Buddhism Flashcards
(23 cards)
3 Jewels
Buddha - Most important and who buddhists worship
Dharma- teachings
Sangha-community
3 Jewels Analysis (2)
The Dharma is important as it informs them about true reality of the world and how to achieve enlightenment. They believe these teaching will help them live a good life and good kamma.
The Sangha is important as without it people would find it hard to get support. The lay Buddhists support Mahayana ext.
Buddhas life & Sights (7)
Middle way- Stepping away from things and only taking needs (Bodhi tree) Royal kept away from suffering.
4 sights- old man (aging is inescapable)
Sick man (anyone)
Death (Samsara)
Holy man (nature)
Reasons why beliefs are important A (4)
1- Buddha is a human so accessible and just like us.
2- Buddha guide so how to achieve enlightenment, rules and advantage is less confusion and clear paths
3- role model - motivate through tanga
4- events nothing is permanent 3moe and suffering 4 sights and enlightenment
3 MOE A (4)
Anatta- no person is individual can link to Tanha. Or may like then not.
Anicca – recipes change etc. Same for linking.suffer when don’t
Dukkha – Suffering through life and having to use teachings to escape etc. Tanha causes dukkha etc. Suffering can link to most things. Bad energy stay suffering.
Dhammapada 170- illusion suggests things aren’t as they appear to be. And suggests everything is constantly changing.
Samsara 4
Cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth.
This is full of suffering which is fueled by desire.
Your thoughts and actions keep you in the cycle.
Samsara can be evaluated by moralities, relationships, careers and emotions.
Wheel of life
6 realms- Gods representing pride. Titans representing jealousy. Hungry ghosts representing greed. Hell representing evilness. Animals representing ignorance. Humans representing selfishness.
The 6 realms all come from the 3 root poisons. Snake=hatred pig=greed chicken=ignorance.
This helps to understand samsara by showing how our actions and intentions lead to kammic consequences that determine future births.
Samsara A
The wheel of life shows a buddhist the different ways that they might be stuck in samsara. Each realm demonstrates the different ways that is stopping you from reaching enlightenment. The 6 realms all come from the 3rp which further explain why you are not escaping samsara as you are receiving bad kammic energy.
The 4 nobles truths link to it as Tanha can cause greed.
Kamma
Belief in the natural law of cause and effect.
Each action gives either positive or negative kammic energy.
3RP=NK 3RG=PK
PKE= englightenment is closer
NKE= englightenment is further
Nibanna
Nibanna is ultimate peace and happiness. It is the opposite of suffering. It is the ultimate goal for buddhists.
Thervada buddhists follow the buddhists teachings exactly.
Mahayana buddhists believe enlightenment can be achieved through teaching of the buddha. Although compassion is very important to them so they will stay in the cycle of samsara and help others.
Nibanna A 2s 3w
S- Motivation for good behaviour. All try to follow Eightfold Path as best they can as good karma = better rebirth = nibbana eventually.This good behaviour, leading to compassion in some is a good thing in our modern, selfish society.
Leads to a stress free life and is available to everyone.
W-What exactly is Nibbana? Not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve. Such a vague concept – not this, not that. It has to be experienced to be understood!
W-For Theravada Buddhists, goal is difficult to achieve. Path of monk /Arhat too strict/difficult for lay people and it is not an attractive kind of lifestyle for many!
W- Takes too many lifetimes to achieve – so the end goal is quite far off. Better to try for good kamma, better samsaric rebirth.
8FP
V-ictor Follow to overcome tanha and achieve nibbana.
I-s Wisdom develops wisdom
A Morality develops non attachment
S-hort Meditation develops kindness
L-ad The 8FP is made up of 8 guiding principles that a buddhist
E-nding follows to overcome tanha and reach nibanna.
C-razy
8FP A 5
Dhammapada 247: “This is the only path; there is none other for purification of insight. Tread this path, and you will bewilder Mara.” An implication of this is that without following the 8FP you wont ben able to escape suffering, overcome tanha and reach nibanna.
Right view- experiences when following 8fr- if a person doesnt realise nature of life and suffering then they are unlikely to escape samsara.
Right concentration- An implication of this is that its not always going to be easy to stay concentrated as the world if full of lots of distractions. The constsnt tangha can continue to distract.
