Buddhist practices Flashcards
Temples
Buddhist places of worship
Shrines
In homes or temples to aid Buddhists in concentration
Viharas
Monasteries, where monks and nuns live
Meditation halls
A quiet place for Buddhists to meditate with each other
Gompas
Meditation hall for Tibetan Buddhists
Buddha Rupa
Statue of a sitting Buddha in a meditation pose
Samatha Meditation
Meditation involving calming the mind and deeper concentration.
Includes focusing on singular objects and your breathing
To then focus on teachings = severs attachments to desires
Kasinas
Images of objects, shapes and colours to help Samantha meditation
Includes fire, water, Earth and some colours
Vipassana meditation
Meditation about gaining insight into the nature of things
Involves visualising an object and exploring its reality by linking it to the 3 marks of existence
Zazen meditation
Vipassana meditation but in a certain pose to increase concentration
Walking meditation
Walking whilst meditating but timing your pace to your breathing so they are more focused
Visualisation of Bodhisattvas
Imagining the qualities of a certain Bodhisattva and visualising them in hopes to obtain them for themselves eg compassion
Visualising the Buddha in hopes of gaining his ideas in the nature of reality
Thangka
Detailed painting of a Buddha/ Bodhisattva
Mandala
Colourful pattern representing Buddhist teachings
Stupa
Dome shaped burial monument for keeping the bones of Bodhisattvas/ the Buddha himself
Chanting
Form of Buddhist worship of repeating Buddhist scriptures to calm the mind
Mantra
Set words or syllables that are chanted over and over
Mala
String beads to count the mantras
Wesak
Tibetan and Theravada festival to celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha
Lights, meditation, free food, art, offerings and visiting the local temple
Pandol
Art instillation depicting scenes from the Buddha’s life
Parinirvana day
Festival celebrating Buddhas death entering Nirvana
They usually go on Pilgrimages to Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar.
Tibetan Sky Funeral
Where Tibetans take bodies of dead family members to the top of a mountain and feed it to vultures to dispose of them
Contributes to cycle of life and death
Candles
Symbolises wisdom
Flowers
To symbolise impermanence
Incense
To symbolise purity
Transferring merit
In Theravada funerals rituals that transfer karma to the deceased may be performed by mourners
By doing charitable acts
Examples of transferring merit
Offering cloth to the presiding monk on the deceased’s behalf, pouring water from a vessel into an overflowing cup, preaching, and giving offerings or giving money to charity.
What happens to the remains of a cremation in Pure Land?
Remains are kept for 49 days and every 7 days prayers are offered to them
Karma
How a persons actions and motivations can lead to either suffering or happiness in rebirth into one of the 6 realms
Good karma
Skilful actions motivated by generosity, compassion and understanding
Helps to lead to being reborn as a human as that increases chance of enlightenment
Bad karma
Unskillful actions with craving, hatred, ignorant motivations
Leads to being reborn as tormented beings, gods, angry gods, hungry ghosts and animals
Bad because you can’t be enlightened
Karuna
Compassion
One can’t be happy while others are suffering
You should empathise with them and help them when they suffer
You should also show compassion to yourself
Metta
Loving kindness
The desire for all people to be happy by being nice: including to those who aren’t nice in return
Removed the 3 poisons of hatred, greed and ignorance
Metta meditation
Repeating a chant to make you, someone you like, neutral person, person you dislike and the whole world to be happy
Six perfections
Practised by Mahayana Buddhists to become a Bodhisattva
When a disciple asked the Buddha ‘what are the bases for one to reach enlightenment?’ He answered with these perfections
Generosity
Giving material things
Giving safety and protection
Giving teachings about the Dharma
Without expecting things in return
Morality
The 5 precepts to not kill, steal, lie, commit sexual misconduct or take intoxicants
Those who do ‘digs up their own root in the world’ according to Dhammapada
Patience
To be tolerant and endure something
Developed through Metta
Energy (joyous effort)
To be enthusiastic and putting in effort to develop healthy habits
Relates to eightfold path of right effort
Quotes about meditation
“Even the Gods envy those awakened and mindful ones intent on meditation, delighting upon the absence of desire”
A disciple asked the Buddha “what did you gain from meditation” and he replied “nothing but I lost anger anxiety, depression, insecurity and fear of impermanence”
Quotes about shrines
“The time and effort to keep the shrine clean focuses the mind”
- a Buddhist monk
Teachings about metta
In the Karaniya Metta Sutta, the Buddha taught a group of monks to show Metta to forest dwellers so they didn’t disturb them and were happy with their presence there.
