Asia, penetrates into China.

In the first centuries A.D. e. in Buddhism, a new direction is emerging, the supporters of which called it "Mahayana", which means "big (or great) chariot." This name is associated with the universality and availability of salvation, which is proclaimed in this version of Buddhism. Classical Theravada Buddhism they pejoratively called "Hinayana" ("small, insignificant vehicle").

The peculiarity of the Mahayana is that it promises salvation not only to bhikkhus, but also to ordinary lay people. Any person can, in principle, achieve nirvana - this is what Mahayana Buddhism claims. If in classical Buddhism salvation is the result of a person’s own efforts, his tireless work on himself (“Do not seek protection from others, be your own protection”), then in the Mahayana a person has assistants - bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva is a person who has attained nirvana but has given up personal liberation in order to save people. Bodhisattvas have wisdom and compassion for others. This is how altruism appears in Buddhism, a person receives support on his path to salvation, and chilling loneliness recedes. But this means that a person must ask the enlightened bodhisattvas for help, turning to them with prayers. There is a cult (prayers and rituals) that had no place in the original Buddhism, which did not recognize God.

The image of the Buddha also becomes different. From a person who has achieved enlightenment, he turns into an eternal divine essence. The concept of the "cosmic body of the Buddha" has been developed - a creative substance that is able to take on various earthly forms in order to help humanity in the matter of salvation from suffering. One of these manifestations is the incarnation into a person. Buddha appeared on Earth, taking on a human form, choosing a place of birth and royal family Shakiev. His birth is miraculous and resembles an immaculate conception - his mother dreamed of a white elephant (another option - the elephant actually descended from a cloud to her), which entered her right side, after which the queen became pregnant. The Buddha was born, emerging from the right side of the queen, who was in the garden, and immediately took seven steps. White lotuses bloomed in the place of his footprints.

In addition to Buddha Shakyamuni, other Buddhas were also worshiped, the number of which is very large. The second most important of the most revered is the Buddha Amitabha, the creator and lord of paradise. There is also hell as a punishment for sins. The image of paradise - a place of bliss - is much more understandable to ordinary believers than the abstract and obscure concept of nirvana. But it is not discarded, it is argued that from paradise, this magical land, people pass into nirvana. The third most important Buddha is Maitreya (Friendly). He will come to earth to save the whole world, to save people from suffering. This is the Messiah, the Savior (like J. Christ in Christianity).

So, in the numerous pantheon of deities of Buddhism highest rank make up the buddhas. A Buddha is anyone who has attained nirvana. Buddha properties: omnipotence, the ability to work miracles, influence events, appear in the world in different guises.

The second rank - bodhisattvas - those who voluntarily abandoned nirvana in order to help people come to nirvana here on earth. They are distinguished by generosity, morality, courage, patience, wisdom and the ability to contemplate. The most revered bodhisattvas: Avalokiteshvara (personifies compassion), Manjushri (bearer of wisdom), Vajrapani (fighter against delusions and stupidity).

The third rank of the pantheon - arhats ("worthy") - those who have reached the highest level in spiritual development (closest disciples and followers of Buddha Shakyamuni), as well as pratyeka-buddhas (“buddhas for themselves”) - those who have reached nirvana, but do not save other people.

In Indian religions, there was no developed concept of heaven and hell (or even these concepts themselves) - this is something new that Mahayana Buddhism brought. It is interesting that heavenly bliss and hellish torment equally await both people and gods who are subject to the law of karma. Staying in hell is considered temporary, and then people incarnate in earthly life.

Spread of Buddhism

Buddhism became the first religion that became attractive to peoples of other cultures, managed to spread in many countries adjacent to India. At the same time, Buddhism changed, adjusted to the mentality of other nations, and enriched them with its ideas and spiritual practice. From the 3rd century BC e. Buddhism appeared on the territory of Central Asia (present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), from the 1st century BC. - in China, from the II century. - on the Indochina peninsula, from the 4th century BC. - in Korea, from the VI century. - in Japan, from the 7th century. - in Tibet, from the XII century. - in Mongolia.

It is important to note that classical orthodox Buddhism (Theravada or Hinayana) has spread in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Nyama (former Burma), Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

Mahayana Buddhism established itself in China, from where it spread to Japan, Korea, Tibet, Mongolia and Russia.

