Buddhist Beliefs Fact Test

Question 1

In which country is Pure Land Buddhism the most commonly practised form of Buddhism

Answer 1

Japan

Question 2

What word is used to describe an enlightened person who chooses to remain in samsara?

Answer 2

Bodhisattva

Question 3

What is dependant arising?

Answer 3

The idea that everything happens depending on certain conditions

Question 4

What is Dhamma(Dharma)?

Answer 4

The Buddhist doctrine that includes the teaching of the Buddha about the nature of existence.

Question 5

Give three examples of the five aggregate

Answer 5

The five aggregates are form
Mental formation
Perception
Consciousness and sensation

Question 6

What is annica?

Answer 6

Means impermanence and encourages Buddhists to accept death and suffering as part of life. Cycle of birth, life death and rebirth is called samsara.

Question 7

Explain what is meant by Buddhahood.

Answer 7

Buddha-nature is the idea that everyone can attain Buddhahood. Mahayana Buddhists believe that everyone has the essence of a Buddha within them.

Question 8

Explain what the concept of Dukkha means for Buddhists

Answer 8

Dukkha is the belief that there are three types of suffering as part of the three marks of existence:
Ordinary suffering
Suffering through change
Suffering through dissatisfaction or attachment

Question 9

What is samsara?

Answer 9

The Buddhist belief in the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth

Question 10

Which type of Buddhism attempts to become Bodhisattvas?

Answer 10

Mahayana Buddhists

Question 11

Which word describes the Buddhist belief that the soul doesn’t have a physical existence?

Answer 11

Anatta

Question 12

List three events that happen in the Buddhas life.

Answer 12

He grew up a life of luxury as the son of a Queen
He was inspired to leave this life by the four sights
After this he lived an ascetic life of self-denial and pain but wasn’t able to become in enlightened so left for the middle way between pain and luxury.

Question 13

Give three of the four noble truths

Answer 13

There is suffering
Suffering has a cause
Suffering can come to an end
There is a way to end suffering

Question 14

List the three poisons

Answer 14

A pig (represents ignorance)
A snake (hatred)
A cockerel (greed)
Buddhist see this as a starting point for all human problems

Question 15

List three aspects of the eightfold path

Answer 15

Right speech 
Right action 
Right livelihood 
Right effort 
Right mindfulness 
Right concentration
Right understanding 
Right intention

Question 16

List four of the sights Siddhartha saw on his trip outside the place

Answer 16

An old man -everyone ages
An ill man- everyone becomes ill
A dead man- all things die
A holy man- the only answer to these problems

Question 17

Explain the three marks of existence

Answer 17

Fundamental Buddhist beliefs about the nature of human existence.
That Suffering is inevitable
That everything s impermanent
That we have no fixed, immortal soul

Question 18

Name two types of Buddhism

Answer 18

Theravada and Mahayana

Question 19

Explain what is meant by Arhat

Answer 19

Theravada Buddhists aim to become an Arhat by following the eightfold path.
Arhat : a perfected person who overcomes the main sources of suffering and reaches nirvana

Question 20

List the three aspects of the threefold way

Answer 20

Ethics (sila)
Meditation (Samadhi)
Wisdom (Panna)

Question 21

Define Nirvana

Answer 21

A state of complete enlightenment which lies outside the cycle of samsara

Question 22

What is meant by Asceticism?

Answer 22

A lifestyle of strict self -denial - rejected by Siddhartha for the middle way

Question 23

What was the Buddhas birth name?

Answer 23

Siddhartha Gautama

Question 24

Define Anatta?

Answer 24

The idea of no self

We don’t have a fixed soul- there is no unchanging essence to us

Question 25

What is the term for the immaterial part of you that gets transferred from life to life?

Answer 25

Atman