Question: What is considered central to the teachings of Buddhism?

Answer: Four Noble Truths

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: The four truths explain the nature of what?

Answer: dukkha

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: What does the first truth cover?

Answer: Dukkha

and unsatisfactory. "Dukkha" can be translated as "incapable of satisfying," "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; or "painful." "Dukkha" is most commonly translated as "suffering," but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences. We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness. In Buddhism, dukkha is one of the three marks of existence, along with impermanence and anattā (non-self). Buddhism, like other major Indian religions, asserts that everything is


Question: What is another nature of Dukkha?

Answer: anxiety

clarify that translation with terms such as anxiety, distress, frustration, unease, unsatisfactoriness, etc. Many contemporary teachers, scholars, and translators have used the term "unsatisfactoriness" to emphasize the subtlest aspects of dukkha. Contemporary translators have used a variety of English words to translate the term "dukkha", and many translators prefer to leave the term untranslated. Within the Buddhist sutras, dukkha is divided in three categories: Various sutras sum up how life in this "mundane world" is regarded to be "dukkha", starting with "samsara", the ongoing process of death and rebirth itself: "Dukkha" is one of the three marks of existence, namely


Question: How many aspects are there to Dukkha?

Answer: three

and unsatisfactory. "Dukkha" can be translated as "incapable of satisfying," "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; or "painful." "Dukkha" is most commonly translated as "suffering," but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences. We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness. In Buddhism, dukkha is one of the three marks of existence, along with impermanence and anattā (non-self). Buddhism, like other major Indian religions, asserts that everything is


Question: Dukkha can be translated as what word in regards to unhappiness?

Answer: unsatisfactoriness

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: Suffering, anxiety, unsatisfactoriness, and unease is the translation of what word?

Answer: Dukkha

and unsatisfactory. "Dukkha" can be translated as "incapable of satisfying," "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; or "painful." "Dukkha" is most commonly translated as "suffering," but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences. We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness. In Buddhism, dukkha is one of the three marks of existence, along with impermanence and anattā (non-self). Buddhism, like other major Indian religions, asserts that everything is


Question: How many aspects does dukkha have?

Answer: three

and unsatisfactory. "Dukkha" can be translated as "incapable of satisfying," "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; or "painful." "Dukkha" is most commonly translated as "suffering," but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences. We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness. In Buddhism, dukkha is one of the three marks of existence, along with impermanence and anattā (non-self). Buddhism, like other major Indian religions, asserts that everything is


Question: How is the meaning of Dukkha explained?

Answer: craving

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: What is a contributing factor to Dukkha?

Answer: ignorance

the liberation which is being sought. Frauwallner notes that the Buddha regarded "tanha", "thirst," craving, to be the cause of suffering, not ignorance. But this was in contradiction to the Indian traditions of the time, and posed a problem, which was then also incorporated into the Buddhis teachings. Later on, "liberating insight" came to be regarded as equally liberating. This "liberating insight" came to be exemplified by "prajna", or the insight in the "four truths," but also by other elements of the Buddhist teachings. The four immeasurables or four abodes, also called "Brahma-viharas", are virtues or directions for meditation in


Question: The origin of dukkha is explained as craving conditioned by what?

Answer: ignorance

the liberation which is being sought. Frauwallner notes that the Buddha regarded "tanha", "thirst," craving, to be the cause of suffering, not ignorance. But this was in contradiction to the Indian traditions of the time, and posed a problem, which was then also incorporated into the Buddhis teachings. Later on, "liberating insight" came to be regarded as equally liberating. This "liberating insight" came to be exemplified by "prajna", or the insight in the "four truths," but also by other elements of the Buddhist teachings. The four immeasurables or four abodes, also called "Brahma-viharas", are virtues or directions for meditation in


Question: The third noble truth is that the complete cessation of what is possible?

Answer: dukkha

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: What is the fourth of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths?

Answer: The Noble Eightfold Path

the second group and an integral part of the Noble Eightfold Path. It consists of right speech, right action and right livelihood. "Śīla" appear as ethical precepts for both lay and ordained Buddhist devotees. It includes the Five Precepts for laypeople, Eight or Ten Precepts for monastic life, as well as rules of Dhamma ("Vinaya" or "Patimokkha") adopted by a monastery. Buddhist scriptures explain the five precepts (; ) as the minimal standard of Buddhist morality. It is the most important system of morality in Buddhism, together with the monastic rules. The five precepts apply to both male and female


Question: What is the purpose of the Noble Eightfold Path?

Answer: lead to the cessation of dukkha

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: What are the eight factors of the Noble Eightfold Path?

Answer: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: The Noble Eightfold Path is which of Buddha's Truths?

Answer: the fourth

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: The fourth truth consists of how many factors?

Answer: Eight

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: What is the end goal of the Fourth Truth?

Answer: the cessation of dukkha

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: What is one of the eight factors?

Answer: Right Action

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: The Noble Eightfold Path is which Noble Truth?

Answer: the fourth

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: The noble Eightfold path is a set of how many inerconnected factors?

Answer: eight

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: When the eight factors are developed together, is leads to the cessation of what?

Answer: dukkha

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: Gautama combined the yoga practice of what teacher?

Answer: Kalama

the Buddhist texts describe how Buddha learnt the practice of the formless dhyana from Brahmanical practices, in the Nikayas ascribed to Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. The Buddhist canon also describes and criticizes alternative dhyana practices, which likely mean the pre-existing mainstream meditation practices of Jainism and Hinduism. Buddha added a new focus and interpretation, particularly through the Four Dhyanas methodology, in which mindfulness is maintained. Further, the focus of meditation and the underlying theory of liberation guiding the meditation has been different in Buddhism. For example, states Bronkhorst, the verse 4.4.23 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad with its "become calm,


Question: The Four Immeasurables are taught as a form of what?

Answer: meditation

Buddhist meditation tradition. According to Gombrich, the Buddhist usage of the "brahma-vihāra" originally referred to an awakened state of mind, and a concrete attitude toward other beings which was equal to "living with Brahman" here and now. The later tradition took those descriptions too literally, linking them to cosmology and understanding them as "living with Brahman" by rebirth in the Brahma-world. According to Gombrich, "the Buddha taught that kindness – what Christians tend to call love – was a way to salvation." Idols of deity and icons have been a part of the historic practice, and in Buddhist texts such


Question: An important guiding priciple of Buddhist practice is what?

Answer: the Middle Way

influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his hearers. According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path. Similarly nibbāna is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, yet many other terms can be found throughout the Nikāyas, which are not specified. According to the scriptures, soon after the (from Sanskrit: "highest extinguishment") of Gautama Buddha, the first


Question: Guatama discovered the middle path before his what?

Answer: enlightenment

attain his goal, he turned to the practice of asceticism. This too fell short of attaining his goal, and then he turned to the practice of "dhyana", meditation, which he had already discovered in his youth. He famously sat in meditation under a "Ficus religiosa" tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in the Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He gained insight into the workings of karma and his former lives, and attained enlightenment, certainty about the Middle Way (Skt. "madhyamā-pratipad") as the right path of spiritual practice to end suffering ("dukkha") from rebirths


Question: Who has produced a number of theories and concepts such as Abhidharma and Reality in Buddhism?

Answer: Buddhist scholars

of many small feuding kingdoms. This was to last until the rise of the Pāla Empire (8th-12th centuries) arose in the Bengal region. The Pālas were stanch supporters of Buddhism, and build several important Buddhist centers, such as Vikramashila, Somapura and Odantapuri. They also supported older centers like Nalanda and Bodh Gaya. It was at these great Buddhist universities that scholars elaborated the philosophies of Abhidharma, Madhyamaka and Pramana, as well as the study of linguistics, medicine, astronomy, music, painting and sculpture. Great Buddhist scholars such as Atisha and Santaraksita date from this period. Under the Pālas, Mahāyāna Buddhism thus


Question: Some schools within Buddhism discourage what type of study?

Answer: doctrinal

small group of "elderly members", i.e. "sthaviras", broke away from the majority Mahāsāṃghika during the Second Buddhist council, giving rise to the Sthavira Nikaya. The Sthaviras gave rise to several schools, one of which was the Theravada school. Originally, these schisms were caused by disputes over monastic disciplinary codes of various fraternities, but eventually, by about 100 CE if not earlier, schisms were being caused by doctrinal disagreements too. Buddhist monks of different fraternities became distinct schools and stopped doing official Sangha business together, but continued to study each other's doctrines. Following (or leading up to) the schisms, each Saṅgha


Question: What is the goal of the Buddhist path?

