Vocab Flashcards
Budda
enlightened or awakened one; Siddhartha Gautama
Dharma
The orthodox belief of Buddhism which must be known in order to be enlightened. It is the sublime religious truth
Ascetic
A person, who, for religious reason, practices rigorous self-discipline by leading a life of meditation and self-denial
Bodhi Tree
Siddhartha Gautama meditated under this tree for seven days until he achieved enlightenment and became the Buddha
Nirvana
The ultimate state of freedom for the cycle of birth and rebirth by achieving selflessness through the understanding that all reality ss one
Samsara
The cycle of birth and rebirth based upon one’s karma; also known as reincarnation or transmigration of souls. (In Hinduism, the nearly endless cycles of death and rebirth that an atman goes through on its way to moksha
Four Noble Truths
Achieved through meditation, these are the four main tenants of Buddhism: (1) life brings suffering, (2) the desire for pleasure, (3) power and immortality are the roots of suffering and (4) desire ends via the Noble Eight Fold Path of right views, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, awareness and concentration
Sangha
The Original monastic community established by the Buddha after he achieved enlightenment. Today, it is the term for any Buddhist monastery
Karma
The cosmic principle of cause and effect, which rewards human goodness and punishes human evil through the transmigration of souls into better or lesser situations of rebirth
Selflessness
Achieved through Buddhist meditation, it allows people to serve others and concentrate on the true perception of reality, an understanding that there are no boundaries between one’s self and the reality of the universe
Zen
From the Sanskrit word “Dhyana” meaning meditation. That sect of Buddhism mainly found in Japan where mediation is used to achieve enlightenment
Mendicant
A holy man who travels and teaches while relying on the generosity of others for clothing, shelter and food
Mahayana
A major sect of Buddhism founded by Nagarjuna and means the great or universal path of salvation. It used a new body of scriptures called Sutras (Lotus, Heart and Diamond). Open to all, one can achieve enlightenment at any stage in the cycle of birth and rebirth
Bodhisattva
An enlightened human being is the Mahayanist sect who spreads insights to help others and refuses to enter Nirvana until everyone has done so
Lama
Tibetan for high priest
Theravada
Primarily practiced in South East Asia, Theraveda Buddhism is a more conservative interpretation of Buddha’s teachings than Mahayana Buddhism
Dhammapada
Summary account of Buddha’s teachings on meditation and moral issues in the Theravadic scriptures
Tantric
The sect of Buddhism that focuses on yoga with ritual chants to discipline the mind and body to go beyond desires to achieve enlightenment
Mantra
In Sanskrit, the “sacred utterance,” which is a sound or group of sounds used to focus the mind in meditation on the inner realities
Bardo Thodol
The Tibbetan Buddhist Book of the Dead
Zazen
the Zen sitting form of meditation
Koans
Riddles used by some Zen practitioners to help students break through perceptions into the true reality in an act of sudden enlightenment.
Three Refuges/Jewels
Buddha, Dharma and Sangha
Shunyata/sunyata
emptiness or nothingness; ultimate reality in Buddhist Philosophy, conceived in seemingly negative terms in order to (1) capture a new sense of its utter mysteriousness, (2) underscore its total dissimilarity to existent beings and nonbeings, (3) convey its role as the infinitely potential Source of all actualities (existing entities)
Nirvana
in Buddhism, the blissful realization of one’s anatman and its own identity in shunyata; roughly equivalent to Hinduism’s moksha
Anatman
the Buddhist doctring of the “no soul” or “no self” that holds that individuals at their spiritual core are empty, and thus manifest the utter but potent Emptiness of all things, the experiential realization of which is nirvana
Parinirvana
the ultimate experience of nirvana associated with death
