Buddha
A title given to someone who has achieved enlightenment; usually used to refer to Siddartha Gautama
Ascetic
Living a simple and strict lifestyle with few pleasures or possessions; someone who follows ascetic practices
Meditation
A practice of calling and focusing the mind
Four sights
Old age
Jataka
The Jataka tales are popular stories about the lives of the Buddha
Dukkha
The first noble truth
Pali
The language of the earliest Buddhist scriptures
Sanskrit
The language used in the late Buddhist scriptures
Nirodha
The third noble truth
Samudaya
The second noble truth
Tanha
Craving (desiring or wanting something)
The Dhamnopada
A sacred text o the Pali tradition with 426 verses
The Eightfold Path
Eight aspects that Buddhists practice and live by in order to achieve enlightenment
The Threefold Way
The Eightfold Path grouped into the three sections of ethics
Ethics (sila)
A section of the Threefold Way that emphasizes the importance of skillful action as the basics for spiritual progress
Meditation (samadhi)
A section of the Threefold Way that emphasizes the role of meditation in the process of spiritual development
Wisdom (panna)
A section of the Threefold Way that deals with Buddhist approaches to understanding the nature of reality
Dharma
The sanskrit word for Buddhist teaching in Dharma
Dependent arising
The idea that all things arise in dependence upon conditions
Nidanas
12 factors that illustrate the process of birth
Samsara
The repeating cycle of birth
Kamma (karma)
A persons actions; the idea that skillful actions result in happiness and unskillful ones in suffering
Anicca (1)
Impermanence
Anatta (3)
Non-self
Dukkha (2)
Dissatisfaction
Mahayana
An umbrella term to describe some later Buddhist traditions
Theravada
’The school of the elders' ; an ancient Buddhist tradition found in southern Asia
Temple
A place where Buddhists come together and practice
Gompa
A hall or building where Tibetan Buddhists meditate
Stupa
A small building in a monastery that sometimes contains holy relics
Shrine
An area with a statice of a Buddha or Bodhisattave
Buddha rupa
A statue of the Buddha
Monastery (vihara)
A place where Buddhist monks and nuns live
Puja
Worship
Chanting
Reciting from the Buddhists scriptures
Mantra
A short sequence of sacred syllables
Mala
Prayer beeds that are used to count the number of recitations in a mantra
Meditation (1)
A practice of calming and focusing the mind
Wesak
A Theravada festival that celebrates the Buddha's birth
Parinirvana day
A Mahayana festival that that commemorates the Buddha's passing away
Festival A day or period of celebration for religious reasons