Fact File (Buddhist Beliefs)

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 dependent arising?

Answer 3

Dependent arising is the idea that everything happens depending on certain conditions.

Question 4

What is Dhamma(Dharma)?

Answer 4

Dhamma (Dharma) is the Buddhist doctrine that includes the teaching of the Buddha about the nature of existence

Question 5

Give three examples of the five aggregates.

Answer 5

The Five Aggregates are form, mental formation, perception, consciousness and sensation.

Question 6

What is anicca?

Answer 6

Anicca means impermanence and encourages Buddhists to accept death and suffering as part of life. The 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. The three types are ordinary suffering, suffering through change and suffering through dissatisfaction or attachment.

Question 9

What is samsara?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Which type of Buddhists attempt 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 in 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 enlightened so left it for the Middle Way between pain and luxury.

Question 13

Give three of the four noble truths

Answer 13

1. There is suffering&raquo_space; 2. Suffering has a cause&raquo_space; 3. Suffering can come to an end&raquo_space; 4. There is a way to end suffering.

Question 14

List the three poisons

Answer 14

These are the three poisons, a pig, a snake and a cockerel, they represent ignorance, hatred and greed, Buddhist see these as the starting point of 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 palace.

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

The Three Marks of Existence are the fundamental Buddhist beliefs about the nature of human existence. They present a very different view of the world to Christianity. That suffering is inevitable, that everything is impermeant and that we have no fixed, immortal soul.

Question 18

Two types of Buddhism

Answer 18

Theravada, Mahayana.

Question 19

Explain what is meant by Arhat?

Answer 19

Theravada Buddhists aim to become an Arhat by following the Eightfold Path. An Arhat is a ‘perfected person’ who overcomes the main sources of suffering and reaches nirvana

Question 20

List the three aspects of 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