Buddhism Beliefs and teachings Flashcards
(39 cards)
1
Q
what is the Dhamma
A
- the teaching of the Buddha
- the way the universe operates like ‘cosmic law’
- existed before the Buddha but he put it into words for others to understand
2
Q
what is the teaching Dhammapada 183
A
to avoid all evil, to cultivate good and to cleanse ones mind
- one of the Buddha’s teachings
3
Q
what is the nature of reality
A
- the first is the three marks of existence
- the second is ‘dependent arising’
4
Q
what are the three marks of existence sometimes known as
A
the three universal truths
5
Q
what are the three marks of existence
A
Annica:
- everything is impermanent and illusionary
- everything changes and is constantly in flux
Anatta:
- since everything is constantly changing there can be no permanent self or soul because the elements that make it are constantly in flux
Dukkha:
- everything is constantly which causes feelings of being unsatisfied and leads to suffering
6
Q
what is the dependent arising (paticca samuppada)
A
‘if this exists, that comes to exist’
- Buddhists believe we have many thousands of rebirths
- we are a changing bundle of elements (skandhas) born into many lifetimes each trying to attain enlightenment
- together these elements are enough to keep the illusion going but the chain of existence comes from the dependent arising
- interdependent events which cause the existence or occurrence of other events
7
Q
what are the five skandhas
A
the five elements or aggregates that make up each person that are constantly changing so lead to dukkha
- physical form (rupa) - made up of the elements air, earth, fire and water
- sensations/feelings (vedana) - for example we taste something (feeling) which we decide is not pleasant (sensation)
- perception (samjna) - perceptions of sense
- mental formations (samskara) - the decision making bit of our brain, which makes us say/think/do something
- awareness/consciousness (vijnana)
8
Q
what is sunyata
A
- it means emptiness or void
- it is the skilful (upasala) means by which a person disentangles themselves from the impurity of existence and from being unsatisfied
- to realise (understand and experience) sunyata is to cease attachment and craving and it leads to enlightenment
- meditation is a means to that understanding and therefore is able to deliver enlightenment
- without sunyata Buddha wouldn’t have been able to reach enlightenment
9
Q
why do Buddhists believe it is possible for everyone to become Buddha
A
Mahayana Buddhism believes everyone has a Buddha-nature that is the potential for everyone to become Buddha and be enlightened
it is the practice of Buddhism which helps us to realise our Buddha nature for ourselves
10
Q
what are the two contrasting schools of Buddhism
A
therevada - enlightenment is a personal goal sought by monks who become arhats (perfected beings in the stage before enlightenment)
Mahayana - individuals can support each other to reach enlightenment
11
Q
what is Buddhahood
A
- the belief that every person has within them the potential to become Buddha.
- This means there are an infinite number of Buddhas now and to come
- the different groups within Buddhism see our capacity for this slightly differently
12
Q
what is Arhat
A
- found in Theravada Buddhism
- means ‘perfected being’ one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved nibbana
- being an arhat is the goal of Theravadins
- it is unlikely to become an Arhat unless you are a monk in a monastery
- this means a female cannot became an Arhat
- monks follow the ten precepts (sila) developing their morality and discipline and insight to become arhats
- most importantly they develop wisdom (pranja)
13
Q
what is the Bodhisattva
A
a being who has postponed enlightenment after taking a vow to help others
- found in Mahayana Buddhism
- Siddhartha Gautama was a bodhisattva in life prior to his enlightenment
- They see this as a higher being than the Theravada Arhat who is focused on their own enlightenment
- compassion and wisdom drive people to put off enlightenment
- the bodhisattva can transfer their own merit to their followers thus helping them
14
Q
what are the stages of being a bodhisattva
A
- declaring the intention to put off Buddhahood to help others
- taking vows to show determination - a vow to become Buddha and help others achieve enlightenment
- living as a Bodhisattva so working hard to develop and perfect the six perfections
- becoming enlightened and attaining Buddhahood. This is really the realisation that the person has been buddha all along because everything they have done has been selfless
15
Q
what is Pure Land Buddhism and who was Amitabha Buddha
A
Amitabha
- the buddha of infinite light, the most important form of Buddha for Japanese Buddhists who resides in the Pure land heaven (Sukhavati)
- a monk who vowed that after he reached his own enlightenment anyone who called his name could live in his heaven (Sukhavati) until they attained enlightenment for themselves
Sukhavati/pure land
- a beautiful place free from pain and need/want
- the residence of Amitabha