The time of the unprecedented rise of Buddhism can be considered II - VIII centuries. Many Buddhist monasteries appeared - centers of education, learning and art. Some monasteries became a kind of university, where Buddhists of various directions from all over Asia came to study. In the 5th century in Northern Bihar (India), a famous monastery was opened - Nalanda University.

However, in India from the 8th century. Buddhism began to decline, giving way to traditional Hinduism. Hinduism has managed to include in its teaching both religious practice and many elements of Buddhism. Buddha in Hinduism became the incarnation of the god Brahma. By the XIII century. Buddhism as an independent confession in India has completely disappeared.

In other countries, national forms of Buddhism have developed, the most famous being Chan Buddhism in China (a combination of Buddhism and Taoism) and Zen Buddhism in Japan (a combination of Buddhism and Shintoism) 1 .

Questions for self-examination:

When Buddhism appears, how does it differ from Brahmanism?

Who is Buddha?

Is the existence of God(s) recognized in classical Theravada (Hinayana) Buddhism?

What are the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism?

What are the most important features of the Buddhist doctrine of the world and man?

Who can achieve salvation (nirvana) according to the theory of classical Buddhism (hinayana)?

What is a sangha?

What are the rules of conduct for a bhikkhu?

Where did classical Hinayana Buddhism spread?

What is the history of the development and spread of Buddhism?

What is the difference between Mahayana Buddhism and original (Hinayana) Buddhism?

Mahayana interpretation of the Buddha.

Who are bodhisattvas, arhats?

What is nirvana - during life and after death?

What are the reasons for the decline of Buddhism in India?

Literature:

Main:

Zelenkov M. Yu. World religions: history and modernity: a textbook for students, graduate students and university teachers - Rostov n / D .: Phoenix, 2008.

Ilyin V.V., Karmin A.S., Nosovich N.V. Religious Studies - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2008.

History of religion. In 2 volumes: a textbook for universities / under the general. ed. prof. I. N. Yablokova, vol. 2. - M .: Higher School, 2007.

Quran / trans. I. Yu. Krachkovsky - Rostov n / D .: Phoenix, 2009.

Matetskaya A. V. Religious studies. Short course. - Rostov n / D .: Phoenix, 2008.

Religions of the world: a dictionary-reference book./ed. A. Yu. Grigorenko. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2009.

Religious studies for students of pedagogical universities / ed. A. Yu. Grigorenko. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2008.

Additional:

Alov A. A., Vladimirov N. G., Ovsienko F. G. World religions. - M., 1998.

A. Men. Sermon of Gautama Buddha / Science and Religion, 1991, No. 11; 1992, Nos. 1, 2.

Elchaninov A., Florensky P., Ern V. History of Religion. - M .: Russian way; Paris: YMCA-Press, 2005.

Ilyin V.V., Karmin A.S., Nosovich N.V. Religious studies. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2008.

Oldenburg S. F. Life of the Buddha, the Indian Teacher of Life. - Pg., 1919.

Radhakrishnan S. Indian Philosophy. M., 1956.

Religious Studies: Tutorial and a minimum educational dictionary on religious studies. – M.: Gardariki, 2002.

Rozenberg O. Proceedings on Buddhism. M .: Nauka, 1991

Encyclopedia for children. T. 6, part 1. Religions of the world. - M., 1996.

Topics for abstracts

The role of religion in human life.

Difference between theistic and pantheistic religions.

The core of religion - faith or cult?

The problem of the reliability of spiritual experience.

Understanding God in Theistic Religions.

Features of mystical knowledge.

Rationale for creationism.

Classical evidence for the existence of God in European theology and philosophy.

Modern Evidence for the Existence of God.

I. Kant on the role of religion.

Marxism about the essence of religion.

The most important ideas of the book by W. James "The Varieties of Religious Experience".

Religion as a justification for absolute values.

Causes and results of the anti-religious policy in the Soviet state.

The value of totemism in the life of the clan (tribe).

The manifestation of fetishism in our days.

D. Fraser on the difference between magic and religion.

Religion of the ancient Greeks.

Religion of the ancient Romans.

Religion of the ancient Celts.

Voodoo religion.

Religion of the ancient Slavs.

Z. Freud's theory of the origin of religion - "for" and "against".

Modern sectarianism - the essence, varieties.

Thinkers of antiquity on the origin of religion.

Types of magical practice.

Magic through the eyes of scientists and mystics.

Rites and holidays in Judaism.

Mysticism in Judaism is Hasidism.