Answer: liberation

liberating in itself. "Saṃsāra" means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change. It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions. Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be "dukkha", unsatisfactory and painful, perpetuated by desire and "avidya" (ignorance), and the resulting karma. The theory of rebirths, and realms in which these rebirths can occur, is extensively developed in Buddhism, in particular Tibetan Buddhism with its wheel of existence ("Bhavacakra") doctrine. Liberation from this cycle of existence, "nirvana", has been the foundation


Question: What is the goal of the buddhist path?

Answer: nirvāṇa

promotes the bodhisattva path as the highest spiritual ideal over the goal of arhatship, envisions a different view of nirvana than the Nikaya Buddhist schools. The classic Mahāyāna view posits that there are at least two types of nirvana, holding that what is called "<nowiki>"</nowiki>apratiṣṭhita-nirvana<nowiki>"</nowiki>" ("non-abiding", non-localized", "non-fixed") to be the highest nirvana, and more profound than "<nowiki>"</nowiki>pratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa<nowiki>"</nowiki>", the ‘localized’, lesser nirvana. According to classic Mahāyāna theory, this lesser, abiding nirvana is achieved by followers of the "inferior" vehicle ("hinayana") schools which are said to only work towards their own personal liberation. From this perspective, the hinayana path only leads


Question: In awakening to the true nature of the self, one no longer care about what?

Answer: objects

of "dukkha" and "samsara". By overcoming ignorance or misunderstanding one is enlightened and liberated. This overcoming includes awakening to impermanence and the non-self nature of reality, and this develops dispassion for the objects of clinging, and liberates a being from "dukkha" and "saṃsāra". "Prajñā" is important in all Buddhist traditions, and is the wisdom about the dharmas, functioning of karma and rebirths, realms of samsara, impermanence of everything, no-self in anyone or anything, and dependent origination. The origins of "liberating insight" are unclear. Buddhist texts, states Bronkhorst, do not describe it explicitly, and the content of "liberating insight" is likely


Question: Buddha recommended viewing thing by how many marks of existence?

Answer: three

and unsatisfactory. "Dukkha" can be translated as "incapable of satisfying," "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; or "painful." "Dukkha" is most commonly translated as "suffering," but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences. We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness. In Buddhism, dukkha is one of the three marks of existence, along with impermanence and anattā (non-self). Buddhism, like other major Indian religions, asserts that everything is


Question: The cycle of rebirth is also called what?

Answer: saṃsāra

liberating in itself. "Saṃsāra" means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change. It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions. Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be "dukkha", unsatisfactory and painful, perpetuated by desire and "avidya" (ignorance), and the resulting karma. The theory of rebirths, and realms in which these rebirths can occur, is extensively developed in Buddhism, in particular Tibetan Buddhism with its wheel of existence ("Bhavacakra") doctrine. Liberation from this cycle of existence, "nirvana", has been the foundation


Question: According to doctrine, because all thing don't last, attachment can lead to what?

Answer: suffering

and unsatisfactory. "Dukkha" can be translated as "incapable of satisfying," "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; or "painful." "Dukkha" is most commonly translated as "suffering," but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences. We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness. In Buddhism, dukkha is one of the three marks of existence, along with impermanence and anattā (non-self). Buddhism, like other major Indian religions, asserts that everything is


Question: Suffering is a central concept in what?

Answer: Buddhism

Nāmarūpa (sentient body), Ṣaḍāyatana (six senses), Sparśa (sensory stimulation), Vedanā (feeling), Taṇhā (craving), Upādāna (grasping), Bhava (becoming), Jāti (birth), and Jarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, pain). By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained. Śūnyatā, or "emptiness", is a central concept in Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka school, and widely attested in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. It brings together key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and dependent origination, to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). Not only sentient beings are empty of ātman; all phenomena


Question: In translation what term is often left untranslated to keep of fuller definition?

Answer: dukkha

Nāmarūpa (sentient body), Ṣaḍāyatana (six senses), Sparśa (sensory stimulation), Vedanā (feeling), Taṇhā (craving), Upādāna (grasping), Bhava (becoming), Jāti (birth), and Jarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, pain). By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained. Śūnyatā, or "emptiness", is a central concept in Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka school, and widely attested in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. It brings together key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and dependent origination, to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). Not only sentient beings are empty of ātman; all phenomena


Question: What was the answer given when the Buddha was asked if the body is the same as the self?

Answer: the Buddha refused to answer

in rebirth. In the Buddhist traditions, the Buddha taught there is rebirth and Anatta, or that there is no eternal Self. The Pali texts state that Shrenika disagreed and asked the Buddha many questions, which the Buddha refused to answer, calling his questions as indeterminate; Buddha clarified that were he to answer Srenika's questions it would entangle him. The Buddha explains his ideas with the metaphor of Agni, stating that just like fire is extinguished and no longer exists after it is extinguished, in the same way all "skandha" that constitute to form a human being are extinguished after death.


Question: What is the 3rd mark of existence?

Answer: Not-self

in India. The Thai King Mongkut (r. 1851–68), and his son King Chulalongkorn (r. 1868–1910), were responsible for modern reforms of Thai Buddhism. Modern Buddhist movements include Secular Buddhism in many countries, Won Buddhism in Korea, the Dhammakaya movement in Thailand and several Japanese organizations, such as Shinnyo-en, Risshō Kōsei Kai or Soka Gakkai. Some of these movements have brought internal disputes and strife within regional Buddhist communities. For example, the Dhammakaya movement in Thailand teaches a "true self" doctrine, which traditional Theravada monks consider as heretically denying the fundamental "anatta" (not-self) doctrine of Buddhism. Buddhism is practised by an


Question: The doctrine of pratityasumatupada is a important part of what type of metaphysics?

Answer: Buddhist

of thought, in opposition or synthesis, form the basis of subsequent Mahayana metaphysics in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. Buddha-nature is a concept found in some 1st-millennium CE Buddhist texts, such as the "Tathāgatagarbha sūtras". This concept has been controversial in Buddhism, but has a following in East Asian Buddhism. These Sutras suggest, states Paul Williams, that 'all sentient beings contain a Tathagata' as their 'essence, core inner nature, Self'. The "Tathagatagarbha" doctrine, at its earliest probably appeared about the later part of the 3rd century CE, and it contradicts the Anatta doctrine (non-Self) in a vast majority of Buddhist texts, leading


Question: An application of the idea of pratityasamutpada is the scheme of what?

Answer: Twelve Nidānas

it understands it as conditioned arising. In Buddhism, dependent arising is referring to conditions created by a plurality of causes that necessarily co-originate a phenomenon within and across lifetimes, such as karma in one life creating conditions that lead to rebirth in one of the realms of existence for another lifetime. Buddhism applies the dependent arising theory to explain origination of endless cycles of "dukkha" and rebirth, through its Twelve Nidānas or "twelve links" doctrine. It states that because Avidyā (ignorance) exists Saṃskāras (karmic formations) exists, because Saṃskāras exists therefore Vijñāna (consciousness) exists, and in a similar manner it links


Question: What is the first Nidāna?

Answer: ignorance

liberating in itself. "Saṃsāra" means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change. It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions. Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be "dukkha", unsatisfactory and painful, perpetuated by desire and "avidya" (ignorance), and the resulting karma. The theory of rebirths, and realms in which these rebirths can occur, is extensively developed in Buddhism, in particular Tibetan Buddhism with its wheel of existence ("Bhavacakra") doctrine. Liberation from this cycle of existence, "nirvana", has been the foundation


Question: Who always suffers throughout samsara?

Answer: Sentient beings

Nāmarūpa (sentient body), Ṣaḍāyatana (six senses), Sparśa (sensory stimulation), Vedanā (feeling), Taṇhā (craving), Upādāna (grasping), Bhava (becoming), Jāti (birth), and Jarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, pain). By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained. Śūnyatā, or "emptiness", is a central concept in Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka school, and widely attested in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. It brings together key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and dependent origination, to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). Not only sentient beings are empty of ātman; all phenomena


Question: What is suffering also called?

Answer: dukkha

liberating in itself. "Saṃsāra" means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change. It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions. Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be "dukkha", unsatisfactory and painful, perpetuated by desire and "avidya" (ignorance), and the resulting karma. The theory of rebirths, and realms in which these rebirths can occur, is extensively developed in Buddhism, in particular Tibetan Buddhism with its wheel of existence ("Bhavacakra") doctrine. Liberation from this cycle of existence, "nirvana", has been the foundation


Question: What is the first Nidana?

Answer: ignorance

liberating in itself. "Saṃsāra" means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change. It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions. Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be "dukkha", unsatisfactory and painful, perpetuated by desire and "avidya" (ignorance), and the resulting karma. The theory of rebirths, and realms in which these rebirths can occur, is extensively developed in Buddhism, in particular Tibetan Buddhism with its wheel of existence ("Bhavacakra") doctrine. Liberation from this cycle of existence, "nirvana", has been the foundation


Question: Nagarjuna's main contribution was the exposition of the concept of what?

