BUDDHISM- PRACTICES Flashcards
(39 cards)
1
Q
shrine:
A
A place regarded as holy as it is linked to a holy person or object.
2
Q
vihara:
A
A Theravada temple-monastery.
3
Q
offering:
A
Something given (e.g. to a god or a religious figure) as part of worship.
4
Q
Features of shrines:
A
- Found in temples and homes.
- Usually set up on a table.
- A statue of the Buddha, and/or bodhisattva.
- Buddhist scriptures.
- Offerings .
5
Q
Offerings (and what they symbolise):
A
- Flowers: anicca
- Candles: enlightenment
- Water: purity and calm
- Fruit: karma
- Incense: the dharma
6
Q
Features of Theravada temples:
A
- Shrine room
- Accommodation for monks and/or nuns
- Stupa monument
- Bodhi tree
- Ordination hall
7
Q
Importance of Theravada temples:
A
- Place for children to learn about Buddhism.
- Focus for important events, e.g. festivals.
8
Q
Features of Mahayana temples (Japan):
A
- Hondo (hall containing sacred objects).
- Kodo: lecture hall.
- Pagoda monument
- Bonsho: bell used to summon priests to pray.
- Accommodation for priests and their families.
9
Q
Importance of Mahayana temples?
A
- Provide services to local community, eg funerals, helping the poor.
- House sacred objects (worship done at home).
- Cemeteries are found in temples.
10
Q
*samatha
A
A form of meditation that aims to develop calmness.
11
Q
*vipassana:
A
Insight meditation.
12
Q
*metta-bhavana:
A
Meditation focused on developing loving kindness.
13
Q
Samatha meditation:
A
- Focuses on 1 thing eg breath.
- Over time, concentration gradually improves.
- Often used to prepare for other forms of meditation.
- Focusing on one thing keeps out harmful mental states.
14
Q
Metta-bhavana meditation:
A
- Involves directing metta towards different people.
- Done in stages, starting with metta to yourself, working up to all beings.
- Can be supported by silently saying e.g. “may you be free from suffering”.
- Aim is to cultivate an attitude of metta.
15
Q
Vipassana meditation:
A
- Meditator focuses on their breath.
- They silently label activities they notice (e.g. “in” and “out” as they breathe).
- Distracting thoughts are labelled (e.g. “anger”) and observed, until they cease.
- Attention is returned to the breath.
- Believed to lead to great insights into reality, and ultimately to nirvana.
16
Q
Buddhas and bodhisattvas (meditation)
A
- The Buddha or a bodhisattva may be used as a focus for meditation.
- May done by using a statue or by visualisation.
- Allows the meditator to focus on the Buddha’s qualities, e.g. wisdom.
- Believed that this can help the meditator develop these qualities.
17
Q
puja:
A
Buddhist word for “worship” or “devotional ritual”
18
Q
triratna:
A
Buddhist term for the Three Jewels.
19
Q
mantra:
A
A sacred sound or phrase which is repeated over and over again as a form of meditation.
20
Q
Chanting:
A
- Repeating word or phrases rhythmically.
- Eg Buddhist texts or teachings.
21
Q
Why Chant?:
A
- Calms the mind.
- Helps remember teachings
- Creates Awareness
- Not prayer – aims for internal transformation.
- Chanting the Triratna is a way of recommitting to Buddhism.
22
Q
Mantras:
A
- More important in Mahayana Buddhism.
- Deeper meaning of word / phrase unlocked by repetition.
23
Q
Why use mantras?:
A
- A simple, powerful practice.
- Can create good karma
- Can purify the mind
- A way off calling upon the help of a bodhisattva.
- Avalokiteshvara mantra said to contain essence of the whole dharma. Chanting it can lead to enlightenment.
24
Q
malas:
A
- Buddhist prayer beads.
- Used as an aid to worship.
- Used to count chants / mantras to aid focus.
- Often worn by Buddhists as a symbol of identity.
25
mudras:
* Symbolic hand gestures.
* Often seen on Buddhist statues.
* Used to aid to worship / meditation.
* Represent particular mental states.
* Adopting a mudra helps connect to that mental state
26
The Book of the Dead:
A Tibetan Buddhist text which guides a person through the process of death and rebirth.
27
Sky burial:
A funeral practice where a dead body is eaten by birds.
28
alms-giving:
Giving food, clothing, or other items to monks.
29
Sri Lanka: Theravada (death and mourning)
* Dying person is supported by relatives, encouraged to chant Buddhist texts.
* Believed that how a person dies shapes next rebirth.
* Bodies are cremated, reflecting anicca.
* Rituals to create merit for the dead person, e.g…
Cloth offered to monks on behalf of the dead.
Almsgiving for the dead
30
Japan: Mahayana (Pure Land) (death and mourning)
* Relatives help dying person reach the Pure Land by:
* helping the dying person to focus on Amitabha.
* Staying calm and avoiding crying.
* Helping the dying person settle their business in life.
* Avoiding smoking or talking the day after a person has died.
* Holding services throughout the 49 day period after death.
31
Tibet: Mahayana (death and mourning)
* The Book of the Dead is read to a dying person to prepare them for death.
* It is read during the funeral to guide the dead person to their next rebirth.
* Sky burials give dead person a last chance to accumulate merit (by feeding birds).
* Believed the birds take the dead person on their journey to the bardos.
* Witnessing a sky burial shows the reality of death, and the truth of anicca.
32
Wesak:
Theravada festival that celebrates the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and death.
33
Parinirvana Day:
Mahayana festival that commemorates the Buddha’s death and parinirvana.
34
Kathina:
A Theravada festival which comes at the end of Vassa (an annual period of retreat).
35
Theravada festivals:
* Wesak
* Kathina
36
Mahayana festivals:
* Parinirvana Day
37
Wesak celebrations:
* Displaying lights to symbolise enlightenment.
* Giving offerings at temples and shrines.
* Giving alms to support monks
* Releasing captive animals to symbolise the liberation of nirvana.
* Lay Buddhists may follow the five additional precepts expected of monks.
38
Parinirvana Day celebrations:
* Giving gifts to monks and/or the poor.
* Reading the Parinirvana Sutra or hearing it recited in a temple.
* Preparing and sharing food
* Praying for loved ones who have died recently.
* Some Buddhists take a pilgrimage to Kushinagar, where the Buddha died.
39
Kathina celebrations:
* A time for monks and lay Buddhists to come together again after the Vassa retreat.
* Lay Buddhists may prepare a meal for the monks.
* Lay Buddhists present the monks with gifts and, most importantly, cloth.
* The monks cut the cloth and make new robes, giving it to monks who most need them.
* In Myanmar, colourful “donation trees” made and taken to the monastery.
