Buddhist Doctrines: Three Jewels, Noble Truths & Six Realms

Three Jewels

Buddha

Dharma

Sangha

Three Baskets (Tripitaka)

Sutras

Vinaya

Abhidharma

Three Poisons

greed

hatred

ignorance

Three Trainings

ethics

concentration

wisdom

Four Requisites

Tree to sleep beneath

Alms to eat

Rag robes to wear

Fermented cow's urine for medicine

Four Inverted Views

painful as pleasurable

impure as pure

impermanent as permanent

non-self as self

Four Noble Truths

suffering

origin

cessation

path

Four Stages of Awakening

Stream enterer

Once returner

Never returner

Arhat

Four Offenses Resulting in Expulsion (for

monks and nuns)

Sexual intercourse

Taking what is not given

Taking human life

Telling lies

Five Deeds of Immediate Retribution

killing father

killing mother

killing arhat

wounding the Buddha

causing dissent in the sangha

Five Aggregates

Form

Feeling

Recognition

Volition

Conscious awareness

Six Realms

gods

demigods

humans

animals

hungry ghosts

hell beings

Stupa

A buddhist monument that is built to house relics of the Buddha, important site for worship, pilgrimage, meditation

Samsara

The cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, means "wandering" or "continuous flow", the goal is to get out

Kalpa

Each period lasts a very long time, millions of billions of years, often translated as an "aeon"

Karma

Means "action", refers to the deeds of body, speech, mind, and their consequences, 4 types of karma include wholesome, unwholesome, mixed, and indeterminate

Buddha

Means "awakened one", originated from the root word Bodhi = enlightenment, awakening, a Buddha attains knowledge of past lives, divine eye and insight into dependent origination

Dharma (capital D)

Buddha's teachings, practicing the Dharma means following the path towards liberation, also one of the Three Jewels

dharma (lowercase d)

Physical and mental components that build the world

Bhiksu

Monk, meaning "beggar", follows a disciplined monastic life, study Buddhist teachings, important members of the Sangha

Bhiksuni

Nun, dedicate their lives to Buddhist practice, establishment of nun order is associated with Mahaprajapati (Buddha's aunt/foster mother)

Nirvana

Buddha who achieves extinction (liberation from samsara) also achieves this (with remainder), represents the end of the mental conditions that perpetuate suffering and rebirth

Sangha

Means "community", Buddhist monastic community of monks/nuns, one of the Three Jewels

Arhat

Someone who has done what needs to be done, reached Nirvana, means "worthy one"

Bardo

Intermediate state, transitional state between death and rebirth lasting a max of 49 days til you find your next rebirth

Mara

Figure who represents temptation and death, in story of Buddha's enlightenment this person attempts to distract Siddhartha as he meditates beneath the Bodhi tree

Devadatta

Buddha's evil cousin, tried to create a division within the Sangha, represents the dangers of jealousy within Buddhist community

Ananda

Buddha's faithful attendant, has an excellent memory and can recite the Buddha's teachings, wanted women to join the order

Mahaprajapati

Buddha's aunt and foster mother who raised him after his birth mother died, first women to be ordained as a Buddhist nun

Dhyana

Deep states of concentration developed through disciplined meditation, the four versions of this are refined states of mental calm

Dependent Origination

Cause and effect, deceptively simple, nothing exists independently and when conditions change the resulting phenomenon also changes or ceases, this idea helps Buddhists understand suffering

Bodhi

Means "awakening", refers to the profound insight into reality that frees someone from cycle of suffering, Siddhartha attained bodhi and became Buddha while meditating beneath the Bodhi tree

No-self

Buddhist teaching that there is no permanent, independent, unchanging self within a person, understanding this helps weaken attachment to a imagined permanent identity

Relics

Physical remains associated with the Buddha, after Buddha's death these were distributed and enshrined in stupas, they connect Buddhist communities

Vinaya

Means "discipline", rules and regulations governing Buddhist monastic life, standards for monks and nuns, helps maintain order

Bhavanga

Means "becoming", passive mode of consciousness (like being optimistic or being negative), defines the essential character of a being, conditions the first moment of living at the moment of rebirth, can be changed only between death and rebirth

Knowledge of Origins #1

Origins of the world and humanity

Account of the Beginning #2

Describes how the world and living beings came into existence

Setting the Wheel of the Dharma in Motion #3

Buddha delivers first sermon, explains Middle Way, Four Noble Truths, 8 Fold Path

Verses of the Dharma #4

Short teachings about ethical conduct, control of mind and wisdom

Great Discourse on the Final Nirvana #5

Recounts Buddha's final journey, last teachings to his followers, his death, distributions of his relics

The Rhinoceros Horn Sutta #6

Encourages spiritual independence, people should be willing to walk alone like a rhino horn rather than be attached to distracting relationships

Songs of the Female Elders #7

Collection of poems by early Buddhist nuns describing their struggles and experiences attaining Enlightenment

The Establishment of Mindfulness #8

Teaches four foundations of mindfulness: observing the body, feelings, mind, and mental phenomena for insight/overcoming suffering

The Questions of King Milinda #9

Presents dialogue between King and monk Nagasena and uses A LOT of analogies

The Dalai Lama: Reincarnation #10

Recognizing reincarnation teachers and significance of Dalai Lama's successor

White Lotus of the True Dharma (Lotus Sutra)

Teaches that the Buddha uses different methods for different audiences, was about how he is many lives old and his liberation under the tree was an act