Answer: śūnyatā

Nāmarūpa (sentient body), Ṣaḍāyatana (six senses), Sparśa (sensory stimulation), Vedanā (feeling), Taṇhā (craving), Upādāna (grasping), Bhava (becoming), Jāti (birth), and Jarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, pain). By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained. Śūnyatā, or "emptiness", is a central concept in Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka school, and widely attested in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. It brings together key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and dependent origination, to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). Not only sentient beings are empty of ātman; all phenomena


Question: What does sunyata mean?

Answer: emptiness

Nāmarūpa (sentient body), Ṣaḍāyatana (six senses), Sparśa (sensory stimulation), Vedanā (feeling), Taṇhā (craving), Upādāna (grasping), Bhava (becoming), Jāti (birth), and Jarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, pain). By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained. Śūnyatā, or "emptiness", is a central concept in Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka school, and widely attested in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. It brings together key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and dependent origination, to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). Not only sentient beings are empty of ātman; all phenomena


Question: Nagarjuna said that sentient beings are empty of what?

Answer: ātman

Nāmarūpa (sentient body), Ṣaḍāyatana (six senses), Sparśa (sensory stimulation), Vedanā (feeling), Taṇhā (craving), Upādāna (grasping), Bhava (becoming), Jāti (birth), and Jarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, pain). By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained. Śūnyatā, or "emptiness", is a central concept in Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka school, and widely attested in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. It brings together key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and dependent origination, to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). Not only sentient beings are empty of ātman; all phenomena


Question: What does dharmas mean?

Answer: phenomena

Nāmarūpa (sentient body), Ṣaḍāyatana (six senses), Sparśa (sensory stimulation), Vedanā (feeling), Taṇhā (craving), Upādāna (grasping), Bhava (becoming), Jāti (birth), and Jarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, pain). By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained. Śūnyatā, or "emptiness", is a central concept in Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka school, and widely attested in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. It brings together key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and dependent origination, to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). Not only sentient beings are empty of ātman; all phenomena


Question: What teaching were criticized by Nagarjuna?

Answer: Sarvastivada teachings

(dharmas) are without any svabhava (literally "own-nature" or "self-nature"), and thus without any underlying essence, and "empty" of being independent; thus the heterodox theories of svabhava circulating at the time were refuted on the basis of the doctrines of early Buddhism. Sarvastivada teachings, which were criticized by Nāgārjuna, were reformulated by scholars such as Vasubandhu and Asanga and were adapted into the Yogachara school. One of the main features of Yogācāra philosophy is the concept of "vijñapti-mātra". It is often used interchangeably with the term "citta-mātra", but they have different meanings. The standard translation of both terms is "consciousness-only" or


Question: What scholars reformed Sarvastivada teachings?

Answer: Vasubandhu and Asanga

"mind-only." Several modern researchers object to this translation, and the accompanying label of "absolute idealism" or "idealistic monism". A better translation for "vijñapti-mātra" is "representation-only", while an alternative translation for "citta" (mind, thought) "mātra" (only, exclusively) has not been proposed. While the Mādhyamaka school held that asserting the existence or non-existence of any ultimately real thing was inappropriate, some later exponents of Yogachara asserted that the mind and only the mind is ultimately real (a doctrine known as "cittamatra"). Vasubandhu and Asanga however did not assert that mind was truly existent, or the basis of all reality. These two schools


Question: What is the doctrine that says that the mind and only the mind are real?

Answer: cittamatra

"mind-only." Several modern researchers object to this translation, and the accompanying label of "absolute idealism" or "idealistic monism". A better translation for "vijñapti-mātra" is "representation-only", while an alternative translation for "citta" (mind, thought) "mātra" (only, exclusively) has not been proposed. While the Mādhyamaka school held that asserting the existence or non-existence of any ultimately real thing was inappropriate, some later exponents of Yogachara asserted that the mind and only the mind is ultimately real (a doctrine known as "cittamatra"). Vasubandhu and Asanga however did not assert that mind was truly existent, or the basis of all reality. These two schools


Question: What does tathagatagarbha mean?

Answer: Buddha-nature

of thought, in opposition or synthesis, form the basis of subsequent Mahayana metaphysics in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. Buddha-nature is a concept found in some 1st-millennium CE Buddhist texts, such as the "Tathāgatagarbha sūtras". This concept has been controversial in Buddhism, but has a following in East Asian Buddhism. These Sutras suggest, states Paul Williams, that 'all sentient beings contain a Tathagata' as their 'essence, core inner nature, Self'. The "Tathagatagarbha" doctrine, at its earliest probably appeared about the later part of the 3rd century CE, and it contradicts the Anatta doctrine (non-Self) in a vast majority of Buddhist texts, leading


Question: According to what school is tathgatagarbha the inseparability of clairty and emptiness of one's mind?

Answer: Sakya

texts such as the "Samputa Tantra," nirvana is described as purified, non-dualistic 'superior mind'. In Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, the debate continues to this day. There are those like the Gelug school, who argue that "tathāgatagarbha" is just emptiness (described either as "dharmadhatu", the nature of phenomena, or a nonimplicative negation). Then there are those who see it as the non-dual union of the mind's unconditioned emptiness and conditioned lucidity (the view of Gorampa of the Sakya school). Others such as the Jonang school and some Kagyu figures, see "tathāgatagarbha" as a kind of Absolute which "is empty of adventitious defilements


Question: According to what school does it refer to the innate qualities of the mind that express themselves as omniscience?

Answer: Jonang

in fact also Madhyamaka, and is present primarily as the main philosophical theory of the Jonang school, although it is also taught by the Sakya and Kagyu schools. According to Shentongpa (proponents of shentong), the emptiness of ultimate reality should not be characterized in the same way as the emptiness of apparent phenomena because it is "prabhāśvara-saṃtāna", or "luminous mindstream" endowed with limitless Buddha qualities. It is empty of all that is false, not empty of the limitless Buddha qualities that are its innate nature. The contrasting Prasaṅgika view that all phenomena are sunyata, empty of self-nature, and that this


Question: What type of sutras were generally ignored in india?

Answer: tathāgatagarbha

of thought, in opposition or synthesis, form the basis of subsequent Mahayana metaphysics in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. Buddha-nature is a concept found in some 1st-millennium CE Buddhist texts, such as the "Tathāgatagarbha sūtras". This concept has been controversial in Buddhism, but has a following in East Asian Buddhism. These Sutras suggest, states Paul Williams, that 'all sentient beings contain a Tathagata' as their 'essence, core inner nature, Self'. The "Tathagatagarbha" doctrine, at its earliest probably appeared about the later part of the 3rd century CE, and it contradicts the Anatta doctrine (non-Self) in a vast majority of Buddhist texts, leading


Question: What term means cessation?

Answer: Nirvana

exchanging goods and services, such as through "dāna" (charity to monks or nuns). Further, a person can transfer one's own good karma to living family members and ancestors. The cessation of the "kleshas" and the attainment of nirvana ("nibbāna"), with which the cycle of rebirth ends, has been the primary and the soteriological goal of the Buddhist path for monastic life since the time of the Buddha. The term "path" is usually taken to mean the Noble Eightfold Path, but other versions of "the path" can also be found in the Nikayas. In some passages in the Pali Canon, a


Question: What term means awakening?

Answer: nirvana

exchanging goods and services, such as through "dāna" (charity to monks or nuns). Further, a person can transfer one's own good karma to living family members and ancestors. The cessation of the "kleshas" and the attainment of nirvana ("nibbāna"), with which the cycle of rebirth ends, has been the primary and the soteriological goal of the Buddhist path for monastic life since the time of the Buddha. The term "path" is usually taken to mean the Noble Eightfold Path, but other versions of "the path" can also be found in the Nikayas. In some passages in the Pali Canon, a


Question: What is the term for someone who has achieved nirvana?

Answer: arahant

nirvana-in-life marks the life of a monk who has attained complete release from desire and suffering but still has a body, name and life. The nirvana-after-death, also called nirvana-without-substrate, is the complete cessation of everything, including consciousness and rebirth. This main distinction is between the extinguishing of the fires during life, and the final "blowing out" at the moment of death: The classic Pali sutta definitions for these states are as follows:And what, monks, is the Nibbana element with residue remaining? Here, a monk is an arahant, one whose taints are destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what


Question: In early Buddhism Bodhi used a meaning synonymous to what word?

