Episode 414: Buddha’s Delight #2

Transcript! (because accessibility is mandatory)

PDF transcript. Also available via our Buzzsprout page.

Shownotes! (because citations are political)

More HISTORY OF THE WORLD (RELIGIONS), Part 1 coming for you! On this episode, we are ordering Buddha’s Delight #2 off the menu to dip our toes into this vast, multifaceted religion. This time around, we’re guided by Dr. Thomas Borchert, an expert on Buddhism, nationalism, Thailand, and southwest China.

The 101! (in which we did the professor-work)

Last time we ordered Buddha’s Delight #1 and we overwhelmed our nerds with Dr. Dixuan Yujing Chen and varieties of Buddhism and how it changes from place to place, and we talked about the main theological/textual differences, like Mahayana and Theravada.

This time, we’re back, but grabbing Buddha’s Delight #2, in which we are still stressing plurality, we’re still talking divergences, and we’re still interrogating how and why Buddhism has a place in the world religions model. This time, we’re focusing on well-known Buddhist ideas and then stress how that actually works (or doesn’t) in real life.

Those ideas or key terms include: 4 Noble Truths, or 8 Fold Path, monk and nun, nirvana, and more. Things that you may have heard of, but can’t quite place; or things you’ve definitely heard of and maybe even know a lot about—but IRL Buddhists don’t seem to care so much about, even though textbooks about Buddhism says they ought to.

In short, then, the lesson plan is the same as it ever was this season: knowing that religion is imperial helps us understand why Buddhism so often gets portrayed as a universal philosophy and is only really part of the Big 5 World Religions in the world religions paradigm because of how Christians imagine Buddhism relative to Christianity. And, as always, religious literacy requires us to know not just that Buddhist traditions exist in multiple forms and for multiple populations, but that Buddhist practices can be and are liberatory for its practitioners, divorced from text, influenced by region and language, and take on many, many forms.

This episode, we’re playing with expected actions vs. what Buddhists actually do by playing with the so-called “big ideas” in Buddhism. Do Buddhists really pay attention to the 4 Noble Truths—or is that just an easy, pat way to think about Buddhism that catches on precisely because Orientalists could distill all of it into a bullet-point list? Do Buddhists really live their lives hoping to be released from the cycles of samsara—or do Buddhists go about their days with other priorities? Why might we have these assumptions in the first place?

Like last time, there were a bunch of WORDS OF THE DAY, this time too. And, like last time, we tried to define things only to mess up those definitions. But, for the sake of ease, here’s what we discussed:

The Four Noble Truths. Even though Dr. Chen told us last time and Dr. Borchert tells us this time that no one they talked to in their field work prioritized the Four Noble Truths, they also told us that every single time Buddhism is in a textbook, this is what it starts with. So what are these truths?

  • Suffering (dukkha), incapable of satisfying, painful) is an innate characteristic of existence in the realm of samsara (or rebirth)

  • The origin of this suffering, comes from craving/attachment; 

  • You can end suffering by the renouncement or letting go of this craving/attachment;

  • the Noble Eightfold Path leads to renouncement of craving and cessation of suffering

The Eight-Fold Path is similarly repeated ad nauseam in textbooks, Wikipedia pages, and more. That’s usually described as: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right union. (Count ‘em, there’s 8.)

But, we asked, what exactly is right resolve? How would you know you’re doing it? Isn’t it possible that the idea of the “correct” conduct is…socially constructed and related to one’s class, gender, sexuality, ability, age, and location of origin?

We questioned a lot why Buddhism is set up to look so simple, so philosophical, and so easy when Buddhists themselves do not agree on how one ought to do these things—let alone whether or how to do practices that sometimes aren’t “Buddhist” (but also are definitely Buddhist). Feel confused? Good. You’ve got the idea.

We also talked a lot about monks and nuns—initiates or bhikṣu, if you want the non-translated, non-chriwstocentric word, within a sangha, or order, assembly. Initiates themselves are not monolithic—and Dr. Borchert had a lot to teach us about novice and experienced monks, given his extensive research in sangha communities in Thailand and southwest China. Speaking of…

Guest Expert! (because together we are a genius)

Dr. Thomas Borchert is Professor and Chair of Religion at IRMF’s home base, the University of Vermont. We’ll cite his many articles and books in homework, but his expertise is on religion and politics, monastic education, transnational Buddhist networks and the legal systems that govern religious actors in Asia (both religious and secular).

He received a Ph.D. (2006) in the History of Religions from the University of Chicago and a B.A. (1992) from Swarthmore College. He is the author of Educating Monks: Minority Buddhism on China’s Southwest Border (University of Hawai’i Press, 2017), and is the editor of Theravada Buddhism in Colonial Contexts(Routledge 2018). In the spring of 2010, he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Center at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore where he researched Buddhist networks. In the spring of 2014 he was a visiting research fellow in the International PhD Programme in Buddhist Studies at Mahidol University (Thailand), where he researched the relationship of monastic and national identity under the auspices of a Fulbright Fellowship. His next project, delayed by the pandemic, is about Buddhist attitudes toward Islam in Chiang Mai.

Dr. Borchert is one of IRMF’s best work buddies, sure, but he also has some of the best fieldwork anecdotes, including one that demanded he sing to us on the pod. Check out the homework to see what we want you to read of his!

Little Bit Leave It! (in which we leave you a little bit to remember)

Megan was, once again, struck by how her understandings of how [non-Christian] religion works in the world have been shaped by Christian terms and frameworks. This is a great place to remember that monasticism is SO much older and much MORE than Christianity!

Ilyse wanted us to remember how the world religions paradigm centers text, which means that a lot of what’s common knowledge–common phrases, like 4 Noble Truths or 8 Fold Path or nirvana–about Buddhism reflects texts, canon, even if those very things vary in importance to the lived lives of Buddhists. Buddhism is what Buddhists do, regardless of the connection to what has become popularized or well-known in Western / world religions contexts.

If You Don’t Know, Now You Know! (in which we get one factoid each)

Ilyse told us about how in Penang, Malaysia, where she once took a vacation, has this Buddhist temple called Kek Lok Si. It is the largest Buddhist temple in Mayalasia, where Buddhism is the second largest religion, and it it is famous for 10,000 Buddhas as well as a huge statue of Guanyin, a female bodhisattva known as the goddess of mercy. Ilyse’s hilarious “field notes” say: “Mahayana, Theravada and traditional Chinese ritual–gang’s all here!” TL;DR: multiple forms of Buddhism as well as other kinds of traditions and influences coexist even in one place.

Megan wanted us to say out loud that lots of folks, particularly in South/East Asia, practice Buddhism alongside other religions and traditions. (Dr. Jolyon Thomas talked about Buddhism and Shinto being practiced together in Japan, for example [Episode 402].) She shared that one of her all-time favorite examples of seeing this in practice is the ancestor shrine in her local Vietnamese restaurant. Huge chipper Buddha in the middle, but also pictures and offerings to beloved ancestors. And in classic New England fashion, the offerings usually include Dunkin Donuts coffee.

Homework! (because there’s always more to learn)

Ilyse assigned a bunch of things, but especially wants you to read more of Dr. Tom Borchert.

Beyond Tom’s work, check out:

Megan also assigned things!

  • I am sure it is DEEPLY dated, but I still use clips from PBS’s The Buddha, narrated by Richard Gere (which is hilarious to me for reasons my students don’t get bc they don’t know who he is). I’ve found the bits about the life of the Buddha and the interviews with Buddhist monks and nuns about the practice of meditation particularly useful in teaching: https://www.pbs.org/thebuddha/

full of Buddhism? next up: Zoroastrianism