Beliefs and Teachings - Buddhism

Question 1

What are the Ten Acts (outline of his life) of the Buddha?

Answer 1

1. Conception
2. Physical Birth
3. Accomplishment in Worldy Skills and Ability to Meditate
4. Life of Pleasure
5. Four Sights
6. Life as an Ascetic
7. Victory over Mara
8. Enlightenment
9. Teaching
10. Parinirvana

Question 2

Explain Buddhist opinions on the Ten Acts of the Buddha?

Answer 2

• Mixed opinions (literal and metaphorical)
• Some accounts have additional stories and details
• Buddhists don’t care about other Buddhist opinions on the matter

Question 3

Describe the Conception (Number 1) of the Buddha’s life

Answer 3

Parents - ruler of Shakya Clan

Lived in KAPILAVATSU palace

Question 4

Describe the Physical Birth (Number 2) of the Buddha’s life

Answer 4

Maya (mother) bent over under a tree
Guatama born out of her side painlessly
Baby took 7 steps towards each point of compass; each step lotus flower sprang up
Guatama declared: ‘I am King of the 4 directions. This is my last birth!’
Wise man said Guatama would be a great leader or a great religious teacher
Maya died 7 days later

Question 5

Describe the Accomplishment in Wordly Skills and Ability to Meditate (Number 3) of the Buddha’s life

Answer 5

Father wanted his son to become a great leader
Shielded him from everything bad
Guatama excelled at everything

Question 6

Describe the Life of Pleasure (Number 4) of the Buddha’s life

Answer 6

Enjoyed life of great luxury - three palaces; beautiful gardens
Married Yashodhara when 16; have son called Rahula
Remain in father’s palace for next thirteen years

Question 7

Describe the Four Sights (Number 5) of the Buddha’s life

Answer 7

Aged 29 - Guatama left palace with charioteer Channa
Made 4 journeys, first 3 Sights were common + last Sight show one can be peaceful in face of old age
- an old man
- a sick man
- a dead man
- a SAMANA (wandering holy man)
Left family in palace to follow the ways of the samana

Question 8

Describe the Life as an Ascetic (Number 6) of the Buddha’s life

Answer 8

Guatama cut hair and wore samana clothes
For 6 years - learned yoga and meditation
Went into forest with 5 samana and lived on one grain of rice a day
A herdsman called Sujata fed him a bowl of milk rice
Other samana left him; thought he failed the test

Question 9

Describe the Victory over Mara (Number 7) of the Buddha’s life

Answer 9

Meditated under large fig tree (Bodhi tree)
Remained until achieved ‘supreme and absolute wisdom’
On Guatama’s birthday, Mara came to prevent him from achieving enlightenment (was very close) - sending armies to frighten him
Guatama remained unmoved and Mara fled away

Question 10

Describe the Enlightenment (Number 8) of the Buddha’s life

Answer 10

Guatama’s meditation became intense, understood threefold knowledge:

1. Previous lives
2. Birth and death of beings (rebirth in other realms)
3. True nature of all things - pratitya (dependent origination)

At dawn, achieved enlightenment - now was the Buddha
Achieved nirvana too
Meditated for one week, spirit of lake, Naga, protected him as cobra form

Question 11

Describe the Teaching (Number 9) of the Buddha’s life

Answer 11

First teaching - taught 5 samanas “The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dhamma” - became first bhikkus
Next 45 years - taught in area of Northeast India. Taught all people: kings, poor people, men and women etc.
Two types of followers:
- Lay: accepted his teachings and carried on normal lives
- Bhikkus/ Bhikkunis: accepted his teachings and journeyed with the Buddha, leaving family, home and work

Question 12

Describe the Parinirvana (Teaching 10) of the Buddha’s life

Answer 12

Aged 80 - Buddha fell ill and got food poisoning
When asked for his successor - Buddha said Dhamma was his successor
Went into deeper meditation and achieved Parinirvana
Body cremated and put into eight different Stupas

Question 13

How do Buddhists see life and understand what life is?

Answer 13

The Three Lakshanas - Three Marks of Existence
They are:
1. Dukkha - suffering/unsatisfactoriness
2. Anicca - impermanence
3. Anatta - no permanent or independent self

Question 14

What are the eight states of Dukkha?