Answer: nirvana

distinction is being made between right knowledge or insight ("sammā-ñāṇa"), and right liberation or release ("sammā-vimutti"), as the means to attain cessation and liberation. Nirvana literally means "blowing out, quenching, becoming extinguished". In early Buddhist texts, it is the state of restraint and self-control that leads to the "blowing out" and the ending of the cycles of sufferings associated with rebirths and redeaths. Many later Buddhist texts describe nirvana as identical with "anatta" with complete "emptiness, nothingness". In some texts, the state is described with greater detail, such as passing through the gate of emptiness ("sunyata") – realizing that there


Question: What is the term for greed or craving?

Answer: raga

Three poisons The three poisons (Sanskrit: "triviṣa"; Tibetan: "dug gsum") or the three unwholesome roots (Sanskrit: "akuśala-mūla"; Pāli: "akusala-mūla"), in Buddhism, refer to the three root kleshas of "Moha" (delusion, confusion), "Raga" (greed, sensual attachment), and "Dvesha" (aversion, ill will). These three poisons are considered to be three afflictions or character flaws innate in a being, the root of "Taṇhā" (craving), and thus in part the cause of "Dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness) and rebirths. The three poisons are symbolically drawn at the center of Buddhist "Bhavachakra" artwork, with rooster, snake and pig, representing greed, ill will and delusion respectively. In


Question: What does moha mean?

Answer: delusion

re-parsing the word to roots that mean "weaving, sewing", "desire" and "forest or woods": The "blowing out" does not mean total annihilation, but the extinguishing of a flame, which returns, and exists in another way. The term "nirvana" can also be used as a verb: "he or she nirvāṇa-s," or "he or she parinirvānṇa-s" ("parinibbāyati"). The term "nirvana", "to blow out", has also been interpreted as the extinction of the "three fires", or "three poisons", namely of passion or sensuality ("raga"), aversion or hate ("dvesha") and of delusion or ignorance ("moha" or "avidyā"). Another explanation of nirvana is the absence


Question: What has achieved nirvana and also liberation from delusion?

Answer: bodhisattva

genre of Buddhist scriptures that the Mahayana Buddhist tradition holds are original teachings of the Buddha. Some adherents of Mahayana accept both the early teachings (including in this the Sarvastivada Abhidharma, which was criticized by Nagarjuna and is in fact opposed to early Buddhist thought) and the Mahayana sutras as authentic teachings of Gautama Buddha, and claim they were designed for different types of persons and different levels of spiritual understanding. The Mahayana sutras often claim to articulate the Buddha's deeper, more advanced doctrines, reserved for those who follow the bodhisattva path. That path is explained as being built upon


Question: If bodhi is attained what do you become?

Answer: a buddha

seed from its parent tree at Mangala Vihara Buddhist Temple at 30 Jalan Eunos, Singapore. A Buddha image is placed under the Bodhi tree to remind people that Sakyamuni Buddha attained Enlightenment while meditating under a Bo tree at Bodh Gaya, in the Ganges valley, around 600 . It was nurtured by the late Madam Boey, a devotee of Mangala Vihara. Its parent tree was a sapling brought to Singapore from Sri Lanka by Venerable Mahinda, the son of Ashoka the Great of India, which was a descendant of the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha attained Enlightenment. The temple's


Question: In theravada buddhism, bodhi and what term have the same meaning?

Answer: nirvana

to achieve Buddhahood in one (current) lifetime, and the best goal is not nirvana for oneself, but Buddhahood after climbing through the ten levels during multiple rebirths. Mahayana scholars then outlined an elaborate path, for monks and laypeople, and the path includes the vow to help teach Buddhist knowledge to other beings, so as to help them cross samsara and liberate themselves, once one reaches the Buddhahood in a future rebirth. One part of this path are the "Pāramitā" (perfections, to cross over), derived from the "Jatakas" tales of Buddha's numerous rebirths. The Mahayana texts are inconsistent in their discussion


Question: What term is used for the complete nirvana attained by the arahant at death?

Answer: parinirvana

also the "Tathagatagarbha Sutra" and the "Lankavatara Sutra" speak affirmatively of the Self. Zimmermann observes: Parinirvana In Buddhism, the term parinirvana (Sanskrit: '; Pali: ') is commonly used to refer to "nirvana-after-death", which occurs upon the death of the body of someone who has attained "nirvana" during his or her lifetime. It implies a release from the , karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of the skandhas. In some Mahāyāna scriptures, notably the "Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra", Parinirvāṇa is described as the realm of the eternal true Self of the Buddha. In the Buddhist view, when an ordinary person


Question: Who is a fully awakened being who has purified his mind of the three poisons of desire, aversion, and ignorance?

Answer: a Buddha

Buddha is fully awakened and has completely purified his mind of the three poisons of craving, aversion and ignorance. A Buddha is no longer bound by saṃsāra, and has ended the suffering which unawakened people experience in life. Most schools of Buddhism have also held that the Buddha was omniscient. However, the early texts contain explicit repudiations of making this claim of the Buddha. Some Buddhists meditate on (or contemplate) the Buddha as having ten characteristics (Ch./Jp. 十號). These characteristics are frequently mentioned in the Pāli Canon as well as Mahayana teachings, and are chanted daily in many Buddhist monasteries:


Question: A Buddha is no longer bound by what?

Answer: Samsara

of "dukkha" and "samsara". By overcoming ignorance or misunderstanding one is enlightened and liberated. This overcoming includes awakening to impermanence and the non-self nature of reality, and this develops dispassion for the objects of clinging, and liberates a being from "dukkha" and "saṃsāra". "Prajñā" is important in all Buddhist traditions, and is the wisdom about the dharmas, functioning of karma and rebirths, realms of samsara, impermanence of everything, no-self in anyone or anything, and dependent origination. The origins of "liberating insight" are unclear. Buddhist texts, states Bronkhorst, do not describe it explicitly, and the content of "liberating insight" is likely


Question: What do unawakend people experience?

Answer: suffering

the liberation which is being sought. Frauwallner notes that the Buddha regarded "tanha", "thirst," craving, to be the cause of suffering, not ignorance. But this was in contradiction to the Indian traditions of the time, and posed a problem, which was then also incorporated into the Buddhis teachings. Later on, "liberating insight" came to be regarded as equally liberating. This "liberating insight" came to be exemplified by "prajna", or the insight in the "four truths," but also by other elements of the Buddhist teachings. The four immeasurables or four abodes, also called "Brahma-viharas", are virtues or directions for meditation in


Question: A Theravada and Mahayana belief is that the next Buddha will be one named what?

Answer: Maitreya

continued to the present day in Sri Lanka: In times past both "Tantrayana" and "Mahayana" have been found in some of the "Theravada" countries, but today the Buddhism of Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia is almost exclusively "Theravada", based on the Pali Canon. The only "Mahayana" deity that has entered the worship of ordinary Buddhists in "Theravada" countries is "Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara". In Ceylon he is known as "Natha-deva" and mistaken by the majority for the Buddha yet to come, "Bodhisattva Maitreya". The figure of "Avalokitesvara" usually is found in the shrine room near the Buddha image. In more recent


Question: Mahayana has many Buddhas of what origin?

Answer: celestial

of absolute wisdom. This wisdom is revealed in a person's current lifetime through Buddhist practice, without any specific relinquishment of pleasures or "earthly desires". Buddhists do not consider Gautama to have been the only Buddha. The Pāli Canon refers to many previous ones (see list of the named Buddhas), while the Mahayana tradition additionally has many Buddhas of celestial origin (see Amitābha or Vairocana as examples, for lists of many thousands of Buddha names (see "Taishō Tripiṭaka" numbers 439–448). The various Buddhist schools hold some varying interpretations on the nature of Buddha (see below). All Buddhist traditions hold that a


Question: A person can awaken from the "sleep of ignorance" by acknowledging the true nature of what?

Answer: reality

and the most important historical justification of Buddhism. The later Buddhist texts assert that rebirth can occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, hungry ghosts, hellish). Samsara ends if a person attains nirvana, the "blowing out" of the desires and the gaining of true insight into impermanence and non-self reality. Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of many possible forms of sentient life, each running from conception to death. In Buddhist thought, this rebirth does not involve any soul, because


Question: Nirvana and what term carry the same meaning?

Answer: Bodhi

of the four "rupa-jhanas" describes two different cognitive states. The first two describe a narrowing of attention, while in the third and fourth jhana attention is expanded again. Alexander Wynne further explains that the "dhyana"-scheme is poorly understood. According to Wynne, words expressing the inculcation of awareness, such as "sati", "sampajāno", and "upekkhā", are mistranslated or understood as particular factors of meditative states, whereas they refer to a particular way of perceiving the sense objects. The Buddhist tradition has incorporated two traditions regarding the use of dhyāna (meditation, Pali "jhāna"). There is a tradition that stresses attaining prajñā (insight, bodhi,


Question: What is the term for extinction of only hatred and greed, with residue of delusion?

