Buddhism

Theravada

The way of the eldsrs

Three Vehicles

Theravada (Southeast Asia) Mhayana (East Asia) Vajrayana (Tibet/Nepal)

vihara

a Buddhist monastery

Dharmapala

"Dharma protector"; deities who have pledged to defend the Buddhist teachings

Abhidharma

"Higher Dharma" A list classifying the various doctrinal terms found in the early Mainstream Sûtras into orderly categories.

Tripitaka

"Three baskets" Collection of early buddhist writings, written in Pali, forming the canon for Theraveda Buddhists. Sutra contains teaches attributed to the Buddha, the Vinya contains rules of monastic discipline, the abhidharma contains philosophical and doctrinal arguments

Sangha

"assemblage" - the Buddhist community of monks and nuns; one of the Three Jewels of Buddhism.

nirvana

"blowing out" - the ultimate goal of all Buddhists, the extinction of desire and any sense of individual selfhood, resulting in liberation from samsara and its limiting conditions.

cakravartin

"wheel-turning king;" an ideal Buddhist ruler who is compassion, just, and virtuous; a ruler who helps create a peaceful, harmonious, prosperous society that is free of poverty

karma

(Hinduism and Buddhism) the effects of a person's actions that determine his destiny in his next incarnation

Ashoka

(r.268-232 BCE) The Mauryan emperor who can be compared to Constantine and who promoted Buddhism throught his empire.

Four Noble Truths

1) All life is full of suffering, pain, and sorrow. 2) The cause of suffering is nonvirtue, or negative deeds and mindsets such as hated and desire. 3) The only cure for suffering is to overcome nonvirture. 4) The way to overcome nonvirtue is to follow the Eightfold Path

Eightfold Path

A Buddhist doctrine calling for right belief, right resolve, right speech, right behavior, right occupation, right effort, right contemplation, and right meditation.

Middle Way

A basic Buddhist teaching that rejects both the pleasures of sensual indulgence and the self-denial of asceticism, focusing instead on a practical approach to spiritual attainment.

Nichiren

A form of Japanese Buddhism which places its trust in the Lotus Sutra. It teaches that one can invoke the power of the sutra by saying the name of the Lotus Sutra itself; parallels Japanese nationalism at the time of Mongol invasions.

Tantra

A group of texts and associated practices that focus on non-duality and the interrelatedness of everything (ex: the five forbidden things)

mudra

A pose or gesture in artistic representations of Buddha figures. Different mudras have conventionalized symbolic meanings

Soka Gakkai

A religion in Japan that is a new religion, unquestioning faith in Lotus Sutra, promises health and prosperity, Buddha-hood possible in this life, not allowed to participate in other sects.

mandala

A religious symbol associated with meditation, usually created with geometric patterns and shapes

Lotus position

A sitting position in which legs are crossed over and bent in on themselves so that the heel of each foot is placed on top of the opposite thigh. This position encourages breathing and physical discipline conducive to deep meditation.

Protestant Buddhism

A term signifying a pattern of reform in which Buddhists protested colonial rule yet adopted perspectives and missionary techniques of Protestant Christianity

Wheel of Life

An important symbol of Buddhism. It represents the endless cycle of life through reincarnation.

Shakyamuni

Another name for the Buddha, translating as "Sage of the Shakyas."

Major events in the Buddha's life

Born to warrior caste

Eisai

Brought Rinzai Zen which concerned meditation in action to the Samurai

Three Jewels

Buddha, Dharma, Sangha

Three Refuges

Buddha, dharma, sangha

Heart Sutra

Buddhist scripture that forms the foundation of the Mahayana belief of "emptiness"

Sutras

Buddhist scriptures

Three Marks of Existence

Characteristics that summarize the changing nature of reality: anatta (no-self), anicca (impermanence), and dukkha (suffering).

Rinzai Zen

Founded by Eisai. This form of Buddhism uses riddles (koan) to concentrate the mind during meditation. Riddles helped to achieve enlightenment by showing the limits of rational thought. Taught that anyone could live the life of the Buddha. Sitting meditation (zanzen) was emphasized as the main practice that allowed one to remove their "layers of desire" and achieve an inner awakening.

Six Realms of Rebirth

Gods asuras (Titans) humans hungry ghosts animals hell-dwellers

Eight Conditions

Labha: gain Alabha: loss Yasa: fame Ayasa: obscurity Ninda: blame Pasamsa: praise Sukha: happiness Dukkha: pain

anatman

No eternal self

Lotus Sutra

One of the earliest and most influential Mahayana Buddhist texts, which reveals the cosmological nature of a Buddha and the universal character of Buddhist truth.

Vinaya

Part of the Tripitaka. Is about the proper conduct of Buddhist monks and nuns.

parinirvana

The final nirvana, which occurs upon the death of the body of someone who has attained complete awakening (bodhi)

Mahayana

The great vehicle

Dalai Lama

The spiritual leader of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism, believed to be an incarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.

arhats

Those who have attained enlightenment and the early disciples of the Buddha. Must overcome all 10 fetters to reach nirvana

Parable of the raft

Three rafts (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana) to reach the "other side", nirvana.

