buddhism Flashcards
beliefs about the Buddha - his upbringing
the Buddha was born as prince Siddartha in the garden of lumbini. Shortly after he was born his mother sadly passed away and he was brought up by his father and auntie. At his naming ceremony, a profit proclaimed he would become an emperor or a buddha If he stopped to think about suffering. His father didn’t like this so he tried to keep the knowledge of suffering from him. Siddartha was brought up in a life of luxury and refinement to protect him from suffering. At 16 he married princess yasodhara.
beliefs about the buddha - the four sights
Siddhartha started to reflect on his life at around 29 years old. He had led a very sheltered life with all possible luxury. However in an excursion from the palace with his charioteer channa and this is when he came across the four sights. The first sight he saw was a tired, old man. The second sight he saw a man who was sick. The third sight was death. His last sight was a holy man.
beliefs about the buddha - four noble truths
the first noble truth (dukkha) which is what the Buddha taught about how suffering is real and happens all the time. The second noble truth (tanha) which taught that suffering has a cause. The Buddha said the real cause of suffering was craving. The third noble truth says that you can avoid suffering. The fourth noble truth is the instruction to avoid suffering called the middle way. The purpose of this belief is to encourage people to have a balance of suffering and luxury e.g. following the middle way.
beliefs about the buddha - becoming enlightened
He spent six years living as an ascetic. This meant that he tried to find the answers through self-punishment, by starving and hurting himself. In all of this, he found no answers and gave up this approach. Eventually, he decided that he would sit and think until the answers to his questions came, and that’s exactly
what he did. He found a tree and sat under it and meditated. Eventually, Siddartha understood, he had found the answer to the problems of old age, sickness, and death. From now on he would be the Buddha — the Enlightened One. He decided to share his teachings and ideas.
beliefs about the buddha - story of kisa gotami
during the Buddha’s time, there lived a woman called kisa gotami. She married young and gave birth to a son. She loved her son and refused to believe he was dead. She went o the Buddha for help and he asked to find a house with a mustard seed but no one from the house could have ever lost a family member. She realised this was impossible and everyone suffers from a family death. She accept the death of her son and buried him.
three marks existence - anicca
it means nothing lasts forever and everything changes. The Buddha taught that everything continuously changes and nothing is permanent. Humans find it hard to understand and so have a false sense of permanence which only lead to suffering. Accepting anicca diminishes craving and lessens suffering. This is shown in buddhas life. For example, prince Siddhartha mother died shortly after giving birth
three marks existence - anatta
annat literally means no soul. If nothing is permanent, and everything changes, then you also constantly change. The Buddha says there is no permanent thing that makes you you. For example, the 5 skandhas. The first one is the rupa (the physical body), the second is the vedana (sensations), the third is sankhara (likes/dislikes), the fourth is sanna (perceptions) and the fifth is vinnana (consciousness). Each of these elements is impermanent, constantly changing.
three marks of existence - dukkha
all life is unsatisfactory or suffering. We suffer because we do not accept that everything changes. This suffering is mainly caused by peoples unrealistic expectations of things e.g. wanting money/not wanting to get old. We resist change and are upset by it, we get upset when we don’t get what we want. If we understand that everything is impermanent and will always change, we shouldn’t have these unreasonable expectations. We will always realise that good things come to an end.
nature of human beings - tanha
literally translates to thirst. Tanha is desire or craving. It can be both physical and mental. Suffering is caused by attachment to craving, attachment keeps people tied to the wheel of samsara. Delusion and non-acceptance of impermanence lead to suffering.
nature of human beings - three root posions
the pig - delusion/ignorance, the snake- hatred, and the rooster-greed. They are deeply embedded within us and are the cause of all human suffering. They are shown to eat each other which represents that greed, hatred, and ignorance all feed on each other. The first root poison is greed which is an intense or selfish desire for something. The second poison is the hatred which is an intense dislike or loathing for someone/something. The third poison is ignorance and delusion, which ignorance is the delusion that we can be ok whilst other people suffer or are unhappy.
nature of human beings - kamma
kamma is a result of deliberate actions only e.g. lying. Good and bad kamma is dependent on skillful and unskilful actions. Unskilful actions will produce suffering, either immediately or in the long term, and either for oneself only or for others as well. Skillful actions lead to enlightenment.
samsara
It means the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The wheel of life is a symbolic image used by buddhists to show what life is like.buddhist will use the wheel like a mirror as it reflects their own life. Buddhists believe that all beings are locked into this. The only escape is to live life following Buddha’s teaching, particularly the last of the four noble truths. We can be born into one of six realms: the hell realm, the human realm, the realm of the hungry ghosts, the animal realm, the god’s realm, demi-god realm. Realm of the gods - these beings live a life of luxury and pleasure and want for nothing. Realm of demi-gods - gods who would like the position of deva and will go out of their way to get what they want. Realm of ghosts- hungry ghosts. They are constantly hungry and thirsty. Realm of hell - opposite of realm of gods, life is torture with no pleasure. Realm of animals - consciousness is not as great as in the human realm. Ignorance is greater.
nibbana
Nibbana is very difficult to define. It is the end of all misery. There are two types of Nibbana; nibbana with remainder and Nibbana without remainder. Nibbana with remainder means enlightenment has been achieved and there is no attachment to samsara but there is a remaining life span. Nibbana without remainder which comes at the end of a life span means the final Nibbana, after death, is called parinibbana. Nibbana is the main goal of Buddhism. It is the end of craving and the unsatisfactoriness that craving causes. Nibbana is the stopping of samsara and putting an end to suffering. There is no more attachment to worldly things. When a person achieves Nibbana they can still lead a normal human life. They are free of all mental pain and confusion.
Nibbana - the question of king Milinda
nagasena explains to the king that Nibbana can only be fully understood by experiencing the state yourself. He compares nibbana to the wind. It can not be seen or touched but it can be experienced.
nibbana - Mahayana route to nibbana
the Mahayana tradition believes that the route of the arhat is too far removed from what ordinary people would be able to achieve. They argue everyone should be able to attain Nibbana, not just those who are able to follow the strict lifestyle of being a monk. The goal of Mahayana Buddhist practice is to achieve supreme happiness and freedom from suffering. Mahayana sees the Theravada view of Nibbana as being too self-centred.
