Buddhism Beliefs: The Buddha Flashcards
1
Q
Who was the buddha?
A
Siddharta Gautama
2
Q
Birth of the Buddha
A
- Mother had a dream of a white elephant which entered her right side
- she gave birth to siddharta in the Lumbini Gardens while touching the sal tree
3
Q
What happened after the buddha was born?
A
- He could walk and talk
- He walked seven steps on seven lotus flowers representing each of his lives
- He declared he wouldn’t be reborn
4
Q
SIddharta’s life of Luxury
A
- Raised by his aunt in a palace
- Having heard the prophecy, his father protected him from all suffering so he’d stay in the palace
- He was kind despite his spoling
- Married his cousin and had a child at 16
5
Q
What are The four sights?
A
Four things which he saw after leaving the palace, which effected him hugely.
- Old age
- Illness
- Death
- Holy man
6
Q
The letting go
A
- Through seeing the Four Sights, Siddharta realised that life is full of Dukkha (suffering) and that he needed to seek a better way: enlightenment
- Siddharta knew that he would not find the solution to the problem of suffering within the palace
- He decided to go and find spiritual enlightenment
7
Q
Buddha’s Ascetic Life
A
- Siddharta lived as an ascetic for six years to try to overcome the problem of suffering
- He lived as an ascetic because he was inspired by the holy man he had seen in the last of the Four Sights
- Living as an ascetic involved:
- Living in dangerous forests
- Sleeping on a bed of thorns
- Eating so little that he became very thin and weak
- Siddharta was now dangerously thin, and still hadn’t found his answer
8
Q
Siddharta’s meditation
A
- Siddharta realised that neither a life of luxury nor strict self-denial was the right path to spiritual enlightenment
- He followed a third path, or “middle way” of Meditation
- As Siddharta meditated, traditional stories tell how the demon Mara appeared to him repeatedly
- Mara tried to distract him with tactics such as:
- Sending his daughters to seduce Siddharta
- Sending his armies to attack Siddharta
- Offering Siddharta control of his kingdom
- Questioning his right to sit at the seat of enlightenment
- He withstood these temptations
9
Q
The Buddha’s Enlightenment
A
- Siddharta reached a stage of enlightenment with three important realisations
1) Siddharta gained knowledge of all his previous lives
2) Siddharta understood the repeating cycle of life, death and rebirth
He understood that beings were born and reborn according to their Kamma
3) Siddharta understood why Dukkha happens and how to overcome it
- After his enlightenment, Siddharta became known as the Buddha,
-He taught his spiritual wisdom first to The five ascetics, who were his first students - His teaching became known as the Dhamma:
