Buddhism Test Review Flashcards
Siddhartha’s father is a…
Prince
Time frame of Siddhartha Guatama
563-483 B.C.E.
Priest foretold two possible directions:
1) Follow his father’s footsteps
2) Become a spiritual leader/world teacher
Forced by his father -
- Grew up in luxury
- Married young
- Educated to be a soldier
Siddhartha did what in order to attain true liberation?
- Sat on a straw mat under a Bodhi tree and vowed not to move while fighting temptations for 49 days
What happens to Siddhartha Guatama after sitting under the Bodhi tree for 49 days?
- Becomes The Buddha, or “The Awakened One”
This is when a Siddhartha questioned:
- Why is there suffering? - Why do people have to grow old and die?
- Is there a soul/afterlife? - Are we reborn? - Can we avoid suffering?
- How should we live?
Siddhartha escapes at 29 and leaves his family to attain religious enlightenment
- The Great Going Forth
“Four Passing Sights”
1) Sick person
2) Old person
3) Dead person
4) Wandering Holy Man
Asceticism
- Self-denial - particularly the rejection of worldly pleasures
- Buddha practiced asceticism for a while but realized it doesn’t lead to enlightenment
- Buddhism doesn’t follow or practice asceticism, instead they follow the middle way/path
The Middle Way/Path
- The way between to extremes: “sensual indulgence” (pleasures) and “self-mortification” (asceticism)
- The Eightfold Path
The Buddha
- Traveled in Northeast India teaching his insights and his way of life
(The Middle Path)
Dharma
- The sum total of Buddhist teachings
- How to view the world
- How to live life properly
Sangha
- The community of monks and nuns
“The Three Marks of Reality”
Reality manifests three characteristics
1) Constant Change
2) No Permanent Identity
3) Suffering
“The Three Marks of Reality”
- Change:
- Nothing we experience in life ever remains the same
- Changing daily and gradually
- NEED to ACCEPT CHANGE
“The Three Marks of Reality”
- No Permanent Identity:
- Abandon egotism and a fixation on material objects
- We are changing, but so are all the parts that make up who we are
- “No Soul”, or “No Self”
“The Three Marks of Reality”
- Suffering (“dukkha”)
- Life can never be fully satisfying because of its inescapable constant change
- No human being can escape suffering, but each individual can CHOOSE HOW TO RESPOND TO SUFFERING
“Four Noble Truths”
1) All of life is full of suffering, pain and sorrow.
2) The cause of suffering is the desire for things that are really illusions, such as riches, power, and long life.
3) The only cure for suffering is to overcome desire
4) The way to overcome suffering is to follow the Eightfold Path
“Eightfold Path”
RIGHT:
- views - aspirations - speech - conduct
- livelihood - effort -mindfulness - contemplation
Nirvana
- Union with the universe and the release from the cycle of rebirth
Chinese/Tibet Conflict
STUDY THE DALAI LAMA VIDEO SHEET
What is a Dalai Lama (“Ocean of Wisdom”)?
- Enlightened human beings who have postponed their own nirvana and have chosen to take rebirth in order to serve humanity
Story of the 14th Dalai Lama
- Tenzin Gyasto - born on July 6th 1935
- He is believed and he believes to be the reincarnation of Buddha
- His holiness was first recognized at age 2
- He began his education at age 6
- Attained political power of Tibet as the Dalai Lama at age 15
- China invaded Tibet that same year
- He is the current Dalai Lama and spiritual leader of Tibet
- He’s trying to make peace with China, but has yet to succeed
3 Main Committments
1) Promotion of human values - compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment, and self-discipline
2) Promotion of religious harmony and understanding among the world’s major religious traditions (despite differences, all have potential to create good human beings)
3) Work to preserve Tibet’s Buddhist culture - a culture of peace and non-violence
Theravada Buddhism
- About the INDIVIDUAL
- Teachings of the elders
- Goal is PERSONAL liberation from suffering
- One has to practice to achieve the goal - others can only give guidance
- Pali Cannon scriptures
Mahayana Buddhism
- About the WHOLE OF SENTIENT BEINGS - not just the individual
- The Great Vehicle
- Goal is liberation of ALL BEINGS from suffering
- One person’s achievement can be shared with others
- Sutras scriptures
BOTH Theravada AND Mahayana Buddhism
- Both different expressions of the same teaching of the historical Buddha
- Both agree upon and practice the same core teachings of the Buddha’s Dharma