Answer: anagami

in one of four ways: For those that have destroyed greed and hatred (in the sensory context) with some residue of delusion, are called "anagami" (non-returner). Anagamis will not be reborn into the human world after death, but into the heaven of the Pure Abodes, where only anagamis live. There, they will attain full enlightenment. The Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa placed the "arahant" at the completion of the path to liberation. Mahayana Buddhists see Gautama Buddha himself as the ideal towards which one should aim in one's spiritual aspirations. A hierarchy of general attainments is envisioned with the attainments of arhats


Question: Who is thought to be beyond the range and reach of thought?

Answer: Buddha

the motivation to liberate all living beings from unhappiness. Hence the name "Mahāyāna" (lit., "the Great Vehicle"). The Theravada school does not treat the Mahayana Sutras as authoritative or authentic teachings of the Buddha. Generally, scholars conclude that the Mahayana scriptures were composed from the 1st century CE onwards: "Large numbers of Mahayana sutras were being composed in the period between the beginning of the common era and the fifth century". Many ancient Indian texts have not survived into the modern era, creating a challenge in establishing the historic commonalities between Theravada and Mahayana. The texts preserved in the Tibetan


Question: In what sutras are the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha viewed as One?

Answer: Mahayana

the motivation to liberate all living beings from unhappiness. Hence the name "Mahāyāna" (lit., "the Great Vehicle"). The Theravada school does not treat the Mahayana Sutras as authoritative or authentic teachings of the Buddha. Generally, scholars conclude that the Mahayana scriptures were composed from the 1st century CE onwards: "Large numbers of Mahayana sutras were being composed in the period between the beginning of the common era and the fifth century". Many ancient Indian texts have not survived into the modern era, creating a challenge in establishing the historic commonalities between Theravada and Mahayana. The texts preserved in the Tibetan


Question: Buddha's death is seen as an illusion, as he is living in other planes of what?

Answer: existence

and unsatisfactory. "Dukkha" can be translated as "incapable of satisfying," "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; or "painful." "Dukkha" is most commonly translated as "suffering," but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences. We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness. In Buddhism, dukkha is one of the three marks of existence, along with impermanence and anattā (non-self). Buddhism, like other major Indian religions, asserts that everything is


Question: Who is permitted to offer "new truths" based on Buddhas input?

Answer: monks

to achieve Buddhahood in one (current) lifetime, and the best goal is not nirvana for oneself, but Buddhahood after climbing through the ten levels during multiple rebirths. Mahayana scholars then outlined an elaborate path, for monks and laypeople, and the path includes the vow to help teach Buddhist knowledge to other beings, so as to help them cross samsara and liberate themselves, once one reaches the Buddhahood in a future rebirth. One part of this path are the "Pāramitā" (perfections, to cross over), derived from the "Jatakas" tales of Buddha's numerous rebirths. The Mahayana texts are inconsistent in their discussion


Question: What is the term for the idea of ultimately nothing has existance?

Answer: śūnyatā

Nāmarūpa (sentient body), Ṣaḍāyatana (six senses), Sparśa (sensory stimulation), Vedanā (feeling), Taṇhā (craving), Upādāna (grasping), Bhava (becoming), Jāti (birth), and Jarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, pain). By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained. Śūnyatā, or "emptiness", is a central concept in Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka school, and widely attested in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. It brings together key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and dependent origination, to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). Not only sentient beings are empty of ātman; all phenomena


Question: Who are enlightened people who vow to continue being reborn?

Answer: bodhisattvas

state, into the modern era. Several scholars have suggested that the Mahayana Buddhist tradition started in south India (modern Andhra Pradesh), and it is there that Prajnaparamita sutras, among the earliest Mahayana sutras, developed among the Mahāsāṃghika along the Kṛṣṇa River region about the 1st century BCE. There is no evidence that Mahayana ever referred to a separate formal school or sect of Buddhism, but rather that it existed as a certain set of ideals, and later doctrines, for bodhisattvas. Initially it was known as "Bodhisattvayāna" (the "Vehicle of the Bodhisattvas"). Paul Williams states that the Mahāyāna never had nor


Question: What is characterized by the deep truts in the "other-power" of Amitabha Buddha

Answer: Pure Land

is also Mahayana in origin, but is discussed below under the heading of Vajrayana (also commonly referred to as "Northern Buddhism"). There are a variety of strands in Eastern Buddhism, of which "the Pure Land school of Mahayana is the most widely practised today.". In most of this area however, they are fused into a single unified form of Buddhism. In Japan in particular, they form separate denominations with the five major ones being: Nichiren, peculiar to Japan; Pure Land; Shingon, a form of Vajrayana; Tendai, and Zen. In Korea, nearly all Buddhists belong to the Chogye school, which is


Question: What is perhaps the most faith-oriented for of Buddhism?

Answer: Pure Land

is also Mahayana in origin, but is discussed below under the heading of Vajrayana (also commonly referred to as "Northern Buddhism"). There are a variety of strands in Eastern Buddhism, of which "the Pure Land school of Mahayana is the most widely practised today.". In most of this area however, they are fused into a single unified form of Buddhism. In Japan in particular, they form separate denominations with the five major ones being: Nichiren, peculiar to Japan; Pure Land; Shingon, a form of Vajrayana; Tendai, and Zen. In Korea, nearly all Buddhists belong to the Chogye school, which is


Question: What Buddha vowed to rescue all beings from samsaric suffering?

Answer: Amitabha

scholars to posit that the "Tathagatagarbha Sutras" were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists. However, the Buddhist text "Ratnagotravibhāga" states that the "Self" implied in "Tathagatagarbha" doctrine is actually "not-Self". Devotion is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists. Devotional practices include ritual prayer, prostration, offerings, pilgrimage, and chanting. In Pure Land Buddhism, devotion to the Buddha Amitabha is the main practice. In Nichiren Buddhism, devotion to the Lotus Sutra is the main practice. Bhakti (called "Bhatti" in Pali) has been a common practice in Theravada Buddhism, where offerings and group prayers are made to deities and particularly


Question: Who is believed to have achieved enlightenment first?

Answer: Gautama Buddha

influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his hearers. According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path. Similarly nibbāna is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, yet many other terms can be found throughout the Nikāyas, which are not specified. According to the scriptures, soon after the (from Sanskrit: "highest extinguishment") of Gautama Buddha, the first


Question: Who is the Buddha of this Buddha era?

Answer: Gautama Buddha

influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his hearers. According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path. Similarly nibbāna is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, yet many other terms can be found throughout the Nikāyas, which are not specified. According to the scriptures, soon after the (from Sanskrit: "highest extinguishment") of Gautama Buddha, the first


Question: Who taught directly or indirectly to all other Buddhas?

Answer: Gautama Buddha

influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his hearers. According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path. Similarly nibbāna is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, yet many other terms can be found throughout the Nikāyas, which are not specified. According to the scriptures, soon after the (from Sanskrit: "highest extinguishment") of Gautama Buddha, the first


Question: What form of Buddhism has declined to the point where few are capable of following the path?

Answer: Pure Land

scholars to posit that the "Tathagatagarbha Sutras" were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists. However, the Buddhist text "Ratnagotravibhāga" states that the "Self" implied in "Tathagatagarbha" doctrine is actually "not-Self". Devotion is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists. Devotional practices include ritual prayer, prostration, offerings, pilgrimage, and chanting. In Pure Land Buddhism, devotion to the Buddha Amitabha is the main practice. In Nichiren Buddhism, devotion to the Lotus Sutra is the main practice. Bhakti (called "Bhatti" in Pali) has been a common practice in Theravada Buddhism, where offerings and group prayers are made to deities and particularly


Question: What is the term for the spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings?

Answer: bodhicitta

rebirth and suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path is grouped into three basic divisions, as follows: Mahāyāna Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a Bodhisattva. A "Bodhisattva" refers to one who is on the path to buddhahood. The term "Mahāyāna" was originally a synonym for "Bodhisattvayāna" or "Bodhisattva Vehicle." In the earliest texts of Mahayana Buddhism, the path of a bodhisattva was to awaken the "bodhicitta". Between the 1st and 3rd century CE, this tradition introduced the "Ten Bhumi" doctrine, which means ten levels or stages of awakening. This development was followed by the acceptance that it is impossible


Question: What term means "great vehicle"?

