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| hindu "spiritual striver" who left the householder life at a young age to seek spiritual insight with a guru in spiritual camps along the ganges river; siddhartha himself became a sramana for a number of years before leaving and finding his own path |
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| non-injury; non-harming; central ethical principle followed in the spiritual camps along the ganges; the buddha adopted ahimsa as the first buddhist precept for his followers |
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| rules of conduct followed in th espiritual camps along the ganges; the buddha developed vinaya for the monks and nuns in his monastic community |
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| in buddhist terms, karma refers to actions and intentions that give rise to rebirth and the circumstances into which one is reborn; the consequences of karma are called the "fruits" of karma |
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| as in hindu traditions, buddhists understand samsara to refer to the cycle of births, deaths, rebirts, and re-deaths, but the also interpret samsara to mean the human tendency "to reinforce old habits of suffering" |
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| the buddha's given name (given to him by his parents when he was born); it means "one who has achieved the goal"; the name used to refer to the buddha-to-be before he attained awakening |
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| buddha-to-be; one on the way to buddhahood; in early buddhism and in theravada buddhism today, this title refers only to siddhartha, the historical person who became the buddha; but in mahayana and vajrayana buddhism, a bodhisattva is also said to be anyone (lay person or monastic) who takes a vow to attain buddhahood for the sake of all beings |
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| awakened one; one who has awoken to the truth; title used to denote the fully enlightened buddha |
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| "sage of the sakya clan;" a title used to refer to the buddha after his enlightenment, denoting his enlightened state (muni="sage") and his clan (sakya) |
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| gautama is a family name often put in front of the title "buddha" to refer to the historical buddha; is also used alone (just gautama) to refer to him during any stage of his life |
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| an old man (aging), a sick man (illness), a corpse (death), and a sramana (spritual striver symbolizing the possiblility of enlightenment); these sights are said to have led siddhartha to leave his princely life to become a sramana to seek an end to suffering for all beings |
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| "the embodiment of self-deception"; in buddhist understanding, the mental, physical, and emotional forces that must be faced and overcome in order for one to attain enlightenment |
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| awakening; enlightenment; liberation from duhkha or samsara; "blowing out" or extinguishing the negative emotions that keep one trapped in samsara |
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| truth; the fundamental nature of reality; what the buddha taught (the buddha's teachings are also called Dharma) |
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| the 3 marks (characteristics) of existences |
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-impermanence (nothing is static or fixed; everything is constantly changing)
-egolessness/no-self (humans, too, are constantly changing, with no fixed, autonomous, independent identity)
-dissatisfaction (not being able to accept the first two marks of existence gives rise to existential dissatisfaction) |
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along with the 3 marks of existence, the core teaching of the buddha; taught in his first sermon "the turning of the wheel of dharma"
1. life as ordinarily lived is duhkha (dissatisfaction)
2. the cause/origin of duhka is craving/grasping/thirst that arises from the root cause of ignorance
3. the cessation of duhkha (the realization that if ignorance and thus craving cease, duhkha will cease; the buddhist claim that liberation from the existential dissatisfaction of life is possible: nirvana happens)
4. the noble eightfold path (path that leads to liberation/nirvana) |
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-wisdom: right (skillful)understanding; right (skillful) thought
-ethical conduct: right(skillful) speech; right (skillful) action; right (skillful) livelihood
-meditation: right(skillful) effort; right (skillful) mindfulness; right (skillful) concentration
*all aspects of the noble eightfold path "are to be developed more or less together so that they reinforce each other in one's spirtual life" |
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| "I take refuge in the Buddha; I take refuge in the Dharma; I take refuge in the sangha," vow any buddhist, lay or monatic, takes upon becoming a member of the sangha |
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| way/concil of elders; most conservative of the three main branches of Buddhism; developed in India in the 4 centuries after the passing of the Buddha; eventually became established in southeast asia; emphasizes the monastic path |
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| "worthy one"; in theravada tradition, the arhat is the idal monastic who, it is said, has the best chance to attain liberation |
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| Great(er) Vehicle; second major branch of Buddhism that developed (along with theravada) in india in the 4 centuries after the buddha's passing; eventually became established i east asia; emphasizes the potential for anyone, lay or monastic, to attain liberation; emphasizes the compassion and wisdom of the bodhisattva |
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| in mahayana and vajrayana, the "heartfelt aspiration to atain buddhahood so that one can help others to attain freedom from suffering" |
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| "emptiness"; in mahayana, the understandig that "all aspects of existence are "empty of own-being" that is that nothing exists on its own |
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| in mahayana and vajrayana "the true essence of consciousness"; the understanding that everything, just as it is (yathabhutam) is complete, fundamentally pure, enlightened awareness; hence everyone has the potential to "wake up" or to attain enlightenment/ buddhahood/ nirvana |
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| literally meeans "meditation" sect of mahayana buddhism that emphasizes meditation as the most direct way to experience the true or fundamental nature of reality (to awaken to one's won buddha nature) |
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| literally "public legal case" a question or a story that has no logical "answer" often an exchange between a student and a master, koans are used in zen practice to stop analytical thinking in order to precipitate an experience of one's budddha nature |
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| semi-legendary figure said to have brought zen (chan) from india to china |
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| diamond/ tunderbolt vehicle; tibetan buddhism; the third major branch of buddhism; emphasizes visualization practices (including the use of mandalas), symbolic hand gestures (mudras), and powerful chants (mantras) to help the practitioner to attain liberation/awakening |
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| padmasambhava, atisa, tsong khapa |
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| three foundational figures in tibetan buddhism; revered as the essential founders of vajrayana |
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| from the verb meaning "to weave" and the noun meaning "thread"; refers to esoteric teachings in vajrayana tradition that are said to lead one skillfully and effectively to awakening |
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| tibetan tantric practice of "meditative visualization of [various] buddhas and bodhisattvas [which are said to] personify one's own buddha potential; through these visualization practices, the practioner is said to be led to discover his/her own inherent buddha nature |
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| literally "ocean of wisdom"; title given to the political and religous leader of tibet ( the current dalai lama, the 14th, has been living in exile in india since 1959); said to be an "emanation body" of Chenrezig; there have been 14 dalai lamas, and each is understood to be a reincarnation of the previous ones; the 14th dalai lama recieved the nobel peace prize in 1989 |
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