It was a chant that they repeated to radiate loving kindness
How do Buddhists use Metta in their life?
Regularly taking part in Metta meditation, wishing for happiness and no suffering towards themselves, people they like, people they dislike and the whole world.
Showing love to people whether they are suffering or not, eg giving them something nice.
Meditation (6 perfection)
A way to help someone achieve enlightenment - highest state of reality
Through either reflecting on the nature of objects or calming your mind to reflect on teachings
Wisdom
Understanding what can be gained from following the Dhamma
Realising or perceiving the true nature of reality
Why do Buddhists meditate?
A tool used to bring about enlightenment
Keeps the mind healthy as it practises calming yourself to allow you to reflect on the Buddhas teachings and gain understanding of the universe
Allows understanding of the nature of objects
Visualisation = develop better qualities
Importance of monasteries
Allow laity to support the monks and nuns
Increase in skilful karma
Importance of temples
Allows Buddhists to come together as a community
Deepen faith
Sense of belonging to those on same spiritual journey
Contains meditation halls to reflect on dharma + study halls
Retreat
A period of withdrawing from every day life for meditation
Free themselves of craving
Why are Buddhist festivals important?
Reflect on the Buddhas life
Understand his teachings better to make sense of them
Engage with the community
Increase good karma by helping others
Importance of private meditation
Similar to how the Buddha became enlightened under a bodhi tree by himself
Can use shrines = reflect Buddhas teachings and focus their concentration
Why are shrines important?
Can give offerings to reflect the Buddhas teachings and remind them
A buddharupa/ Bodhisattva image to focus devotion during meditation
Why are study halls important?
Can learn and develop understanding if Buddhas teachings
Develop wisdom, the 6 perfection and also part of the 3 fold way
What is the most important place of Buddhist worship?
At home because the Buddha became enlightened under a tree in private
Most accessible
Can have shrines at home
Have access to information at home as well as from study halls
Puja
Events that involve meditation, offerings and gifts
Forms of puja
Mantras
Chanting
Mala
Meditation
Bowing
Offerings
Why is puja important?
Expresses gratitude for Buddha’s teachings (bowing + offerings)
Part of the 3 jewels to bring them closer to the Buddha
Increase devotion to Buddhism
Can be practised anywhere
Beliefs about death
Around the cycle of samsara
So death is the transitional stage because no stage remains forever
Therevada funerals
Shrine with dead persons picture + offerings
Transfer of merit by relatives helping monks eg giving cloth
Monks = reciting mantras of impermanence
Monks visit relatives houses to increase merit
Mahayana funerals
Cremated
Rebirth stages take 49 days
Japan = pick bones out of ash with chopsticks
Tibetan funerals
Tibetan book of the dead read to guide the dead to next rebirth
Sky burial + monks read mantras
An act of generosity for the vultures and a lesson in impermanence
Events at wesak
Releasing lanterns and cages birds to represent Buddha being freed from samsara cycle
Events at parinirvana day
Reflection and impermanence on their own immortality and cycle of samsara
Pilgrimage to death site to offer thanks to the Buddha
Importance of karma
Encourages following of Buddhist ethics (precepts, perfections, Metta and Karuna)
Dictates rebirth
5 moral precepts
Principles to live ethically
Show what to avoid to overcome 3 poisons
What are the 5 moral precepts?
Refrain from taking life
Refrain from theft
Refrain from overindulgence in sex/ sexual misconduct
Refrain from lying and gossiping
Refrain from intoxicants
What is the most important of the 5 moral precepts?
Do not murder
Impossible to become enlightened for a very long time
No way to make up for it sufficiently = negative karma
Literally illegal
Why are the 6 perfections important?
A disciple asked the Buddha ‘what are the bases to reach enlightenment’ and he answered with them
A general pathway on how to correctly follow dharma
What is the most important Buddhist ethic?
The 5 precepts
As the emphasis is to not actively harm anything.
These provide a way to avoid that
As negative effects usually have a larger effect than positive ones that karuna and Metta do