Answer: Mahayana

rebirth and suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path is grouped into three basic divisions, as follows: Mahāyāna Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a Bodhisattva. A "Bodhisattva" refers to one who is on the path to buddhahood. The term "Mahāyāna" was originally a synonym for "Bodhisattvayāna" or "Bodhisattva Vehicle." In the earliest texts of Mahayana Buddhism, the path of a bodhisattva was to awaken the "bodhicitta". Between the 1st and 3rd century CE, this tradition introduced the "Ten Bhumi" doctrine, which means ten levels or stages of awakening. This development was followed by the acceptance that it is impossible


Question: What is an honorary synonym for Bodhisattvayana?

Answer: Mahayana

rebirth and suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path is grouped into three basic divisions, as follows: Mahāyāna Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a Bodhisattva. A "Bodhisattva" refers to one who is on the path to buddhahood. The term "Mahāyāna" was originally a synonym for "Bodhisattvayāna" or "Bodhisattva Vehicle." In the earliest texts of Mahayana Buddhism, the path of a bodhisattva was to awaken the "bodhicitta". Between the 1st and 3rd century CE, this tradition introduced the "Ten Bhumi" doctrine, which means ten levels or stages of awakening. This development was followed by the acceptance that it is impossible


Question: The Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra is an important text of what type?

Answer: Mahayana

rebirth and suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path is grouped into three basic divisions, as follows: Mahāyāna Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a Bodhisattva. A "Bodhisattva" refers to one who is on the path to buddhahood. The term "Mahāyāna" was originally a synonym for "Bodhisattvayāna" or "Bodhisattva Vehicle." In the earliest texts of Mahayana Buddhism, the path of a bodhisattva was to awaken the "bodhicitta". Between the 1st and 3rd century CE, this tradition introduced the "Ten Bhumi" doctrine, which means ten levels or stages of awakening. This development was followed by the acceptance that it is impossible


Question: What buddhism encourages everyone to become bodhisattvas?

Answer: Mahayana

Nāmarūpa (sentient body), Ṣaḍāyatana (six senses), Sparśa (sensory stimulation), Vedanā (feeling), Taṇhā (craving), Upādāna (grasping), Bhava (becoming), Jāti (birth), and Jarāmaraṇa (old age, death, sorrow, pain). By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained. Śūnyatā, or "emptiness", is a central concept in Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka school, and widely attested in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. It brings together key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and dependent origination, to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). Not only sentient beings are empty of ātman; all phenomena


Question: What is the idea there the practitioner promises to work for the complete enlightenment of all beings by practicing the six paramitas?

Answer: bodhisattva vow

forest asceticism. Mahāyāna Buddhism encourages everyone to become bodhisattvas and to take the bodhisattva vows. With these vows, one makes the promise to work for the complete enlightenment of all sentient beings by practicing the six perfections. Indelibly entwined with the bodhisattva vow is merit transference ("pariṇāmanā"). In the "Lotus Sūtra", life in this world is compared to people living in a house that is on fire. People take this world as reality pursuing worldly projects and pleasures without realizing that the house is ablaze and will soon burn down (due to the inevitability of suffering). A bodhisattva is one


Question: Which Dalai Lama cites Shantideva's famous saying?

Answer: the 14th Dalai Lama

Influential figures on post-war Western Buddhism include Shunryu Suzuki, Jack Kerouac, Alan Watts, Thích Nhất Hạnh, and the 14th Dalai Lama. While Buddhist institutions have grown, some of the central premises of Buddhism such as the cycles of rebirth and Four Noble Truths have been problematic in the West. In contrast, states Christopher Gowans, for "most ordinary [Asian] Buddhists, today as well as in the past, their basic moral orientation is governed by belief in karma and rebirth". Most Asian Buddhist laypersons, states Kevin Trainor, have historically pursued Buddhist rituals and practices seeking better rebirth, not nirvana or freedom from


Question: Devotion is an important part of the practice of most what?

Answer: Buddhists

scholars to posit that the "Tathagatagarbha Sutras" were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists. However, the Buddhist text "Ratnagotravibhāga" states that the "Self" implied in "Tathagatagarbha" doctrine is actually "not-Self". Devotion is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists. Devotional practices include ritual prayer, prostration, offerings, pilgrimage, and chanting. In Pure Land Buddhism, devotion to the Buddha Amitabha is the main practice. In Nichiren Buddhism, devotion to the Lotus Sutra is the main practice. Bhakti (called "Bhatti" in Pali) has been a common practice in Theravada Buddhism, where offerings and group prayers are made to deities and particularly


Question: Buddhism traditionally incorporates states of what type of absorption?

Answer: meditative

Zen Buddhism is divided into two main schools: Rinzai (臨済宗) and Sōtō (曹洞宗), the former greatly favouring the use in meditation on the koan (公案, a meditative riddle or puzzle) as a device for spiritual break-through, and the latter (while certainly employing koans) focusing more on "shikantaza" or "just sitting". Zen Buddhism is primarily found in Japan, with some presence in South Korea and Vietnam. The scholars of Japanese Soto Zen tradition in recent times have critiqued the mainstream Japanese Buddhism for "dhatu-vada", that is assuming things have substantiality, a view they assert to be non-Buddhist and "out of tune


Question: The most acient yogic ideas is found in the early sermons of who?

Answer: the Buddha

influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his hearers. According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path. Similarly nibbāna is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, yet many other terms can be found throughout the Nikāyas, which are not specified. According to the scriptures, soon after the (from Sanskrit: "highest extinguishment") of Gautama Buddha, the first


Question: The difference between the Buddha's teaching and the yoga presented in what what type of texts is significant?

Answer: Brahminic

The Buddhist texts are probably the earliest describing meditation techniques. They describe meditative practices and states that existed before the Buddha, as well as those first developed within Buddhism. Two Upanishads written after the rise of Buddhism do contain full-fledged descriptions of yoga as a means to liberation. While there is no convincing evidence for meditation in pre-Buddhist early Brahminic texts, Wynne argues that formless meditation originated in the Brahminic or Shramanic tradition, based on strong parallels between Upanishadic cosmological statements and the meditative goals of the two teachers of the Buddha as recorded in the early Buddhist texts. He


Question: According to the Buddha event he highest meditative state is not what?

Answer: liberating

Canon liberating insight is attained in the fourth dhyana. However, states Vetter, modern scholarship on the Pali Canon has uncovered a "whole series of inconsistencies in the transmission of the Buddha's word", and there are many conflicting versions of what constitutes higher knowledge and samadhi that leads to the liberation from rebirth and suffering. Even within the Four Dhyana methodology of meditation, Vetter notes that "penetrating abstract truths and penetrating them successively does not seem possible in a state of mind which is without contemplation and reflection." According to Vetter, "dhyāna" itself constituted the original "liberating practice". Carol Anderson notes


Question: Meditation was an aspect of the practice of who?

Answer: the yogis

in conformity with Buddhist usage. In "The Long Discourse of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya" (pg. 1700) Maurice Walshe wrote, Meditation was an aspect of the practice of the yogis in the centuries preceding the Buddha. The Buddha built upon the yogis' concern with introspection and developed their meditative techniques, but rejected their theories of liberation. In Buddhism, sati and sampajanna are to be developed at all times, in pre-Buddhist yogic practices there is no such injunction. A yogi in the Brahmanical tradition is not to practice while defecating, for example, while a Buddhist monastic should do


Question: Religious knowledge is also known as what?

Answer: vision

controversial figure in the Jewish community of Amsterdam due to the perception of his views as heretical. Instead of the classic literal vision of God as depicted by Jewish Religious text, Spinoza envisioned God as a presence that encompassed the entire universe and beyond, a view commonly known as panentheism. In his "Theological-Political Treatise" Spinoza states, "Some imagine God in the likeness of man, consisting of mind and body, and subject to passions. But it is clear from what has already been proved how far they stray from the true knowledge of God. These I dismiss, for all who have


Question: What type of techniques were shared with other traditions of his day?

Answer: meditative

of the four "rupa-jhanas" describes two different cognitive states. The first two describe a narrowing of attention, while in the third and fourth jhana attention is expanded again. Alexander Wynne further explains that the "dhyana"-scheme is poorly understood. According to Wynne, words expressing the inculcation of awareness, such as "sati", "sampajāno", and "upekkhā", are mistranslated or understood as particular factors of meditative states, whereas they refer to a particular way of perceiving the sense objects. The Buddhist tradition has incorporated two traditions regarding the use of dhyāna (meditation, Pali "jhāna"). There is a tradition that stresses attaining prajñā (insight, bodhi,


Question: What are probably the earliest texts describing meditation techniques?

Answer: Buddhist texts

in the Buddhist texts are some of the earliest among texts that have survived into the modern era. These methodologies likely incorporate what existed before the Buddha as well as those first developed within Buddhism. According to Bronkhorst, the "Four Dhyanas" was a Buddhist invention. Bronkhorst notes that the Buddhist canon has a mass of contradictory statements, little is known about their relative chronology, and "there can be no doubt that the canon – including the older parts, the Sutra and Vinaya Pitaka – was composed over a long period of time". Meditative practices were incorporated from other sramanic movements;


Question: What describes meditative states exising before the Buddha?

