Buddhism: Quiz One

Siddhartha Gautama lifespan according to the textbook?

560-480 B.C.E.

What did the Raja specifically seek to keep the young prince from seeing?

A dead body, an aged person, a diasesed person, and an ascetic monk.

What kind of education did Siddhartha Gautama recieve? What did he study?

A normal one for a prince of that era. He studied the arts and warfare and received some training in philosophy.

Buddha's meditation that made him the enlightened one?

In his meditation, the Buddha had a vision of the endless cycle of birth and death that is the lot of humankind. It was revealed to him that people were bound to this cycle because of desire, which is what causes karma and thus fetters people.

The Buddha's last words

"Subject to decay are all component things. Strive earnestly to work out your own salvation."

What did he do to search for life's mysteries?

At first, Siddhartha Gautama thought the answers to the questions that troubled him were to be found in the various schools of philosophy. Therefore, he attached himself to a guru and studied with him for some time. But, he recieved no satisfaction in his studies. A second thing that Siddhartha Gautama tried was asceticism. As a solution to the problems of life, as- ceticism was an acceptable pursuit in the sixth century b.c.e., as can be seen from the life of Mahavira and his followers. Gautama joined five other monks and with them began a life of severe asceticism that lasted six years. The ascetic measures Gautama took were as severe as any recorded in the history of religion. According to legend, he became something of a champion ascetic. Gautama sought out anything that was unpleasant, painful, or disagreeable as a means by which he might find release. He is supposed to have practiced fasting until he reached the point of living on a single grain of rice per day. At this time in his life, Gautama reportedly became so thin that when he grasped his stomach he touched his backbone. He wore irritating garments and sat in awkward and painful positions for hours. He sat on thorns and for a time slept in a cremation ground among rotting corpses. In the tradition of many ascetics, Gautama allowed filth and vermin to accumulate on his body. But despite these heroic efforts at asceti- cism, he did not find the enlightenment he was seeking.

Sangha (Buddhism)

Buddhist communities of monks, nuns, novices and laity; Monasticism. Lay Buddhists supported the Sangha with gifts of food, clothing, and other necessities of life.

Buddha meaning

Enlightened one

Nirvana (Buddhism)

Enlightenment

What clan was Siddhartha Gautama born into?

Gautama Clan

Siddhartha Gautama became elightened how?

He became enlightened after a period of mediatition that took place when the other people practicing ascetiscism spurned him. From then on he was known as Buddha.

As Siddhartha Gautama neared his 13th birthday what did he see?

He gradually became aware of the ugliness of the real world. He also one by one started to see the things his father had forbidden.

Eightfold Path

The eightfold path is another key element in the Buddha's teaching, and focuses on the proper way of living one's life. The person who follows the Eightfold Path will break the bonds that tie one to life and will achieve release from the cycle, that is, Nirvana.

Theravada Buddhism

Is the less emeleshed of the two major divisions. It is closer to the original teachings of the Buddha.

Siddhartha Gautama was a contemporary of who?

Mahavira

arhat

One who has become enlightened; the ideal type for Theravada Buddhism

The founder of Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama

Who did Siddhartha Gautama see that his father didn't want him to?

Siddhartha Gautama saw a wrinkled and bent elderly person, a man with a loathsome disease, a rotting corpse, and finally a peacful monk, who had renounced the world in search of release from his suffering.

Who were Siddhartha's parents?

Siddhartha was the son of a Kshatriya raja (king) called Suddhodana and his wife, Maya.

What did Buddha do after he became the enlightened one?

The first step the Buddha took after his enlightenment was to travel to the holy city of Varanasi and locate the five ascetic friends who had spurned him. He found them in Deer Park; although at first they had contempt for him, they listened as he preached. In his first sermon, the Buddha taught that neither the extreme of indulgence nor the extreme of asceticism was acceptable as a way of life and that one should avoid extremes and seek to live in the middle way. The five ascetics noted the change that had come over the Buddha, and they ac- cepted his teachings. These five formed the first Sangha (the Buddhist community, especially referring to those in monastic orders).

What was Siddhartha's birth surrounded with?

The legends say that the birth of Siddhartha was surrounded by extraordinary events and portenets.

Dharma (Buddhism)

The teachings of the Buddha. A broader understanding of the world and the nature of reality.

What did the five ascetic friends who had spurned Buddha form?

These five formed the first Sangha (The Buddhist community, especially referring to those in monastic orders)

When did he get married? To whom did he get married? What was their baby's name?

When Siddhartha Gautama was nineteen, he married his cousin Yasodhara. They shared a happy home and had one child, a son, Rahula.

Asceticism??? (Ask Dr. Kuswa)

severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.