Jain perspectives/Early Buddhism and Theravada

Question 1

What is a Jina?

Answer 1

has conquered temporal and material existence through self-discipline and attained a transcendent and external state of bliss especially : one venerated as a tirthankara.

Question 2

Who is Mahavira and tirthankara?

Answer 2

the “founder” (6th BCE) (one of many tirthankara). He was the 24th tirthankara (lit. means ford maker- a person who creates a path where by people can cross a body of water/ show you how to cross the water)

Question 3

What is ahisma?

Answer 3

The term ahimsa means nonviolence, non-injury and absence of desire to harm any life forms, a fundamental principle of Jainism.

Question 4

What is Jiva?

Answer 4

Jivas are souls, which are separate from matter (dualism)

Question 5

What is sallekhana?

Answer 5

• The good death: sallekhana (lit. hollowing out, thinning out, scarrowing out). Permanently sever connection between soul and body. Involving taking in less and less nourishment (food and water) and die while reciting the nalekhandra and it needs to be done with the right attitude.
• it is mostly for renunciants (it is rare for laypeople)

Question 6

What is Punya?

Answer 6

By providing comfort and security to others we can gain good karmas also known as Punya ( to Generate merit)

Question 7

What is the characterization of karma within the Jain narrative tradition?

Answer 7

-Karma as material substance (ties back to notion of vertical cosmos- desire, passion, attachment i.e., strong emotions are thought to make the soul moist and attracts in karma and karma adheres to it. In the same way that when one dies the weight of the karma in their soul will make someone l sink to a certain level (hell) or rise to a certain level)

Question 8

What is a Buddha?

Answer 8

budh= enlightened/awakened, buddha= enlightened one

Question 9

What is a Boddhisattva?

Answer 9

bodhisattva= has not achieved full enlightenment yet

Question 10

What is nirvana and parinirvana?

Answer 10

-Nirvana is liberation from the cycle of Samsara (full awakening).
-, the death of a Buddha is referred to as parinirvana,
the attaining of nirvana with nothing remaining. The twelfth act of a Buddha, then, is attaining parinirvana.

Question 11

What is anatman?

Answer 11

Anatman means there are no immortal souls, humans are without souls.

Question 12

What is dependent origination?

Answer 12

whatever exists originates, and continues to exist, dependent on the specific causes and conditions that gave rise to it, and ceases when those causes and conditions cease.

Question 13

What are the six Realms of rebirth?

Answer 13

• the human world
• the world of gods
• the world of demigods (characterized by jealousy)
• birth as a hungry ghost
• birth as an animal (greed)
• rebirth in the hells (anger)- bad rebirths)

Question 14

What are the four noble truths?

Answer 14

1) Life is unsatisfactory (“ the noble truth of suffering”)
2) Suffering is caused by craving (the noble truth of the origin of suffering)
3) Craving can cease (the noble truth of the cessation of suffering)
4) Cessation of craving through the eightfold path

Question 15

What is the sangha?

Answer 15

The community of monks and nuns who follow the eightfold path

Question 16

What is Jataka?

Answer 16

Jataka literally means birth story, the birth stories of the boddhisattva

Question 17

What is transfer of merit?

Answer 17

is a standard part of Buddhist spiritual discipline where the practitioner’s religious merit, resulting from good deeds, is transferred to deceased relatives, to deities, or to all sentient beings.

Question 18

What is relic and stupa?

Answer 18

• Relics and stupa (lit. means mound. It is a mortuary structure enshrined with buddha body relics) cults (important part of generating merit).
• Its really hard to meet a buddha, so this passage about the relics and stupa tells us that walking in a circle around the mortuary site, making offerings and praying at it are understood in the same way as interacting with a buddha
• Another important of stupa is that the division of a buddhas body into relics was seen as a final act of giving to those who are living
• Status of the stupa: Equivalent to seeing/being in the presence of the buddha and could thus, generate merit. Inscriptional evidence. We know stupas are important based on inscriptions at stupa sites. Stupas were seen as people almost, so you could not steal from a stupa

Question 19

What is corpse meditation?

Answer 19

• Bodies as impermanent and disgusting
• Corpse meditation (thinking about the impermanence of the body, the mind and feelings. Purpose is to dissociate an individual’s body and mind)
• Contemplation of of the body in practice –> Therigatha (an early collection of poems written by female elders)

Question 20

Discuss the differences between the idealized path of the arhat and the (much) more common path of good works

Answer 20

Arhat:
-Join sangha (community of munks and nuns)
-Follow the eightfold path
-Become arhat (lit. worthy one or perfected one) –> Achieve Nirvana
-At the end of their life, will achieve parinirvana. They achieve liberation, but this is not the process of becoming a buddha
Layperson:
-Join sangha/ become lay follower
-Generate merit (Punya)
-Relics and stupa (lit. means mound. It is a mortuary structure enshrined with buddha body relics) cults (important part of generating merit)

Question 21

What are the differences between the early Hindu and Buddhist notions of ghosts and gods?

Answer 21

Hinduism: Hungry Ghosts were created when you fail to feed the ancestors, Prata
How do you become a ghost in Buddhism? Based on your conduct or merit in previous life, not tied to ritual like Hinduism, it is tied to your actions

Question 22

What is the symbolism and ritual forms of the Theravada funeral

Answer 22

Funeral rites: Are adaptable to cultures and cosmologies.
Monks make merit on behalf of the deceased individual, in an analogous way to the feeding of ancestors, rather than providing actual nourishment you are providing them with merit through sponsored ritual practice