Answer: Buddhist texts

in the Buddhist texts are some of the earliest among texts that have survived into the modern era. These methodologies likely incorporate what existed before the Buddha as well as those first developed within Buddhism. According to Bronkhorst, the "Four Dhyanas" was a Buddhist invention. Bronkhorst notes that the Buddhist canon has a mass of contradictory statements, little is known about their relative chronology, and "there can be no doubt that the canon – including the older parts, the Sutra and Vinaya Pitaka – was composed over a long period of time". Meditative practices were incorporated from other sramanic movements;


Question: What two items were written after the rise of Buddhism?

Answer: Upanishads

CE. Historically, the roots of Buddhism lie in the religious thought of Iron Age India around the middle of the first millennium BCE. This was a period of great intellectual ferment and socio-cultural change known as the "Second urbanisation", marked by the composition of the Upanishads and the historical emergence of the Sramanic traditions. New ideas developed both in the Vedic tradition in the form of the Upanishads, and outside of the Vedic tradition through the Śramaṇa movements. The term Śramaṇa refers to several Indian religious movements parallel to but separate from the historical Vedic religion, including Buddhism, Jainism and


Question: In pre-buddhist early Brahminic texts there is no evidence for what?

Answer: meditation

Zen Buddhism is divided into two main schools: Rinzai (臨済宗) and Sōtō (曹洞宗), the former greatly favouring the use in meditation on the koan (公案, a meditative riddle or puzzle) as a device for spiritual break-through, and the latter (while certainly employing koans) focusing more on "shikantaza" or "just sitting". Zen Buddhism is primarily found in Japan, with some presence in South Korea and Vietnam. The scholars of Japanese Soto Zen tradition in recent times have critiqued the mainstream Japanese Buddhism for "dhatu-vada", that is assuming things have substantiality, a view they assert to be non-Buddhist and "out of tune


Question: The upanishads statements reflect what type of tradition?

Answer: contemplative

mentions less likely possibilities as well. Having argued that the cosmological statements in the Upanishads also reflect a contemplative tradition, he argues that the Nasadiya Sukta contains evidence for a contemplative tradition, even as early as the late Rg Vedic period. Buddhism does not deny that the Vedas in their true original were sacred although it maintains that the Vedas have been amended repeatedly by certain Brahmins to secure their positions in society. The Buddha declared that the Veda in its true form was declared by Kashyapa to certain rishis, who by severe penances had acquired the power to see


Question: What contains evidence for a contemplative tradition?

Answer: Nasadiya Sukta

mentions less likely possibilities as well. Having argued that the cosmological statements in the Upanishads also reflect a contemplative tradition, he argues that the Nasadiya Sukta contains evidence for a contemplative tradition, even as early as the late Rg Vedic period. Buddhism does not deny that the Vedas in their true original were sacred although it maintains that the Vedas have been amended repeatedly by certain Brahmins to secure their positions in society. The Buddha declared that the Veda in its true form was declared by Kashyapa to certain rishis, who by severe penances had acquired the power to see


Question: What is the first step in a school of Buddhism?

Answer: the Three Jewels

additional practice is a kind and compassionate attitude toward every living being and the world. Devotion is also important in some Buddhist traditions, and in the Tibetan traditions visualizations of deities and mandalas are important. The value of textual study is regarded differently in the various Buddhist traditions. It is central to Theravada and highly important to Tibetan Buddhism, while the Zen tradition takes an ambiguous stance. Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires taking Three Refuges, also called the Three Jewels (Sanskrit: "triratna", Pali: "tiratana") as the foundation of one's religious practice. Pali texts employ the Brahmanical


Question: What mentions taking refuge on behalf of young or unborn children?

Answer: Majjhima Nikaya

as "liberating insight", may be a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36. According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the Four Noble Truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhānas. The four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person." The three marks of existence – Dukkha, Annica, Anatta – may reflect Upanishadic or other


Question: What type of Buddhism adds a fourth refuge?

Answer: Tibetan

additional practice is a kind and compassionate attitude toward every living being and the world. Devotion is also important in some Buddhist traditions, and in the Tibetan traditions visualizations of deities and mandalas are important. The value of textual study is regarded differently in the various Buddhist traditions. It is central to Theravada and highly important to Tibetan Buddhism, while the Zen tradition takes an ambiguous stance. Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires taking Three Refuges, also called the Three Jewels (Sanskrit: "triratna", Pali: "tiratana") as the foundation of one's religious practice. Pali texts employ the Brahmanical


Question: What has an irreversable effect?

Answer: The Three Jewels

additional practice is a kind and compassionate attitude toward every living being and the world. Devotion is also important in some Buddhist traditions, and in the Tibetan traditions visualizations of deities and mandalas are important. The value of textual study is regarded differently in the various Buddhist traditions. It is central to Theravada and highly important to Tibetan Buddhism, while the Zen tradition takes an ambiguous stance. Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires taking Three Refuges, also called the Three Jewels (Sanskrit: "triratna", Pali: "tiratana") as the foundation of one's religious practice. Pali texts employ the Brahmanical


Question: Who presented himself as a model?

Answer: Gautama Buddha

genre of Buddhist scriptures that the Mahayana Buddhist tradition holds are original teachings of the Buddha. Some adherents of Mahayana accept both the early teachings (including in this the Sarvastivada Abhidharma, which was criticized by Nagarjuna and is in fact opposed to early Buddhist thought) and the Mahayana sutras as authentic teachings of Gautama Buddha, and claim they were designed for different types of persons and different levels of spiritual understanding. The Mahayana sutras often claim to articulate the Buddha's deeper, more advanced doctrines, reserved for those who follow the bodhisattva path. That path is explained as being built upon


Question: What offers a refuge by providing guidelines for the alleviation of suffering?

Answer: Dharma

the goal of overcoming suffering and the cycle of death and rebirth, either by the attainment of Nirvana or through the path of Buddhahood. Buddhist schools vary in their interpretation of the path to liberation, the relative importance and canonicity assigned to the various Buddhist texts, and their specific teachings and practices. Widely observed practices include taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, observance of moral precepts, monasticism, meditation, and the cultivation of the Paramitas (virtues). Theravada Buddhism has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen,


Question: What provides refuge by preserving the authentic teachings of the Buddha?

Answer: Sangha

the goal of overcoming suffering and the cycle of death and rebirth, either by the attainment of Nirvana or through the path of Buddhahood. Buddhist schools vary in their interpretation of the path to liberation, the relative importance and canonicity assigned to the various Buddhist texts, and their specific teachings and practices. Widely observed practices include taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, observance of moral precepts, monasticism, meditation, and the cultivation of the Paramitas (virtues). Theravada Buddhism has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen,


Question: What is an action committed through the body and involves intentional effort?

Answer: Śīla

the second group and an integral part of the Noble Eightfold Path. It consists of right speech, right action and right livelihood. "Śīla" appear as ethical precepts for both lay and ordained Buddhist devotees. It includes the Five Precepts for laypeople, Eight or Ten Precepts for monastic life, as well as rules of Dhamma ("Vinaya" or "Patimokkha") adopted by a monastery. Buddhist scriptures explain the five precepts (; ) as the minimal standard of Buddhist morality. It is the most important system of morality in Buddhism, together with the monastic rules. The five precepts apply to both male and female


Question: What is the foundation of Samadhi/Bhavana?

Answer: Śīla

the second group and an integral part of the Noble Eightfold Path. It consists of right speech, right action and right livelihood. "Śīla" appear as ethical precepts for both lay and ordained Buddhist devotees. It includes the Five Precepts for laypeople, Eight or Ten Precepts for monastic life, as well as rules of Dhamma ("Vinaya" or "Patimokkha") adopted by a monastery. Buddhist scriptures explain the five precepts (; ) as the minimal standard of Buddhist morality. It is the most important system of morality in Buddhism, together with the monastic rules. The five precepts apply to both male and female


Question: Lay people tend to live by the five what?

Answer: precepts

the second group and an integral part of the Noble Eightfold Path. It consists of right speech, right action and right livelihood. "Śīla" appear as ethical precepts for both lay and ordained Buddhist devotees. It includes the Five Precepts for laypeople, Eight or Ten Precepts for monastic life, as well as rules of Dhamma ("Vinaya" or "Patimokkha") adopted by a monastery. Buddhist scriptures explain the five precepts (; ) as the minimal standard of Buddhist morality. It is the most important system of morality in Buddhism, together with the monastic rules. The five precepts apply to both male and female


Question: Schools can undertake eight precepts, which add basic what?

