Glossary (All Terms) Flashcards
What does Amitabha Buddha mean?
The Buddha worshipped by Pure Land Buddhists
What does Anatta mean?
The idea that people do not have a permanent, fixed self or soul.
What does Anicca mean?
Impermanence; the idea that everything changes.
What does Arhat mean?
For Theravada Buddhists, someone who has become enlightened.
What does Ascetic mean?
Living a simple and strict lifestyle with few pleasures or possessions; follows ascetic practices.
What does Bodhisattva mean?
For Mahayana Buddhists, someone who has become enlightened but chooses to remain in the cycle samsara to help others achieve enlightenment as well.
What does Buddha mean?
A title given to someone who has achieved enlightenment; usually used to refer to Siddhartha Gautama.
What is Buddha Rupa?
A statue of the Buddha, often sitting cross-legged in a meditation pose.
What is Buddhahood?
When someone achieves enlightenment and becomes a Buddha.
What is Buddha-nature?
The idea that everyone has the essence of a Buddha inside of them.
What is Chanting?
In Buddhism, reciting from the Buddhist scriptures.
What does Dependent Arising mean?
The idea that all things arise in dependence upon conditions.
What is Dhamma/Dharma?
The Buddha’s teachings. 
What is Dukkha?
The first noble truth: there is suffering.
What is engaged Buddhism?
A movement in Buddhism that is particularly concerned with applying the Buddha’s teachings to matters of social and environmental injustice.
What is enlightenment?
The gaining of true knowledge about God, self or nature of reality, usually through meditation and self discipline in Buddhist/Hindu and Sikh traditions, gaining freedom from the cycle of rebirth.
What is ethics (sila)?
A section of the threefold way that emphasises the importance of skilful action as the basis for spiritual progress.
What is a festival?
A day or period of celebration for religious reasons.
What is Gompa?
A hall or building where Tibetan Buddhists meditate.
What is greed?
Selfish desire for something.
What is Jataka?
The Jataka tales are popular stories about the lives of the Buddha.
What is Kamma/karma?
A persons actions; the idea that skilful actions result in happiness and unskilful ones in suffering.
What is Karuna?
Compassion: feeling concerned for the suffering of other people and wanting to relieve their suffering.
What is Magga?
The fourth noble truth: the way to stop suffering; the Eightfold Path.
What is Mahayana Buddhism?
An umbrella term to describe some later Buddhist traditions, including Pure Land Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism.
What is Mala?
Prayer beads that are used to count number of recitations in a mantra.
What is a Mandala?
An intricate, circle shaped pattern that is used for meditation.
What is a Mantra?
A short sequence of sacred syllables.
What is Mara?
A Demon that represents spiritual obstacles, especially temptation.
What is meditation?
A practice of calming and focusing the mind, and reflecting deeply on specific teachings to penetrate their true meaning.
What is meditation (samadhi)?
A section of the threefold way that emphasises the role of meditation in the process of spiritual development.
What is Metta?
Loving – kindness; showing a benevolent, kind, friendly attitude towards other people.
What is mindfulness of breathing?
A meditation practice focusing on the experience of breathing.
What is a monastery (vihara)?
A place where Buddhist monks and nuns live.
What is nibbana/nirvana?
A state of complete enlightenment, happiness and peace.
What is nidanas?
12 factors that illustrate the process of birth, death and rebirth.
What is nirodha?
The third noble truth: suffering can be stopped.
What is pali?
The language of the earliest Buddhist Scriptures.
What is Parinirvana Day?
A Mahayana festival that commemorates the Buddha’s passing away.
What is puja?
An act of worship.
What is Pure Land Buddhism?
A Mahayana form of Buddhism based on belief in Amitabha Buddha.
What is a Retreat?
A period of time spent away from every day life in order to focus on meditation and practice.
What is Samatha meditation?
Calming meditation; a type of meditation that involves calming the mind and developing deeper concentration.
What is samsara?
Repeating cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth.
What is Samudaya?
The second noble truth: there are causes of suffering.
What is Sanskrit?
The language used in later Indian Buddhist texts.
What is a Shrine?
An area with a statue of a Buddha or Bodhisattva which provides Buddhists with a focal point for meditation and devotion.
What is a Stupa?
A small building in a monastery that sometimes contains holy relics.
What does Sukhavati mean?
The paradise where Amitabha Buddha lives, and where Pure Land Buddhists aim to be reborn.
What does Sunyata mean?
Emptiness; the concept that nothing has a separate, independent ‘self’ or ‘soul’. 
What is Tanha?
Craving (desiring wanting something).
What is a Temple?
A place where Buddhists come together to practise. 
What is Thangka?
A detailed painting of a Buddha or Bodhisattva.
What is The Eightfold Path?
Eight aspects that Buddhists practice and live by in order to achieve enlightenment.
What are The Five Aggregates?
The five aspects that make up a person.
What are The Five Ascetics?
The Buddha’s first five students; five monks who followed ascetic practices. 
What are The Five Moral Precepts?
The five principles that Buddhists try to follow to live ethically and morally.
What are The Four Noble Truths?
The four truths that the Buddha taught about suffering.
What are the Four Sights?
Old age, illness, death, and a holy man; these Four sights led the Buddha to leave his life of luxury in the palace.
What are The Four Sublime States?
The four qualities of love, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity which the Buddha taught that Buddhists should develop.
What are The Six Perfections?
The six qualities or virtues that Mahayana Buddhist try to develop in order to live as Bodhisattvas.
What are the three poisons?
Greed, hatred and ignorance; the main causes of suffering. 
What are the three watches of the night?
The three realisations that the Buddha made in order to achieve enlightenment.
What is the threefold way?
The Eightfold path grouped into the three sections of ethics, meditation and wisdom.
What is the Tibetan wheel of life?
An image that symbolises Samsara, often found in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples.
What is Theravada Buddhism?
‘The school of the elders’; an ancient Buddhist tradition found in southern Asia.
What does unskilful mean?
Bad, unethical actions or behaviour.
What is Vipassana Meditation?
‘Insight meditation’; A type of meditation that involves developing understanding of the nature of reality.
What is Visualisation?
Imagining or ‘seeing’ an object in one’s mind. 
What is Wesak?
A Theravada festival that celebrates the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and passing away.
What is Wisdom (panna)?
A section of the threefold way that deals with Buddhist approaches to understanding the nature of reality.
What is Zazen meditation?
A type of meditation in Zen Buddhism that requires awareness of the present moment. 