the pure land school of Buddhism formed in Japan in the 12th-13th century emphasise faith in Amitabha
16
Q
discuss the birth story of the Siddhartha Gautama
A
- Queen Maya his mother dreamed that an elephant with six tusks and a head coloured like rubies came down from heaven entering her womb from the right side
- the King sought advice from Brahmin priests about the dream
- it meant that Maya would have a holy child who would achieve perfect wisdom
- Siddhartha was born in the gardens of Lumbini as his mother walked
- A sala tree bent its branch for her to hold and from her side came Siddhartha
- he immediately walked seven paces and from each footprint grew a lotus flower
- he said this would be his last rebirth and he would end the sorrow of birth and death
- shortly after his birth a holy man Asita told the king that Siddhartha would become either a great king or a great holy man
- his father wanted him to rule so he shaped Siddhartha’s life and experiences around that aim
- he was given a life of luxury but he was kept ignorant of death, illness and other suffering in order to prevent him from becoming concerned about the meaning of life
17
Q
what are the points of importance from Buddhas birth story
A
- even before conception Siddhartha was special
- prophecies were made saying Siddhartha would become a holy man and renounce his life of extreme wealth and these prophecies later came true
- his statements at birth show that we are driven by past lives
18
Q
what were the four sights that Siddhartha saw
A
- Jataka 075 tells the story
- he grew curious about the world outside the palace
- Aged 29 during four visits outside the palace he saw
- an old man realising that aging happened to all regardless of wealth
- a sick person realising that illness is an unavoidable part of life
- a dead body realising that we all must crumble to dust eventually
these sights troubled and saddened him greatly and made him totally dissatisfied with his extreme wealth but he had no solution until he saw a holy man. The man had renounced the material life to find the truth and seemed happy. It inspired Siddhartha to try for himself vowing to find a solution to suffering
19
Q
what are the points of importance of the four sight story
A
- the encounter with death shows the impermanence of the material world - no amount of money can stop this
- seeing the four sights with no comprehension of them beforehand was mind-blowing - it resulted in Siddhartha renouncing his life of extreme wealth, rejecting it as not being satisfactory. This was the trigger for his spiritual journey of enlightenment
- the last of the four sights (the holy man) gave him a potential solution to the dissatisfaction caused by the other three - a religious path
20
Q
discuss Buddhas ascetic life
A
- after seeing the four sights Siddhartha left the palace and his luxurious life rejecting them as unsatisfactory
- spent next few years learning meditation techniques from different Hindu masters
- wanted to gain an insight into the problem of suffering
- lived a very austere life denying himself the things he craved especially food
- this period of his life lasted six years during which he almost starved to death but he didn’t find the solution to suffering
- one day whilst meditating he heard a man tell his son about stringing an instrument - fasten the strings too tightly and they snap, too loosely and they cannot play
- Siddhartha saw this as a metaphor for what he was doing
- his life of luxury had not worked and neither had his austere life
- he realised that the solution is between these hence why Buddhism is a middle way
- he washed and ate proper food for the first time and his companions deserted him seeing him as a failure
21
Q
what are the points of importance to Buddha’s austere, ascetic life
A
- this was the opposite extreme to Siddhartha’s life of luxury and after he experienced both lives neither worked - Buddhism - middle way
- Siddhartha reflected on the four sights as he saw them, then learned to meditate from masters
- he later reflected that as a child he had meditated though he had not known what he was doing
- meditation became a central theme in his life and teachings
22
Q
how did Buddha become enlightened
A
- he sat beneath a Bodhi tree for forty nights and forty days vowing to meditate until he reached enlightenment.
- At first the demon Mara tried to stop him - he tried to frighten him with fierce armies and then he sent his daughters to tempt Siddhartha and so distract him from his purpose. Finally Mara challenged his very right to achieve enlightenment
- Siddhartha called the goddess Vasundhara to act as a witness that he was fit to achieve enlightenment
23
Q
what four things did Buddha do/learn to reach enlightenment
A
- he recalled all his past lives thus being able to see that he was ready to become enlightenment
- He understood how all living things come to exist - paticca samuppada. He understood that everything is impermanent
- He realised that suffering comes from a desire or craving for things to stay as they are or for the better. Overcoming those cravings was the key.
