Unit 5: Buddhism

Noble Eightfold Path

Prescription to be released from desire and suffering - habits that a Buddhist would want to inculcate in his/ her life - beginning in the mind, then going to actions, then going to concentration

Karuna

Impersonal feeling of compassion - helping others to become enlightened and helping them out of samsara - key virtue in Mahayana and Vajrayana

Agape

Self-giving love - key virtue of Christianity - the desire to sacrifice for another - the way that God loves us - like "compassion" - "willing to suffer with"

Skandhas

Strands of heaps of impersonal consciousness - feelings, form, perceptions, thoughts - are bound together as long as desire persists - like a flame passed from one candle to the next - these are passed from life to life

Deer Park Sermon

First dharma of the Buddha - taught to his fellow ascetics - included the Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, Middle Way

Four Passing Sights

Made Siddhartha realize that life is suffering - an old man, a sick man, a dead man and an ascetic

Dharma Wheel

Buddhist symbol which embodies the Buddha's teachings, meditation, Noble Eightfold Path, and Mindfulness

Shakyamuni

"Sage of the Shakya Clan" - typical image of the Buddha - often seen meditating - popular in Theravada Buddhism

Buddha

Title given to Siddhartha after he achieved enlightenment - "Enlightened" or "Awakened" One

Siddhartha Gautama

Original name of the Buddha - a kshatriya prince

Milo-Phu

Laughing Buddha - popular in Mahayana Buddhism - he is content, and his graces help others - also known as "Budai"

Prajna

Wisdom or insight - what the Buddha experienced after meditating under the Bodhi Tree - key virtue in Theravada

Middle Way

Neither asceticism nor sensual pleasures will lead a person to enlightenment

Stupas

Religious shrines that are places of pilgrimage - the Buddha's remains are in eight of them - some built by Ashoka of the Maurya Empire

Dharma

Used in both Buddhism and Hinduism - comes from the nature of things - in Buddhism this is the teaching of the Buddha

Mindfulness

Buddhist virtue of being in the present moment - not pulled one way or the other through feelings, thoughts, or attachments

Five Precepts

Buddhist ethical principles similar to the 10 Commandments, first for all Buddhists, then for monks and nuns (similar to vows)

Karma

Moral law of cause and effect - explains one's life circumstances, either positive or negative

Pali

The ancient language that Buddhist manuscripts are written in - more accessible to the common people than Sanskrit

Three Jewels

Buddhist initiation vows - "I take refuge in the Buddha,...the dharma,...the sangha."

Three Marks of Existence

Buddhist belief in what reality is made of - an-atta, an-icca, dukkha

An-atta

"No self" - individuality is an illusion - we are just made of skandhas

An-icca

Impermanence - everything is constantly changing

Nirvana

"Blowing out" of existence - end of individuality, desire, suffering, etc.

Theravada

"Way of the elders" - the original form of Buddhism - closest to the Buddha's teachings - the ideal is prajna

Mahayana

"Great Vehicle of Emancipation" - the largest sect of Buddhism - the ideal is karuna - multiple Buddhas - Buddhas was a god

Vajrayana

"Diamond" or "Thunderbolt" vehicle - Tibetan Buddhism that believes that nirvana can be experienced in this life

Arhat

Enlightened "saint" - the ideal in Theravada - a person who has experienced prajna

Bodhisattva

One whose essence is wisdom - a human who enters nirvana, becomes a god, and comes back to help people become enlightened

Lotus Sutra

Central text of Mahayana Buddhism - rejected by Theravadas - believed to be too advanced to be revealed until the 1st century AD - claims that Buddha was a god

Cosmic Buddhahood

Mahayana belief that every creature is destined to become a Buddha and be released from samsara

Samsara

Cycle of rebirth that a person is stuck in until they are freed from the illusion of desire

Pure Land

The form of Mahayana Buddhism that believes that there are multiple Buddhas, such as Amitabha Buddha who can take a person to a place of bliss with other bodhisattvas

Mandala

Circular visual image that is meant to be a meditation on the Buddhist cosmos - sometimes made with sand

Mudra

Hand gestures that are used in meditation or may be seen in Buddhist statues - each has a symbolic meaning

Mantra

Chant that is used in meditation - symbolizing Buddhist virtues - one example is Om Mani Padme Hum

Lama

Tibetan Buddhist monk

Kundun

Title for the Dalai Lama which means "the presence" - the presence of the 14th reincarnation of a bodhisattva

Tenzin Gyatsu

A title for the Dalai Lama which means "ocean of compassion" - he is supposed to have an impersonal sense of karuna for all

Lhasa

Spiritual and political capital of Tibet

Dharamsala

City in northern India where the 14th Dalai Lama lives in exile

Dukkha

Suffering - life is unsatisfactory - this is caused by desire - 1st Noble Truth

Tanha

Desire - craving or thirsting for what we do not have - this leads to suffering - 2nd Noble Truth