Buddhism Main Information

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