Answer 14

1. Birth
2. Old age
3. Disease
4. Dying
5. Unhappiness
6. Being connected with people or things which are hated
7. Being separated from people or things which are loved
8. Not getting what is wished for

Question 15

How do many Buddhists perceive the other two Lakshanas? (Anita and Anatta)

Answer 15

That they are simply a development of dukkha

Question 16

Describe the two types of Anicca

Answer 16

1. Obvious Anicca: impermanence and change which is all around us - getting older, seasons, etc.
2. Hidden Anicca: impermanence and change that we cannot see or observe - molecules, cells growing, etc.

Question 17

How would the Buddhist perceive the saying ‘I am having thoughts’? (related to Anatta)

Answer 17

They would say there is no ‘I’ having thoughts, there are only thoughts. A continuous flow of thoughts

Question 18

What is the most important teaching in the Dhamma and what does it mean?

Answer 18

Pratitya-Samutpada - the Interconnectedness of everything

There is no starting or end point, a person’s consequence is due to another’s actions

Question 19

What did the Buddha teach in “The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dhamma” in the deer park?

Answer 19

The Four Noble Truths: (Buddha like a doctor)

1. Disease - humans suffer from dukkah
2. Diagnosis - sickness caused by craving
3. Cure - sickness can be cured
4. Treatment - Eightfold Path

Question 20

Why, according to Buddhists, is our craving hard to remove?

Answer 20

The Three Poisons:

1. Ignorance - illusion about reality and the truth
2. Greed - desire to posses things and the idea of when doing so, it will remove craving
3. Hatred - we put blame on our conditions to others

Question 21

How can the Eightfold Path (the magga) be divided into the Threefold Way?

Answer 21

1. The Way of Wisdom - some say it’s most important; wisdom allows people to make correct decisions
2. The Way of Morality - how one treats others and environment; good or bad morality determines their rebirth
3. The Way of Meditation - mental training and spiritual practices for one to achieve Nirvana

Question 22

What stages are consisted in The Way of Wisdom of the Eightfold path?

Answer 22

1. Right Viewpoint - seek understanding by follow dhamma

2. Right Thought - change bad thoughts for good for a better action

Question 23

What stages are consisted in The Way of Morality of the Eightfold Path?

Answer 23

3. Right Speech - Buddhist should talk positively to and about others; sometimes nothing is best
4. Right Action - Prevent causing harm
5. Right Living - A Buddhist doesn’t make a living by doing harm to others (e.g. selling weapons/drugs)

Question 24

What stages are consisted in The Way of Meditation of the Eightfold Path?

Answer 24

6. Right Effort - determination to shape the way they think
7. Right Awareness - being mindful; thinking about themselves and things around them
8. Right Concentration - training the mind (meditation); eventually become calm, have loving kindness and gains insight into the truths of life

Question 25

What does the Wheel of Existence consist of?

Answer 25

Six realms into which Buddhists will be reborn into Yama, the God of Death, holds the wheel as Yama is a symbol of anida (impermanence) the Three Poisons rotate the wheel in the center - Ignorance - a pig - Greed - rooster - Hatred - snake

Question 26

How do Buddhists believe that they can escape Samsara?

Answer 26

Following the example of the Buddha. | Most important step - achieving enlightenment

Question 27

What does it feel like to achieve enlightenment?

Answer 27

Coming out of the darkness e. g. a slave who is suddenly free and can take back control of their life e. g. a prisoner walking out of prison and returning home

Question 28

How is enlightenment and nirvana different?

Answer 28

Enlightened People: Still living, eating, relating to others - can still crave, have Three Poisons Nirvana-Achieved People: Blown out/ extinguished the Three Poisons. Peace and happiness are attained

Question 29

What is the general belief of Theravada Buddhism?

Answer 29

Translated: "the way of the elders"; oldest form Strictly faithful to dhamma Conservative approach Don't consider teachings not from the Buddha

Question 30

What is an Arhat within Theravada Buddhism and where is it defined?

Answer 30

'One who is worthy of respect' - completed Eightfold Path, destroyed craving and Three Poisons, overcome dukkah, achieved Nirvana Defined in Chapter Seven of the Dhammapada (text often referred to as introduction to Buddhist teachings - even by others)

Question 31

How do you become an Arhat in Theravada Buddhism?

Answer 31

A person has to be a Bhikku before - lay people can't become one (no women allowed) Bhikkus isolate themselves and continue to focus on mental concentration and meditation

Question 32

What are Arhats of Theravada Buddhism concerned with?