Right action – 5 precepts.
An implication of the 8FP rules is that it may effect relationships as if the people you talk to or are with don’t listen to the 8FP then you will receive bad kamma. Eg you may not mean to hear gossip but you still get bad kamma for it even though it wasn’t your right intention.
Meditation
Samatha – calming meditation
For samatha you focus on something eg beads ect
It also allows buddhists to let go of cravings
Vipsanna – insight meditation
For vipsana you need to gain realisation and understanding of the impermanance of things. (3MOE)
Mhetta Bhavan – develops loving and kindness,
Meditation A
A positive result of samatha meditation is that it allows buddhists to let go of cravings and calm your mind which will further help a buddhist to follow the conduct of the 8 fold path and not give in to Tanha which leads to further suffering.
A positive result of vipsanna meditation is that it opens so many doors for buddhists as they grasp the understanding of surroundings. It will make it easier for them to note the good and bad and identify suffering. This will further help them in their journey to enlightenment.
A positive result of Metta Bhavan meditation is that it will help the buddhists spread kindness, act on the 3rg’s which will give them positive kamma. An implication of this is that it can cause connections to form but the reason that’s an implication is if the person doesn’t follow 8FP that it can effect the buddhists journey.
5 Precepts
Refrain from harm –further KU everything livings part of samsara
Refrain from taking whats not given
Refrain from missusing senses.
Refrain from bad speech
Refrain from drinking and drugs.
Monastic buddhists also follow a further 5 precepts
5 precepts A
To achieve no harm buddhists would also have to change the way they live. To achieve no harm buddhists would have to become vegetarian to avoid eating the meat that was from animals being killed.
When talking to people the may gossip or speak badly but the buddhist wouldn’t be able to listen to this or reasons do the other person may get sick of one way conversations. This can cause lonliness.
You may experience tanha to use your senses in the wrong way which can be hard to resist and ultimately end up with further Dukkha.
Not taking whats not given - Monastic
(drinking) This means you cannot control things you do or say. This can further cause you to also ignore the other precepts like missusing sences, harm and bad speech. The buddha always kept consiousness on what he did to ensure teachings were correct and to reach nibanna. Being consiouss made the buddha able to realise the 4 sights.
Sangha
This means the community of buddhists around the world.
Provides inspiration and guidance on how to live a good buddhist life.
The buddha did not see himself as a leader so did not delegate a leader for when he died
He suggested followers should live by the dhamma. The sangha was created to support each other in living according to the dhamma.
The monastic sangha lives according to strict monastic rules eg 10 precepts, and serve as spiritual guides and teachers for lay communities.
The lay sangha do not live as monks or nuns but contribute by practice and support. Eg donating food.
Sangha A
One purpose of the monastic communities is to provide a focus for the community. This provides opportunities for lay buddhists to gain a better understanding of the dhamma by provide opportunities like meditation.
Another purpose of the monastic sangha is that it provides the means by which the lay community can generate kammic merit for providing to monks and nuns.
Another impact is that it provides a support network for buddhists. It may be hard to build relationships so having the buddhist community in the same boat as you provides plenty of possible relationships which have no risks of giving bad kammic energy.
Devotion
Buddhism does not focus on devotion to a god but rather on respect, gratitude and commitment to the buddha, dhamma and sangha.
Devotion can be seen as a way to have positive mental states, deepen understanding and progress towards enlightenment.
Devotional Practices- Puja – Chanting – meditation
Thervada buddhists emphasises devotion to the historical buddha and his teachings with lay followers showing respect to monks.
Mahayana buddhists greater emphasises on devotion to bodhisattvas, chanting and prayers for merit.
Sudatta
He was a wealthy merchant known for extreme generousity.
He met the buddha when overhearing others talking about buddhas so he went to meet the buddha and learned his teachings.
Sudatta built one of the most important monastries in buddhism.
Devotion A
A purpose of devotion is that it shows generousity. Sudatta was very generous giving wealth to buddhist followers. This can link to the 3gr of kindness. This generousity encourages buddhists to help each other with teachings and lay buddhists are king and halp monastic buddhists.
An implication of devotional practices is that meditation may be hard to focus on if there are lots of distractions so the tanha to have these distractions can cause the mind to not find peace or the middle way.
