Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings - keywords

Question 1

Buddhism

Answer 1

A religion founded 2500 years ago, by Siddhartha Gautama

Question 2

Buddha

Answer 2

A title given to someone who has reached enlightenment, or commonly referred to as Siddhartha Gautama

Question 3

The four sights

Answer 3

1. Old age
2. Illness
3. Death
4. A holy man

These 4 sights led the Buddha to leave his life of luxury at the palace.

Question 4

Jataka

Answer 4

Popular stories about the lives of the Buddha

Question 5

Ascetic

Answer 5

Living a simple life, with few possessions or pleasures

Question 6

Meditation

Answer 6

A practice of calming and focusing the mind, reflecting deeply on specific teachings to penetrate their true meaning

Question 7

Enlightenment

Answer 7

The gaining of true knowledge about God, self or the nature of reality, usually thought meditation and self-discipline; in Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh traditions, gaining the freedom from the cycle of rebirth

Question 8

Mara

Answer 8

A demon that represents spiritual obstacles, especially temptation

Question 9

The three watches of the night

Answer 9

The three realisation the Jeddah made in order to reach enlightenment

Question 10

The five ascetics

Answer 10

The Buddhas 5 first students; 5 monks who followed the ascetic practices

Question 11

Dhamma (Dharma)

Answer 11

Buddhist teachings

Question 12

Pali

Answer 12

Language of the earliest Buddhist scriptures

Question 13

Sanskrit

Answer 13

Language used in later Indian Buddhist texts

Question 14

Dependent arising

Answer 14

The idea that everything arises in dependence of the conditions

Question 15

Tibetan wheel of life

Answer 15

An image that symbolises samsara, often found in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples

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Question 16

Nidanas

Answer 16

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

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Question 17

Samsara

Answer 17

The repeating cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth

Question 18

Kamma (karma)

Answer 18

A persons actions; the idea that skilful actions result in happiness and unskillful ones in suffering

Question 19

Nibbana (nirvana)

Answer 19

A state of complete enlightenment, happiness and peace

Question 20

Dukkha

Answer 20

The first noble truth: there is suffering

Question 21

Anicca

Answer 21

Impermanence; the idea that everything changes

Question 22

Anatta

Answer 22

The idea that people do not have a permanent fixed soul or self

Question 23

The 5 aggregates

Answer 23

The 5 aspects that make up a person

Question 24

The 4 noble truths

Answer 24

The four truth that the Buddha taught about suffering

Question 25

Samudaya

Answer 25

The second noble truth: there are causes of suffering

Question 26

Nirodha

Answer 26

The third noble truth: suffering can be stopped

Question 27

Magga

Answer 27

The fourth noble truth: the way to stop suffering; the Eightfold Path

Question 28

Theravada Buddhism

Answer 28

“The school of elders”; an ancient Buddhist tradition found in south east Asia

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Question 29

Mahayana Buddhism

Answer 29

An umbrella term to describe some later Buddhist traditions including Pure Land Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism

Question 30

Tanha

Answer 30

Craving

Question 31

The 3 poisons

Answer 31

Greed, hatred and ignorance; the main causes of suffering

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Question 32

The eightfold path

Answer 32

8 aspects that a Buddhist practices and lives by in order to reach enlightenment

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Question 33

The threefold way

Answer 33

The eightfold path grouped into 3 sections; ethics, wisdom and meditation

Question 34

Ethics (sila)

Answer 34

A section of the threefold way that empathises the importance of skilful actions as the basis of spiritually progression

Question 35

Meditation (samadhi)

Answer 35

A section of the threefold way that empathises the role of meditation in the process of spiritually development

Question 36

Wisdom (panna)

Answer 36

A section of the threefold way that deals with the nature of reality

Question 37

Sunyata

Answer 37

Emptiness; the concept that nothing has a separate or independent “self” or “soul”

Question 38

Buddha-nature

Answer 38

The idea that everyone has the essence of a Buddha inside them

Question 39

Buddhahood

Answer 39

When someone achieve enlightenment and becomes a Buddha

Question 40

Arhat

Answer 40

For Theravada Buddhists, someone who has become enlightened

Question 41

Bodhisattva

Answer 41

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

Question 42

Pure land Buddhism

Answer 42

A Mahayana form of Buddhism based on the beliefs of Amitabha Buddha

Question 43

Amitabha Buddhism

Answer 43

The Buddha worshiped by pure land Buddhists

Question 44

Sukhavati

Answer 44

The paradise where the Amitabha Buddha lives, and where pure land Buddhists are to be reborn (but they aren’t enlightened when they arrive, they are just more likely to reach enlightenment here be cause less distraction, suffering etc.)