Answer 32

Only concerned with his own magga to nirvana; can't be distracted because of other people's magga Is it selfish? They say that Buddha taught removal of Three Poisons from one's mind was hard enough never mind doing it for someone else too

Question 33

How did Mahayana Buddhism become invented?

Answer 33

Developed centuries after Parinirvana of Buddha - Reaction to conservative approach taken by Theravada Buddhists - Buddhism mingled with other cultures (especially China and Tibet)

Question 34

What is the general belief of Mahayana Buddhism?

Answer 34

Definition of Mahayana Buddhism: 'great vehicle' | Anyone can ride 'great vehicle' (not just Arhats) to achieve Nirvana

Question 35

What do Mahayana Buddhists think about the dharma?

Answer 35

That it wasn't revealed all at once - lots of new sacred texts (most important is the Lotus Sutra)

Question 36

What is a Bodhisattva and which denomination of Buddhism is it key to?

Answer 36

Mahayana Buddhism A being who delays his or her own achievement of nirvana to help others achieve it Source of karuna (compassion) in the world

Question 37

What will all Bodhisattvas eventually become?

Answer 37

They will eventually become a Buddha and will be freed from samsara and the wheel of existence

Question 38

Give examples of famous Boddhisatvas within Mahayana Buddhism and what their symbolism mean

Answer 38

Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara: thousands of arms and many faces - can see and help all those who call on her Bodhisattva Manjushri - sword being held aloft, which awakes spiritual knowledge and wisdom - can destroy ignorance and delusion In previous life, Guatama was a bodhisattva and achieved Buddha status at his Parinirvana

Question 39

Describe the story of Miliinda Panha within Theravada Buddhism

Answer 39

King Milinda and 500 people from his court visits a famous arhat called Nagasena. - Milinda asks what is your name? - Nagasena responds that he is known as Nagasena for ease and that there is no permanent self that can be found - Milinda asks then who does the actions of day to day life (e.g. walk, talk, etc.) and what makes up Nagasena (his teeth, hair, tongue, etc.) - Nagasena responds by saying none of these - Milinda asks then are you just an empty sound? - Nagasena responds, what is the chariot that you came on today, just the axle, wheels, etc. - Milinda says none of these - Nagasena says then you came on empty sound? He says that all of these things make up a chariot. Like the Five Skahndas and the 32 kinds of organic matter make up Nagasena

Question 40

What are the Five Skahndas of being?

Answer 40

1. Form: physical body 2. Sensations: senses through which we experience 3. Perceptions: awareness of the information our senses give us 4. Mental Formations: the reactions to this information 5. Consciousness: thoughts and feelings

Question 41

Using the Five Skahndas, what do Buddhists think the 'I' is?

Answer 41

The Five Skahndas give an illusion of a permanent self. Self is born and dies from moment to moment as the five skahndas arise and decay from moment to moment

Question 42

What is mentioned within the Heart Sutra (a short source of wisdom)? - Mahayana Buddhism

Answer 42

Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara tells arhat Sariputra about his discovery of the five skahndas - key word he uses is 'sunyata', which means emptiness or hollowness Avalokitesvara states that all the Five Skahndas have neither existence nor non-existence (the only word you can use for them is sunyata). Full understanding of this will bring enlightenment If all the Five Skahndas are sunyata, then the nature of one is the nature of all. Understanding this requires a great deal of wisdom - so it's called the Wisdom Paramita

Question 43

What is tathagatagarbha? - Mahayana Buddhism

Answer 43

As the Buddha is a superhuman (told in Lotus Sutra - religious text), then a bit of him lives in all human beings. Awakening the tathagatagarbha will turn a human being into a Buddha. (contradictory to the Heart Sutra)

Question 44

Describe the Parable of the Hidden Jewel - Mahayana Buddhism

Answer 44

A friend sewed an expensive jewel onto the clothes of his sleeping friend. The sleeping friend wakes up and travels to different countries. He ran out of money and has to work hard to survive. He meets his friend by chance and he says that he has had this jewel all this time. He must exchange it for lots of money.