- with these realisations he attained nibbana - the three poisons (greed, hatred and ignorance) stopped within him so no longer controlling him and he was left with a sense of calm and happiness
24
Q
what are the points of importance we should take from Buddhas story of enlightenment
A
- we are reminded that it takes many lifetimes to attain enlightenment and we learn in each one
- even with great determination a person can be distracted and have doubts which must be ignored or pushed away to be successful
- enlightenment comes from the power of the human mind not a divine intervention
- Siddhartha’s realisations form the basis of Buddhist teachings (paticca samuppada, the three marks of existence, noble eightfold path) these teachings have the status of ‘law’ to Buddhism
25
what happened to Buddha after enlightenment
- Buddha wasn't sure he could teach others so didn't return to teaching immediately
- But the God Brahma spoke to him
- he likened people to the lotus flower - some see only their mundane lives like the root of the plant in mud; others are ready to be taught like the flower bud breaking the surface of the water and others are ready to attain enlightenment like the flower bursting open in the sun)
- The Buddha sought out the ascetics who had left him as a failure. He taught them first and then anyone who came to listen
26
what are the points if importance regrading what happened to Buddha after enlightenment
- the lotus is one of the symbols of Buddhism - for example a statue of seated Buddha will be sitting on an opened lotus flower whilst a standing Buddha may be holding out a closed flower to the worshipper
- in many Buddhist countries it is the norm for worshippers to give lotus flowers as offerings at the temple
- Having the ascetics who were close to enlightenment Siddhartha taught anyone. This shows Buddhism is for anyone regardless of age, gender or creed which reflects the Buddha's compassion and concern for all
27
Define tanha
craving `
28
discuss the four noble truths as a whole
- flows from the three marks of existence as explores suffering and impermanence
- during his enlightenment Buddha realised these truths
- they are the essence of the Dhamma
- the Buddha was known as the 'great physician' and the truths can be seen as a model of medical diagnosis
1st truth - diagnosis
2nd - cause
3rd - cure
4th - prescription
29
what is the Dhammapada 190-191
he who has gone for refuge to the Buddha, the teaching and his Order, penetrates with transcendental wisdom the Four Noble Truths - suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the noble eightfold path leading to the cessation of suffering
30
what is the first noble truth
dukkha - suffering
- since all existence is impermanent, all existence must involve suffering
- three forms of Dukkha are everyday pain and unpleasantness, that caused by the experience and realisation of impermanence and that caused by what has gone before (our karmic programming)
dukkha is caused by desire/craving, our attitude and attachment.
it is also caused by the three poisons
in Buddhism there is no value to suffering, though suffering is endless until a person can cease attachment and hence achieve enlightenment
31
what is the second noble truth
dukkha is caused by craving (tanha) - we want bad things to stop and good things to never end and we crave more good things which perpetuates raving which in itself is suffering
Paticca Samuppada explains how craving comes about because it explains how all things come to exist.
"He who perceives pattica samuppada perceives the Dhamma" - Buddha
essentially our past lives shape our present and our future but in the present life desire and attachment build up to keep us bound to the cycle of rebirth (samsara)
this is considered to be the lynchpin of the Buddha's teaching and its realisation was the rigger for his enlightenment
32
what is the third noble truth
end tanha by achieving non-attachment nirodha, if you stop wanting you end suffering
This also nibbana (cessation of suffering) - when a person stops being attached to the material world and what's in it, they have the calm of enlightenment and are not affected by the Three Poisons because of non-attachment
Nirodha (cessation of suffering) is described in many ways in Buddhist scripture - the destruction of the Skandhas, supreme happiness, the stopping of becoming, the ending of craving, final destructions of the intentions, the end of suffering. It can be seen as a state of being ( peace, blessing, purity) or a face ( the unborn, the unbecome or the eternal)
33
what is the fourth noble truth
the eightfold path
the way to nirodha is by the path (magga)
the noble eightfold path and the middle way
magga has eight elements and a Buddhist must focus on them all because they are all important
those who do not follow all eight spokes of the wheel are stuck on the outer rim which is samsara and cannot reach the middle, enlightenment
34
why is the wheel (dharmachakra) so important for Buddhist
because is the wheel of samsara cycle and represents the noble eightfold path
35
what are the eight elements of the eightfold path
right.....
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view thought
speech
action
livelihood
effort
mindfulness
concentration
```
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Vicky's
thinking
snakes
ate
lovely
elegant
meals
continuously
```
36
what can magga (the noble eightfold path) also be understood as
the threefold way
wisdom - right though/view
morality - right speech/action/livelihood
meditation - right mindfulness/concentration/ effort
37
smadhi
meditation
38
sila
morality/ethics
39
panna
wisdom
