Buddhist Beliefs

Question 1

Ambitabha Buddha

Answer 1

The Buddha worshipped by pure land Buddhists

Question 2

Anatta

Answer 2

People don’t have a fixed self or soul

Question 3

Anicca

Answer 3

Impermanence so everything is constantly changing

Question 4

Arhat

Answer 4

For Theravada Buddhists, it’s someone who becomes enlightened

Question 5

Ascetic

Answer 5

They deprive themselves of pleasure and live a strict and simple life to try and reach enlightenment

Question 6

bodhisattva

Answer 6

For Mahayana Buddhists, someone who has become enlightened but chooses to remain in the cycle of samsara to help others achieve enlightenment

Question 7

buddha

Answer 7

Used to refer to siddartha

Question 8

buddhahood

Answer 8

When someone achieves enlightenment and becomes a Buddha

Question 9

buddha-nature

Answer 9

The idea that everyone has the essence of Buddha inside them

Question 10

dependent arising

Answer 10

The idea that things rise dependent on conditions

Question 11

dhamma

Answer 11

The Buddhas teachings

Question 12

dukkha

Answer 12

Suffering is inevitable - the first noble truth

Question 13

enlightenment

Answer 13

The realisation of the root of suffering and gaining of true knowledge

Question 14

ethics (sila)

Answer 14

A section of the three fold way that emphasises the importance of skilful action as the basis for spiritual progress

Question 15

four sights

Answer 15

The Buddha saw a dead man, a sick man, an old man and a holy man which shows suffering is inevitable

Question 16

jakata

Answer 16

Jakarta tales are popular stories about the lives of the Buddha

Question 17

kamma

Answer 17

Skilful actions result in happiness, unskilful actions result in unhappiness

Question 18

magga

Answer 18

The fourth noble truth: the way to stop suffering; the eight fold path

Question 19

Mahayana Buddhism

Answer 19

later buddhist traditions, like pure land, zen and tibetan buddhism

Question 20

Mara

Answer 20

the demon who represents temptation and spiritual obsticles

Question 21

Meditation

Answer 21

clearing your mind by calming, focusing and reflecting on specific teachings

Question 22

Meditation (samadhi)

Answer 22

section of the three fold way that emphisises the role of meditation in the process of spiritual development

Question 23

Nirvana

Answer 23

state of complete enlightenment, happiness and peace

Question 24

Nidanas

Answer 24

12 factors that illustrate the process of birth, death and rebirth

Question 25

Nirodha

Answer 25

the third noble truth: suffering can be stopped

Question 26

Pali

Answer 26

the language of the earliest buddhist scriptures

Question 27

Pure land Buddhism

Answer 27

a mahayana form of buddhism based on the belief of the amitabha buddha

Question 28

Samodaya

Answer 28

the second noble truth: there are causes of suffering

Question 29

Samsara

Answer 29

the repeating cycle of birth, life,death and rebirth

Question 30

Sanskrit

Answer 30

the language used in later buddhist scriptures

Question 31

Siddhartha Gautama

Answer 31

the name of the buddha

Question 32

Sukhavati

Answer 32

the paradise where amitabha buddha lives and where pure land buddhists are to be reborn

Question 33

Sunyata

Answer 33

emptiness; the concept that nothing has a seperate, independant 'self or soul'

Question 34

Tanha

Answer 34

craving

Question 35

The eightfold path

Answer 35

eight aspects that buddhists practise and live by in order to achieve enlightenment

Question 36

Five aggregates

Answer 36

the five aspects that make up a person

Question 37

The five ascetics

Answer 37

the buddhas first five students following ascetic practices

Question 38

Four noble truths

Answer 38

the four truths the buddha taught about suffering

Question 39

Three poisons

Answer 39

the main causes of suffering: ignorance, gree and hatred

Question 40

Three watches of the night

Answer 40

three realisations that the buddha made to achieve enlightenment

Question 41

The threefold way

Answer 41

the eightfold path grouped into three sections of ethics, meditation and wisdom

Question 42

Tibetan wheel of life

Answer 42

image related to cylcle of samsara found in monastries and temples

Question 43

Theravada Buddhism

Answer 43

the school of elders - an ancient buddhist tradition

Question 44

Wisdom (panna)

Answer 44

a section of the threefold way that deals with buddhist approaches to undertanding the nature of reality