Answer: asceticism.

attain his goal, he turned to the practice of asceticism. This too fell short of attaining his goal, and then he turned to the practice of "dhyana", meditation, which he had already discovered in his youth. He famously sat in meditation under a "Ficus religiosa" tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in the Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He gained insight into the workings of karma and his former lives, and attained enlightenment, certainty about the Middle Way (Skt. "madhyamā-pratipad") as the right path of spiritual practice to end suffering ("dukkha") from rebirths


Question: Precepts are not created as imperatives, but as what?

Answer: training rules

hierarchy within the order, there are no higher ordinations. A small number of members, however, take vows of celibacy and adopt a simpler lifestyle. Contrary to the traditional Buddhist structure of separating lay and monastic members, the order combines monastic and lay lifestyles under one ordination, a practice not dissimilar to that which evolved in some Japanese schools of Buddhism. As with followers of the Shingon school of Buddhism, order members observe ten precepts (ethical training rules). These precepts are different from monastic vows and do not appear in the Vinaya Pitaka, but were formulated on the basis of the


Question: Even if there is no further Buddhist practice, what heavens is still likely?

Answer: lower

other laypersons who take refuge in the Three Jewels (the Buddha, the teachings and the community) and practice the Five Precepts. In southeast Asian communities, lay disciples also give alms to monks on their daily rounds and observe weekly uposatha days. In Buddhist thought, the cultivation of ethical conduct and dāna or "almsgiving" will themselves refine consciousness to such a level that rebirth in one of the lower heavens is likely even if there is no further "Noble" Buddhist practice (connected with the Supramundane goal of Nibbana, "Unbinding"). This level of attainment is viewed as a proper aim for laypersons.


Question: Of the eight precepts which one is on sexual misconduct?

Answer: third

China (18%), Japan (36%), Taiwan (35%), Macau (17%), North Korea (14%), Nepal (11%), Vietnam (10%), Singapore (33%), Hong Kong (15%) and South Korea (23%). Buddhism is also growing by conversion.In United states, only about a third (32%) of Buddhists in the United States are Asian; a majority (53%) are white. Buddhism in the America is primarily made up of native-born adherents, whites and converts. After China, where nearly half of the worldwide Buddhists live, the 10 countries with the largest Buddhist population densities are: "Subnotes" Buddhism Buddhism (, ) is the world's fourth-largest religion with over 520 million followers, or


Question: How many precepts are on the list?

Answer: ten

these are same as for the lay devotee: no killing, no stealing, no lying, and no intoxicants. The other four precepts are: All eight precepts are sometimes observed by lay people on "uposatha" days: full moon, new moon , the first and last quarter following the lunar calendar. The ten precepts also include to abstain from accepting money. In addition to these precepts, Buddhist monasteries have hundreds of rules of conduct, which are a part of its "patimokkha". Vinaya is the specific code of conduct for a "sangha" of monks or nuns. It includes the Patimokkha, a set of 227


Question: How many basic precepts are there for monastics?

Answer: the ten precepts

these are same as for the lay devotee: no killing, no stealing, no lying, and no intoxicants. The other four precepts are: All eight precepts are sometimes observed by lay people on "uposatha" days: full moon, new moon , the first and last quarter following the lunar calendar. The ten precepts also include to abstain from accepting money. In addition to these precepts, Buddhist monasteries have hundreds of rules of conduct, which are a part of its "patimokkha". Vinaya is the specific code of conduct for a "sangha" of monks or nuns. It includes the Patimokkha, a set of 227


Question: What is the specific moral code for monks and nuns?

Answer: vinaya

these are same as for the lay devotee: no killing, no stealing, no lying, and no intoxicants. The other four precepts are: All eight precepts are sometimes observed by lay people on "uposatha" days: full moon, new moon , the first and last quarter following the lunar calendar. The ten precepts also include to abstain from accepting money. In addition to these precepts, Buddhist monasteries have hundreds of rules of conduct, which are a part of its "patimokkha". Vinaya is the specific code of conduct for a "sangha" of monks or nuns. It includes the Patimokkha, a set of 227


Question: How many rules dows the patimokkha have?

Answer: 227

these are same as for the lay devotee: no killing, no stealing, no lying, and no intoxicants. The other four precepts are: All eight precepts are sometimes observed by lay people on "uposatha" days: full moon, new moon , the first and last quarter following the lunar calendar. The ten precepts also include to abstain from accepting money. In addition to these precepts, Buddhist monasteries have hundreds of rules of conduct, which are a part of its "patimokkha". Vinaya is the specific code of conduct for a "sangha" of monks or nuns. It includes the Patimokkha, a set of 227


Question: Regarding the monastic rules, the Buddha reminds his hearers that it is the spirit that what?

Answer: counts

ordination of women in Buddhism. The Mahāyāna "Bodhisattvabhūmi", part of the "Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra", regards it an offense for monastics following the Mahāyāna to reject the traditional rules of the Vinaya: Louis de La Vallée-Poussin wrote that the Mahāyāna relies on traditional full ordination of monastics, and in doing so is "perfectly orthodox" according to the monastic vows and rules of the early Buddhist traditions: The Buddha constantly reminds his hearers that it is the spirit of the rules that counts. On the other hand, the rules themselves are designed to assure a satisfying life, and provide a perfect springboard for


Question: The rules themselves are designed to assure a satisfying what?

Answer: life

unto themselves". Within a monastic fraternity, a "sangha" has its own rules. A monk abides by these institutionalized rules, and living life as the vinaya prescribes it is not merely a means, but very nearly the end in itself. Transgressions by a monk on "Sangha" vinaya rules invites enforcement, which can include temporary or permanent expulsion. A wide range of meditation practices has developed in the Buddhist traditions, but "meditation" primarily refers to the practice of "dhyana" c.q. "jhana". It is a practice in which the attention of the mind is first narrowed to the focus on one specific object,


Question: Monastics are instructed by the Buddha to live as what?

Answer: islands unto themselves

the higher attainments. Monastics are instructed by the Buddha to live as "islands unto themselves". In this sense, living life as the vinaya prescribes it is, as one scholar puts it: "more than merely a means to an end: it is very nearly the end in itself." Surrounding the rules is a range of texts. Some of these explain the origins of the rules - it is possible to trace the development of the rules from responses to specific situations or actions to a general codification. There are also a number of sutta-like texts that are more general statements about


Question: Where is the monastic vinaya displaced and clergy is allowed to marry?

Answer: Japan

is also Mahayana in origin, but is discussed below under the heading of Vajrayana (also commonly referred to as "Northern Buddhism"). There are a variety of strands in Eastern Buddhism, of which "the Pure Land school of Mahayana is the most widely practised today.". In most of this area however, they are fused into a single unified form of Buddhism. In Japan in particular, they form separate denominations with the five major ones being: Nichiren, peculiar to Japan; Pure Land; Shingon, a form of Vajrayana; Tendai, and Zen. In Korea, nearly all Buddhists belong to the Chogye school, which is


Question: In Chinese Buddhism what meditation is more popular?

Answer: Zen

additional practice is a kind and compassionate attitude toward every living being and the world. Devotion is also important in some Buddhist traditions, and in the Tibetan traditions visualizations of deities and mandalas are important. The value of textual study is regarded differently in the various Buddhist traditions. It is central to Theravada and highly important to Tibetan Buddhism, while the Zen tradition takes an ambiguous stance. Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires taking Three Refuges, also called the Three Jewels (Sanskrit: "triratna", Pali: "tiratana") as the foundation of one's religious practice. Pali texts employ the Brahmanical


Question: Evidence has shown some lay people got to proficiency in all eight what?

Answer: jhānas

as "liberating insight", may be a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36. According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the Four Noble Truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhānas. The four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person." The three marks of existence – Dukkha, Annica, Anatta – may reflect Upanishadic or other


Question: What does the word samyaksamadhi mean?

Answer: right concentration

description of the Buddhist path. It consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and asserts the path to the cessation of "dukkha" (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and karmic accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of


Question: Meditation is the primary means of cultivating what?

Answer: samādhi

of "samatha-vipassana" is lauded. Subsequently, Theravada teachers have made use of the following compounds: The word bhavana is sometimes translated into English as 'meditation' so that, for example, metta-bhavana may be translated as 'the meditation on loving-kindness'. Meditation is properly called "dhyana" (Sanskrit; Pali: "jhāna"), as practiced in "samādhi", the 8th limb of the eightfold path. In Jainism, "bhāvana" refers to "right conception or notion" or "the moral of a fable." Bhavana Bhāvanā (Pali; Sanskrit, also "bhāvana") literally means "development" or "cultivating" or "producing" in the sense of "calling into existence." It is an important concept in Buddhist praxis ("Patipatti").