Vajrayana

Thunderbolt vehicle

thangka

Tibetan Buddhist religious painting

uposatha

Twice per month, lay people learn dharma from monks

Upaya

Useful means. may be useful for you to believe in god to get ready to accept Anatma

Thich Nhat Hanh

Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist who now lives in France. Joined a Zen monastery at the age of 16, and studied Buddhism as a novitiate

hungry ghosts

What spirits become when proper rituals aren't performed

D.T. Suzuki

Writer who spread interest in Zen and Shin Buddhism

Storehouse consciousness

Yogacara concept of depth of consciousness that contains the impure seeds of karmic existence along with pure seeds of enlightenment; bodymind, physical, and mental manifestation of one's existence

bhikkuni

a Buddhist nun

mantra

a commonly repeated word or phrase

mizuko

a new form of Kannon devotionalism in Japan organized to seek the forgiveness of the spirits of aborted fetuses, until they fulfill their destiny and continue on to another human rebirth

bodhisattva

a person who has attained enlightenment but who has postponed nirvana in order to help others achieve enlightenment

Engaged Buddhism

a reformist movement among global Buddhists seeking to relate the teachings to contemporary suffering

Gelugpa

a school under the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, that came to rule Tibet in 1642, concentrating secular and religious power in its large, land-owning monastaries.

Dependent origination

a twelve part formula explaining how individuals are bound to future rebirth until they destroy desire and ignorance

zendo

a zen meditation hall

Manjushri

bodhisattva of wisdom

Thich Quang Duc

buddhist monk who burned himself in the middle of a busy road while protesting the buddhist persecution in vietnam

Avalokiteshvara/Guanyin

celestial Bodhisattva of compassion, said to reincarnate in the Dalai Lama

Perfection of Wisdom

central concept in Mahayana Buddhism: wisdom of emptiness

yab-yum

father/mother image

Nagarjuna

founder of Mahayana Buddhism

Bodhidharma

founder of Zen

Soto Zen

gradual awakening through meditation (slow)

Tibetan Book of the Dead

guide to dying and through the in-between time between death and rebirth

Three poisons

ignorance, attachment, and aversion

Maya

illusion; that which keeps us from seeing the world correctly

Bardo

in Tibetan Buddhism, that hallucinatory realm that one is said to enter at the time of death, there to be haunted and terrified by demonic forms that are, if one could only see properly, simply manifestations of the Light of pure Mind or Consciousness

visualization meditation

internal, purely mental single-mindedness

pratimoksa

list of rules governing behavior of monks and nuns - recited twice a month and those who commited infractions are expected to confess selves

Vipassana

meditation based on watching one's own thoughts, emotions, and actions

punya

merit, or the good karma that enters into the content of an individual's life, earned in Buddhist doctrine by moral practices, learning, and meditation

Chogyam Trungpa

monk who became lay teacher, crazy wisdom (sex with students, drinking)

Shila

morality. Right speech, right action, right livelihood.

Five Precepts

no destroying life no stealing no sexual misconduct no false speech no intoxicants

Consciousness Only

our experience of reality is only in our consciousness

koans

paradoxical riddles to bring awakening

Henry Steele Olcott

raised questions about the relics; saw them as superstitious; saw relics as the essence of Buddhism

Madhyamaka

refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of philosophy founded by Nāgārjuna, clear away attachment to words

shikan taza

sitting meditation, Japanese for zazen

sadhana

spiritual discipline or practice

Therigatha

stories of buddhist nuns, to be contrasted with the theragatha which are the stories of buddhist monks. These stories are special for women practicing buddhist life. "verses of the elder nuns"

shunyata

the Mahayana notion of emptiness, meaning that the universe is empty of permanent reality

Sakya

the clan name of the Buddha, found in Mahayana tradition

Dana

the giving of alms

Bodhicitta

the intention to achieve omniscient Buddhahood.

Nenbutsu

the key prayer of the Pure Land traditions: Namu Amida Butsu (praise to the Amida Buddha)

Panchen Lama

the lama next in rank to the Dalai Lama

Mara

the personification of death, delusion, and temptation

prajna

the spiritual wisdom or insight necessary for enlightenment

Buddha-nature

the teaching that all sentient beings have the capacity for fully awakened consciousness and enlightenment

trikaya

the three bodies of the buddha- the dharmakaya (cosmic buddha nature), the nirmanakaya (historical buddhas), and the sambhogakaya (celestial buddhas)

Sakya Pandita

tibetan spiritual leader that was the 4th of the sakya masters. emenation of bodditsatva of wisdom Manjushri.

samatha

tranquility, focus on one thing to still your mind (like a dot in the distance)

Paramita

virtues; six Buddhist perfections (for bodhisattvas) 1. generosity 2. moral discipline 3. forbearance 4. courage 5. meditation 6. insight/wisdom

shramana

wandering ascetics known at the time of the Buddha

Dogen

was a Zen Japanese Buddhist who founded the Soto school of Zen in Japan. The school stresses more than anything to let go. He lived from 1200-1258., Introduced Soto Zen; suggested that using the koan doesn't lead to enlightenment, but only hints at it; you need to sit and meditate.

dhyana

"Meditation"; focusing of the mind; sometimes, stages of trance

Esoteric

(adj.) intended for or understood by only a select few, private, secret

Ch'an/Zen Buddhism

A denomination of Buddhism that stresses exacting spiritual and physical discipline as the path to enlightenment.

stupa

A large, mound-shaped Buddhist shrine.

Sinhalese

Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka

bhikkhu

Buddhist monk

Five Aggregates

Form- our bodies Feelings- arise from the senses Perceptions- attach good/evil/natural to sensory conduct (what we like or don't like) Habitual mental dispositions- stem from karma Consciousness- a sense of self

Maitreya Buddha

In Chinese Buddhism, the next Buddha to enter the world in the future, or the Buddha of the future.

Shinran

Japanese Pure Land master that lived from 1173 to 126

Tamil

Muslim minority; Southern India civilization

zazen

Seated meditation

Duhka

Suffering

Siddhartha

The Buddha whose teachings founded Buddhism

Padmasambhava/Guru Rinpoche

The Second Buddha, who—with his consort Yeshé Tsogyel—established Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet in the Eighth Century

Amitabha Buddha

The main deity presiding in the Pure Land of the West

Pure Land

The place where Amida Buddha has vowed to have reborn those who call on his name ten times at death