Question 45

Why can't a person awaken the tathagatagarbha or find the hidden jewel? - Mahayana Buddhism

Answer 45

People are too busy that they can't see it Once they hear dharma, they can discover that it has been there the whole time

Question 46

How can a person awaken the tathagatagarbha? - Mahayana Buddhism

Answer 46

Following the Six Paramitas: 1. Dana (generosity) - practise of giving; remove craving and greed 2. Sila (morality) - being a moral person; remove the Three Poisons as the motivating factor of behaviour 3. Virya (energy) - taking action; putting good thoughts into action 4. Kshanti (patience) - tolerance and thoughtfulness towards others; remove hatred (one of Three Poisons) 5. Samadhi (meditation) - clears and cleanse the mind by removing the Three Poisons 6. Prajna (wisdom) - understanding the dhamma

Question 47

What is the definition of the Pancha Sila?

Answer 47

Debate over this: - an absolute commandment regarding how to live - undertakings by which a Buddhist aspires to live - guidelines for personal and social well-being

Question 48

What are the five precepts of the Pancha Sila?

Answer 48

1 Negative - Won't take or harm life 1 Positive - Show metta (loving kindness) to all beings 2 Negative - Won't take what is not freely given 2 Positive - Show dana (generosity) to all beings 3 Negative - Refrain from misusing sexuality 3 Positive - Show respect to all beings 4 Negative - Won't tell false speech 4 Positive - Show honesty and sincerity to all 5 Negative - Abstain from intoxicants to the mind 5 Positive - Mindfulness in my actions

Question 49

In Buddhism, what are the Pancha Silla often combined with?

Answer 49

Karuna (compassion) - to be entirely other-centre; recognising that other's suffering is one's own suffering. Like a mother is to her child. Dalai Lama says that 'Karuna is more important than religion' - glue of society. Some say it needs to be moderated when punishing evil Metta (loving kindness) - putting into practice many different aspects of the magga. Universal virtue - all religions use it. But, Buddha says that important for achieving enlightenment

Question 50

What is kamma and what will it impact?

Answer 50

Kamma means deliberate or intentional 'actions' It influences a person's rebirth in samsara and to which realm they go into Punna kamma - good actions Pappa kamma - bad actions

Question 51

What does Pure Land Buddhism provide a solution to?

Answer 51

The struggle of maintaining the business of life (family, work, etc.) and the traditions and goals required within the Buddhist faith (e.g. following the Eightfold Path, keeping the pancha sila, developing the Six Paramitas, etc.)

Question 52

What is the key belief of Pure Land Buddhism?

Answer 52

As enlightenment is too difficult to achieve in one lifetime in this world, it can be achieved after death when a person is reborn into perfect land - the Pure Land

Question 53

Describe an important sacred text of Pure Land Buddhism called the 'Infinite Life Sutra'

Answer 53

A King, after hearing a Buddha teach the dhamma, renounces his throne and became a monk called Dharmakara. Dharmakara meditated intensely and visited other Buddha lands. He created 48 vows, which he and his Buddha-land had to establish. If one of these vows were not achieved, then he has not achieved perfect enlightenment. The Buddha, when asked about Dharmakara, stated that 'Bodhisattva Dharmakara has already achieved Buddhahood' and that he was in a land called the Pure Land. The Buddha gave Dharmakara the new name of Amitayus ('Infinite life') - Amida in Japan (most popular name) As Amida achieved perfect enlightenment, all those who desire to be reborn in the Pure Land and call his name will be reborn into the Pure Land - promise made (48 vows) Guaranteed to become enlightened in Pure Land - they have choice to become Bodhisattva in Samsara, or become Buddha and leave Samsara

Question 54

What are the two most famous vows in the Infinite Life Sutra? - Pure Land Buddhism

Answer 54

Vow 18 - a person will not be reborn into the Pure Land even if they believe in him and call his name ten times, if Dharmakara has not attained perfect enlightenment Vow 19 - a person will not see Dharmakara before them when they die even if they do various good actions and have sincere desire, if the Dharmakara has not attained perfect enlightenment

Question 55

What do followers of Pure Land Buddhism do when they practice the religion?

Answer 55

Nembutsu - means focusing on, and having faith in Amida Chant name of Amida in a mindful way asking that they and all beings will be reborn into the Pure Land No one chant, but pupular one from Japan is: ``` Na- mu A- mi- da Butsu ``` Means "I take refuge in Amida Buddha" Just chant ten times (18th vow) - some say not even this is required

Question 56

Who made Pure Land Buddhism popular in the 12th Century CE?

Answer 56

Honen (monk) - make Buddhism simple and clear, so remove meditation and need to undertake the dharma Made clear that rebirth in Pure Land was possible for anyone (man or woman, clever person or one without learning, monk or nun or lay person, etc.)