1.1 Four Noble Truths - scholars

Question 1

how does Keown describe ‘chanda’

Answer 1

positive desire to reach nirvana which results in the breaking of cyclic negative habits

Question 2

Keown’s three levels of cyclic change

Answer 2

• personal (death, rebirth)
• psychological (craving, gratification)
• cosmic (creation & destruction of galaxies)

Question 3

Keown’s description of ‘nirvana in this life’

Answer 3

the reaching of enlightenment - a transformed state of peace, awareness, compassion, and spiritual joy

Question 4

Keown’s description of ‘final nirvana’

Answer 4

the escaping of samsara when an enlightened being dies; neither annihilation nor immortality

Question 5

Keown: how is nirvana achieved

Answer 5

‘partially through leading a moral life and partially through the wisdom gained by studying the Four Noble Truths’

Question 6

Bodhi - description of the Buddha’s classification of people: the puthujjanas

Answer 6

the worldlings
‘eyes are still covered with the dust of defilements and delusion’
‘not invincible in out striving on the path’

Question 7

Bodhi - description of the Buddha’s classification of people: the ariyans

Answer 7

the noble ones
‘spiritual elite who obtain this status … from their inward nobility of character’
‘incapable of regression to the ranks of the worldling’
will reach arahantship in max 7 lives

Question 8

Bodhi - what is the ‘radical leap’ between puthujjana and ariyan status

Answer 8

the penetration of the Four Noble Truths

Question 9

Bodhi - why the Four Noble Truths are so significant

Answer 9

due to their comprehensiveness they ‘contain within themselves all wholesome and beneficial teachings’

grant us ‘nobility of spirit’ through the tasks they impose on us

Question 10

Bodhi - the task the first truth, Dukkha, imposes on us

Answer 10

‘full understanding’
‘endeavour to comprehend existence from within, as honestly and thoroughly as possible’

Question 11

Bodhi - the task the second truth, Samudaya, imposes on us

Answer 11

‘abandonment’
‘to withstand the coarser manifestation of defilements’

Question 12

Bodhi - the task the third truth, Nirodha, imposes on us

Answer 12

‘realisation’
to make the aspiration of nirvana ‘the pole around which we order out everyday choices’

Question 13

Bodhi - the task the fourth truth, Magga, imposes on us

Answer 13

‘development’
to follow the Buddha’s ‘meticulous instructions that we need to tread the path culminating in the plane of the noble ones’

Question 14

Rinpoche - the theme of the first two truths

Answer 14

dealing with ‘the way things are’

Question 15

Rinpoche - the theme of the final two truths

Answer 15

pointing the way to freedom from suffering

Question 16

Rinpoche - physical vs mental suffering

Answer 16

‘although physical suffering is a natural aspect of our lives, we can learn to transcend mental suffering’

Question 17

Rinpoche - qualities of those who have realised cessation

Answer 17

‘purity of heart’
‘ocean-like compassion’
‘penetrating wisdom’

Question 18

Rinpoche - ‘the way leading to cessation contains a thorough and…

Answer 18

…profound training of body, speech, and mind’

Question 19

Rinpoche - description of sila

Answer 19

restraint and care

Question 20

Rinpoche - description of samadhi

Answer 20

constant effort to develop the wholesome and abandon the unwholesome

Question 21

Rinpoche - description of panna

Answer 21

penetrating the true nature of phenomena

Question 22

deleteRinpoche: the Four Noble Truths can be thought of as that which is to be…

Answer 22

1) comprehended
2) abandoned
3) realised
4) developed

Question 23

Cush - what is the Noble Eightfold Path

Answer 23

the practical manual to living the Buddhist life at all levels

Question 24

Keown - how one puts an end to suffering

Answer 24

by fulfilling the human potential for goodness and happiness

Question 25

Alan Watts - what 'sumyak' is better translated to than 'right'

Answer 25

the middle way and point of balance

Question 26

Cush - why right speech is singled out in the Noble Eightfold Path

Answer 26

speech is one of the most common ways of harming or helping others

Question 27

Cush - why right livelihood is singled out in the Noble Eightfold Path

Answer 27

people with 'blameless personal morality' do not always apply this to their business dealings

Question 28

Keown - similarity / relation between virtue and wisdom

Answer 28

both necessary conditions for nirvana that are not sufficient independently

Question 29

Keown - what is wisdom

Answer 29

a profound philosophical understanding of the human condition

Question 30

Gethin - the opposite of the three poisons

Answer 30

- non attachment (alobha) - loving kindness (metta) - wisdom (panna)

Question 31

Gethin - conditions required to be content and how these are achieved

Answer 31

-mind must be free from guilt and remorse -this is achieved through attaining a clear conscience through generosity and good conduct

Question 32

Bodhi - response to the question of whether the 4 Noble Truths or Noble Eightfold Path is more important

Answer 32

pointless question due to their integral unity, but if we were to risk the pointless it would be the path

Question 33

Cush - what is the 'right intention'

Answer 33

seeing one's goal as enlightenment and unselfish love for all beings

Question 34

Cush - the importance of right view

Answer 34

without initial acceptance of the Buddha's analysis, one would not bother with the rest of the path

Question 35

Keown - demonstration of the high value on a virtuous life

Answer 35

those who gain enlightenment continue to live exemplary moral lives

Question 36

Gethin - the Threefold Way suggests a basic relationship between what

Answer 36

one's understanding, actions, and underlying emotional state

Question 37

Gethin - the relationship of the three aspects of the Threefold Way

Answer 37

they exist, operate, and are developed in a mutually dependent, reciprocal way

Question 38

Gethin - how our views shape our actions

Answer 38

we turn to the world with intentions based on our views these intentions inform how we 'speak, act, and generally make our way in the world'

Question 39

Bodhi: what the Four Noble Truths cover, and the primary response they elicit

Answer 39

the side of doctrine; understanding

Question 40

Bodhi: what the Noble Eightfold Path covers, and the primary response it elicits

Answer 40

the side of discipline; practice

Question 41

Bodhi - why might the Noble Eightfold Path be more important than the Four Noble Truths

Answer 41

it translates the dhamma from abstract formulas into a 'continually unfolding disclosure of truth' which is 'accessible to us in our own experience, where alone it takes on authentic meaning'

Question 42

(Mahayana) what does Chayat mean by 'enlightenment is already here'

Answer 42

all things are Buddha nature, enlightenment is just the full realisation of this

Question 43

(Mahayana) Chayat's explanation of separation between Buddha nature and the self

Answer 43

there is none! there is only the illusion of separation and a permanent self

Question 44

Zen Master Rinzai: 'we are all done...

Answer 44

...just as we are'

Question 45

Shakyamuni Buddha: 'all living beings are...

Answer 45

...Buddha nature'

Question 46

(Mahayana) Chayat - why nibbana cannot be explained

Answer 46

'that which is without limits cannot be defined' the complete penetrating wisdom and understanding required cannot be diminished to something entirely teachable and logical

Question 47

(Mahayana) the quote Chayat likes by Obaku: 'those who seek the way...

Answer 47

...must enter it with the suddenness of a knife-thrust'

Question 48

(Mahayana) Chayat - comparison between the process of developing insight, and the moment of realisation

Answer 48

developing insight requires grinding, sustained effort, but the realisation is instantaneous when understanding falls into place