Insight Flashcards
What is Naraka?
The realm of hell where souls go if they have accumulated particularly bad karma. Once the bad karma has been exhausted, the soul will be reborn in another realm, so punishment is never eternal.
What is Preta/Peta?
The realm of the hungry ghosts, where souls go when they have excessive cravings and attachments. reborn with huge stomachs and very small mouths.
What is Tiryagyoni?
The realm of the animals, the state of being reborn as animal, driven by instinct and desire and prey on each other or are preyed on.
What is Manusya?
The realm of humans, is the middle ground. Can be born with different capacities for reaching enlightenment, at least there is the possibility for reaching nirvana.
What is Asura?
The realm of the demi-gods have many pleasures but are mainly defined by anger and jealousy. Making regular attempts to overthrow the gods but failing. Depending on how demonic they are they could be reborn in that realm or move up or down the realms.
What is Deva?
The realm of the Gods. Many pleasures and distractions which surround the Gods. When death arrives - after an incredibly long life due to all the good karma that has been accumulated - they are sometimes unprepared and are reborn in a lower realm.
What is karmaphala?
Karmaphala is the result of karmic action, ‘phala’ means fruit so ‘karmaphala’ literally means ‘fruit of the action’.
Bad karma is routed in what? Therefore, what is good karma routed in?
Bad karma is always rooted in the three poisons/fires of greed (raga), hatred (dcesha) and ignorance (Doha). Good karma is routed in the opposite of these, non-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion.
What does kusala mean? What does akusala mean?
Kusala means wise and ‘skilful’, it is a good action which produces a beneficial state of mind.
Akusala is a bad action, ‘unskillful’ which creates an unhealthy state of mind.
What does paticcasamuppada/ pritityasamutpada mean? What does the doctrine hold?
It means dependent origination and the doctrine holds that all physical and mental states are dependant on other states. Buddhists differ as to whether this doctrine is really about the mind to reality.
Generally, what is dependent origination about?
It is a theory about dharmas (cosmic law and order). Are the irreducible factors that lie behind the worlds appearances constitute everything we apprehend with our senses.
What are the Twelve Nidanas?
1) Ignorance (condition at birth)
2) Mental states (our limited ideas of things)
3) Ego consciousness (the sense of ‘yourself’, based on 2)
4) Mind-and-body (your sense of self identity, based on 3)
5) The 6 senses (5 senses plus thinking which served 4)
6) Sense contact (your goal-directed, interaction with things)
7) Feelings (your sentiments about things)
8) Cravings (arise from 3,4 and 7)
9) Attachment to things (arising from 8)
10) Becoming (generating the karma required for rebirth)
11) (re)birth
12) Old age and death
Should Samsara be understood metaphorically, psychologically or literally?
All Buddhists would argue that it should be understood literally which is why they dedicate there time and effort to trying to achieve nirvana and gain good karma. if it was to be understood psychologically or metaphorically then it would not have the same authority. Therefore it should be understood literally.
What is annica/anitya?
It means impermanence, that all things are in a state of flux and probably decay. The self is in a continuous state of flux.
What is anatta/anatman?
That there is no permanent self. There is no such thing as an ‘I’, a self, they are ‘me’ - and in a constant state of flux. Anatta is the rejection of both annihilationism (the self is extinguished at death) or eternalise (the self is eternal).
