second exam Flashcards
yin and yang
complementary opposites
darkness, light; moon, sun; night, day; earth, heaven; feminine, masculine
taijitu
yin and yang symbols
I Ching
an ancient divination manual that contains descriptions of trigrams and hexagrams
trigrams
represent complementary opposites, earth and heaven, thunder and wind, fire and water, river and mountain
hexagrams
figure of 6 horizontally stacked lines where a line is yang (solid) or yin (broken)
tai chi
slow moving exercising that tries to get the whole body working out together in unison
qigong
meditative breathing with a close connection to tai chi
falun gong
religious spiritual practice that combines meditation and qigong exercises with a moral philosophy
feng shui
system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy and whose favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings
acupuncture
bodily stress relief with needles hitting pressure points
elixir of immortality
purification of the body and spirit to gain immortality through alchemy
qi
energy
zhenren
the natural and spontaneous person who is simply themselves
immortals
the eight immortals are people who discovered the way and went to live in nature and survived forever
Laozi
urges us to return to the earlier state when the Way was fully realized in the world
human nature is naturally good, and should be focused on what is going on in their own lives
wu-wei
action-less action or non-action
wu
emptiness
Dao
the way of all things; closest to the idea of ‘God’
Breeze
story by Zhuangzi where a fish named Minnow who becomes a bird named…
teaches that ‘little knowledge does not measure up to big knowledge’
tong
throughness or the passage of the Dao
goblet words
words that adapt to a follow the nature of the world and achieve a state of harmony
Huizi
had a conversation with Zhuangzi about what happiness is to humans; surrendering to the flow of life as a fish does to the flow of water
Buddha Shakyamuni
child born to a virgin mother named Siddhartha Gautama born a religious sage
the four sights
on the road, Gautama saw the old man, the diseased man, the dead man and the ascetic man who prompted him to leave his life of luxury and become an ascetic
the middle path
the path that ultimately worked for Siddhartha to achieve enlightenment
Sanchi
The great stupa; gathering point for monks and nuns to exchange texts of the stories and sermons of the buddha created by the first buddhist emperor
Sarnath
where the buddha taught the dharma in India
stupa
dome-shaped buddhist shrine, gave way to pagodas
pagoda
tiered tower buddhist shrine
Mahayana
buddhism that became more popular along the Silk Road; human aspirations are supported by divine powers and their grace, the key virtue is compassion, the ideal is the Bodhisattva, and emphasizes ritual
Vajrayana
tantric buddhism; spiritual practices based on manuals, sexual excitement is a taste of enlightenment, developed in India
four noble truths
truth of suffering, cause of suffering, the end of suffering, the path that leads to the end of suffering
four noble truths
truth of suffering, cause of suffering, the end of suffering, the path that leads to the end of suffering
Theravada
people are emancipated by self-effort without supernatural aid, the key virtue is wisdom, the ideal is the Arhat (primarily monks and nuns), the Buddha is a saint and supreme teacher, and centered on meditation
bodhisattva
a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so out of compassion in order to save suffering beings
anicca
impermanence; nothing in life is permanent
anatta
rather than a definite self to cling to, there is an ever-shifting mosaic composed of 5 aggregates (physical form, feelings, perceptions, attitudes and consciousness)
sangha
community of buddhism, mosaic community
karma
action driven by intention which leads to future consequence
samsara
reincarnation; essentially living the same life over and over due to ignorance
nirvana
goal of buddhist path; release from reincarnation
turning the wheel of the dharma
recognition (coming to terms), encouragement (examining a situation to understand its nature), realization (gaining insight after studying and reflecting)
parinirvana
nirvana after-death; release from karma and rebirth
dharma
the truth or sacred truth
dukkha
unsatisfactoriness and painfulness of mundane life
Silk Road
traces of Chinese silk found in Egypt, India, Persia, Arabia and all over the world; used for clothing, books, chairs paintings, liquid holders, etc
Amitabha
buddhist figure of light and love who lives in paradise; takes you to paradise (enlightenment) living and after death
Guanyin
god-like figure who becomes a bodhisattva; along the silk Road, gender was changed from male to female
Vairocana
Mahayana Buddhist; embodiment of emptiness
Xuanzang
Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled from China to India and returned with sutras
Leizu
wife of the Yellow Emperor who is credited with the discovery of silk worms’ usefulness
erhu
Chinese fiddle; bow stringed instrument
Dunhuang
caves of the Thousand Buddhas; contains collections of Buddhist texts and artworks
Nestorian Stele
scripture on stone that documents 150 years of early Christianity in China
Jesus Sutras
collection of Chinese language texts created Zoroastrians travelling along the Silk Road
Hui
Muslims in China
Dalai Lama
every time he dies, a new one is reborn somewhere near the place of death
tulku
the person who has ancient peoples reborn in him
Potala
palace where the Dalai Lama would live that contained objects from all the previous Dalai Lamas
Norbulingka
palace in Lhasa that served as the first residence of the Dalai Lama’s
Shangri-la
legendary Himalayan paradise and image of Buddhist harmony
Heinrich Harrer
European traveler trapped in a prison camp who snuck into Lhasa and became close friends with the Dalai Lama
Dharamsala
Home to the Dalai Lama in India after Tibetan exile
Lhasa
Holy City of Tibet
lama
superior/spiritual leader
vajra
like a scepter, but thought of as holding lightning made of meteorite or other precious metals
mandala
symbolic, vibrant picture of the universe made in painting or colored sand
prayer flag
flags written with prayers on them to flap in the wind so that prayers are continuously spreading good will
mani
prayer wheel with ‘om mane padme hum’ inscribed on it
Panchen Lama
step below the Dalai Lama who is to be trained by the Dalai Lama
Chan
chinese term for mediation, which becomes zen in Japanese
Kashyapa
28th ancestor of the Bodhidharma
Bodhidharma
originally an Indian monk credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch
the two paths
the way of understanding and the way of practice
Shaolin
temple of zen, home to Chinese Buddhist monks
pagoda forest
stupas to mark the graves of monks who died at the Shaolin monastery
Hui-k’o
taught Bodhidharma to meditate in the mountains
kung fu
type of meditation used later as a form of hand to hand combat
mimics animal movements
parikrama
meditative walk usually in a circle
Big Wild Goose Pagoda
pagoda used to house Buddhist scriptures on one end of the Silk Road
trishna
clinging or attachment to physical things in the universe (part of the four noble truths)
