Buddhist Beliefs & Teachings Flashcards
The Dhamma
The way that the universe operates, like ‘cosmic law’
Three Marks of Existence
- Anicca
- Anatta
- Dukkha
Anicca
Everything is impermanent and illusory.
Anatta
Non-permenant self
Dukkha
Suffering
Dependent Arising (Patticasmupada)
There are interdependent events which cause the existence of or occurrence of other events.
‘If this exists, that comes to exists’
Theravada
- Enlightenment is a personal goal
- sought by monks who become arhats (perfected beings)
Mahayana
Individuals help others to achieve enlightenment
The Skandhas
According to Buddhism, a person is made up of 5 elements (aggregates):
* Physical form
* Sensations/feelings
* Perception
* Mental formations
* Awareness/consciousness
Sunyata
Sunyata means emptiness. To realise sunyata is to end attachment and craving, they must also be dedicated to ethical living and meditation.
Attaining Buddhahood and the Buddha-nature
Mahayana Buddhism believes that everyone has Buddha-nature (potential to become Buddha)
Buddhahood
Buddhists believe that every person has the within them the potential to become Buddha. This means there are an infinite number of Buddhas now and to come. The different groups within Buddhism see our capacity for this slightly differently.
Arhat
THERAVADA BUDDHISM
Means ‘perfected being’ - one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved nibbana.
Being an Arhat requires absolute dedication (most likely to succeed if you are a monk)
Bodhisattva
MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
The Buddha was a Bodhisattva in life prior to his enlightenment
Make a vow to help others reach enlightenment before they reach their own enlightenment
Pure Land Buddhism
Amitabha Buddha was a monk who vowed that after he achieved his own enlightenment, anyone male or female who called his name could live in his heaven until they achieved enlightenment for themselves.
Birth of Siddhartha Gotama
Even before conception, Siddhartha was special
Prophecies were made Siddhartha would become a holy man and renounce his life of extreme wealth, and these prophecies later came true
His statements at birth show that we are driven by past lives
Four Sights
- Old man
- Sick man
- Dead Man
- Holy Man
After seeing the four sights, it inspired Siddhartha to try find a solution to suffering.
Ascetic Life
Having seen the 4 sights, which made him realise suffering was unavoidable, Siddhartha left the palace and his luxurious life. He rejected them as unsatisfactory.
He spent the next few years on learning meditation techniques from different Hindu masters.
He wanted to gain an insight into the problem of suffering.
He also lived a very austere life, denying himself the things he craved.
One day, while meditating, he heard a man telling his son about stringing an instrument - fasten the strings too tightly they snap, too loosely they will not play. Either way no music is played. He saw this as a metaphor for what he is doing - his life of luxury had not worked, and neither did the extreme austerity he now practised. He washed and ate proper food for the first time, his companions deserted him, seeing him as a failure.
Enlightenment
Siddhartha sat beneath a Bodhi tree and vowed to meditate without stopping until he achieved enlightenment.
At first, Mara (a demon) tried to stop him. Mara sent various things to try and distract Siddhartha from achieving enlightenment.
Four periods were then marked out in the actual enlightenment:
1. Siddhartha recalled all his past lives
2. He understood how all living things come to exist - paticca samuppada
3. He understood how everything is impermanent
4. With these realisations, he attained nibbana - the 3 poisons stopped within him
After Enlightenment
Didn’t teach immediately after enlightenment
He likened people to the lotus flower
The Buddha then sought out ascetics who had left him as a failure, he taught them first and thereafter anyone who came to listen
First Noble Truth
All existence must involve suffering (dukkha)
Second Noble Truth
Dukkha is caused by craving (tanha)
Third Noble Truth
End tanha by achieving non-attachment (nirodha)
tanha = craving
Fourth Noble Truth
The way to nirodha is by the path (magga) - Buddhist practice know as the Noble Eightfold Path (Middle Way).
non-attachment = nirodha