Interpretation of the myths of the book "Genesis" (Bible, Old Testament).

Tanakh and the Bible - similarities and differences.

Kabbalah is the mystical teaching of Judaism.

Talmud - Tradition in Judaism. Structure, content.

Rites and holidays in Islam.

Fasting in Christianity - their essence and meaning.

Rites and holidays in Orthodoxy (Catholicism).

The difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

Features of Protestantism, difference from Catholicism and Orthodoxy.

The essence and role of the Reformation in the culture of Europe.

The meaning of the idea of ​​predestination in Protestantism.

Luther and Calvin are prominent figures of the Reformation.

Features of mysticism in the Eastern and Western churches.

The role of the Sunnah in Islam.

Features of mysticism in Islam (Sufism).

The Bible and the Quran - similarities and differences.

Judaism, Christianity, Islam - similarities and differences.

The role of prophets in the Abrahamic religions.

The future of religion

Causes of anti-Semitism.

Essence and meaning of asceticism.

Saints of the Orthodox Church.

Saints of the Western (Catholic) Church.

True (false) spiritism.

Buddhism is a religion without God.

The teachings of Buddhism.

Nirvana is the interpretation of salvation in Buddhism.

Tripitaka is the sacred book of Buddhism.

Similarities between Christianity and Mahayana Buddhism.

The difference between Mahayana Buddhism and classical Theravada (Hinayana) Buddhism.

The role of Buddhist monasteries in the culture of India.

1See: Brief Philosophical Dictionary. Ed. A. P. Alekseeva. 2nd edition, revised. and supplementary - PBOYuL M. A. Zakharov, 2001, p. 323.

1See: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cultural Studies. - M., Publishing House "Center", 1997, p.322.

1See: Yu.M. – M.: Nauka, 1972, p. 189 - 190, 192.

2 See: Yu. M. Borodai, op. work., p. 198.

1See: Fraser J. The Golden Bough. - M., 1986.

1 The word "shaman" comes from the language of the Evenks (peoples of Siberia), it is widely used to refer to people of non-Western cultures, who were previously called "healer", "sorcerer", "magician", "witch", "sorcerer".

1 Cited. by: Harner M. The way of the shaman / Magic crystal: Magic through the eyes of scientists and sorcerers. - M.: Respublika, 1992, p. 429.

2 See: Ibid., p. 413..

1See: Encyclopedia for children. - M .: Publishing house Avanta +, vol. 6, part 1, Religions of the world. 363.

1. Encyclopedia for children. T. 6. Part 1. Religions of the world - M .: Avanta +, 1996, p. 350.

1 "Promised" means "promised."

1 See: Ex.: 20, 2-17 - Bible. - Russian Bible Society, M., 2004

1P. Florensky, A. Elchaninov, S. Ern. History of religion. S. 107.

1Eccl 9; 7 - Bible. - M., 2004.

1 Alov A. A., Vladimirov N. G., Ovsienko F. G. World religions. - M.: Publishing house PRIOR, 1998. - p. 407.

1 Encyclopedia for children. T. 6, part 1. Religions of the world. With. 429.

1 Elchaninov A., Florensky P., Ern V. History of religion., p. 122.

2 Job 14:10.

4 Eccl. 3:21

1 Sventsitskaya I. S. Early Christianity: pages of history. - M.: Politizdat, 1989, p.73.

2 Compare: Matt. 1:21 "And you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

2 See: Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary in 3 volumes: T. 3 - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1995.p.395.

1 It is called so because it is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter, which is a moving holiday.

1 Rashkova R. T. Catholicism - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2007, p. nineteen.

1See: Philokalia. In 5 vols. - Repr. ed. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1993.

1See: Michel Malherbe. Religions of mankind. M-Spb., 1997, p. 306.

1See: Christianity. encyclopedic Dictionary in 3 volumes - T 2, 1995, p.514 - 519.

1Rashkova R. T. Catholicism, p. 203.

1See: M. Luther. 95 theses - St. Petersburg: Rose of the World, 2002.

1 See: Elchaninov A., Florensky P., Ern V. History of Religion –p. 92.

1See: Rozenberg O. Works on Buddhism. - M .: Nauka, 1991, p. 24-25.

1Radhakrishnan S. Indian Philosophy. M., 1956. S. 381.

2Ibid. S. 383.

1On this, see: N. V. Vetkasova. A guide to religious studies. Part II. History of the Religions of the East.